NFL: Chicago Bears are starting to look like pretenders, not contenders
The Chicago Bears dropped their second straight game in Week 8, losing a close one to the New Orleans Saints, 26-23.
The Bears have struggled offensively this season, especially at the quarterback position. After replacing opening day starter Mitch Trubisky in Week 4, Nick Foles has struggled the last two weeks protecting the football.
This could be a sign that the Chicago Bears are falling apart right in front of us. The Chicago Bears started the season off with Trubisky until the former No. 2 draft pick started to struggle. Foles stepped in as the starting quarterback in hope to repeat what he did for the Philadelphia Eagles, when he replaced an injured Carson Wentz and led the Eagles all the way to a Super Bowl championship.
In relief of Trubisky, Nick Foles led the Chicago Bears to a comeback victory over the Atlanta Falcons. Foles has shown that he can win football games for the Bears. But in the past two weeks the Rams and Saints have forced Nick Foles into mistakes.
The Chicago Bears' offense is leaving their defense out to dry
The Chicago Bears' offense has been struggling in the last two games. This is putting more pressure on the defense. The strength to the Chicago Bears is their defense. The problem is the defense is spending too much time on the football field.
The Chicago Bears' offense has punted the ball 37 times this season, second-most in the league behind the winless New York Jets. The Bears have also struggled on third down in the last two games. Chicago went 9-for-29 on third downs against the Rams and Saints. The Bears' struggles on third down is causing their defense to play more snaps.
The Chicago Bears may need to upgrade their offense soon
The Bears are currently ranked 31st in rushing offense. They're also ranked 29th in the NFL for total offense. Chicago may be starting to realize that Nick Foles is not the answer at the quarterback position. They also may be starting to realize that they need to upgrade at the running back position.
Nick Foles is a great football player and an amazing backup quarterback. He has shown that when his number is called to be the franchise quarterback, however, he folds. Foles took the Philadelphia Eagles to the Super Bowl and beat the New England Patriots as a backup. The thing is, he was not the face of that franchise; that was Carson Wentz. When he was signed by the Jacksonville Jaguars to be the face of their franchise, he wound up losing that spot to Gardner Minshew.
When the Bears replaced Mitchell Trubisky with Nick Foles, it gave Foles the opportunity to shine as a backup. Nick Foles did just that in Week 3, bringing the Bears back against the Falcons. The Chicago Bears named Foles the starter in Week 4 and things started to change. Foles' numbers dropped and he started to struggle.
Now the Chicago Bears are facing a two-game losing streak and Foles is failing. The question is, do the Bears go back to Trubisky? This is an unlikely scenario. The Chicago Bears will most likely ride Foles out for the rest of the season and draft a quarterback in next year's draft.
Where do the Chicago Bears go from here?
If the Chicago Bears drop their third straight game against the Tennessee Titans in Week 9, it puts them in a tough spot. This would put the Bears in a situation where they could go one of two ways. One way is continue with Nick Foles and watch the team fold in front of their eyes, or make a change.
The unfortunate part about making a change is that the Bears will have to go back to Mitch Trubisky and that has already proved to not work. This is why it is a tough call for the Chicago Bears. The Chicago Bears have their coach they just need their quarterback and they will find that in next year's draft.