And the Bears' season has entered a tailspin after three straight losses.
"It's a frustrating time right now," coach Matt Nagy said. "You have to accept that. We accept it. But we can't dwell on it.
"As rough as three losses in a row is, what do we do to rally?"
Related
Meanwhile, Eddy Pineiro's days as a hero in Chicago are done after he missed the potential game-winning 41-yard field-goal attempt as time expired.
"Obviously, it's a bad feeling," Pineiro said not long after his kick went wide to the left. "Lost the game for the team. Put that one on me. I'm going to come back and bounce back."
The Bears spent the past week explaining how they hoped to respond from their loss to the Saints. From Nagy to his players, the Bears reminded how their 3-3 mark was the same as in 2018, when they won nine of their last 10 games to finish the regular season 12-4.
But 2019 is different for the Bears. Quarterback Mitchell Trubisky has regressed, with his latest ineffective performance remembered for a fourth-quarter fumble that set up the Chargers with the go-ahead touchdown. A defense that was the best in the NFL in 2018 produced only one sack and one turnover Sunday -- a Kyle Fuller interception of Philip Rivers.
The 2018 Bears were a resilient team that found ways to win. Now, they're sputtering by without solutions.
Nagy was defiant in discussing that call -- "We're wasting our time right now talking about that," he said -- and correct in pointing to the poor execution earlier in the day. The Bears failed to win the game well before Pineiro's miss.
With 5:33 left in the second quarter, the Bears had first-and-goal from the Chargers' 9-yard line. They gained two yards on three plays before kicking a 25-yard field goal. With 29 seconds left in the first half, the offense lined up for first-and-goal from a yard out. Trubisky threw an incomplete pass, David Montgomery was stuffed for no gain and then Trubisky had to spike the ball with one second left to set up a 19-yard field goal because the Bears had no timeouts left. They had burned a timeout earlier in the quarter when the defense lined up with 12 men on the field.
Leading 16-10 with 9:39 remaining, the Bears had first-and-10 from their own 42-yard line when Nagy schemed an opening that allowed Taylor Gabriel to find space deep down field out of the slot. Trubisky missed his mark on a play that would've likely gone for a touchdown with an accurate pass. He fumbled on the next play, a swing that led to the Chargers capturing a lead that would stand up.
"I got to continue to get better," Trubisky said. "I mean, I feel like there was a lot of plays out there where I could have been better and helped my team.
"It’s never too late. We can definitely turn it around. It’s one day at a time.”
The Bears face a great challenge if they're to return to the playoffs for a second straight season. At afternoon's end Sunday, the Bears trailed the NFC North-leading Packers by three games. Green Bay plays at Kansas City on Sunday night. The Bears also trail the Vikings (6-2) and Seahawks (6-2) by 2.5 games for the two wild-card spots in the NFC.
A turnaround for the Bears is becoming more unlikely with each passing Sunday. Playoff hopes are seeming like a longshot.
The promise for these Bears appears to be empty.