(670 The Score) What's there to say at this point? The Bears have a head coach who’s in over his head, a franchise quarterback who’s not-insignificantly injured and a defense that can’t hold a lead to save their season. At 3-7, there’s only one team (the Lions, of course) in the NFC worse than the Bears … and they’re playing each other in four days! On national television! During the National Dog Show! Here are some very bad grades for a very bad Bears team that just took a very bad 16-13 loss to the Ravens on Sunday.
Offense: D
It’s hard to think of a more disastrous scenario for our collective sanity than Andy Dalton coming into the game for the injured Justin Fields and throwing a touchdown to take the lead two plays later. It doesn’t help that Fields didn’t look sharp, missing at least three or four throws that he usually makes – he put one over Marquise Goodwin’s head in the second quarter and left another too far out ahead of Cole Kmet in the third, to name a few. Goodwin, you’ll recall, had his own moment a little later in the game. And Fields definitely doesn’t leave the game with a rib injury if he dumps it off to David Montgomery – who looked like he had an easy first down in front of him – instead of pump-faking and trying to pick up the third-and-11 on his own. After a miscommunication probably cost him a first-quarter touchdown, Darnell Mooney rebounded with a hell of an afternoon. His 60-yard touchdown catch (and run) was the second-longest of his career, and his 121 total receiving yards was only four short of a season-best. He left some yards on the field too. Montgomery continued to be incredibly productive (4.1 yards per carry) and incredibly underused (14 carries) all at the same time, a weekly tradition. And would you believe me if I told you that Kmet and Jimmy Graham had three receptions combined? The Bears went 2-for-11 on third-down conversions, were out-possessed by almost double the amount of time and ran almost 20 fewer plays than the Ravens. And the Bears almost won.
Defense: D
What a disaster -- one very large, embarrassing disaster. The Bears let an undrafted second-year quarterback who started taking first-team snaps Wednesday march down their throats in five plays for the game-winning score in their own house. It took fewer than 90 seconds. For the second game in a row, the Bears defense gave up the lead in heartbreaking fashion. Not having Khalil Mack, Akiem Hicks and Eddie Jackson makes this outcome less surprising, but still – it's truly embarrassing. On a positive note, more than a couple Ravens players are probably going to stay in the ice bath a few minutes longer thanks to Roquan Smith, who had 12 tackles at halftime and finished with 17. Robert Quinn (3.5 sacks, four quarterback hits) played the best game of his season too – he would've had two strip-sacks in the first quarter if not for an unlucky bounce. I’m pretty sure it wasn’t as “season-saving” as CBS analyst Tony Romo suggested in the moment, but Tashaun Gipson’s interception midway through the fourth quarter was about as big a moment as this defense has had in a good bit. It was fun while it lasted. Trevis Gipson reemerged, and Kindle Vildor didn't.
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Special teams: C-
Cairo Santos is missing field-goal attempts again, which feels notable. Pat O’Donnell had one punt semi-blocked and landed two inside Baltimore’s 20-yard line. He had five overall. That’s all I have to say about that.
Cam Ellis is a writer for 670 The Score and Audacy Sports. Follow him on Twitter @KingsleyEllis.