CHICAGO (670 The Score) -- All it took was one game -- for the Bears to lose their offensive identity, for new questions to be raised at the quarterback position and for their first three wins to lose their shine.
The Bears saw all of that come crashing down on them in their 19-11 loss to the Colts on Sunday at Soldier Field. They dropped to 3-1 in suffering their first setback of the season.
"That was a tough game to be a part of," coach Matt Nagy said.
After making a quarterback switch from Mitchell Trubisky to Nick Foles, the Bears' offense suffered a major setback. They averaged just 4.6 yards per play and struggled to sustain drives, going 4-for-14 on third-down conversions.
Foles was 26-of-42 for 249 yards, one touchdown and one interception in his first start with the Bears. Meanwhile, Nagy's offense seemed to be without an identity again, as it lost any semblance of balance. David Montgomery rushed 10 times for 27 yards. Cordarrelle Patterson carried three times for five yards. The Bears rushed 16 times for 28 yards as a team.
Take away a late drive in which top receiver Allen Robinson caught five passes for 75 yards and a touchdown, and the Bears offense was almost entirely silent.
“It wasn’t the best game," Foles said. "The Indianapolis Colts are a great team, but I didn’t execute well enough and we didn’t execute well enough.
"They outplayed us. They out-executed us."
The Bears were a flawed team at 3-0, and their performance Sunday proved to be further revealing.
There was no resilient comeback like twice before this season. Instead, the Bears showed their ugliest side yet. There were no adjustments to get the offense going. Foles struggled with his accuracy the entire game, Montgomery was hardly a factor, and Nagy didn't have any answers.
The Bears averaged 2.4 yards on first down. That's second down and 7.6 yards to go on average. Pat O'Donnell punted seven times.
If fans were inside Soldier Field, the boos would've been overwhelming with each punt.
"Tomorrow, we’re going to have an opportunity to get better," Foles said. "I don’t think I’ve ever played in an undefeated season. Every time you lose, it shows more than wins do. You never want to lose, but that’s part of it. I look forward to working with the guys and moving forward. It’s never easy, but it tests you as a human being. Are you going to let a loss define you as a person? Or are you going to continue to move on and be there for your teammates?"
The Bears will struggle to pick up the pieces in what's a short week ahead. They host the Buccaneers (3-1) on Thursday night at Soldier Field and will have just two practices at Halas Hall before then. Tampa Bay boasts an offense that has averaged 30 points in four games. Chicago has an offense that found the end zone just once Sunday.
There's much for the Bears to fix after a revealing loss exposed what they've too often been through four games.
"Can we play better? Absolutely," Nagy said. "Can we coach better? Absolutely. And that's what we got to do."
Chris Emma covers the Bears, Chicago’s sports scene and more for 670TheScore.com. Follow him on Twitter @CEmma670.