Bear Digest

Power Rankings Bury the Bears Under Rubble of Loss to Colts

Most power rankings have had enough of the Bears and their promises from preseason and HBO's Hard Knocks, and Sunday's loss secured a ride toward the bottom in those polls.

Gene Chamberlain

Jonathan Taylor eludes Montez Sweat and gets to the edge after cutting in Sunday's Bears loss to the Colts.
Jonathan Taylor eludes Montez Sweat and gets to the edge after cutting in Sunday's Bears loss to the Colts. / Grace Hollars/IndyStar / USA TODAY NETWORK via Imagn Images
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It took three weeks and people began to understand the ramifications of a team without a running attack, or at least a team without confidence in its running attack.

The Bears are in free fall in the power rankings, but there's more to it than the rankings.

Even with Caleb Williams figuring things out to a greater degree in Week 3, the Bears couldn't beat a Colts team with less overall talent because they couldn't gain 4 yards on the ground in three tries or 1 yard in one try.

There was a bigger issue, though, and some polls recognized it.

BEARS CATCHING RAMS AT THE RIGHT TIME IF THERE IS ONE

The fact they're having problems being organized on the field at times doesn't reflect well on their coaching staff. When Caleb Williams and Rome Odunze are busy trying to figure out who does what with the game ball after their first touchdown pass in the NFL, but the play clock is running for the extra point and the coaching staff doesn't even have the kick or two-point try decided and communicated to them yet, it's a massive coaching failure.

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NOTHING FLUKEY ABOUT CALEB WILLIAMS IMPROVEMENT SAY BEARS

IS SUPPORTING BEARS CAST FAILING THEIR QB?

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There are high school teams all over the country operating with a higher degree of precision. Check that. Pop Warner teams operate with a higher degree of precision.

So what? What's a timeout, after all? It sure could have meant something at the game's end, that's what. And burning one with just under 5 1/2 minutes left wasn't exactly logic produced by AI, either

When the Bears couldn't run against a run defense everyone runs against, it's a situation easy to forgive. You work at it and maybe they eventually get better at it. After all, they were first and second in rushing the last two years so they must have retained some of this ability after Justin Fields left.

What can't be overcome is a coaching staff operating so inefficiently, and the power rankings for the Bears this week reflect this.

SI.com: 24th

The Bears sank from 20th to 24th and Conor Orr did bring up the disaster on the sidelines after the first Caleb Williams passing TD.

"Matt Eberflus is brushing up against issues with clock and timeout management," Orr wrote. "Shane Waldron is now facing scrutiny from every internet-playcalling soothsayer. The job was absolutely thankless to begin with, but in a bustling market like Chicago with high expectations, it's going to become cutthroat in a hurry."

It already has.

Yahoo Sports: 23rd

The drop wasn't quite so steep here but that's because they were already ranked down at 21st by Frank Schwab. He went after their play-caller, as well.

"The Bears trailed by more than one score for a little more than 10 minutes of Sunday's game at Indianapolis," Schwab pointed out. "And they had Caleb Williams drop back 52 times. Part of the problem is D'Andre Swift is producing nothing on the ground. They can't have their rookie QB passing it that often."

They can't have any quarterback passing that often and expect to win.

The 33rd Team: 25th

Already ranked 23rd, the Bears dropped to 25th and they now appear to be developing a split personality, according to Marcus Mosher.

"Their defense looks really good, and Caleb Williams is making progress as a passer," Mosher wrote. "Yet, the offense can't punch the ball into the end zone, and the defense has failed to get stops when it absolutely needs them."

He's probably coming down a bit too much on the defense but it is true they could have forced a punt with under two minutes left and had one last try with the ball, but couldn't accomplish it. And it wasn't due to being tired. The Bears were on the field defensively for less than 26 minutes in the game.

USA Today: 26th

Nate Davis dropped them from 24th and took a quick shot at Caleb Williams for a 65.3 passer rating, lowest among NFC starters, but then quickly got to the matter at hand and slammed the D'Andre Swift contribution (1.8 yards per rush). "But RB D'Andre Swift has not yet paid off, either, his 37 carries netting a paltry 68 yards for the conference's worst offense (249.3 yards per game).

CBS Sports: 18th


Pete Prisco's faith in the Bears is unwavering, or simply he sees too many rotten teams below them to drop them too far. They fell only from 16th but remain within two spots of the top half of the league.

"Caleb Williams did some good things in the loss to the Colts, but the turnovers were killers. Even so, it's progress," Prisco wrote.

The Sporting News: 26th

Vinnie Iyer skillfully described the situation the Bears went through offensively while dropping the Bears like they were contagious, from 19th all the way down to 26th.

"The Bears let Caleb Williams loose vs. Indianapolis, and while stats were better, he was still plagued by mistakes and bad situational offense," Iyer wrote.

ESPN: 26th

No reason to drop them at all, says ESPN. So they didn't. Either there was enough positive to retain the spot or they just had fallen enough the previous week. Bears beat writer Courtney Cronin points out the lack of pass protection and Shane Waldron's lack of reliance on the run have left Williams under too much pressure. She wrote: "...Williams is 4-of-21 for 36 yards, one touchdown and three interceptions when pressured in three games."

He's also been sacked an NFL high 13 times even though he gets rid of the ball in 2.71 seconds (13th fastest courtesy of Next Gen Stats).

NFL.com: 24th

Down three spots and Eric Edholm has the classic understatement in this poll: "New offensive coordinator Shane Waldron seems like he’s still feeling his way through things, having a few tough moments in the loss."

He's feeling his way through the way someone does after they fall from a 90-story building.

Pro Football Talk: 27th

Mike Florio dropped the Bears from 27th to 20th with one short sentence which captured what was obvious but disregarded by many polls for some reason. "The offensive line needs a lot of work," he wrote.

Here here.



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Gene Chamberlain
GENE CHAMBERLAIN

BearDigest.com publisher Gene Chamberlain has covered the Chicago Bears full time as a beat writer since 1994 and prior to this on a part-time basis for 10 years. He covered the Bears as a beat writer for Suburban Chicago Newspapers, the Daily Southtown, Copley News Service and has been a contributor for the Daily Herald, the Associated Press, Bear Report, CBS Sports.com and The Sporting News. He also has worked a prep sports writer for Tribune Newspapers and Sun-Times newspapers.