The scoreboard may look closer than expected but one takeaway from the Chicago Bears‘ loss to the Green Bay Packers on Sunday afternoon is the Bears still have a lot of work to do. After opening the game with an eight-play, 80-yard drive that ended with rookie running back Khalil Herbert scoring a one-yard rushing touchdown, the Bears’ offense stalled in the second and third quarter.
With two straight wins, Chicago seemed to be riding a hot hand heading into this week, showing some signs of hope that the Bears could knock off the Packers at home for an upset win. Instead, Aaron Rodgers had other plans in what could be his final game at Soldier Field as a member of the Packers.
Chicago scored just once in the fourth quarter, closing the gap to just three points. Rodgers and the Packers offense would then
While the Bears’ defense did sack Rodgers three times, the Bears’ offense struggled to get anything going when it was just a three-point game. Fields did show some maturation on a 10-play drive in the fourth quarter, hitting wide receiver Allen Robinson and tight end Cole Kmet for 20 and 21-yard passes on back-to-back plays to move the chains.
Rookie running back Herbert was a bright spot on Chicago’s offense. After getting the nod as starter, Herbert rushed 19 times for 97 yards, averaging 5.1 yards per carry. The sixth-round pick broke off a big run for 25 yards to give the Bears some momentum in the first quarter on a drive that would end in a questionable interception by Fields.
Chicago now drops to 3-3 through the first six games for the third time in the last four years under head coach Matt Nagy. The story seems to remain the same for Nagy’s Bears. Over the last four seasons, the Bears have beaten average teams but struggled to get past good teams in the NFC. Losses to the Rams and Packers further prove the Bears have a long way to go in order to close any sort of talent gap in the NFC North.