The Bears have just suffered their most disappointing loss of the season so far despite the offense looking the best it has all season in the first half… until they got inside the Giants’ 30 yard line. The Bears ran 15 plays outside of the Giants’ 30 in the first half that went for 165 total yards. This is the most efficient and consistent that the offense has looked this year, especially throwing the ball. But somehow, the Bears finished this game with just 12 points. On plays inside the Giants’ 30 yard line, the Bears averaged just .94 yards per play. Despite five trips going this deep into Giants’ territory, the Bears only came away with four field goals and a lost fumble.
The Offensive Line
One of, if not the biggest culprits of this offensive collapse is the offensive line. Four of the 18 plays that ran deep in Giants’ territory resulted in a loss of yards and two more resulted in a run for no gain. The line completely collapsed when trying to protect Justin Fields while simultaneously giving Khalil Herbert no room to run. Any blitzes from the Giants’ defense were not picked up but even when they were rushing four the offensive line seemed to not have an answer for it.
The Receivers
It seemed like there wasn’t a single receiver that could get open in the shortened field. There wasn’t any wide receiver to record a reception this game inside the 30, only Cole Kmet was able to get a couple and that’s primarily because he’s Justin Field’s safety valve. If the Bears’ receivers can’t create separation in the future, then the red zone offense this year is going to be terrible if the run game gets stalled like this again.
Play Calling
Finally, the play calling was terrible again. There were minimal problems with it on drives that got the Bears inside the 30 until they actually got to that position. There was no creativity and the offense of being completely predictable. Though there wasn’t the usual problem of running every first down, the passing plays were all either “tight end screen” or repetitive routes like curls, slants, and flats. There was one play call designed for Fields to throw the ball to or past the line to gain and it ended up being a throwaway. Lack of trust in Fields made things very difficult in the red zone. Getsy wouldn’t let him attempt difficult passes which only made the Giants’ job so much easier.
