Chicago Bears saying the right things, still not improving

The Chicago Bears are again eliminated from the playoffs. After all the Marc Trestman bashing going on by former players, the team is in the same place it was in last season — with a losing record

Last season was just a horrible mess of a year for the Chicago Bears. The defense was struggling, the offense could not move, and the coaching staff made some questionable moves throughout the year.

After the debacle, the McCaskeys decided to clean house. Out with Phil Emery, in with Ryan Pace. Out with Marc Trestman as coach, in with John Fox. Out with Aaron Kromer, in with Adam Gase. Out with Mel Tucker, in with Vic Fangio.

With all the changes in the front office and coaching staff, hopes were high that things would change. Fox, Gase and Fangio have had success and are well-respected around the league. Things were going to get better.

Looking at how the season has progressed, the Chicago Bears are still a hot mess.

The latest failure as evidence was the blowout loss to the Minnesota Vikings on Sunday. The loss was their third in a row, and four of their last five.

For all the talk about Jay Cutler having a great season, he still owns a losing record, and the offense he is leading is just a tick better than last season.

Chicago Bears

The Chicago Bears offense averaged 19.9 points per game last season, good for 23rd in the NFL. This season, they are averaging 20.6 points per game, good for 22nd.

I’m sorry, but I measure success by wins, and a team wins by scoring points. Cutler’s Chicago Bears rank 21st in attempted passes and 25th in touchdowns thrown.

I know that Cutler’s disciples will claim right away that the offensive line is bad. Well, according to Profootballfocus.com, the Chicago Bears offensive line ranks 10th in sacks allowed, and 11th in total pressure allowed. They ranked 17th and 21st, respectively in those stats.

On defense, the Chicago Bears have improved, but considering how bad the defense was last season, getting better was not that difficult.

After the Vikings game, Fox himself took ownership of the lack of improvement.

“We just haven’t improved,” Fox said. “We’re going to keep marching forward and find guys that we think can be part of our core going forward.”

Pernell McPhee put it perfectly after the game.

"I feel like we took a step back. I felt like at the Green Bay game, we won the Super Bowl, but not in my [expletive] case. I think we were just getting started. But I just got to stay behind my boys, man. When people lose, it tests your character. I’m going to be the guy [who is] going to lift all my boys up, man, and try to stay positive. Success is a thing that a lot of people can’t take. And I’m not saying we can’t take it, [but] it’s just when we get success, we have to know when it’s there, and we got to keep pushing forward. I don’t think that’s the case. We had a chance to make the playoffs, and other teams we played against got a chance to make the playoffs, and they wanted it more than us. That’s the biggest factor why we lost the last three."

There was a lot of positive vibes around the Chicago Bears in Week12 after they upset the Green Bay Packers. They were 5-6 and there was playoff talk. Since then, they have lost three in a row.

Last season, there was some positive vibes going on in Chicago after they won two in a row and had a 5-6 record after Week 12. From then on, they did not win a game.

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If the Chicago Bears lose their next two games, they would be right where they were last season. For all the thought of the Bears being on the right track, Fox himself has said that this is a production-based business, and the production was not there.

Of course, Fox will get a chance to build up the Chicago Bears. The team has gotten some extra draft picks to make the process quicker. As for this season, however, there should be no excuses. There is not much of a difference in results. This is the worst two-season stretch since 1997-1998, when the Dave Wannstedt-led Bears had back-to-back 4-12 seasons.

Next: Chicago Bears: Who Should Stay and Who Should Go?

Trestman was given just two seasons at the helm. What will happen to Fox if things don’t change much again next season?