Chicago Bears: 3 reasons for loss to the Giants

The defense let them down

I’ve spent the majority of this post maligning the team’s offensive woes yesterday, but let’s be clear. They managed to put 27 points on the board despite three turnovers. Against a team like the Giants with nothing to play for, a terrible quarterback with no offensive or defensive line, 27 points should have been more than enough to take care of business.

And yet it wasn’t. For the second time this season (the first being against the Miami Dolphins) the defense failed to come through and put the game away when the offense did more than enough to win.

In particular, the defense failed to come through in overtime. After the Bears regained all of the momentum with their wild finish to end the game, the Giants won the coin toss in overtime. You’d expect this defense, which is regarded as one of, if not the best in the league, to stop the futile Giants’ offense. Instead, Saquon Barkley scampered for 39 yards in overtime to set up the game-winning field goal.

The Bears defense has had some trouble in the fourth quarter of games this season. In fact, about half of the total points the defense has given up have come in the fourth quarter. Simply put, if this defense wants to be considered “elite” and the Bears want to be a threat in the playoffs, that must improve.