Ryan Pace’s shortcomings doom Chicago Bears in prime time

The Chicago Bears lost Sunday despite scoring 30 points. It was the most energized we had seen the team all season on both sides of the ball and they put forth the best first-half “product” anyone had seen from them in about two years. Despite all this, they found themselves only up 6 going into halftime and essentially left for dead the second the Packers went up by a touchdown early in the third quarter.

However, in many ways, this loss was a microcosm for the entire Nagy era. The Bears come out on fire, playing fast, and scoring at a prolific rate. Those new to watching the Bears probably were shocked and impressed thinking the Bears were well on their way to beating the Packers and perhaps righting the ship this season.

Unfortunately, those who have followed this team for a while knew what was coming next. The Packers, despite a god-awful first-half performance, hung around and waited for the Bears’ big plays to fizzle out. Once that happened, Rodgers did what he always does and sent the Bears packing with yet another loss.

Much like Nagy’s tenure itself, the Bears had early hope only to fail and flounder the minute the opposition adjusted to their gameplan leaving them disappointed and looking for the whys postgame.

The Chicago Bears proved yet again they are who we thought they were.

In many ways, I feel for the players. All week, they had ‘bulletin-board’ material to get themselves ready to go for this game and as energized as they were to come out and play that game, it really didn’t matter. Anyone who has followed the Chicago Bears knew that this game was far from over at halftime and could still end up being a 20 point Packers victory – which it almost was.

As juiced as Matt Nagy might have had his team going into this game, the reason it wouldn’t have mattered isn’t all because of Nagy’s own shortcomings as a coach, but because of the roster itself. The Chicago Bears simply don’t have the horses to compete with the elite teams in the NFL.

I want to be clear though, I think the Bears have a lot of pieces on both sides of the ball to work with – so give Pace credit for that, but his shortcomings have been plain as day this year. The Bears still lack a stable secondary, an average offensive line, and a group of dynamic playmakers to assist their young quarterback. Those might be the three of the four most important position groups to develop on a team and Pace is still searching for answers – in all three groups – 7 years in.

So all in all, it really doesn’t matter what the Packers do or say to the Bears anymore. Whether Allen Lazard wears an “I own you” shirt to the press conference or whether Rodgers openly stands by and defends his previous comments. What this game showed everyone, is that no matter how much trash the Packers talk, until the Bears see for themselves that their issues go beyond coaching, but rather up to the offices that build the roster (and the ones supervising them),  no one should reasonably expect anything to change.