3 Takeaways from the Bears' Disastrous Loss to the Cardinals

Entering this week, the Chicago Bears are 0-17 in road games played at 12 p.m. and 3 p.m. CT during the Matt Eberflus era. Sadly, the losing streak continued this week with a 29-9 loss to the Arizona Cardinals.

Here are three takeaways from the Bears' embarrassing loss to the Cardinals.

1.Uninspired Defense

After the embarrassing finish to last week's game against the Washington Commanders, many people expected the Bears' defense to bounce back. Unfortunately, the Bears defense played poorly and uninspired against the Cardinals.

In the first half alone, the defense allowed 148 rushing yards and three rushing touchdowns. James Connor had nine rushes for 49 yards with an average of 5.4 yards a carry. Trey Benson added three carries for 20 yards, and Emari Demercado had one rush for 53 yards and a touchdown.

Tight end Trey McBride also had one carry for two yards and a touchdown.

Demercado's touchdown run came in the final 20 seconds of the first half, making it the second terrible breakdown in as many weeks.

Kyler Murray was 7/11 for 62 yards passing in the first half. The defense performance in the first half obviously left a lot to be desired, but the Bears have been good at making adjustments this season.

That was not the case this week, though, as the Bears defense continued to struggle in the second half. Connor finished the day with 18 carries for 107 yards, Benson had 8 carries for 37 yards and a touchdown and Demercado had four carries for 49 yards and a touchdown. Murray ended his day 13/20 for 154 passing yards.

Although the Bears' run defense has been bad all season, getting this level of performance after last week is inexcusable. Eberflus and the rest of the defensive staff needed to have the team ready for this matchup and they didn't. The lack of preparation, along with how unenthusiastic the team looked, is unacceptable.