Diskussions-Forum » But that wouldn’t have mattered if a usually dominant

LAKE FOREST Dan Hampton Jersey , Ill. (AP)Chicago Bears quarterback Mitchell Trubisky knew the numbers. Those stats make it obvious what his team’s offense needs to end a five-game losing streak Sunday at Cincinnati. ”More explosive plays,” Trubisky said Wednesday. Progress for the Bears (3-9) is being measured these days in inches instead of yards and they’ve ground to a complete halt. It’s increasing the heat on coach John Fox and offensive coordinator Dowell Loggains, and they’re searching for solutions. ”We want to be in third-and-manageable or just go first down, second down, first down with the explosive plays,” Trubisky said. ”We just need to get the ball into our playmakers’ hands, stay efficient and be good with the football.” Fox doesn’t want to place blame on his rookie quarterback, and earlier this week even called Sunday’s 15-14 loss to San Francisco one of Trubisky’s better games. ”I think Mitch has been outstanding,” Fox said. ”In fact https://www.thebearsfanshop.com/Brian-Urlacher-Jersey , he even moved up a couple of spots – he’s seventh in the league in third-down passer rating. ”I think he has moved up a little bit as far as rookie quarterbacks go. I think both our staff and him have done a good job.” Trubisky’s passer rating (74.6) remains worse than Mike Glennon (76.9), the player he replaced.He’s thrown for more than 179 yards in a game only once in eight starts, and threw for 102 last week. ”If you had told me before the (49ers) game that we were going to have no turnovers; the quarterback was going to have a 117 rating and only throw three incompletions; that we would be 50 percent on third down and 100 percent in the red area; I’d tell you that we were going to probably play well, score some points and beat an underrated football team,” Loggains said. ”Obviously the game didn’t go the way we wanted. We’re excited to move on and learn from it and get started on this week.” Chicago’s offense is last in the NFL in yards, passing yards and passing attempts. The Bears average 1.8 trips inside the red zone each game, last in the league. Loggains said defenses are scheming to prevent the Bears from going downfield with passes, although throwing to an injury-depleted receiving group makes such passes difficult anyway. ”We’re getting a lot of soft zones and people have been playing with a zone vision, trying to keep the run in front of them Leonard Floyd Color Rush Jersey , not trying to give up explosive runs that way,” Loggains said. He said the offense has to take its shots downfield instead of checking down to shorter passes. ”Keep making good decisions when we do call those (longer) plays, that when we dump it down to Jordan (Howard), and those things, we stay in second-and-6 and second-and-5,” Loggains said. ”It’s hard to get in third-and-10 or take sacks on those plays.” Blocking figures to be no better for Trubisky and running back Howard, who had showings of 6 and 38 yards the last two games. The Bears on Tuesday placed three-time Pro Bowl guard Kyle Long on season-ending injured reserve due to a shoulder injury. Long had also battled ankle and hand injuries. ”You know, he’s a tough guy,” center Cody Whitehair said. ”He’s what the Bears are all about: tough guys that are fighting through certain injuries. So he’s going to be missed Eric Kush Jersey , for sure.” NOTES: Nose tackle Eddie Goldman missed Wednesday’s practice with a hip injury. . Linebacker Pernell McPhee (shoulder) and safety Adrian Amos (hamstring) missed Wednesday’s practice. — LONDON (AP) — The problem for the Chicago Bears was more about their play in the trenches than when they arrived in London.A Bears team known for its dominant defensive front was overwhelmed by the Oakland Raiders rushing game and Chicago was unable to generate anything on the ground at all. That added up to a 24-21 loss Sunday night that sent the Bears home from their short stay across the pond searching for consistency.The game couldn’t have started much worse for the Bears (3-2), who were held to 44 yards behind backup quarterback Chase Daniel in the first half by a Raiders (3-2) defense that had struggled ever since trading Khalil Mack to Chicago. The vaunted Chicago defense didn’t do much either and the Bears trailed 17-0 at the break.That raised questions about whether arriving on Friday — four days after the Raiders got to town — was a bad move by coach Matt Nagy.“Had nothing to do with when we came here and when we didn’t,” Nagy said. “It’s about playing football.”The Bears played good football for a little more than a quarter. They pounced on Oakland in the third quarter, turning a botched pitch into a fumble recovery by Mack and a 14-yard TD drive capped by a 1-yard run by rookie David Montgomery that got them back into the game.Chicago didn’t stop there, driving 89 yards after forcing a punt to cut the deficit to 17-14 on Daniel’s first of two TD passes to Allen Robinson.Those two struck again from 16 yards the first play following Tarik Cohen’s 71-yard punt return and Chicago turned that big halftime deficit into a 21-17 lead in a span of 13:34.“When we went in at halftime there was no panic,” Daniel said. “There was cool, calm, let’s go make a play, and the whole thing was one-play-at-a-time mentality https://www.thebearsfanshop.com/Roquan-Smith-Jersey , and I thought we really did that for the most part.”That appeared to be enough to send the Bears home happy after Sherrick McManis punched the ball loose from Trevor Davis at the goal line, leading to a recovery by Prince Amukamara at the 1-yard line. A toe-tapping catch by Robinson and a disputed roughing the passer penalty on Maurice Hurst allowed the Bears to move into Oakland territory before stalling again thanks in part to the lack of a running game and poor play from Daniel.Chicago gained just 42 yards on 17 carries, while Daniel threw two interceptions and took four sacks on the day.But that wouldn’t have mattered if a usually dominant defense hadn’t wilted at the end. Oakland took over at its 3 with 7:49 to go and marched 97 yards for the go-ahead score. The drive was extended when Kevin Pierre-Louis was called for running into the kicker on fourth-and-6 from the Oakland 22.The Raiders called a fake on the next play and Erik Harris gained 3 yards even though the Bears were ready for it.“You’ve still got to stop it,” Nagy said. “We knew that it could certainly come. You’ve got to stop it.”The Bears then allowed two long passes to rookie tight end Foster Moreau as the defense failed to generate any pressure and Josh Jacobs leaped in from the 2 for the go-ahead score with 1:57 to play.Daniel completed three passes to get Chicago into Oakland territory before an errant throw was intercepted by Gareon Conley, sealing the defeat for the Bears.“I just think we didn’t play well, bottom line,” Daniel said. “All this stuff, at the end of the day your job is to go out and play football games and top to bottom today we didn’t do it.