Bears Report Card for Week 5 Vs. Packers: Last in the NFC North Again

After playing a quarter on Sunday — which seemed like much more than some members of the Bears secondary or their other backup quarterback played — third-string QB Case Keenum beat up one of the most overused phrases at Halas Hall in any given week.

He decided to talk about the team's "identity."

"This is a tough resilient group," Keenum told reporters at Lambeau Field. "We are fighters. We're a really good football team. I know it didn't show today. But gol-ly I think i know guys are going to come and get back to work, get their bodies back right, get their minds back right.

"It's a long season. There's a lot you find out about yourself at this point in the season, about you're becoming the team you're going to be. Your identity is forged, sometimes through fire. It was in fire today. It was in the fire today, so we will see what kind of identity we have coming out of the back end of this thing.”

Too often Sunday the Bears looked like their identity was what really does come out of the back end.

As a result, they are now in last place in the NFC North.

At the risk of channeling everyone's inner Dennis Green, they are who we thought they were. Their identity was obvious long before Sunday. They're a running team, a ball-control team and they need to take risks on defense to make up for personnel deficiencies. When they don't have Caleb Williams, they're all struggling on both sides of the ball.

The deficiencies were apparent everywhere on Sunday and here are their grades for a throwback game in Green Bay — the kind you throw back and an effort similar to those games they would play in the bad old days at Lambeau when Aaron Rodgers was Packers QB.

Running game: D

A 3.4-yard average per carry made it quite apparent how much the Bears missed Kyle Monangai. Early on, some of the running lanes were there but they closed gradually and eventually the Bears abandoned the run anyway. Only nine rushes for 43 yards for D'Andre Swift as he made his rebound from his egregious game against the Jets. Sunday, the whole offense was egregious. The one rushing positive was Swift's 1-yard fourth-and-goal TD burst up the middle. It was a tough play to pull off. If only Swift had done that against Minnesota instead of fumbling in that game.

Passing attack: F

Tyson Bagent's 27.4 passer rating places him first place for the Rex Grossman Sweepstakes this year (0.00). Bagent's two interceptions were similar, even if one was tipped. They were late, over the middle and his arm can't deliver that type of pass. Keenum didn't get great pass protection but at that point in the game it's difficult to keep the passer free of traffic because the defense knew he was passing. At least he didn't eat the ball and take a sack on the fourth-down interception he threw, the way Bagent did in Chicago against the Vikings. Another typically disappointing week for the Bears receivers, especially Rome Odunze.

Run defense: B-

It would be easy to look bottom line and 2.7 yards per carry with 70 total rushing yards says they did a fantastic job. However, they gave up a key 10-yard run to MarShawn Lloyd and later a 23-yard run to Kaleb Johnson. If they could duplicate this effort the rest of the year they wouldn't mind it.

Pass defense: F

Even Austin Booker's sacks of Jordan Love on consecutive second-quarter plays couldn't cover for a pass rush lacking much life. Montez Sweat was held without a penalty call on the first Packers pass of the game, and Green Bay then drove 91 yards to a TD. Dillon Thieneman allowed two long TDs and Malik Muhammad struggled once the Bears moved him outside after Tyrique Stevenson's hamstring injury. Those two rookies making mistakes are anticipated. Seeing Jaylon Johnson beaten twice deep and six Love completions of 31 yards or longer says they need to bring Kyler Gordon back this week full time even if their plan said to gradually work him into the mix.

Special teams: C-

Zavion Thomas finally broke a kick return for 61 yards but that 4.28-second speed didn't keep him from being caught from behind. He veraged a healthy 26.2 yards on his other five returns. Cairo Santos missing a 43-yard field goal just doesn't happen. The snap by Scott Daly was a bit high but it was easily a kick Santos normally makes blindfolded.

Coaching: D+

Ben Johnson's game plan probably wasn't the kind of problem the execution was, but it was Dennis Allen's game plan on the other side that really caused problems. Too many of their DB blitzes got picked up and the wound up exposing their young DBs to Packer big-play attempts. When the Packers really had no running game to speak of, it should have been much easier for the Bears to scheme up heat on Love in the passing game. They still couldn't do it without blitzing.

Overall: D-

The final score doesn't say the Bears were in it at halftime but they really weren't not long after that. At least they didn't telegraph their weakness shutting down the running game because that's the way the Falcons will attack them next week.

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