NFL Power Rankings: Bears stuck in the middle of the pack

The Chicago Bears have lost three in a row, they’re currently just outside of the NFC playoff picture, the offense hasn’t shown any signs of life, and the defense simply can’t be expected to win games on their own.

Things have been bad these last few weeks in Chicago, but honestly, it’s been bad for several teams around the league, so the Bears aren’t dropping down the power rankings like we’d expect a team on a 0-3 run to drop.

Let’s take a peek around to see what the experts have to say this week.

• NFL.com has the Bears at 17th overall, down 2 spots from last week.

The Bears lack juice. There are many different factors that make it so, but the bottom line is indisputable. We saw it again in Sunday’s 24-17 loss to the Titans, Chicago’s third consecutive defeat after the mirage of a 5-1 start. The culprit in Nashville was, once again, the offense. The Bears had only three combined points on their first five drives that reached Titans territory, and they did nearly all their scoring in the safe space of garbage time. Mitch Trubisky’s shoulder injury means Nick Foles will continue to start while Matt Nagy ponders whether to give up play-calling. This all seems to be headed in a certain direction.

• Here’s how the Sporting News has it this week.

16. Chicago Bears 5-4 (13)

The Bears are stuck with Nick Foles with Mitchell Trubisky hurting. They keep making a few mistakes offensively to hold them back and put too much of a burden on their stout defense.

• CBS Sports is keeping the Bears at 16.

They have crashed back to reality after the fast start. The offense struggled for most of the Tennessee game against a bad defense, which is an indictment of this offense.

• ESPN has the Bears down 2 to 15th overall.

Recalibrated expectation: To sneak into the playoffs

The Bears are in free fall after losing three straight. The offense is an unmitigated disaster. Chicago ranks near the bottom in most important offensive categories, and help is nowhere on the horizon. Still, the Bears have five games left against teams that are below .500: Minnesota (twice), Detroit, Houston and Jacksonville. There’s a chance the Bears could ride the coattails of their defense and sneak into the postseason at 9-7. That would be best-case scenario for a team trending in the wrong direction. — Jeff Dickerson

• Here’s how Yahoo Sports has it this week.

16. Chicago Bears (5-4, LW: 15)

The Bears had one run longer than 6 yards on Sunday, and it was from outside linebacker on Barkevious Mingo on a fake punt. The Bears offense is impossibly bad.

• USA Today has it like this.

16. Bears (17): Stat sheet shows Mitchell Trubisky with a 3-0 record as Chicago’s starting QB in 2020, while Nick Foles is now 2-4. Switch might make sense ... if Trubisky’s shoulder wasn’t bothering him.

Mitch was pulled from that third game while the Bears were losing, but sure, let’s give him the credit for win. While we’re at it, let’s give him Foles’ 3 TD passes and 154 passing yards in the 4th quarter of that game too.

But with that being said, I’m pretty sure we’re going to see Trubisky again at some point this year (if he’s healthy), and I just hope he’s fine tuned his mental acuity while sitting these last few weeks.

• The Bleacher/Report has the Bears at 16 this week.

High: 16
Low: 16
Last Week: 12
Week 9 Result: Lost 24-17 at Tennessee

After downing the Carolina Panthers in Week 6, the Chicago Bears were sitting at 5-1 and were very much in the NFC North hunt heading into a three-game stretch against teams with winning records.

After falling 24-17 to the Tennessee Titans on Sunday in a game that wasn’t that close, the Bears are now 5-4 and clinging to wild-card hopes.

No one should be surprised the Bears are struggling, though. They’ve been a hot mess offensively for most of the season. Heading into Week 9, they were a dismal 29th in yards per game and 28th in scoring.

Against the Titans, the Bears managed only 56 rushing yards on 20 carries. Chicago was the last team in the early slate to score a point, and it trailed 17-0 before making the game closer in garbage time.

The Bears have a great defense. Unfortunately, they also have a terrible offense. Add it all together, and you have a moribund morass of mediocrity.

“After a mirage of a start, the real Bears are standing up with three consecutive losses,” Gagnon said. Sunday’s loss to the Titans was actually far uglier than it looked, with Chicago converting just two of 15 third-down attempts. The defense is good, but Nick Foles isn’t the answer under center, and the Bears just don’t have enough talent on offense.”

• Pro Football Talk is keeping the Bears the same as last week.

16. Bears (No. 16; 5-4): The season arguably hinges on Monday night’s visit from the Vikings.

This is true.

A win on Monday Night Football takes the Bears to 6-4 ahead of their bye week, which will allow them to get some guys back healthy and to regroup, but a fourth straight loss and now we’re talking ‘it’s time to make some serious bye week changes.’