Bears Report Card: How we graded Chicago in Week 9 loss to Cardinals

The Chicago Bears are starting to look like a bottom-five team more than they are a playoff team. We knew that there was a ceiling to their success under Matt Eberflus -- who is now 3-18 on the road -- but now it may be even lower than that.

On Sunday, the Bears were embarrassed by the Arizona Cardinals in a 29-9 loss. The score is bad, but it still doesn’t even tell the full story of how inept this franchise is. The offense continues to struggle, with rookie quarterback Caleb Williams under constant duress, and the defense stumbled amid injuries.

After a few weeks of every unit playing well, it is clear that dominating even worse teams was their specialty. This is how each group grades out after this horrid Week 9 loss:

Offense: F

Shane Waldron is a bad offensive coordinator, and the head coach allows a lot of it to happen. In this game against the Cardinals, they didn’t even sniff the end zone. Keenan Allen looks like he’s washed, DJ Moore is disinterested, and the running game doesn’t exist on most weekends. Cole Kmet also wasn’t targeted and hardly used in this game despite being one of their most dangerous weapons.

If the Bears front office doesn’t want to turn Caleb Williams into a bust, they better start making some changes, and soon. If they don’t, things are going to get ugly with this offense fast. Scoring nine points against the Cardinals should be grounds for termination on the part of a lot of people. An F isn’t low enough. They can't run, they can't pass, and they don't use the plethora of weapons that they have for Williams in a smart/balanced way.

Defense: F

There are some bad injuries on defense right now. Not having Montez Sweat hurts the pass rush and there are a ton of other players missing, which makes it difficult as well. With all of that said, there are no excuses. Giving up 29 points to the Cardinals is a disaster no matter who was missing. The Bears have depth on this team, and it didn’t show with how they performed on Sunday. Is it their fault that the offense only scored just nine points? No. But it is their fault that they looked as horrible as they did against a mediocre Cardinals offense.

Head coach Matt Eberflus deserves most of the blame for this group’s terrible effort. The defense that they played to end the first half took all of the life out of the team, and they didn’t recover in the third or fourth quarter. Out of every unit, this one is the most likely to return to form as they get a little bit healthier, but that’s no excuse for their performance against the Cardinals. If Drake Maye and the New England Patriots torch them this bad next week, they are in big trouble.

Special Teams: D

This is the type of loss where everybody gets a near-failing grade There isn’t anything directly relating to the special teams units that caused them to win, but nobody on this roster gets a pass. Tory Taylor is a good punter. Cairo Santos is money from inside 50 but is not relied on to make anything more. Although, Santos was clutch with a pair of 53-yard field goals in this game -- along with accounting for all nine of Chicago's points -- which is why they're able to snag the lone non-failing grade.

Coaching: F

You knew it was coming. If Z were a grade, that is what this coaching staff would be getting, and it all starts with Matt Eberflus. He isn’t accountable and continues to make horrific mistakes that lead to losses. After the dreadful week before, how is this loss acceptable? Their effort was not where it needed to be, and execution can only be blamed so many times in a row.

Why is Caleb Williams risking injury in the final two minutes down by 20? Most of the offensive line is hurt, and he’s running for his life on plays that don’t matter. He should count his lucky stars that they work for the Bears who don’t fire coaches midseason. The whole 2024 season is a failure, and Eberflus is the main culprit. As long as this coaching staff is in Chicago, the team will regularly lose games this way. The fact that they don’t have a Sunday road win under Eberflus is as bad as it gets, and the F grade again reflects it.

This article originally appeared on Bears Wire: Bears Report Card: How we graded Chicago in Week 9 loss to Cardinals