Bears vs. Cardinals: Biggest losers from Chicago's Week 9 loss

The Chicago Bears lost to the Arizona Cardinals, 29-9, in Week 9 to drop their second straight. The game wasn’t close and was basically over by halftime. Following the bad loss to the Washington Commanders a week prior, the Bears laid an egg in Arizona.

Chicago hasn't won a Sunday road game since 2021, when Matt Nagy was the coach. It’s ridiculous that Matt Eberflus still has his job on Monday after a loss like they just had to extend his road struggles to 3-18.

You will find that our three losers of the game are all players being held back by this coaching staff. It’s a story that isn’t going to go away until it’s either changed or things get better.

D’Andre Swift

Swift was a big loser for the Bears on Sunday. A lot of it wasn’t his fault because of the injuries to the already low-end offensive line and bad offensive structure, but that doesn’t take away from the fact that he wasn’t at his best. We see what Chicago's offense can do when Swift is on top of his game. That wasn’t the case against the Cardinals who are a middle-of-the-pack NFL team right now. He’s done well against bad teams but seems to struggle when the going gets tough.

In the loss for the Bears, Swift had 16 carries for 51 yards and no touchdowns. Averaging 3.2 yards per carry is not going to get it done. He needs to find a way to be better despite the situation that his team has given him. Swift did have six catches for 31 yards. He is fine in the passing game, but his main priority is running. Swift needs to be more effective when the ball is handed to him as opposed to thrown to him. Again, not entirely his fault because he doesn’t call the plays. Caleb Williams threw the ball 41 times to Swift carrying it 16 times (Roschon Johnson ran it three times). From a coaching standpoint, it is hard to truly get the passing game going without a solid run. Everyone must step up.

WR DJ Moore

There has been a lot of conversation this season about Moore and his commitment to the team. It is starting to feel justified considering he walked entirely off the field in the middle of the play. His body language doesn’t tell the story of a man who wants the Bears to win at all costs. After the game, he had no problem subliminally telling the world how he feels about the coaching staff. There is a disconnect there for sure.

Moore is right about everything but he isn’t being a good leader for the team. Going out there and having 33 yards on four receptions (no touchdowns) isn’t going to make anything better. If he is already mentally checked out, the team has no shot. When he is on his game, Moore is a top-flight NFL receiver. He’s fast, agile, smart, and incredibly skilled. Because of these tools, there is a lot of expectation that he will be a great player. So far in 2024, he’s been only okay, which isn’t good enough.

Cole Kmet

Kmet is a huge loser from the game. He is probably the only one on this list who really doesn’t get any blame at all for it though. Kmet left the game with no targets. Normally, the player would get some blame for that (if not all of it). However, the football wasn’t thrown in his direction a single time over the course of the game. He was sure to air his frustrations about it after the game.

Kmet is one of Williams’ most valuable weapons but the coaching staff doesn’t use him right. Gerald Everett, who is a solid leader for Chicago, did have one catch for five yards. It’s fine to use Everett but not at the expense of Kmet, who is younger and better. If he wants to eventually become a guy who is known as an elite player in that position, either something needs to change or he needs to get out of town. Either way, it was frustrating watching Kmet be irrelevant in the loss to Arizona. They need him more than they realize.

This article originally appeared on Bears Wire: Bears vs. Cardinals: Biggest losers from Chicago's Week 9 loss