Let's not sugarcoat anything: the Chicago Bears 2023 season is over. Matt Eberflus can talk all he wants about how many games are left to play, but I'm not buying what he's selling anymore.
We're watching the games; we see how inferior the Bears are to the teams they're playing. Chicago has been outcoached and outhustled. It's been the opposite of H.I.T.S.
After a loss as bad as Sunday's, no Bears player or coach deserves a game ball. Many of them deserve a pink slip. So, I'm not doing my usual game-ball column this week. I've chosen to assign blame instead.
Blame balls, perhaps?
Here are the three Chicago Bears who deserve the most blame for Sunday's 41-10 loss to the Kansas City Chiefs.
Matt Eberflus
Sunday's game can be summarized by one penalty: the Bears were flagged for a delay of game in the second quarter... on the drive's first play. How, in the name of George S. Halas, does that happen? Only an utterly incompetent coaching staff can take a delay of game penalty at the beginning of a drive.
The Eberflus train has come to a grinding halt. He's clearly in over his head, and his team has appeared to quit on him.
Yes, this past week was emotionally exhausting for the Bears. But that's no excuse for the pathetic performance we saw on Sunday, especially after already dropping two games in embarrassing fashion.
The clock is officially ticking on Eberflus. I don't think he will be the first Chicago Bears head coach to lose his job midseason, but no other Chicago Bears head coach has overseen a 13-game losing streak, either.
Time will tell.
Luke Getsy
The only question offensive coordinator Luke Getsy has left to answer is this: is he a double agent working for the Green Bay Packers or simply incompetent? Either way, he should be the first Bears' coach to get canned if and when the firings begin.
Getsy was entrusted with this offense that, on paper, should be full of firepower and speed. Instead, the Bears are averaging less than 16 points per game, led by a quarterback who looks lost.
The designed runs for Fields still aren't coming. DJ Moore was not given a slant route until the fourth quarter, which went for a touchdown (funny how that works). The playcalling was uninspired at best and sabotage at worst.
We thought Getsy had turned a new leaf after Week 7 of the 2022 season. We were wrong.
Justin Fields
Say it with me, Bears fans: Justin Fields is not a good quarterback.
We can argue until we're blue in the face about who is to blame for that, but the fact remains that he is not a franchise quarterback, and his time in Chicago should be nearly at an end.
The Bears deserve a lot of blame for failing to develop him, but Fields himself has to take the blame, too. Defenses have figured him out. They plan 'contain' around the edges to keep him from breaking free; without that option, he is lost.
Fields isn't seeing the field. He's not looking off safeties or linebackers. He's not breaking off huge runs or throwing to wide-open receivers and tight ends. Again, the organization deserves a ton of blame for how his career has fallen off, but we cannot ignore the obvious any longer.
Justin Fields is not the answer, though it breaks my heart to say it.
Dishonorable Mentions: Just about everyone on the team, the coaching staff, and in the front office, really. Once again, this team needs significant changes from top to bottom. I'm still not out on GM Ryan Poles, but he needs to answer for this coaching staff's abject failure.