While the expectations needed to be realistic for new wide receiver Chase Claypool as he joined the Bears in a midseason trade, their desperate need for playmakers in the passing game didn’t allow for much patience.

Claypool figures to be a big factor in the offense eventually, but had another quiet game in the Bears’ 31-30 loss to the Lions on Sunday. Justin Fields hit him for an eight-yard pass in the second quarter and didn’t throw to him again until firing incomplete with two minutes left.

“I was prepared to be more involved, but I’m not expecting too much right now because I just got here,” Claypool said. “Me having a full understanding of the playbook will help [offensive coordinator Luke Getsy], and I’m pretty close to that, so the next couple weeks won’t be a problem.

“I’m not frustrated at all. As long as we win, I’ll be fine.”

His production is intertwined with the Bears’ chances, though, so the sooner they expand his role, the sooner they might get those victories Claypool covets.

The numbers weren’t there, but he felt more comfortable in the offense than the week before, when he caught two passes for 13 yards in 26 snaps against the Dolphins. He didn’t anticipate having to do “too much cramming” leading up to the upcoming game against the Falcons.

Nonetheless, he also has to establish chemistry with Fields, and Fields warned that “it’s gonna take time” for the two of them to connect.

“I don’t think anybody expected him to come in and just start having 100-yard games,” Fields said. “It doesn’t work like that.”

Darnell Mooney led the wide receivers with four catches for 57 yards, and he was the only one to catch more than one pass.

Kmet’s catches

Tight end Cole Kmet went nearly two years without catching a touchdown pass. Now he does it all the time.

Kmet was the Bears’ best weapon other than Fields on Sunday and caught four passes for 74 yards and two touchdowns. It was the second-highest yardage total of his career and his second consecutive two-touchdown game. He has 11 catches for 126 yards and five touchdowns over the last three games.

The downside for Kmet was that he took a hit to the right leg late in the game and missed some time. He appeared to be testing out his knee on the sideline, but said afterward he was “a little banged up” and the injury was “nothing serious.”

Harry, Jones benched

With the return of Byron Pringle, the Bears scratched healthy wide receivers N’Keal Harry and Velus Jones against the Lions.

It was fairly predictable that they would bench Jones, a third-round pick, for the second consecutive week, but Harry was slightly surprising. He played 80 snaps over his first two games, then dipped to just 28% against the Dolphins.

The Bears sat right guard Teven Jenkins, who was questionable with a hip injury, and started Michael Schofield in his place. Starting defensive end Al-Quadin Muhammad was out with a knee injury, as was starting cornerback Kindle Vildor because of an ankle injury.

The Bears also lost running back Khalil Herbert to a hip injury late in the game, and he did not return.

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I’d like to nominate Bears general manager Ryan Poles for NFL Executive of the Year. If he had built a decent pass-blocking offensive line, we might never have found out how good a runner Justin Fields is.

The Bears quarterback continued his string of tearing up opposing defenses, rushing for 147 yards and two touchdowns in a 31-30 loss to the Lions on Sunday. Fans will get caught up in the “loss” part of the story. They shouldn’t. What happened at Soldier Field was a win-win. Win No. 1: We were reminded, again, just how good Fields is at making angry defenders look like remedial tacklers. Win No. 2: The Bears made progress on improving their draft position for next season, which is sort of the whole idea of a rebuild.

I don’t think Poles’ failure to find pass blockers was on purpose, but, either way, good job! When coach Matt Eberflus and offensive coordinator Luke Getsy realized five weeks ago that Fields’ ability to run was his best asset and that the kid’s life was in danger because of weak blocking, it changed everything. Getsy began designing run plays for him. The result was on display again Sunday: Fields starting the game with a 28-yard rush out of the shotgun. And Fields, after throwing a pick-6 in the fourth quarter, responding on the next drive with a 67-yard touchdown run.

After rushing for 178 yards last week, the most by an NFL quarterback in a regular-season game, he averaged 11.3 yards a carry against the Lions. Oh, yeah, he also threw two touchdowns to tight end Cole Kmet.

Chicago hasn’t seen anything like this, and many of us are still trying to make sense of it. The long-term questions are whether this kind of offense can last in the NFL and whether Fields can survive the punishment. He took several big hits Sunday, including at the goal line after a brilliant scramble in the second quarter.

The short-term question is, “Isn’t this fun?”

Poles and the rest of the Bears’ brass will to have to decide if this is sustainable. It goes against the football knowledge many of us have built up. If Poles ever does find pass blockers, how much will the Bears cut down on Fields’ running? What if he’s a much better runner than passer? Can he survive? I’m enjoying the heck out of this, but is it a plan?

The good news is that Fields is 6-foot-3, 228 pounds, big for a quarterback. The bad news is that the people chasing him often are much bigger. He’s one 320-pound blob away from catastrophe.

As it stands now, the Bears’ entire offense is predicated on the idea that Fields might run, whether that’s a scramble when the blocking breaks down on a pass play or whether that’s a designed run. It’s not a dilemma for the Bears, who just want to score points. The only way to do that is with Fields either running or threatening to run.

He looked like a completely different quarterback the first five games of the season. He lacked confidence and accuracy, throwing three touchdowns and four interceptions. He’s been a much better passer since the Bears started emphasizing his running, throwing nine touchdowns and three interceptions the past five games. That’s not a coincidence. When opponents are worried about his running, receivers find themselves with more room. On Fields’ 50-yard touchdown pass to Kmet on Sunday, it looked like Lions safety Kerby Joseph forgot to pick up the tight end because he was worried the quarterback would run.

If running remains Fields’ biggest strength, does he risk becoming, gulp, Derrick Rose? Rose won an NBA Most Valuable Player award because of his ability to drive to the basket and his fearlessness in doing it. But it felt like a matter of time before he’d get hurt. And he did, with knee injuries adversely affecting his career.

“You’ve got to be smart,” Eberflus said of Fields’ decision to lower his shoulder on some runs. “I’ve used the terms wisdom and discernment as he goes through there. There were a couple times where he took a couple shots today. But he also slid and got himself out of bounds a couple times. Again, when you’re an athlete like that, he’s got to use that wisdom when he’s in that part of the field to make sure he gets down or gets out of harm’s way.”

Eberflus was especially impressed with Fields’ long TD run after the pick-6.

“What you understand about that young man is that, man, he’s a fighter, right?” he said. “So he has the ability — and you’ve seen it during the course of this year — to reset. We talked about it on the sideline. He said, ‘Man, reset.’ And then sure enough (third-and-2), boom, there he goes. That’s just him. He’s a fighter through and through.”

“Can do anything about the past,” Fields said. “That’s kind of been my mindset.”

The past? Everything’s about the future.

If I’m giving Poles a major award, I should give one to kicker Cairo Santos, whose missed extra point in the fourth quarter might have cost the Bears the game. Remember: Losses are good for a team trying to build, in part, through the draft.

The Bears fell to 3-7. And Fields looked very good again.

Win and win.

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Back in autumn 2014, Patrick Kane struggled — by his standards — early in the season. He recorded only 10 points in his first 16 games, a statistic he still remembers precisely.

So tallying 10 points in his first 13 games to start the 2022-23 season didn’t worry Kane too much. Nor did entering the weekend with zero points in his last three games. He joked Saturday morning that “hopefully that means I don’t go another three without a point.”

He promptly extinguished any possibility that quip would jinx him. Kane recorded two assists — and nearly a third point when he hit the post on a 200-foot prayer toward an empty net — in the Blackhawks’ 3-2 win over the Ducks on Saturday night.

But the 33-year-old winger is a bit more worried about — or at least analyzing more closely — his general play to start this season.

The Hawks’ possession numbers are poor across the board, and Kane has never been a possession monster even in his best seasons, but the Hawks’ scoring-chance ratio (74 chances for, 114 against) and even their goal ratio (seven for, seven against) during Kane’s five-on-five ice time certainly could be better.

“It’s not really about points or anything like that,” Kane said. “It’s about how to get the puck, get puck touches, how to get it in space so I can do my thing. … It’s just more about puck possession: Getting touches, hanging on to it. It seems like a lot of the time we’re out there, we’re chasing it, playing in the ‘D’-zone.”

What ideas does he have to fix that?

“It’s a challenge,” he said. “Sometimes I find myself too far ahead of the play. So [I could] come back a little bit more, demand it. I might have to take it up the ice a little bit more. There’s things you can do. But [I’ll] just try to demand the puck as much as possible.”

Hawks coach Luke Richardson moved Philipp Kurashev into Andreas Athanasiou’s former spot on Kane’s opposite wing — on the other side of center Max Domi — during the third period Thursday against the Kings and kept that arrangement Saturday.

Kurashev has brought success to every line he’d played on this season and offers a more well-rounded skill set than Athanasiou, especially defensively. It makes sense he could help Kane end up with the puck on his stick more often.

“They both have speed, but [Kurashev] is a bit more of a playmaker whereas Athanasiou is more of like a jet-speed guy,” Richardson said. “Kurashev is more of a puck-handler on the cycle in the ‘O’-zone, which suits the way Patrick plays.”

Added Kurashev: “Maybe there will be some differences, but you get used to it fast. Especially [since] I’ve been playing with so many different lines the last couple years, I just try to play my game.”

The switch didn’t immediately make much noticeable difference, however. Richardson hinted postgame Saturday he might scramble the line combinations again Monday at home against the Hurricanes, explaining his lineup decisions in California were partially because he “wanted to have a look at people in different positions.”

More changes wouldn’t be jarring for Kane, who has adjusted to hundreds of different linemates over the years and said he believes the onus rests more on him and Domi specifically to get themselves going.

And based on his history, Kane’s multi-point outing Saturday could be the start of a hot run. In 2014, for example, after starting with the aforementioned 10 points in 16 games, he then racked up 16 points in his next 10.

“There are some positives in there,” he said. “If I can get going and turn it on and get to my normal usual production, this team can take off.”

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The Chicago Bears are in the midst of a rebuilding process that is causing them to put up some lopsided numbers that have them going down in NFL history.

When Ryan Poles tore down the Chicago Bears roster over the 2022 off-season he did so with the future in mind.  He completely gutted the defense and as a result, the Bears have set a record for ineptitude that can be blamed on the defense’s inability to stop anyone.

The Chicago Bears are the first team in NFL history to score at least 29 points in three consecutive games and lose all three.

— OptaSTATS (@OptaSTATS) November 13, 2022

The Bears are chugging along on offense on the legs of Justin Fields, but after trading away Robert Quinn and Roquan Smith they’re not able to stop anyone on defense.  Today was another example of defensive ineptitude as the Bears gave up 24 points including 14 points in the fourth quarter (Justin Fields gave up the pick-six for the other TD in the fourth quarter).

It’s going to take an entire rebuild of the defense for the Bears to get back to respectability in 2023 and this stat proves just how bad things have gotten.

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Justin Fields’ rushing ability has become the sole point of success for the Chicago Bears’ offense in 2022 and one stat proves just how teams are slowing Fields down in order to win games.

Justin Fields has been a terror for defenses with his ability to run the football.  Fields has had two incredible highlight-reel touchdown runs of 61 and 67 yards in the past two games.  He has had two consecutive games of over 140-yards rushing, but none of that seems to matter as the Bears have lost those games.  In fact, the Bears are 1-3 in games in which Justin Fields runs for over 80-yards in a game.  In those four games, the Bears have been unable to score more than seven points in the fourth quarter.

Fields has been dynamic with his legs, but by the fourth quarter teams have adjusted and become more disciplined in their containment Fields and have in turn completely shut down the Bears’ offense.

Last week the defense kept the Dolphins off the scoreboard in the fourth quarter and Fields couldn’t get done in the fourth quarter.  This week, the defense imploded in the fourth quarter allowing 14 points, but Fields gave up a pick-six and was once again shut down by the Lions’ defense garnering only one touchdown in the fourth quarter.

After Justin Fields’ 67-yard TD run the Bears had two more bites at the apple to put the game on ice and the offense netted two yards on two drives.

Last week against the Dolphins the same problem existed on offense, two drives, and the Bears’ offense only netted 38 yards total.

Without question, Justin Fields has shown growth with his ability to make plays with his legs running the football, and it has resulted in the most exciting era of football perhaps ever.  However, until Justin Fields starts to make more plays with his arm the Bears aren’t going to field a team that’s going to compete against the upper echelon of Super Bowl-caliber teams in the NFL.

Instead, the Bears will be left to fight it out against the lower-tier teams in close games that they may win or may lose depending on how things go with turnovers or key fourth-quarter plays.  Credit is due for Justin Fields’ ability to make plays with his legs, but he has shown little growth as a passer in the same time frame.

For Justin Fields to become a complete QB he is going to have to become the clutch fourth-quarter field general that the greatest QBs in the league are known for over the course of their careers.

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The Chicago Bears suffered a tough loss Sunday

The Chicago Bears started slow but then scored three unanswered touchdowns to take the lead over the Detroit Lions they would relinquish late in Week 10. The Bears’ offense continued to look impressive, with quarterback Justin Fields leading the team down the field over and over. The Bears have now scored 30 points in three of their last four games.

Defensively, the Bears played pretty well compared to their performances in the previous two weeks. However, they made some egregious errors they’ll need to clean up if they want to win another game. They surrendered two touchdowns in the fourth quarter that allowed the Lions to complete their comeback Sunday. Here are three studs and duds from the Bears’ loss to the Lions. 

Chicago Bears Studs

Justin Fields-Cole Kmet connection

For the second straight week, Cole Kmet caught two touchdown passes from Fields. Kmet showed his athleticism against the Lions’ defense. Kmet was Field’s favorite target on Sunday, as Kmet was targeted seven times. Kmet finished with 74 yards receiving on four catches. The two seem to be establishing a solid connection as this season progresses.

Jack Sanborn sacks

Who needs Roquan Smith at $20 million a year? Jack Sanborn is making exciting plays for the Chicago Bears’ defense. Sanborn brought the heat against the Lions in Week 10. He sacked Jared Goff twice and finished with 12 total tackles on Sunday. Two were tackles for a loss. Sanborn was used to blitz often in the Bears’ scheme against the Lions. It was effective when it worked, but when he missed, the Lions got first downs and a touchdown.

Sanborn made great plays. A second-half interception by Sanborn was negated by a Jaylon Johnson penalty. As head coach Matt Eberflus would say, that’s great “ball production” by the undrafted rookie free agent.

The Chicago Bears run game

The Chicago Bears continued to run the ball effectively against the Lions. Khalil Herbert and David Montgomery were both averaging more than four yards a rush in Week 10. Fields took the running attack to another level. He accounted for 147 of the Bears’ 258 rushing yards. He added two touchdowns as well. Fields set a Bears record in the Super Bowl era, as he has now run for a touchdown in four consecutive games.

Chicago Bears duds

The Chicago Bears’ secondary

The Bears’ secondary looked terrible against the Lions. The Lions decided to play with a balanced attack, as they ran the ball 31 times and attempted 26 passes. They would have done better just sticking with the passing game. Lions quarterback Jared Goff finished with 236 passing yards and a touchdown pass.

The coverage was bad, but penalties hurt as well. Jaylon Johnson had two illegal use of hands penalties on a fourth-quarter drive that ended in a touchdown. Johnson’s penalty wiped out a Sanborn interception that would have given the Bears a chance to ice the game on the next drive.

Third and fourth down defense

The Chicago Bears couldn’t get off the field on third down against the Lions. A lot of that was because of the poor play by the secondary. The Lions finished 5-11 on third down and 1-1 on fourth down conversions. It wasn’t just short conversions the Lions had to make. The Lions converted on third and nine and third and 14 on two of their scoring drives against the Bears.

Chase Claypool’s production

The Chicago Bears gave up considerable draft capital to add Chase Claypool to the offense. He was targeted twice by Fields. Claypool caught one of those passes for eight yards. He wasn’t seen in red-zone situations against the Lions. Claypool might be learning the playbook, but the Bears surely have some easy packages for Fields heave a jump ball to the big-bodied receiver. The Bears need to make better use of the playmaker they traded a second-round pick for.

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Justin Fields’ sequel was almost as exciting as the original. But the outcome was just as bad as last week.

For the second-straight game, Fields and the Bears had a chance to march down the field in the final two minutes to win the game. They couldn’t, and lost 31-30 to the woeful Lions at Soldier Field.

The Bears inherited the ball with 2:21 to play and down by one. They ran six plays and gained a total of two yards. The drive ended when Fields was sacked on fourth-and-8 at the Bears’ 32.

The Bears blew a 14-point lead but regained it in stylish fashion. Suddenly facing a tied game after throwing a pick-six to Jeff Okudah early in the fourth quarter Sunday, the Bears quarterback took a shotgun snap third-and-2, faked a handoff and ran to the right behind tight end Cole Kmet, who had gone in motion from left to right.

He sprinted up the field. No one caught him.

Fields’ 67-yard touchdown run was the longest for a Bears quarterback in franchise history. He beat the record he set last week, when he ran 61 yards for a score against the Dolphins.

He gave the Bears a six-point lead. It remained that way after Cairo Santos missed the extra point.

After Fields’ 67-yard run, the Lions drove 91 yards on eight plays, scoring on a one-yard Jamaal Williams run with 2:21 to play. The Lions made their PAT.

Fields went 12-for-20 for 167 yards, two touchdowns and a 99.4 passer rating. His lone turnover was the pass that floated into Okudah’s arms and tied the game two minutes after the Bears boasted a 14-point lead.

Fields threw two second-half touchdown passes for Kmet, who has five in his last three games. The second was a beauty. From midfield, Fields and the Bears gave a hard fake handoff and rolled left. Kmet sold his block and slipped up the field and down the right flank — wide open. Fields lobbed a touchdown pass to Kmet, who was never touched.

Kmet gave the Bears their first lead of the game on a six-yard touchdown catch midway through the third quarter. After they went up two touchdowns on the deep ball, the Bears seemed to be cruising to victory. They were up 14 three minutes into the fourth quarter when rookie linebacker Jack Sanborn’s interception was negated by an illegal hands to the face flag on cornerback Jaylon Johnson. The Lions got the ball back at the Bears’ 9 and scored on the next play, a handoff to D’Andre Swift. Sixty-six seconds later, Fields threw the interception, his first in three games.

Before the long run, Fields’ most impressive gain of the game went only one yard. With 12 seconds left in the first half and the Bears down seven, Fields took a third-and-1 shotgun snap, pump faked, bluffed a run left and then right, and then took off to the left. He plowed into the end zone, leaving two Lions players injured and defensive lineman Isaiah Buggs wondering how he could have missed Fields on an ankle tackle. He ran 34.2 yards; per NFL Next Gen Stats, it was the longest a player has run during a one-yard touchdown since former Jaguars quarterback Blake Bortles ran 35.4 yards in Week 15 of 2016.

The Bears and Lions traded field goals to start the game. The Lions scored on their second drive when, on fourth-and-goal at the 2, quarterback Jared Goff found tight end Brock Wright wide open to the right for a touchdown. No other Bears defender was in that half of the end zone.

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Justin Fields is back making history again for the Chicago Bears in Week 10

The hot streak for Chicago Bears quarterback Justin Fields continued on Sunday afternoon at Soldier Field.

With the Bears taking on the Lions in an NFC North showdown, Fields made history once again during the first half of the game. Fields scored on a one-yard touchdown run late in the first half to help the Bears tie the score at 10 all before halftime. With the rushing touchdown, Fields became the first Chicago Bears quarterback to rush for a touchdown in four-straight games.

Justin Fields has been fantastic on the ground and through the air for the Bears in this stretch of five games.

Despite the Bears not coming out on top in all of those games, Fields has been a big bright spot and has offered hope for the future of the franchise. It’s clearly a rebuilding year for the Bears here in 2022 but it looks like they may have the quarterback position figured out at least.

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No. 1 Georgia led an unchanged top five in The Associated Press college football poll Sunday, while the rest of the Top 25 was shuffled after eight ranked teams lost — including two big upsets in the Pac-12.

For the second straight week, the Bulldogs received all but one of the 63 first-place votes in the AP Top 25 presented by Regions Bank. No. 2 Ohio State received the other first-place vote.

No. 3 Michigan, No. 4 TCU and No. 5 Tennessee held their spots after victories Saturday, with only the Horned Frogs facing a real challenge.

Georgia, Ohio State, Michigan and Tennessee won by a combined 203-60 against conference opponents.

Home losses by Oregon (to Washington) and UCLA (to Arizona) shook up the rest of the top 10. No. 6 LSU and No. 7 Southern California each moved up a spot.

The last time two top-10 Pac-12 teams lost at home during the same weekend was Oct. 2-4, 2014, when No. 2 Oregon fell 31-24 to Arizona 31-24 and No. 8 UCLA was defeated 30-28 by Utah.

Alabama jumped two spots to No. 8 after it fell to a season-low No. 10 last week. Clemson moved up four spots to re-enter the top- 0 at No. 8 and Utah climbed to No. 10.

POLL POINTS

Georgia is closing in on a school record.

The Bulldogs are No. 1 for the ninth time this season, matching the total from last season, when they won the national title for the first time in 41 years.

Georgia has been at No. 1 a total of 33 times in school history, one behind Michigan for 12th most in the history of the AP poll.

The Bulldogs are at Kentucky next week and close the season against Georgia Tech. Barring a major upset, they’ll go into the Southeastern Conference championship against LSU with 11 weeks as the country’s top-ranked team.

IN

Of the four teams that moved into the rankings this week, Coastal Carolina is the only one making its season debut. The 23rd-ranked Chanticleers have now reached the Top 25 in each of the last three seasons.

— No. 22 Cincinnati is back in. The Bearcats give the American Athletic Conference a season-high three ranked teams along with No. 17 Central Florida and No. 21 Tulane.

— No. 24 Oklahoma State returned after snapping a two-game losing streak by beating Iowa State.

— No. 25 Oregon State is also back. The Beavers broke a nine-year poll drought two weeks ago, immediately lost a close game at Washington and dropped out, and then moved back in Sunday after beating California.

OUT

Texas’ season in the rankings: Unranked for the first two polls, moved in for two weeks in September, out for two weeks, in for two weeks, back for a week and now gone again.

— Illinois tumbled out after a second straight home loss.

— North Carolina State is unranked for the first time this season after the Wolfpack was upset at home by Boston College.

— Liberty’s time in the Top 25 lasted a mere week. The Flames followed up a victory at Arkansas to move into the rankings by losing at UConn to fall out.

CONFERENCE CALL

The Ducks and Bruins getting toppled crushed the Pac-12’s hopes of putting a team in the College Football Playoff. One consolation prize: The conference now has more ranked teams than it has since Sept. 15, 2019.

Pac-12 — 6 (Nos. 7, 10, 12, 15, 16, 25).

SEC — 5 (Nos. 1, 5, 6, 8, 14).

ACC — 3 (Nos. 9, 13, 20).

American — 3 (Nos. 17, 21, 22).

Big Ten — 3 (Nos. 2, 3, 11).

Big 12 — 3 (Nos. 4, 19, 24).

Sun Belt — 1 (No. 23).

Independent — 1 (No. 18).

RANKED vs. RANKED

The Pac-12’s big games lost some luster, but they’re still at the top of the marquee.

No. 7 USC at No. 16 UCLA.

No. 10 Utah at No. 12 Oregon.

THE TOP 25

1. Georgia (62 first-place votes) 10-0

2. Ohio St. (1) 10-0

3. Michigan 10-0

4. TCU 10-0

5. Tennessee 9-1

6. LSU 8-2

7. Southern Cal 9-1

8. Alabama 8-2

9. Clemson 9-1

10. Utah 8-2

11. Penn St. 8-2

12. Oregon 8-2

13. North Carolina 9-1

14. Mississippi 8-2

15. Washington 8-2

16. UCLA 8-2

17. UCF 8-2

18. Notre Dame 7-3

19. Kansas St. 7-3

20. Florida St. 7-3

21. Tulane 8-2

22. Cincinnati 8-2

23. Coastal Carolina 9-1

24. Oklahoma St. 7-3

25. Oregon St. 7-3

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