Week 7 Power Rankings: Bears drop after frustrating Packers loss
The Chicago Bears are coming off a frustrating 24-14 loss to the Green Bay Packers, where Chicago dropped to 3-3 on the season. And there were implications among power rankings.
Heading into Week 7, the Bears dropped a little bit. Last week, they surprisingly were ranked as high as 13th in some power rankings. Now, they’ve fallen given Sunday’s loss to Green Bay.
USA Today: 16th
AP Photo/Nam Y. Huh
USA Today moved the Bears down just two spots to 16th. They’re not too convinced about Chicago’s offense, but they remain in the top 20. It’s a fair worry and is hard to convince anyone that they’re dynamic. They’re one of the worst offenses right now.
Look, it’s a hard sell at even 16. Are they a contender to win anything this season? No. Can they make the playoffs? Yes.
The defense is so good that they can carry this team, with a solid running attack, to the playoffs. Outside of that, they’re not going far. The worst offense in football is a stretch, but a bottom three offense isn’t. They have three running backs who can carry the load on offense, that’s it.
Until the passing attack improves, they’re going to lose against teams like the Packers. Anything can happen on any given Sunday, but they might not jump much higher than 16th this season at the rate they’re going.
ESPN: 19th
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ESPN‘s power rankings have the Bears dropping down just three spots to 19th. That’s not terrible, it’s fair. They aren’t the worst team in the league. They might have been over-ranked, but they’re not a bottom 23-25 team.
Though the play calling and rushing game have improved under Bill Lazor, the Bears are just a game away from being under .500 again. ESPN’s Jeff Dickerson expresses that, saying Chicago struggles to beat “quality opponents.”
“This past Sunday’s loss to the visiting Packers reinforced the fact that Chicago struggles to beat quality opponents,” wrote Dickerson.
That’s been the story of the Matt Nagy era.
CBS Sports: 19th
AP Photo/Nam Y. Huh
CBS Sports drops the Bears down six spots to 19th. They are in the same spot ESPN put them. It’s a fair spot.
The offense has been and will continue to be the problem going forward. Justin Fields continues to show flashes but he’s a rookie. He’s struggled too much to put multiple quarters of greatness in a row, let alone games.
Inconsistent is the word for the passing offense. Growing pains is the term for Fields’ play so far. It’s hard to judge him off of the last few starts. He’s played with an injured offensive line. Things have to be better around him before we can expect a full transformation into an elite quarterback. It’s going to take some time.
Yahoo! Sports: 20th
USA Today Sports
Yahoo! Sports put the Bears at 20th on their power rankings going into Week 7. They remain in the same spot they were last week.
Basically, the only thing you can say about that is they were right. The Bears have a great defense that keeps them in games, but no offense – yet. They got to Aaron Rodgers early in this game, but that was about it. He still scored three touchdowns.
Rodgers was held under 200 passing yards, but that doesn’t matter. The final score matters. Packer fans and Rodgers get to say he still “owns” the Bears after another win. There’s not much to say as he is now 11-3 at Soldier Field in his NFL career.
It wasn’t a surprising loss and the Bears did fight hard. The final score of 24-14 looks worse than it was. It doesn’t even look that and compared to 2020’s blowout losses.
Still, it’s five straight losses to the Packers. The Bears cannot let that bother them. This week, they play the Buccaneers in a must-win matchup. If they lose this one, they fall to 3-4 and things start to look worse for Chicago.
NFL: 23rd
AP Photo/Nam Y. Huh
The Bears stayed at 23rd on NFL’s power ranking list. They might have had it right as Chicago struggles too much on offense to be ranked inside the top 20.
Justin Fields did play better as the game went on, but his interception in the back of the end zone when he had Allen Robinson open shows the growing pains fans will live with as he continues to develop.
Fields and the offense have to perform better against teams like the Packers. The only way to beat great teams is to be able to run the football and throw it. The Bears ran the ball well, with Khalil Herbert playing well, but the passing attack wasn’t enough. Their defense can only hold them in so many games.
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