First-and-10: This season a bigger disappointment than even 2014

John Fox conducted business as usual Monday, but elsewhere at Halas Hall there has to be some frustration and bewilderment that yet another season is turning into a nightmare.

In a 24-hour span from Sunday to Monday, an already fragile Bears season being held together mostly by hope has gone to pieces. Guard Kyle Long and right tackle Bobby Massie suffered injuries against the Buccaneers. Jay Cutler endured a regression that was stunning even by Cutler standards; and the Bears responded to an opportunity for an unlikely playoff run by laying a tremendous egg in a 36-10 loss to the Buccaneers in Tampa.

And when it didn’t seem like it could get worse, it did: Wide receiver Alshon Jeffery, the team’s best offensive player and a team captain, was suspended for four games Monday for violating the NFL’s policy on performance-enhancing substances. And NFL Network reported that Long will be out for the season.

The Bears laughed off a report by Bleacher Report columnist Mike Freeman that “most of the [Bears] locker room has given up on Cutler” — “Who is Mike Freeman?” Fox asked Monday — but this stuff isn’t going away just because the Bears don’t want to believe it. For the third time in five years, speculation that a Bears head coach could get fired cannot be laughed off. It might be unlikely, but one thing is for sure — stranger things have happened at Halas Hall.

Just two years after the Bears hit rock bottom with back-to-back losses to the Patriots (51-23) and Packers (55-14) that spelled the end for the Phil Emery/Marc Trestman regime, the Bears have reached another low-point.

And arguably this one is more disappointing. This wasn’t George McCaskey and Ted Phillips hiring the ex-Bears scout Emery, who hired Trestman over Bruce Arians. This was former Giants GM Ernie Accorsi leading the Bears to Ryan Pace — a league-wide sought-after candidate — who hired a proven coach in Fox. And yet the Bears aren’t any better off today. They are 8-17 since Fox was hired and seemingly are headed for another rough landing in the final two months of the season. Fox’s “Year 2” magic has eluded him.

Previously in tough times, Fox has reached back for some example — sometimes convoluted — of a team he coached that faced a similar predicament and responded positively. But there was none of that this time. He had a 1-7 team in Carolina in 2004 that finished 7-9, but it did not come up Monday. That team had been to the Super Bowl the previous season. It knew how to win. This one does not.

It might turn out that these are the tough times that will make it that much sweeter when Fox leads the Bears to the playoffs. But the days for giving Fox that benefit of the doubt are gone. From here on, we’ll have to see it to believe it. You want optimism? Only 92 days before pitchers and catchers report.

2. Fox kind of chuckled at the notion that he might be losing his touch, but there’s more evidence that his style is not resonating like it used to than it is. The Bears lost 36-10 to a Buccaneers team that had not won at home since last season (and lost 18 of its previous 21 home games).

“It wasn’t all bad,” Fox said. “I know the score was all bad, but when you do this for a long time [as he has, 28 years in the NFL], I think you look at it. I think our guys understand the message. I think our guys will respond fine.”

Just a week ago, Fox agreed that the game against the Buccaneers following the upset of the Vikings would be “a good measuring stick” of progress from last season, when the Bears faltered after an upset of Packers, losing to the 49ers and Redskins at home. Even though it wasn’t “all bad,” the results were not good.

3. The hottest seat at Halas Hall likely belongs to offensive coordinator Dowell Loggains. The Bears are last in the NFL in offensive points scored per game (14.1). Against a Buccaneers team ranked 29th in defensive points allowed per game (27.4), the Bears scored 10 points and gave up none for a net of one point. The only touchdown came on Cutler’s 50-yard Hail Mary pass to Cameron Meredith.

3a. Another indicator of just how much the Bears’ offense under-performed Sunday. The Buccaneers had allowed 19 plays of 20 or more yards in their previous two games, against the Eagles and Raiders. The Bears had one — the Hail Mary to Meredith.

4. Cutler’s pick-6 against the Buccaneers was the 18th of his 11-year NFL career. Only Drew Brees (24) and Philip Rivers (21) have thrown more in that span. (The Packers’ Aaron Rodgers has thrown one.)

Cutler has thrown 13 pick-6s in eight years with the Bears — at least one in each of the last seven seasons, including three last year. This was his fourth his last 18 games.

5. The odds are that Alshon Jeffery’s violation of the NFL’s performance enhancing substances policy was more out of trying to stay healthy. Jeffery had played in the Bears’ first nine games. Last year he never played in more than four consecutive games because of injuries.

6. If Connor Shaw were healthy, he’d be the people’s choice today. Shaw, acquired on waivers from the Browns, was impressive in the preseason — albeit against second- and third-team defenders — before suffering a broken leg against the Chiefs.

Shaw’s production was modest — 11-of-16 for 127 yards, two touchdowns and no interceptions for a 132.0 rating. But he showed more moxie than any Bears quarterback, with an ability to throw accurately in the face of pressure. He was injured, infact, on a 16-yard completion to Cam Meredith.

“That’s something that’s hard to teach — to be able to sit in that pocket and understand that someone’s probably coming to hit you and still deliver the ball. And he can do that,” Bears quarterbacks coach Dave Ragone said. “You can tell the leadership is out there. And there’s an intriguing prospect there and hopefully he recovers fully from the injury and see how it plays out.

“I know he’s not on the active roster right now, but he’s a guy that made an impression on not just his teammates but the coaching staff as well.”

7. Outside linebacker Leonard Floyd, who had 1.5 sacks against the Buccaneers, leads all rookies with five sacks this season. The Chargers’ Joey Bosa, the Jaguars Yannick Ngakoue and the Bucs’ Noah Spence each has four.

7a. Rookie running back Jordan Howard, who rushed for 100 yards on 15 carries (6.7 avg.) against the Buccaneers, is second in the NFL in yards per carry (114-605, 5.3) behind the Dolphins’ Jay Ajayi (127-725, 5.7). Despite not starting until Week 4, Howard is 11th in the NFL in rushing.

Howard had five carries of 10 or more yards against the Buccaneers (15, 15, 13, 13 and 10) and has 19 for the season, for 359 yards. Matt Forte had 21 rushes of 10 or more yards last season, for 299 yards.

8. Fox called an interesting time out with six seconds left and the Bears trailing 36-10 after Jordan Howard gained three yards on a rush with 14 seconds left in the game. Most teams let the clock run out in that situation.

It gave the Bears one final play, and the offense certainly needed the work. But considering the Bears’ luck, it was also a chance for somebody to get injured. Cutler threw a short pass to Eddie Royal who gained 24 yards to the Bucs’ 26 and ran out of bounds — without incident.

9. Ex-Bears Player of the Week: Revenge was sweet for Buccaneers safety Chris Conte, who returned a Cutler interception 20 yards for a touchdown Sunday. The athletic Conte had nine interceptions in four seasons with the Bears, with 124 yards in returns — including three 35-yard returns. The closest he came to scoring was on a 35-yard return to the 9-yard line against Matthew Stafford and the Lions in 2013.

Conte had his ups and downs with the Bears, but his inability to stay healthy hastened his exit from Chicago. Conte started 12 games for the Bears in 2014, and played just 44.4 percent of the defensive snaps. In two years with the Buccaneers, Conte has played in 23-of-25 games. This season he has started every game and played 92.5 percent of the Buccaneers’ defensive snaps.

9a. Patriots tight end Martellus Bennett, slowed by an ankle injury the previous four games, had seven receptions for 102 yards in a 31-24 loss to the Seahawks on Sunday. Bennett has 47 receptions for 504 yards and four touchdowns this season. The Patriots are 1-2 when he has 100 or more yards and 6-0 when he has fewer than 100 yards receiving.

9b. The Jets’ Matt Forte rushed for 98 yards on 20 carries in a 9-6 loss to the Rams. Forte is fifth in the NFL in rushing this season — 732 yards on 189 carries (3.9 avg.) — with seven touchdowns.

10. Bear-ometer: 3-13 — at Giants (L); vs. Titans (L); vs. 49ers (L); at Lions (W); vs. Packers (L); vs. Redskins (L); at Vikings (L).