Bears now squarely in the bottom third of NFL power rankings

Losing four out of five games has put the postseason all but out of reach for the Bears.

The poor run of form has been reflected in this week’s power rankings roundup. The Bears have an aggregate power ranking of 23 now and fell an average of 3.4 spots after the loss to the Patriots on Sunday.

Not helping matters, as TMQ notes, is the Patriots possession outcomes last weekend: touchdown, field goal, touchdown, touchdown, touchdown, touchdown, punt, field goal, field goal, kneel to end game. With that in mind, the Bears’ ranking represents exactly where they belong.

Let’s get to it.

CBS Sports

Bears rank: 23

Last week: 19

Comment: This is a team in chaos right now. Can they turn it around? What has happened to the offense?

ESPN

Bears rank: 23

Last week: 19

Comment: The Bears allowed 38 points in Sunday’s first half, most in a first half in franchise history. Jay Cutler was 3-of-9 for 35 yards and an interception targeting Brandon Marshall.

FOX Sports

Bears rank: 24

Last week: 17

Comment: The Bears are in a downward spiral and it’s now time to start questioning Marc Trestman after he left his starters in deep into the fourth quarter of a game that had already been decided.

NBC Sports

Bears rank: 21

Last week: 21

Comment: Giving up 51 points is way more unacceptable than being 3-4.

NFL.com

Bears rank: 24

Last week: 21

Comment: For all the jokes going around at Lamarr Houston’s expense — you know, for suffering a season-ending injury while celebrating a sack of a backup quarterback in the fourth quarter of a blowout loss — you simply must give him credit for trying to play off the embarrassment by acting like he was straight chillin’ on the turf afterward, as though he was merely savoring his not-clutch sack. I thought it was smooth. Unfortunately, to fully play something off, you have to be able to actually walk away at some point. Hey, at least Matt Forte piled up 168 yards of offense.

SB Nation

Bears rank: 24

Last week: 20

Comment: Meanwhile, the Patriots put up a fifty-burger on the Bears, and appear to have regained whatever mojo they were missing on offense early in the year. It may be no coincidence, of course, that Rob Gronkowski is back healthy and integrated into the passing game. He caught three touchdowns in Week 8. Tom Brady went a cool 30-of-35 passing for 354 yards and five touchdowns. New England has now won four in a row.

Yahoo!

Bears rank: 22

Last week: 20

Comment: This is Bears defensive coordinator Mel Tucker’s seventh season as a defensive coordinator, and his third with Chicago. In his first six seasons his defenses finished better than 23rd in yards allowed once and better than 24th in points allowed twice. So this year’s ranking of 18th in yards allowed is an improvement! (The ranking of 29th in points allowed is not.)