Bears’ special teams struggle vs. Colts

The Bears’ special teams were particularly abysmal Sunday.

On the first punt of the game, Pat O’Donnell’s kick was partially blocked by linebacker Jordan Glasgow. It rolled to a stop 18 yards later and led to a Colts touchdown.

The Bears had four penalties for 32 yards on special teams plays alone: Barkevious Mingo’s illegal block on a kick return, Kindle Vildor’s hold on a punt return, Buster Skrine’s hold on a punt return and, most notably, Cordarrelle Patterson’s unsportsmanlike conduct flag for taking his helmet off to scream at an official after covering a punt. The play before, Patterson had dropped a deep ball from Foles.

New punt returner Ted Ginn had three returns for 18 yards.

The Colts bottled up kick returner Cordarrelle Patterson, whom they’d worried about all week, He averaged 21.7 yards per return.

“We’re going up against the best returner in the league,” Colts coach Frank Reich said. “We get a couple tackles inside the 20, so great job by our special teams unit.”