Bears film review: Some good but a lot of bad for QB Nick Foles in starting debut

New starting quarterback Nick Foles was nowhere near the upgrade the Bears hoped he’d be — or that most of Chicago thought he’d be after lighting up the Falcons a week earlier — in the 19-11 loss to the Colts on -Sunday.

Foles was 27-for-42 for 249 yards with a touchdown pass and an interception. While that yardage total is actually decent by Bears standards, the 5.9 yards per attempt was the 12th-lowest by one of their quarterbacks since coach Matt Nagy took over in 2018. Foles also has two of the worst completion percentages over the last three seasons at 55.2% against the Falcons and 61.9% against the Colts.

But there was a spark in the second quarter that gave reason for optimism. Foles’ best stretch by far was leading a nine-play, 84-yard drive from the Bears’ 7-yard line to set up a field goal.

He went 5-for-6, and all five completions were accurately thrown. His only miss, a big one, was throwing well behind tight end Demetrius Harris on third-and-five at the Colts’ 9-yard line.

The most encouraging part of that drive was Foles’ accuracy on deep balls. He opened with a 33-yard shot to Darnell Mooney down the left sideline on a pass that was placed right where Mooney could use his body to hold back Colts All-Pro cornerback Xavier Rhodes.

One factor in the quarterback change was that Nagy grew tired of Mitch Trubisky not seeing or misfiring on opportunities down the field. Foles not only helped create a big play with a perfect throw to Mooney, but he quickly located Allen Robinson open over the middle for 27 yards on his next pass.

Those were five beautiful minutes for Foles and the Bears. And that was pretty much it.

Accuracy problems

Aside from the early field-goal drive, Foles posted a 67.7 passer rating. Overall, film review showed 27 of his 42 passes were accurate after closing with eight consecutive good throws when the Colts were playing prevent defense. His last pass was a TD to Allen Robinson that cut the Colts’ lead to 19-9, and Nagy wasn’t impressed by that drive.

“Getting a free touchdown at the end of the half [when the Colts are playing] cover-2 the whole way down the field is not enough,” he said.

Nagy made similar comments about Trubisky leading late drives against the Saints last season to make a 36-10 game look cosmetically better with a 36-25 final score. He called it “garbage time” and essentially said those stats didn’t count. So at least he’s being fair.

Foles’ comeback against the Falcons was a revelation, but the way he played against the Colts was a continuation of the performances that got Trubisky benched. Foles’ 64% throwing accuracy was barely better than Trubisky’s 61% through three games. Both quarterbacks have completed 59% of their passes, and Foles has averaged 6.2 yards per attempt compared to Trubisky’s 6.5.

Blame game on interception

The most brutal sequence for the Bears was Foles’ interception at the Colts’ 7-yard line early in the fourth quarter, which was followed by Indianapolis draining 7:12 off the clock on a 66-yard drive for a field goal. Instead of the Bears cutting the deficit to 16-10 with plenty of time left, they got the ball back down 19-3 with 3:47 remaining.

The interception came on a throw across the middle to Anthony Miller for about 20 yards, and it’s debatable if Foles threw a bad pass or an NFL receiver should make that play.

“I’ve got to be more accurate,” Foles said. “I’ve got to help him out. I was trying to lead him out of the break to have him split the safeties. It was probably about six inches too far.”

Any quarterback would say that, regardless of whether it was the receiver’s fault, but Nagy agreed that the pass was “just a little bit off.”

That said, Miller isn’t totally blameless. This wasn’t a case of barely being able to get a finger on a high throw; the ball appeared to hit Miller’s hands.

Miller meandering

The Colts game, by the way, was the third in a row that fifth-round pick Darnell Mooney played more than Miller, whose playing time has dipped from 64% of the offensive snaps last season to 52% in this one. Coaches play the players they trust.

And quarterbacks throw to them. Foles targeted Mooney nine times to just five for Miller. For the season, Mooney has caught 13 of 20 targets, while Miller has caught 9 of 19. Their production is similar, with Mooney putting up 145 yards and a touchdown and Miller going for 133 and two scores.

Third-down letdowns

The Bears’ pass rush absolutely dominated on third downs against the Falcons in Week 3, holding Matt Ryan to 3-for-9 passing and sacking him twice. That’s masterful work.

But the pass rush wasn’t nearly as effective against Philip Rivers as the Colts converted 9 of 19 third downs and made up for one of their failures with a fourth-down conversion. Rivers completed 9 of 14 passes for 118 yards (a 114.6 passer rating) and was sacked once. The Bears put significant pressure on him on only half those plays.