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LAKE FOREST, Ill. -- Chicago Bears coach John Fox wouldn't want two disappointing defensive performances to be confused with his team quitting. Fox has been adamant his team was competing hard even after its early elimination from playoff contention and a league-high stack of starters missing because of injuries.
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On Monday, following a 41-21 loss to the Washington Redskins on Saturday, Fox was consistent in saying he still saw effort despite a game when the Bears never really threatened seriously in the second half.
"There's no splintering," Fox said. "You hear that word sometimes from the outside. Our issue last week, when you look at scores and records, was minus-five in turnover ratio. I don't care who you're playing.
"And they'll continue. Our guys will compete."
Running back Jordan Howard is within 61 yards of breaking the Bears rushing record for rookies held by Matt Forte (1,238) and agreed with Fox's summation.
"As a team, we don't care what our record is," Howard said. "We might be losing, but we're going to come back and fight and give it our best shot.
"We don't have a don't care mentality. We are all going to fight to the finish."
The bloom fell rapidly off quarterback Matt Barkley's rose, however.
Even after throwing eight interceptions in two games, including five on Sunday, getting a spot next year to compete for a starting role has to be his goal.
Still, Fox wouldn't fire the blame at a quarterback who was actually not on the team when preseason ended. Fox blamed Barkley's five interceptions not on a lack of poise but on the entire offense.
"Lack of poise, I don't know if that's the right word, but just lack of execution of everybody involved," Fox said. "So I think the intentions are good, our effort's good, where we have work to do is execution, no different with Matt than many of our players."
Fox pointed out the minus-16 turnover ratio the Bears have had is the main reason for a 3-12 record. With a loss to Minnesota Sunday, they would break the team record low for victories in a 16-game season.
"I think our interception total's up where we've thrown 17 interceptions, five this past game, so both sides of that are why we're sitting here at 3-12," Fox said.
Barkley's five interceptions Saturday matched the second-most ever thrown by a Bears quarterback. Immediately after the game, however, Fox said he has no plan to give backup David Fales a start in the finale.
Bears players also defended Barkley.
"I think he just got out of rhythm a little bit maybe," wide receiver Cameron Meredith said. "You know that's not how he is all the time. He's a steady playmaker. He's stepped up and done a lot of good things for us. Everybody has those games. Receivers have drops, defense has missed tackles, he's just like everybody else."
Barkley admitted he was pressing once they Bears fell behind.
"Those are times when you have to eat it and live to see another play," Barkley said. "In a game when the touchdowns are not enough, you have to stay one play at a time."
Still, promises of things to come and explanations are not likely to sit well with the fan base. The last three home games have been played before a nearly half-empty stadium.
"Obviously it's very disappointing," Fox said. "It's disappointing to everyone, ourselves included. I feel bad for our fans, we have great fans. We have great fans here we have great fans when we travel. They hang with us.
"Better days are to come. We see improvement. It's not in our record but I think we are closer than people think."
A 3-12 record hardly seems like improvement after 6-10 last year. At 9-22, Fox is going to finish with a worse record than Marc Trestman had for two years (13-19).
"I think sometimes, when you come into a situation, you take some steps back before you take some steps forward," Fox said. "In my opinion, we are in a way better position to be in striking distance moving forward."
Fox referred back to some of the lopsided Bears NFC North losses as proof.
"You look at our division, you look at some of the scores in our division two years ago," he said. "You look at some of the statistics, in particularly, defensively.
"You look at the age of the football team two years ago. With that comes some growing pains. These things weren't built in a day."
REPORT CARD VS. REDSKINS
PASSING OFFENSE: F -- Matt Barkley showed he could step right in for Jay Cutler. And that's not a good thing. Barkley's five interceptions were right out of the Cutler playbook and tied Cutler's worst effort as a Bear. Barkley wasn't overly pressured despite being behind all game, and the Bears even provided a nice counter to the pass with Jordan Howard rushing for his team rookie record sixth 100-yard effort. The passing yardage came against soft coverage and any yardage was largely insignificant considering the turnovers. Receiver Cameron Meredith remained one of the few bright spots in a dismal season with his fourth 100-yard game.
RUSHING OFFENSE: B -- Jordan Howard's 119 yards on 18 carries for a 6.6-yard average proved once again how insignificant the running game can be in the pass-heavy NFL. Howard probably will become the team's all-time leading rookie rusher and it's made virtually no impact on a 3-12 record.
PASS DEFENSE: F -- Tracy Porter experienced one of his worst Bears games with a 28-yard pass interference penalty and three other long gainers allowed. The safeties were slow to react when providing deep help and just as slow coming up on passes caught in the seam. Washington nearly had two 100-yard receivers. The pass rush largely vanished with the concussion suffered by Leonard Floyd, and Pernell McPhee's shoulder injury slowed the rush, as well.
RUSH DEFENSE: D-minus -- Yielding 208 rushing yards is a failure by any standard and the Bears' defense also gave up 226 the previous week. Backup nose tackle CJ Wilson was pushed out and linebacker Jerrell Freeman had nine tackles but played largely like someone who hadn't played in four weeks -- which he hadn't.
SPECIAL TEAMS: B-minus -- Pat O'Donnell had to punt once and launched a 51-yarder with no return. He punted once because Matt Barkley was busy turning over the ball with his arm before O'Donnell could do it with his foot. Coverage units pinned Washington back once on a kickoff and Chris Prosinski executed a punt fake for a first down by running up the middle.
COACHING: F -- Vic Fangio spent the previous week lambasting former Bears general manager Phil Emery and previous coaches for failing to build a 4-3 defense in their regime, then the Bears' 3-4 gave up 478 yards of offense a week after allowing 451. Fangio's blitzing was useless and ill conceived. The Bears needed to be in deep zone coverage most of the time to prevent big plays and instead were giving them up. A blitz on a screen pass that Chris Thompson took 17 yards for a touchdown was embarrassing. Anyone in the half-empty stadium knew the screen was coming and it completely caught the Bears off guard. Offensive coordinator Dowell Loggains again proved his efforts need to be closely scrutinized at season's end after he opted for two straight passes inside the 10-yard line after the running game had shredded Washington's defense to get the ball into scoring position. Special teams coordinator Jeff Rodgers sent in the fake punt call in a predictable field position and situation, and the execution made it work. Coach John Fox pointed out after the game for the hundredth time how good the opposing team was. At last glance, they weren't even in a playoff position, which all underscores how far Fox still has to go with the Bears -- and why unsubstantiated rumors keep cropping up about his future in Chicago.
