Brad Biggs at the Chicago Tribune answers your questions:
“One concern: The Bears had 250 yards of offense in the first half against Cleveland and only 14 points. It’s been a problem all season. Lots of yards that don’t produce points. — Tim S., Chicago
Not exactly a question here but I will tackle it. The Bears rank fifth in the league in total offense (which is simply yardage), averaging 369.1 yards per game. They are ninth in scoring at 26.1 points per game. I’d say those rankings are pretty close. As a side note, the Bears have averaged more yards per game only once: in 2013, when they averaged 381.8 in a 16-game season.
To your point, they’ve left some points on the field or, as the players and coaches like to say, some meat on the bone. The 26-14 win over the New Orleans Saints and the 24-20 win over the New York Giants come to mind as examples of games that probably could have had a larger margin based on how the offense moved the ball.
“We’ve had some spurts like that where it’s been challenging to move the ball and score the points,” Ben Johnson said Monday [after the game]. “But it was just a matter of time for us. We moved the ball really well in the first half. We had a couple opportunities there before halftime that we’ll address when we get a chance to (Tuesday) with the group that we felt like we left something out there.”
This is something every team goes through on a weekly basis, dissecting why more possessions didn’t end with a touchdown. The Bears rank 15th in the red zone at 59.2%. It’s something to keep an eye on because if you start trading touchdowns for field goals in a close game against a good opponent, that’s a quick way to lose. But I don’t think the issue has been as pervasive as you might imagine.”
I think a big part of the problem early on was things like penalties in the red zone which pushed the Bears back. The Bears were penalized 10 times for 105 yards against the Packers but up until then they had been doing much better since October.
Hopefully Saturday’s emotional game was an anomaly and they are over the poor discipline that plagued them the first half of the season.