Bears penalty issues less troublesome than red zone execution

Red zone problem

"We have to score touchdowns instead of field goals," Swift told reporters. "That’s what comes back to bite us, and that’s what I know we need to focus on for sure.

"Penalties keep showing up, so we have to eliminate them. It’s definitely self-inflicted wounds; pre-snap we have to clean it up. Anything after that, like holding, that’s going to happen. But, the pre-snap stuff, we have to get that eliminated because that is what we can control.”

The truth is, they had a couple presnap offensive penalties but the impact was nowhere near as severe as penalties on their defense.

The defense looked overmatched trying to stop the ball-control attack of the Ravens while using so many subs in the secondary. They committed costly penalties in the process.

The penalty breakdown

The Bears had 11 penalties and three were against their special teams. Of the other eight, four were on the defense and four on the offense.

The four offensive penalties did include one in the red zone on the first drive, the false start on Colston Loveland on that turned third-and-1 at the 3 to third-and-6 at the 8. But they converted on the next play and then couldn't get in the end zone on the next three plays without a penalty involved. The other presnap penalty on Joe Thuney was questionable but cost them only 2 yards from their own 4. They easily could have overcome a first-and-12. Instead, two plays later Caleb Williams threw the game's key pass, an interception on second-and-10 made at the Bears 18.

The other two offensive penalties were on Williams. Those were the intentional grounding penalties. One was irrelevant because it came on a third-and-9 incompletion when he threw away the ball in the pocket to avoid a sack. They would have been punting anyway from Baltimore's 46. If it had been third-and-short perhaps they go for it but not in that situation.

The other intentional grounding made their chance to get a field goal just before halftime all but impossible. A 58-yard field goal by Cairo Santos coming off an injury was a bit too much to ask. It could have been shorter without the grounding penalty and Williams could have simply thrown downfield out of bounds somewhere.

The other four penalties all came on defense and two were the Jonathan Ford and Andrew Billings offsides penalties with the Ravens in easy field goal range for the clinching points already. It just made it easier as they scored a touchdown after being helped by those penalties.

This left Nick McCloud's third-down defensive pass interference guarding Zay Flowers on an incompletion, resulting in a first down at Baltimore's 32. They drove then to a field goal. The other was Nahshon Wright's illegal use of ands on second down at the Ravens 39 that gave them a first down and they drove to a field goal.

Those last two directly resulted in points. The one Bears red zone false start didn't do anything to their chances to score because they had three downs from the 6 and in after it and had to kick a field goal.

Missing the cornerbacks

Those absent cornerbacks made a huge difference on at least those two penalties, let alone some of the catches made by a Ravens wide receiver corps no one would rate among the league's best.

"I mean that’s life in the League," Tremaine Edmunds said of the injuries. "I mean they had guys out. We had guys out. We’ve just got to figure out a way to come out with a win.

"I think the guys that came in did a good job, so we’re not going to use that as an excuse because that’s life in the NFL. It’s always next man up mentality, but I think those guys did a good job coming in and competing.”

An admirable approach but not realistic. Players can't be realistic, though.

"We had some penalties in key spots down there," safety Kevin Byard told reporters. "We had a couple stops, but it just wasn’t enough. It wasn’t consistent enough stopping the ball.

"They had too many long drives. They were able to go all the way down the field. I think we had some key red zone stops, but it just wasn’t enough today. Obviously, we didn’t get any takeaways, so when we don’t get any takeaways, and you know their defense played well and had a takeaway as well. It just wasn’t enough for us.”

Takeaways for the defense can't be counted on all the time. Without their top three cornerbacks, it's even unrealistic to think about many of them.

The penalties on offense, at least Sunday, were merely sideshows.

The Bears offense is going to need to be more efficient in the red zone to support the banged-up defense. It's on Williams, but also the line, receivers and backs.

If not, that 4-3 record could start to look like it did last year after they hit four wins.

The penalties

• Holding on Josh Blackwell on opening kick return, Bears start at 22

• False start Colston Loveland at Ravens 3 on third down, converted first down, kicked field goal

• D'Marco Jackson illegal formation on punt to the 1-yard line

• Nick McCloud defensive pass interference on third-and-3 incompletion at Baltimore 32 (led to field goal)

• Intentional ground Caleb Williams on third-down incompletion near midfield

• Intentional grounding William on second-and-5 at Ravens 39, Bears came up short on 58-yard field goal

• Illegal use of hands Nahshon Wright on second run for 10 yards at Ravens 39, drive led to field goal

• Noah Sewell low block on a kick return, Bears start at own 17

• Joe Thuney false start on first down from the Bears 4, a 2-yard penalty two plays before interception

• Jonathan Ford offsides with Ravens at Bears 25 on first-and10 with 3:06 left on TD drive

• Andrew Billings offsides with Ravens at Bears 18 with 3:02 left on TD drive