Final Word: What's the state of the Chicago Bears? Consider the locker room after the Patriots loss

CHICAGO - There was no other place in the city of Chicago that carried a more eerie feeling.

Shortly after the Chicago Bears lost 19-3 to the New England Patriots, the Bears retreated to the locker room.

The post game proceedings went on as usual, but they were more subdued. That makes sense considering the Bears have fallen deeper. They went from 4-2 and one play from being 5-2, to being 4-5 following a loss to a 2-7 team that had plenty of areas to attack with no answers in sight.

"We've got to take a hard look, inward look, accept accountability, and be accountable to the guy to the right and the guy to the left. That's how you do this thing when you have adversity like this. That's how you pull together, and that's the only answer you can have," Bears head coach Matt Eberflus said. "I'll take full responsibility for it."

That's the right thing to say after a loss like that. Putting up just three points against New England is an indictment on an offense that has already been indicted at least five times this season.

The problems persist as answers fail to emerge.

If you want any indication of the state of these Bears, just look at that locker room.

The locker room was a somber place. Some players collected themselves, collected their things and left quickly. I can't blame them. 

Even outside the locker room, the Solider Field tunnels were quiet. There wasn't much being said and whatever was said in a hushed tone.

Some of the team captains spoke. Kevin Byard, Cole Kmet and DJ Moore offered their ideas on what went wrong on Sunday.

"Not playing well, No. 1," Byard said. "We have to find a way as a team to, you know, figure out the formula to win ball games. Win four and two into the bye week and then we lost three straight. So, we're not scoring points. We're not stopping guys when we need to. So yeah, just frustrating. We need to figure it out soon."

The defense did all it could. It was on the field for what felt like all day. The Patriots didn't do anything too outlandish; they just took what the Bears' defense gave them.

The Bears offense, however, did not. They struggled to string together anything. That was the biggest cause for concern, as a once fun and exciting offense has regressed to a hollow shell of a unit that's as despondent as the action they create on the field.

"When it got going a certain way, it was just hard to kind of get out of the funk of it a little bit," Kmet said. "Even when we were moving the ball, it just didn't really get flowing how it really should have at times. But, just really been on the funk really the past three weeks and we got to find a way out."

The defense, though, will still say the right things. They won't say if they're frustrated with the lack of complementary football.

"I'm not in a finger pointing business, you know what I mean?" Byard said. "I try to do what I can as a player or a playmaker to make plays."

On lesser teams with lesser construction, there might be finger pointing. The Bears aren't there. There's a good chance they won't, either.

Especially when the quarterback – a 22-year-old rookie – was one of the people immediately taking the blame for the dismal offensive performance.

"It first starts with me," Bears quarterback Caleb Williams said. "Definitely this game is a lot to learn from for myself, just speaking on some of the situational things. Obviously, there's a few passes every game that you wish you could have back and things like that. But I think situationally, this game was a great learning experience for me with some of these situations that I could have done better for sure."

The benefit of having a veteran roster is that they understand how far maturity goes in these situations.

The Bears are mired in a bad spot. There's no sugar-coating how bad things have devolved since Chicago departed from London into its bye week at 4-2.

None of the momentum or the fun remains. Only a 0-3 record, including one heartbreaking loss and two frustrating Sundays, remains now.

Outside the locker room, there was a small reprieve in players' families waiting for them. A good reminder they're not mired in that frustration forever.

At 4-5, the Bears have a hole to climb out of. It's not impossible, but it gets infinitely more difficult with NFC North play beginning in a week.

The Bears need answers. The despondent locker room is a clear example of that.

Beating the Packers next week would make the last three weeks feel like a faux pas. But there's plenty to figure out to get to that point.

"Everybody just gotta believe in everybody right now," Moore said. "And that's how it is going forward."