CHICAGO — After the Chicago Bears offense looked lost in games against the Washington Commanders and Arizona Cardinals, coach Matt Eberflus declined to make a change in play caller from offensive coordinator Shane Waldron.

Six days later, Eberflus watched the Bears offense reach a new level of ineptitude in a 19-3 loss to the New England Patriots.

The Bears failed to score a touchdown for the eighth straight quarter, dating back to the fourth quarter against the Commanders. They had new season lows with 3 points and 142 yards, had just 69 net passing yards and went 1-for-14 on third down. And quarterback Caleb Williams was sacked nine times in 39 dropbacks, the most sacks for a Bears quarterback since Justin Fields infamously took nine sacks in his first career start against the Cleveland Browns in September 2021.

This time, as Eberflus met with reporters in a news conference room below Soldier Field, he left open the possibility of changes when asked specifically about Waldron, the man he hired to replace the fired Luke Getsy in January.

“We’ll look at everything,” Eberflus said. “I think it’s look at everything from the top to the bottom and making sure we’re finding the answers to move the ball down the field, play better as a football team, on offense, defense and special teams.”

Sunday’s game against the Patriots was supposed to be a breather before a tough NFC North slate, a confidence builder, especially for the Bears offense against a Patriots defense that has been unremarkable in almost all stats this season.

Instead, it became another strike against Waldron, who joined the Bears with three years of experience as the Seattle Seahawks coordinator. The Bears offense has scored 16 points or fewer in six of his nine games and just 27 total in the last three games.

Tight end Cole Kmet, who finished the game with two catches for 13 yards on four targets, had a variety of descriptions for the stretch of performances — “a funk,” “a big rut” and simply “pretty bad.”

“It’s been a tough past three weeks coming out of the bye, definitely not where we envisioned ourselves at this point in time,” Kmet said. “We’ve definitely, offensively speaking, taken a pretty big step back, and we’ve got to find ways to claw back here and get back at least to where we were before the bye week.”

Not much was worse than Williams frequently getting flattened by Patriots defenders behind a patched-together offensive line. The Bears were missing starting offensive tackles Braxton Jones and Darnell Wright as they dealt with knee injuries, and left guard Teven Jenkins exited the game in the first half with an ankle injury.

The Bears felt their absences.

The Patriots entered the game with 16 sacks in nine games. On Sunday, seven different players recorded at least one sack, and those sacks came in a variety of ways. Some blew by Bears backup left tackle Larry Borom, right tackle Matt Pryor, left guard Doug Kramer and right guard Ryan Bates. Some went untouched on blitzes. Some found Williams as he struggled to find a target — or get rid of the ball — in time.

“That’s an everybody thing,” Eberflus said of the sacks. “That’s rhythm and timing of the quarterback. That’s protection of the offensive line. That’s route disciplines of the guys running the routes. It’s all that at the same time.”

Williams took two sacks that helped kill drives in the first quarter, including one for an 8-yard loss that pushed the Bears out of field-goal range on third-and-7 from the Patriots’ 31. Seven of the Patriots’ sacks came in the second half, including two back-to-back to destroy the opening drive of the third quarter. Back-to-back sacks also stalled the Bears’ final drive.

“Just got to look all of ourselves in the mirror, critique what’s going on, look at the film,” Borom said. “Don’t get sour from it but learn from it and keep rolling.”

The Cardinals sacked Williams six times a week earlier. And a natural concern should come up not only about Williams’ health but also how his development might get thrown off by taking — and in the future worrying about — so many hits.

Eberflus, however, downplayed the notion it would affect Williams.

“Caleb’s strong,” he said. “He’s strong inside. He’s strong outside. He’s a strong individual. And he’s been through adversity. He knows how to do this. He knows how to get through adversity by pulling together. We’ve got to pull it together with everybody else, so it’s important we get that done moving forward.”

The Bears offense’s ineffectiveness went beyond just the sacks.

The Bears failed to score on their first three drives despite starting them at the Patriots’ 47 and their own 40 and 48. Williams completed 16 of 30 passes for 120 yards, with more glaring missed connections with his receivers. DJ Moore had three catches for 24 yards. Running back D’Andre Swift managed 59 yards on 16 carries.

Williams took some of the responsibility on himself, noting there were a few plays where he needed to be situationally more aware. When asked about the play calling, he pointed out that the Bears need to execute better regardless of the call.

If Eberflus does decide to make changes to the offensive operation, Williams noted “they’re not going to reinvent the wheel” in Week 11.

“We’re midseason, and it’s not a decision for me,” Williams said. “I have to do what (Eberflus) says. I have to deal with whatever decision he makes, and I have to be fine with it. Will I be able to adapt? Yes, I will. We’ll be able to adapt, whatever decision coach makes. From there, we have to go out and execute and win games.”

That task gets notably tougher next week as the 6-3 Green Bay Packers visit Soldier Field. The Packers defense ranks in the top half of the league in many statistical categories. And the Bears haven’t beaten the Packers since 2018, losing all four of their games against them under Eberflus.

Kmet didn’t shy away from calling it a “big game.” And it’s going to take more soul searching — and maybe some changes — from the Bears to be up to it.

“It just comes to sticking together,” Kmet said. “All we have is each other in the locker room here. We have to stick together here, put our heads down and get back to work this week.”

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