The Chicago Bears Week 13 loss to the Arizona Cardinals effectively stomped out any last flickers of playoff hope within the fanbase, though there can't have been much coming into the matchup. The Cardinals jumped out to an early lead and never gave it up, though Chicago did manage to get some points on the board. We go over the Bears-Cardinals game and more with some Bears Week 13 takeaways in mind.

 

Once the news broke that Kyler Murray and DeAndre Hopkins would be playing, optimism plummeted in Chicago. The defense proved that morale shift to be justified after surrendering a touchdown to each of them in the opening quarter of the game. It wasn't a bad performance for the defense overall, allowing just 257 yards on the night, but that was more than enough for the Cardinals to do significant damage.

The offense on the other hand just was out of sync. Andy Dalton was a disaster, throwing four interceptions in the game, more than he'd thrown all season coming into Week 13. David Montgomery, on the other hand, impressed for the Bears. He recorded 90 yards on 21 carries with a touchdown and was also the team's lead receiver with eight receptions. His performance wasn't enough to propel the Bears to victory, however.

With that said, here are a few Bears Week 13 takeaways from their loss to the NFC-leading Arizona Cardinals.

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Bears Week 13 Takeaways

3. This is the real David Montgomery

David Montgomery was struggling since his return from IR. Having missed a chunk of time due to the knee sprain he picked up in Week 4, Montgomery hadn't been able to find his stride this season. That all changed Sunday when he exploded for his best game of the season and his first touchdown since returning from the knee injury. If the Bears lacked an offensive identity before, they just found it via their third-year running back.

When Justin Fields returns from his ribs injury, knowing Montgomery is playing at his best will help alleviate a lot of pressure from the rookie quarterback. There was a point where it was beginning to look like a lost season for the Iowa State product, but his all-around performance on Sunday just silenced any doubters. He's certainly a bright light for a Chicago offense that hasn't had much to be excited about in 2021.

2. Chicago won't succeed under Matt Nagy's leadership

A loss to the Cardinals isn't a reason to fire a head coach. But just about every other result the Bears have had this season is. At 4-8, only two of Chicago's wins have come against teams that weren't the Detroit Lions. Excluding their win over the Lions in Week 12, the Bears haven't won a game since Oct. 10, yet we haven't seen much of anything in terms of changes to the game plan.

David Montgomery enjoys his best game of the season, yet Andy Dalton, who threw four interceptions, ends the game with 41 pass attempts. All the while, a capable backup in Nick Foles was waiting in the wing to be called upon in relief, to no avail. At some point Nagy's got to become more experimental with this team, especially considering his days as head coach are almost certainly numbered. At this point, it's virtually a guarantee that he won't be with the team next year, so Bears fans should be hopeful the team is conducting an internal search for the next person to take charge.

1. Andy Dalton is just a backup

When Justin Fields is ready to play, the Bears need him to do just that. Andy Dalton, no matter how anyone phrases the argument, is no more than a stop-gap quarterback at this point in his career. When Fields is cleared to suit up for the Bears, Dalton needs to retain his rightful place as manager of the clipboards. The four-interception performance from Dalton prevented Chicago from mounting any sort of comeback against the Cardinals, and it seems any time the team began to build momentum, an errant Dalton throw would erase it all.

Look, this loss isn't solely on Dalton. The Bears shot themselves in the foot with some costly penalties, too. But throwing four interceptions and only losing by 11? That correlates directly to the play of the man under center. There had to be a significant amount of people wondering if Nick Foles was going to make an appearance in the game, but in the end, Dalton was the man in charge, and he came up well short.