Already depleted by injuries on offense, the Bears suffered another blow in the third quarter of Sunday's loss to the Broncos when running back Ka'Deem Carey exited with a concussion.
The injury occurred on a five-yard run when Carey absorbed a hit from safety T.J. Ward. Carey remained down on the field for several minutes before walking to the locker room under his own power.
With Kyle Long inactive due to a knee injury, Carey had given a stagnant running game a boost before his injury, rushing for 32 yards on nine carries while sharing the workload with Jeremy Langford.
"We were rotating the whole game," said Langford, who was held to 25 yards on 13 carries. "It's really up to me to take up the slack when [Carey] is gone. He did a great job of running the ball before he got injured. It's up to me to continue that momentum."
The Bears offense was also missing starting receivers Alshon Jeffery and Eddie Royal. In their absence, Marquess Wilson recorded the first 100-yard game of his career, catching four passes for 102 yards. Joshua Bellamy also had four receptions for 57 yards.
Tight end Martellus Bennett only caught two passes for 26 yards, but he drew three pass interference penalties of 29, 26 and 18 yards all in the second half.
On the run: Bears quarterback Jay Cutler completed 18 of 32 passes for 265 yards in Sunday's loss. He made some of his best plays after buying time in the pocket and also ran for 29 yards on three rushes.
"When you have guys that are creative on the defensive line, especially on the edge, you rely on a guy like Jay to be able to see things and see through some of the stunts and games that they were doing and be able to extend the play with his feet," said right tackle Kyle Long. "He's done a great job of that all year."
Stingy defense: The Broncos defense entered Week 11 ranked No. 1 in the NFL in total yards, passing yards and sacks. Denver only recorded two sacks but kept the Bears out of the end zone until :24 left in the game.
"They're just good at a little bit of everything," Long said. "They're a tough group. I think that on any given day, either of these teams could come out and get a win.
"We just didn't execute enough early. Not scoring a touchdown until the last minute, that falls on us as an offensive line. We need to be able to run the ball and produce those chunks offensively and give Jay a chance to be able to have some stuff open up on the back end."
Sack attack: The Bears registered a season-high five sacks by five different players: Defensive linemen Eddie Goldman and Bruce Gaston, outside linebacker Willie Young, and safeties Adrian Amos and Chris Prosinski, who started in place of the injured Antrel Rolle.
A sixth sack by defensive lineman Mitch Unrein didn't count because the Broncos drew a 15-yard facemask penalty and the Bears accepted the penalty, nullifying the play.
Confusion on defense: Denver's first touchdown of Sunday's game came on a 48-yard pass from Brock Osweiler to a wide open Demaryius Thomas over the middle.
"We didn't execute on certain plays," said inside linebacker Shea McClellin. "Sometimes that happens. Sometimes we get confused. We have to clean that up."
This and that: With center Hroniss Grasu returning to start after missing three games with a neck injury, veteran Matt Slauson moved from center to his natural left guard position, replacing Vladimir Ducasse. ... Deonte Thompson handled kickoff returns for the Bears, returning two for 28 and 26 yards. ... The Bears failed to generate a takeaway for the first time in five games. ... The Bears did not commit a penalty for the first time since Dec. 24, 1995 in a win over the Eagles.
