GREEN BAY, Wis. – Speaking barely above a whisper, receiver Brandon Marshall said that he was confused and disappointed after Sunday night's humiliating 55-14 loss to the Packers.
"I think before the bye it was one of those things where it was shocking," Marshall said in a somber Bears locker room. "Then you look at this game and the reality of it is this is the team we have and we have to accept it. We're just not very good right now. It's a shame to say that, but sitting at 3-6 it's tough and it's very, very, very disappointing."
After a lopsided 51-28 loss to the Patriots in New England Oct. 26, the Bears thought they had identified and resolved some key problem areas during their bye week. But they were wrong.
"We thought we had a great bye week," said quarterback Jay Cutler, who completed 22 of 37 passes for 272 yards with one touchdown, two interceptions and a 68.8 passer rating.
"We had a heck of a three practices. I told [coach] Marc [Trestman] that on Saturday. We felt really good coming into this one and then to play like that, that's embarrassing."
Asked if the Bears can rebound after two disastrous losses, Cutler said: "It's hard. It's happened before. I think we've got a lot of high character guys in there. I know our coaching staff is going to come back to work and get a great plan together. I guess we'll find out. That's all we can do."
Cutler is now 1-11 as a starter in his NFL career against the Packers, including the post-season.
The Bears allowed Aaron Rodgers tie an NFL record by throwing six touchdown passes in the first half as the Packers raced to a 42-0 halftime lead, the largest halftime deficit in Bears history.
"I can't recall is ever being this bad," said cornerback Tim Jennings. "It's tough on us. But at the end of the day we've got a job to do and we've got to fix it and every man has got to play better, starting with myself. This is our job. We've got to take pride in it."
The 55 points tied for the most the Bears have allowed in a game, and losing to the Patriots and Packers by a combined 69 points mark their most lopsided back-to-back defeats since 1960.
"I expected better play by our whole team," Trestman said, "Based on what I saw this week [in practice], I was confounded to see the type of play we had tonight. Our coaches did a tremendous job preparing our guys this week and our guys did a tremendous job of preparing, but none of it translated to the game tonight."
Fans and media have already started to call for people to be fired in the Bears organization.
"I can understand that," Marshall said. "That's one of the tough parts because I love Chicago so much and I want to end my career here. But when you lose, it's the nature of the business. Before the season, it seemed like we had everyone we needed and 3-6 is the reality of it, and we're not very good."
Asked after Sunday night's game about his job security, Trestman said: "Right now my only concern is to get these guys back. We've all got to go inside. The level of play is not anywhere where it needs to be and it starts with me."
