Nick Foles was disappointed with how he and the rest of the Bears offense performed against the NFL's No. 1 defense Sunday at Soldier Field.
"It wasn't the best game. The Indianapolis Colts are a great team, but I didn't execute well enough and we didn't execute well enough," the veteran quarterback said after his first start of the season resulted in a 19-11 loss. "But we will look at it, we'll move on, we'll improve. It's just part of football."
The Bears were held to one field goal on their first 10 possessions before Foles threw a 16-yard touchdown pass to Allen Robinson II with 1:35 left in regulation. After the game, the nine-year veteran vowed to continue establishing cohesiveness with receivers he hadn't played with in a game until the second half of last Sunday's comeback win in Atlanta.
"This is part of building those relationships and understanding plays and continuing to grow," said Foles, who completed 26 of 42 passes for 249 yards with one TD, one interception and a 76.4 passer rating against the Colts. "I have to be better. I have to be more crisp. It's as simple as that, and I look forward to improving."
"I thought there was a little bit with timing here or there," said coach Matt Nagy. "This is not going to happen overnight with Nick. This is going to take a little bit of time as he gets going with the timing of these players and what we get to. There's a little bit of that. At the same time, we've all got to keep pressing forward, but hopefully we get better there in that area, and we grow and we understand and we don't get frustrated. But we all know that we've got to score more points, and that's what we'll do."
One key play where timing may have been a factor occurred early in the fourth quarter with the Bears trailing 19-3. On third-and-10 from the Colts' 26, Foles' pass over the middle went through the outstretched hands of receiver Anthony Miller and was intercepted by safety Julian Blackmon.
"I've got to be more accurate," Foles said. "I've got to help him out. I was trying to lead him out of the break to have him split the safeties and it was probably about six inches too far. That's on me, and that's something that is an easy fix for me. Obviously [it was] my fault and I'll help 'A-Mill' out and I'll give him a better ball next time so he can make the play."
The Bears were unable to create any rhythm on offense, in part because their running game was held to 28 yards on 16 carries.
"I want to give credit to [the Colts] coaching staff and their players," Nagy said. "That's a really good defense. This is their fourth week in a row that they've done this, so again, [it's] a credit to who they are and how they play together.
"We knew going into this game that it was going to be this style of game, just because of how they play and what they do. We knew it wasn't going to be easy to run the ball. It was hard and that's a credit to them. But again, I'll go back to saying this: I know that our guys as an offense collectively, they'll figure out the 'why' part. Coach [Juan] Castillo will get them right. We all care about it. We all want to get better. And we know we've got to be better."
With a quick turnaround—the Bears host the Buccaneers Thursday night—Foles is confident that the team will rebound from Sunday's loss.
"I don't think I've ever played in an undefeated season," he said. "Every time you lose, it shows more than wins do. You never want to lose, but that's part of it. I look forward to working with the guys and moving forward.
"It's never easy, but it tests you as a human being. Are you going to let a loss define you as a person? Or, are you going to continue to move on and be there for your teammates? This is a special locker room. I really like this locker room. It's a locker room that will look at this, will improve, will get better. And we'll get ready to work this week and we'll be ready to play Thursday night."
See the game unfold through the lenses of our sideline photographers as the Bears face off against the Colts at home in Chicago, Illinois.