In the end, Stevenson played after two series, and he needed it as his replacement Terell Smith became another victim of an ankle injury.

It is assumed that the defense will return to its normal state. The attack did not happen.

An honest look at the good, bad and ugly of the Bears’ 29-9 loss to Arizona on Sunday would be either actually bad, worse and ugly, or stinky, worse and uglier.

Actually, there were good things too. Nobody cared, but it was there.

Here’s the good, the bad and the ugly from Sunday’s loss.

HE ACCUSES THE CRIME AND CALEB WILLIAMS SEEKS ANSWERS

THE BEARS DID NOT PRAY WHEN THEY LOSED TO THE CARDINALS, 29-9

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Kicker Cairo Santos

A 53-yard field goal in desert rain and hail. Or at least his shot came after hail but while it was raining. Apparently someone had to watch the Weather Channel because the roof was open during the Arizona storm. He then made a 53-yarder and another 29 yards to keep them within 14-9 until halftime.

Punter Tory Taylor

He averaged 54.5 yards, with a 67-yard punt, one yard shy of his best and another yard inside 20 yards. Taylor continues to dig them out of holes, but the coverage team betrays him on Greg Dortch’s 27-yard punt return. Set the Cardinals up for their first goal at the Bears 41.

CB Tyrique Stevenson

If he didn’t like the way things went last week and how the team suspended him for missing two series, at least he didn’t just sit there and sulk. Stevenson tied for a team-high seven tackles and had two pass breakups, including a great pass on Marvin Harrison Jr. He couldn’t make up for the Hail Mary, but he did his best to eliminate the aftertaste. The rest of the defense seemed to have a bad taste in their mouth.

WR Roma Odunze

His connection to Caleb Williams as a fellow rookie appears to be genuine. He had his second 100-yard game, but more importantly it was 87 yards and four catches that came in the first half with the Bears still in the possession game.

D B Reddy Commissioner

He was able to return to the field in his first NFL action and stripped the ball, leading to a recovery by Elijah Hicks.

S Kevin Byard

One of their most consistent players missed several interceptions, including one by the stiff-armed Trey McBride, which allowed the Cardinals to score their first touchdown. He was also on the end where Demercado broke his touchdown run, and he only had to turn it inside to end the half. But he allowed himself to be blocked and then didn’t step out and reverse Demercado so someone else could help stop him.

DT Gervon Dexter

This certainly wasn’t Dexter’s best play defending the run, as several of his bigger gains came after he passed the play in his space, leaving a big gap for the running back to exploit. Another thing Dexter did wrong was a “leveraged” penalty because he put his hand and weight on Arizona’s right guard’s back as he made the shot that gave the Cardinals a 10-6 lead. Instead, the penalty gave them a chance to score and take a 14-6 lead. It is a penalty but the replay did not confirm that it actually happened because it is doubtful that he actually gained an advantage by what he did and that is a necessity.

LB Tremaine Edmunds

He wasn’t alone in misplays, but on a third-down pass, he trapped Emari Demarcado by simply turning inside. Instead, he allowed Demercado to strike out for an easy first down on a simple play. The Bears’ defense broke down and made fundamental mistakes throughout the day. He also missed an inside tackle by Conner. Overall, linebackers weren’t there when needed against the Cardinals’ gap-blocking scheme.

L.B. T.J. Edwards

When you give up a season-high 213 yards rushing to the Cardinals, defenders all fall into the criticism line. Missed tackles and not being in space were a common occurrence in the Arizona running game.

RB D’Andre Swift

The safety was his fault on the low block of the pass in the end zone. His running didn’t affect this day either, but nobody did much on offense.

WR Keenan Allen

He dropped an 8-yard pass on third down on first down in the second quarter, killing a drive and forcing the Bears to concede a 53-yard Santos field goal.

Coach Matt Eberflus

At least he showed up after the game and had the bad blitz call that Demercado broke free for a 53-yard TD. Maybe he was thinking too much about how they didn’t pressure Jayden Daniels on the Hail Mary last week, but a blitz left no one to help the safeties who were blocked on the play. This is not the time to blitz.

Eberflus also deserves criticism for the bizarre penalty awarded to Stevenson during two series on the bench. It was like a symbolic penalty and hurt the defense, which was already without three starters.

What happened to the HITS principle? They didn’t look like they were following that in this game defensively.

Offensive Coordinator Shane Waldron

Waldron couldn’t make a goal-line play again, but their offense failed again in the first quarter.

He’s not the one making the passes or reading the defense. Williams does, but Waldron should have made plays specifically targeting Cole Kmet. For the second week in a row, they never targeted one of their big guns.

QB Caleb Williams

Mishandling passes, poor footwork on deep throws, being uncomfortable in the pocket and running too much, and taking another sack that helped put them out of field goal range for the second straight week were all part of his struggles. It’s almost like Jekyll and Hyde on the road with Williams. After Sunday’s loss, he has a 67.2 away passer rating and a 105.1 home passer rating.

Injury List

It’s never good when the starting right tackle has a knee injury and now Darnell Wright is a concern with left tackle Braxton Jones already out. There’s also Terell Smith with an ankle injury, Jaylon Jones with a shoulder injury, and perhaps the costliest injury of all, Andrew Billings’ chest injury. The big man played a key role in both run defense and interior passing offense.

Add Montez Sweat, Kyler Gordon and Jaquan Brisker to all of this, and if nothing improves, the Bears could be without six players next week.

Twitter: BearsOnSI