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Emma: Bears' 0-3 Start Is Even Worse Beneath The Surface

By Chris Emma--

ARLINGTON, Texas (CBS) -- Once more, the primetime stage was too big for the Bears on Sunday night. Jerry Jones' wonder world of AT&T Stadium stood far too tall for this young, struggling team, and a rookie quarterback and running back were too much to handle.

Welcome back to 0-3, John Fox, and the present company of only the Browns and Jaguars. The Bears belong in the company of the NFL's bottom-dwellers, their rightful place after a 31-17 loss to the Cowboys in Arlington.

Deep in the heart of Texas, America was force fed the Bears for the second time in six days, with roughly the same result. It will be another month before the Bears' next primetime showcase. No one knows what that will look like.

First comes staying the course after another demoralizing defeat.

"At this stage, all I know is when it's not going well, you either give up, give in or just give it your all," Fox said. "We got the right guys in the locker room. I think we'll improve for it."

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Improvement is what's so desperately needed from these Bears. It's certainly lacking through three games.

Dig beneath the Bears' second 0-3 start in as many seasons and you'll find that it's worse than you think. Youth and injuries are no excuse when rookie backup quarterback Dak Prescott carves up your defense and rookie running back Ezekiel Elliott is hurdling defenders.

Year 2 for Fox and general manager Ryan Pace was supposed to be the season in which the Bears fostered some organizational growth and become more competitive as a result. Instead, finding positives from these first three games is quite the struggle.

"You have to understand that this is a marathon, not a sprint," defensive lineman Akiem Hicks said. "These first three games are the first three games of a 16-game season. You got to make sure that you can keep that centered and focus on that."

Added tackle Bobby Massie: "You just got keep grinding. It's a long season. You can't get discouraged now, because we still got to play next week, we got to play the week after that."

Veterans will try to keep the young players focused on improving. Fox spoke of his confidence for the players they chose to shoot for a winning culture. Saying improvement will come is nice, but the results have to follow at some point -- ideally soon for this season.

Sunday brought more struggles for Dowell Loggains' offense, leading to more questions about the coordinator's abilities as a play-caller. The Loggains offense was far too conservative, not even attempting a throw beyond 20 yards until the fourth quarter. Late in the second quarter, the Bears needed three yards to pick up what would've been an important first down. Quarterback Brian Hoyer threw a two-yard pass to Jeremy Langford in the flat, which was dropped.

Vic Fangio's defense was even worse than the offense, allowing Prescott to control the game and Elliott to run for a seamless 140 yards. Nose tackle Eddie Goldman and linebacker Danny Trevathan were out with injury, but the unit had previously struggled when they were both out there too.

"Not very good," Fox said of his defense.

Struggles were certainly expected in this season, though not to such an extent. It was clear that these Bears couldn't play next-man-up football -- lacking organizational depth after years of bad drafting -- but the young players who should be making an impact are struggling too.

Pace's first top pick, receiver Kevin White, struggled outside of his first big catch. Pace's second first-rounder, linebacker Leonard Floyd, looked out of place against the Cowboys' dominant offensive line and mismatched in coverage against Jason Witten.

Somebody has to explain why the Bears seem so unprepared. It shows in their lack of development to this point, plus their struggles to even be competitive.

Fittingly, Elliott broke a 21-yard run on the Cowboys' first snap from scrimmage, simply blowing by the defense's first two levels. The Bears' first play with Hoyer under center was broken, with the quarterback and Langford failing to connect on a hand-off. The first play of any game is scripted for days and rehearsed in practice.

All across the board, it was a bad night for the Bears.

"You got to get better every week," linebacker Jerrell Freeman said. "You got to shore some things up. You got to call the spade the spade and go out there next week, get better and execute."

Last Monday night at Soldier Field, Fox was questioned as to how he coaches through an 0-2 start. He pointed to the 0-3 start in 2015 and reminded that it could be worse. Oh, it's definitely worse.

These Bears should be showing some signs of collective improvements. Instead, they are 0-3 again and even worse than their record.

"It's not a whole lot of fun when you lose," Fox said.

If only results were the Bears' biggest problem.

Chris Emma covers the Bears, Chicago's sports scene and more for CBSChicago.com. Follow him on Twitter @CEmma670 and like his Facebook page.

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