LAKE FOREST, Ill. — On one hand, Chicago Bears coach Marc Trestman says Jay Cutler shouldn’t have thrown Brandon Marshall’s way on a key interception in Sunday’s 31-24 loss to the Carolina Panthers.

On the other hand, he wants to find out why Marshall isn’t being targeted enough by Cutler after the team’s star receiver was thrown to only 11 times in two games as the Bears dropped to 2-3 with two straight losses.

It’s just one aspect of a Bears passing game that seems to have run into the kind of roadblock it never encountered last year when the team finished second in scoring.

“I think that he’s been targeted certainly,” Trestman said about Marshall. “We’re going to go back and do some work on that to make sure we’re doing all the right things in that regard.

“We targeted him (Sunday). He had a lot of calls. They took it away and Jay did the right thing by going other places. We want him obviously to have more productivity.

“When he touches the ball, good things happen and over the last couple of weeks we haven’t been able to get that done. It’s certainly something that we have to continue to work on to get him back involved where he can get more touches that will result in bigger plays.”

Trestman said different circumstances have often resulted in Marshall not getting the ball enough.

“An example might have been early on in the game we had a hook route down in the red zone — I think we eventually scored,” Trestman said. “Jay took a sack on it or he got back to the line of scrimmage.

“We just had a minor breakdown where an inside receiver got an edge and he was wide open on an initial hook route. Again it’s the continuity factor of putting it all together and everybody doing their job.”

On another play, Marshall was the target near the goal line, but Cutler ran in for a touchdown when Cutler found Marshall blanketed.

“I take responsibility for that, for trying to find different ways for him to get the football where he can touch it and not just be the target,” Trestman said.

“It’s great that he’s the primary receiver, but we’ve got to make him the primary receiver when has the opportunity to catch the ball, and we’ll work at that. We’ve got some work to do on that, especially based on the last couple weeks.”

Marshall spoke only in broader terms after the game without shedding light on his situation in the offense.

“First half we had a little bit of rhythm,” Marshall said. “Second half there was no rhythm at all. First half, it was pretty smooth out there and second, I don’t know what happened.”

Marshall had three touchdown catches in Week 2 against San Francisco, and 13 total catches the first two weeks. But since that game has made only six receptions for only one touchdown.

Part of the problem initially was an ankle injury that kept him out of practices, but he returned for a full week of practice last week.

“For the most part Brandon has done well,” Trestman said. “We’ve had an open line of communication. We talked this morning about it. We talked last week about it in terms of trying to create that environment and we’re going to continue press on and do that.

“I kind of looked at it at times as a little bit of a batting slump for a hitter. We don’t get as many opportunities as those hitters get certainly, but we’ve got to do a better job of getting him more swings at the plate and allowing him to take more shots.”

The Bears have had two straight second-half collapses on offense. Cutler’s passer rating in those two second halves is 44.0, with 22 completions in 33 attempts for 192 yards and three interceptions.

Trestman gave him the blame largely for the first interception he threw, in the first half, in an attempt to force the ball deeper to Marshall.

The other Cutler interception Sunday was targeting Santonio Holmes, but Cutler said it “got away” from him. Both were actually throws deeper and over the middle.

“High and over the middle of the field is never good,” Cutler said. “And it happened twice (Sunday).”

Throwing high over the middle, though, hasn’t consistently been a Cutler problem in the last two weeks. In fact, he appeared more reluctant Sunday to attempt to make plays down the field in the second half against Carolina’s shell zone coverage.

Nor could the Bears really blame it on any one aspect of their offense.

“We had one breakdown here, one breakdown there,” said Trestman, who doesn’t want Cutler to have to shoulder the entire burden of a struggling offense.

“He’s been tremendous. You’ve looked at where he is. He completed over 77 percent of his passes (Sunday). He’s almost at 70 percent. This year his rating is much higher.

“The thing that he knows that he’s got to do and we know that we’ve got to help him do it and I’ve got to help him do it is take it one step farther in making the right decisions at the right times to stay out of that mode.

“And I know he’s going to work really hard at it. He has worked tremendously hard to get to this point but we’ve got to take care of the football and that starts with me.”

What the Bears have to address as they head into another difficult road matchup in Atlanta is whether not getting it to their bread-and-butter receiver enough is what’s leading to breakdowns in the other areas of the offense.

REPORT CARD VS. PANTHERS

PASSING OFFENSE: D — Once again it’s a numbers offense, as Jay Cutler came out with 289 passing yards and a 95.5 rating, but no touchdown passes in the second half for the second straight week, and not getting the ball down the field (6.6 yards per attempt). The Bears have three points to show for the last two second halves and Cutler’s second-half QB rating the last two games is 44.0.

RUSHING OFFENSE: D — The makeshift offensive line failed to open many holes against a suspect front that was struggling against the run. Even a makeshift line should have been able to clear more running room considering the Panthers sat back in a zone the second half. Matt Forte’s lost fumble was the biggest play of the game.

PASS DEFENSE: C — The loss of safety Chris Conte to another concussion proved critical as it gave the Panthers a matchup of Greg Olsen on Danny McCray, who is essentially a special teams player. The pass rush was inconsistent — strong early and fading later when they really needed it. After five games, the two new starting defensive ends, Jared Allen and Lamarr Houston, have zero sacks. Ego Ferguson and Stephen Paea at tackle had strong games rushing the middle and deflecting passes, and Willie Young forced a fumble with his NFL-high fifth sack.

RUSH DEFENSE: B — It was solid at 3.3 yards a carry, but should have been even better considering the Panthers were essentially using practice squad players at running back. They kept an obviously injured Cam Newton at nine yards on six attempts as a scrambler.

SPECIAL TEAMS: D-minus — Robbie Gould’s missed chip shot field goal turned the game. Teddy Williams’ debut on punt coverage turned into a nightmare punt return touchdown for the Panthers. An offside penalty on a kickoff, a few other penalties and Chris William’s bad decision to return the final Panthers kickoff after the 20-yard line had been an acceptable starting point just made for a complete disaster day. At least punter Pat O’Donnell appeared well rested after not having to punt once against Green Bay — he took advantage by averaging 52.3 yards a punt with great hang time.

COACHING: D — Marc Trestman seemed to have some problem with calling slants, posts and skinny posts against the Panthers’ shell defensive coverage in the second half. It was the second straight game this happened. Jay Cutler isn’t throwing downfield because the coverages are giving him the underneath routes, but the Bears seem unwilling to be patient and force the big mistake.