Implosion or explosion.

Those were the two likely developments for the Chicago Bears coming out of the corner staggered by last week’s demoralizing defeat at the hands of the Miami Dolphins followed by the more newsworthy event, wide receiver Brandon Marshall’s tirade that laid blame at the feet of the kicker, the quarterback and all points between.

Chicago can stitch another patch for pitiable play Sunday at Foxborough, falling behind 17-0 and then watching the Patriots put up a dizzying trio of touchdowns in the final 1:55 of the second quarter on the way to a 38-point first half in the 51-23 blowout.

“We lost today,” Bears coach Marc Trestman said. “We got beat by a really good football team, we have a whole half a season to play and we are going to go back tomorrow and start over. And address every situation that we have and all aspects of our football team. And get ready to start this thing up again in a week.”

The Bears’ problems are many, and the climb out of the Catacombs Cutler built is steep.

Fittingly, only Trestman will be heard from this week as the Bears hit the bye week and brace for what’s to come — particularly, a Week 10 visit to Lambeau Field. The team confirmed Sunday that players will not be made available, and that, too, smacks of the growth of dissension in the second-year coach’s ranks.

There is a leadership void in the Bears’ locker room, where the senior-most defender, linebacker Lance Briggs, said he bailed from the scene of Marshall’s emotional rant because he didn’t want to get involved.

There is no leader of the offense, and for all the bluster — from on high, starting with Trestman and GM Phil Emery — about Jay Cutler’s second season with QB whisperer Trestman taming his free-wheeling ways. But the Bears might have buyer’s remorse by the end of this season.

All that ails the Bears is not on Cutler.

His 12 turnovers aren’t helping the cause but on the other side of the curtain stands a defense scorched for 22 touchdowns and a NFL-worst 222 points. Trestman’s schemes that made the Bears the No. 2 scoring offense in the NFL last season have been mostly predictable. The last time his play-calling prowess was lauded came in Week 4, on a fake end-around TD pass to Alshon Jeffery. The Bears lost the game, 38-17.

There was no resistance from the defense. As Tom Brady pointed out postgame, when a team doesn’t punt until the third quarter, it’s probably a good day.

“Everything was working,” Brady said. “You come in and you want to make adjustments at halftime, but really we were just sticking with the plan.”

It was a rough day for Trestman and the Bears. New defensive end Lamarr Houston, who has had minimal impact for his $36 million free-agent deal, injured a knee celebrating a sack with the team trailing by a landslide.

Doubts about Cutler are simmering, while the grave concern is about leadership — short and long term.

That boils all the way to the top, where the temperature rises for Emery and Trestman and confidence is diving by the week in this braintrust pulling a team that had division title hopes out of the doldrums.

Emery has insisted Cutler is a franchise quarterback and there are numbers to suggest he’s right. His paycheck — $22.5 million base salary this season as part of a $126 million deal — does, too.

“We are going to have time to really look at ourselves individually and collectively and the break comes at a good time for that,” Trestman said.

While the Bears wait for Cutler and his mates to come up with the answers, the time for tough questions continues.

“We’re going to take some time off, obviously, with the bye week, come in tomorrow and watch some film, and collectively, as a whole we have to decide how we want to end this year and how we want to do in this second half,” Cutler said. “Do we want to just pack it in and hover around .500, maybe a little bit below, or do we want to use the talent in that locker room to try and make a run for this?”

Week 8: What we learned

Saints 44, Packers 23

This is a different team at home. The Saints ran over, around and through the Packers with 495 yards total offense and a career-high 172 rushing yards from running back Mark Ingram. The Saints won their 11th consecutive home game.

The Saints have the kind of offensive balance that could make them a formidable team in the second half of the season starting Thursday against the Panthers. Ingram showed speed and power.

“I just try to go out there and do my best to help us win,” Ingram said. “I just want to go out there and make plays. The offensive line did a great job, and we just have to keep improving. I am always hard on myself. I always have room for improvement.”

Cardinals 24, Eagles 20

Arizona QB Carson Palmer’s arm strength doesn’t appear to be a question at all, considering all the shots he took deep down the field against Philadelphia, including his 75-yard bomb to John Brown that ultimately won the game for the Cardinals. It was only Palmer’s second game back, though, after missing three in a row to deal with a dead nerve issue in his passing shoulder.

“It’s been three and a half weeks since I’ve started throwing again. You know, arm strength just comes with throwing,” Palmer said. “It doesn’t come back over a long period of time, it comes back pretty quickly, pretty rapidly. There were some balls that I knew I wouldn’t have been able to throw against Washington three weeks ago and some balls I felt a little more comfortable with last week (against Oakland) and this week I feel like I’m getting all the way back to 100 percent.”

Browns 23, Raiders 13

Cleveland continues to search for answers without All-Pro C Alex Mack, who missed his second game and is out of the season with a broken leg. The Browns’ offensive line got another makeover when Nick McDonald started at center and John Greco moved back to right guard for their game against the Raiders one week after Greco started at center and Paul McQuistan at right guard. The Browns are counting on McDonald to adequately replace injured Pro Bowl center Alex Mack. The Browns were held to 39 yards on the ground on 25 carries and survived only because of 17 points off turnovers.

Steelers 51, Colts 34

Nobody knows what to believe about the Colts, who shut out the Cincinnati Bengals last week and then went to Heinz Field, where the Steelers flipped a 50-burger on Indy thanks to 522 yards and six TD passes from Ben Roethlisberger. The Colts had not trailed in a game for more than a month, but go back to the drawing board.

“We realize that in football, you have to prove yourself every week and there’s no resting on laurels. Once this is done, who you are is your last game and this is our last game, so we realize we’re going to have to get back on the practice field,” said QB Andrew Luck. “I think we have an extra day this week for a Monday night game, so we’ll get it going again.”

Dolphins 27, Jaguars 13

The growing pains are deep for QB Blake Bortles on a team that must manufacture points without proven playmakers to support the rookie. The Dolphins returned two interceptions for touchdowns and Bortles said poignantly postgame “I’m killing us.” Four Bortles passes have been returned for TDs.

Bills 43, Jets 23

The Bills (5-3) have won two in a row and three of their last four to hit the midway point of the season with a winning record for just the third time since 1999, the last time they qualified for the playoffs. Buffalo, which has its bye next week, is one of four 5-3 wild-card candidates in the AFC.

Perhaps the Jets are due to review the NFL scrapheap. After all, that’s where the Bills found quarterback Kyle Orton, who had four TD passes while coach Rex Ryan is unsure who’ll take the first snap at Kansas City next week after Geno Smith was picked off three times and benched for Michael Vick.

Vick (18 of 36 for 153 yards passing, a team-high 69 yards on eight carries) committed three turnovers and absorbed four sacks Sunday, but still played far better Sunday than he did against the Chargers (8 of 19 for 47 yards passing, two carries for 14 yards). It’s far too late to save the season and probably too late to save Ryan’s job, but if the objective is to win games — and it’s a fair question to ponder, given some of the moves made and not made by general manager John Idzik — then Vick, who can still give a team a spark even if he’s not the revolutionary talent he was in his 20s, needs to be behind center the rest of the year.

Chiefs 34, Rams 7

Injuries are leaving a mark on the St. Louis Rams. Coach Jeff Fisher will have problems fielding an offensive line in the next few weeks as the Rams go on the road for two more games. When Sunday’s game started, the offensive line consisted of left tackle Jake Long, left guard Greg Robinson, center Scott Wells, right guard Rodger Safford and right tackle Joe Barksdale. When the fourth quarter started, the line looked like this: left tackle Robinson, left guard Davin Joseph, center Barrett Jones, right guard Mike Person and Barksdale. Early indications are that Long tore a knee ligament.

Bengals 27, Ravens 24

The Bengals are becoming the cardiac cats. A tie game two weeks ago with Carolina was a near-miss for Cincinnati and they gasped to the last breath Sunday, with a game-winning touchdown overturned when Steve Smith was called for offensive pass interference.

Andy Dalton passed for 266 yards and scored two rushing TDs. But it was another case of good Andy, bad Andy, as Dalton threw an interception and lost a fumble to spark a Ravens comeback. But, as head coach Marvin Lewis says, among Dalton’s best qualities is his ability to overcome adversity.

“He can block it out and go,” Lewis said.

Dalton engineered a 10-play, 80-yard drive that culminated with his 1-yard QB sneak to rescue a victory for the Bengals.

Seahawks 13, Panthers 9

Introspection and reflection carried the Seahawks to Charlotte, and again Seattle made it a home away from home. While the running game remains a question rather than noted asset, the defense can still be dominant and that’s something the Seahawks want to make sure remains a foundation. The Seahawks racked up five plays in which Carolina lost yards.

“We just closed the gate and finished for a change,” saftety Earl Thomas said.

Seattle held Carolina to 266 yards of total offense, including only 113 yards in the second half.

Vikings 19, Buccaneers 13

It’s a lost season of inexplicable losses for the Buccaneers, who dropped the game in overtime on a fumble return for a touchdown.

“Can’t lose like that. It’s a horrible way to lose,” Bucs DT Gerald McCoy said. “It’s just freak stuff, these ways to lose games. I was like, ‘Did we really just lose like that?’ We did, but we had opportunities. It’s not that one play.”

Meanwhile, Minnesota is establishing playmakers.

Running back Jerick McKinnon ran for 83 yards on 16 carries, drawing praise from coach Mike Zimmer afterward.

“Jerick looks like a pretty good back, doesn’t he?” Zimmer said. “I love the way he runs.”

Cordarrelle Patterson had a season-high six receptions and 86 yards, including a couple highlight-reel grabs that showcased his outstanding athleticism.

“I thought he stepped up and played much better today,” Zimmer said.

And of course, linebacker Anthony Barr made the game-winning strip and 27-yard fumble recovery in overtime. He said afterward he’s adjusting to pass coverage better each day in practice, and it’s showing every Sunday. Keep those young talents around rookie quarterback Teddy Bridgewater, and throw in young defensive tackle Sharrif Floyd, and you have a pretty strong nucleus in Minnesota. These kids might be all right.

Texans 30, Titans 16

Thou shalt not incite Texans defensive end J.J. Watt.

Watt had two sacks and said he was motivated by rookie sixth-round pick Zach Mettenberger posting pregame selfies of his self in the Titans locker room. He was informed of the pictures by someone in the locker room, Watt said.

He said he was annoyed that Mettenberger was treating the NFL like high school.

“Welcome to the show,” Watt said.

Watt’s pass-rushing sidekick Jadeveon Clowboy was back on the field but made little impact and did not start. He will likely see more time Sunday against the Eagles.

Patriots 51, Bears 23

Tom Brady, who had five TD passes, further exposed the Chicago Bears, a team going on midseason bye and all appearances point to a long second half ahead. Adding injury to insult, high-priced free agent Lamarr Houston injured his knee celebrating a sack with the Bears on the wrong side of a blowout.

Chicago’s sieve-like defense has a lot of trouble up the middle and without weak-side linebacker Lance Briggs, the Patriots gutted the Bears with undrafted rookie Jonas Gray (freshly promoted from the practice squad last Thursday) and tight end Rob Gronkowski (nine receptions for 149 yards and three TDs).

Lions 22, Falcons 21

The Falcons can’t finish, no matter the continent. It was a 21-0 lead at halftime, and a throat stomping loss by the end of the game when Matt Prater nailed a 48-yard field goal to send the Lions back to the states at 6-2 and Atlanta to a new level of frustration.

“This is where we were going to make our stand in the division and just continue to get better as a team,” said wide receiver Roddy White. “I think we were up emotionally for this game. We wanted it, and we just didn’t find a way to get it done. It was frustrating today. It was really, really frustrating.”

It was the second consecutive week the Lions rallied from a large deficit to win. Coach Jim Caldwell senses the Lions have the fortitude to win against long odds.

— Some content was contributed by Sports Xchange correspondents who covered each game.