Is there an emerging pattern about the 2022 Chicago Bears two games into the season?
The Chicago Bears went up to Green Bay for their week 2 game against the Packers and lost another game to their NFC rival. This game never felt close, the Packers pulled away with three unanswered touchdowns in the second quarter to head into the locker room leading 24-7 and the Bears barely mustered a comeback.
Sure it was 24-10 at one point with the Bears 1st and goal late in the fourth quarter, but the Packers truly dominated from wire to wire. Even with the Justin Fields touchdown that may have been missed, you can’t come away from this game with much confidence about the Bears moving forward.
The Chicago Bears seemed to be the team that is near the bottom of the league in talent in this game and it showed up in a big way. Here are some of the key failures in this game that showed the Bears:
Where was the run defense?
The Chicago Bears were gashed in the run game early on as the Packers imposed their will on a very weak defensive tackle rotation. Angelo Blackson made a couple of plays, but the overall scope of the run defense was atrocious. The Bears gave up 191 yards on 31 carries to Green Bay’s runningbacks. That’s a whopping 6.1 yards per carry.
The Packers just obliterated the Bears front seven in the run game, against a very poor defensive front that could be a sign of things to come as the season gets established. Angelo Blackson was brought in to be a backup behind Eddie Goldman, Bilal Nichols and Akiem Hicks, now he finds himself in a starting role. Justin was plan B after the failed signing of Larry Ogonjobi.
Jones Nicholas Morrow and Matt Adams aren’t truly starting caliber players at the linebacker spots who would likely be starting for any other team in the NFL. In Chicago, they are key starters in a run defense that could have shown that it will be the weak link for the rest of the season.
Where is the passing game?
Justin Fields had 11 attempts in the passing game and never really was allowed to threaten the Packers with his arm. It was the opposite of a Matt Nagy game, where Luke Getsy never seemed to allow Fields to get into a rhythm in the passing game as he didn’t even call pass plays.
The last time Getsy was a play caller was in college, and he was known as having a very low usage of the pass in his play calling. Getsy’s run-heavy approach in the college game may be a precursor for things to come in Chicago. The worst of what Getsy was in college as a run-first play caller has shown up in a big way over the first two games of the Bears’ schedule. Will it be a concern moving forward? Getsy’s history says it could be a problem and it will interesting to see how the passing game develops moving forward.
Kyler Gordon was toast
Kyler Gordon was attacked in the passing game all night and looked completely lost. That’s expected when you’re a brand new rookie playing in your first key game against a Hall of Fame caliber QB that knows how to exploit new players. The attack on Gordon was go glaring that teams are completely ignoring Jaylon Johnson on the other side.
Bears cornerback Jaylon Johnson was not targeted in coverage as the nearest defender for the second-consecutive game.
Johnson has gone 61-consecutive coverage snaps without being targeted dating back to Week 18 of last season (51 in 2022).#CHIvsGB | @ChicagoBears
— Next Gen Stats (@NextGenStats) September 19, 2022
Gordon bit on double moves and was out of position on multiple plays. He’ll have to learn from his mistakes today and get better as the season goes on. The biggest concern about Gordon though may be his lack of recovery speed. If he gets beat on the initial move, he doesn’t have much ability to recover and make a play once he’s out of position.
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