The Chicago Bears rebounded from the disaster that was the game against the Cleveland Browns on Sunday, leading to a 24-14 victory over the Detroit Lions.
Sunday was definitely an improvement, but it would have been hard to be any worse than the previous week.
Justin Fields showed flashes of what Bears fans are looking for in their star QB and the defense got timely stops and turnovers. Overall it was a pretty good game for the Bears, but there’s still a long way to go if they want to be a legit contender for anything.
Good Bears
Matt Nagy gave up play calling. Starting with this here. It was speculated during the game that Nagy wasn’t the one calling plays since the offense looked like they had an actual plan, but it wasn’t confirmed until after the game during Nagy’s press conference. Seven throws over 15 yards (5 of which went for completions) is a far cry from curl routes and WR screens that Nagy loves. Let’s hope this isn’t a one week experiment and the Bears try to keep the momentum going.
Fields showed flashes of what he can be. It wasn’t all good for the rookie, but this is the kind of game fans are looking for. He’s by no means a finished product, but the flashes he showed got everyone excited. He was dropping some absolute DIMES to the WRs today. Two absolutely perfect throws to Mooney (one a 64 yarder) and squeezing a ball into a tight window for a big gain to A-Rob. Those are the kind of throws that the Bears have been missing for so long. Fields also had a hell of a play where he spun out of a sack. It ended in an incomplete pass, but the elusiveness and ability to extend a play is there.
The defense played well again. The defense once again came up with some splash plays. They had 2 fumble recoveries, 4 sacks, 7 QB hits, stops on 4th down, it was all there. Quinn had another good game and so far this year, there’s nothing bad to say about him. Last year was ROUGH, but he’s really showing that he was worth the signing a year ago. All that being said, the reason I can’t say this defense play great is that they still gave up a ton of big passing plays. Goff had 299 yards passing and the Lions honestly moved the ball pretty well. The secondary is still pretty suspect and Dan Campbell’s decisions helped the Bears defense throughout the game. The defense stepped up when they needed to though and held the Lions to 14 points. That should be able to win you a game any Sunday.
Cairo Santos stayed hot. Your weekly Cairo Santos update… he converted on his lone FG attempt and now has 32 straight field goals made, extending his franchise record.
David Montgomery is the focal point of this offense. Another great day from Monty. He was running dudes over and carrying them into the endzone all day to the tune of 23 carries for 106 yards and 2 TDs. Interesting that he wasn’t targeted in the passing game at all, but the offense moving away from 20 screens a game and dumping the ball off for 5 yards is a good thing.
Bad Bears
David Montgomery got hurt. As great as Monty was yesterday and has been all year, bad news came out of the game yesterday as he went down in the 4th quarter. He was grabbing his knee, but was able to limp off the field. Early reports are that it’s not a major injury and could just be a sprain, but clearly this could have a huge impact on this offense. We’ll see how that shakes out this week.
Akiem Hicks got hurt. Another injury. Hicks wasn’t in for the majority of the game after an early groin injury and the defense still played well, but it was against the Lions. I’m not gonna try and say the defense is better without Hicks, but the D-line wasn’t horrendous without him. Hicks has dealt with some nagging injuries over the past couple seasons and it seems like he can’t stay completely healthy. The D-line might be without Hicks for a few weeks. Another injury for Hicks also doesn’t do the big guy any favors in terms of a contract for Hicks to stay with the Bears. Tough to extend a guy that can’t stay on the field.
Secondary needs improvement. I mentioned this above and figured it was worth nothing as a standalone topic. Again, Goff had 299 yards and had 4 passes that went 22+ yards to 4 different receivers. a third of his yards (104) came on those 4 passes. They can’t continue to give up big plays like that because the better teams will make you pay (see Rams game).
Matt Nagy’s press conference. This guy is something else. Everything is just a jumble of words that don’t make sense. Every time I listen to him I feel like the principal from Billy Madison:
“Mr. Madison (Matt Nagy), what you’ve just said is one of the most insanely idiotic things I have ever heard. At no point in your rambling, incoherent response were you even close to anything that could be considered a rational thought. Everyone in this room is now dumber for having listened to it. I award you no points, and may God have mercy on your soul.”
I mean look at this transcript…
The question was did you delegate play calls, and you get 164 words of whatever this means. This is my life. pic.twitter.com/p5E81cXxvW
— Jason Lieser (@JasonLieser) October 3, 2021
Like what? If this guy isn’t calling plays, never has an answer for what is going on with the defense, and can’t even handle press conferences, why is he even here?
Anyway, all in all the Bears played pretty well. The offense was moving and they were able to score, which is completely different from what we see when Nagy is at the helm. It still doesn’t seem like this is a Super Bowl contender by any means though. One good week doesn’t erase what we’ve seen for the past few years, but at least the team wasn’t a complete embarrassment this week. Baby steps.
The Bears travel to Las Vegas in Week 5 for a showdown with the red-hot Raiders in the 3 o’clock window. Hopefully the Bears can keep some momentum to avoid getting smoked, but one thing is for sure, the Raiders are no Lions. This game will not be easy.
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