adam

With a division win against Detroit, the Bears are now 2-2, which is where most people expected them to be after 4 games. Now comes the teeth of the schedule. They need to survive this stretch and come out of it .500 to have a chance at the playoffs. They have LV, GB, TB, SF, PIT, and BAL as their next 6 games. They need to split these and win at least 3 to have a chance at the playoffs. LV, SF, and PIT seem like the best opportunities for a win. GB, TB, and BAL are going to be tough games. With that said, here is how I would rate the units for the game against the Lions: QB - A solid "B", still a few plays left on the field and a couple of chances missed. Those mistakes will get cleaned up with more reps. The future is bright for Fields. His improvement from Cleveland was visual and he still has a long way to go. However, the potential is there and is night and day compared to Mitch. RB - Definitely an "A", they rode the RBs to victory, 3 TDs from this group and a nice return by Herbert. Hopefully Monty's injury is not season-ending as he was nearing All-Pro discussions. TE - A big fat "D-" - for the money (Graham) and draft capital (Kmet) this group is not doing much. Holtz had a nice ST tackle, and the unit blocked decent, but man where are the targets for the TEs (3 for Kmet, 0 for all other TEs). James had some great chemistry with Fields in the preseason, lets see what he can do or Horsted. Those guys should be able to create some mismatches against LBs in coverage. OL - B+, Only one sack allowed, and Fields took the blame for it. RBs had some space to run, a good overall game from the O-Line. No glaring problems and no drive-killing penalties. If they played like that for the rest of the year, I would be overjoyed. DL - C, the unit seemed to drop off a little bit after Hicks went out. Hopefully Goldman will get better with more reps as he was not really a factor. It felt like this unit wasn't getting much push inside or were able to clog lanes as they should. I don't recall hearing Nichols name called once, and Tonga was only mentioned for an unnecessary roughness penalty that shouldn't have been called. Edge - A, these guys are rolling, Quinn is playing like he has a full head of hair, Mack looks much better, and even Gipson has chipped in. All 3 had sacks and Quinn had some TFLs, a strip-sack, and some QB hurries. Mack has another chance at a revenge game next week in Vegas. I hope he is up to the challenge. ILB - B, this group was ok, Smith had a nice sack and 10 tackles, Ogletree had 12 tackles but it seemed like coverage was an issue for both of these guys. It is hard to argue with the tackle totals, but it felt like they were a step slow getting to gaps and in coverage. CB - C-, still too many big plays given up by this unit. If players like Cephus, St. Brown, and Raymond are all getting 20+ yard receptions (and TDs) on you, life is going to get really hard against actual NFL WRs. Johnson was fine and Shelley had a nice PBU on Hockenson, but the unit still feels like they are playing soft coverages and allowing easy receptions on every drive. S - F, I thought this unit was going to be a strength after hearing a Gipson interview in the offseason, but they have become the worst unit on the team, and that is saying something with the O-Line and CBs. I just don't understand what is going on here. Bush has been with this team longer than any other defensive player, so he should know every coverage and call by now. They are still having too many breakdowns that lead to an easy TD. Eddie Jackson is the most overrated player on the team and now has the worst contract based on his play with how well Quinn is now playing. Eddie gets the golden toilet seat. His play is baffling. It reminds me of playing organized sports in the Army where you had the reluctant player who really didn't want to be out there. So they are on the field, but sort of floating around and are never really in the play. That is Jackson to a T. If you have Game Pass, go back and watch every defensive play and see what Jackson does. He ended the game with 2 tackles, that's it. He has zero PBUs in 4 games. His lone highlight is his single forced fumble. To me it's related to his injury. He has never been the same player since that injury. He shies away from contact and whiffs more than he hits. It is quite embarrassing. The team will need to address this position sooner than later. I would look to trade Jackson just for cap relief as any player can come in and do what he does for league minimum. He should still have some value but the more bad games he puts on tape, the less they will get for him. ST - Santos continues his brilliance with 4 more kicks. Crawford got penalized on a bogus call, which ultimately led to a Lions TD. There were several missed calls and the Bears got the brunt of them. They were called for offsides when there should've been a delay of game called on the Lions, Kmet was held in the end zone (handful of jersey) with no call, and the refs swallowed their flags when the Lions offense was holding/tackling. Coaching - B, It was nice to see Lazor calling plays and you could tell the difference. Just like last year. Nagy should just hang up the play calling visor and card, and just be a HC. On defense, they did enough to win, and I liked the pressure packages, but the backend stuff has to be fixed. Desai is an old secondary coach, so this is extra puzzling. The Special Teams did what they were supposed to do and there were no breakdowns from the coverage units. Overall, the team gets a B, they beat the Lions, at home. Not a huge accomplishment, but something to build on. The Raiders game feels like it will define the rest of the year. With a win, you are looking at a 9-10 win team. With a loss, expect 5-6 wins with a 6 game losing streak starting next week.

They might have listened to MadLith, that looked like a totally different offense compared to last week.

Justin Fields explosive play rate was 22%. That will only go up as he starts making quicker decisions, especially to tuck and run. For a 2nd career start, the numbers don't do it justice because the Bears went into a kill-the-clock mode once they got up by 3 TDs early in the 3rd quarter. Even so, he finished 11-17, 209 yds and 1 INT off a tipped ball. I know people don't like to compare, but here are Trubisky's first 4 starts: 12-25, 128 yds, 1 TD, 1 INT 8-16, 113 yds, 1 TD 4-7, 107 yds 14-32, 164 yds, 1 INT So Trubisky's stats looked like this thru his first 4 games as a rookie: 38-80, 47.5%, 502 yds, 2 TD, 2 INT which averages out to be: 9.5-20, 125 yds, 0.5 TD, 0.5 INT per game My expectation for Fields is that he will continually improve as he gets more reps with the 1s. If you consider Cleveland as his first preseason game, Detroit was number 2. Number 3 is where you really should see the improvement, which is next Sunday in Vegas. The good thing is the Raiders play MNF on the road. So they will have 1.5 less days to prep for the Bears and they only have one game of tape with the new offense to review. I expect Fields to have 250+ yds next week, with 2 TDs and a few extra yards on the ground. I think you will see some more TE usage next week as well. Thoughts?

I agree on Desai, they need to find the best players for the positions. They need Danny T back and Mario Edwards to play like he did last year. Goldman finally got a game under his belt, he will only get better, which is good. I don't like when they only use 2x DL with Mack and Quinn. That is a light box.

So Trey Lance replaces Jimmy G, starts 1 for 5, with a 76 yard TD. That equates to a QB Rating of 118.8, that is how skewed that stat is.

It's not scheme, its the players. Shelley looked better, but man the Safeties are terrible. They confused themselves between who is playing zone and man. They need to have better communication and those plays just cannot happen. Danny T will help when he is able to return. Jackson is such a liability but there is no way they are going to bench him. He is so reluctant to tackle it is sickening.

Only 90 yards rushing allowed this week, the Lions lowest total of the season.

You could clearly tell Nagy was not calling plays, because they worked. If not for some terrible calls, the Bears would've won by 20+. The Monty injury sucks, but I really like Williams and Herbert as they are probably better pass catchers than Monty. Quinn's emergence has been huge. Quinn, Mack, Gipson, and Smith all with sacks. Quinn also had a strip, and a TFL. He has been earning his pay. The secondary is still an issue. Jackson needs to be benched. He is either out of position or misses a tackle. He is now just a body on the field. Put someone else in there who is willing to tackle. They need to clean up the blown coverages, it seems likely every week they give up 1 TD pass. One good thing for next week, the Raiders play MNF in LA. So they have travel back to LV then prep, so they lose at least a day and a half of prep. LV has been playing out of their minds on offense (33, 26, 31 pts), and their defense has allowed 27, 17, and 28. So this is actually a decent matchup for the Bears. They will need to double Waller and make someone else beat them.

Lol, it was so easy to see. The runs are even different. Plays are linked together. If the refs were calling the game even, it would've been a 20 pt win.

Victory formation for JF1! Good all around win with a lot of potential. The Monty injury is huge but the RB room is pretty deep with Williams and Herbert. Fields is only going to get better. If he is not named starter next week, fire Nagy.

These officials mannnnn. The play clock expired, you can't have an offsides.

Fields has had 4-5 DIMES 20+ yards down the field. Lasers. When he is given a couple of seconds to throw, he is deadly.

The ref suck. Crawford with a textbook ST tackle on a punt and penalized 15 yards. That gives the Lions the ball in the Bears territory and the Lions eventually score while holding the Bears on every play. Bears 21-7. Did I mention these refs suck?

Me too, the team wasn't very forthcoming on his injury last year, but you can see the family speed. He is very disruptive and not just on the pass rush, getting in the backfield on run plays too. Great to see. Now Shelley has a PBU on 3rd Down. Fields with two huge passes, one to ARob, then a drop into the bucket to Mooney on the sideline to setup another TD run. Fields is 8-12 for 169 yds, that is over 20 yards per reception. Which is something this team has not seen since Smokin Jay.

The defense has a RZ takeaway and now a turnover on downs in two drives. I don't like that the Lions are moving the ball to get there, but the end result is working out. BTW, Eddie Jackson is worthless. He is the 11th player on the field, that's it. Quinn is legit, a TFL and some pressures. He will get a sack today.

Now the team needs to have the dagger mentality and just pour it on. Don't give them any hope.

Wow, what a difference the Lions make lol. Two TD drives and takeaway by the defense. Bears 14-0. Fields with a deep pass to Mooney in stride! We haven't seen that in years. You can tell someone else is calling plays. The runs are different, the plays are taking what the defense is giving them. This is what an NFL offense looks like.

Goldman is playing and Fields is starting. Hopefully a better result compared to last week.

Also done without Goldman who is back this week.

They did, Chubb ended up with only 3.8 per carry and the Browns got half of their rushing yards in the 4th quarter in basically garbage time.

Just imagine if he wasn't hit by D-Linemen on every play. If he was able to get to the 2nd level before contact, he would be an All-Pro candidate annually. People also don't realize all broken tackles are not created equal. Monty has the most broken tackles against D-Linemen in the league and it's not even close. Henry is stiff-arming Cornerbacks after a 10-yard head start before contact.

So now Nagy is not naming the play-caller nor the starting QB for Sunday citing competitive advantage. He is literally a clown. I just don't understand how people can be so incompetent at their jobs yet are not held accountable to the same standard as a kid flipping burgers for minimum wage is. The Bears are 17-20 dating back to the double doink with 2 playoff losses in there and zero has changed since.

No one does more with less. He gets more yards after contact than before contact. Derrick Henry? 0.8 yds less after contact, Kamara? 0.8 less, Chubb? 0.6 less. Montgomery? 0.8 more per carry. So with a common O-Line and common opponent, Montgomery gains 1.6 yds more than Henry or Kamara on every rush. He is also doing that on one of the worst offenses this league has ever seen.

This is the whole chess vs checkers theory, but Nagy is playing Connect 4 while opponents are playing chess. Nagy has no idea how to set up a play for future use. Show the same run that you have used 4-5 times, then bam, play-action deep crosser with the LBs biting on the run for a long gain. What is mind-boggling is he is actually a decent Head Coach, but might be the worst play-caller in the league. Only the Jets have scored less pts thru 3 weeks than the Bears. So 31st in points, 31st in First Downs, and dead last in yards.

The head scratcher is Graham vs Fuller. Leno was supposed to be replaced by Jenkins, but injury prevented that. However, DB is still a huge weakness on this team and it was caused by retaining Graham who has literally been completely useless on offense.