The offense truly harkened back to the old days on the 100th anniversary of the NFL. It was unimaginative, erratic and utterly dispiriting to watch. Yet also like the olden days, the Chicago Bears defense came to play. How’s this for a stat? Aaron Rodgers has been held to 10 points or less just five times in his entire career as a starter dating back to 2008. This unit, one that was supposed to “regress” in 2019 became the sixth to do it. They also allowed just 47 rushing yards and sacked the future Hall of Famer five times.
Amazingly the two stars of this performance weren’t the usual suspects. Khalil Mack was good but it didn’t show up on the stat sheet much. Akiem Hicks was solid too. Eddie Jackson? Fine but didn’t make much of an impact. No the two guys who basically took the game over were none other than Leonard Floyd and Roy Robertson-Harris. The two overlooked members of the 2016 rookie class came to play.
Robertson-Harris had a sack and two tackles for a loss. Floyd had two sacks of his own and would’ve had a third if not for a Kyle Fuller illegal contact penalty. Keep in mind he had just four sacks in the regular season last year. This is a welcome sign that his long-anticipated breakout year is finally at hand. What was perhaps most encouraging is that his biggest sack of the night came at the expense of All-Pro Packers tackle David Bakhtiari.
Chicago Bears defense will feast on lesser QBs this year
What’s truly is scary is this defense already had star power. If Floyd and Robertson-Harris continue to emerge, that’s just an utter embarrassment of riches. What’s even scarier is what might happen next week. They will go against the Denver Broncos whose offensive line allowed 34 sacks and 37 hits on their quarterback last season. Now they have Joe Flacco under center who isn’t exactly known for his mobility. The week after that? They may play a Washington Redskins offensive line without All-Pro tackle Trent Williams.
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Chuck Pagano and his right-hand man Ted Monachino (outside linebackers coach) have worked wonders with pass rushers in the past. They’ve gotten career years out of several stars like Terrell Suggs and Robert Mathis and also no-names like Erik Walden. They’ve said that Floyd is one of the best pure talented players they’ve ever coached. For the first time, he looked like the 9th overall pick he was four years ago.
As for Robertson-Harris? What a story he is turning out to be. Undrafted out of UTEP, he’s converted from outside linebacker to defensive end, steadily works his way up the depth chart and now might be emerging as a legitimate force. One thing is for sure. If they finish as strong as they’ve started, GM Ryan Pace will have some interesting contract decisions to make next spring.
