The 2018 Chicago Bears didn’t lose their fifth game until January of 2019, when the Philadelphia Eagles ended their season by beating them in the NFC Wild Card game at Soldier Field. The Cody Parkey Double-Doink heard ’round the world echoed throughout the off-season.
Fast forward to last Sunday — this time, the Eagles handed the 2019 Bears their fifth loss, this time in November, and effectively ended their season again. The Bears officially came full circle last Sunday at Lincoln Financial Field.
With the season over halfway through the schedule, the Bears are dealing with a nightmare scenario: They don’t have a quarterback, they don’t have a first round pick in the 2020 draft, and they have limited cap space. They seemingly have a lot of questions to answer by the time they hit training camp next summer. How they finish the rest of this season will inform just how large that list of questions is.
They start the rest of the year by tackling the much-improved Detroit Lions at Soldier Field this Sunday.
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With that, I reach into this week’s Bears Mailbag. Thank you to everyone who submitted questions. I always appreciate the participation. Follow me on Twitter @DhruvKoul to continue the conversation.
Mailbag
The poor quarterback play that the team is getting is certainly holding them back. But Chase Daniel has proven that, while he knows Matt Nagy’s offense and scheme better than Mitch Trubisky does, he is absolutely limited in what he can do. Remember, this is a career journeyman backup that has started five games in his entire career — three of them with the Bears. And in those games, he hasn’t played particularly well.
He put up 16 points against the Lions last Thanksgiving (seven points came on Eddie Jackson’s pick-six). He put up 16 points against the Vikings earlier this year when Trubisky went down with an injury. He committed ghastly turnovers at MetLife Stadium last year when the Bears surprisingly lost to the New York Giants. And he committed further ghastly turnovers in London against Oakland this year.
It’s not certain that Daniel gives the Bears the best chance to win at the moment. And while Trubisky is actively hurting the team, the Bears are essentially out of the playoff picture now, sitting at 3-5. They may be better served riding it out with Trubisky and making absolutely certain he isn’t the guy (Narrator: He isn’t) before they start looking at replacements for next year.
It’ll be painful to watch, given Trubisky has shown no signs of coming back to even 2018 levels. But it’ll help the Bears rip off the band-aid this off-season.
Yes, Ryan Pace will benefit greatly from having Matt Nagy’s input on the next quarterback. Nagy needs someone smart who can read defenses pre-snap, see the field well as the play develops, and deliver an accurate ball. Field-vision and accuracy are critical traits.
The free agency market is relatively TBD — some intriguing names are *scheduled* to be available, but until franchise tags and roster cuts are finalized, it’s difficult to predict entirely. Some guys that I think the Bears will be interested in (I don’t necessarily care for all of them, but they are fits): Teddy Bridgewater, Marcus Mariota, Eli Manning, and Andy Dalton. A wild card to watch? Philip Rivers.
The draft is, also, relatively TBD with the remainder of the season, bowl games, the Combine, etc. still needing to happen. And the Bears have two second-round picks, so they will likely be looking at a smaller set of names. I still have to do proper research on all of the draft prospects, but some names I think could interest the Bears in the non-first round include: Jake Fromm, Shea Patterson, Jalen Hurts, and Nate Stanley.
There’s a belief around some parts of the NFL that the Bears’ offensive line, as constructed right now, isn’t athletic enough to execute the running game that Matt Nagy wants. Jeff Hughes of Da Bears Blog alluded to this in a post from earlier this week that details his conversation with a friend of his — a friend that happens to be an executive in an NFL team’s front office.
If we think about it, it actually makes sense from a personnel perspective. James Daniels (and now Rashaad Coward) are the only starters that were acquired under Nagy’s regime. Cody Whitehair and Bobby Massie were given extensions this past off-season, but were technically acquired pre-Nagy. Same with Charles Leno Jr.
While the pass protection has been better than earlier in the season, the offensive line seems built to execute a more power-style running scheme. That’s evident by their success running the ball in an off-set I-formation with J.P. Holtz as a fullback. It’s up to Matt Nagy to adjust his offense to call more running plays where that occurs.
The team could certainly use help on the offensive line, though. When you compare them to the really great offensive lines in the NFL — Philadelphia, Oakland, Dallas, New Orleans, Baltimore — the Bears don’t measure up. Expect more resources to be invested here in the off-season.
I hate to burst your bubble, but Akiem Hicks being out is a massive (no pun intended) issue for the defense. While Oakland has an excellent offensive line and great running game, Hicks’ injury is what started the leaky run defense that manifested itself against New Orleans and Philadelphia, too. It’s also affected the pass rush, which has been non-existent during the four-game losing streak.
The defense isn’t getting a lot of help from the offense in terms of snap counts on the field — the offense’s inability to sustain drives has the defense on the field often and it takes its toll. Couple that with the fact that the offense can’t score, and you have a defense that could be in “Why bother?” mode.
Lastly, there has been some regression as far as assignments, usage, and mental mistakes go. Chuck Pagano prefers his cornerbacks to be aggressive, press-man style guys. Kyle Fuller isn’t that kind of CB, and Prince Amukamara has lost part of his effectiveness. Roquan Smith has made plenty of mental mistakes this year, as has Eddie Jackson. And Leonard Floyd is largely incompetent at rushing the passer.
The defense has regressed, but let’s not pretend like they are bad. They are still one of the top defenses in the league who just aren’t at last year’s ridiculous, historic level. They held the Packers to 10 points (lost), the Broncos to 14 points (almost lost), and the Chargers to 17 points (lost). That’s pretty wild, if you ask me.
Matt Nagy changed the entire culture of this organization. He’s still a breath of fresh air, even though he’s had some questionable moments. A new QB is what’s needed. Plain and simple.
The Bears will need some re-tooling next off-season. Given new contract decisions, expiring contracts, roster needs, and a poor cap space situation at the moment, Chicago will look different next year.
But a new QB would do wonders for this team. If we’re looking at this year in particular, even average QB play would have them at AT LEAST six wins, if not more. The Bears would be squarely in the playoff picture at that point. It’s damning.
