Today marked the first road start of Chicago Bears rookie QB Mitch Trubisky’s NFL career. After last week’s highly anticipated debut at home in front of a national audience, many were curious as to how the second overall pick would fare in a hostile environment.
And it doesn’t get much more hostile than against the Baltimore Ravens at M&T Bank Stadium. Coming into Sunday’s game, John Harbaugh had never lost to a rookie QB in his career as head coach of the Ravens. And despite offensive struggles, Baltimore has always boasted a tough, complex defense and a raucous home crowd. Combine that with a quarterback who has just 14 total career starts to his name, very few offensive playmakers, and a head coach who hardly ever has his team ready to play (John Fox), and it all equaled an impending tough day at the office for Trubisky and offensive coordinator Dowell Loggains.
In one of the most ridiculously sloppy and crazy games I’ve seen in a while, the Bears, somewhat deservingly and undeservingly, pulled off a 27-24 win in overtime against the Ravens. Both their wins this season are against AFC North opponents in overtime. Of course. Here’s what we learned today:
1. Danny Trevathan returned after his one-game suspension and quickly showed the Bears how much they missed him. He was flying around the field, making good tackles and delivering solid clean-up hits. And he recovered a fumble in the second quarter to stop a promising Ravens drive for the Bears’ fourth takeaway of the season. Great to see him back. Let’s hope he stays healthy – the inside linebacking corps truly needs him.
2. Interesting that the Bears went hurry up on multiple third downs on the opening drive. In a hostile environment, as mentioned above, communication can be tricky. And given the fact that the Bears faced third-and-long on those third downs, the Bears took a chance on catching the Ravens defense off guard. Also, it helps ease some pressure on Trubisky. I like that plan – help your rookie quarterback out.
3. Then again, with the plays he called, Loggains didn’t even fool me. How did he expect to fool that Ravens defense? They were ready for everything, mainly because Loggains made it easy for them to be.
4. THEN AGAIN! What a call to have Tarik Cohen throw to Zach Miller for a touchdown. Unreal. Beautifully executed, too. How many QBs does this team have? 😉
5. Losing Sherrick McManis is a huge blow to this special teams unit. They were finally showing progress this season after years of horrid play after the Lovie Smith era. And McManis has been their leader and best player on special teams for years. He’s going to be tough to replace. Wishing him a speedy recovery.
6. Kyle Fuller played a heck of a game as well. He continues to prove that he not only belongs on the field, but deserves a chance to stay with the Bears going forward. He’s been their best corner this year, and is making his case for a new contract from Ryan Pace. Great to see the former Bears first round pick redeem himself this year.
7. What a throw by Trubisky to Dion Sims to put the Bears up 17-3. Beautiful rollout and throw on the run, aided by a miscommunication by the Ravens secondary. You can’t teach that throw, though.
8. Bobby Rainey’s 96-yard return TD on the ensuing kickoff was a freak play. Great awareness by Rainey to keep running, but the Bears need to play through the whistle. It’s unclear whether they were able to hear anything on the field, and it’s also unclear whether Rainey should have been ruled down by contact. But it was a break for the Ravens.
9. Dion Sims had no shot versus Terrell Suggs today. I’m not sure why the Bears neglected giving him help. Sims was just abused by a great player. Plain and simple.
10. Seriously, what the hell is up with the third-and-forevers on offense? Whether it’s play-calling or execution that gets them there (hint: both), Trubisky doesn’t stand a chance at this rate.
11. Trubisky’s athleticism is elite. We saw some of it in the second quarter with Trubisky picking up a first down with his legs and rolling out of the pocket. And we saw it on his TD throw in the third quarter. It’s clear that Loggains hasn’t opened up the playbook to fully utilize his talents yet, but hopefully he will in due time.
12. Great play by Bryce Callahan on his interception in the second quarter. The ball bounced away from Breshad Perriman and he didn’t lose concentration in hauling that in, and then had the awareness to return it to the Ravens’ 20. Callahan has been a great find for this team.
13. Not the best game for the Bears’ run defense. Alex Collins and Javorius Allen ran very well for most of the afternoon. That needs to be cleaned up, though to be fair, the defense was on the field a lot in the second half.
14. Trubisky’s sack/fumble in the fourth quarter? Chalk it up to more predictable play calling. I refuse to believe Loggains is calling these voluntarily all game, with no adjustments whatsoever. This is a John Fox-mandated attack. And it shows. And it’s pathetic.
15. What a play by Kyle Fuller and Adrian Amos to get a pick-six after Trubisky’s fumble. Great job picking up their quarterback. Joe Flacco hasn’t been an elite quarterback in a while, but it’s nice to see the Bears’ defense finally take the ball away. That was their third of the game.
16. I’m not even going to begin to explain or seek out rationale for the stupidity that was the last two and a half minutes of the fourth quarter. Simply put, though: You play not to lose, and you lose. That was simply unacceptable football by the Bears to end regulation.
17. Jordan Howard = Animal.
18. Like I said above, you simply can’t teach that Trubisky play on 3rd-and-11 on the Bears’ second drive in overtime.
19. This game, for all its awfulness, deserved a tie. And of course, the Bears won it on special teams. Don’t you just love football?
