When the Chicago Bears beat the Baltimore Ravens in overtime last Sunday, it kind of felt like an inflection point in the Bears’ long and difficult journey.
Prized rookie quarterback Mitch Trubisky played incredibly maturely in his first career road start, eventually winning the game on a sublime third down escape and throw in OT to set up Connor Barth’s walk-off field goal. The defense, solid all year long to this point, broke out further by forcing three takeaways and scoring a defensive touchdown. Despite a few mental gaffes and a special teams meltdown in the second half, it was as thorough a performance we’d seen from the Bears in years.
Sitting at 2-4, with a flicker of hope in the NFC North given Aaron Rodgers’s broken collarbone, the Bears faced a different challenge at Soldier Field today. The Carolina Panthers boast a strong defense and Superman (Cam Newton) at quarterback. Win this game, and the Bears are 3-4 and plenty relevant going forward. Lose, and 2-5 makes the degree of difficulty to contend this season (which was a long shot anyway) almost impossible.
The Bears put on another defensive clinic en route to a dominating 17-3 win over the Panthers. Here are my thoughts on this game:
1. Great job by the defense to capitalize on another turnover opportunity. The Panthers were driving easily on their first possession, and were just outside the red zone when Cam Newton’s pitch to Curtis Samuel hit the ground, stayed down, and was then scooped up by Eddie Jackson for a 75-yard touchdown return. The Bears hadn’t scored defensive TDs in back to back weeks since 2013. That play shifted momentum for the moment, as the Panthers went three-and-out on their next possession.
2. Three sacks in the first quarter – haven’t said that in a while either. Danny Trevathan started the party on a blitz; Leonard Floyd destroyed a tight end for the second sack, and then Akiem Hicks dragged down Newton on the Panthers’ third possession. The last one was a coverage sack more than anything. The pass rush wasn’t overwhelming early on, but got home nonetheless.
3. Dowell Loggains’s play-calling was very suspect on third down on the Bears’ first two offensive possessions. I still believe in him as a play-caller, but he routinely tries to get too cute or smart. I realize they’re still figuring out how to attack, but he needs to be better.
4. Eddie Jackson. What a find for Ryan Pace in the fourth round, huh? After Connor Barth’s missed field goal gave the Panthers new life, Jackson picked off a tipped pass 75 yards for another touchdown. The Bears’ defense has finally started to show an opportunistic quality that just hasn’t existed during the John Fox era. They continue to take another step forward.
5. Kyle Fuller. Lather, rinse, and repeat from last week. His growth has been spectacular. If he continues this, outside of revamping the wide receiver position, I’m not sure the Bears have a bigger immediate priority this off-season than to re-sign him.
6. The turnover-touchdowns masked it a bit, but the Bears had some trouble getting off the field on third down, especially third and long. There’s no doubt part of it was attributed to the defense spending a ton of time on the field following those defensive scores. But the pass rush was just average despite the sack numbers; something to monitor going forward.
7. I understand John Fox’s call to kick a field goal from fourth-and-1/2, but I don’t agree. It’s literally half a foot, and your chances of scoring are rather good. If not, the Panthers have garbage field position, they have to be conservative, and you have all three timeouts at that point. And you get the ball back at halftime. And you’re up 14-3 at this point. Now with a minute plus left, the Bears gave the Panthers the ball back with decent field position and a chance to cut into the lead. Luckily, they didn’t.
8. Pretty brutal offensive possession to open the second half. Tre McBride got destroyed on first down, letting Jordan Howard get stuffed for a six-yard loss on first down. Then a near-INT on a pass that sailed on Trubisky. Overall, a quick three-and-out. They need to be better.
9. After another third-and-long failure, Riverboat Ron went for it on 4th-and-2 inside the Bears’ 25. And they called a surprisingly slow-developing QB run. Thanks to great penetration by Eddie Goldman, the defense held. Big stop on a potential momentum-shifting drive.
10. Leonard. Floyd. Watching him develop has been so much fun. He started this season slowly and has been dropped into coverage on many obvious pass rush downs. But when he gets his opportunities, he’s damn good.
11. The Bears’ offensive line didn’t play much today given the amount of time the defense spent on the field. And they threw the ball a total of six times. And Trubisky was sacked three times. There’s no excuse to play that poorly today, given how fresh they were. They need to be better. They gave Trubisky time on a couple plays and he completed two plays downfield. But other than that, he didn’t have much of a chance. That needs to improve big time going on the road to the Superdome next week. That, and the play-calling.
12. Speaking of play-calling: STOP BEING SO EFFING PREDICTABLE.
13. So, about that pass rush … turns out it came alive after all. A great rush, followed by great pursuit by Floyd as Newton scrambled right resulted in a bad decision and interception from Danny Trevathan. This defense was running on fumes, and continued to harass Newton. What a performance.
14. Following that interception, the Bears committed three penalties on offense, including a delay of game with three timeouts still in hand. This type of stuff is inexcusable. And towards the end of the game? Every time, without fail. This HAS to change. And this changes with better coaching. Your weekly reminder, Ryan Pace.
15. God I hope Akiem Hicks is OK. He is their best defensive player. Cameras showed him laughing on the sidelines after the play which is a good sign.
16. The Bears won this game with Trubisky throwing seven passes. Seven! He completed four. Four! Number of yards? 107 with a 101.8 passer rating. Yup, of course.
17. Bears offense needs to figure it out for next week, as they’re going against the high-powered New Orleans Saints on the road. You can bet Drew Brees will test this defense. Let’s hope Loggains brings his A-game next week. In the meantime, what a win. This team is 3-4 and very much alive. Very few people saw this coming.
