The Chicago Bears are headed west this weekend, off to Inglewood, Calif., to face the Los Angeles Chargers on Sunday night time. Coming off a 30-12 blowout of the Las Vegas Raiders, the Bears have skilled a spike in confidence and nonetheless hope to salvage their season with 10 video games remaining.
They’ll have an excellent probability to collect believers with a street upset Sunday. As kickoff approaches, right here’s the within slant on three notable storylines.
Just a sense
One of the Bears’ extra underrated offensive moments from Sunday’s 30-12 victory in opposition to the Raiders was a play that didn’t fairly unfold as deliberate. It got here within the third quarter, third-and-6 on the Raiders 25 with the Bears trying so as to add to a 14-3 lead.
Coordinator Luke Getsy referred to as for a Tyson Bagent go from out of shotgun with DJ Moore operating a deep nook to the left and Darnell Mooney utilizing a change launch on his out path to the identical aspect. Tyler Scott, in the meantime, had an in-breaking route 12 yards down the sector.
Bagent, although, didn’t like what he noticed as he eyed Scott in opposition to a Raiders zone protection that closed the window over the center. The quarterback’s pocket was nonetheless fairly clear. But his first three reads weren’t open, and who knew how for much longer the safety would maintain up?
Thus 3.1 seconds after the snap, Bagent discovered his check-down and felt snug letting operating again Darrynton Evans do the remainder. Evans did, utilizing a block from Cole Kmet, breaking two tackles and grinding via contact with cornerback Marcus Peters to choose up the primary down.
“(Tyson) did a nice job handling that,” Getsy mentioned Thursday.
Yep, one of many Bears’ eight third-down conversions and one in all Bagent’s extra significant completions in his first NFL begin was a check-down dump-off caught 9 yards behind the road of scrimmage.
The Bears’ sound safety, Getsy mentioned, was paramount for the quarterback on that sequence.
“It enabled him to work across the board,” Getsy mentioned. “Then he bought the ball to Darrynton with some area, and Darrynton did the remainder.
“It was really an incredible play and a very important play for us to keep that drive alive.”
Good luck attempting to squeeze that straightforward achieve of 6 into any hyped-up social media spotlight montage. Still, for Bagent, exhibiting wit all through a profitable afternoon at Soldier Field left an impression.
“It must be those 7,000 passes he’s thrown in his life,” Bears coach Matt Eberflus cracked.
Indeed, expertise continues to be Bagent’s calling card, a energy he’s leaning on as he figures out this new world of high-level offenses and defenses on the game’s greatest stage.
His 53-game pass-attempt whole at Shepherd University was 2,040, a high-volume library of repetitions which can be serving to to boost his command of the place.
Sure, that was all in Division II within the Pennsylvania State Athletic Conference — and for one season within the Mountain East. But the expertise has supplied Bagent with heightened consolation that’s making his storybook leap to the NFL really feel much less daunting. And that little dump-off to Evans to assist proceed a landing drive was simply one in all a number of examples during which Bagent didn’t attempt to do an excessive amount of and the Bears reaped the rewards.
“He went out and kept his poise like we expected him to do,” Getsy mentioned.
Predictably, the week-after response to Bagent’s victorious effort was everywhere in Chicago, making a charged civic dialog that has been, at its finest, wholesome and nuanced — till the high-volume extremists on either side have taken over.
As the shouting has amplified, Bagent has primarily been likened to Tom Brady by the intoxicated optimists and to Charlie Brown by the eye-rolling skeptics. A second begin Sunday in opposition to the Chargers at SoFi Stadium is definite to enliven the controversy.
Somehow, of all fan bases, Bears backers nonetheless can’t resist the urge to overreact in ridiculous methods to small pattern sizes, leaping to excessive long-term conclusions on either side of the spectrum and feeling obligated to at all times distinction one quarterback’s efficiency in opposition to one other’s.
Eventually, maybe, crucial choice makers within the Bears entrance workplace must do a complete comparability of Bagent’s manufacturing with what they’ve seen out of established starter Justin Fields.
But for now, with a important but open-minded lens on Bagent’s play, it’s simple to acknowledge a few of the important quarterbacking expertise the rookie possesses that give him the possibility to make absolutely the most of his NFL alternative — each as a short lived fill-in for an injured teammate and maybe sooner or later as a QB1.
Pocket presence on this league at all times might be a useful ability. Same goes for subject imaginative and prescient and situational consciousness. Efficiency and accuracy are important as properly. And exhibiting rhythm within the passing recreation stays a plus.
In his first NFL begin, Bagent demonstrated all these qualities.
In addition, his means to make good selections constantly and cut back game-changing errors allowed him to construct belief with teammates and coaches. His soccer savvy helped with clear recreation administration.
A dependable inside clock, a capability to surf the pocket and a knack for looking optimistic off-script passes additionally created offensive momentum. Which, in fact, generates confidence.
And if the suggestions of coaches and teammates issues, the aggressive edge and charismatic self-assuredness Bagent brings to the sector has been notable. “I don’t think it was a surprise to anybody in this locker room or this building,” operating again D’Onta Foreman mentioned. “The manner he carries himself, the best way he handles this and goes about it is part of who he’s.
“I’m looking forward to another week to see if he can build on that.”
The soccer world might be watching Sunday night time with a needed understanding that quarterback success within the NFL is all about consistency, about stacking good performances on prime of each other and showcasing a winner’s command throughout game-on-the-line moments.
Every week presents totally different challenges. And for these understandably wanting to see extra from Bagent, he must ultimately show a capability to stretch the sector vertically. Against the Raiders, he threw just one go that traveled 15 yards past the road of scrimmage, and his longest completion was a 17-yarder to Foreman on a display screen play.
The Chargers protection ranks final within the NFL in opposition to the go, permitting 310 yards per recreation whereas having surrendered 20 completions of at the very least 25 yards.
Bagent already has acknowledged the steadiness he’ll should strike to check the Chargers down the sector whereas being conscious of a threatening go rush led by Khalil Mack and Joey Bosa.
“That’s why the NFL is so hard,” Bagent mentioned. “You’ve bought to know when to eat the play. You’ve bought to know when to benefit from the play. You’ve bought to know when to flee. And you’ve bought to know when to only throw it away or take a sack.
“Once again, we’re not trying to be careful in anything we’re doing. We just want to play our game as effectively and as in sync as we possibly can.”
In his first NFL street begin, in his first efficiency beneath the prime-time highlight, Bagent’s hope is to proceed preserving issues easy and pushing the Bears offense ahead.
Patience undertaking
On a key third down within the first quarter Sunday, Bears rookie Tyler Scott ran a primary dig route. Inside launch, 13 yards down, then a crisp reduce throughout the center to realize separation from Raiders cornerback David Long Jr.
Scott was the third learn on the play. But the timing and precision of his route was essential giving quarterback Tyson Bagent a gap for a clutch completion, a achieve of 13 that helped push the Bears towards their first landing.
As easy because it appeared, it was an enormous second for each rookies, one which went viral on social media for instance of Bagent’s pocket presence, subject imaginative and prescient and decisiveness.
But for Scott? “We’re going to have to have a long talk about that one,” fellow receiver DJ Moore mentioned instantly after the sport.
Wait. Come once more?
“He caught that with his stomach,” Moore defined.
On the sideline after the drive and once more following the sport, Moore needled Scott in regards to the theatrical leap he made throughout that play, leaping to body-catch a ball that in all probability would have been simply above his helmet had he stayed on his ft or elevated barely.
“Rookie jitters thing, you know?” Scott mentioned this week with a smile. “It’s third down. I haven’t caught a complete bunch of balls. I used to be simply attempting to safe the catch.
“The previous week I dropped a third-down screen. So my mentality there was, ‘I’m catching this ball no matter what. Even if I have to jump 3,000 feet in the air, I’m catching it.’ ”
The ribbing from Moore was all in good enjoyable. But each gamers understood the back-and-forth was educational as properly.
“The message behind it is simple honestly,” Moore mentioned. “I just told him, ‘Hey, maybe if you had just jumped a little bit, you could have caught it with your hands and had a bigger run after the catch.’ By making that catch with his body, he allowed the defender get to him and knock him down.”
For an bold Scott, who’s attempting to develop into an entire playmaker, Moore’s critique was the most recent reminder of how demanding life as an NFL receiver will proceed to be. Every little element issues. Which, to some extent, is why Scott has fallen in love lately with the place he’s making a profession out of.
Not that way back, Scott, 22, was a standout operating again, an fanatic of that place with a Reggie Bush Fathead on his bed room wall, an affinity for outdated Gale Sayers and Eric Dickerson highlights and an unapologetic infatuation for the way Adrian Peterson ran the ball.
As a backfield bottle rocket, Scott had pace and imaginative and prescient and big-play sizzle. But when schools got here calling and commenced suggesting options for the place they needed him to play, he needed to pay attention.
Scott was conscious of his dimension — 5-foot-11 and 166 kilos popping out of Norton High School in Ohio. He understood the shelf life and bodily toll for operating backs as properly.
“I ain’t going to lie,” Scott mentioned. “In high school, I got hit a lot. Like, a lot. I said to myself, ‘I think I’m kind of tired of getting hit every play. So why don’t I go ahead and widen out and get away from all those D-linemen and linebackers? Let’s use this speed a different way.’ ”
At the University of Cincinnati, Scott opted to develop into a receiver, uniting with Bearcats assistant coach Mike Brown and starting a three-year undergraduate program as an aspiring route runner and go catcher. That the training got here beneath Brown was no small factor both with the passionate trainer and his keen pupil forming an prompt connection.
It didn’t harm that Brown had undergone a place change in faculty, changing from quarterback to receiver at Liberty earlier than occurring to play for the Jacksonville Jaguars.
“It gave him more empathy in terms of the demands of the position,” Scott mentioned.
Added Brown: “I was able to communicate with Tyler on a different level because I knew some of the things that gave me issues early on. I tried to use those to help him.”
For three seasons, Brown pushed and Scott responded, studying tips on how to disguise routes, make clear breaks and totally make the most of his elite pace. Scott’s signature recreation in his breakout junior season at Cincinnati got here in September 2022 in opposition to Indiana, a 185-yard eruption that included three first-half landing catches.
The first got here on a publish route in opposition to the best protection, a glance the Bearcats have been so sure they’d get from the Hoosiers secondary that Scott and quarterback Ben Bryant previewed the complete sequence between themselves on the workforce resort the morning of the sport.
In learning video of Indiana, Scott recognized a chance to run into the defensive again’s blind spot, use his leverage in opposition to him after which break. He and Bryant have been assured a landing was ready.
In stay motion that afternoon, Scott put Hoosiers cornerback Tiawan Mullen into the spin cycle. “He was actually my host on my official visit to Indiana,” Scott mentioned.
With Mullen twisted, Scott’s pace and suddenness gave him a 5-yard cushion after his break and, in the end, a house run play that helped seize the eye of NFL expertise evaluators.
On draft weekend, Bears space scout Ryan Cavanaugh referenced that play as one which simply jumped out within the Bears’ evaluation of Scott. “He’s explosive,” Cavanaugh mentioned. “And he shows that in his routes and his downfield ability.”
But even that elite burst is one thing Scott has needed to refine and remains to be studying to make the most of correctly. He was an completed monitor star rising up, competing within the Junior Olympics within the 400-meter sprint.
In that discussion board, the best way Scott ran was extra highly effective and violent. Now he’s attempting to clean issues out to help along with his means to trace the soccer.
“I was always a power sprinter,” Scott mentioned. “And once I first began monitoring deep balls, it was harder than I believed. I’d be like, ‘Why is the deep ball (wobbling)?’ I couldn’t regular the ball.
“At first, I was thinking it was a helmet problem. But I had to learn the concept of the effortless sprint, understanding when to use my full, all-out sprint and when to tempo myself.”
That, too, is one thing Moore has helped with. With a monitor background, Moore has spent years gaining a greater really feel for tips on how to convert monitor pace into soccer success mixing out-of-the-blocks acceleration with the soccer mechanics of having the ability to cease on a dime.
Moore additionally admits that as an keen rookie with the Carolina Panthers, he constantly overran deep balls.
“I had to learn to slow down.”
Moore additionally has refined his operating in a manner the place his play pace has a misleading and managed glide to it.
“I had to learn that too,” he mentioned. “When I used to be a rookie, I used to be simply going full pace. All the time. Just how Tyler was when he first bought right here. But you be taught to vary.
“For me, the glide came from fully understanding where I had to be with my depths and where I had to be for the progression of the quarterback. That was a big deal.”
As issues have developed within the Bears receivers room this month, Scott has remained prepared. The workforce traded Chase Claypool to the Miami Dolphins in Week 5 and despatched Equanimeous St. Brown to injured reserve with a hamstring harm six days later.
In the 2 video games since, Scott has performed extra offensive snaps (79) than he had within the first 5 weeks mixed (64) and steadily began to contribute in significant methods.
In addition to that aforementioned 13-yard reception early final week, Scott added a third-down conversion within the second quarter with a decisive end-around burst, knifing between Maxx Crosby and Marcus Peters to choose up 6 yards.
Per week earlier, because the Bears threatened to rally in opposition to the Vikings at Soldier Field, Scott’s 5-yard reception on a scramble drill was most notable for the hassle he confirmed sprinting 20 yards again towards the road of scrimmage to squeeze a optimistic achieve out of an across-the-field off-script throw that Bagent fired with conviction into an open area.
“I was dying to get my hands on a ball,” Scott mentioned. “It may have been only 5 yards. But that was a want-to catch. And with a rookie quarterback in there fighting his butt off, that’s exactly how you build trust. You show him that, even in the midst of chaos, he has a receiver willing to put it all on the line.”
Day by day, week after week, month to month, the Bears teaching employees has begun trusting Scott extra as he has gained a deeper understanding of the offense, of formations and splits and alignments, of route combos and timing.
“The natural talent and the toughness he has is starting to shine through,” offensive coordinator Luke Getsy mentioned, “because now he’s starting to understand what’s going on and then how to react whenever things don’t show up exactly the way we talked about. That’s a big part of this game, just being able to have that reaction.”
As a lot as something, Scott has reminded himself to exhale, to embrace the expansion course of, to proceed stacking successes and studying from errors.
“It’s patience, honestly,” he mentioned. “In all phases. For me, it’s patience in understanding where you’re at on the depth chart. It’s patience in understanding where you’re development is relative to your skill set. It’s patience in better understanding route combinations and knowing where you’re at in the progression (of a play). It’s patience in realizing you have more time than you think with that. And it’s also patience in giving myself grace — to be able to grow, to understand that I’m going to mess up, to realize I’m going to have bumpy days, bad practices and rough games. But if I give myself patience and also understand the patience of the position, I’m going to give myself a shot.”
‘Nothing to agree on’
With 10 video games remaining in his fourth season, cornerback Jaylon Johnson hasn’t modified his tune. He doesn’t need to go wherever.
Johnson desires to proceed his profession with the Chicago Bears. He desires to determine himself as one of many league’s finest cornerbacks. And he would love a hefty contract extension from basic supervisor Ryan Poles and the parents upstairs at Halas Hall that can reward him for his dedication and efficiency.
As Bears coach Matt Eberflus mentioned earlier this week of his two seasons overseeing Johnson, “He has done everything we have asked.”
Johnson on Sunday contributed two interceptions to the Bears’ 30-12 blowout of the Raiders, returning the primary one 39 yards for a landing. He instantly discovered a Fox digital camera behind Soldier Field’s north finish zone, took off his helmet and commenced gesturing as if he was sending cash into the air.
It was an apparent and calculated message.
“Damn right,” Johnson mentioned. “100%. … I know who I am and I know I can play this game at a high level. I feel like I deserve to be paid like that. I’m taking that attitude for any team, for anybody and everybody in the NFL.”
On Thursday, nonetheless, in an change with reporters in entrance of his locker at Halas Hall, Johnson spoke with a barely extra irritated tone when addressing contract negotiations he described as “slower than I expected.” Which is to say that no matter communication Poles and his contract negotiation workforce has had with Johnson’s camp hasn’t discovered the candy spot for what would make the 24-year-old cornerback joyful.
I requested Johnson what he’s searching for from the Bears along with his rookie deal holding a March 13 expiration date.
“Security,” he mentioned. “That’s what all that is. That’s what we play the sport for. Security. At the tip of the day, a whole lot of it goes again to respect as properly. It’s not nearly taking something.
“You can throw numbers at somebody and just hope they take anything. But that’s not what I’m looking to do. I’m looking for respect and security at the end of the day.”
In 4 days, the NFL commerce deadline will arrive. In this occasion, that’s solely vital if Poles and the Bears both don’t see Johnson as a part of their long-term defensive nucleus or see no potential manner a bridge will get in-built contract discussions with Johnson and his agent, Chris Ellison.
In both case, the Bears might search to dump Johnson in change for draft capital. Which is precisely what Poles did a yr in the past with star linebacker Roquan Smith, buying and selling the Bears defensive captain to the Baltimore Ravens for a second-round choose. And that’s a part of the explanation, admittedly, Johnson stays a bit edgy and so outwardly unsure that he’ll nonetheless have his Halas Hall locker stall right now subsequent week.
“At the end of the day, it’s all the ‘He says, she says’ (stuff),” Johnson mentioned. “’We’re in talks. We’re not in talks.’ At the tip of the day, we’re going to see if one thing will get completed by the commerce deadline.
“If I happen to get traded, then I get traded. If not, then I get extended hopefully. And if not (that), then I’ve just got to continue to play. There are plenty of (directions) this can go. But we’re all going to see. I’m waiting to see as well.”
Smart cash nonetheless says the Bears maintain Johnson for the remainder of this season and proceed to judge his efficiency and sturdiness. Last week’s interceptions — off Brian Hoyer and Aidan O’Connell — have been solely the second and third interceptions of Johnson’s profession. He additionally has missed 13 video games over his 4 seasons. Thus, the Bears’ push to see extra is comprehensible.
Still, if the inner perception is that Johnson will be an essential piece within the workforce’s championship puzzle, Poles and Co. ought to push to search out the contractual key to unlock the treasure chest of safety and respect Johnson is searching for.
The Tuesday commerce deadline isn’t all that imposing for the Bears, who would nonetheless have 4 1/2 months to proceed contract talks earlier than Johnson might even start to attach with different suitors.
Put one other manner, Johnson doesn’t have a lot leverage to drive the Bears’ hand aside from drumming up help within the courtroom of public opinion.
To his credit score, Johnson hasn’t tied himself in knots with fear about his future. Asked Thursday if the approaching commerce deadline weighs on him, he simply smiled.
“I sleep great at night,” he mentioned, reiterating that he received’t even enterprise an informed guess on whether or not he’ll be sticking round in Week 9 or heading for a brand new vacation spot.
“We’re going to see by the thirty first. I don’t have a thought course of. We’re all going to see. And I’m ready to see. Because anyone can say one factor and you could imagine it after which one thing else occurs.
“We saw what happened (last year) to (Christian) McCaffrey. They told him they weren’t going to trade him. Traded him at 11:59. So I don’t believe hardly anything I’m told. I’m going off actions.”
Last summer season, Dallas Cowboys star Trevon Diggs helped to reshape the marketplace for cornerbacks, signing a five-year, $97 million extension with greater than $42 million assured. Diggs, who was chosen one choose after the Bears drafted Johnson at No. 50 in 2020, then suffered a season-ending anterior cruciate ligament tear in Week 2. That provides a pertinent instance for why monetary safety is so essential to Johnson.
At the time of Diggs’ extension, Johnson was self-aware sufficient to notice publicly that he hadn’t fairly reached that tier of NFL playmaking and due to this fact wasn’t searching for a comparable deal. But Johnson nonetheless sees himself as one of many higher lockdown corners within the league and hopes his second contract provides a commensurate reward.
If Johnson has particular numbers in thoughts, he isn’t saying. (Reasonably, either side may goal a center floor for a cope with three or 4 seasons and a mean annual worth of round $14 million.)
Could Johnson at the very least describe the enterprise back-and-forth with the Bears as agreeable?
“I mean, ain’t nothing been done,” he mentioned. “So I don’t have nothing to agree on yet.”
The chances are Johnson will stay in a Bears uniform via the tip of this season with loads of incentive to proceed proving his price.
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Source: www.bostonherald.com