Another week. Another loss. Another set of efficiency and harm points to sift by way of. The Chicago Bears didn’t anticipate to be approaching the midpoint of their season this fashion, nonetheless unable to win consecutive video games and staying much more related within the 2024 draft dialog than they’re within the 2023 playoff image.
Sunday’s 30-13 blowout to the Los Angeles Chargers at SoFi Stadium in Inglewood, Calif., as soon as once more confirmed the Bears as a struggling staff missing the playmaking firepower to constantly beat high quality opponents.
As that newest defeat settles in, Tribune writers Dan Wiederer and Colleen Kane play a recreation of tTrue or false with 4 outstanding subjects.
Kane: True or false? After Sunday’s shaky efficiency towards the Chargers, the Tyson Bagent fairy story is successfully over.
Wiederer: Wait. What? Are we being severe right here, Chicago? Are we severely attempting to implement a super-speed spherical for quarterback analysis that gives solely two begins earlier than definitive conclusions have to be drawn? False. False, false, false.
Indeed, Bagent struggled Sunday and was behind the wheel of a sloppy offensive efficiency during which the Bears solely squeezed 13 factors and 295 whole yards out of 11 possessions. The younger quarterback threw two interceptions and was virtually picked off two different instances. On the highway, towards a protection that entered the evening permitting a league-worst 310 passing yards per recreation, Bagent went 25-for-37 for 232 yards.It actually wasn’t a repeat efficiency of the spectacular management he confirmed in his first begin throughout an encouraging residence victory over the Las Vegas Raiders. But Sunday’s dud additionally wasn’t a shock, significantly for an undrafted rookie out of Division II who remains to be acclimating to the pace and calls for of the NFL.
Inconsistency and wrestle will all the time be a part of the journey for younger quarterbacks as they achieve expertise. Part of the bottom line is correctly reacting to and rising from shaky outings like Sunday’s. Look, I’ve been on report saying Justin Fields must be again within the huddle as quickly because the medical workers clears him to play. Getting a complete analysis of his improvement and course is without doubt one of the main to-do objects for the 2023 Bears. And Bagent must be prepared to slip again into the QB2 seat, maybe as early as this week. But to declare an abrupt finish to his fairy-tale rise? Nope. Nuh-uh. That’s ridiculous.
Kane: Bagent’s efficiency Sunday, a part of a Bears offensive exhibiting riddled with errors, wasn’t nice, however you’re proper in saying it additionally wasn’t one thing that ought to function the idea for writing off Bagent’s means to play within the NFL. I haven’t fairly understood the people who find themselves so fast to do this after a begin or two even when they’re skeptical of his roots at Shepherd University. But the state of affairs is clearly sophisticated in that Bagent’s try to enhance with extra expertise should pause when the Bears return to Fields. When that occurs, when will Bagent get his subsequent alternative?
I believe we will acknowledge the expertise and potential of Fields and wish the Bears to see if he can put all of it collectively for the remainder of the season whereas additionally saying we’re desirous about seeing if Bagent can enhance with extra expertise. (Saying a kind of statements doesn’t make me a hater of the opposite, it doesn’t matter what social media tells me!) But one does come on the expense of the opposite. And which means whereas Bagent’s underdog story won’t be over, it will definitely should pivot to being advised from the backup function. For now, he’ll get one other shot towards the Saints.
Wiederer: True or false? If Justin Fields is wholesome sufficient to play, it’s higher for him to come back again towards the Lions in Week 11 than the Panthers in Week 10.
Kane: False. As lengthy as he can’t do additional injury to his injured thumb, Fields ought to come again as quickly as he and the Bears really feel just like the harm received’t hinder his means to steer the offense.
As we’ve talked about earlier than, Fields has loads using on the final two months of this season as he tries to persuade the Bears they need to follow him past this season. I perceive the considering that coming again on a brief week of observe to face the Panthers on “Thursday Night Football” isn’t preferrred. But after Bagent begins towards the Saints, Fields would have simply eight video games to get this Bears offense right into a groove. Especially if he can observe in some capability this week, he must get began as quickly as he bodily can. And returning in a winnable recreation towards the Panthers looks like an excellent time.
Wiederer: Fields, Matt Eberflus mentioned, isn’t fairly nicely sufficient to play in New Orleans, a declaration the Bears coach made firmly Monday, very early in Week 9.
With that established, I might now maintain Fields out till after the second mini-bye following the Panthers recreation, which can afford him a smoother on-ramp again into motion with per week the place he may truly get again into the move of issues by way of observe reps. But sure, as you identified, the clock is certainly ticking right here. The Bears solely have 9 extra video games earlier than they’ll face some fairly important selections concerning tips on how to transfer ahead at crucial place within the sport.
They have to have Fields again on the sphere quickly to proceed including to his file with all of the requisite enhancements he must make for the group to imagine strongly in his improvement.
It appeared affordable to suppose Fields’ proper thumb could be healed and his grip power useful for this week. But if the Bears insist he’s nonetheless struggling bodily and might’t play the place correctly, then we are going to all settle in for an additional Tyson Bagent begin. Or maybe two.
Kane: True or false? The NFL ought to severely take into account flexing the Bears’ Week 12 recreation with the Vikings off Monday evening.
Wiederer: True. The last-place Bears haven’t received consecutive video games since late within the 2021 season and haven’t proven the flexibility to often entertain a nationwide viewers. And the immediately resurgent Vikings at the moment are coping with the torpedo that hit their season Sunday when quarterback Kirk Cousins tore his Achilles tendon.
If the Nov. 27 recreation at U.S. Bank Stadium had a lot attraction to start with, it positively dipped after Sunday’s developments for each groups. So sure, the league ought to take into account another for that “Monday Night Football” opening.
Yet right here’s the large snag: That’s Thanksgiving weekend, and the league already has three video games locked into the Thursday vacation slots, one other (Dolphins-Jets) set for the afternoon of Black Friday after which a Ravens-Chargers affair scheduled for Sunday evening. That considerably reduces the stock of video games the league can take into account flexing to maneuver Bears-Vikings out of Monday evening.
Kane: Yeah, it’s not precisely a marquee matchup from the place we stand proper now, although the Bears is likely to be recreation for a Cousins-less Vikings staff in prime-time. It may lastly be their likelihood for the primary NFC North win of the Matt Eberflus period, if they’ll’t get it performed per week earlier towards the Lions in Detroit.
The league has been flexing Sunday evening video games for years however simply applied the Monday and Thursday evening flex choices this 12 months. They must announce it no fewer than 12 days earlier than the sport, so we must always know in a few weeks if Bears followers want to regulate their Thanksgiving weekend plans for viewing — assuming the Bears are nonetheless maintaining their curiosity by that time.
Wiederer: True or false? The Bears’ lack of a go rush is the protection’s largest downside.
Kane: True. It was the Bears’ largest downside final 12 months, and it stays so this 12 months regardless of common supervisor Ryan Poles’ efforts to make upgrades to the line of defense within the offseason.
The Bears have solely 10 sacks as a staff and rank final within the NFL with a 3.4% sack price. Chargers quarterback Justin Herbert operated with ease whereas finishing 31 passes for 298 yards and three touchdowns with out being sacked Sunday. Linebacker T.J. Edwards is tied with defensive finish Yannick Ngakoue for the staff lead with two sacks. Defensive sort out Justin Jones has seven quarterback hits.
The Bears protection has had different points too. Injuries within the secondary have contributed to a few of its struggles. Missed tackles have been outstanding Sunday. The Bears solely had one takeaway towards the Chargers. But the Bears’ incapacity to make life troublesome for opposing quarterbacks has been so obtrusive, and it’s one thing Poles must make his offseason focus.
Wiederer: Not solely do the Bears rank thirty second in sacks, they’re 5 shy of the eight defenses which are tied for second-to-last in that class. (And don’t overlook, a dozen groups have already had bye weeks to restrict their totals by way of Week 8 as nicely.) On Sunday, the Bears not solely didn’t sack Herbert — it was the 18th time within the 25-game Eberflus period they went with out a number of sacks — they solely hit Herbert twice. When you give any quarterback that sort of peace of thoughts, he turns into harmful. When you give a standout quarterback that sort of consolation, it’s downright deadly.
We’ve recognized for a very long time that including go rush assistance is a significant precedence for the Bears. It must be addressed. ASAP. Until then, we’ll proceed figuring out the Bears protection as an all-too-ordinary unit incapable of constantly being the explanation the staff wins.
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Source: www.bostonherald.com