Well, that went about at poorly as it possibly could have. All desperate hopes of this past week’s controversy rallying the team were quickly extinguished. Sunday’s game against the defending Super Bowl Champions was over from the start. We should’ve seen it coming. Considering the Chiefs’ Week 1 home loss, and the fact that Taylor Swift was in attendance cheering them on (betting Travis Kelce over 0.5 TDs might have been the easiest money I’ve ever made) there was no universe in which Kansas City didn’t dominate. Still- similar to Week 1 against the Packers- the way that the Bears lost was worse than expected.
Play-calling
Luke Getsy gave in to the noise and switched it up a bit this week. Justin Fields was not a “robot” in the pocket. Getsy was hammering read options out of the gun; there were at least three of them called in the first two drives. While this was a step in the right direction, there has to be more ways to get Justin Fields on the run. They did switch it up on one drive in the fourth quarter, in which there were at least six designed rushing attempts by Fields, by my charting. To me, it is clear that Justin got in somebody’s ear before this possession. Unfortunately, it seems to be too advanced for the Bears offense to run more than one concept at a time. The first couple of possessions were all read options, then this possession was all designed keepers. Week 1 it was all screens, while I did not clock one screen play against the Chiefs. This offense has no identity.
I liked the implementation of deep passes this week. Though throwing the deep ball is the quarterback’s main strength besides running the ball, I could count the number of deep shots taken in Weeks 1 and 2 on one hand. Today, the Bears at least tried to air it out, connecting on one 29 yard pass to DJ Moore. Hopefully, Luke Getsy sticks with this. Though only one connected today, Moore also dropped a ball that he catches 9 times out of 10, and Chase Claypool had a great shot at a 50/50 ball late in the second quarter.
The lack of DJ Moore involvement was worrying, once again. While he ended with a solid stat line, almost all of his production was obtained against backup defenders while the Bears were already trailing by 40 points. The coaches have to expect opposing defenses to key in on him. They need to either come up with ways to scheme him open, or take advantage of the numbers advantage that Moore creates for Mooney, Claypool, and Kmet.
Performance and Injuries
The Bears have absolutely no pass rush. Sunday marked another zero-sack performance. The team has only accumulated one sack through three games. You simply cannot win football games without creating some type of pressure. It will truly be tough to get into the win column if the defensive line keeps performing as badly as it has. On top of the defensive unit as a whole already being below average (as best), injuries are piling up. Every starting cornerback and safety has already gotten banged up through three games. Kyler Gordon and Eddie Jackson have already missed time, Tyrique Stevenson left Week 3’s game with a head injury, and Jaquan Brisker has already had multiple scares. Even major offseason signing Tremaine Edmunds got banged up against the Chiefs. The Bears needed everything to go right to have a good season. Instead, even the things that they have no control over are going haywire.
Positives
None, literally none. The defense created its first two turnovers of the season, it only took until Week 3 (and Blaine Gabbert to take over at QB)! Kicker Cairo Santos is 4-4 on the season. There you go, there’s something. He’s also a perfect 3-3 on extra points. Only three attempts through three games. It’s bad in Chicago, it’s real bad.