In classic Chicago Bears fashion, the team trotted onto the field in Week 6 and put up six points in the first three and a half quarters, falling to 1-5. Chicago was coming off of two straight impressive offensive displays, but this came to an end against the Vikings. Even before Justin Fields left with injury, the offense didn’t look like it did in the previous two weeks. The offensive line was atrocious at pass blocking, and Fields only threw ten passes in the whole first half. The defensive line once again did nothing, and DJ Moore was quiet. It had seemed like Luke Getsy and Matt Eberflus had finally figured out what works on offense, but this week’s game felt like Weeks 1 and 2 all over again. Now, with Fields likely set to miss a few weeks, the Caleb Williams talk will ring louder than ever around the city.
The Offensive Line looked Awful
PFF hasn’t released data for the game yet, so I can’t access advanced pass rush data. However, the eye test and limited stats that we have now is all we need. I was excited for the offensive line, as nearly everyone came into the game healthy and they finally have had some time to gel as a unit. Unfortunately, they did not perform well. They were a detriment to the offense. The unit allowed five sacks and eight QB hits to a defense that had not been able to produce much pressure prior to this matchup.
On the very first play of the game Justin Fields was sacked on a play where he had no time to evade the rusher. This set the tone for the entire game. There were multiple plays in the first drive where Fields had no chance, and he took a hard shot on the second drive as well (although he probably should’ve gotten rid of the ball sooner on that particular play).
To make matters worse, Nate Davis-who has already missed multiple weeks this year due to personal reasons- was landed on by Justin Fields, and had to leave the game.
Cody Whitehair’s poor snapping ability reached a ridiculous level on Sunday. In a carryover from last week, he was quite literally killing entire plays, and ultimately, entire drives. An efficient offense simply cannot deal with multiple snaps per game that are poor enough to scrap the entire play. These snaps almost act as little penalties (although they may even be worse, as you don’t replay the down). Eberflus agreed, and benched Whitehair in the second half for Lucas Patrick.
Eberflus’s Defense Held Up
Although the offense didn’t hold up its end of the bargain, the defense ultimately did pretty well. The unit only allowed 19 points, which should be good enough to win a football game. With Eddie Jackson, Kyler Gordon, and Jaylon Johnson back, the secondary only allowed Kirk Cousins to throw for 181 yards. The absence of Justin Jefferson certainly played a large factor, but the back seven did what they were supposed to do.
This also includes linebackers Tremaine Edmunds and TJ Edwards, who I thought both had good games. Edwards was used as a blitzer several times, and was able to get home once for a sack. The duo created a turnover at the end of the first half, in which a blitzing Edwards got to Cousins, disrupted his throw, and watched the errant pass fall right into Edmunds’ arms. This play was a huge momentum boost for the Bears and gave the team fantastic field position.
The defensive line underperformed again. They are what they are. They simply can’t get home and opposing quarterbacks know it. The line was able to generate two sacks and five QB hits. When they do get home, good things happen. One of the two sacks on the day resulted in a fumble! Unfortunately, these instances are simply too far in between.
Justin Fields is in Trouble
The quarterback situation is in limbo. Things are not looking good for Justin Fields’ future in Chicago. After dislocating his right thumb, he is probably going to miss a few weeks. By the time he comes back, the Bears will probably be 2-7, or something similar. The optics alone will be ugly. He’ll then be left with less than ten games to prove that he is worth keeping over Caleb Williams, and he will probably need to do this in overwhelming fashion. It’s crazy how much things can change in one week. Coming into Week 6, Fields was coming off of the two best games of his career. Getting injured was the worst case scenario for Fields and the Bears. In this situation, not playing is almost as bad as playing poorly.
In all honesty, this injury could be a saving grace to Fields’ career. Next season, maybe he’ll play for a coach and offensive coordinator who know what they’re doing.