The Chicago Bears had plenty of chances to leave MetLife Stadium on Sunday with a win but stalled drives, poor offensive line pass protection, poor run defense, questionable play calling and an inability to hold on to the football at key moments cost the Bears.
The Bears ended up losing to the Giants 20-12 and it was the run game of the Giants that helped to spell the Bears’ doom. The Giants racked up 262 yards on the ground and they were led by Saquon Barkley who 31 carries for 146 yards. QB Daniel Jones added 6 runs for 68 yards and 2 rushing TDs. The Bears were caught flat footed and out of position all throughout the 1st half as Barkley gashed his way to 90 1st half yards and Jones rushed for the 2 Giants TDs on bootleg plays.
Offensively Justin Fields looked better even though his numbers didn’t wow anyone. Fields finished 11/22 for 177 yards while adding 52 yards on 7 rushes. 51 of Fields’ passing total came on a deep ball to Darnell Mooney who finished with 4 catches for 94 yards. Khalil Herbert added 19 rushes for 77 yards.
The Bears had two big problems on offense today. The first problem was they couldn’t finish drives. 3 of their 4 scoring drives got inside of the Giants’ 15-yard line but they couldn’t close those drives with touchdowns. The other huge problem was the pass protection. Justin Fields was hit 9 times and sacked 6 times. One of those sacks led to a Fields fumble.
The Good, Bad & Ugly
The Good: Justin Fields. After a disastrous game last Sunday against the Texans the young QB responded and did all he could today. Fields accounted for 207 of the Bears 303 net yards gained today. He made some really good throws and used his feet to extend drives. Jaquan Brisker made up for his coverage gap mistakes in the 1st half to end up with 5 tackles, 1 sack and 1 TFL. The young safety also laid the lumber and knocked backup QB Tyron Taylor out of the game.
The Bad: On offense, the Bears not being able to score any TDs on redzone drives was a problem today. The play calling was extremely questionable in those spots. People have a right to question OC Luke Getsy. On defense the Bears will have plenty of tape to dissect what went wrong on the coverage for those bootleg plays. Velus Jones, Jr returned to action and on his 1st punt return muffed the punt that effectively derailed any hopes of a last-second comeback.
The Ugly: The offensive pass protection was a joke. Giving up 6 sacks & 9 QB hits is one sure fire way to shorten the playing span of your quarterback. Once the Giants began dialing up the pressure the Bears simply didn’t have a counterpunch. Losing G Cody Whitehair also didn’t help matters. On the defensive end, the Bears have to look at their league worst run defense. The Bears have given up 150 or more rushing yards in 3 of their 4 games. After today’s fiasco, the Bears are giving up a league worst 183.2 rushing yards per game. When you have a team that is this bereft of talent one has to wonder how can your franchise QB be truly evaluated.
Up next: The Bears will travel to Minneapolis to take on the division leading Minnesota Vikings in Week 5. Ouch…
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