Time flies when you’re having fun, as the 2017-18 season has come to the half way point after Week 8. Teams are establishing identities, and we’re starting to get a feel for who will be real contenders come January. For Chicago Bears fans, it’s all about trying to make light of dark situation.
Currently at 3-5 heading into their bye week, the Bears have shown that they are indeed a team still lacking talent, but they’ve also displayed flashes of a team heading in the right direction under Ryan Pace. I’ll go through the good, the bad, the ugly from the first half of the season, and what to look for in the final eight games after the bye.
The Good
Let’s just go ahead and start with the obvious: the Bears’ defense has been stellar.
In what seems like the closest thing to a Lovie Smith-like defense we’ve seen since, well, the Lovie-days, it has been an absolute pleasure to watch the defense eat up opposing offenses, living up to the “Monsters of the Midway” mantra. Leading the way is Akiem Hicks, who’s having a Pro Bowl season with now as many sacks as he had all of last year (7) and creating havoc against the run. By far, he’s been the defense’s MVP, and offenses are still having trouble containing him.
The defense, as a whole, has been not-too-shabby as well. They currently rank eighth in total yards allowed per game (312), seventh in sacks (23), and eleventh in total points allowed (171). They’ve allowed only two touchdowns (both in Sunday’s game against the Saints) in the last 13 quarters played. They already have as many takeaways (11) as they had all last season.
All of these stats are even more impressive if you’ve had the chance to watch Chicago’s offense take the field. I wanted to save this stat for the “bad” portion of this article, but to make my point, the Bears’ defense ranks top 10 in terms of how long they’re on the field, 31:30 TOP per game to be exact. With such little help from their offense, they shouldn’t be this good.
Another “good,” and it may be the only one on the offensive side, is the Bears’ running game/Jordan Howard. Chicago has the fourth best rushing attack in the league, racking up 130.1 YPG. Jordan Howard is currently fourth in the league in rushing with 662 yards, he’s third in attempts (162), and he ranks fourth in rushing efficiency with running backs that have 100+ carries. Not to mention he’s been playing with a sore shoulder all season, sometimes very noticeably making his right arm immobile after carries. With John Fox’s run-heavy offense, one has to wonder just how long #24 will last, as he’s carried the offense on his one shoulder at the half way point.
The Bad
Welp. Where shall I begin?
Part of the reason as to why the Bears’ offense is so putrid is, because they can’t get out of their own way. They have shot themselves in the foot 29 times this season with penalties, which is tied for third-most in the league. 23 of those yellow flags were thrown for offensive holding (13) and false starts (10). This, in turn, puts an already handicapped offense in tough positions, as they’re not built to overcome 3rd-and-longs. Remaining disciplined has seemed to be an issue for John Fox’s offenses in his short tenure as Chicago’s head coach, something that will certainly be a factor come “Black Monday” at season’s end.
Penalties aren’t the only “bad” hovering over the coaching staff’s heads. Play-calling on the offensive end has also caused some headaches. Before the season began, there were questions as to how this coaching staff would handle a rookie quarterback, especially one drafted as high as Trubisky. Now with four games under Mitch’s belt, it’s obvious that the playbook-leash is shorter than Kevin White’s career with the Bears.
John Fox and Dowell Loggains have given new meaning to a “run-first offense.” Chicago’s most common offensive personnel grouping is Gentry & McBride outside, Sims & Miller at TE, and Howard at RB. Before Sunday’s game against the Saints, the Bears ran this personnel for 25 plays versus Carolina and Baltimore with 20 of them being runs and only 5 being passes. What’s even more confusing is Jordan Howard and the offense have seen 8+ man fronts 46.91% of the time.
Any QB with any kind of throwing talent is usually licking his chops when they see 8+ man fronts, as they are given a run/pass option with the ability to check out of runs based on what the defense shows pre-snap. With Fox holding the leash so short on Mitch, when Loggains calls a run play, that’s exactly what they’re doing.
Letting Trubisky get into some kind of throwing rhythm early on in games will help him down the line if he’s needed in a close game. The Bears have dug themselves in holes multiple times this year. They run the ball majority of the first three quarters, then are in a position to win the game but are depending on Mitch’s arm to score. It’s hard to get on a rhythm as a passer when all you’ve been doing all day is turning your back on the defense and handing the ball off. Quick passes (slants, WR screens to Wright, etc.) early in the game (especially on first down) will help Trubisky get into some kind of rhythm.
The Ugly
This probably could have gone in the “bad” portion of the article, but one of the biggest ugly’s so far this season has been Bears’ place kicker Connor Barth. Mostly because he should never have been on the roster to enter the season, which also falls on Ryan Pace.
Barth currently has the worst field goal percentage of any starting kicker this year at 63.6%. Last year, Connor finished 27th in the league FG% with 78.3%. It was obvious then that the guy didn’t deserve to be on any roster, let alone one that can’t afford to leave three points on the board.
I say we just send a package of Edible Arrangements to Robbie Gould and beg him to come back…
Also, a big ol’ fat ugly dedication to Carl Cheffers and his referee crew for taking Zach Miller’s touchdown away after his leg practically snapped in half, then later had to have emergency surgery on an artery in his leg in order to keep it from being amputated. This issue stems from a bigger one, in that it only shows that the NFL still has no idea what a catch is. This call in particular was a low-blow, being that it eventually handed the Bears a loss and, more importantly, took away a touchdown from a guy who selflessly continued to hold onto the ball while suffering a potential career-ending injury.
And if you’re still iffy on whether or not it was a catch, here’s two former VP’s of Officiating Dean Blandino and Mike Pereira giving their insight on the missed call.
What To Look For In Final Eight Games
On October 25, 2017, the Bears did something out of the ordinary; assess a need via trade mid-season. Ryan Pace indeed pulled the trigger and sent a conditional pick to the Chargers for wide receiver Dontrelle Inman.
The trade couldn’t have come at a better time, as the lack of talent at the WR position in Chicago is no secret. It also gives Inman a chance to use the bye week to get acclimated with the playbook and gives him an extra week of practice time on the field to get a feel for his new quarterback, Mitch Trubisky.
Inman is in no means a number one wide-out, and I don’t believe the Bears are expecting him to be their savior to a struggling passing game. With that being said, he is the best outside receiver option Chicago now has, with enough experience to help a rookie QB. He could give a spark to the passing game and give Trubisky more confidence to push the ball downfield. Seeing how the offensive game plan changes, if at all, with a new potential weapon for Mitch will be a scenario to watch for.
Another offensive story line to be on the lookout for is just how much of playbook will be opened up for Trubisky going forward, and if Dowell Loggains be more creative with his play calling. As mentioned previously, the Bears offense is one of the more predictable offenses in the league. “Run, run, pass on 3rd and long” is what seems to be the trend, which will only set up a rookie QB with limited weapons for failure. Adding a quick-pass game to the offense on first and second downs would not only help the Bears in moving the ball, it will help Mitch’s development. Let him learn from mistakes, if he makes them. If not, it only builds his confidence.
Additionally, watching to see if the Bears’ defense continues it’s dominance will be interesting, as their schedule only gets easier in the back-nine. If Akiem Hicks continues to terrorize QB’s and RB’s in the backfield, he will surely be considered for DPOY. The ball-hawking rookie Eddie Jackson will look to continue his momentum as one of the biggest steals in the 2017 draft and could also be up for the DROY award. Kyle Fuller has played his best ball since his rookie year, and now on a contract-year, looks to earn a nice pay raise in 2018. Ryan Pace would be hard-pressed to sign Fuller to an extension after the year’s end, but it’s up to Kyle if he wants to stay a Bear. The Bears currently have a playoff-caliber defense, but can Pace keep the band together and build upon it for next year? We’ll see.
Lastly, and by far the most intriguing (total sarcasm) is Chicago’s kicker situation. There haven’t been any reports yet, but one would think John Fox would bring in kickers during the bye week for tryouts. In addition to Zach Miller’s touchdown being stripped away this past Sunday against the Saints, Connor Barth missed a 48-yard field goal that would have cut the Saints’ lead to 14-6 in the final minute of the first half. As I’ve previously stated, the Bears can’t afford to have an unreliable kicker at this point. Asking a kicker on the market to do a better job than Barth has so far isn’t a tough task, so there’s no excuse for the Bears to head into Soldier Field against Green Bay in week 9 without a new kicker.
Let’s take this second half of the season in stride, Bears fans. As if we had another choice…
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