The Bears have finally done it.
After 6 weeks in a row of agony, Chicago was finally able to sit down and enjoy its Sunday, as the Bears defeated the Texans by a score of 36 – 7. Quarterback Mitchell Trubisky threw for 267 yards, putting up 3 touchdowns and 0 interceptions. The defense also seemed to be out of its slump, putting up several sacks and even putting two points on the board for the Bears by way of a safety.
It was definitely nice to see the Bears finally decide to play well – now that they’re almost out of playoff contention. Although I’d like to see the Bears continue to play well and am biased enough to still believe we’re somehow going to the Superbowl, the win arguably hurt the Bears in terms of their draft pick.
Should the Bears find go 8-8 again this season and miss the playoffs, their draft pick would be in the middle of the pack; this would likely eliminate the possibility of a top quarterback in the draft falling to the Bears.
That’s a problem, right?
I don’t think so. Of course an earlier pick equals a player that’s more probable to play well, but the Bears shouldn’t draft a first round quarterback. It’s not to say that Trubisky is the best long term option, or that we shouldn’t take someone in the second round, but the Bears would benefit the most from a better offensive line.
Although there’s a lot of work to be done with the pass game and the O line would only partially fix it, it seems clear that the running game could be boosted a great deal with men who are better at protecting the runner and better playcalls.
Chicago has a beast of a back in David Montgomery, who broke away for a touchdown on the Bears’ first play on Sunday. However, he’s being wasted.
Matt Nagy went through a phase of running the ball right at the line every single play – in other words, getting stuffed every play. That’s partly on Nagy – you don’t run the ball at Aaron Donald every time when you wanna win – but with a better O line and a more comprehensive playbook, the Bears would be able to make huge progress on the ground, where they have lacked in several games this year. Drafting a top prospect like Samuel Cosmi, Alex Leatherwood, or Creed Humphrey Darrisaw, combined with some staff changes and other offseason moves, might allow the Bears to finally shake off their trademark of building up hope and then crashing down.
For now, the Bears need to try and hold onto the shred of hope that they have to make it to the postseason. They can’t afford to fumble another game away.
If the Bears can defeat and surpass Minnesota this Sunday and come up with a win over the 1-12 Jags, they’re seriously back in business. If the Cardinals start losing, the Bears have an even better chance of sneaking into a wild card spot.
If not, there’s always next year, but for a team who is on the verge of losing star players from frustration and a city who has experienced heartbreak with its baseball, basketball, and hockey teams this year, it would be fantastic to come out of this year with a triumph.
There’s plenty of hope. Chicago can’t give up yet.
