Bears grades: Seeking hope amid offense's failures
The Bears' offense is still broken, but there were a few faint positives Sunday against the New Orleans Saints.
Nick Foles did some better things when given time to throw against the Saints, like his 1-2 punch of a deep ball to Darnell Mooney and a 24-yard touchdown to Allen Robinson. His third-and-long pass to Anthony Miller at the end of regular was an example of the kind of throw Mitch Trubisky probably would not have made, but Foles did.
Still, things continue to just look difficult for this offense. Few things come easy for Foles. Procedural mistakes are a problem five starts into the Foles era, and he’s starting to pick up some bad habits – like, as colleague Adam Hoge pointed out, drifting back in the pocket, making things more difficult on his left and right tackles.
And Foles is still good for one bad interception per game, apparently. He’s never thrown more than 10 interceptions in a season; he’s already at seven in five and a half games, and might wind up setting a new career high in picks by the start of December at this rate.
It’s amazing what David Montgomery can do when he actually gets a hole to hit, right? His 38-yard run set up the Bears’ best rushing game in weeks against one of the best run defenses in the NFL. Sure, Montgomery gained only 51 yards on his other 20 carries (2.6 YPC) but the Bears desperately needed an explosive play in the run game, and got it on Sunday.
Allen Robinson, Darnell Mooney and Anthony Miller all had great games (at least up until Miller’s drop in overtime). But dragging this game down? Javon Wims punching C.J. Gardner-Johnson and not only getting himself kicked out of the game, but getting a 15-yard penalty that preceded Foles’ interception. Wims, rightfully, was suspended two games by the NFL on Monday for his actions.
I decided against an F here because Jimmy Graham did draw a pass interference flag in the end zone on a critical third-and-12 play late in the fourth quarter. When Graham is used properly – as in, he’s targeted in the end zone – he’s still effective. Everywhere else on the field, though? His age shows. Cole Kmet played 30 snaps to Demetrius Harris’ 20 but was targeted just once, and nearly fumbled the game away on it.
Seeing as the Bears’ O-line was missing 60 percent of its starters after the fourth play of the game – when right tackle Bobby Massie was injured – Juan Castillo’s group held its own. There was good protection on a few shot plays, allowing Foles to hit that downfield throw to Mooney and also make that critical throw to Miller that set up the game-tying field goal in the fourth quarter. Sam Mustipher, in particular, played admirably in his first career start.
There still were some mistakes, like an apparent miscommunication between Charles Leno Jr. and Rashaad Coward that led to Foles getting sacked in the first quarter. This group isn’t fixed. But it wasn’t as bad as it was on Monday Night Football, at least.
Akiem Hicks and Bilal Nichols accounted for seven of the Bears’ 16 pressures of Drew Brees, and while Alvin Kamara did have a couple of explosive runs this group did well to hold Kamara and Latavius Murray to 4.2 yards per carry – not great, but not bad, either.
Khalil Mack was credited with a strip-sack but that was about it for this group, which didn’t have the kind of impact on Brees it had on Tom Brady a few weeks ago. Chuck Pagano should probably not drop Mack into coverage much, if at all, again. Robert Quinn only has one sack through seven games – and that sack came on his first play in a Bears uniform.
Danny Trevathan played his best game of the season, tackling and, yes, covering extremely well. Roquan Smith was everywhere and nearly came down with what would’ve been a game-winning pick-six.
Brees didn’t target his wide receivers very much with Michael Thomas and Marquez Callaway out, but Kyle Fuller still broke up a pass while Jaylon Johnson and Buster Skrine played relatively well in coverage. Fuller, too, made a tremendous tackle to stop Tommylee Lewis one yard short of the line to gain on third and seven in the second quarter, forcing a punt.
Eddie Jackson had a strong game but Tashaun Gipson did not. Brees went after Gipson quite a bit, thanks to his frequent targeting of running backs and tight ends, and completed all seven passes toward Gipson for 68 yards, per Pro Football Focus.
How does Chris Tabor’s group only get a B when Cairo Santos drilled a game-tying 51-yard field goal to force overtime? When Cordarrelle Patterson averages 14.7 yards per kickoff return and the punt coverage unit gives up a 42-yard return by Deonte Harris, with Barkevious Mingo missing a key tackle to spring the play.
The Bears’ undisciplined streak is alarming, and it wasn’t just Wims jabbing away at Gardner-Johnson’s helmet. Matt Nagy’s team has now been penalized 54 times this year, tops in the NFL. It’s baffling how one of the league’s more disciplined teams over the last few years has suddenly become undone – especially given how little margin for error the Bears have. It’s not a coincidence that Foles’ only interception came after Wims’ 15-yard penalty.
Also: Why run only one play out of the Mitch Trubisky package and not try to build off it?
