The Offense Cometh

October 2, 2018

It was a good week for the Chicago Bears as they annihilated the Tampa Bay Buccaneers 48-10.  The Detroit Lions lost to the Dallas Cowboys (1-3) and the Minnesota Vikings lost their second in a row to the L.A. Rams (1-2-1). Only the Green Bay Packers were win over Buffalo (2-1-1) kept pace with the first place Bears (3-1). The last part of that sentence sounds really good.

The Bears offense had their coming out party. Mitch Trubisky was a big part of the offensive explosion. He was 19 of 26 for 354 yards. He had six touchdowns and zero interceptions. He also ran for 53 yards. His passer rating was a near perfect 154.7. His fantasy football points was a whopping 55.5. Probably not on any team, but people will be clamoring to add him. It doesn’t get any better than this.

The Bears main goal this off season was to provide Trubisky with some weapons. These acquisitions had a big impact. On the first series, Trey Burton hauled down a 39 yard touchdown. The next touchdown was a 14 yard floater to Allen Robinson. This was a beautiful throw and reception. Taylor Gabriel had two touchdowns. One was a nifty 3 yard shovel pass. Coach Matt Nagy got real cute having two quarterbacks in the backfield. The other Gabriel touchdown was a short fade in the end zone. On the previous play, Trubisky had no one open and threw the ball out of the end zone. It shows that Trubisky is learning. If there is a number two star of the game my vote goes to Tarik Cohen. He accumulated 175 all- purpose yards including a bullet touchdown catch. I can hear Ken Harrelson saying don’t stop now boys. With a perfect pump fake ,Trubisky finds a wide open Josh Bellamy for a 26 yard touchdown. The cherry on top is Cody Parkey hitting two field goals, one from 51 yards out. This is probably a career best game for Trubisky. I hope it is a springboard for a consistent performance.

Tampa Bay quarterback, Ryan Fitzpatrick had three consecutive 400 yard passing games coming into Sunday’s game. In my opinion, the best defense in the NFL, put a stop to that. Second half replacement, Jameis Winston didn’t do much better. The defense once again was dominant. Led by Khalil Mack, the Bears added four more sacks and now lead the league in that category. Mack also hit Winston’s hand, leading to a Danny Trevathan interception for one of three Bears' interceptions. If they are not leading the league in interceptions and total turnovers, they have to be close to the top.

This early in the season I wouldn’t be making Super Bowl reservations. However, every year it seems one team goes from worst to first. Last year it was the L.A. Rams. Who’s to say if the offense produces and the defense stays healthy, the Bears can’t do this. The next four games are against the AFC East. The only one that could be a problem are the New England Patriots. This a home game and they may be able to pull an upset.

The best thing about the Bears is they will divert our attention from the Blackhawks and the Bulls.