Bears Taking Care of Business

November 6, 2018

The Chicago Bears kept their focus and remain atop the NFC North, crushing the Buffalo Bills 41-9. The weekend improved as the Green Bay Packers lost to Tom Brady and the New England Patriots 31-17. The Minnesota Vikings recorded 10 sacks in their 24-9 victory over the Detroit Lions to remain in second place. The Bears’ next opponent: The Detroit Lions.

The Bears’ Khalil Mack sat out his second straight game. He was not needed, as the rest of the defense suffocated the Bills. Granted, Buffalo is an extremely bad offensive team; however, the Bears’ defense would have overwhelmed many other teams. They had constant pressure on quarterback Nathan Peterman, forcing errant or hurried throws. They had four sacks and caused four turnovers. A fumble recovery by Eddie Jackson] turned into a 65-yard touchdown. Kyle Fuller, who is having a really good season, jarred a ball loose that landed in the hands of Leonard Floyd, who returned it 19 yards for a touchdown[. The Bears had two more interceptions and forced many three-and-outs, setting up excellent field position. The defense should get better with Mack back at 100 percent.  If he doesn’t play next week, the Bears are lying about the severity of his injury.

This was a game where the offense didn’t have to be good and it wasn’t. Ever since his otherworldly game in which he threw for six touchdowns, Mitch Trubisky has regressed. His accuracy has dipped where he is completing only about 50 percent of his passes, mostly for short gains. On deep sideline throws he has no touch. His reads and decisions are not as good as they should be after eight games. The last game was his worst, completing only 12 of 20 passes for 135 yards. He had an interception with no receivers in sight and a fumble that thankfully the Bears recovered. The touchdowns they did score were on short-yardage possessions set up by the defense and a Tarik Cohen punt return. You know the offense is stumbling when it has to settle for field goals in Cody Parkey’s range. The total offense gained less than 200 yards.

The possibility of making the playoffs still exists. The Bears have five division games left and most likely have to win three of those games. Trubisky needs to get better, which is the job of offensive guru Coach Matt Nagy. Only in games against teams like Buffalo can you gain less than 200 yards, commit 14 penalties and win. In the span of 12 days they play the Lions and the Vikings in home games. Then they have the Thanksgiving game which a beatable Detroit Lions team gets amped up for. After that the playoff picture will get a lot clearer.