Bears Pull Upset and Beat a Good Team

 

October 9, 2020,

A couple of weeks ago I told you that the Bears would be lucky to win four games. After a stunning 20-19 upset of Tom Brady and the Tampa Bay Buccaneers, the Bears are now 4-1. I guess I have to alter my prediction.  Once again the Bears were able to overcome a 13 point deficit. The Bear defense should get most of the credit for this victory. They looked like the 2018 team that made the playoffs.

As the first quarter came to a close, you may have been questioning if Nick Foles should remain the Bears QB. His accuracy was atrocious, consistently missing his receivers. The Buccaneers scored a field goal on their opening possession. On the Bears second possession Foles was intercepted on a pass that 90% of the time, Allen Robinson makes the catch. This led to a touchdown. The Buccaneers tacked on another field goal to make the score 13-0. Any doubts you had about Foles, should have evaporated by the end of the half. Foles completed seven passes in a row on a 75 yard touchdown drive ending when David Montgomery ran it in from three yards out. On the   Buccaneers next possession, Bears cornerback Kyle Fuller caused running back Ke’Shawn Vaughn to fumble at the Bucs 27 yard line. With a first down at the 12 yard line, Jimmy Graham made a one-handed catch in the end zone giving the Bears a 14-13 lead. Graham now has 4 touchdowns. Last year, Bear tight ends had only two touchdowns total.

The second half belonged to the defense. The Bears have given up one touchdown in each of the last two games. The Indianapolis Colts and Buccaneers had eight drives in Bears territory and were forced to settle for field goals. Khalil Mack had his best game since the 2018 season. The teams traded field goals in the second half. After three lead changes the Buccaneers led 19-17. This is when the defense took over. After forcing a three and out the Bears started at their own 47 yard line. Foles had been hitting on deftly thrown passes most of the night. The touch on his throws were something you never saw from back-up QB Mitch Trubisky. Foles passes moved the ball so the kick would be less than forty yards. Cairo Santos hit his second field goal of the game from 36 yards out to give the Bears a 20-19 lead. There was still 1minute and13 seconds left when the Buccaneers started a drive at their 25 yard. They got no further than their own 41 and the Bears held on for the win.

Nick Foles ended up his night completing 30-42 passes for 243 yards. Allen Robinson led receivers with ten catches for 90 yards. He was also hitting receivers in stride and the Bears looked excellent running after the catch. Brady was having trouble against a fierce pass rush. He is a great quarterback. However, the Buccaneers committed several penalties and I doubt that when with the New England Patriots he ever had a first down and 30 yard situation.  He also ended the game losing track of the downs. He thought he had another play after the Bears forced an incompletion on fourth down.. His stats didn’t differ much from Foles.

Finally…

Matt Nagy once again had some bad play calls and didn’t do good job of clock management at the end of the game. Once again the Bears running game faltered. Sort of like the chicken and the egg, I can’t tell if the running backs or the offensive line is the problem, Therefore, I will place the blame on both.