Bears Tied For First Place

 

October 18, 2020

If anyone had told me that after six games the Bears would be 5-1 and the Vikings 1-5, I would asked what you were smoking? With the sputtering offense tied to the railroad tracks, the defense came to the rescue. The Bears are epitomizing what winning ugly means, beating the Carolina Panthers 23-16. 

For the third consecutive week, the defense surrendered only one touchdown. That came after a questionable pass interference at the goal line. All other Panther scoring drives resulted in field goals. The defense reminded me of 2018. They had a fumble recovery and two interceptions. The first interception occurred on the Panthers first possession. The Bears scored on a touchdown pass from Nick Foles to rookie tight end Cole Kmet. This was probably Foles best pass of the game. The second interception happened on the Panthers last possession, sealing a Bears win. The defense put consistent pressure on Panthers QB Teddy Bridgewater. It’s also amazing to see how much better Khalil Mack is with Akiem Hicks in the line-up. On the Bears first sack, Hicks got a hand on Bridgewater and Mack cleaned up.

If not for the defense, offensive guru Coach Matt Nagy’s offense once again doesn’t score 20 points. Last week Nagy spoke about the two good defenses the Bears played, rushing for only 63 yards. He said against the Panthers he would get the running game on track. The Bears gained 63 yards. Well at least they are consistent. David Montgomery had 19 carries for an unimpressive 58 yards. Take away his longest run of 12 yards and you get the real Montgomery. He had 18 carries for 46 yards, well under three yards per carry. A perfect example of his ineffectiveness is when the Bears had a first and goal from the three yard line. The Bears gave the ball to Montgomery twice and he didn’t reach the end zone. QB Nick Foles was supposed to have better command of the offense after having a long week of practice. Although he completed 22of 39 passes, many were that wide receiver screen that Nagy kept calling, even if it never resulted in more than a couple yards.

The Bears are winning games by the skin of their teeth. Matt Nagy’s offense is in tatters. What this shows me is the Bears need to draft a quarterback and a bruising running back. However, the personnel may not matter as long as Nagy remains the coach.