Is the Bears Victory a Good Thing?

 December 14, 2020

The Houston Texans came to Soldier Field as slight favorites to beat the Bears. While it is not hard to believe the Bears won, it’s how they did it that was jaw dropping. The Bears crushed the Texans 36-7. Both the offense and defense may have played perhaps their most complete game. The Bears have faced many teams with defensive deficiencies, but with the exception of a bad Detroit Lions team and the hapless Atlanta Falcons, the offense has been non-existent. The defense has to remain consistent.

The much maligned offensive line was the best it has been all year. On the Bears first play, they opened up a hole you could drive a Mack truck through. The result was an 80 yard touchdown run by David Montgomery.  I can’t recall any other time the Bears had an 80 yard rushing touchdown. The pass protection kept Mitch Trubisky upright, allowing him to put up huge
numbers. He completed 24 of 33 passes for 267 yards. He had three touchdown passes and zero turnovers. All world wide receiver Allen Robinson had nine receptions, some acrobatic, for 123 yards. And though I hate to temper any enthusiasm, David Montgomery in his other 10 carries gained only 33 yards.  On the other hand, he is a very good receiver out of the backfield.

After being humbled in the past two weeks, the Bears’ defense returned with a vengeance. They held the Texans to 263 total yards. They recorded seven sacks. Khalil Mack had his best game since the 2018 season. He had a sack that produced a safety, caused one fumble, recovered another and also batted down a pass.

At this point the loss to the Lions is critical. The Bears are tied with the Minnesota Vikings at 6-7, one game out of the playoffs. There’s a possibility they beat the Vikings next week and a probability of beating the Jacksonville Jaguars the following week. The Bears would be 8-7. However, the Packers are next. Unless the Packers are locked in a playoff position and rest their starters, the Bears have no chance. Finishing 9-7, probably puts you in the watered down playoffs. The only thing 8-8 does is lower your draft position where there are no good quarterbacks left to choose from. It also increases the possibility of Coach Matt Nagy getting another year.