Were you so inclined, there are about a dozen really significant positives you could take away from this one. The Bears’ defensive front was about as good as you reasonably could have expected. The running game was fantastic, and Tarik Cohen was a revelation. Mike Glennon looked the part of a serviceable game manager, and actually led a couple of nice drives at the end of the game without much in the way of help from his wide receivers.
… but it wasn’t enough. A couple near catches at the goal line as the final minute of the game played out left us all feeling especially heartbroken by this one. Inches. The Bears were inches away from winning their first game of the year against a loaded Falcons team. If you told me that ahead of the game, I’d probably think, “Wow, cool, the Bears did better than we expected!” But when you’re actually in the moment … damn, I’m really disappointed.
As I said, there were positives to take away – and Luis will undoubtedly get into them – but the overall taste in the mouth here is not great. Visions of Austin Hooper streaking completely uncovered over the middle will haunt my dreams tonight.
Going forward, if the Bears can’t develop some semblance of a downfield threat, we’ll see a lot of this …