Chicago Bears head coach John Fox isn’t a man of many words, but sometimes what he does say hits hard:
Fox isn’t wrong.
Yes, Mike Glennon will shoulder a bulk of the load because he’s the quarterback who committed three turnovers … but he wasn’t the sole factor in defeat. Dropped passes, blown coverages, missed tackles, the rapid deterioration of the team’s depth, and an inability to avoid costly penalties were among the many reasons the Bears lost on Sunday.
The Bears will need Fox’s big-picture perspective as they move away from Sunday’s loss and onto Week 3. But first, Monday’s Bullets:
Mike Glennon’s first-half struggles continued, but JJ Stankevitz of CSN Chicago notes the Bears’ starting quarterback isn’t worried about losing his job. “There’s been no communication of that, so there’s no reason to worry about it.”
Glennon isn’t wrong either. Until he’s been told otherwise, he should expect to be the starter moving forward. It won’t be popular among the masses, but this is the reality until the Bears decide to go in a different direction. But even if Glennon isn’t worried about losing his starting job, he should be concerned with his play – especially early in games. Glennon entered the year as a quarterback with a reputation of being a slow decision-maker with a slow delivery. There hasn’t been much to change that discussion. His fourth quarter stats look respectable, but the other three quarters leave much to be desired. It’s the reason there’s any sort of quarterback debate right now.
And yet, perhaps there shouldn’t be much of a quarterback situation in the first place. After all, Fox was fairly adamant about absolving Glennon of blame and ensuring us that he’d be the team’s starter in Week 3. It’s not as though Fox didn’t have ample opportunity to pull the plug on the Glennon experience, even if it was for a few series. However, Patrick Finley of the Chicago Sun-Times reports Fox never really considered playing Trubisky at any point in Sunday’s lopsided loss.
Glennon took home one of the most notable grades handed out by Pro Football Focus on Sunday, but for all the wrong reasons. PFF gave Glennon a 59.2 overall grade, citing “a serious of disastrous turnovers” that took the Bears out of the game.
For what it’s worth, Glennon’s teammates are stepping up in his defense too. And frankly, they should. Especially the ones who dropped his passes:
Tarik Cohen had a respectable day as a fantasy football flex option, picking up 68 scrimmage yards on 15 touches, but Rich Campbell also notes the rookie running back came crashing back to earth a bit. Cohen owned up to his costly rookie mistake, which is the first step toward moving on and succeeding down the road. Cohen’s attempt (and failure) to field a bouncing punt directly led to a Buccaneers touchdown on the very next play. Maybe offensive coordinator Dowell Loggains was on to something when he suggested Cohen wasn’t ready to handle a full load yet, or perhaps he was bluffing. Despite his early gaffe, Cohen played 40 snaps in Sunday’s loss.
In case you’re curious, Jordan Howard played just 31 snaps – nine fewer than Cohen. Howard left Raymond James Stadium with his arm in a sling, which is a concern after landing on the injury last week with a shoulder injury. If you were wise and picked up Cohen in fantasy, he could turn into more than a stash or flex play if this injury is serious. Wes Anderson of FanRag Sports makes a compelling case to start Cohen moving forward. This piece has a fantasy slant, but could turn into something that impacts the Bears as a team depending on Howard’s health.
Not to be lost in the quarterback situation is the Bears defense allowed 23 points on Sunday. One week after shutting down Julio Jones, Bears had no answer for Mike Evans. Go figure:
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