Over at Pro Football Rumors, Zach Link has a rundown of the nine 0-2 teams – which includes the Bears – and attempts to find which winless squad has the best chance of rebounding.
Between the never-ending pile of injuries and a blowout loss in Week 2, it feels like that painfully agonizing (but oddly tantalizing) loss to the Atlanta Falcons in Week 1 happened ages ago. It didn’t, and you can hang your hat on it if you’d like, because those are the kinds of games the Bears have played quite often under head coach John Fox.
In other words, once in a while they’ll pull out a win, but it hasn’t happened often enough (hence, the calls for the No. 2 pick and #2 QB Mitch Trubisky to unseat Mike Glennon). Link writes that those calls “could come quickly” and notes that Glennon ranks just 22nd in adjusted net yards per attempt. No matter how you slice it, he’s left much to be desired from a starter’s point of view.
But at least he’s trying and having fun completing passes, right?
The film study hasn’t been kind to Glennon either. Dan Durkin of The Athletic writes Glennon’s pre-determined reads have come back to bite the Bears. While Glennon isn’t the only reason the Bears are 0-2, he is partly responsible for the offense’s shortcomings in the passing game. Some of which had to do with his decision making when dropping back to pass, specifically against the Buccaneers. Glennon’s three first-half turnovers were direct blows that took his team out of the game for good and the group never recovered. For the Bears to be as competitive as they believe they are, Glennon needs to play near flawless football. And it starts with making better (and quicker) decisions in the pocket.
Despite his struggles, Glennon insists he isn’t looking over his shoulder. The Bears’ starting quarterback tells the Associated Press: “Some days are better than others. You’ve just got to stay even-keeled, focus on the upcoming series and you know just go out and execute.”
There hasn’t been much execution for the Bears offense, which ranks 19th in total offensive production and has scored just 24 points in two games. A 12.0 points per game average probably isn’t what the Bears had in mind when they entered the season with a quarterback who was supposed to limit turnovers, a bolstered running backs group that already featured a Pro Bowler, and a re-worked room of pass catchers.
At least Tanner Gentry is officially back in the fold with the practice squad.
But who needs Gentry when fellow rookie Tarik Cohen has been more receiver than running back so far. Nathan Jahnke of Pro Football Focus notes that Cohen has been targeted on 39.2 percent of his routes in his first two games, which is the highest percentage for a running back through two weeks since PFF started tracking such stats. Cohen has been on the field for 51.9 percent of the Bears’ offensive snaps this season. And of those 68 reps, 52 have come on pass plays. Offensive coordinator Dowell Loggains has been creative in using Cohen, but the offense still lacks diversity beyond the rookie speedster.
Jahnke also brings up another nugget that should be of interest to the Bears: The Steelers left guard, Ramon Foster, is one of just two left guards to have over 500 pass blocks since the start of 2016 and not allow a sack. This makes potential matchups against defensive end Akiem Hicks and nose tackle Eddie Goldman worth highlighting on Sunday.
Speaking of the Steelers’ offense, here is a scary thought courtesy of Ben Roethlisberger, who told Ray Fittipaldo of the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette offensive improvements are on the way. “I don’t know if it will ever get to our expectations,” Roethlisberger told the Post-Gazette. “If we expect perfect and put the bar really high … we should set goals that are almost unattainable so you can just be the best you can be. We’re not worried about guys that missed time. We’re winning football games. We’re getting better and making improvements.”
A team with a two-time Super Bowl winning quarterback, an all-world running back, an all-universe receiver, and one of the best head coaches in the game has room to improve, is making improvements, and is just three days from stepping onto the Soldier Field turf. If I was scheming against this offense, I’d have trouble sleeping the next few days.
Promise not to do make this same mistake against Antonio Brown:
The Bears stopped the Eagles from being the second team to poach their practice squad this season, when they added safety DeAndre Houston-Carson to the active roster, tweets Rich Campbell of the Chicago Tribune. If you recall, Dieugot Joseph was snagged by the Baltimore Ravens earlier in a week full of roster movement, but the Bears ensured their former sixth-round pick, Houston-Carson, was going nowhere.
And finally, former Bears quarterback Brian Hoyer is quarterbacking the San Francisco 49ers – one of the other 0-2 teams looking to bounce back – and it turns out he has had plenty of time to throw, but hasn’t done much with it: