Mitch Trubisky and the Chicago Bears offense will catch a bit of a break on Sunday with the news that Carolina Panthers linebacker Luke Kuechly has been ruled out for Week 7.
Brad Biggs of the Chicago Tribune tweets Kuechly, who has been dealing with head and neck issues while in concussion protocol, will miss Sunday’s game and Kelvin Benjamin – Cam Newton’s top receiving target – has been listed as questionable.
When healthy, Kuechly is an all-world inside linebacker who is the anchor of the Panthers defense. His ability to cover sideline-to-sideline, range in pass defense, and attack downhill to stop the run remind me of Brian Urlacher. So imagine being without peak Urlacher against a team that just rushed the ball more than 50 times a week ago. Now you know how the Panthers might feel.
The Chicago Tribune’s Rich Campbell walks through an important play from Sunday’s Bears win, but it’s one that is not likely to be top of mind right now because the Bears won. Mitch Trubisky was strip-sacked for the second consecutive game, and while he has thrown just one interception in two games, ball security is still a high priority for the rookie signal caller and the team as a whole. We can dream of big plays down the field mixed in with a bit of trickery, but those things aren’t possible if Trubisky continues to lose the football after being blindsided by sacks. John Fox warned us when he said there were problems beyond the quarterback position, and those need to be cleaned up if Trubisky is going to take the next step in his development.
We have already seen Trubisky take a step in the right direction with his various throwaways in situations where forcing the ball could have led to a turnover and erased a scoring chance. In Nathan Jahnke’s NFL observations at Pro Football Focus, it’s noted that Trubisky’s six throwaways was tied for the seventh most over the last 12 years. While limiting turnovers is good, throwaways representing 37.5 percent of your passes seems alarming.
Credit Trubisky for not falling into the traps set by a well-designed Ravens defense. Dowell Loggains explained how the Ravens tried to bait Trubisky into making risky throws by disguising coverages and attempting to take away some of the things he does well. Adam Jahns of the Chicago Sun-Times writes Trubisky showed some maturity with his decision making and acceptance of his role as a game manager.
The Bears’ offensive coordinator seems to have faith in rookie tight end Adam Shaheen despite having just one catch, writes Patrick Finley of the Chicago Sun-Times. Loggains insists Shaheen will be given an increased role, but finding snaps for a third-string tight end could prove to be difficult. Shaheen has been a non-factor in the passing game, which shouldn’t come as much of a surprise because he has been used primarily as a run blocker this season. Fellow rookie Tarik Cohen still leads the team in targets, which needs to change of the Bears are going to take their offense to another level.
Luis C. Medina, who you can find on Twitter at lcm1986, has been covering the Chicago Bears at Bleacher Nation since 2017. Since then, he has written about 3 head coaches, 5 play-callers, and 11 starting quarterbacks. Previously, Luis wrote about the Cubs and MLB at BN (2015-16) and worked in the Chicago Tribune sports department (2011-16). He also co-hosted a Cubs postgame show, Outside the Ivy, in 2019.
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