High-Scoring Bears D, Trubisky’s Struggles, Bad Beats, New MNF Booth, and Other Bullets

September 11, 2018, by Luis Medina Chicago Bears

Knowing that we’ll be combing through the results of a Monday Night Football game at this time next week, I tried to give the new crew as much time as I could before my body decided it was time to catch up on some sleep after Sunday’s shenanigans. Because I didn’t make it through the game, I feel like the recap provided by Ben Koo of AwfulAnnouncing.com goes a long way toward summarizing what I was taking in.

Onward.

Before I pose the question, just know my answer would be “I’d rather not lose.” But would you rather lose the way the Bears did on Sunday (close, but heartbreaking) or the way the Lions did on Monday (never really close, but on your home field to what was perceived to be a lesser opponent)? I mean, the Jets literally knew what the Lions were running (NFL.com) and beat them to the punch every time. It wasn’t a great look for Detroit at all and I’m not sure what the right answer would be.
It’s still weird to me that I have been able to find as many positives as I have in the wake of one of the toughest losses a Bears fan has ever had to face. Despite the late-game collapse, this defense has a legit feel to it:

The late loss was crushing, but the Bears DST was the only one with a score, at least 2 takeaways, and at least 4 sacks in Week 1. They face the struggling Seattle offense in Week 2.

DST streaming options: https://t.co/DioDzh9gGU pic.twitter.com/TvcKGPa8F6

— PFF Fantasy Football (@PFF_Fantasy) September 11, 2018

I mean, Khalil Mack did score a touchdown, so…

Did Khalil Mack play offense?

— Vic Tafur (@VicTafur) September 11, 2018

SI.com’s Max Meyer thumbs through the worst betting beats of last week, and taking the Bears on the money line took the cake (among the NFL bets). You could have gotten the Bears at +250 on Sunday, meaning a $100 bet would win $250. To put it simply, the Bears were a huge underdog and betting on them to win would have resulted in a fair chunk of change for a risk-taking investor. I picked up the Bears at +330 while I was out in Vegas back in July. So, yeah, that stings.
So the offensive line held its own on Sunday. That’s mildly encouraging:

Per @PFF, Mitchell Trubisky was pressured on 11 of his 43 drop backs. No #Bears offensive lineman allowed more than 2 pressures.

— Zack Pearson (@Zack_Pearson) September 10, 2018

We founds some worthwhile positives from Mitch Trubisky’s Week 1 performance, but this wasn’t one of them:

Pretty amazing stat from @Rich_Campbell:
Mitchell Trubisky started the game 7/7 for 104 yards.
From that point on? Trubisky was 16/28 for 67 (!) yards.

— Zach Kruse (@zachkruse2) September 11, 2018

I’m not a big fan of cap tipping, but sometimes you have to do it. In this case, you tip your cap to Mike Pettine for scheming Trubisky into being inaccurate in crunch time and unable to move the chains when the team needed to do so the most. Pettine delivered a counter-punch to what the Bears were doing, but Matt Nagy’s responding strike didn’t land. While it’s fair to discuss how players didn’t get it done, the coaching staff had its own issues too.
Imagine your idol praising your rival after he put an all-time great performance on your team. This has got to stink for Trubisky:

https://twitter.com/KingJames/status/1039134786265264133

Advanced stats can help go a long way toward helping us understand and explain sports in ways that we were unable to do before. But sometimes they make absolutely no sense. For example, Aaron Rodgers’ 43.7 QBR on Sunday would tell you that the Packers’ signal caller was a below average performer against the Bears. To which I would say: ¯\_(ツ)_/¯
Lost in the shuffle of Sunday’s sadness was Cody Parkey making all three of his field goal attempts against the Packers. Parkey’s longest was from 33 yards out, but the post-Robbie Gould era of Bears kickers served as a reminder that there is no such thing as a “gimme” field goal when you’re trotting out sub-replacement-level legs out to kick. I’ll use that as a jumping off point to share this:

The most accurate FG kickers in NFL history from 50 yards and out … 5 or more attempts …

85.7% … Cody Parkey [6-7]83.3% … Jake Elliott [5-6]
— Reuben Frank (@RoobNBCS) September 11, 2018

John Mullin of NBC Sports Chicago wonders if the Bears are a bad team who had a good first half or a good team who had a bad second half. There are areas of concern that need to be addressed, but also things that are encouraging enough to have you ready to fast forward to next Monday already. Are we there yet?
The Patriots are signing free agent receiver Bennie Fowler, who spent training camp and the preseason with the Bears. Fowler was part of the new wave of receivers brought in by Chicago’s front office in the offseason, but was among the odd-men out when rookie Javon Wims, core special teamer Joshua Bellamy, and a healthy Kevin White landed on the season-opening 53-man roster.
Dang:

Teams with new head coaches went 0-7 in Week 1, the worst record by a group of new head coaches in NFL history. The previous worst was 0-6 in 2001.

— NFL Research (@NFLResearch) September 11, 2018

Worth noting: The Bears play three teams led by new head coaches (Lions (twice), Giants, Cardinals). I’ll oddly miss watching football played on a baseball field: