Vintage Bears Defense, Trubisky’s Uneven Night, Prince, Jackson, Howard, and Other Bullets

Sep 18, 2018

This is a mood:

Waking up after a Bears win like pic.twitter.com/MLr6BCCjMr

— Bleacher Nation Bears (@BN_Bears) September 18, 2018

On a night where the Bears honored Hall of Fame linebacker Brian Urlacher, it was only fitting that Chicago’s defense turned back the clock to 2006 with a dominant performance. Six sacks. two forced fumbles, two turnovers, one pick-six, and countless “heck yeah!” fist-pumping moments over the course of a 60-minute ballgame. Vintage. Bears.

Russell Wilson’s 86.1 passer rating against the Bears on Monday was his lowest passer rating against Chicago in three match-ups. In his prior two meetings against the Bears, Wilson had passer ratings of 104.9 and 101.4 in Seahawks wins. Wilson is a known prime-time performer, owning a 111.8 passer rating in Monday night games. So to see a passer rating number in the 80s for Wilson is a pretty significant drop-off and a sure sign of what a high-end defense can do to even the best signal callers.

“Good feeling” really just scratches the surface here:

Asked Khalil Mack about this Bears defense leading the NFL in sacks: "Oh damn. That's news to me. That's—yeah. S**t. Testament to the coverage, rushing coverage, working together. Coach Vic and everybody coaching up everybody–and yeah, it's a good feeling."
— Michele Steele (@ESPNMichele) September 18, 2018

No regrets? Ha. Don’t make me laugh, coach:

I asked Gruden if, in light of his frustrations over the lack of pass rush, he has any regrets about the trade. Here's his response:
No it doesn’t make me regret the trade,” Gruden said. “We made the trade. There’s going to be hindsight, 50-50, all that stuff. (1/2) #Raiders
— Ann Killion (@annkillion) September 17, 2018

I’m digging Khalil Mack’s description of Defensive Coordinator Vic Fangio here:

Your weekly quotable Khalil Mack: On Vic Fangio: "He challenges you, quietly. He has his own little swag about him, that Italian mafia kind of swag to him. But I love it. I love it."
— jon greenberg (@jon_greenberg) September 18, 2018

Even safety Eddie Jackson got in on the sack action (sacktion?):

Eddie Jackson got his first career NFL sack today. Figured the last one he had was when he was at Alabama and sacked Dak Prescott, who then played for Mississippi State, his sophomore year.
— JJ Stankevitz (@JJStankevitz) September 18, 2018

Don’t get me wrong, the sacks, picks, and pressures were great. But the Bears’ best showing on the defensive side of the ball came after back-to-back offensive possessions ended in Mitch Trubisky interceptions. The Trubisky miscues kept Seattle in the game momentarily, but the Seahawks didn’t take advantage of their opportunities. Check that. The Bears’ DEFENSE didn’t allow for Seattle to build momentum. After the first pick, the Seahawks mustered just three yards on three plays as the Bears cooked up a huge three-and-out. After Trubisky’s second interception, Chicago’s defense was at it once again with another three-and-out in which Seattle lost 16 yards. So we’re looking at two drives that lost 13 yards, and chewed up just 2 minutes, 27 seconds of game time. Talk about a missed opportunity.

We figured putting the “Monsters” back in “Monsters of the Midway” would help ease the pressure off Trubisky, especially when things go sideways on him. This can’t last forever, especially if the Bears are to be as good as they think they are this season. But this certainly will help a lot as Trubisky navigates some rough waters in the early portion of this season.

We’ll get to Trubisky’s growth in Week 2 in a moment. But we can’t get there without noting how Head Coach Matt Nagy showed he can make adjustments and atone for mistakes. There were runs in short-yard situations, proof enough that there were plays in Nagy’s voluminous playbook that could exploit Jordan Howard’s short-game excellence.

Speaking of Howard, he finds himself in great company here:

Jordan Howard didn't have his most outstanding game, but his 35th of 68 yards from scrimmage Monday gave him 3000 for his career- faster getting there than all but 3 @ChicagoBears pic.twitter.com/PHg61mVDC0
— StatsCentre (@StatsCentre) September 18, 2018

We’d still like to see more rushing attempts from Howard, who is on pace for a 232-rush season after two games. Then again, this could be good for the long haul to keep Howard fresh for as long as possible and to show defenses as many looks as possible. In addition to five Trubisky scrambles, three other Bears (Taylor Gabriel, Tarik Cohen, and Trey Burton) were given rushing attempts on Monday night. Which means at any given time, the Bears could literally run anyone at an unsuspecting defense. Options are good.

Speaking of Burton, his game-opening touchdown was worth more than six points:

https://twitter.com/TreyBurton8/status/1041751480460619776

As for Trubisky, he started the game playing like his hair was on fire as the team marched to a 96-yard touchdown drive on its opening possession. But things went south on Trubisky once the game became unscripted. He over-threw a few receivers who were open in space, under-threw Allen Robinson for his first interception of the year, and threw his worst pass of the year into double coverage in the second quarter that could have easily been a pick for one of two Seattle defenders. Trubisky finished with 200 yards, two touchdowns, and a win … but things could have looked better.

Make no mistake: Trubisky needs to play better if the team is to get the most out of having this kind of defensive effort.

Pete Carroll’s face tells me everything I needed to know about the game:

. @ChicagoBears defense already leads the NFL in sacks (10)… @Grindin_59 and a special video bomber @The_Dream99 told me why post-MNF win over the Seahawks! @nflnetwork pic.twitter.com/rnAoZpSGUM
— StaceyDales (@StaceyDales) September 18, 2018

So Russell Wilson’s pick-sixes have come against a Prince and a Captain:

Pro Football Reference shows tonight's by Prince Amukamara was only the 2nd interception thrown by Russell Wilson returned for a touchdown in his NFL regular-season career. Other was Oct, 2012 in his rookie season, at Carolina by Captain Munnerlyn. #Seahawks
— Gregg Bell (@gbellseattle) September 18, 2018

Are there any Admirals out there? Maybe a Bishop? Some Dukes, Earls, or Barons could be primed to come away with an interception return touchdown against Wilson in the near future based on recent history.

I couldn’t leave you without sharing this awkward moment of the night when Mychal Kendricks made a play in his Seahawks debut, which opened up this moment:

"He's facing jail time!" the NFL announcer said exuberantly.

— Kevin Kaduk (@KevinKaduk) September 18, 2018

written by

Luis C. Medina

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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