NEWSLETTER
The Chicago Bears will enter the bye on a high.
Mitch Trubisky threw for 354 yards and six touchdown and the defense came up with six sacks and three turnovers in a 48-10 win at Soldier Field on Sunday. The win keeps the Bears in first place in the NFC North and improves the team’s record to 3-1. And make no mistake about it, it was a team effort.
You’d have a hard time finding someone who didn’t contribute to Sunday’s win.
If you wanted Trubisky not to have eyes only for Allen Robinson, then today was a game for you. Five different pass-catchers (Tarik Cohen, Trey Burton, Allen Robinson, Josh Bellamy, and Taylor Gabriel – twice) hauled in touchdown passes. And two of those (Cohen, Gabriel) put up 100-yard receiving games. At the end of the day, Trubisky finished with a 154.7 passer rating, his best showing in his 16-game career.
Have you been waiting for the ground game to get going? The Bears deployed a balanced attack that featured 31 carries and 139 rushing yards. That’s a 4.5 yards per carry average if you’re keeping score at home. Not bad for a ground game going up a defense that limited opposing rushers to 3.6 yards per carry in the first three games of the season. Oh, and for good measure, Trubisky accounted for 53 of those yards – mostly on the strength of rushes of 23 and 26 yards.
Were you worried about the Bears’ top-flight defense going against the high-flying Bucs passing attack? Well, that was grounded by three interceptions (Eddie Jackson, Danny Trevathan, Aaron Lynch), four sacks (Lynch, Khalil Mack, Akiem Hicks, Roy Robertson-Harris (half), and Bilal Nichols (half)), seven quarterback hits and six tackles-for-loss.
Even the special teams unit chipped in as Cody Parkey nailed both of his attempts, including a 50-yard field goal.
After showing flashes here and there of what they could be, the Bears put together a complete game from start to finish. The offense looked like a force to be reckon with a six-touchdown performance that came after the group scored four offensive scores in the first three games. Trubisky continued his opening drive excellence, then made a ton of plays off script. The defense remained strong. I suppose the only misstep that comes to mind was a lost challenge that came in the second quarter, which might as well have served as a momentum-slowing timeout after Ryan Fitzpatrick connected on a deep pass to DeSean Jackson. Other than that, it was as complete of a win as it gets.
So if you were hoping the Bears would go into the bye week with a win, then your wish has been granted. Now, take a load off, relax, and enjoy the bye week.
