NEWSLETTER
At least Eddy Piñeiro delivered a finish that didn’t include a doink.
Piñeiro’s 22-yard field goal with 12 seconds left in regulation put the finishing touches on a 21-19 win for the Chicago Bears against the Minnesota Vikings. The kick lifted the Bears to an 8-8 record and dropped their first draft pick in 2020 to 50th overall. Otherwise, there wasn’t much to talk about on a positive note.
It was damning to watch the Bears offensive line get pushed into the backfield on plays throughout the game. From (1) Mitch Trubisky’s 5.6 yards per pass attempt, to (2) the four sacks and six quarterback hits allowed by the offensive line, to the (3) play-calling from Head Coach Matt Nagy, the Bears’ offense proved to be as broken against Minnesota’s backups as it was against everyone else’s first stringers.
One touchdown drive in five red-zone trips isn’t going to cut it.
Neither is averaging 4.5 yards per play.
No matter where you looked on Sunday, you could find an inditement on the coach, players, and general manager who put it all together. It was a disheartening effort all around. Thankfully, Nagy has a full offseason to fix it.
In the interest of fairness, I could point out that it wasn’t all bad. But standout days from David Montgomery (23 carries, 113 yards, 1 TD) and Allen Robinson (9 catches, 71 yards) weren’t enough to distract from what was a mostly putrid effort from the offense.
The 2019 season was not what anyone expected. Not when the bar was raised to all-time highs after last year’s 12-win season. A bitter finish to the 2018 campaign fueled hope for the future. That hope was rewarded with an 8-8 season that was not nearly close to being good enough.
Perhaps a season full of being handed humble pie at every turn will put things into perspective for the Bears’ front office, coaching staff, and players. One final trip to Club Dub in 2019 should serve as a reminder of what could have been had the team handled its business when given opportunities to do so earlier in the season. Once the last track ends and everyone goes on their merry way, the re-tooling begins. The only question remains is where exactly does it start? I imagine we’ll start finding those answers starting on Tuesday.
