Chicago Bears Week 7: Rookie Report
After watching tape of the Sunday Bears game I am even more depressed than I was yesterday. There really isn’t anything positive to say about the rookies either as nobody took advantage of increased playing time. There were a couple mediocre performances (Long, Bass) but for the most part the rookies were just as bad as the vets in an all around poor performance. At least the Bears have a bye week coming up to get healthy and hopefully make some adjustments on defense. Right now, this is the worst Bears defense I’ve seen in my 25+ years as a fan. It’s painful to watch.
Kyle Long RG: Long was decent Sunday, grading out about even in both run and pass blocking. He did allow a sack which was unfortunate, but it was at least partly a coverage sack as Long held his man up for a few seconds. Besides the sack, he only allowed 1 QB hurry and made a nice block on Forte’s 50 yard TD run. It wasn’t a great performance, but Long didn’t embarrass himself.
Brad Mills-USA TODAY Sports
Jordan Mills RT: I’m not saying I miss J’Marcus Webb, but Mills is becoming a weak spot on an otherwise strong o-line. Mills earned a negative grade from ProFootballFocus (-4.5) for the 6th game in a row and this was his worst grade since the debacle in Detroit (-7). Mills gave up a sack and a team high 6 hurries when no other lineman allowed more than 1. In Mills’ defense, Redskins DE Ryan Kerrigan is a tough match-up, but most left DEs are going to be good and the Bears need to see some improvement in pass pro from Mills or they will need to find someone else for the position. Mills was actually pretty decent run blocking Sunday as 62 of Forte’s 91 yards came on runs off RT.
Jon Bostic MLB: Bostic’s pass coverage skills were a concern in the pre-season, but he seems to be getting better as he earned a positive pass coverage grade for the 2nd week in a row. Only 1 of Jordan Reed’s 9 catches came against Bostic and he was the the only Bears defender who was able to stay with him. Unfortunately Bostic struggled in the run game for the 2nd consecutive week (-2.7) and made a few bad reads on RG3 runs and on Helu Jr.’s untouched TD scamper. Bostic did make some positive plays including 4 solo tackles and a nice penetration to blow up a lead blocker in the backfield and cause a loss of yards. Despite a few growing pains, I expect Bostic’s play to improve and think he will be a pretty good MLB by the end of the season.
David Bass DE: Bass continues to see his snap count increase and played fairly well on Sunday. He had a great play on a reverse when he held his contain responsibility and stuffed the reverse deep in the backfield. Bass was also credited with 2 QB hurries and no missed tackles or blown assignments. He didn’t have much of an impact but didn’t make many mistakes either, which for a 7th round rookie is pretty solid.
Kaseem Greene OLB: Got on the field for 1 defense snap and was called for a personal foul (late hit). Whoops. Expect to see more of Greene the next few weeks with Briggs out.
Geoff Burke-USA TODAY Sports
Marquees Wilson WR: Congrats to Wilson on the first catch of his career! Wilson caught a screen pass and turned it into a modest 3 yard gain. Wilson played 6 snaps total and I expect we will see more of him as he appears to have passed Joe Anderson (1 snap) on the depth chart for the 4th WR spot.
Zach Minter DT: Minter got about the same number of snaps as last week (13, 14) and was a little more effective, but still struggled overall (-1.3). He wasn’t credited with any hurries or tackles and most of his negative grade was do to his run defense. His only mark on the stat sheet for the day was a missed tackle. It’s way too early to give up on Minter and he should continue to see snaps with all the Bears injuries on the DL.
Inactives:
CJ Wilson CB
Michael Ford RB
Cornelius Washington DE
*All grades provided courtesy of ProFootballFocus.com