Chicago Bears Week 6: Rookie Report
Jason Getz-USA TODAY Sports
Brock Vereen – Well at least the Bears played Vereen this week when Conte went down instead of moving Mundy to free safety and playing the awful Danny McCray at strong safety. Conte got hurt again, like he does every week, and the Bears replaced him with Vereen who hadn’t seen the field in two weeks. To me that is a good sign that the Bears brass has finally realized that McCray is only a special teams guy. To his credit Vereen has played only two halves this year subbing at both free safety and slot corner and held his own both times. Sunday was more of the same, Vereen made a few mistakes but was solid overall and actually pretty good vs the run except for one missed tackle that allowed Antone Smith to score on a 41 yard screen pass. Vereen was a 4th round pick which is a couple of rounds earlier than I thought he would go (6th-7th), so it’s not surprising that he is struggling a little but everyone knows that Danny McCray isn’t the answer and the Bears don’t have anyone else. Unless they are going to get aggressive and trade a mid-round draft pick for an established safety from a team out of contention, then the Bears should start Vereen from now on and see if he can develop into a legitimate starter. He’s the only healthy free safety on the roster with starter potential.
Pat O’Donnell – His average (40.2 ypp) was his worst of the year, but the Bears were focused on hang time to make sure the coverage team could get down the field to surround Devin Hester. If that is the case, then 3 of his 5 punts were good, but in the 4th quarter while protecting a lead O’Donnell had two punts from around the 50 yard line (CHI 47, ATL 40) that could have pinned the Falcons deep and he botched both of them. O’Donnell put one in the end zone and the other went out of bounds at the 19. With no wind to deal with I expect a little better direction kicking from a punter that the Bears spent a 6th round pick on in a loaded draft. For most of the year O’Donnell has been solid, but was just mediocre in the 4th quarter on Sunday.
Christian Jones – Got his first NFL start this week and held his own. Jones came off the field on obvious passing downs so only played 21 of 58 defensive snaps. That didn’t leave him enough time to do much damage, but Jones did rack up 4 tackles including three solo stops near the line of scrimmage. Jones blitzed off the edge a few times and didn’t get to Matt Ryan but looked quick and fluid. Jones’ athleticism is obvious and with some more experience I think he could become a solid starting OLB for the Bears.
Senorise Perry – Made a nice tackle on Devin Hester on the first punt of the game, but also missed a tackle on a Hester return later in the game. Perry has played well on coverage teams and I wouldn’t be surprised if he gets another shot returning kicks after the struggles of both Rashad Ross and Chris Williams.
CB Al Louis-Jean – ALJ got his first taste of NFL action with 3 defensive snaps when Tim Jennings needed a breather. He didn’t have an impact in his three plays, but the fact that the Bears trusted the 20-year old Louis-Jean enough to be on the field is a good sign for his future. He’s raw, but has great size (6’1, 205) and the athleticism to be a shut down corner.
LB DeDe Lattimore – Saw the field on special teams and made his first NFL tackle. Lattimore brought down Devin Hester on the ATL 14 yard line on the opening kick off of the 2nd half.
Inactives
Ahmad Dixon
Charles Leno Jr.