Chicago Bears Week 3: Takeaways
Troy Wayrynen-USA TODAY Sports
Why is Brock Vereen still on the team? – I understand last year’s coaches giving Vereen a chance since they wasted a 4th round pick on him, but the Bears new brass has no connection to Vereen and no reason to let him see the field on defense or special teams. Vereen wasn’t even that good in college, he’s just a workout warrior who impressed the Bears at the combine, and proved beyond any reasonable doubt last season that he’s not an NFL safety. He was blocked out of his lane on the kick return TD and made a pathetic attempt to cover and then tackle TE Jimmy Graham on his 30-yard TD reception. If the Bears think Vereen can bulk up enough to actually tackle someone in the open field, then they should put him on the practice squad for the rest of 2015. I really hope I don’t see Vereen on the field anymore this season.
Are they any other positions Shea McClellin can try? – The Shea McClellin at ILB experiment should be over. He has racked up decent tackle totals this year, but they are almost all made 4-5+ yards downfield. McClellin hasn’t been able to shed blocks and make plays anywhere near the line of scrimmage. He is consistently locked up by blockers and driven a few yards off the line. He’s been able to make some tackles on the 2nd level, but he’s not making any impact plays against the run and has been picked on in coverage. He’s not bringing much to the table and with the Bears seemingly going into rebuilding mode, it’s time to give a young player more snaps. The Bears kept undrafted rookie John Timu on the final 53-man roster and signed Broncos 2014 5th-round pick Lamin Barrow a few weeks ago. The Bears should give one or both of these players a chance and see if the Bears have an ILB for the future on the roster. It’s not Shea.
Robbie Gould’s kickoff are becoming a problem – The Bears have given up kick return TDs in back-to-back weeks and while most of the blame should go to the coverage team, K Robbie Gould’s inability to force touchbacks is part of the problem. Gould is 31st in the league (out of 32) in touchbacks forced with 4. Last season was the first year in Gould’s career that he forced touchbacks on less than 40% of his kicks (39.6%) and this year he has been even worse at 33%. Gould already has two FGs over 50 yards and two over 40, so he still has some power but needs to translate that to kickoffs to keep the Bears suspect coverage team from giving up more TD returns.
Willie Young is probably the next Bears to be traded – If the Bears trade of OLB Jared Allen kicks off a rebuilding plan like most people seem to think, then Willie Young may be the next player to leave town. Young had a Pro Bowl caliber season in 2014 with 10 sacks as a 4-3 DE, but is clearly playing out of position as a 3-4 OLB and was a healthy scratch on Sunday. Teams pay a premium for DEs that can get to the QB and the Bears should be able to get at least a mid-to-late round draft pick for Young. There is no reason to keep him if Young isn’t even going to suit up on Sundays.
Next: Chicago Bears Misfit OLB Lamarr Houston