Chicago Bears Week 5: Takeaways
Denny Medley-USA TODAY Sports
9.) Matt Forte is a stud – Another week, another 100+ total yards for Forte (109). Despite teams knowing Forte is touching the ball 20 times a game, he continues to produce consistently. Forte somehow finds lanes to gain yards despite there not appearing to be any and keeps contributing in the passing game. He caught 5 balls for 38 yards on the day including the game winning TD pass. I don’t know if the Bears will re-sign Forte after the season or even keep him through the trade deadline, but fans should enjoy him while he’s here. Forte is a top-5 NFL RB and the Bears are lucky to have him.
10.) The D-line couldn’t get any pressure on Smith – The Bears did get three sacks Sunday (McPhee, Young, Houston) but for most of the game Chiefs QB Alex Smith had all day to throw the ball. Luckily for the Bears, Smith sucked on Sunday. He missed open receivers all game and didn’t scramble much despite having plenty of room to do so. The Bears won today, but beat a team with similar talent. Against most teams they won’t be able to win if they give the opposing QB ten seconds to find an open receiver. The Bears stuck with four rushers most of the game despite not being able to generate pressure which was reminiscent of Mel Tucker’s vanilla schemes. The Bears only blitzed once on the Chiefs first 24 pass attempts, but got more aggressive late in the game with four blitzes on the last nine pass attempts. I thought Vic Fangio would be more aggressive with his blitz packages but I didn’t see many signs of it on Sunday. Hopefully he’ll be more creative next week if the front 4-5 can’t generate any pressure on Matt Stafford.
11.) Martellus Bennett played like he didn’t care today – He dropped a few passes including a 20-yard strike on the Bears last drive of the game that hit Bennett in the numbers. Bennett also appeared to be dogging it on a deep ball in the second half that was he was about three steps too slow to reach. He didn’t have a catch until late in the 2nd half and on the day had just 4 for 32 yards. To his credit Bennett did make an 8 yard catch on the Bears game winning drive, but for the most part played like he didn’t have his head in the game. On a day with both Alshon Jeffery and Eddie Royal out, the Bears needed a better effort from Bennett.
12.) The Special Teams unit had their first positive game of the season – It’s been a rough year for the Bears special teams unit, but for the first time all season they made a positive overall contribution to the Bears cause. They blocked a field goal (McPhee), didn’t give up any TD returns, forced three touchbacks, only gave up an average of 15 yards on the Chiefs two kick returns, went two-for-two on field goals, and managed to return a couple punts without penalties. Not being awful isn’t a reason to celebrate, but it’s a step in the right direction for a unit that has been really bad for most of the season.
13.) Update the record book – Kicker Robbie Gould passed Kevin Butler as the Bears all-time leading scorer with 1,118 points. Jay Cutler also tied Jim McMahon for most wins by a QB in the modern NFL era with 46.
14.) This week’s Takeaways are dedicated to my little brother Jack – We lost Jack last week, way too early. He loved the Bears and was the only person I know who stuck up for Cutler more than I do. It was really hard not being able to talk to him during the game, but I know somewhere he was happy watching Cutler’s late game heroics and the Bears comeback win. Miss you Jack.