Stock Up/Down: Chicago Bears Meltdown in Green Bay

The Chicago Bears blew a 20-0 halftime lead to the rival Green Bay Packers on Sunday night, as they eventually lost 24-23.

It was an up-then-down journey as the Bears may have played their best half of football this decade in the first half, only to have their hard work torn down by a familiar foe in Aaron Rodgers. It’s hard to look past what happened in the second half, but there were some bright spots for the Navy and Orange.

Stock Up

Khalil Mack

Mack lived up to the hype that he carried with him into Lambeau Field having a first half that would make the ‘85 Bears defensive coordinator Buddy Ryan proud. Mack is the first player since Lawrence Taylor in 1981 to record a sack, forced fumble, interception, and a touchdown in the first half of a game.

He was lightning in the bottle for a Bears defense that truly looked the part of a top tier defense in the first half. They allowed less than 100 yards of offense to the Packers. Mack did appear to look a bit fatigued in the second half, but his lack of impact is more likely because of the Packers emphasis on releasing the ball quickly before the Bears could get any pressure on their injured quarterback.

We now know that the Bears stole Mack, but it’s important he gets into regular game shape to continue and help this defense, and especially the secondary behind him that struggled mightily Sunday night.

Allen Robinson

The Chicago Bears top offensive weapon they brought in this offseason had a nice showing against the Packers. Robinson hauled in four receptions for 61 yards, including a phenomenal catch in the first half.

Robinson appeared to have the speed and the athleticism that lead to his success in Jacksonville before his torn ACL last season. Gaining chemistry with Trubisky will be big in terms of the Bears long term success, and it’s important that Robinson helps bail the second-year quarterback on balls that might not be in the perfect spot.

Roquan Smith

Smith made his mark on the first snap of his NFL career with a sack that showed why the Bears were so high on him. His ability to shed the block attempt of Ty Montgomery and use his closing speed to bring down Deshone Kizer

Smith was on a snap count and struggled to find the field early in the game until defensive coordinator Vic Fangio had to react after Aaron Rodgers was tearing up his defense with Nick Kwiatkowski’s lack of speed across the middle of the field. Even with the snap count, Smith had three tackles, and it’s clear that he can star on this defense.  This snap count will most likely be the final of Smith’s career, but it’s up to him to get up to physical and mental standards to play every down.

Stock Down

Kyle Fuller

It is hard to put the loss on one guy as football is the ultimate team sport, but the newly paid Kyle Fuller didn’t live up to his 4yr/$54 million deal that he received after a good season last year.

Fuller got burned a couple of times during the Bears comeback, most notably on the Geronimo Allison touchdown where Fuller got beat two steps off the line by Allison. It did take a special quarterback like Rodgers to get that ball to Allison on the money, but if Fuller was better on the line that option may not have been there.

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Fuller’s dropped interception that would have sealed the game was truly a gut-wrencher for the Bears. Not often do you get a mistake from Aaron Rodgers that can turn the tide of the game and those are the plays you need to make to win the close games that have evaded the Bears?

Another play that led to bad optics from Fuller is that when Khalil Mack and Leonard Floyd out hustled him on the Randall Cobb 75-yard game-winning touchdown. It’s not fair to put the full blame on that play from Fuller, but in a nationally televised game against your rivals, after your big pay-day, you have to make that play.

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Matt Nagy/Vic Fangio

If a football game could be completely scripted the Bears would probably win a lot of games. The Chicago Bears knew exactly what they were doing when the offense took the Packers down the field on the first two possessions and was dialing everything up right. It was when the Packers made their adjustments when the tide began to turn.

Nagy continued to call in conservative play calls that appeared too focused more on not trying to lose. This was a problem in last year’s playoff game when Nagy was with the Kansas City Chiefs, and they lost in similar fashion, due to conservative play calling. With all of the weapons that the Bears brought in to aid Trubisky, there wasn’t a clear tendency to get those weapons open in space as they did on the first two drives. There were too many times where Nagy dialed up “East and West” calls when they needed to move vertically and use their speed in that way.

This is Nagy’s first game coaching, and it was a tough spot to have some growing pains that ultimately led to the team’s defeat. There needs to be consistency over the course of the game, and it’s important that they do that sooner than later before bad finishes become habitual.

On the defensive side of the ball, it was tough to see Rodgers dice up the Bears defense yet again, but the most troubling part was Fangio not adjusting to the quick passing that the Packers implemented. The Bears ran a lot of four-man rushes when the Packers were driving, and with the Rodgers on a bum leg, it is imperative you either make him move around or get him uncomfortable.

It was apparent that the Bears struggled to mack tackles and

Mitchell Trubisky

DISCLAIMER: MITCHELL TRUBISKY HAS PLAYED IN 13 NFL GAMES AND One IN NAGY’S SYSTEM.

Trubisky started off great in the two scripted drives by the Bears, completing eight-of-nine passes for 99 yards and a touchdown. After that he left a lot on the table. He looked antsy in the pocket, and even he noted some “happy feet” in the postgame press conference. Trubisky has some fantastic athleticism and can move in the pocket well, but there were some plays where he could have avoided the sack.

Trubisky had some good throws, especially the pass to Robinson, but he has a bit of Jay Cutler in him when he tries and fit some throws into tight windows. When Trubisky gets the ball out on the perimeter he didn’t necessarily register all of the options as quickly as he needed to, part of that is also on the receivers. Like noted in the disclaimer before this stock report, this is all relatively new to Trubisky, and he will look more comfortable in the system, but it was tough optics for the Bears franchise quarterback in game one.