Five biggest takeaways from Chicago Bears win over Seattle Seahawks
The Chicago Bears evened up their record at 1-1 after defeating the Seattle Seahawks on Monday Night Football. Here are the five biggest takeaways from that game.
The Chicago Bears controlled the game from start to finish on Monday night, defeating the Seattle Seahawks 24-17. It was great to see Matt Nagy get his first career victory and there were plenty of positives, but the Bears still need to improve before they are truly contenders. Here are some of the key points after night’s victory.
This Defense is good
Most people knew after the addition of Khalil Mack and the performance last week in Lambeau that this could be very good defense. Against the Seahawks, Vic Fangio had the pass rush pinning their ears back all night long. The Bears had six sacks on the night giving them ten total on the year which leads the NFL.
Roquan Smith got his first NFL start which added an extra element of speed to the defense wrapping up 7 solo tackles on the night. Mack was able to keep steady pressure off the edge for a majority of the night getting a strip sack and making Russell Wilson step up in the pocket allowing other guys to get to Wilson.
One of the other guys that was able to get to Wilson was Danny Trevathan. Trevathan had a fantastic night securing 8 tackles, two sacks and a pass deflection. So far, the Bears defense is 11th or better in total yards, yards per play, rushing yards allowed and points allowed.
Fourth Quarter Woes
With how good the Bears defense has played thus far, there is still room for improvement. Over the first two games, you’ve seen a dominant performance from the defense through the first three quarters of each game allowing only six total points but in two fourth quarters they’ve given up 35 total points. This has already cost the Bears one game and if the trend stays the same it’s inevitable that it’ll happen again. You can blame some of it on the lack on pass rush during the fourth quarters because of the missed time during the preseason. The Bears top three edge rushers were all out for a majority of the preseason. In both games the Seahawks and Packers both went uptempo to conserve time and the Bears had three and outs on six out of eight drives before giving the ball back in the second halves.
Allen Robinson looks very healthy returning from his ACL injury
After guaranteeing $25 million of a $42 million deal for Allen Robinson, it was crucial that Robinson be able to return to his pro bowl form after missing last year due to an ACL injury. He showed that he has returned to form last night after nabbing 10 receptions for 83 yards on 14 targets.
Robinson clearly appears to be the true go to target thus far in this offense. He’s a big time mismatch for any opposing cornerbacks with his size and route running ability that set him up for advantageous situations in which he can out leverage the smaller defenders. If he keeps this up he could see himself returning to the pro bowl.
Mitch Trubisky still has a ways to go
Mitch Trubisky was the player that benefited the most from the Matt Nagy hire. Going from a underqualified OC to a play caller coming from the NFL’s most creative offense should only help but so far you’ve seen a lot of creativity but not consistent execution.
Trubisky has been inaccurate numerous times missing easy throws to the flats, under throwing his deep ball and sailing balls over the middle of the field. Not only has his inaccuracy hurt him, he is very quick to pull the ball down and start running. He has a habit of “seeing ghosts” when sitting back in the pocket and it seems to only compound after a few mistakes.
I am far from giving up on the 24-year-old signal caller but he’s far from leading this team to the promise land as well.
Healthy Expectations
This has been a fast and exciting start to the season starting with the Khalil Mack trade just before the season that has skyrocketed everyone’s expectations for the season. It’s hard to be rational with such excitement around the team. For those of you that are having trouble, however, it’s not the time to overreact good or bad.
If anything these first two games were very predictable. The team has looked great at times and inexperienced at times. With a first time head coach and a quarterback with under 16 starts under his belt in a new offense this should be expected.
In year one, there will be plenty of growing pains along the way but that’s how you get better. Nagy has come across as a very self-aware coach that is willing to admit when he’s not perfect and willing to learn from his mistakes. This team isn’t a Super Bowl contender yet but it would be hard for me not to say that it’s not on the right path to getting there.