Below-average quarterback play is holding the Bears back

The Chicago Bears have a great defense, but will below-average quarterback play end up holding this team back from being a contender in the NFC?

The Chicago Bears are 3-1 through their first four games of the 2019 campaign. After falling at home to the archrival Green Bay Packers in Week 1, the Bears have rattled off three straight victories over the Denver Broncos, the Washington Redskins and the division rival Minnesota Vikings. They have a great defense, but is less-than-stellar quarterback play holding them back?

On this week’s episode of Stacking the Box, FanSided‘s Matt Verderame and Josh Hill, along with former NFL offensive lineman Geoff Schwartz, look at teams that are could be contenders, like the Bears, and what their fatal flaw might end up being (14:08).

“I believe in 2019, you gotta have something at quarterback,” said Verderame. “You’ve got to be able to make some kind of play…Their defense is unbelievable. If they even had league-average play at quarterback, but they don’t. It’s such a slog for them to throw for 200 yards in a game.”

Verderame would add that come playoff time, the Bears will face offenses that are capable of finding pay dirt three times in a ball game. Is Mitchell Trubisky or Chase Daniel or whoever capable of leading this offense to 24 points in a postseason game consistently? The defense will keep them in games, but the offense has to step up big time in year two under head coach Matt Nagy.

Trubisky will miss Week 5’s neutral-site game in London against the Oakland Raiders due to a shoulder injury he suffered in Week 4’s home win over Minnesota. Daniel will get the start against Derek Carr and the Raiders. Carr isn’t the best quarterback in the league, but certainly closer to league-average than what the Bears regularly trot out there.

We understand that Trubisky was incredibly raw coming out of North Carolina in 2017, but he has had more playing time at the professional level than his two other first-round quarterback classmates in Patrick Mahomes and Deshaun Watson at this point. Trubisky’s growth in Nagy’s offense will decide how successful of a season it will be for the Bears this year.

Here are a few other topics that were discussed on this week’s episode of Stacking the Box:

• Was Nate Burleson more nervous playing a big NFL game, or interviewing J-Lo (21:26)?
• Does Dwayne Haskins save Jay Gruden’s job with the Washington Redskins (43:15)?
• The Detroit Lions are indeed a real playoff contender (44:50).
• Verderame melts down over Bill O’Brien and the Houston Texans (53:02).

All this and more!

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