The Chicago Bears are off to a 7-0 start and Andy Dalton has looked sharp. The play-calling has been much, much better this week. Matt Nagy must have read our five changes to make to beat the Bengals article. He already made two of them with as many play-action passes at this point as they ran all game last week. Plus, the Bears keep slightly moving the pocket around too.
I know this Bengals defense is not the Rams and does not have Aaron Donald, but these same plays would have worked last week versus the Rams too. The tame is throwing the ball beyond eight yards more often too, which is actually change number three of our list of five. The first two changes help allow the receivers to get deeper into their routes.
Chicago Bears see Andy Dalton injury scare and Justin Fields sighting
Dalton was looking like an All-Pro out there with an 11-yard touchdown pass to Allen Robinson and completing seven of eight passes. The yardage is still not great, but that’s also because of two big plays negated by penalties. One was a pass to David Montgomery in the flat that he took for around 50 yards. The second was a defensive pass interference call that gave the Bears a first down but negated the yardage stats.
Note the keyword earlier of “was” when talking about Andy Dalton looking like an All-Pro. Dalton had two runs of more than 10 yards, but the second one led to Dalton coming up limping. Looked like an ankle, but reports were it was a knee. Justin Fields came in and well, the play-calling stalled and a fourth-and-one QB sneak went nowhere.
As excited as I know most fans were to see Justin Fields come in, Andy Dalton is back on the field and looks to be fully healthy. Now, with still only a seven-point lead, will he be able to continue to lead this team to victory over the team who drafted him? Although the Chicago Bears look to be the better team right now, momentum can shift easily and a seven-point lead is not enough. The offense cannot keep stalling.
And just like that – Andy Dalton to the locker room to be checked out despite coming back. We will have to see how this plays out, but Justin Fields might be it going forward. Matt Nagy might be forced to start the rookie despite continuing to make poor decisions.
Check back for after-game reactions late tonight and throughout the beginning of the week.