Chicago Bears: 3 Duds from Week 9 vs. Steelers
Chicago Bears Week 9 Dud No. 3: Jakeem Grant
Letting Cordarrelle Patterson go might have been the worst offseason decision by the Chicago Bears. While he would not have the role he does in Atlanta if he stayed in Chicago, the Bears sure could have used his special team’s value, to say the least.
The team traded for Jakeem Grant to be the kick and punt returner this year after experimenting with Khalil Herbert and a couple of other names. While Grant is electric, he lacks the size of Patterson and gets tossed around a lot. He is insanely fast which means any return can be a house call, but he has had any big returns yet this year and he had a costly fumble against the Steelers on Monday night.
Grant is a gadget type of player and can be useful in some offensive sets. Unlike Patterson, he lacks the size and skill to be a consistent offensive player, but his special team’s value has always been high due to his speed and athleticism. The best thing for the Bears’ struggling offense this year would be for some big plays on special teams. We saw how energized the fumble recovery touchdown was for the team yesterday, so if Grant could house a couple of returns or at least get a big return now and then it could get the team fired up.
Patterson was fearless as a kick returner for the Bears and he energized the team every time he brought the ball out of the end-zone. Special teams is going to be important going forward, and it starts with the electric Jakeem Grant.
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Grant needs to be better and not put the ball on the ground in crucial moments. He is experienced enough to improve and I think going forward we will see more out of him. It just was not his game against the Steelers.