While numbers can't tell the whole story, they can certainly paint a vivid picture of what's good and bad about a team.
The Athletic's Dan Wiederer dove into some key stats for the Chicago Bears, but one stood out from the rest: penalties. Wiederer talked about how that has hurt the team and what Bears head coach Ben Johnson said about that.
"40 - Total penalties by the Bears, including six that were declined. Twenty-six of those infractions have been committed by the offense, including 11 pre-snap fouls. In Johnson’s thorough bye-week self-scouting, one theme felt consistent.
'We were playing behind the sticks (regularly),” he said, 'and you can certainly feel that as I was calling it.'
On 43 drives — excluding game-ending kneel-down possessions — 19 have included at least one offensive penalty. The Bears had squeezed points out of only three of 13 such possessions over the first three games, then rallied for two touchdowns and two field goals on drives that included a penalty against the Raiders.
'We were pretty good at getting back on track as much as we could,' Johnson said. 'But it’s just not sustainable when you’re playing football that way.'"
Bears have to clean up the penalties
This has been a recurring theme all season for the Bears. Repeat offenders of the endless amount of penalties this season are Jonah Jackson and Darnell Wright, who are the top two on the team.
The most common problem is pre-snap penalties, such as false starts, that have hurt the team. That has been a problem dating back to training camp, where it was a nightmare in the first two weeks of those kinds of issues.
Read more: Bears' first Week 6 injury report reads more like a novel with 2 new injuries
It all becomes a mental game for Chicago, and they make sure they are tough enough to sit in there and wait for the ball to snap. Having those kinds of penalties and mistakes against a team like the Washington Commanders, who they face in Week 6, and they can kiss any hopes of winning the game goodbye.