The Chicago Bears' loss to the Detroit Lions certainly brings more questions to the team than it does answers. The Bears looked as good as they ever did and then looked worse than ever in the same game. They turned a game that could have changed the season into another awful defeat. What are the biggest questions from this game?
Is Justin Fields getting better at reducing unnecessary sacks for the Chicago Bears?
When Justin Fields left the lineup, and we saw Tyson Bagent, there was a lot of talk about sacks. Justin Fields has taken more sacks than any quarterback since he has entered the NFL, so it was notable that Bagent came in and was not taking nearly as many sacks.
It is clear that Fields holds the ball too long and is big play hunting when he should be checking it down. Perhaps Fields saw something from Bagent because while he did take two sacks, his 8% sack rate was the lowest of his season.
Better than that was a 14.3% pressure-to-sack rate. He was at a 22% pressure-to-sack rate for his season, so it is pretty notable to see the drop. This was also the third lowest pressure-to-sack rate of his career.
What makes this even better is seeing that Fields still was pushing the ball down the field. He doubled the deep pass attempt rate of Bagent and had as many attempts down the field in one game as Bagent did in three weeks of starting. Reducing sacks while keeping his playmaking is what the team needed to see in the final stretch of games.
So, the question now is whether or not this is sticky. Did Fields really learn something from the sidelines, or was this a one-game thing, and now that the Bears lost, he will go back to playing hero ball?
Are the Chicago Bears' building blocks coming together?
The Chicago Bears made two big splashes recently, and they could become cornerstone pieces to the roster. The Bears traded for DJ Moore this offseason, and he has been everything the Bears have wanted. He put up 96 yards on seven catches for a touchdown against the Detroit Lions.
Moore is averaging over 100 yards per game when Justin Fields is the starter, and he was keeping the offense afloat when Tyson Bagent started. The Bears have him signed for the next couple of years, but they may even try to extend him and add a few more on.
The team just extended Montez Sweat, and it looks like it is working out. Sweat had a 10.6% pass rush win rate over the first eight weeks of the season. He had 27 pressures and 6.5 sacks, a 7.7 productivity score. It is only three games, but he has a 10.8% win rate for the Bears.
With one sack and 11 pressures and one sack, Sweat has a productivity score of 7.2. He is about right in line with expectations. He has also faced some tough right tackles to start his time in Chicago.
Ryan Poles has done a few things wrong, but Moore and Sweat look like stable pieces and good additions.
Will we see more Roschon Johnson down the stretch for the Chicago Bears?
The Chicago Bears were rolling with D’onta Foreman until an injury sidelined him. With Khalil Herbert back from his IR stint, the Bears turned to him for the most part, but rookie Roschon Johnson was also more involved this week than he had been recently.
Johnson had six rushes for 30 yards, which does not seem great until you see that Herbert hit 35 yards on 16 attempts. The Bears are going to need a power back. That element of their game was found when Foreman got into the lineup. With Foreman out, it has to be Roschon Johnson who steps up and takes more carries.
Herbert is a good big-play hitter, but he is much more effective outside the tackles than grinding games out on the inside. The Bears brought in Herbert for two rushes with 2:59 to go. He picked up one yard. In that situation, you have to go with the heavier back who is better between the tackles. He could have fallen forward for a few each time and set up a third and shorter. The Bears need to trust Johnson more, will they?
Is Matt Eberflus doing too much for the Chicago Bears?
Last year, one of the big praises for Matt Eberflus was that he was doing a good job in the CEO type of role. His teams were buttoned up. They played clean; they just lacked talent. This year, the team has more talent, but they play a lot more sloppy. Penalties and missed tackles are much worse this year despite the talent increase.
Beyond that, the Bears' personnel decisions and play-calling have gotten worse since it got better last year. This has to be on Matt Eberflus. Eberflus took over and said that he would not call the defense. He believed that the coach needed to oversee the whole team, and how could you do that if you were focused on calling a defense?
Now, he is calling the defense. It is not quite his fault, as Alan Williams left due to personal reasons. Still, it has caused him to lose touch with a lot of the small things he focused on last season, and it is showing.
Should Eberflus give up play calling, or should he even get the chance after he goes against everything he said in his introductory press conference? He is not showing enough progress or belief that he can get better.
How did Nate Davis look in his return for the Chicago Bears?
Nate Davis has had a rocky start to his time with the Chicago Bears, but there is still some hope that the free-agent signing can turn things around. Davis missed almost the entire summer of offseason workouts due to a family issue. He came into week one rusty, and it showed. He was awful.
Davis missed weeks two and three due to personal reasons. He was rusty again in week four, but week five was the best we saw of him and the Bears offense, as they hung 40 on the Commanders. Then, in week six, he got hurt again.
He was back in week 11; how did he look? He lost a few battles against Alim McNeil, who is an underrated interior rusher for Detroit. Davis lost a few times in pass protection, including a sack of Justin Fields. Still, he was consistently looking for work and got to the second level a few times in the run game.
Overall, the Chicago Bears need more from him in the final six games of the season. Can he bring it to them?
Did Tremaine Edmunds look better in his return to the Chicago Bears lineup?
One interesting note we found this week was that the defense was much better when Tremaine Edmunds was out and when Jack Sanborn was in. Still, Edmunds is the big free-agent addition, and he has not had a smooth transition. The Bears were obviously going back to him when he got healthy.
Edmunds suited up but only played 66% of the snaps. It could be that they were easing him, but on some long and distance downs, they either subbed him out for Jack Sanborn or Terrell Smith.
Edmunds had an interception but also had a key missed tackle during the Lions' comeback. It led to a long Jahmyr Gibbs catch and run. He also ended up on Amon-Ra St. Brown in zone coverage on his touchdown catch.
The Bears signed Edmunds for his coverage ability, and he has been poor here. The interception is nice, but the overall play remains an issue. The hope now is that he can get back into a good flow over the final six games because the rest of the defense is coming together around him.
Could the Chicago Bears keep Dan Feeney at center?
Lucas Patrick left against Detroit with a back issue. This left backup Dan Feeney to play 40 snaps at center after Patrick played 35 to start the game. Bears fans have been calling to get Patrick on the bench for a while now, so while it is unfortunate that an injury caused it, it is at least an interesting development moving forward.
The Bears traded for Feeney right before the start of the season, so it makes sense why he would not be ready to start right away. Still, with the team sitting at 3-8, Patrick being banged up for the second time this year, and having a poor season on top of that, it is worth giving Feeney an extended look. The team has the extra day for Monday Night Football. Do they use it to get Feeney up to speed knowing that he is the starter, or does that buy Patrick the time to get back in the lineup?
How did the Chicago Bears' defensive line rotation look?
The Chicago Bears defensive line has had some questions in recent weeks. First, Montez Sweat saw his snap count go down from 73% in week 10 to 63% in week 11. Matt Eberflus said this is a part of the rotation, but Yannick Ngakoue played 73% of the snaps this week and has played under 65% just once all year. Sweat has played 65% or fewer twice in three weeks with the team.
Oddly enough, Rasheem Green went from 23% to 32% this week. DeMarcus Walker played more along the interior, which was expected, but against Detroit, it was a sign for the team to run. Even in the comeback situations, David Montgomery ripped off a 12-yard run going straight at Walker, and the Bears got beat on third-and-two near the goalline with Walker and Gervon Dexter along the interior. The Bears try to hide Dexter as much as they can, and Walker is supposed to just pass-rush inside. The Lions ran in passing situations more than anyone and caught the Bears off-guard.
Still, the Bears need to Walker into replace Yannick Ngakoue more on early downs. They need to play Montez Sweat more, and they need to be careful of when they bring Walker and Dexter into rushing the passer as the interior duo.
Can the Chicago Bears trust any wide receiver but DJ Moore?
One of the big issues right now is that DJ Moore is the only wide receiver who can consistently move the chains. Darnell Mooney had a stretch from weeks six through nine of averaging 51 yards per game, but in weeks ten and 11, he averaged just 19 yards per game.
He had just one catch for 24 yards, and most of his games just come down to whether he catches a 20-yard pass or not. Tyler Scott had a catch but fumbled it. It was back breaker because it was right off of a Lions turnover, and then it led to Lions points. Detroit scored off of turnover and the Bears did not all in one instance.
We know who Equanimeous St. Brown is, and he only plays to help in the rushing game. The Bears thought that Moore would make guys like Scott and Mooney better. They are seeing softer coverage and not taking advantage. When you add in that Chase Claypool is a complete dud, the Bears wide receiver corps did not shape out on paper.
The only thing DJ Moore has not done in which he was expected to do, is make the entire group better.
Was this a turning point for the Chicago Bears' rookie cornerback?
Tyrique Stevenson may have had the best game of his career. He had an interception early in the game. It was the right place at the right time, but we saw with Jaylon Johnson later in the game that this does not always mean interceptions are coming.
Stevenson was also the player on the tackle to led to the fumble on the kick return. Chicago scored off of that turnover. The Lions do not have great outside wide receivers with Amon-Ra St. Brown living in the slot, so they did not test Stevenson as much. Still, it was a much-needed strong performance with two turnovers and no dramatic mistakes. Now, we need to see this lead to momentum. Rookie cornerbacks struggling is not a surprise, but progress has to be seen as well.