The Chicago Bears are sitting at 3-8, and the chances of making a playoff run are now slim to none. The rest of the season will be about watching players who should be back next year to see what type of expectations should be set for their future.
The Bears will need to see growth from the following players, or else there will be a long offseason wondering about their status with the team.
6. The Chicago Bears can now get a longer evaluation of Nate Davis
The 2023 season has been a big whiff for Nate Davis so far. This is not great, considering it is his first year with a new team. First impressions are important, and the Bears are not getting a good one from Davis. To be fair, a lot went against him, and there is a chance for him to play better down the stretch.
Davis was awful in week one, but it can be explained in some regard. He missed the entire offseason and came in with about one week of practice in the month before the season. More than that, he had a personal issue that he was dealing with that could have impacted his play.
He missed weeks two and three as he dealt with the issues, and by week four, he was back in the lineup. In week five, the Bears scored 40 points, and it was the best that the run blocking had looked. Maybe Nate Davis had to do with that?
However, in week six, he was hurt again. By week 11, he returned but gave up a sack to Alim McNeil. Still, he has started five games. In three of them, he was returning from missed time. One of them he got hurt again, and one of them, the Bears offense, took off.
Monday night against Minnesota will be the second game all year where he looks to play a game where he is not coming off of missed time and not missing time during the game. If this can continue for the final six games, we could get a big enough sample to see what he can bring to the Bears.
5. The Chicago Bears need to see more from Tremaine Edmunds
The two big signings for the Chicago Bears back in the free agency period were Tremaine Edmunds and Nate Davis. Both have been duds so far. Nate Davis has had issues, and Edmunds missed a lot of the training camp and preseason action due to an injury as well.
When he returned, the Bears struggled. What has to be most alarming is that once he got off the field, the Bears' defense improved. It could be the guys around him and the schedule, but Jack Sanborn has been better so far.
When Edmunds is on the field, the Bears allow a 45.4% success rate. When Edmunds is not on the field, that goes down to 39.2%. Edmunds has missed tackles and had issues in coverage.
The final six games are key for him. The Bears cannot do anything about his contract, so he is going to come into the 2024 season as the starter. However, if his play keeps going like this, fans are going to be nervous about any optimism because of this.
4. How much better can the Chicago Bears offense look with Braxton Jones?
It is clear that Braxton Jones is a better option at left tackle than Larry Borom. In 39 fewer snaps, he has 13 fewer pressures, five fewer quarterback hits, and two fewer sacks allowed. His pass block efficiency score is 96.3, while Borom's is 93.5, per PFF.
However, there are still questions about whether the Bears should rely on him as their future left tackle for the next three-plus years or not. Braxton Jones has shown well in moments but still has lapses where you see time needed for development.
More than that, he has seven penalties this year. To be fair, his last two games have been clean, so maybe things are turning up.
After missing weeks three through eight and having penalty issues, as well as a few bad reps here and there, it would be nice to see Jones put together a strong finish to his year. With the three games played since his injury and six more games, the nine-game sample would be strong enough to show the Bears that he can be the starter moving forward. Can he do that, or will the winter months expose him?
3. What can Justin Fields do to prove he is the man for the Chicago Bears?
Justin Fields did everything the Chicago Bears could have asked for him to do on Sunday. Of course, besides winning the game. The Bears took the ball out of the hands of Fields at the wrong times, but Fields also did not make the plays when they mattered the most.
These six games are going to be more important for him than anyone else. The Bears have the Carolina Panthers pick, and their own pick so they can take a swing at quarterback and still have ammunition to help him.
Fields reduced his pressure to sack rate on Sunday. This is notable since it was such a talking point when he sat the previous four games. It shows that he is still making progress. More than anything, the Bears need to see a win. They need to see Fields finish the season 4-2 and take one of their picks out of the range to take a quarterback, ensuring they use the Panthers pick on a premium player. The stats are great, but for Justin Fields, it has to be wins.
2. Will the Chicago Bears get better play from Tyrique Stevenson?
Tyrique Stevenson has had a whirlwind of a rookie season. He has been targeted about three times more than Jaylon Johnson when they are on the field together and has had his ups and downs. Sunday was his best game of the season, as he not only hauled in an interception, he forced a fumble on a kick return.
To be fair, the pass was right to him, and the special teams play was not impactful for how he will grow at cornerback. Still, it brought a lot of momentum. Even better is seeing his lowest yards allowed of the season.
One thing that helps is knowing that Amon-Ra St. Brown is mostly working out of the slot, and their next two pass-catchers are a running back and a tight end. With that in mind, the Lions were not going to pass up those players to test Stevenson with Josh Reynolds. Still, a clean game with two turnovers is momentum-building.
What can we see from Stevenson in terms of growth over the final six games? Was this just a one-game thing?
1. The Chicago Bears will want to see Darnell Wright finish strong
Two things that you have to commend Darnell Wright for in his rookie season are that he fights hard and that he has faced some tough competition. Wright is clearly playing through some bumps and bruises down the stretch this year, but he has still been the most consistent lineman on the roster.
Wright has had to face big names such as Rashan Gary, Shaq Barrett, Chris Jones, Danielle Hunter, Montez Sweat, Maxx Crosby, Joey Bosa, Cameron Jordan, and Aidan Hutchinson.
It does not get easier, either. Monday, he gets Huner again, and after the bye week, he gets Hutchinson and Za’Darius Smith for the next two matchups. By the end of the year, it will be easy to say that he is battle-tested.
This could have waited a week, but the thing we want to see from Wright is health out of the bye. He has a chance to get his body right for one week and finish strong, while a lot of the rookies with an early bye week will falter late. What can we see out of him in those two big matchups out of the bye?