The Chicago Bears cleared the first half of the season. While they sit at 2-7, most would agree that they have started to play better football in recent weeks. That trend may continue for the following players as we get into the back end of the 2023 season.
3. Darnell Mooney may earn a decent contract in the second half of the season
Darnell Mooney started off the season slowly. He scored a touchdown in week one, and then he took about a month until you heard his name again. To be fair, he was coming off of offseason ankle surgery; he missed most of the offseason recovering, so he was rusty and not quite up to full speed. Worse than that, he was in a dysfunctional offense. The offense has slowly improved, but the real improvement has been Darnell Mooney.
Mooney has 203 yards in the last four games, which averages out to 50.8 yards per game. In the five games before that, he had 104 yards, which is just 17 yards per game. It is clear that things are changing in his favor.
When you consider Mooney has always been a deep threat and Justin Fields is the better deep-ball thrower, his return, plus the health of Mooney in the last month, should lead to his best football. Mooney only averaged 46 yards per game over the course of his career, but his career-high rate was 62.1 yards per game. He may not quite get to that level, but if he does finish the next eight games averaging 50 yards per game, he would finish the year with over 700 yards, which would be the second-best season of his career. It would lead teams to forgive his slow start and realize his finish was better than most of his career. Mooney could salvage a contract, even if it would be elsewhere.
2. The Chicago Bears should give Jack Sanborn another look at starting
Jack Sanborn started in place of Tremaine Edmunds on Sunday and he looked good. To be fair, he was the victim of a couple of catches in coverage, and he was always weaker in that area. Still, Tremaine Edmunds was signed because he was supposed to be an upgrade over Sanborn in that area and that has not shown on the football field.
On top of that, Sanborn was excellent in run defense against the New Orleans Saints. He has been in the scheme longer, but the UDFA looked more equipped to run the Chicago Bears defense than the former first-round pick who was signed to a massive deal in free agency.
Tremaine Edmunds is day-to-day, but it is hard to see him playing this week against the Carolina Panthers. He will hardly practice in a short week, and that is not the time to test it. However, if he practices one day this week and then gets a ten-day rest before next Sunday, we could see Edmunds back. Sanborn has to play his best this Thursday. If you have been watching him, he has been.
Even if he goes back to his role as the SAM, he has been effective in there, and he has helped the run defense make the turnaround that it has this year. If Edmunds is out any longer than just Thursday, we may get to see him in a bigger role, and he may be able to excel even more. Sanborn has continued to impress, so why not assume that this will continue in the second half of the year?
1. The Chicago Bears could get more from DeMarcus Walker by asking for less
This sounds a bit weird because the Chicago Bears traded for Montez Sweat, who will push Walker out of a starting spot. However, when the Chicago Bears signed Walker, he was always supposed to be a depth piece more than a starter. He could help on run-downs by playing the edge but could slide inside as a pass rusher.
The team has hardly been able to utilize this because they do not have an edge rushers worth pushing him inside. Now they do. They did not move Walker around too often, with Montez Sweat just getting eased into the mix. However, he did have his share of snaps next to Justin Jones along the interior.
Walker had three pressures on Sunday, and his play had been improving anyway. So, putting him back in a role he excels at should only make things better. Look for Walker to finish strong and have similar or better production on a lower snap count.