The Chicago Bears finally looked like an actual football team today, for about three quarters. They were dominating a decimated and dysfunctional Denver Broncos defense that had no answers for the steady diet of rollout and pocket passes that Justin Fields was delivering. Receivers were open all over the place for the Bears and it seemed that the offense might have finally found their rhythm. They did, for the most part. Unfortunately, when it mattered most, bad decision-making and another failed game-winning drive by the offense ended up being the headline of this game. The Bears fall to 0-4 despite being up 28-7 in the third quarter of this football game.
The Chicago Bears offense woke up in a big way against the Broncos
Despite the loss, this was the best that the Bears' offense has looked for a long time, and definitely the best it has looked this season. While the Broncos' defense is in shambles right now, it was still refreshing to see the Bears' offense look functional and move with pace, rhythm, and efficiency.
Chicago Bears Week 4 Stud No. 1: Justin Fields
There are plenty of reasons why the Bears did not win this game. Justin Fields throwing an interception on the potential game-tying or winning drive was definitely one of the main factors. Still, the Bears were in a position to win mainly because of what QB1 did for them today. A lot of credit also goes to Luke Getsy and the offensive game plan put together. It was clear from the start that they focused on finally getting Fields on the move and out of the pocket. Who would have thought that they would find success doing that?
Fields was 16/17 in the first half and was 16/16 before a failed hail-mary attempt at the end of the second quarter. He had 335 yards passing and four touchdowns. He was accurate and more importantly decisive. He knew where he wanted to go with the football and as a result, the Bears found the endzone on three consecutive drives in the first half and on their first drive of the second half.
There were no major mistakes or missed reads by him in the first half, but when the Broncos defense tightened up a bit late in the game Fields looked a bit rushed and less comfortable, which led to some key stops by Denver down the stretch. The strip-sack was not necessarily on Fields, although the interception was just a bad throw that was led right to the Broncos' safety.
Justin Fields still was not able to lead the game-winning drive that he needed to in order to take that next step as a potential franchise quarterback, but he looked like the duel-threat star that we saw a lot of last year. If the Bears offense can continue to at least function like an average NFL offense, this season and these games will start to feel a little less traumatic for fans. Unfortunately, the defense is so bad that if Justin and the offense do not hum like this to at least put the team in a position to win late in the game, they do not have much of a chance.