The Chicago Bears were shot right back down to reality after a fun win against the Las Vegas Raiders. While that was fun, the loss to the Los Angeles Chargers just brings more questions. What do Chicago Bears fans need to know after a drubbing like that?
10. Did we see the limits of Chicago Bears QB Tyson Bagent?
Tyson Bagent was not the reason the Chicago Bears lost on Sunday. At the same time, Tyson Bagent was the reason the team had very little chance of staking any sort of comeback once the Bears got down by two scores. He gets the ball out quickly, and that makes fans excited. However, he also is prone to check the ball down, and he does not have the arm to push the football down the field.
Bagent has thrown 77.6% of his passes within 10 yards of the line. For comparison, Justin Fields only threw 61.2% of his passes that short. Fields had 12.8 yards per attempt, with six touchdowns and no interceptions on passes twenty yards down the field. He threw 16% of his attempts that deep. For Bagent, it is 7.5%; he averages 10.8 yards per attempt, and he has one pick and no touchdowns. Velus Jones dropped a touchdown, but he underthrew it. He also was bailed out by a great Darnell Mooney catch to start the game. Bagent can manage games, and with a lead, he can get the chains moving. However, when he is trailing and has to make plays, his limitations become glaring.
9. Are teams going to stop picking on Tyrique Stevenson
Since Jaylon Johnson has returned, it has become quite apparent what teams are doing. They are not looking at Johnson nearly as much, and they are aiming at Tyrique Stevenson. In the last three weeks, the Bears have seen Johnson get targeted 14 times for 47 yards. On the other side, Stevenson has been targeted 34 times and has allowed 198 yards. Stevenson has three touchdowns allowed and no interceptions, while Johnson has two interceptions and a touchdown. There is a bit of a difference here.
Rookies are going to go through it, but this has been a tough stretch for Stevenson. He had his moments against Davante Adams last week but also lost to Jakobi Meyers. This week, the Chargers got Quentin Johnston, Keenan Allen, and Josh Palmer in a good matchup against him. The Chicago Bears need to find a way to help out Tyrique Stevenson a little more. It may put Jaylon Johnson on an island, but he will only embrace the tas with a chance to make more money in a contract year.
8. Did Khalid Kareem look better than Dominique Robinson?
The Chicago Bears made a slight change to their edge rusher room this weekend. They elevated Khalid Kareem from the IR, and they sat Dominique Robinson as a healthy scratch. The move had to be expected with Kareem healthy and Robinson struggling in the way that he did. So, was there any notable difference?
Kareem had 22 pass rushes and recorded a pressure. Robinson had 106 pass rush attempts, so the samples are different, but he has five pressures, so they are not far off after one game. Kareem had a 2.6 pass-rush productivity score, per PFF, and he had a 5.3% win rate. Robinson is at 3.1 in the productivity score, and 2% in the win rate, so Kareem was slightly better every down but did not produce any more than you would see from Robinson. Kareem also only played four run defense snaps.
It was nothing to get excited about, but also nothing to make you think that there will be changes moving forward. Expect Kareem to remain the fourth edge rusher this week.
7. What is the status of Doug Kramer and Braxton Jones for the Chicago Bears?
The Chicago Bears have two decent offensive linemen. Darnell Wright is just a rookie, but he shows promise and Teven Jenkins appears to be a good piece. So, what can the Chicago Bears do in the next month or two to help find pieces around those two? They have two names who can help.
Doug Kramer was hurt to start the season but was active last night. He has hardly been able to get out of the preseason without an injury, but it is his second NFL season, and the Bears are desperate to see any sort of spark. Lucas Patrick killed the second drive of the game with two bad penalties. Why not bench him for Kramer?
Braxton Jones will be back on Sunday, and if not, he will certainly be back the week after due to the IR practice rules. If that is the case, he has to jump right back in over Larry Borom, who has been a disaster since he started. Borom had another ugly game on Sunday against Khalil Mack and Joey Bosa.
Even Ja'Tyre Carter is worth starting over Cody Whitehair at this point. A line featuring Jenkins, Wright, Carter, Jones, and Kramer is at least a shake-up, and this team needs that in the worst way.
6. What did the Chicago Bears RB time share look like in the return of Roschon Johnson?
This was the first game that Roschon Johnson returned to the lineup after missing two weeks due to a concussion. The Bears had a pretty even split, as Johnson played 24 snaps, D'onta Foreman played 21 snaps, and Darrynton Evans played 18 snaps.
It was pretty clear that the Chicago Bears value the passing game impact of Johnson. The Bears passed on 75% of the snaps that Johnson played, 18 overall. The Bears ran a pass-heavy scheme, especially in the second half because they were trailing. Still, Foreman was on the field for just 43% of the passing downs. Foreman has more pressures allowed on fewer pass-blocking attempts, and Johnson is a much better pass catcher.
The interesting note is seeing Evans remain in the game, although most of that Is two-minute and late-game work. Will we see Evans continue to make this a three-man look, or will the Chicago Bears slowly Iean into Foreman and Johnson splitting the time?
5. Is it time for the Chicago Bears to get more production from Gervon Dexter?
Earlier this season, we had been wondering why the Chicago Bears had not been playing Gervon Dexter more often. It was getting clear that they did not like him on run-downs, and they only were playing him on passing-downs, but they still could have found more ways to develop the rookie in what is becoming a lost season.
Dexter has started to play more, and the last two weeks are the first time he has played at least 40% of the snaps in back-to-back weeks. It is also just the third and fourth time this has happened all season. He has two pressures in that run, and that gets his season total to nine per PFF.
Among rookie interior lineman he is fifth in pressures. He is also fifth in pass rush win rate amongst interior lineman rookies. At 9.9%, his pass rush win rate is better than Justin Jones' at 5.5%. He also has a 3.7 pass-rush production score, whereas Justin Jones is at 3.4. Jones currently has 97 more pass rush attempts. The switch has started to come in the last two weeks. Jones went from playing over 74% of the snaps in three straight weeks to playing 66.2% and 60.9% in the last two games. The Bears might as well continue this trend to see what they have in Dexter.
4. Is Cole Kmet back on track for a career year with the Chicago Bears?
Before Justin Fields got hurt, Cole Kmet was having a career year. Then, he hit a funk. He was not on the same page as the rookie UDFA after spending so much time with Justin Fields, and Kmet was his production dip to all-time lows.
After nine yards combined in two games, Kmet broke back out with 79 yards on ten catches. A lot of this comes down to the Chargers being weak in the middle of their defense and also playing so far off because they had such a big lead. Still, some of it comes down to Kmet getting on the same page as the rookie and keeping his strong year going.
Even after that two-game dip, this strong performance has him up to 39.9 yards per game on the season. His career high is under 30 yards. His past career high was 36. It is not the most mind-melting season, but Kmet is getting better once again in 2023, and last night he was the most reliable option.
3. Could the Chicago Bears end up better without Tremaine Edmunds?
Tremaine Edmunds left the game against the Chargers with a knee injury. He tried to come back and left again, a sign that it may not be a short return to the lineup. It was a valiant effort to return, and you never want to see someone injured. However, you know the Chicago Bears are a little bit curious to see how things go without him.
The Chicago Bears signing Edmunds was controversial from the start when you consider the needs the team had elsewhere and the talent they had at linebacker. They had already signed TJ Edwards, and fans were excited about Jack Sanborn. Sanborn has seen his role reduced significantly as the SAM, but he has been great this year. Edmunds has not. He has had more issues in coverage than plays in coverage, and he appears to be a beat slow too often. The injury will open time for Sanborn to play MIKE and Noah Sewell, an exciting rookie, to play the SAM. What if the defense looks as good or better? It is not crazy when you consider Sanborn has played so well and Edmunds has not.
2. What will the Chicago Bears do with Teven Jenkins?
Teven Jenkins has played his second straight game at right guard. The fact that he has been really good in both games is both a good and bad thing for the Chicago Bears. It is good because they have a good football player. Good football players help teams win games. Still, the question now is what happens when Nate Davis returns in a couple of weeks? He has only played right guard, and he has been solid when he has been healthy this year.
Still, they are asking a lot of Jenkins, and his two games at right guard were better than his two on the left side. It would be nice to find some form of continuity and not have to shift multiple line spots when Davis returns. Has he earned the chance to stay there, and they can ask Davis to switch sides this time around? Or, will they possibly risk his play declining by continuing to shuffle him around, something that happens far too often to the best linemen with the Chicago Bears?
1. What can the Chicago Bears do at safety?
One of the reasons the Los Angeles Chargers moved the ball so well was because they were attacking Tyrique Stevenson. However, some of it comes down to the fact that the Bears are onto the backup safety at both spots. The Bears have been without Eddie Jackson, and this week, an illness brought Jaquan Brisker down for the week. You could feel the difference.
Elijah Hicks has been a disappointment all season with missed tackles and coverage assignments. The team signed Duron Harmon a couple of weeks ago, and now they are asking him to start. The secondary was healthier for about a game. Even if the cornerbacks play better, they are going to be shorthanded. They should get Brisker back this week. Can they see anything out of Jackson soon?
This is going to hold back anything we can see from this defense.