With an 0-4 start, the Chicago Bears are about as close to rock bottom as you can find a team. So, there are unlimited questions to ask about this team. We take a look at some of the biggest questions from each position after a loss to the Denver Broncos.
10. Can Justin Fields perform like this against better defenses?
It was needed and probably past due, but it was one of the best games that Justin Fields ever played on Sunday. Fields threw for 335 yards, with four touchdowns and just one interception. He had never topped 291 yards in a game, his career high in touchdowns before this week was three, and he went from a 120 passer rating as his career high to 132.7 on Sunday. The Chicago Bears still lost.
Beyond that, it was the Denver Broncos defense. Still, you have to think that if Fields consistently played like that, there would come a win or two. The question is whether he can actually string games together like this. You can argue it was garbage time, but Fields started to put things together in the second half of the Chiefs game as well.
It took Fields some time to get to his best play last year, and maybe now that he is warming up, and has a few good halves of play we can see better football. At least we can hope.
9.Why are the Chicago Bears not playing their rookie linemen more?
This decision makes no sense. As the season is slipping away from the Chicago Bears, they should be playing their rookies more to get them into the mix. That has not happened. Gervon Dexter went from 23 snaps to 33 in the first two weeks. Then, he shot down from 26 and then played just ten snaps in week four.
Pickens went from 12 snaps to 22 in the first two weeks, then went from 20 to nine in weeks three and four. In the meantime, Justin Jones is playing a lot more, but he is not even playing very well. It makes you wonder why the Bears are not mixing these two in more.
One thing you have to wonder is if Matt Eberflus is in over his head. He is now trying to coordinate the defense while being the CEO and overseeing all phases of the game. There is no way he can do this, and the defense is probably not getting the right attention. Eberflus appears to be trying to simplify the rotations this past week, but it is costing his younger players development time.
8. Is Khalil Herbert becoming a well-rounded running back with the Chicago Bears?
It is not the biggest deal around the nation because he has just 84 yards, but Khalil Herbert entered the year with just 96 yards as his career high. He is on pace to shatter that by the fifth week of the season. His drops are down, and yards per route run are up from 0.6 to 1.29. This is showing that Herbert is playing much better in the passing game. It could be what has him holding off Roschon Johnson as well.
The main key is pass protection. Herbert has 81 snaps in pass protection after a career-high of 186. Right now, he has an 83.8 grade, according to PFF. Last year, his pass protection score was 54.4. Needless to say, he improved in this area immensely.
Is Khalil Herbert becoming the pass protection option the Chicago Bears needed and is that enough to make him the three-down back moving forward?
7. When will Tremaine Edmunds prove his value for the Chicago Bears?
So far, the Chicago Bears signing Tremaine Edmunds has been a major flop. He has not impacted the defense in any way, and he was supposed to be the big splash that was made to take this defense a step forward. You could argue that he is making it worse, not only with his play but the opportunity cost lost by playing who could actually be positive.
At this point, it is less about asking if Edmunds can be a playmaker and more about whether he can stop hurting the team. Edmunds is a liability in coverage. Running backs are crushing him, and it happened again against the Broncos. PFF has him charged with six missed tackles.
Is this going to get better, and when? Matt Eberflus is a linebacker coach, and his linebacker coach was supposed to be a rising coach in the ranks. When will these two get anything out of Edmunds?
6. Will Cole Kmet prove to be worth his contract with the Chicago Bears?
It is pretty quiet because it is such a poor season, and it is only four games, but Cole Kmet is pacing for a career year. He is up to 4.5 catches per game for 47.3 yards. He also has two touchdowns after nine in three seasons and just two after two seasons.
This season, Cole Kmet has a yards per route run of 1.7, after a 1.22 career rate, and 1.27 being his career-high.
He is clearly the third threat in this offense, and that does not appear to be changing anytime soon. The team may see Darnell Mooney emerge at some point, but he is coming off of a foot injury and is clearly a secondary option.
Chase Claypool is gone, and Kmet is better than Equanimeous St. Brown as a pass catcher. So, D.J. Moore will be the number one, but Kmet is going to have a strong season for the Chicago Bears.
5. Have we seen the last of Elijah Hicks as a starter for the Chicago Bears?
Elijah Hicks has been filling in for Eddie Jackson for the past two games. Needless to say, if we are asking about him being done with the team after that long there is a good chance it has not gone well. Hicks was not too bad against the Chiefs, mainly in that he was not the biggest problem against the Chiefs. However, he was not a game-breaker in any way.
Against the Broncos, he was a liability. Hicks had multiple missed tackle attempts in run support and was the main culprit of the game-changing reception by Marvin Mims late in the game. It was a reminder that this is a seventh-round rookie in his second NFL season.
The Chicago Bears may not be getting Eddie Jackson back, but they did sign Duron Harmon off of the Ravens practice squad. When you think of all of the injuries that the Ravens have, Harmon must have really liked his chances of starting this week to sign that deal. That means that the Bears are moving on from Elijah Hicks and pushing him back to the third safety role.
4. Could the DJ Moore trade save Ryan Poles his job?
If there is one thing you can take away from this game, it is that D.J. Moore is legitimate. Only 56 yards were squarely against Patrick Surtain, but this was a heavyweight matchup between Moore and Surtain. Moore took those 56 yards and added 75 more to get to 131 against the Broncos.
Moore is up to 301 yards, which is 75.3 yards on 4.8 catches per game. He has a success rate of 62.5%. For his career, he averages 66.5 yards per game, 4.6 catches per game, and a success rate of 51.4%.
Moore is also averaging 2.02 yards per route run after the number of 1.94 for his career. This is setting up to be the best year of his career. When you factor in that he has squared off with Jaire Alexander, Patrick Surtain, and L'Jarius Sneed, there are strong signs that this pace could continue.
While some many things have failed, D.J. Moore has lived up to everything the Chicago Bears have asked of him. The only thing they need to see him do now is make the players around him better somehow.
3. Are the Chicago Bears asking too much from DeMarcus Walker?
When the Chicago Bears signed DeMarcus Walker, it was not looked at as much. Walker was a depth signing, and one of the key traits he brought was his ability to slide inside. So far, the Chicago Bears are using him too much, and they are not even getting the actual value out of Walker.
The highest snap rate Walker has played in his career is 52%, and that was in 2021. Last year, he played just 37% of the snaps. That was one of his best years. This year, the Chicago Bears are asking him to play 68% of the snaps. He is best as a depth role player who can clean things up, but the Chicago Bears are asking him to take on real starter snaps.
Beyond that, his best trait is cutting inside and being a pass rusher against guards. This year, he has lined up inside just 12.1% of the time. Last year, that number was 31.9%, and the year before that, the number was 37.7%. The Chicago Bears are not lining up Walker inside, so they are not getting much out of him.
So far, this has been an awful signing, but it is not his fault. Matt Eberflus is not playing him the right way, and it could come back to him being too simplistic because of all of the other things he has to deal with. The defense is hurting badly because of this.
2. What were the Chicago Bears thinking with Cody Whitehair and Lucas Patrick?
Ryan Poles made a really good deal with D.J. Moore. Ryan Poles also got the number two in this draft and somehow has a shot to pull off the top two picks in this draft. However, for a former offensive lineman, he has done an awful job of evaluating the line.
The draft weekend had fans screaming to load up on interior line depth. We knew that Teven Jenkins had an injury history and was changing positions. Ryan Poles did not sign anyone in free agency, even though fans would have accepted that. Then, he passed it up in the draft as well.
It was a sign that the team was going to trust Cody Whitehair and Lucas Patrick again, a questionable move at best. Patrick was an awful signing from the jump, and it is stunning that Poles could not see this. He is familiar with Luke Getsy but cannot stay on the field and struggles when he does play.
Codey Whitehair was once good, but we watched injuries and shuffling deplete his game. 2020 was the last time he was at his best, and he was coming off of a down year that ended with an injury. The obvious decision was to cut Whitehair and get younger and cheaper in that room. He did not, and now he is paying for him.
1. Will we see more Terell Smith for the Chicago Bears?
Terell Smith made his first start for the Chicago Bears on Sunday. He played 48 snaps with 31 of them in coverage, and only allowed four yards. He also had a solid performnace in run defense with a few noteworthy tackles.
Smith was not attacked much, mainly because the Broncos were picking a soft zone apart, and the Bears were weak at linebacker and safety. With Elijah Hicks that makes sense, but the team attacking Tremaine Edmunds and TJ Edwards instead of the rookie Terell Smith is notable/
Jaylon Johnson is not practicing yet, and with the quick turn around to Thursday Night, the Chicago Bears are likely to going to see Smith play again. Smith plays the field side, which is more grass, and Tyrique Stevenson defended the boundary.
So, that means that Smith will see a combination of Terry McLaurin and Jahan Dotson. Will Smith survive this outcome? Do the Washington Commanders attack other areas of the field as the Broncos did? How long can Smith show well?