Written by: John Stocco
Twitter: @realJohnStocco
Honestly, you couldn’t have picked a better year for the Bears to have their 100th season celebration. It’s almost too perfect. What can I even say at this point? I’m begging people to make fun of me for the Mitch Trubisky MVP article that I wrote earlier this year because it’s such a bad prediction that I honestly deserve to be made fun of from everyone. I’m not going to talk like a beat writer in this article. I’m going to talk like a Chicago Bears fan because one, that’s what I am, and two, that’s what needs to happen. What happened yesterday was an embarrassment of the highest order.
Where do we start? How about the defense. I expected Leonard Floyd to have a breakout campaign because he’s playing for the biggest contract of his life, and yet he’s playing softer than Charmin. Teams are double and triple covering Khalil Mack, showing zero respect for Leonard Floyd’s pass rush, and he still can’t do anything about it. Then there’s Roquan Smith, the second most disappointing Bear of the 2019 season. I’m not going to speculate on why or what the reason was for his time gone from the team, but I’ll just say this: it’s becoming a bigger problem every week he plays. He looks a step slower, he doesn’t have the same aggression, and just flat out looks like his head is not in the game. Last year, Bears faithful were putting him as the next guy in Chicago Bears linebacker history: Dick Butkus, Mike Singletary, Brian Urlacher, and Roquan Smith, the Bears Mount Rushmore. Roquan Smith is a shell of himself right now. What else is this defense supposed to do? Mack is being contained on every play, Hicks is out, and this secondary is not creating turnovers. Add the fact where they’re walking into every game knowing their offense has no chance and they basically have little to no room for error.
The offensive line. By far, BY FAR, the worst offensive line in the NFL. Zero push off the line of scrimmage, completely ruining the running game, and destroying any type of momentum the Bears have on offense, which is now hilarious to think about because the Bears have zero momentum every single week on offense so what am I even saying right now? It’s talked about year after year, when you win the war upfront, you win football games. The Bears are not only losing the war upfront, but they’re also getting blown to pieces at the very first snap. I’m convinced my 98-year-old grandpa is faster than Charles Leno, and at least my 98-year-old grandpa doesn’t have a stupid penalty called on him every Sunday. Right guard continues to be a disaster on two legs. Kyle Long, Rasaad Coward, Ted Larsen, it literally doesn’t matter, because whoever gets put into that spot is not going to be an upgrade. Switching James Daniels and Cody Whitehair is a move that still makes zero sense, and the Bears coaching staff has still yet to give the people a good reason why they switched positions. The Bears moved Daniels to center, and Whitehair to guard, and they both literally get drastically worse. Do they switch them back? Nope. What sense does that make? Mind-boggling. What’s the point of even having running backs like David Montgomery, and Tarik Cohen, when this team can’t even run the ball. The Bears are wasting the talents of David Montgomery and it’s one of the saddest things that has happened in the game of football.
Receivers. Listen I can’t kill half of this group. Allen Robinson is the only player on offense that looks like he wants to win. Taylor Gabriel can’t do much because he’s not getting the ball. Javon Wims isn’t even given the chance to prove himself. And is Riley Ridley even on this team? 4th round pick, you know it might be important to give him some reps. Just a thought I know that sounds crazy. On the other hand, Anthony Miller, Trey Burton, and Adam Shaheen have been absolutely worthless. Anthony Miller can’t make plays after the catch, Trey Burton doesn’t even want to play football anymore, and Adam Shaheen is the worst player on this team.
Mitch Trubisky and Matt Nagy. You damn right I’m putting these two together because their incompetence is why we’re here right now. One, Mitch Trubisky can’t throw the football. He cannot throw the ball more than 8 yards. A quarterback can’t throw the ball farther than 8 yards. He is lost on the football field. He has no confidence, his mechanics are shot, and he looks like a deer in headlights. Mitch Trubisky has nothing in any of his throws. Trubisky is just throwing the ball and he’s praying something good happens. This game was the game that Trubisky lost the locker room. The jig is up, and the Bears do not have a franchise quarterback. The Saints didn’t have their Hall of Fame quarterback, and they didn’t have the best player on their team, and Sean Payton flat out humiliated Matt Nagy. All of this is coming off a bye week. Nagy got exposed on Sunday. I believe he’s a leader, and I believe he still has control of the locker room, but he has proven this year that he is a flawed play-caller. The league has figured out Trubisky and Nagy and they have failed to make any adjustments. The Bears don’t have a quarterback, and instead of trying to keep the faith in Mitch Trubisky, Matt Nagy has to save his job by not losing this locker room.
The Bears were outcoached, outplayed, and out prepared. Misery loves company, and they have some in Chicago.