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Bears Bye Report Card Reflects Flaws

With four games to go it's apparent Justin Field's advancement has hidden many of the flaws with a team short on personnel.

Bears coach Matt Eberflus loves the fight in his team.

As they reached this week's bye, they have managed to stay close until the end in all but a few games without the overall talent level required to push through out of a tailspin at the end to close games.

"You can see a spirited team out there, a team that perseveres through adversity, which is what you need," Eberflus said.

What they need more is one that perseveres and then wins games. 

The Bears definitely have not been able to accomplish that.

It's the problem facing any young team like the Bears, one with too many undrafted players or late draft picks or too many players who were failed draft picks elsewhere.

The Bears badly need another infusion of blue chippers to surround Justin Fields or to bolster an overmatched defensive line.

"We can see those guys starting to rise up, like Justin and different guys on the team," Eberflus said.

There aren't enough of them.

Undrafted Jack Sanborn is one. A few younger players who are subs delivered strong efforts last week in the secondary.

The offensive line has been a painstaking process but seemed to eventually figure out pass blocking after they'd been blocking the run well all year.

Overall, it hasn't been enough to sufficiently raise the Bears' grades on a season that proved exactly what many people feared.

It is a classic long-term rebuild and the Bears need to buckle up and ride it out until GM Ryan Poles and Eberflus put their minds together and come up with a shopping list for that big wad of salary cap space they have for next year.

Here are the grades at the bye, a sort of three-quarters grade heading into the home stretch because of the NFL's strange practice of giving teams a week vacation in December.

Quarterbacks: C+

Justin Fields' running and flashes of passing ability make the potential seem great, but losing Darnell Mooney limits how much more he can progress this year. Fields is still too sporadic. Consistency is what he needs. He played a stretch of six games with two interceptions, then, in the last three threw four interceptions. He posts passer ratings of 120, 106.7 and 99.4, then reverts to 84 and 75.7, or right about where he had been before his hot streak when he had passer ratings of 71.5 and 85.2 against New England and Washington. His running plays were exciting but he needs to continue getting the ball out faster as a passer. NextGen Stats say he's still the slowest in the league among starters to get the ball out after he had improved at this earlier in the season. He sure runs fast but needs to be faster going through his passing progression and acknowledged as much himself. The most encouraging aspects of Fields' play are how he has continued to keep his passing yards-per-attempt high at 7.5 and improve as a percentage passer. His completion percentage for the last six games is 67.4%. In his first six it was 54.8%. So he looks like an NFL passer more and more each week but he has only a month until the momentum ends.

Receivers: D+

They're still last in passing and much of it has to do with the receivers' lack of talent. Chase Claypool hasn't yet become fully involved and he's been there over a month. They need to target him and N'Keal Harry more, and both of them need to find ways to be open earlier on routes so Fields can find them faster. In a way, they'll benefit from Mooney's departure because it forces Fields to throw to the other receivers. The only tight end who has produced anything besides blocking is Cole Kmet and his season has been a gradual climb upwards in productivity. He is essentially their most dependable big-play guy, until Claypool better understands his role. The passing attack has lagged all year, last in the league, and is unlikely to improve overall statistically because of the big early deficit when they emphasized the run.

Running Backs: B-

Health has been their only drawback, as losing each back for a period made a difference of 40 to 60 yards rushing each game. Herbert still needs time working as a receiver and pass blocker. Montgomery needs to forget dancing, because he's not a back who moves real well laterally. Darrynton Evans has been a pleasant surprise while sixth-rounder Trestan Ebner needs time to adapt to the pros.

Offensive Line: C-

After spending much of the year in "F" category, the line has surged, first blocking the run and now the pass. No sacks last week was a huge step forward as Fields could stand and fire without being harassed. A little continuity in the lineup might actually help but it appears more snaps for Alex Leatherwood will eventually necessitate yet another switch.

Defensive Line: F

One sack by defensive linemen since Week 6, lack of pressure on Aaron Rodgers last week and most quarterbacks every week, and occasional breakdowns in the run defense have made it clear what they need to address most in the draft. Pick a spot on the line and virtually all of them need to be replaced. Justin Jones has stood out through effort and occasional bigger plays and should fit nicely in a rotation next year but it's difficult to see how anyone else at any line position fits into the future. 

Linebackers: C-

It's difficult in this scheme to make big plays as a linebacker if the defensive line caves in, so it's difficult to fix too much blame. However, failing to force a single fumble all year and recovering just one fumble speaks for their lack of athletic ability. Regardless of how Jack Sanborn has made numerous tackles, he hasn't made enough plays on the ball in passing situations. It's not just Sanborn. Nick Morrow hasn't made plays in sufficient numbers for a weakside linebacker but in fairness to him he wasn't brought to Chicago to play this position. Joe Thomas played in just 25% of snaps on defense and has more pass defenses (2) than Morrow (1), and Morrow has played every single defensive snap. Morrow does have a team-high nine tackles for loss. They need more.

Secondary: C+

The subs have produced, and so have the subs' subs. Jaylon Johnson has emerged a leader in his third year. Losing Eddie Jackson is a difficult situation DeAndre Houston-Carson and and Elijah Hicks approached it professionally. The Bears are 11th against the pass, were as high as third and the only real complaint is they have occasionally given up TD drives at games' ends and against stronger teams started slowly. They could sure do with some improved play from rookie slot Kyler Gordon. They could really do with a pass rush from their line so every play isn't a 30-second cover.

Special Teams: C

A Dr. Jekyll/Mr. Hyde group if ever one existed, but this is what should be expected when so many younger players have big roles on special teams. They gave up the big TD return to Cordarrelle Patterson yet spring good kick returns by Velus Jones Jr., They rank third returning kicks, next to last covering them, and muffed key punts. The player who should be most consistent—kicker Cairo Santos—missed a critical 56-yard field goal he could have made indoors, got a low field goal blocked that made a huge difference and has missed four extra points. He also has only two misses, on the block and the 56-yarder. 

Coaching: B-

It's remarkable how they've managed to keep the team in games competing considering the obvious lack of talent on offense and defense and the inexperience on special teams. Luke Getsy first adjusted his offense to the running QB who lacked receivers to exploit secondaries, and now seems to be adjusting again with Fields looking to improve as a passer. Alan Williams' crowning achievement might have been holding Green Bay to a season-low passing yardage total with four subs on the field. Offensive line coach Chris Morgan did the impossible and threw together a largely inexperienced group, built a line of solid run blockers who have improved as pass blockers and now they are ranked in the league's top half among offensive lines by Pro Football Focus. Matt Eberflus' consistent adherence to the HITS principle kept the team focused and they avoided melting down through six straight losses and nine losses in 10 weeks. Six of these losses were tight and entirely frustrating but the team has held together.

Personnel: C-

There's only so much Ryan Poles could do in free agency without cap space when they let talent leave but one position usually easier to find among even cheaper free agents is an edge rusher to help with the rush. There are hired guns everywhere among edge rushers at all ages and abilities, yet the Bears have no pass rush whatsoever. Free agent Al-Quadin Muhammad hasn't produced pass rush pressure. Trading Robert Quinn had no bearing on the rush. He had one sack, none in Philadelphia and then got hurt after he didn't participate in Bears offseason team work. The trades and compensation were fine. Dealing their own second-rounder for Chase Claypool instead of the Ravens' pick they acquired for Roquan Smith wasn't ideal but if it was necessary to keep the Packers from getting Claypool then it was worth the move. Getting a fifth-rounder for a defensive end who has one sack on the year and didn't participate in offseason work is probably better than what they could have expected.

Overall: C-

Some mistakes they have made proved more costly than others, particularly in the draft. Every George Pickens reception for the Steelers says this much. Six straight failed final possessions say they need to see Fields produce at game's end at some point simply to relieve angst in Bears Nation. Then again, why start now when the second pick in the draft is within reach?

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