Bears Can't Get Above Water in Rankings
The power rankings began coming in Tuesday after Sunday's shocking 19-10 Bears upset of the San Francisco 49ers, and the results proved entirely predictable.
The narrative saying the Bears were lucky because of the weather prevailed.
Many of the polls' writers cited some weather-related fluke for the Bears and kept the team rated on the low side. The highest ranking came from Fox Sports at 17th. In most cases they didn't improve a spot or two over preseason rankings.
One of the most realistic comments made came from Vinnie Iyer of The Sporting News.
"Justin Fields doesn't get many style points for leading the Bears' gritty comeback over the 49ers, but he dug deep to find the big plays when needed even when things were breaking down and not supporting him much in bad weather," Iyer wrote in analysis that didn't quite go in lock step with the low-hanging fruit eaten up by the "lucky Bears" theorists.
Here's what the Bears have proven:
Sports Illustrated: 28th
Not much respect given the Bears here at No. 28, although the praise pours forth for Justin Fields from Conor Orr as a "...a gamer who isn't going to take this roster situation lying down."
Of course, this goes back to the incorrect, lazy narrative that the Bears intentionally didn't do anything to help Fields in the offseason, when obviously the bleak salary cap prevented it.
ESPN: 25th
They didn't move one spot. The ESPN rankings do not explain the positioning, but rather contain comments about the best rookie performances. In this case Courtney Cronin discussed Dominique Robinson's surprising 1 1/2 sacks in only 28 plays.
Yahoo Sports: 25th
Veteran Frank Schwab of Yahoo Sports with a very perceptive comment about Khalil Herbert playing a significant role by outplaying David Montgomery. He did. In preseason many analysts suggested these were two similar style backs but that was never the case. Montgomery is a start-and-stop back who is ideal running the inside zone and cutting back. The Niners were watching those cutback lanes closely and it was easier for them to stop cutbacks when a major focus on defense was to protect against bootlegs. Herbert last year was outstanding in what little wide zone blocking equivalent the Bears used. He has the kind of straight-line speed necessary to kick it in after picking his own opening in the line.
CBS Sports: 25th
Little effort given here by Pete Prisco in this assessment as the Bears were given "...credit for beating the 49ers. The defense was outstanding in bad conditions. The offense has a lot of work to do."
Among the teams that won games last week, CBS ranked the Bears ahead of only Seattle.
The Ringer: 28th
The cheap route here as Austin Gayle cited weather but finished with a positive even though the ranking is a bit too low.
"I'm not sprinting to jump on the Chicago bandwagon until the team dries off and plays well in better weather, but there’s still reason for optimism at the start of the Ryan Poles-Matt Eberflus era," Gayle wrote after the Bears moved up one spot in the Ringer's rankings.
The Sporting News: 19th
Iyer's assessment might have included the weather, but with a truly accurate depiction of the situation. It was Fields who handled the muck better than 49ers QB Trey Lance.
Fox Sports: 17th
"It's hard to know what to make of a game that took place in two feet of standing water ...," David Helman wrote.
While they gave the Bears a higher ranking than anyone, the assessment was inaccurate.
The rain was heaviest before the game and the field was squeegeed off. Then the conditions were not really unplayable. The water wasn't visible on the field. It actually stopped raining shortly after kickoff for a while.
The real heavy rain returned with about six minutes remaining and as the 49ers found themselves facing a nine-point deficit.
USA Today: 29th
They moved up one place with the win and Nate Davis chose a different twist on the weather, sadly.
"Why would you ever want a roof over Soldier Field when the Chicago weather can be the league's most effective 12th Man?" he wrote.
How in the world is that an advantage, for one? There wasn't one player on the Bears who ever had played in conditions like that for a game. There isn't any team or player who would be prepared for that unless they lived in southeast Asia during the monsoon season.
It's simply trying to make the best of a mess and that can never be an advantage for anyone.
What the Bears really need to be striving for is building a team that can play the best football regardless of conditions.
The dome is necessary, but not at Soldier Field as Davis wrote. The only one who wants one there is Mayor Lori Lightfoot, and the Bears aren't listening too much to her rantings these days—just like the rest of the city.
The cold and the rain, that's just a freak show for bored football fans across the country, not something to take advantage of during a game. Bear weather and duck weather are myths.
NFL.com: 25th
Best description for the week goes to NFL.com writer Dan Hanzus.
"Fields has playmaker traits that produce enough electricity to raise a team from the dead," Hanzus wrote.
It's the No. 1 Bears take from their Week 1 win, along with their reliance on HITS principle carrying them through a rough situation.
Pro Football Network: 27th
Dalton Miller's comment showed he really paid attention to the game. The thing that let San Francisco be beaten happened in the first half.
"They turned San Francisco over twice and didn’t allow the Niners’ backs to beat them in the run game after Elijah Mitchell went down early with an injury," Miller wrote.
Mitchell was almost averaging 7 yards a pop when he went out with a knee injury. Then the 49ers used too much of wide receiver Deebo Samuel running and became very predictable.
Twitter: BearDigest@BearsOnMaven
