Grading the Bears on the Season
Bears running back David Montgomery tried summing up the season past in the locker room just after they finished 3-14.
He came up with a rather succinct description of 2022.
"Unfortunate."
Montgomery didn't want to elaborate when asked. One word sufficed.
The Bears will carry a franchise-record 10-game losing streak into next season, when the team could have roster turnover almost as great or greater than the season past.
Something like this seemed unavoidable when Bears GM Ryan Poles took out the plunger and unclogged the mess left on the team's salary cap by former GM Ryan Pace. It figured to be painful.
It was.
It was unfortunate but it had to be.
The lack of talent due to cuts and trades left coach Matt Eberflus and staff fighting uphill all year. Pace sought to sanitize the season with kind words for Eberflus.
"The one thing that was really cool to see just going through the team meetings through the year is just how authentic he was from a football perspective, getting guys locked in through adversity, really having the 24-hour rule, flipping the page to the next one and just attacking it week by week," Poles said.
Eberflus had plenty of practice at this.
Unfortunate isn't a grade on the chart. They don't give out a "U" for unfortunate or unsatisfactory or ugly on report cards.
This past Bears season gets letter grades, just like the others before it. Here is the final report card for Eberflus' first season as coach and Poles' first season as GM.
Quarterbacks: C
Like his team did by dumping salaries, Justin Fields did what he had to do. He compensated with his legs for his inability to find receivers, or the receivers' inability to be open, or the line's inability to protect their passer. He did it well enough for an NFL record rushing yardage total, if only he could have played the finale. This isn't preferable. Quarterbacks get hurt if they run in the NFL. It always happens. In fact, it did with Fields and the Bears need to take this as a warning, then be thankful it wasn't worse. More seasons of this and it will be a short career. He needs to become a passer like in college and they need to get him receivers like Chris Olave and Garrett Wilson were for him then—those two both went over 1,000 yards as rookies in 2022. The 2020 Buckeyes had receivers by far better than the Bears had in 2022. Fields admits he needs to be faster through his progression and at throwing short and intermediate passes. A quarterback who can't perform those in the NFL and is playing behind a makeshift line, without good receivers, is just a running back. Fields was 31st among starters in completion percentage (60.4), had the second-worst interception percentage (3.5), was 26th in passer rating (85.2), but in each of those categories his numbers improved over his rookie year. He was sixth in the league in touchdown percentage (5.3%) and 17th at the always-critical yards per attempt (7.0), while trying to learn a new offense with substandard supporting talent. He earns points for adapting with his legs even if this was the NFL's worst passing attack for almost the entire season.
Running Backs: B-
David Montgomery again made up for lack of breakaway speed with power and versatility. He averaged a career-best 9.3 yards a reception, third best among starting backs, was eighth in broken tackles with 20, sixth in attempts per broken tackle (10.1) and still had 801 yards while giving up many carries to either Khalil Herbert or Justin Fields. But Montgomery had 80 yards rushing or more only once and his five TD runs and 801 yards were career lows. They came in a year when he had his fewest carries. Khalil Herbert took on a bigger role with 129 carries and led all NFL backs in yards per rushing attempt at 5.7, while still needing to improve as a pass blocker and receiver. He supplied some of the breakaway speed to counter Fields that Montgomery couldn't.
Receivers: D-
The only positives to come out of the year for this group were their blocking and the play of tight end Cole Kmet. Equanimeous St. Brown was rated by Pro Football Focus the league's second-best blocking receiver on pass plays and eighth-best on run plays. Both Dante Pettis and Darnell Mooney had high ratings for blocking, as well. But that's a secondary function for receivers. They had the second-lowest dropped pass total with 12, but they also had the fewest receptions for any team. Their 121 receptions as an entire group of nine wide receivers were seven less than Justin Jefferson made for Minnesota by himself. Mooney had started figuring out the offense and re-establishing a connection with Fields just in time to suffer a season-ending injury. In all fairness, Chase Claypool lacked sufficient time in the attack to operate effectively. Kmet took a step up as a blocker and a red-zone receiver even while catching fewer passes, but contributions from other tight ends amounted to little.
Offensive Line: D-
Their pass blocking was so bad it hid the fact they ran for more yards than any Bears team ever and the most in the league. More than 650 yards of Justin Fields' 1,143 came on scrambles, which weren't planned running plays and resulted from the line's inability to protect him. He suffered a league-high 55 sacks. The line did endure nine starting lineup changes due largely to injuries, but they suffered only one bonafide season-ending injury. Only two offensive linemen had as many as five penalties—Braxton Jones (10) and Sam Mustipher (5)—and those two accounted for seven of the line's 15 holding penalties. This unit was good enough to be ranked 14th best offensive line by Pro Football Focus. They're overrated. This was a ranking skewed greatly by their status as the top rushing team for the first time since 1986, and that rushing total was skewed greatly by Fields' scrambling.
Defensive Line: F
They made 20 sacks, fewest by a Bears defense since 2003 and no Bears defender ranked in the top 60 for pressures. Trevis Gipson led with 18, tied for 61st in the league. Justin Jones' role as three technique in a pass rush is to get pressure, even if he can't complete the task with sacks. He ranked 162nd in the league in pressures with nine. Jones did finish first on the Bears with 12 tackles for loss. The defensive line is shamed by the fact Jaquan Brisker, a rookie safety, led the team in sacks and the team blitzed only 22.6% of the time, 23rd most in the league. The repeatedly were out of gaps and overpursued to create holes or they simply got blown off the ball. Al-Quadin Muhammad had one sack and three QB hits on the year, Dominique Robinson had no sacks or QB hits after the opener. The defense finished 31st defending the run and gave up more rushing TDs (31) and rushing first downs (151) than any team. Apparently the transition from two-gap to a single-gap front was harder than people anticipated.
Linebackers: D
Even when they had Roquan Smith playing they were bad. They gave up 49 points to Dallas with Smith in the lineup. Once he was traded it was a complete cave-in, regardless of how much praise Jack Sanborn earned as the new middle linebacker. Five times they gave up 200 yards rushing or more in a game, a sign opponents found clear sailing past the line of scrimmage. Nicholas Morrow managed 11 tackles for loss, only one less than Smith made for all of 2021, but it was more the big-gainers the Bears allowed from a linebacker standpoint that led to real problems. When it came to defending the pass, the linebackers were just as much of a problem as the secondary and pass rush, as the Bears were last in the league at stopping third downs (49%).
Secondary: C
The secondary's problem was more health than execution. At least in the second half of the season they seemed to have their coverage issues solved but then started losing defensive backs to injuries: Eddie Jackson, Jaylon Johnson and Jaylon Jones went out. Even though Jaquan Brisker and Kyler Gordon finished the season, they missed a few key weeks with concussions. As a result, the pass defense slipped from top 10 to 17th overall. DBs still made 11 of the team's 14 interceptions. They even had three interceptions from Gordon after they had only one interception from all their cornerbacks put together each of the previous two seasons. Brisker was all over the field with five tackles for loss, an interception and forced fumble. He missed only seven tackles, or 6.3% of attempts according to Sportradar. He still made rookie gaffes, like the TD run Jalen Hurts had on a QB draw against the all-out blitz as Brisker ran to the wrong hole. Johnson once again covered all over the field against top receivers with so-so results, but could be so much more effective if they had three good cornerbacks and could keep them at home in the cover-2.
Special Teams: C+
Cairo Santos is an easy target for the five missed extra points but did make all but two field goal attempts and the first two missed PATs occurred in the monsoon they played in during the opener. Trenton Gill's punting average nosedived once the weather got cold, from 48.4 in September and October to 43.9 from November, December and January. It happens to all Bears kickers. His average of 46 yards was 22nd best and net 26th best (40.2). None of these are poor for a rookie. Return and coverage teams were filled with rookies and eventually improved as the season went on. Better blocking helped Velus Jones' 27.6-yard kick return average was third in the NFL. About the best the Bears could say for Pettis' punt returns were he fielded the ball well. Only sporadically did they effectively block up punt returns.
Coaching: C
The ability to keep a team focused throughout a three-win season has been praised by Poles but that should be minimal expections for a coaching staff in the first year of a rebuild. It's easier to keep a team's focus when they know the staff isn't about to be fired and players' jobs are on the line. Few game plans displayed great flaws, save Alan Williams' defensive start to the first Minnesota game and the Jets game, or Luke Getsy's approach on to the first Packers game. Getsy made in-season adjustments to facilitate the league's top ground game at midseason and used Fields' speed when it was apparent the passing game couldn't get it done. Eberflus' HITS principle was on display in the first three games and then later on when they were making plays on the ball using third-string players. The Bears committed the fifth-fewest penalties and had the fewest penalty yards in the NFL, which shows they're getting the "smart" part to his achronym. They still need to work on takeaways.
Personnel: C-
Poles failed by signing Larry Ogunjobi and then didn't supply an impactful three technique. His hands were tied in the free agent game without cash but they signed so many low budget receivers that it's hard to believe they couldn't have found one higher-quality receiver at a slightly higher price instead of signing four or five for $1.2 million a year or less and getting nothing from them in production. His solution in this regard was Byron Pringle, and that didn't work so well. Poles' trade for Claypool doesn't appear to be a wise one considering he gave away the 32nd pick in the draft. It's on Claypool to prove this is wrong now. Smith trade was almost a no-win situation, and they didn't but getting a mid-round pick for Robert Quinn at this stage of his career appears a solid move. More than anything else, Poles appears lucky. He got the first pick of the draft when Lovie Smith refused to take another defeat and leave Houston quietly.
Ownership: B
For the first time they have gone outside the organization to bring in a team president in Kevin Warren. Someone who thinks differently? This truly is a progressive step. All this in a year when they moved toward getting out of the inconvenient eyesore that is Soldier Field, installed a new type stadium grass that lets them finish seasons without playing on sand, and got Ted Phillips to retire. Geez. What's next? Cheerleaders? Things are really looking up off the field. Now they need to look up on it.
Overall: D
Three wins should be an F, but they've laid a foundation as Eberflus likes to say. Even with a poor grade for Season 1 fo the rebuild, he arrow is pointing up. Although, it is difficult to have it point anywhere else when you're all the way at the bottom of the league after only one year of a rebuild. If the bar is still so low after two years, with $118 million in cap space and the first pick of draft in their possession for this offseason, the arrows might be pointing right at the people in charge.
Twitter: BearDigest@BearsOnMaven
