Bear Digest

Bears' report card for Week 10 says everyone must get more involved

Grading the Bears: From about the end of the first quarter until the start of the fourth quarter, Chicago stumbled around before Caleb Williams woke them from their lethargy.
Gene Chamberlain|
D'Andre Swift breaks into the clear, looking healthier in an 80-yard rushing effort during the Bears' 24-20 win.
D'Andre Swift breaks into the clear, looking healthier in an 80-yard rushing effort during the Bears' 24-20 win. | David Banks-Imagn Images

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Chicago Bears

Reporters waited late in the Bears locker room for Rome Odunze after last week's social media controversy when his father agreed with a tweet saying the Bears should trade his son due to lack of targets.

Despite one drop, Odunze made six catches in 10 targets for 86 yards and a TD.

"Yeah, thanks dad," Odunze wisecracked, and everyone had a good laugh. "That was a good one."

The Bears could all laugh when it was over but it was more scary for three quarters.

The Bears receivers acted like they didn't deserve any targets for a big chunk of Sunday's game, and Caleb Williams waited until the fourth quarter to put on Superman's cape again for a 24-20 win over the Giants. Williams needed to hand them the ball considering all of their dropped passes.

Along the way, DJ Moore had just four targets with no catches while suffering a shoulder injury and Cole Kmet had only two targets with one catch for 5 yards.

Better get some close relatives on social media before next week's game with Minnesota.

All's well when the Bears eventually get around to putting away the poor Giants, who might not have been so easy to finish off or even beat without season-ending injuries to Cam Skattebo and Malik Nabers.

It's going to need to change by next week. There is a bad habit  of either going to sleep after the first few drives of the game, or coach Ben Johnson has a weakness in his game-planning as he transitions from the first 15 scripted plays to dialing up plays.

Teams don't usually beat a team as good as Minnesota by sleep-walking through the second and third quarters and with a 4-5 record now the Vikings will be at home and essentially playing for their seasons.

A 4-6 team in this year's NFC North really doesn't  have much of a hope for a playoff berth, any more than a team that drops passes and plays about one quarter of a game.

Here are the grades for the Bears. No complaints from parents accepted.

Running game: B-

They couldn't move out 340-pound Dexter Lawrence clogging the middle so the yards needed to come from the   B-gap outward. The Giants did a decent job of preventing the blocking scheme from getting to their run-compromised edge. The running backs had 108 yards rushing on 20 carries, a so-so day. What was good was to see D'Andre Swift look a bit healthier than was depicted by Johnson's description of a "chronic" groin injury. He ran through a potentially disastrous tackle on fourth-and-2 to save the day. Kyle Monangai had a nice power run for the first TD but wasn't getting used as much. If not for Caleb Williams' scrambling, their running would have looked insufficient. Even if Williams leaves the pocket a bit more than is to Ben Johnson's liking, the coach is going to need to live with it to some extent when his QB can extend drives on the ground.

Passing game: C+

Williams again failing to climb to 70% or even didn't reach 56% completions is disappointing but this time he couldn't be blamed for it due to all the dropped passes--between six and eight depending on your definition of this term. Williams' season-high 63 yards rushing was an outgrowth of the passing game, or dropping game. Odunze ran several nice routes to get open for his catches and the most positive development in the passing game was Luther Burden III finally getting a decent amount of use with 51 yards on three receptions and Colston Loveland's continued use with four catches and 55 yards. The one answer the Bears had to criticism of their passing Sunday was they had it when they needed it most.

Run defense: B-

Again, like with their own offense on the ground, they seemed to get the job done. It took quarterback Jaxson Dart to gain the rushing yards for the Giants. Allowing 169 yards normally is a high number, but 22 runs for 91 yards by running backs isn't a point to dwell upon. They came into the game without their most stout defensive ends but just like with their own offense's overall game, the defense adjusted. Definitely, knocking Dart out of the game on the play when C.J. Gardner-Johnson forced a fumble was a key play for their run defense.

Pass defense: B-

It's easy to wonder what would have happened had Russell Wilson not taken over as quarterback in the fourth quarter because they rattled him into a 3-of-7 passing, with one 41-yard play on a short completion and two other insignificant completions. Dart had shown what he could do, going 19-of-29 for 242 yards, including a few gains over 30 yards and one tremendous catch by Derek Slayton. The best part of their pass defense was their pass rush and their short-range man-to-man coverage. C.J. Gardner-Johnson seems like a Godsend at this point with his ability to blitz out of the slot and three sacks in two weeks.

Special teams: B

It was the kind of cold, windy, snowy day when shaky special teams can get you beat, and fortunately for them the performance here was better than in Cincinnati. Johnson didn't rely on long kicks from Cairo Santos in those conditions, and it really didn't work out when he went for first downs. Punter Tory Taylor kept his average up to 45.0 yards despite the cold, although his two touchbacks were missed opportunities to pin the Giants deep. He and the coverage team prevented any punt return yards, and the only kick return yardage was a 39-yarder to start the second half. 

Coaching: B+

Two of Johnson's failed fourth-down gambles were questionable decisions. A fourth-and-4 can't always be an invitation to gamble. Points on the board in those two situations would have been big. Johnson should get credit for the attention he put all week on how dangerous the Giants were even with two wins, even if his players didn't look like they were listening. Dennis Allen's defensive adjustment, including the use of 300-pound defensive tackle Chris Williams for 14 plays on the edge and two more lined up over tackle per PFF, helped slow the New York running game. Putting Gardner-Johnson into the pass rush at opportune times out of the slot made Johnson look like a genius.

Overall: B-

This was like A student getting sloppy and coasting before deciding to study in the final two weeks of the semester. The final result was acceptable, better than many teams would have done when down 10. What it did was create far too much angst for fans and coaches.

Johnson summed it up best: "End of the day, we just need to keep finding ways to win."

Hopefully, though, for everyone's cardiac health it becomes less strenuous.

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Gene Chamberlain
GENE CHAMBERLAIN

Gene Chamberlain has covered the Chicago Bears full time as a beat writer since 1994 and prior to this on a part-time basis for 10 years. He covered the Bears as a beat writer for Suburban Chicago Newspapers, the Daily Southtown, Copley News Service and has been a contributor for the Daily Herald, the Associated Press, Bear Report, CBS Sports.com and The Sporting News. He also has worked a prep sports writer for Tribune Newspapers and Sun-Times newspapers.