Bears Report Card: A Rare Day in Chicago

Yes, the Bears won a game at home and they won it on a Sunday.

It was a rare day to be sure, and they even had a sack from their three technique. So they have that much going for them, which is nice.

After all the excitement, it was only natural for the media to get a bit carried away, or perhaps it was simply a group with a few people still conditioned by Lovie Smith saying "Rex is our quarterback" after Kyle Orton or Brian Griese had played free of screwball mistakes.

"Is Justin Fields still the starting quarterback?" Matt Eberflus was asked, bringing a sober side to the giddiness and shouting during the postgame press conference.

It was an entirely necessary question. If not, those were the most convincing 162 yards through the air in the history of the game.

There's no sense getting carried away by one win. They still have that losing streak ahead in the NFC North, the division they plan to get around to taking if only they could beat some of those teams.

They could only address the Raiders on this Sunday, and it was a Las Vegas team with an old Bears backup passers attacking their defense at that. You'd have to assume Jimmy Garoppolo would have performed better attacking their defense than three interceptions.

Another team with a legitimate defense might be able to handle D'Onta Foreman flying past them and over them, or Tyson Bagent using his "cannon" to blast those deadly 4-yard passes.

Then you would need someone with an arm more like Justin Fields has.

So there really is no need to get carried away but the question did need to be asked.

Eberflus answered appropriately.

"Yeah, Justin is our starting quarterback," Lovie, er, Eberflus said. "Again, Tyson is the backup, came in and did a nice job. Again, we don't know where Justin is. We'll see where it is. We don't know if it's a week-to-week thing.

"We'll assess it more tomorrow."

Tomorrow is for tomorrow. Sunday was for success and Monday grades everyone could enjoy. Here is the report card.

Passing Attack: B+

Bagent was everything required to win. He only forced a few passes into tighter coverage and did those well. He involved a lot of targets, even Darnell Mooney, and when Cole Kmet didn't get targeted it was because he was too busy blocking. They needed as much help as possible to cage Maxx Crosby. The pass blocking was the best it had been all year with Bagent sacked just once.

Why no "A" here? Bagent's yards per attempt could be more easily measured in inches on many throws and 4.8 yards per pass play usually won't beat anyone but it worked against a defense with one player. It worked here but definitely can improve.

That ugly looking Hail Mary attempt by Nathan Peterman counts in the passing game, too. The good thing about throwing so many short passes was how frustrating it had to be for the Raiders defense to know they were being beaten by someone wielding a tap hammer rather than the real thing.

Running Game: A

If they had kept D'Onta Foreman entirely on the ground instead of leaping over defenders with a single bound, this might have been A+. Also, they committed too many penalties for that. He was effective in the running game the way Bagent was in the passing game. Foreman wasn't going to break it all the way for a 50-yard TD but was going to beat up the defense and gain consistent yards. It's not easy to average 5.6 yards an attempt with a long run of 14 yards in the NFL, but Foreman did. It might surprise some to know Darrynton Evans actually had almost as many carries as Foreman. Evans had 14 and Foreman 16. A 173-yard game and even better—the 38 carries—let them control the ball, the clock and take pressure off their rookie QB. And the rookie QB even contributed with a few key scrambles and an effective QB sneak.

Pass Defense: A+

Even luck was on their side as Davante Adams dropped a touchdown pass when he finally did get open. How many times in the past would the Bears have paid a hefty amount just to see him do that once in Green Bay? Coverage of Adams and Jakobi Meyers by Tyrique Stevenson and Jaylon Johnson didn't look great in one column on the stat sheet as both had seven receptions. However, neither one went over 57 yards. The idea was to limit big plays and the Raiders never had a catch longer than 15 yards on the day. The pass rush took a while to get going but did finally arrive as Justin Jones had a big sack and the few blitzes they dialed up this week were well timed and kept Brian Hoyer from stepping into passes. Allowing 4.0 yards per attempt to Hoyer on 17 of 32 for 129 yards was domination.

Run Defense: A+

They're facing last year's top rusher in the NFL, who just got a big contract, and they limited a fourth straight opponent to 97 yards or less rushing. In fact, it was the third straight opponent held to 46 yards on the ground or less. Andrew Billings, DeMarcus Walker, Yannick Ngakoue, Gervon Dexter, Rasheem Green, Jones and Co. worked hand in hand with T.J. Edwards, Jack Sanborn and Tremaine Edmunds to leave no room. The Raiders had 11 of their 39 yards on one play and had to give up the run early in the second half.

Special Teams: C+

A blocked extra point, the 18-yard punt return allowed to DeAndre Carter early and a shanked punt late by Trenton Gill tainted the special teams effort that included Cairo Santos' second-longest field goal with the Bears of 54 yards. It came at a big time, too, because it became a three-score game when he made it.

Coaching: A-

Luke Getsy wasn't asking Bagent to be Brock Purdy, just win a game and he had the game plan dialed in to exactly the weaknesses the Raiders had shown. They hadn't been good stopping the run or defending shorter passes to wide receivers. And the Bears executed a game plan exploiting these problems perfectly. Chris Morgan, the line coach, was lauded by Eberflus after the game for getting a completely new offensive line makeup together well enough to open holes and pass block. Teven Jenkins looked entirely comfortable back at last year's position. Add Braxton Jones back to that group in the future and you wonder what they would plan to do with a healthy Nate Davis? Matt Eberflus had an outstanding day of game planning and decision making but two questions remain. What on earth did they put Nathan Peterman on the field for to throw a Hail Mary when Bagent says he has "a cannon," and more importantly, what was that two-minute drill before halftime? They slow-played it when they had three timeouts and then ran out of time even though they reached the Raiders 47. They never did use all their timeouts. It was like they played a two-minute drill to kill the clock rather than score. They didn't even use two of the timeouts.

Overall: A-

Usually the only thing coming from fans' mouths at games has been boos, and it's been that way much of the year. On Sunday there were people singing "Bear Down Chicago Bears."

Has the corner been turned?

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