The first six weeks of Bears football, we saw exactly what we have gotten accustomed to, good defense, and bad offense. This has been the theme of the past few years, and was no different through six weeks this year. In those six weeks, the offense only put up twenty points in two of the six games. Along with that, came some really, really awful offensive showings like the seven point effort against Washington. That offense looked historically bad, and showed no glimpse of life. The defense, per usual, kept the Bears in most of these games, only allowing over twenty points, twice.
Then we hit week seven. The 2-4 Bears went to New England for a primetime matchup with the 3-3 Patriots. The story line was centered around the return of Mac Jones, and whether or not Bailey Zappe would make an appearance on the turf. Both Patriot QBs ended up playing, and the Bears shut them both down. Chicago rallied off several New England turnovers, and turned them into points. Not only did the defense hold the Pats to 14 points, the offense showed up. The Bears were able to put 33 points on New England’s defense, which was unimaginable for how they had been playing. For the first time in a while, we saw the Bears put together an offensive, and defensive game.
Dallas. Chicago fans were excited to see this team take the field after the domination in New England the week before. However, the news surrounding this game was the fact that Chicago would be without Robert Quinn. I am not saying that this was a bad trade, in fact I was a huge fan of it. But the Bears defense felt his absence. They allowed nearly 50 points to a Cowboys team that didn’t have Zeke. The defense struggled, and little did we know, it would be the last we saw of Roquan Smith in a Bears uniform. There was a bright spot in this game though. The offense looked pretty great. The Cowboys had the best defense statistically coming into this week 8 matchup. Getsy took his offense into Dallas with confidence and fire. They were able to put up 29 points, and looked really solid. This was the start of the change, amazingly, the Bears had gone from good defense and bad offense, to bad defense and good offense, in two weeks.
No Roquan, no Robert, but a new offensive weapon. News surrounding this week nine game at Soldier Field was the debut of Chase Claypool in Chi-town. However, it was not forgotten that the Bears had just traded away Roquan Smith. All in all, we have to understand that the Dolphins are all in for a championship this year. The Bears on the other hand, are all in on a rebuild this year. That is why a 35-32 loss, was actually a big win for the Bears. The offense did its thing, they were hitting on all cylinders as we can hope is the new normal. Fields set a couple NFL records, Mooney caught a touchdown, and Kmet caught two. Despite the loss, this was an exciting day in Chicago. However, the Bears defense was not able to force a single punt from the Dolphins. Their defense was picked apart by Tua, but it’s hard to blame the Roquan-less Bears.
After all, It was their first game playing without the best linebacker in the NFL. Not to mention the Dolphins have two top five receivers. As the new faces of this defense get more reps, they will get better. But for the rest of this season, I think we have to get used to good offense, and a struggling defense. I don’t think anyone will be complaining though. The excitement of all the cap space, draft picks, and a young, incredibly talented offense, Bears fans will gladly take what we have.
