The Chicago Bears were victorious on Sunday over the New York Giants 19-14. Although the team won, there were more negatives than positives to the win. All three phases struggled and excelled at points of the game as Chicago had another incomplete victory in 2019.
The Bears offense struggled again to consistently move the ball and put points on the board against one of the league’s worst defenses. New York’s defense ranked 26th in pass defense and 22nd in rush defense coming into the game. Chicago’s offense could only muster 65 rushing yards as rookie running back was limited to 22 rushing yards.
Quarterback Mitchell Trubisky passed for a season-high 278 yards but also had his first multi-interception game of the season. The Giants’ defensive line controlled the line of scrimmage against the Bears offensive line as Trubisky was sacked twice. They recorded several tackles for losses whenever the Bears tried to run the ball.
On defense, Chicago’s defense limited New York’s offense to just two touchdowns. All-Pro linebacker Khalil Mack registered his first sack in three games and his first forced fumble since week four. The downside was that the defense allowed the Giants to rack up 131 yards on their last two drives including a touchdown on fourth down. The defense also failed to record an interception in their sixth game and haven’t had a multi-interception game since week three.
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Special teams team was a roller coaster ride also as punter Pat O’Donnell shanked a punt for 13 yards. Giants punt returner Jabrill Peppers returned a punt for 40 yards that set up New York’s offense deep in Chicago territory. Bears special teams turned it around late as they helped pin the Giants offense deep in their own territory twice in the fourth quarter.
With all that the team did wrong as a whole on Sunday, they did just enough to win. Had they played a better team, they could have lost by more than 10 points. In the Bears’ five wins this season, there has not been one game where the team dominated from start to finish. The closest they came was the week three win over the Redskins. Although Chicago won 31-15, Washington made the game interesting late until a costly fumble.
The Bears will have a quality chance to get back to .500 on Thanksgiving when the play the Lions in Detroit. At 6-6, they will head into December needing to win their final four games to make the playoffs. If the team wants to win their games against the Dallas Cowboys, Green Bay Packers, Kansas City Chiefs, and Minnesota Vikings, they will need to play complete games.
