The Chicago Bears can exhale. Kind of. Barely. For now, at least.
Eddy Pineiro, the kicker for whom the Bears literally turned every stone imaginable this summer in an attempt to find, saved the season in Denver on Sunday by nailing a 53-yard field goal through the Mile High uprights as time expired to get the Bears to 1-1.
Of course, 30 seconds earlier, the Bears were staring 0-2 and a lost season in the face, thanks entirely to an anemic offense that has done close to nothing through two games. Mitch Trubisky has looked bad and a host of other things have gone wrong in two criminally poor performances. But 1-1 is 1-1.
The Bears still have hope, thanks to their kicker. And they travel to the nation’s capital in Week 3 to take on Washington at FedEx Field on Monday Night Football — another opportunity to get the offense back on track.
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With that, I reach into this week’s Bears Mailbag. Thanks to everyone who submitted questions! Always appreciate the participation. Follow me on Twitter @DhruvKoul to continue the conversation.
Mailbag
At this time, Mitch Trubisky has a ways to go. It’s not just about numbers or stats. I really couldn’t care less about stats when evaluating a quarterback. He has to show that he is not only capable of executing Matt Nagy’s complex offense, but also capable of taking over a game when a defense or weather conditions take scheme away. Can he make scheme independent plays or throws that truly elite QBs make?
Through two+ seasons, he has shown flashes of this, but the inconsistency WITHIN games, let alone between games, is remarkable. That isn’t good enough to justify a second contract. Some average QBs that are NOT consistently dependable outside of scheme (Jared Goff, Dak Prescott, Kirk Cousins, Jimmy Garoppolo) have either been given or are in line for massive contracts. In a salary cap sport, that takes away resources from building a strong team elsewhere once the rookie contracts are up. Right now, Trubisky is in this mold.
We know he has the ability to make plays. Unfortunately, it’s not showing up on tape enough. Is he smart enough to do the other things a team needs from its QB (see the field well, read defenses, get the team aligned, etc.)? Right now, the answer is more no than yes. He has 14 games to put together CONSISTENTLY strong tape. If he does, we can start to have that conversation. If he doesn’t, honestly, I’m not even sure how the team can justify picking up his fifth year option.
Something just isn’t clicking for him and the offense as a whole. He’s made a few really good throws this season (though it doesn’t feel like it). He had a couple against Green Bay that were unfortunately caught out of bounds, but those two plays could’ve helped flipped that game. And against Denver, he had a couple of nice throws (deep ball to Tarik Cohen, crosser to Adam Shaheen) that were put pretty much on the money, but the defense just made really good plays. But there are way too many plays being left on the field right now and unless it gets corrected, it’s going to be a long season for the offense.
As far as the run blocking, it’s certainly been subpar. Part of it might be James Daniels and Cody Whitehair switching positions in the offseason — Daniels took over at center and Whitehair at left guard. They may still be finding their groove as a unit. But run blocking was a concern last season as well; it’s certainly something that needs to be ironed out quickly. Harry Hiestand, the Bears’ legendary offensive line coach, is in charge of making that happen.
Tell you what, though. How impressive was David Montgomery in Denver? His YPC average wasn’t great, but he repeatedly made something out of nothing against a good Broncos’ front. He’s been a breath of fresh air at RB.
You can guarantee that Ryan Pace is keeping his eye out for talent. To be fair, I don’t think anyone envisioned Trubisky needing competition at this point. What’s transpired on offense over the last two weeks is nothing short of appalling. Still, it’s somewhat good that Trubisky had a better game in Week 2 (on the road) than he did in Week 1. And I do feel that he was a couple good plays by Denver’s defense away from having a game that was relatively respectable.
If Trubisky doesn’t improve quickly, though, Pace may have no choice but to bring in competition. Chase Daniel and Tyler Bray are not better than Mitch, so Pace may have to go the trade route. Keep an eye on Chad Kelly of Indianapolis as an under-the-radar target. I’d have also liked Kyle Allen a lot (of Carolina), but Allen is a weird-angle hit away from starting over a battered Cam Newton.
If we want to go crazy, though — How about Josh Rosen?
We start planning for the afterlife. Seriously. Granted, it was one throw, but if Trubisky can’t build on the good feelings of a season-saving throw/FG/win on the road, then it’s just not likely to happen for him. He can’t be a Jekyll and Hyde quarterback for this team to make the Super Bowl. There’s no room for Bad Mitch and Excellent Mitch. If he can’t get consistently good (or even average!), then the Bears need to start scouting QBs urgently.
I doubt the Bears will make a change at QB with anyone on the roster, because Daniel and Bray aren’t better than him. But Pace may explore the trade route. It sounds drastic, but this team’s goal is to win. If Trubisky continues to be less than middling, how can you look anyone on that elite defense in the eye and continue the same course of action much longer?
A little bit. The Denver win certainly helped and kept this season from going down the tubes. I don’t think it can be understated how much the kicker question was weighing this team down. Maybe they can all relax now.
If the Bears aren’t AT LEAST 3-2 going into the bye week (4-1 is ideal given the schedule later), then the season’s outlook isn’t good. But let’s check back then and see how they’re doing.
The offensive line was certainly poor against Green Bay, but even on plays where they held up, he played poorly. Against Denver, the pass blocking was exceptional and Trubisky did play a bit better, but not well enough. The line wasn’t to blame in Week 2.
I don’t believe that Mitch just gets off to slow starts — we’ll see how he plays against Washington, Minnesota and Oakland heading into the bye week. But if he’s a QB that needs preseason or a couple weeks in the regular season to get going, that’s alarming. A football season is 16 games, not 162 games. If you need two games to get yourself right, that’s 1/8 or 12.5% of the season gone. That’s not acceptable. He just has to play better, plain and simple.
