Windy City Gridiron
Hello, Chicago Bears fans! Well, we all knew this day would come. It can’t be all rainbows, sunshine, and good, better, best in the modern NFL. Sometimes you win ugly, and sometimes you lose ugly. And this was an ugly loss for the Chicago Bears against a Baltimore Ravens team featuring a backup quarterback that the Ravens themselves had tried to move off of over the offseason. So with that said, let’s dive into what was bad, was even worse, and what was the worst in a game the Chicago Bears could have, and perhaps should have, won.
Officiating
Once again, the officiating in a Bears game tilts strongly in favor of the Bears opponent. In this case, a particularly egregious non-call was the refs swallowing their whistles on a crucial 3rd down play when the Ravens’ DeAndre Hopkins commits an obvious OPI, along with an obvious facemask against the Bears, Nashon Wright to complete a pass and keep the Ravens’ drive alive.
Turnover Ratio
The Bears came into the game as the #1 team in the NFL in takeaways and the Ravens came in as one of the worst teams in the NFL. So, of course, they won the turnover battle, with Caleb Williams’ back-breaking interception to Nate Wiggins serving as the only turnover in the entire game. Losing the turnover battle 1-0 isn’t usually decisive, but in this game, it clearly was.
Pass Defense
The fact that the Bears’ backend was porous in this game should come as no surprise, as the team was down its top four cornerbacks coming into the season. Only Tyrique Stevenson is currently off of IR among the four. We hoped that the fact the Ravens had Huntley going might balance out the Bears weak secondary. Narrator: “It, in fact, did not.”
Redzone Offense
The Bears opened the game with two long and effective drives, only to stall out in the redzone. Had the Bears finished those drives with touchdowns, up 14-0, rather than up 6-0, how different would the rest of the game been?
Ravens 1st Downs
Despite the Bears being more efficient on 3rd down (6/13 vs 4/10), outgaining the Ravens in total yards (372 to 355), and out-sacking the Ravens, 2-1, the Ravens had five more first downs than the Bears (24 to 19) and it seemed that the Bears could do nothing to stop Huntley from matriculating the ball down the football field.
Ben Johnson Play-Calling
For some reason, Ben Johnson, whose identity is all about a dynamic and consistent run game, got away from the run game in the second half. It’s natural to pass more when you are behind, but it seems that the BJ lost his sense of balance at a crucial point in the game – going all pass in the 3rd quarter of the game. D’Andre Swift had only 11 rushing attempts in the entire game, despite a 4.1 YPG. Caleb dropped back to pass a total 41 times. BJ...
