Windy City Gridiron
“What they gonna say now?! “safety Jaquan Brisker yelled as he headed to the Chicago Bears locker room after their 24 to 15 win over the Philadelphia Eagles.
“What they gonna say now?! “he repeated.
The players have heard the chatter for weeks now. They haven’t beaten anyone. They’re pretenders. They’re frauds. They’re lucky.
Well, what they gonna say now?
The Bears made a statement on Black Friday in front of the whole world by smacking the defending champs around, and if there were still some doubters, they’re all silenced now — or they sound like the hating jackasses they have always been.
Chicago outgained Philadelphia (425 yards to 317), had more first downs (28 to 14), and was better on third downs, converting 10 of 17 (58.8%) to 4 of 12 (33.3%).
The Bears also dominated the time of possession (39:18 to 20:42), thanks to running 34 more plays (85 to 51). Chicago also had fewer penalties, with just 4 for 35 yards to 7 for 44 yards from Philly.
There’s something special happening in Chicago, and it’s still in its infancy.
Let’s look at the Bears’ playing time breakdowns and a few individual stats from the game.
Chicago’s offensive line, Ozzy Trapilo, Joe Thuney, Drew Dalman, Jonah Jackson, and Darnell Wright, received the game ball for paving the way for D’Andre Swift and Kyle Monangai, who both went over a hundred yards.
“Can’t say enough about that running game,” head coach Ben Johnson said in his postgame press conference. “I don’t think we win that game if we’re not able to run the ball like we were. Both the backs, over 100 yards, was just outstanding. You could feel decisiveness; you could feel them hitting it downhill. They turned on the gas and were lowering their shoulders, too. So that was so good to see, but it doesn’t happen without that offensive line. You can’t say enough about Ozzy and Joe, and Drew Dalman, Jonah, and Darnell. I mean, those guys, they were huge for us. So really proud of them, really proud of the tight ends, the receivers.”
The windy conditions affected both quarterbacks, but Caleb Williams made a play when he had to, hitting Cole Kmet for a 28-yard touchdown on a play-action pass. Kmet’s 36 receiving yards led the team, but as the head coach said, the tight ends and receivers were needed as blockers.
“That’s a frustrating game if you were a pass catcher,” Johnson continued, “because those conditions were challenging for us to get some consistency going there. And yet, they still were a big part of what we were doing there in the run game, and they knew that going into it. So that was huge to see.”
I was curious how the Bears planned to work Jaylon Johnson and Kyler Gordon back into the lineup, and I thought they handled things perfectly. Tyrique Stevenson was out, so they also had to navigate his absence, so it was...
