Chicago Bears Week 8 Notes: Fowl Play in Baltimore

Sloppy play continued to spoil the Chicago Bears’ efforts this week, this time too much to overcome. Let’s get to my notes.

Offense:

• After a sharp start, Caleb Williams and the rest of the Bears’ offense played a losing brand of football, highlighted by ineptitude in scoring range and costly penalties at the most inopportune moments.
• Great to see the run game once again show some life early, highlighted by some strong running by both D’Andre Swift and Kyle Monangai, but a combination of game flow, penalties and poor play prevented from the run being as effective as it could have been on Sunday.
• Speaking of Monangai, it was noteworthy to me that he had the first carry of the game and then started the 2nd drive. Loved what he brought in pass pro as well, and it is easy to see why the coaches trust him.
• It was good to see Colston Loveland in extended action and he is going to be a great player for Chicago with a more diverse skillset than we have seen in a Bears uniform in years, but his false start on the 3rd and 1 early ended up being bigger than it first appeared.
• Theo Benedet had another rough outing, and his sack allowed in the red zone was a back breaker.
• Olamide Zaccheus caught a pass!
• Quick screens worked early, and then it started to feel like Luke Getsy was calling plays. Against a defense that struggles to get after the QB, getting the ball out early is not as critical, and I was not a fan of some of those calls.
• Speaking of play calls, Ben Johnson had his worst play calling game of the season. That said, this game was NOT on the new head coach.
• Joe Thuney had his worst game as a Bear from my vantage point. Again, not the reason we lost, but it was definitely something I noticed. He was beat one on one in pass pro and had an ill-timed penalty.
• Roquan made his impact early and often, most notably on a clutch open field tackle against Swift, where D’Andre may have been able to take it the distance.
• DJ is elite after the catch, but his one-handed grab on Caleb’s “Hail Mary” was a thing of beauty.
• Swift continues to look like our best player on offense, but I would like to see him carry the ball in his outside hand. The RB coach in me cringes every time I see it, and it almost led to a fumble.
• How was there not a helmet to helmet penalty on the near forced fumble from Marlon Humphrey on OZ that got reviewed? What in the actual %$%&?!
• Rome with another great game but his drop late hurt. Did not like Caleb’s decision on the INT to Rome, and I know he defended the decision, saying it was just a tick...