The Chicago Bears And Their 1 Passing Yard

Questions Answered: Two Defenders Out, Slowing Down DET, Irv Redemption
Nov 16, 2020; Chicago, Illinois, USA; Chicago Bears wide receiver Allen Robinson (12) attempts to make a catch against Minnesota Vikings strong safety Harrison Smith. Mandatory Credit: Mike Dinovo-USA TODAY Sports.

Far be it from me to be overly haughty when it comes to QB play. There’s something about a lineup of QBs that consists of Christian Ponder, Tarvaris Jackson, Matt Cassel, Sage Rosenfels, Donovan McNabb, Josh Freeman, Gus Frerotte, and Joe Webb that is fairly humbling.

Even still, it’s hard not to be at least be somewhat amused by Chicago’s offensive performance yesterday. When it was all said and done, Chicago had 47 yards of offense. They went 1/11 on third down. They had an average of 1.1 yards per play. They punted the ball seven times and only possessed the ball for just over 20 minutes.

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Like many others, I thought Chicago was smart to trade up for Justin Fields. In the right scenario, Fields could go on to become a really good NFL starter. It currently looks like Chicago isn’t that scenario.

In yesterday’s Cleveland game, the Bears accounted for a mere 1 yard of passing. Justin Fields went 6/20 for 68 yards. When you subtract the yardage lost from the 9 sacks allowed, the Bears are left with a mere 1 yard. Keep in mind that Matt Nagy’s specialty is the offense. How in the world does this happen?

During the preseason, Fields made some headlines when he indicated that the NFL game actually moved slowly: “It was actually kind of slow to me to be honest.” One wonders how slow Myles Garrett seemed yesterday.

Now, there’s a warning in here for us Vikings fans given that we play Cleveland on Sunday. If we take things for granted on offense, we could easily get embarrassed by the Browns. We all know that Kevin Stefanski is a great coach. His team is going to be well prepared. From there, we’re going to need to contend with a formidable defensive line (which is to say nothing of their OL, but that’s a different conversation for a different day). Our offensive line has shown some good things over these past two weeks. Kirk and Lil’Kub also deserve a lot of credit. We’ll need all three – the OL, Kirk, and Kub – to be strong against Cleveland.

As a Vikings fan, my desire is for Matt Nagy and Ryan Pace to get lifetime contracts in Chicago. They’ve done a really poor job leading that team. Put simply, it’s hard to envision Fields succeeding with the way the Bears are currently constructed. He’s unlikely to have many more 1-yard days, but life won’t be easy for the rookie QB.

We first play Chicago on Dec. 20. Let’s hope Nagy lasts that long.

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