The Chicago Bears let a winnable game slip away from them at M&T Bank Stadium on Sunday against the Baltimore Ravens.
Much like the loss to the Minnesota Vikings in week one, this was a game that the Bears
will almost surely look back upon at the end of the season with regret. Could have, should have.
The team was bad in all three phases. Way too many penalties, yet again. A quarterback still trying to find his way in the new offense. A special teams unit that can’t seem to cover anyone in the return game. And a defense that wasn’t good enough against a backup quarterback.
Let’s get to it.
Offense Game Ball: RT Darnell Wright
This was tough.
The skill position players had a rough outing. Rome Odunze surpassed 100 yards receiving, but he once again had a play where he needed to come up with the ball and failed to do so. This is becoming a weekly trend. Sure, it was a tough catch, but Odunze is a guy who was drafted in the top ten and needs to play liked it.
That was a hell of a throw by Caleb.
Meanwhile, DJ Moore had what was the best catch of the game. But even so, he needed to get out of bounds at the end of this play and failed to do so, keeping the clock running.
D’Andre Swift started out hot again, but the team failed to sustain the run game throughout the game. And you’ve probably seen that brutal interception that Caleb threw in the shadow of his own end zone, in addition to missing DJ at the end of regulation on what should have been an easy TD.
So we’re looking at the big guys up front and going with right tackle Darnell Wright.
Wright continues to solidify the right side of the line for the Bears, rarely giving up pressures and often dominating when it comes to blocking in the run game. With the team having all kinds of pre-snap penalty issues, Wright has typically not been part of that. Hell, even future Hall of Famer Joe Thuney had a false start on Sunday!
Wright was the Bears’ top graded player on offense via PFF with a grade of 78.8. He committed zero penalties on Sunday, and hasn’t committed a penalty since the week three game versus the Cowboys. He’s been flagged for two false starts all year, with the last being week two against the Lions.
Defense Game Ball: DT Grady Jarrett
This might be an unusual choice when just looking at the stat sheet, but Jarrett was disruptive when he was out there against the Ravens. He wasn’t credited with a sack initially, but should have been as he collapsed the pocket and forced Huntley into Gervon Dexter for a sack that held the Ravens to a field goal just before halftime.
Jarrett also had the highest pass rush win-rate among the Bears defense on Sunday, coming in at 18.8%. It wasn’t hard to win that statistic, look at the rest of these putrid numbers.
Jarrett played on just 53% of the snaps against the Ravens, but it will be a great thing for this defense if they can get him out there more moving forward as his health improves.
Special Teams Game Ball: Nobody
Cairo Santos returned to the lineup and instantly reminded everyone how accurate he is, but also how his leg sometimes limits the team’s prospects of scoring points in key situations.
Santos missed a field goal short from 58 yards as time expired in the second quarter. The team didn’t help him much, with Caleb Williams committing intentional grounding two plays earlier. They got 9 yards of it back on the next play with a completion to Colston Loveland, but the Bears should have been even closer (and with more time) had the penalty not occurred
Even so, the limitations of Santos’ leg were on full display once again. The kick that he missed, in nearly perfect weather, is an easy one for many in the game today. This is an era where NFL teams have kickers that can routinely hit from over 55 yards, and the Bears will have to continue to have tough discussions about the range and accuracy that they are getting from their kicking game.
Bryan Orenchuk and myself will have plenty to say this week on a new episode of Bears Over Beers. We’ll be live on Wednesday night on the 2nd City Gridiron YouTube channel, or available on demand via your favorite podcasting platform after. Our 2nd City Gridiron Podcast Channel is available on Apple, Spotify, iHeart, Audacy, and other popular podcast platforms.
Who would have received your game balls? Let us know in the comments section below.
