Another week, another loss for the Chicago Bears, bringing their record to 0-2. The Bears put on a deflating performance, resulting in a 52-21 loss against the Detroit Lions. Between the lack of pass rush by the defense, questionable play calls and offensive line play, and the eight total penalties committed, there’s enough blame to go around. Here are this week’s superlative awards:
Rising Star
Rome Odunze was a bright spot in this offense today. He had seven catches for 128 yards, 11 targets, and two touchdowns.
Today’s performance for the sophomore wide receiver marked a career high for both catches and receiving yards. He’s also the first Bear since 1977 to have multiple receiving touchdowns in a single first half in his first two seasons, according to the Chicago Bears’ official website.
While Odunze is technically listed as WR2 on the depth chart, Courtney Cronin reported otherwise in the offseason. Cronin stated, “I don’t think it’s hyperbole to say the Bears have a new number one receiver in this offense,” referring to Odunze. After today, all signs are pointing to that being the case. As the season progresses, I think we’ll see Odunze’s role in this offense continue to grow.
Worst Defensive Performance
After a strong performance from the Bears’ defense last week against the Minnesota Vikings, this week’s performance was just dreadful. Due to that, this one goes to the entire Bears’ defense. Allowing the opposing team’s offense to score 52 yards is just unacceptable. The defense gave up over 500 yards, averaging 8.8 yards per play, the most our defense has allowed since 1961, per Cronin.
They couldn’t stop the pass game. They couldn’t stop the run game. There was no pass rush. Both Jaylon Johnson and TJ Edwards re-aggravated their injuries, resulting in them both leaving the game early. It was just a disaster all around. This is certainly the worst defensive performance from the Bears in a long time. Hopefully, this was a one-off for Dennis Allen’s unit.
The Silver Lining
The Bears looked horrible today; there is no doubt about that. I understand finding a silver lining right now seems like a big feat. However, there’s nowhere to go but up. It’s only week two. The first two losses of the season were against playoff teams with two excellent head coaches in the league. As fans, we need to keep in mind that this team is operating under a brand new coaching staff, including a first-time head coach. There are going to be growing pains, and it’s going to take time for this team to get on the same page and start winning games. There’s a good chance that the Bears will look like a completely different team by the end of the season. This team was never going to be contenders this year; we’re still at least a year away. All we can hope for is progress throughout the season and confirmation at the end of the season that we got it right at QB and HC.
