The Bears picked up a crucial victory over the Patriots on Thursday night, improving their record to 5-2 in the process. The rest of the football week can feel like it drags on after your team plays on a Thursday, but in the case of Chicago, there has still been plenty of buzz after defeating the reigning AFC champions on primetime television.
Each week, I’ll review how Chicago’s eligible performers graded by Pro Football Network’s Impact Scoring model. Now that the rest of the NFL has caught up,
and the numbers have all been crunched, here’s how Week 7 looked.
Offense
- Caleb Williams: 81.6 (8th of 26 QBs)
- D’Andre Swift: 75.5 (22nd of 42 RBs)
- Luther Burden III: 84.8 (5th of 54 WRs)
- Rome Odunze: 76.3 (20th of 54 WRs)
- Colston Loveland: 80.4 (3rd of 32 TEs)
- Cole Kmet: 75.5 (15th of 32 TEs)
- Theo Benedet: 76.1 (22nd of 52 OTs)
- Joe Thuney: 80.0 (7th of 44 OGs)
- Garrett Bradbury: 77.1 (17th of 51 Cs)
- Jonah Jackson: 74.0 (26th of 44 OGs)
- Darnell Wright: 83.2 (6th of 52 OTs)
Among NFL starting quarterbacks in Week 7, Caleb Williams tied for second with 308 passing yards and ranked fifth with 0.40 EPA per dropback and seventh with +6.7 CPOE. His efficiency on Thursday was impressive, especially when targeting Luther Burden III. Burden’s 3.19 EPA per target led all wide receivers, and his perfect 100.0 efficiency grade also led the league. Along the offensive line, Darnell Wright was particularly elite, finishing third among offensive tackles with an 85.7 run-blocking grade and fourth with an 81.2 pass-blocking grade.
Defense
- Daniel Hardy: 68.8 (30th of 88 EDGEs)
- Jamree Kromah: 64.0 (41st of 88 EDGEs)
- Austin Booker: 55.8 (70th of 88 EDGEs)
- Shemar Turner: 52.4 (81st of 88 EDGEs)
- Grady Jarrett: 72.0 (33rd of 91 DTs)
- Neville Gallimore: 58.2 (72nd of 91 DTs)
- Kentavius Street: 53.9 (94th of 95 DTs)
- D’Marco Jackson: 84.8 (12th of 75 LBs)
- Devin Bush: 66.6 (74th of 75 LBs)
- Malik Muhammad: 78.7 (25th of 89 CBs)
- Kyler Gordon: 75.7 (42nd of 89 CBs)
- Tyrique Stevenson: 73.0 (54th of 89 CBs)
- Jaylon Johnson: 70.7 (62nd of 89 CBs)
- Dillon Thieneman: 74.1 (48th of 78 SAFs)
- Cam Lewis: 63.5 (77th of 78 SAFs)
As one could likely anticipate by Drake Maye’s stat line on Thursday, the Bears’ defense didn’t grade incredibly well in Week 7. D’Marco Jackson was the highest-grading defender of the bunch, having tallied six tackles and an interception and allowing a 52.8 passer rating when targeted in coverage. Malik Muhammad was the only other Bears starter who performed at an above-average starting level; both Tyrique Stevenson and Jaylon Johnson allowed passer ratings above 100.0 on Thursday, while Cam Lewis allowed a perfect 158.3 passer rating when targeted in coverage.
Special teams (for the sickos)
- Cairo Santos: 77.4 (10th of 22 Ks)
- Tory Taylor: 78.6 (12th of 29 Ps)
Even though he missed a field goal earlier in the game, Cairo Santos comes into the top ten after nailing a 58-yard field goal to give the Bears a two-score lead in the fourth quarter. On the punting end, Tory Taylor ranked eighth among 29 punters with a net punting average of 44.0 against the Patriots.
