The Chicago Bears may be the most confusing team in the NFL, and Sunday's 31-23 win over the Atlanta Falcons was a perfect example of that. The first quarter against the Falcons looked like Chicago’s Week 1 game against the Carolina Panthers. Then, they never had the same explosiveness.
Running back Roschon Johnson’s fumble was really irritating, given the Bears were up by 16 points at that point in the game and Atlanta would ultimately score a touchdown with the two-point conversion and make it a one-possession game when Chicago had been leading by 24 points in the fourth quarter.
Chicago’s defense can had a good showing for most of the game with three turnovers; the third helped the Bears secure the victory. All of their turnovers were fumble
recoveries by three different players - Nick McCloud, Josh Blackwell and Devin Bush. The recoveries by McCloud and Blackwell were on special teams, which had a really good performance in this game.
Here are some studs and duds from Chicago’s fourth win of the season including the return of two key starters who played key roles in the victory.
Stud: CB Kyler Gordon
In addition to this game being Caleb Williams’ comeback from his injury, it was also Kyler Gordon’s season debut after having to spend the start of the season on injured reserve. Gordon was also banged up last season, so this was defensive coordinator Dennis Allen’s first true opportunity to use Gordon in his defense. This may be the best game Gordon has ever played in his life, with three sacks, becoming the first Bears defensive back since 1983 to have at least three sacks, and two forced fumbles. It will be interesting to see how Chicago’s pass rush and defense evolve now that Gordon is back in the lineup.
Dud: WR Jahdae Walker
Especially after last week’s headbutting incident, why did Jahdae Walker headbutt a Falcons player? There was no reason for that and based on the precedent set by San Francisco’s headbutter getting a one-game suspension, it would not be surprising if Walker got suspended for this for Thursday’s game against the New England Patriots. Just a stupid and unnecessary thing to do. As an added bonus, Walker is also the one who had the roughing the punter penalty.
Stud: QB Caleb Williams
It felt good to get quarterback Caleb Williams back in the lineup. He was on fire the entire game with over 300 passing yards, no turnovers and only six incompletions on 36 attempts. This was his first game in his NFL career with over 80 percent completion percentage (83.3%). Just having Williams on the field brought a confidence to this team they did not have with Case Keenum or Tyson Bagent in the game. Chicago can beat anyone with Caleb Williams at quarterback.
Dud: CB Jaylon Johnson
Jaylon Johnson simply is not having a good year. He had some blown coverages in this game, but Falcons quarterback Michael Penix Jr. also overthrew some passes in Johnson’s direction. At this point, it has been six games and Johnson continues to underperform. He is probably going to be a liability for Chicago’s defense throughout this season, along with the entire secondary.
Stud: Special Teams
The entire special teams unit (except Jahdae Walker) were studs. Atlanta coughed up the ball numerous times and this special teams unit got two fumble recoveries. Kicker Cairo Santos also had a 50 yard field goal; his miss on the 56 yard field goal is not surprising. Punter Tory Taylor also had himself a good day with five punts for an average of 44.8 yards, with his longest punt being 50 yards and three of them inside the 20-yard line. Hats off to Richard Hightower for how the special teams are performing this season.
Dud: RB Roschon Johnson
Roschon Johnson actually was not horrible in the run game, with 3.9 yards per carry and a touchdown. His slide at the end of the game, instead of scoring his second touchdown, was also smart. However, the fumble was bad. Especially with D’Andre Swift’s fumbling issues, there has been an emphasis on ball security and he still fumbled the ball at perhaps the worst possible time for the Bears. Hopefully Kyle Monangai will come back next week since ball security is his specialty.
Stud: LB Devin Bush
Devin Bush recovered the fumble late in the fourth quarter to help secure the game for Chicago. He also finished the game as the Bears’ leading tackler with seven total tackles, including four solo tackles. Watching the game, it also felt like Bush was everywhere and constantly causing disruption in the backfield. He may be Chicago’s best free agent pickup this offseason.
Stud: DE Daniel Hardy
Daniel Hardy was one of the players who got more reps because of Montez Sweat and Dayo Odeyingbo not being in this game. He finished the game with three total tackles, including a sack. Hardy also defended a pass and had two quarterback hits. Chicago’s defense needs to play a full 60 minutes as they seemed to take their foot off the gas in the fourth quarter, but Hardy had a good game throughout.
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This article originally appeared on Bears Wire: Studs and duds from the Bears' 31-23 win over the Falcons
