The Chicago Bears have somehow managed to stay close in most of their games this season, and that rang true again in Week 9 against the Miami Dolphins. On paper, this game was a big mismatch, but the Bears managed to go toe-to-toe with Chicago throughout this game, and very nearly ended up walking away with a win.
For the Bears, this game was all about Justin Fields, who contributed all four of Chicago's touchdowns while racking up over 300 total yards on the day. Fields helped the Bears stay close with the Dolphins for much of the afternoon, but he couldn't do what was necessary to push his team over the hump, and they ultimately came up just short in this game.
The story of Chicago's season so far has been coming up just short, and as a result, their record on the season now sits at 3-6. With the Bears picking up their second straight loss, let's take a look at three players whose failure to contribute in this contest ended up playing a big role in Chicago's inability to come out on top.
3. Equanimeous St. Brown
Equanimeous St. Brown hasn't done much for the Bears offense this season, but he's often been utilized as a big play threat who can make game-changing plays. St. Brown didn't do anything of that sort in Week 9, and with Chase Claypool now onboard and ahead of him on the wide receiver pecking order, St. Brown's role may be set to decrease drastically.
St. Brown failed to haul in either of his two targets on the day, and turned one of those targets into a drop. That's not going to earn you a bigger role in the offense, and again, now that Claypool is teaming up with Darnell Mooney to lead the Bears wide receiver room, this disappearing act from St. Brown likely isn't going to help his case for more playing time.
St. Brown's failure to step up as a big playmaker to help out Fields hurt the Bears badly in this one. Claypool is still finding his way after being picked up just a week ago, and Mooney managed to turn in a solid day despite being shadowed by Xavien Howard for stretches of the game. The Bears have other options behind these two that they may turn to with St. Brown continuing to struggle here in Week 9.
2. Trevis Gipson
The Bears gutted their defense by trading away two of their top players in Roquan Smith and Robert Quinn ahead of the trade deadline. With those two gone, there's a need for pass rushers to step up and help replace their contribution, and one such player who needs to step up is Trevis Gipson. Gipson finished the 2021 season with seven sacks, and now has to step up on a weakened Bears front seven.
Gipson has just two sacks on the season, both of which he picked up in Week 2 against the Green Bay Packers, but other than that, he hasn't made a similar impact this season. The Bears failed to rack up a single sack on Tua Tagovailoa in Week 9, with Gipson picking up just two tackles and failing to even register a quarterback hit on the afternoon.
The Bears pass rush as a whole didn't produce, as they had just two total quarterback hits on the day, but Gipson is going to have to step up for his team now that Smith and Quinn are gone. He was unable to do so, and with Chicago's offense suddenly looking competent, they may regret trading away two of their best players if Gipson continues to struggle.
1. David Montgomery
David Montgomery has held onto the Bears lead running back role all season long, but it's beginning to become difficult to justify giving him carries over Fields and Khalil Herbert. Montgomery labored through another uninspiring performance against the Dolphins, which was particularly disappointing considering how much damage Fields ended up doing on the day.
Montgomery turned his 14 carries into just 36 yards while hauling in one pass for eight yards. It wasn't as if Herbert did much better (23 yards on seven carries) but on the season as a whole, Herbert has been way more effective than Montgomery. Herbert's six yards per carry on the season is nearly double Montgomery's paltry 3.7 yards per carry.
It's hard to imagine that Herbert wouldn't have been able to do more with 14 carries had the roles been reversed. The Bears are limiting their offense by continuing to keep Montgomery involved when everyone can see that Herbert is clearly the more effective back. Until they make this simple change, the Bears offense will fail to reach their true potential.
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