Coming as a surprise to no one with how their season has transpired so far, the Chicago Bears are a mess with essentially a lame-duck coach. Sunday’s last-second minute loss at home to a short-handed Baltimore Ravens team is just another notch in the post of how poorly this team has performed this year, thanks to Matt Nagy.
For the Bears, they were playing at home and had the luxury of going against a Ravens team that was without QB Lamar Jackson and WR Hollywood Brown, both of whom were ruled out with injuries. For Chicago, they should have been able to take advantage of the Ravens and were given plenty of opportunities to do so.
Week 11 Takeaways for the Bears
For everyone’s sake – there’s no need for a QB competition
This game was ugly on both sides of the ball, as both offenses mightily struggled to move the ball and put up points. Unfortunately for the Bears, they lost rookie QB Justin Fields in the third quarter to a rib injury, opening the door up yet again for Andy Dalton.
In relief, Dalton performed admirably, throwing for over 200 yards and 2 TDs in less than a half of football – but it still was not enough to win.
Dalton has performed up to expectations so far this season, and he was brought in to act as an expensive bridge to Fields. While that transition has happened and Fields has taken off as the leader of the offense, it is Dalton who continues to be the thorn in the side of the Ohio State QBs development, especially when he produces well in limited opportunities.
The ship has sailed on Nagy being able to rectify any sort of control in CHI’s locker room, and putting Dalton back into the lineup as a starter (provided Fields is cleared to return) would only do more harm. Experiencing growing pains is exactly what helps build a team back to becoming successful, and Fields has rolled with the punches, exactly the type of leadership this team needs – something Dalton should not be in a position to offer the rest of the season.
Mooney’s role in this offense must look like it did on Sunday
Yes, an increased target share for Darnell Mooney was in the cards due to Allen Robinson not suiting up, but having Mooney receive almost 60% of all wide receiver targets on Sunday is certainly a revelation.
Mooney is a field-splitting option that pairs well with Robinson and his underneath abilities, but the Tulane product's speed was on full display Sunday. Having only caught five passes is hard to fathom considering his target share, but Mooney turned that work into 121 yards and a score, including a long of 60 yards.
Robinson likely will not be in this team’s plans next year, paving the way for Mooney to ascend to the WR1 role with Fields.
Gone are the days of a consistently-strong Bears defense
On paper, the Bears still do boast an above-average defensive unit, but they have some glaring holes that need to be fixed.
Their secondary is minus any sort of big names, as they questionably moved on from CB Kyle Fuller this offseason in a cost-saving move, and have relied on rookie Jaylon Johnson and others to hold down opponents’ receiving cores. They just had to put Khalil Mack on the IR to end his season, but the pass rush has remained stout, tied for the most sacks in the league.
But holes remain, and the best way to help out a rookie QB is to have a good defense – and while there have been moments of that happening, shortcomings still exist that will need to be addressed for next season.
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