CHICAGO (AP) The Chicago Bears came into the season determined to
show they’re more like the team that won the NFC North in 2018 than
the one that missed the playoffs a year ago.
A narrow escape last week wasn’t exactly a strong opening
statement. Maybe now, they’ll start making a convincing case.
The Bears aim to win back-to-back games to start a season for the
first time in seven years and deny the Giants their first victory
under new coach Joe Judge when New York visits Soldier Field on
Sunday.
Chicago rallied from 17 points down behind three fourth-quarter
touchdown throws by Mitchell Trubisky and hung on for a 27-23
victory at Detroit last week. The Giants lost 26-16 to Pittsburgh
on Monday night.
”To battle back the way we did says a lot about this team and this
offense and what we’re capable of,” Trubisky said.
Coming off an 8-8 year, the Bears looked for three quarters like
they were headed toward a loss. But they came out on top in a
season opener for the first time since a 3-0 start in 2013.
The Giants, with 12 wins since the 2016 playoff season, also have
much room to improve. Saquon Barkley got swarmed by the Steelers
and was held to 6 yards on 15 carries in one of his worst games
since he was drafted with the No. 2 overall pick in 2018. He’ll try
to get going against a top 10 defense that got picked apart at
times last week.
”We’ve got to do some things to help Saquon throughout the game,”
Judge said. ”He’s a key part of our team, he’s an integral part of
our offense. We’re going to keep feeding him the ball and he’s
going to make some plays for us.”
UNDER CENTER
A shotgun quarterback since he was in middle school, Trubisky might
have a new home under center. He took about half his snaps there in
the opener. And it looks like more of that is coming.
”You want to be able to keep things off-balance, and we still have
a lot of stuff from the gun,” coach Matt Nagy said. ”But as we’re
trying to create this identity of who we are you can probably feel
there’s a little bit more of that for sure this year.”
The change stems from the Bears’ self-scouting in the wake of last
season. They decided the offense would work better and keep
defenses guessing more with the quarterback taking fewer shotgun
snaps.
Trubisky felt the line blocked better when he was under center,
that play-action functioned more smoothly, and the passing game
benefited as a result.
”If you’re just going gun every time, I think it makes it hard on
the O-line, they’re going to pin their ears back and get a lot of
tough rushing,” he said. ”And if you go under center, it really
slows the rush down because they have to respect more of the run
factor.”
RUN GAME
The Giants’ didn’t have a running game against the Steelers.
Not only was Barkley shut down, he had eight rushes for negative
yards. His longest run was 7 yards. New York finished the game with
20 carries for 29 yards, largely because quarterback Daniel Jones
had four runs for 22 yards.
Much of the pressure is on the revamped O-line.
While guards Will Hernandez and Kevin Zeitler returned, there are
three new starters, Andrew Thomas, the No. 4 overall draft pick, is
at left tackle. Nick Gates has been converted to a center and
veteran Cam Fleming is at right tackle. Look for improvement – or
some changes up front.
THIRD RATE
When it came to third-down conversions last week, the Bears were
third rate. No surprise, extending drives was a big point of
discussion this week.
The Bears were 2 of 11 on third downs in the opener, failed on all
six in the first half and missed their first seven in all. They
finally broke through late in the third quarter, when Anthony
Miller caught an 18-yarder to keep a touchdown drive going.
At 18%, Chicago tied San Francisco for the worst rate in the NFL.
THE OTHER CORNERBACK
The Giants signed a solid cornerback, getting James Bradberry from
the Panthers in free agency.
They are still looking for somebody to play the other side. DeAndre
Baker was supposed to start, but he was released because of an
offseason arrest. Second-year pro Corey Ballentine got the start
against the Steelers, and Ben Roethlisberger went after him.
Ballentine, who was good in run support, probably will be in the
starting lineup again. Don’t be surprised if either Isaac Yiadom or
Darnay Holmes gets a little more playing time.
GETTING DEFENSIVE
The Bears’ defense ranked among the NFL’s best in recent years. It
was hard to tell at times in the opener.
The Monsters of the Midway gave up 426 yards and sacked Matthew
Stafford just one time. They also came up with one turnover, though
it was a big one: Kyle Fuller’s interception to set up the go-ahead
touchdown.
***Story courtesy of Metro Source Networks***
