'Bear'ly Good?
In this weird 2020 season the Chicago Bears are 3-0 and now have made the QB switch from Mitch Trubisky to Nick Foles. They're one of the seven teams without a loss but have only one by 12 points against teams that are 1-8. But what does it mean?
As a fan it was the perfect year to run through the 'Mitch Trubisky won the QB competition.' with the lack of attendance and coverage for teams' camps, but it seemed inevitable Foles was going to take the job. Reading between the lines it was obvious Matt Nagy wasn't happy with the QB play or how the offense was running under the former number two pick.
Close games against bad teams would suggest the Bears are, at best, a slightly above average team beating up on bad teams. That may prove to be the case at the end of the season but there have been glimpses, that as a fan, give you hope they can be more consistent and be a good team. The fourth quarter against the Lions they came back from 23-6 to win 27-23; Chicago was up 17-0 at half over the Giants but only won 17-13; and Foles came back from 26-10 in the fourth to win 30-26. In four total quarters through three games Chicago has outscored the other teams 58-0, 41-0 in two fourth quarters.
In a league where Dak Prescott is getting criticized for meaningless stats that haven't added up to wins, getting the W means the stats are worthless right? It's not a fluke to have shut outs in two fourth quarters and a first half and have outscored teams 58-0 in four quarters means there's potential for a dominant team that should make the playoffs.
Teams that start 3-0 have made the playoffs almost 74% of the time since 1990 and now there's another wild card team. Chicago has beaten three of the worst teams in the NFL and left on the schedule are Colts, Bucs, @Panthers, @Rams, Saints, @Titans, Vikings, @Packers, Lions, Texans, @Vikings, @Jaguars, Packers. Panthers, Vikings, Lions, Jaguars seem pretty winnable and that's seven wins. Can they pull off two more to get to 9-7? Colts, Vikings, maybe a resting Packers team at the end, though the one bye this week puts more emphasis on winning as many as you can.
The offense changed and the team played with more energy when Foles came in, and evident by the play. Trubisky made some egregious mistakes and it was obvious the offense works the way Nagy wants it with Foles. This offensive system is where he has made hay, but the obvious is he has never held down a starting job. Can he mercenary for three fourths of a season?
What are the Chicago Bears? As a Windy City fan the answer is probably good enough to break your heart. The spurts are there for a playoff team and after watching last season we all knew the QB position needed to improve. It has, but by how much? Will they even find the consistency to stretch out half a game in to a more complete game week in and week out? We're going to find out real quick with the schedule picking up. That's also with the obvious loss of Eddie Goldman against the run and now without Tarik Cohen.