The lose was expected, the result was domination from the LA Rams but if watched closely it wasn't all that bad or at least you can get some good stuff out of this game for the Bears to build on.
Offensively they looked like they played to what the defense gave them and respected the talent of Aaron Donald which is not a bad idea. Astoundingly the offense moved the ball and ate a lot of clock managing to stay on the field for much of the game with short quick passes and solid running from David Montgomery keeping the defense fresh, the defenses of past year would have loved this situation. The Oline played fairly well against a powerful front four, it got help from the quick passes Andy Dalton was making and its still a wait and see if they can handle other Dlines for extra seconds to let deeper routes develop and try longer passes. The Rams didn't wanted to get beat deep and dropped three a lot in the game, with Dalton's iffy arm it wasn't a surprise he didn't want to risk it. The one time I saw Dalton trying a deep pass was at the 3rd qtr where Darnell Mooney was on his way to get open inside the 10 yard line but Dalton got sacked by Donald before he could even try the pass because Cody Whitehair played him 1 on 1 and lost miserably, the one time the Bears should have double teamed Donald to get extra time like they were doing almost on every other pass play, they decide to let Whitehair block the best DT in the NFL on his own. The real tone setter was the interception that Dalton threw in the end zone to end the Bears first drive, Dalton managed this game like a pro but that one was an awful pass. If that play where to end in a touchdown, I believe Matt Nagy would have thought twice to go on fourth downs in the first half of the game. These risks made me think of two things, Nagy was following his "more TDs less FGs" mentality or he trusted his defense as much as many Bears fans do which is close to nil, the game was in reach until the start of the 4th quarter where both offense and defense just flat out had no more in the tank, so maybe it wasn't the best of plans to get so risky so early in the game, adding that this decision making may tick the defense the wrong way.
Upside players: Marquise Goodwin as WR3. James Daniels was the best lineman out there Sunday and Jason Peters showed he still got it just needs to gel although the injury wont help. Larry Borom in a very limited role backing up Peters showed LT wasn't to big for him. Montgomery may look faster but he is running meaner.
Downside players: Whitehair had a tough task but needs to start push people over. Sam Mustipher had an average day but hope he gets better looking like the weakest link in the OL. The WRs blocking is sad to watch, if they don't get better Nagy should just throw away all the bubble screen plays or start using TEs.
Don't get beat deep has been the way to play defense at Chicago for many years now, don't give up the big play, wear them down and close the gap near the red zone to force no more than a FG. Sean Desai and his defense failed to do this against the Rams, allowing 2 big plays to go for TDs, one because the safety's forgot it wasn't practice anymore and the second is because Marqui Christian isn't a nickel corner and the Bears need one. As I said, the defense even with their blunders, had the Rams offense in control for the majority of the first half, then started struggling in the third qtr to then lose it completely in the fourth. Sean McVay had a plan and Mathew Stafford executed it almost perfectly. it wasn't an easy game for the Bears defense, they needed to play better especially at the edges, since before the game everybody knew that the secondary had problems and one way to mitigate this deficit was with pressure from the front seven but they didn't show up as much as needed. I have to admit that I had one thing very wrong, I was underrating Akiem Hicks believing that Bilail Nichols could be his replacement, Nichols is a good player but he cant do what Hicks does, Hicks was the only one taking double teams and still getting across to the QB just a split second to late to make the sack. Khalil Mack is not showing to be one of the best rushers in the NFL, he isn't looking elite when trying to bend to beat the T, he barely forces the QB to step inside but not enough to help the DTs get their hands on him, if he has lost his step then this front seven is screwed because Quinn isn't showing to be that guy either, he looks more like a cleaner than a disrupt, he showed more power today but declined as the game continued. The topic of Eddie Jackson not tackling is a bit silly just because Jackson never was known for being a sure tackler, he is a ballhawk and Desai needs to work on putting him where he can make damage, he needs to know his players better and play them to their traits, if not then this defense will fail and the Bears likely will lose more games than everyone thought, it will not matter who is at QB as shown by the LA Chargers last year.
Upside players: Hicks still plays with the same demeanor and passion, hope he can keep it up the entire season.
Downside: Christian was exposed, he isn't the nickel the team needs especially his safety's. Mack is not blowing up Tackles in single coverage, he might be in the decline. Alec Ogletree got pushed around and didn't look good stopping the run.
I want Justin Fields to play as much as the next hardcore Bears fan but I don't want him rushed resulting in an injury. Its not that I trust what Nagy is doing but I get what he says he wants, when he decides to play Fields I will be evaluating every detail from how is the team is doing to against who they are playing to come to my conclusion if he really did everything for the sake of Fields success or if it was all bull. The learning curve exists for young QBs, they can have all the tools and can make big plays, but the quick decision making is vital at this stage, everything is speed and deception. One guy that is super talented but is not there yet is the Bears next opponent in Joe Burrow, he is the whole package but still needs to learn to see the field faster, he got hit plenty by the Minnesota defense because he didn't get rid of the ball in time which he had enough of and has a trio of WRs that would be the envy of many NFL teams, if the Bears fail to create pressure once again they might regret it worse than with the Rams. Bengals defense didn't show dominance against a run heavy Viking offense and had a bunch of help in the form of a dozen penalties by the Viking OLine getting themselves in steep holes on 3rd and long situations and even so they came back to force overtime, this might be the chance the Bears have to win this one with their offense playing clean football as they did against the Rams.
There is no better way to learn to QB but by playing the game I get that, there are only two thing I believe make sense for Fields to be on the bench right now, one is to give the OL time to adjust and try to better the protection and the other is to find what plays Fields is confortable with and work from there, how much time this last one takes to happen its on the coaches as much as its on Fields, if Nagy takes too long to put him in the field to get the much needed experience he needs by worrying in the what ifs and buts of the state of the rest of the team, that's on Nagy and Pace for building and preparing this team to was it is and will be.
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