Offense

• The Bears gave an indication of what the plan was when they started the game with 5 straight passes before running the ball. The first drive was 7 passes total to only one run. Obviously, they thought they could attack the Dolphins defensive backfield despite the 15 mph wind.
• The Dolphins were playing a lot of press coverage at the line of scrimmage. Surprisingly it didn’t really work as well as I would have anticipated. The Bears passed for 116 yards on 17 attempts. Not great. But not completely shut down and they did have their moments. The man coverage also left the defensive backs with their backs turned to the line of scrimmage. Which left Justin Fields open to run the ball. More on that below.
• Chase Claypool immediately showed some of his value as he drew a 28 yard pass interference penalty on the first possession. Claypool also got s first down with a nifty move in space in the first quarter. Claypool had 2 catches for 13 yards which doesn’t sound like much but it was his first game with a new team and with minimal time to prepare. And notably he should have drawn another pass interference call at the end of the game to keep the Bears final drive alive. Most of the time that’s called and should be added to his credit.
• There seemed to be a conscious effort to get Cole Kmet more involved in the game. The first pass of the game went to him. He also had a jet sweep and a quarterback sneak in the first quarter. Scored a touchdown on the same drive early in the second quarter. Kmet ran for 9 yards o two rushes in addition to having 5 catches for 41 yards and 2 touchdowns.
• The Dolphins had a spy on Fields but that didn’t stop him from doing damage with his legs. The Dolphins had every bit as much trouble stopping Fields on those designed runs as the Patriots did. In fact, more. Fields set a new single game NFL record for a quarterback when he rushed for 178 yards, a remarkable feat, making him the Bears greatest offensive weapon by a long way. The Bears rushed for a total of 252 yards.
• One of the things I was glad to see was the outstanding run fake on the Fields roll out and pass to come back for a touchdown early in the second quarter. It wasn’t the only one today. One of the complaints that I’ve had about bears quarterbacks for a long time is that they do not carry out those run fakes as well as they should. Fields did a good job there.
• Another thing that made me happy was and Fields completed a pass to David Montgomery on a route out of the backfield. I feel that the Bears do not send Montgomery out enough for passes on routes past the line of scrimmage either out of the backfield or lined up as a receiver and I think that they should take better advantage of his talents in that direction.
• Heck of a throw and heck of a catch by Darnell Mooney just after the two-minute warning near the end of the half. Nicely done.
• Fields was only sacked twice today. That was largely due to his mobility, but the offensive line deserves some praise as well.
• Fields final passer rating was 106.7. Another solid effort I would say and much improved over the first four games or so of the season.
• As a measure of the Bears effectiveness on offense, the Bears were 10 of 16 on third down and 1 of 2 on fourth down.

Defense

• The Bears seemed to be determined to keep the Dolphins from running the ball. It’s obvious that they concentrated on their run defense last week as it’s been suffering from ill-discipline. Dolphins ran 477 yards on 23 attempts for only 3.3 yards per rush.
• The problem is that the Dolphins had no intention of leaning on the run. They passed the ball 30 times for 302 yards. They concentrated upon attacking the Bears rookie Jaquon Brisker and the outside corner opposite Jaylon Johnson. That was Kindle Vildor, then Jaylon Jones after Vildor left with an injury. Everybody’s going to be attacking whoever is opposite Johnson for the rest of the season. Far as I can tell they should have every expectation of success doing so. Kyler Gordon was left with the unenviable task of covering Tyreek Hill in the slot. That was a mist match as well.
• Tua Tagovailoa did a great job of alternating throwing balls to his wide receivers all game. Jaylen Waddle and Tyreek Hill did an outstanding job. The Bears played mostly zone defense and the Dolphins tore it apart. Tagovailoa got the ball out fast and he saw almost no pressure. His first incompletion came with one minute left in the first half. Tagovailoa was 21 for 30 tabs for 302 yards with three touchdowns and no interceptions. Passer rating was an outstanding 135.7. These guys are tough to stop.
• I think that Nicholas Morrow decided that he was the Bears player we needed to step up after Roquan Smith was traded. He was all over the field today and made some nice plays. Good for him. Angelo Blackson’s effort was notable as well
• As I implied above the Bears were in a tough spot here. They struggled to get pressure with their front four and couldn’t blitz with Hill and Waddle on the field. Tagovailoa saw very little pressure in the first half and saw only a bit more in the second as the Bears evidently made some adjustments.
• Tagovailoa doesn’t have a reputation for having a very strong arm. But the high winds didn’t affect his passes too much. He likes to go over the middle like many quarterbacks and their NFL offenses do. He doesn’t have the arm strength to throw the ball to the outside nearly as well. But if arm strength is an issue, he wasn’t affected too much today by the weather elements. That’s a good sign for him.
• The Beas held the Dolphins to 5 of 10 on third down and held on two crucial fourth downs in the fourth quarter to keep the Bears in it.
• Jack Sanborn was in for the traded Roquan Smith today had a solid day with 7 tackles, all solo, though none were for a loss.

Miscellaneous

• Your announcers were Kevin Harlan (play-by-play), Trent Green (analyst), and Melanie Collins (sideline). It’s always a pleasure to hear Harlan and, considered with the proper perspective, there’s a lot to like about Green. Green isn’t Tony Romo or Cris Collinsworth. But for what he is, he does a pretty good job. I think he expressed all our fears when he talked about the possibility that Justin Fields, though young, might wear down quickly in the same way that Cam Newton did due to the punishment that his body is taking because he’s running all the time. We certainly hope that that is simply temporary, and that Fields will become a better pocket passer over time. But for right now I think we all realize that it’s a problem. Green provided many other insights over the course of the game which I found to be helpful.
• Velus Jones was a healthy scratch. Khalil Herbert was returning kicks. I’d love to tell you who was returning punts but the Dolphins never did it.
• Herbert completely whiffed on his block on Jalen Phillips on a blocked a Bears punt in the second quarter which was turned into a touchdown by Andrew Van Ginkle. It’s possible that blocks like that are the reason why Herbert has trouble getting on the field over Montgomery despite superior running stats.
• Turnovers
• Saw two pretty good quarterbacks today. Tagovailoa is rapidly being recognized as one of the best quarterbacks in the league this year. Fields has really been coming along and is taking full advantage of his legs while he learns to better handle the passing game.If you ask me which one I would choose there was a time when I would’ve said Tagovailoa. But I don’t think so anymore. Tagovailoa was only successful once Miami surrounded him with superior talent. When he didn’t have that, we saw what he was. And it wasn’t great.Fields on the other hand is doing it with a leaky offensive line and less than stellar talent at wide receiver. He’s carrying the team on his own. In the end, my bet is that he turns out to be the superior quarterback. Let’s just hope that he learns to better pass from the pocket sooner rather than later. Otherwise, his career may be cut too short by wear and tear on his body.
• Well give the Bears credit. That was quite an effort despite the fact that they allowed Miami to score 35 points. Defensively the Bears came up with some big stops in the fourth quarter and, let’s be frank, it took a really poor call non-call by the officials on an obvious pass interference on Chase Claypool to allow Miami to seal the victory.

  Having said that, it isn’t like Miami didn’t deserve to win. They marched up and down the field with superior talent on a superior offense and they ripped the Bears defense to shreds with the passing game today for 3 quarters. So all credit to them.

  On the even brighter side, however, it looks like the Bears may actually have a quarterback. I’m allowing myself to hope so anyway. And as he grows, so the offense seems to grow with him. That is perhaps the best news of the day. Because let’s be honest. We all know that this season was never going to be about winning a lot of football games anyway.

Mike Jones at The Athletic says that the Bears were both winners and losers at the NFL trade deadline.

“Chicago Bears: The Bears have an eye on the offseason already and parted with a disgruntled Smith and 32-year-old Robert Quinn while getting a second-, fourth- and fifth-rounder in return.”

and

“Chicago Bears: Was this week a total win for the Bears? Clearly, they aren’t in full rebuild mode as they bring in [Chase] Claypool — a bit of a confusing move. Yes, it gives Justin Fields an upgraded No. 1 target. But … people around the league believe they overpaid for a receiver who’s not elite, and who wants to be paid. To justify this move, the Bears will have to open up the checkbook this offseason.”

I have to disagree with Jones here. I wasn’t a bit confused by the move for Claypool and I don’t think that there’s a conflict in the message that it sounds.

The Bears were building for the future with those moves. Quite simply, they saw a real Roquan Smith as a player at a less valuable position. Despite having a great deal of cap space next year, the Bears still have to pick and choose where they are going to sink their resources. In that respect, off the ball linebackers don’t make the grade unless they are Brian Urlacher types. Smith is a good player but no one in Baltimore is going to be reminded of Ray Lewis. who was not going to be here in 2024 when the Bears will [cough might cough] be good again.

On the other hand, they saw Claypool as a young piece around whom they believed that they could build at a valuable position. They plan on Claypool being here in 2024. That made him more valuable than Smith to them in their particular situation.

Adam Jahns, also at The Athletic agrees that the Bears were focusing on the future when they traded for Claypool.

Poles acknowledged that the receivers who likely will be available in free agency next year factored into the Bears’ decision-making. Too many potential free agents have already re-signed with their original teams. And, regardless of the Bears’ cap room, Poles has shown that he’s not going to pay close-to-elite money for players who aren’t close to elite.

“You have to do a little bit of forecasting and looking down the road,” Poles said. “I just didn’t feel completely comfortable with that. Not to say that there’s not good players there. I just didn’t feel comfortable with not (being) maybe a little bit more aggressive at this point.”

“The same applies to the draft. Poles isn’t going to reveal in November how the Bears feel about receivers in the 2023 class, but Dane Brugler, The Athletic’s draft analyst, has a good idea of what the 2023 class has in terms of high-end talent and depth.

p style=”margin-left: 36pt”>“We have had five-plus receivers drafted in the first round each of the last three years, but that streak likely ends this year,” Brugler told me. “And we don’t have a wide receiver prospect in this class who is a no-doubt, top-10 pick. But there are still quality receiving prospects in this class.”

Agreed.

This was also the larger context of Jone’s article. And this is the reason why The Bears were winners with both trades until we see how Claypool works out, that is. There was no conflict.

As Jones says, the Bears did overpay for Claypool. There’s no doubt about that and the Steelers were perhaps the biggest winners here. They were fortunate to have a decent, physically gifted young player with upside that they could part with in a year where there was limited high end wide receiver depth in both the draft and free agency.

Its no coincidence that the Packers were the Bears major competition for Claypool and drove up the price. Both teams need wide receiver help is a major way and had no other way to get it.

The Packers have always values the kind of size that Claypool brings and don’t mind receivers that tend to drop the ball as much as most teams because they can make big plays to overcome it when it happens. Bears offense coordinator Luke Getsy brings that philosophy to the Bears.

It added up to a hefty price for Claypool, a player who probably won’t be a clear number 1, at least right away, but who is still better than anyone either team has on hand now. The Steelers cashed in.

But I can’t blame the Bears. They needed Claypool or a player like hm and there was just no other way to get him. Because of that, I congratulate Poles on the move and don’t consider him to be a loser in this deal.