Offense
- Caleb WIlliams had forever to throw early in the game. Nice effort from the offensive line in that respect.
- Pretty surprised to see the trick play in the first quarter. They were pretty deep in their own territory so it was a gutsy play. It could’ve been a disaster.
- Nice to see Luther Burden involved in the game plan.
- It was really nice to see Williams complete those deep passes. His poor accuracy deep has, of course, been the major criticism of him and his career so far.
- Having said that, Williams accuracy really suffered this game. He didn’t look relaxed despite the fact that he got very good protection. I guess it’s just another one of those games where you grow. You hope so.
- It was halfway through the third quarter before DJ Moore had a catch. I was glad to see they got hm more involved after that.
- I was kind of surprised that Kyle Manangai didn’t see the ball until laid in the first half. I thought he’d be more a part of the plan earlier.
- It got better in the third quarter but the run game wasn’t great today. I kind of wondered if Ben Johnson didn’t start handing it to the wide receivers just to jump start it. To their credit, they ran off a lot of time in the second half with it.
- Despite the fact that the run game wasn’t particularly good, it was nice to see the play action pass work so well for the Bears. That has to be the heart of the offense.
Defense
- The Bears got blown off the ball again in this game. Dallas looked like they could run the ball almost any time they wanted. Every once in a while they brought 9 guys up to the line to try to stop it but you can’t do that every time.
- As usual, the opposition attacked Tyrique Stevenson despite the absence of Jaylon Johnson on the other side. That’s some disrespect that he has unfortunately earned. Of the two, I personally have less confidence in Nahshon Wright. Wright looked lost in coverage at a couple critical moments during the game.
- Those quick touchdowns early in the first quarter didn’t give the defense much of a rest. The Cowboys also went to the no huddle early. It did kind of make me wonder if they weren’t planning on eventually trying to wear the Bears down. The defense felt all day like a rickety ship that might sink at any moment.
- I did think that the defense put out a high effort today. They were all rallying to the ball all game.
- The pass rush wasn’t good again today. They need an answer to this. All of the warts from last week were very evident.
- As color man Tom Brady pointed out, the Bears had some success, crowding the line and faking the blitz, and then dropping it into coverage. Quarterback Dak Prescott had a bad habit of simply dumping the ball off in the face of the simulated pressure.
Miscellaneous
- The Bears kickoff returns seem like they are always shorter than they should be. The first drive stated on the 15.
- Nice play by Tyrique Stevenson literally taking the ball away from the Dallas running back early in the first quarter. That must be a dream play for any defensive player.
- 6 penalties for 41 yards is better but I think. It’s still too many. They occurred at critical times and would have really hurt in a closer game. They still have work to do here.
- The Bears won the turnover battle 3-0 and, as is usually th case, it had a huge influence on the game. I would dare say that the Bears defense might not have held it together without them.
- With comments about poor practice habits during the week, I was genuinely worried that Ben Johnson might start to lose the locker room if they’d lost this game, especially if they played poorly.
That said, it was very good to see the Bears take advantage of Dallas on a day when they played really poorly, especially on defense. I certainly have nothing against Matt Eberflus, who I think is a class individual, but he must already be under some pressure there. There was a lot of poor play on the defense, especially in the back field. The Bears offensive line was superb protecting Caleb Williams.??
Williams made progress today but I’m sure there will be words during the week about ways that he can improve his accuracy as, to my eye, he missed too many throws.