Halloween may still be 12 days away, but with the exception of two New Orleans Saints drives in the middle eight of the contest, the monsters were out in full force at Soldier Field on Sunday afternoon, serving as the catalysts of the Chicago Bears‘ 26-14 win.
For the fourth consecutive game, the Bears defense forced at least three turnovers. It’s not a coincidence that Chicago has now won four straight games, and despite being one of a handful of teams who have already had their bye week, the Bears defense now leads the NFL in forced turnovers.
There was a point late in the 1st half where the shape of this column looked a much different than it does now. Even after leaving points on the board and shooting themselves in the foot on numerous occasions in the first 28 minutes of play, the Bears still led 20-0 and still had as many scoring possessions as the Saints did yards.
But then, as mentioned above, New Orleans dominated the middle eight, and suddenly a stunned and unexpectedly tense Chicago crowd watched as the Bears got the ball back having seen a 20-point lead dwindle to just six, wondering whether the same old Bears were going to find a way to blow another winnable game.
Fortunately, it wasn’t the same old Bears who mounted a response… it was just the old Bears, as in the Bears who could win games by forcing turnovers, dominating the line of scrimmage, and running the ball effectively to close things out. Following this tried and true formula that earned Chicago the Monsters of the Midway nickname way back in the day, the Bears regained momentum thanks to those aforementioned four forced turnovers, and an inspired effort by the D’Andre Swift and Kyle Monangai one-two punch that rushed for 205 yards on the day.
For Swift, it’s the second consecutive game in which he’s rushed for at least 100 yards and scored a touchdown. For Monangai, a career-high 81 yards and the first touchdown of his career solidified much of the preseason hype that suggested he could carve out a role for himself right away upon his arrival in Chicago.
Dennis Allen’s Chicago Bears Defense Continues to Wreak Havoc
After giving up 52 points to the Detroit Lions in a Week 2 loss, it seemed as though there were legitimate concerns about the Bears defense. But after this four game winning streak, those concerns don’t seem quite as, well, concerning anymore. Sure, it was problematic that over the course of two drives, Spencer Rattler and the Saints offense accumulated 171 yards and 14 points over just 15 plays. But the rest of the way, New Orleans’ offense only mustered 82 yards.
Spencer Rattler was picked off three times and Montez Sweat, finally making an impact, got a strip sack early that was recovered by Gervon Dexter, setting the Jake Moody up for his first field goal of the game. Kyler Gordon, Tremaine Edmunds and Jaquan Brisker all got involved in the festivities in the Saints backfield as well, giving Chicago a pass rushing presence they’ve lacked for much of the season.
Penalties Continue to Plague Bears Offense
There was a lot to like from the Bears offense in this performance — in particular, the way the run game is coming along, and the fact that Caleb Williams was sacked just one time all game. But if you’re anything like me, the penalties that the Bears are racking up over the first six weeks of the season have been driving you up the wall.
It was a problem again during Sunday’s win, as the Bears, who were averaging about 9 penalties per game heading into Week 7, were penalized 10 times for 92 yards, and it wasn’t just the pre-snap variety that were the issue for the Bears. Before New Orleans’ quick strike scoring drive late in the 2nd quarter, three of their four first downs came as a result of Bears penalties.
In the end, a win is a win, and a game as sloppy as this one may be a necessary wake-up call for a Bears team that is right in the thick of the NFC playoff picture. Remember though, the Bears were 4-2 last year as well, and we all know how that turned out.
With that said, things just feel different this time around, even if in many ways, this felt like a typical Chicago Bears game.
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