Snap counts, stats and more: Chicago Bears’ Jekyll and Hyde defense is bad again

All statistics and snap counts are taken directly from the NFL's Game Statistic and Information System.

One week ago, the Chicago Bears’ defense held down a very explosive Detroit Lions’ offense, keeping them out of the end-zone and limiting them to only 263 total yards. Chicago won 17-14 and Bears’ fans finally had a reason to cheer.

Then yesterday, in a game that many thought the Bears could win, they went out and allowed the Indianapolis Colts 396 yards of total offense in a 29-23 loss. Chicago’s D did a good job on 3rd downs, holding Indy to 3 of 12 (while converting 2 of 9 themselves), but they gave up eight plays of 20+ yards of longer, with 6 of which coming on 1st or 2nd down.

Vic Fangio’s defense allowed Andrew Luck to complete 28 of 39 passes for 322 yards, and 2 TDs, for a 113.4 rating, but they sacked him 5 times. The problem was that besides those 5 sacks, Luck had a relatively clean pocket most of the afternoon. Chicago only had 2 more QB hits on top of those 5 sacks.

Injuries are still affecting what the Bears can do defensively, but overall they are 13th in the NFL, allowing 346 yards per game. But we have seen flashes of their D playing good football. Yeah, their record is 1-4, so that’s what they are, but in week one they allowed 344 yards to the Texans, then in week 2 they held the Eagles to 280, but in week three it was 447 to Dallas. Week four against the Lions was back down and 263 yards against, and yesterday the roller coaster was back up with the 396. If things stay like this, we can expect them to hold the Jaguars’ O to about 270 yards next week.

Chicago’s offense has been steadily getting better each week. In Houston they racked up 258 yards, followed by 284, 390, 408 and last week in Indianapolis it was 522 yards.

So should we expect Dowell Loggain’s offense to pop off about 600 yards against the Jags?

Back to the Colts game...

Penalties hurt both teams, but the Bears were really snake-bit with the timing of their flags. The Bears were hit with 10 for 80 yards while Indy had 9 for 68. The Bears narrowly won the time of possession battle, 30:05 to 29:55.

Now on to the snap counts and individual stats

All snap counts will be in the ‘Player - total offensive/defensive snaps (percentage) - total special teams snaps (percentage)’ format.

Quarterback

B Hoyer - 66 (100%)

Brian Hoyer continues putting up great numbers, and I would not be surprised to see head coach John Fox stick with him once Jay Cutler is healthy. If Fox does this, then Cutler will be gone after the season and GM Ryan Pace will draft his QB and keep Hoyer around as the bridge guy to get to the youngster.

Hoyer went 33 of 43 for 397 yards, 2 TDs and a 120.0 passer rating. Nut more importantly, no interceptions for a 3rd straight game. Did he leave some scoring chances on the field? Probably, but at this point he’s playing very good football.

Offensive Line

J Sitton LG - 66 (100%) - 7 (21%)

C Leno LT 66 (100%) - 7 (21%)

B Massie RT - 66 (100%) - 7 (21%)

K Long RG - 66 (100%) - 7 (21%)

C Whitehair C - 66 (100%)

Chicago’s offensive line is starting to look like a strength of this team. Playing three bad front sevens in a row helps that, but you can only play who’s on your schedule.

The Colts didn’t get any sacks, and they only had 5 QBH. Indy only had 1 tackle for loss and the Bears’ running game averaged 6.6 yards per carry. Josh Sitton, Kyle Long and Bobby Massie each were caught holding. Sitton had a fumble recovery.

Runningbacks

J Howard - 63 (95%)

K Carey - 2 (3%)

P Lasike - 1 (2%) - 3 (9%)

At this point it’s obvious that Jordan Howard is The Man right? He had 16 carries, 118 yards for a stellar 7.4 average. In the passing game he caught all 3 balls thrown his way for 45 yards and a TD.

Ka’Deem Carey had 1 rushing attempt for 2 yards and he caught the only pass sent his way for 15 yards. Fullback Paul Lasike didn’t scratch the stat sheet.

Wide Receivers

C Meredith - 63 (95%)

A Jeffery - 61 (92%)

E Royal - 37 (56%)

J Bellamy - 7 (11%) - 19 (58%)

D Thompson - 1 (2%) - 8 (24%)

Cameron Meredith, welcome to the NFL. While this wasn’t his first in-game action, it was clearly his best. He more than filled in for the injured Kevin White by hauling in 9 of 12 targets, for 130 yards and a TD. He also fumbled twice, losing one.

Eddie Royal was the next highest targeted Bear wide out with 9. He had 7 receptions for 43 yards and he fumbled once.

Which brings us to Alshon Jeffery. He caught 5 of the 6 balls thrown his way for 77 yards, but it was the times he wasn’t targeted that is the talk of Chicago. Hoyer only looked his way one time on the 1st half, and here’s what I tweeted out yesterday.

And...

Jeffery was frustrated and I would expect the Bears to make a point to get him involved next week against a tough Jacksonville defense.

Josh Bellamy caught 1 of 1 for 14 yards and he had a special teams tackle. Deonte Thompson had 3 kickoff returns for 73 yards.

Tight Ends

Z Miller - 57 (86%)

L Paulsen - 37 (56%) - 17 (52%)

B Braunecker - 1 (2%) - 19 (58%)

I’d be completely fine with rookie Ben Braunecker taking some of Logan Paulsen’s offensive snaps. Paulson was targeted only once in the passing game, but he had 2 penalties. At 1-4, I’d like to see what the UDFA can do.

Zach Miller continues his strong season with 7 catches (on 8 targets) for 73 yards.

Special Teams

These players only appeared in the 3rd phase

S McManis - 26 (79%)

J Timu - 20 (61%)

D Houston-Carson - 19 (58%)

C Barth - 13 (39%)

D Hurst - 9 (27%)

P O'Donnell - 9 (27%)

P Scales - 9 (27%)

J Bell - 8 (24%)

T Larsen - 7 (21%)

M Adams - 7 (21%)

The stat sheet only show Conner Barth as missing 1 of 4 field goals, but he also missed one that was negated by a penalty. He made both of his extra points. Punter Pat O’Donnell had 2 punts for 92 yards.

DeAndre Houston-Carson assisted on 2 special team tackles and Sherrick McManis assisted on one.

Cornerbacks

T Porter - 66 (97%)

C LeBlanc - 55 (81%) - 3 (9%)

B Callahan - 48 (71%)

J Glenn - 18 (26%) - 16 (48%)

Tracy Porter had 4 tackles and a pass defense. Bryce Callahan had 6 tackles and a PD. Cre'Von LeBlanc was the nickleback and he had 1 tackle and 2 PD, and he fair caught one of three punts.

Jacoby Glenn had 3 tackles.

Safeties

A Amos - 68 (100%) - 11 (33%)

C Prosinski - 57 (84%) - 20 (61%)

H Jones-Quartey - 10 (15%) - 9 (27%)

Chris Prosinski led the Bears with 8 tackles. Adrian Amos had 4 and a forced fumble. Harold Jones-Quartey had a PD, a special teams tackle and a sideline spat that appeared to get him bench. Although this morning on 670am The Score in Chicago, the Tribune’s Brad Biggs said the plan all week was to have Prosinski come in for HJQ on sub-packages.

Linebackers

J Freeman ILB - 68 (100%)

S Acho OLB - 59 (87%) - 9 (27%)

D Trevathan - ILB 57 (84%)

W Young OLB - 51 (75%)

C Jones LB - 18 (26%) - 15 (45%

N Kwiatkoski ILB - 5 (7%) - 15 (45%)

Jerrell Freeman had 7 tackle sand a QBH and Danny Trevathan had 6 tackles.

Willie Young had the best day of his career with 3 sacks, 3 TFL, 3 QBH and 5 tackles. Christian Jones got the start at OLB in place of the injured Leonard Floyd and he had a special teams tackle. Sam Acho had a tackle, a QBH and a tackle on special teams.

Defensive Line

A Hicks - 55 (81%) - 7 (21%)

M Unrein - 43 (63%) - 14 (42%)

C Washington - 32 (47%) - 7 (21%)

W Sutton - 22 (32%) - 15 (45%)

J Bullard - 16 (24%)

Rookie Jonathan Bullard nabbed the 1st sack of his career. He was credited with 3 tackles, 1 QBH and 2 TFL. Akiem Hicks had 3 tackles, 1 sack, 1 QBH and 1 TFL. Cornelius Washington had a tackle and Mitch Unrein had 4 tackles.

Any of the numbers stand out to you guys this week?