The Bears drop to No. 3 overall in DVOA, but Mitch Trubisky gives way to an offensive rise

Contrary to popular belief, the sky is not falling for the Bears. Sometimes good teams lose games they should win. Sometimes good teams win games they shouldn’t win. (Which is what the Bears almost accomplished against the Dolphins on Sunday).

Yet despite suffering their second defeat of the 2018 season, however, the advanced efficiency numbers are still quite kind to the Bears. A slight drop off isn’t what you would have thought it to be. This is a good football team that suffered one road loss, case closed.

After sitting at No. 2 overall in Football Outsiders’ DVOA for three consecutive weeks, Sunday’s loss in Miami only had the Bears fall to No. 3. Surprise, surprise! The two teams ahead of Chicago, in the Chiefs and Rams respectively, are the early presumed Super Bowl favorites.

Meanwhile, despite letting up over 540 yards of offense and 31 points to ... Brock Osweiler, the Bears maintained their stranglehold of the No. 1 defensive rating in DVOA. One bad blemish of a week where they missed an astonishing 19 tackles isn’t enough to sink the league’s best defense through six weeks of play.

What likely buoyed the Bears’ metrics overall to withstand a poor loss is a rise in their offensive play. At the start of the 2018 season, Chicago’s attack was putrid and Mitchell Trubisky played at a mediocre level. An overall stellar last two weeks for both in a complete blowout over the Buccaneers and a resolving almost-comeback in Miami, has the Bears sitting with the NFL’s No. 14 offense in DVOA. For the first time in over six seasons, Chicago has a top-half defense and offense.

Oh and don’t look now, but Chicago’s special teams unit sits at No. 9 overall: a common theme of the past month in actuality. Special teams coordinator Chris Tabor is indeed very adept at his job.

That sound you’re hearing is the world imploding in on itself at the reality of a balanced roster at Halas Hall coming together.

Robert is the Editor-in-chief of The Blitz Network (subscribe here!), the managing editor of Windy City Gridiron, and writes for a host of other fine publications. You can follow him on Twitter @RobertZeglinski.