Bears vs. Bills: Snap counts, stats, and more

All statistics and snap counts are taken directly from the NFL’s Game Statistic and Information System, as are the accompanying pictures.

I’ve seen the Chicago Bears’ 41-9 win against the Buffalo Bills described as an ugly win. That was even my first thought as I was watching the game unfold, but if winning by 32 points is considered ugly, I’ll take that every week.

Once the Bears scored their first touchdown I figured the game was over; the Bills are that bad. But the Bears still had to take care of business. They very easily could have looked forward to the NFC North matchup against the Detroit Lions this week, but these Bears wouldn’t fall for that trap.

The overall numbers look skewed, but when the defense is taking the ball away like the Bears were (2 defensive TDs), you won’t have as many offensive plays to run.

The Bills had more total yards (264 to 190), more first downs (22 to 11), and the edge in time of possession (34:03 to 25:57).

This was a sloppy game, but I also thought the refs were a little flag happy. The Bears were hit with 14 penalties for 129 yards while the Bills were flagged 10 times for 163 yards.

Let’s take a closer look at the playing time break downs for the Bears, and also some individual stats.

OFFENSE

Mitchell Trubisky had some bad throws and he had some good throws. He also had two nice deep balls that the Bills were forced to interfere on to save a catch, and a silly fumble near the sideline.

Last week was crazy on Twitter with a few national analysts pushing their Trubisky sucks agenda. In case you missed it, it went like this.

I disagree with all of those, but to think he doesn’t have some stuff in his game to work on is just as silly. He’s a player still ascending and I think the best from him is yet to come.

Against the Bills he only threw 20 passes, so getting into a rhythm wasn’t happening. He completed 12 for 135 yards, with a TD and an interception for a 76.0 passer rating. He had a 6 yard run too.

Jordan Howard had 2 rushing TDs among his 14 carries for 47 yards. This one may have been his best run this year;

Tarik Cohen had 6 rushes for just 5 yards, but he also had 1 reception for 8 yards, plus 48 yards on 3 punt returns.

Anthony Miller led the Bears with 5 catches (6 targets) for 49 yards, and he also had a 9 yard run. Taylor Gabriel caught 3 for 45, and Trey Burton had 2 grabs for 28 yards and a TD.

Taquan MIzzell had a 5 yard catch in his first action this year, plus he was the team’s kick returner.

The offensive line struggled against the stout Bills’ D, which had 7 tackles for loss, but it was the penalties that really hurt. Charles Leno Jr. had three false starts and James Daniels had a hold. Those were Leno’s first penalties this season.

DEFENSE

Chicago’s inside linebackers (Roquan Smith, Danny Trevathan, Joel Iyiegbuniwe, and Nick Kwiatkoski) filled the stat sheet on Sunday.

Smith’s speed was popping all afternoon. He’s currently second on the team in tackles with 54, behind Trevathan’s 61.

The outside linebackers all played well too, with a still sackless Leonard Floyd leading the way with 3 tackles, a QB hit, and an interception returned for a TD. I know it’s not sexy, but his play against the run has been the best of his career this season.

Aaron Lynch had 2 tackles, a sack, 1 TFL, 2 QBH, and a silly crotch thrusting penalty. Isaiah Irving had 3 tackles, a sack and a TFL, and rookie Kylie Fitts saw the first action of his career.

On the defensive line, Eddie Goldman had 5 tackles , Akiem Hicks had 4 tackles and a TFL, Jonathan Bullard had 2 tackles, Nick Williams had 2 tackles and a TFL, and Roy Robertson-Harris had 2 tackles, a sack, and a TFL.

In the secondary, Kyle Fuller had 3 tackles, 3 passes defended, and an interception. Adrian Amos had a pick as well, with 7 tackles, a sack and a TFL. Eddie Jackson (who played 1 snap on offense) had 5 tackles, a TFL, and a fumble recovery that he took back for a score.

Bryce Callahan had 4 tackles, and Prince Amukamara had 5 tackles and 4 penalties which were his first since he had two during week 2.

Overall, the Bears’ D had 4 sacks, 3 interceptions, 10 TFL, 7 QBH, 7 PD, 1 FF, and 1 FR, while holding Bills’ QB Nathan Peterman to a 45.4 passer rating, and holding Buffalo to under a hundred yards rushing.

EDIT:

SPECIAL TEAMS

Thanks to the blowout, the three Bears’ specialists are the only three players to exclusively play special teams.

Punter Pat O’Donnell and long snapper Patrick Scales each played 12 snaps, and kicker Cody Parkey played 15. O’Donnell put 4 of his 5 punts inside the 20 and he had a 37.4 average. Scales had a special teams tackle, and Parkey had a perfect afternoon with 8 of 8 kickoffs going for touchbacks, 2 for 2 on field goals, and 5 for 5 on extra points.

To check out all the team and individual stats from the game I find that ESPN has an easy to navigate site.