Stock up, stock down: Bears-Raiders

Bears fans are a reactionary bunch, and yes, I am including myself in that group, because I get caught up in all the Twitter takes after a loss just like anyone else. It’s easy to do, but here’s the thing: this team is capable of being better, a lot better and that’s what fans want. But they have played to a level that is deserving of their record.

The offense isn’t where it should be, that’s true. But I think everything is correctable. This offensive line played better last year and can again with a little technique change. They can get back to doing things that they did well.

At least, I hope.

This was a tough game for this exercise, because there were a lot “down” candidates and then I couldn’t even come up with a third “up” player.

Anthony Miller did some nice things, but had a taunting penalty and probably ran the wrong route on the final interception. Chase Daniel made some good plays but also had some bad ones and took a lot of sacks. There were some players (Roquan Smith) that got a lot of tackles, but didn’t really have any impact plays.

Stock up

Allen Robinson, WR - Regular readers should know how much I like Robinson, but he’s really going all out this year. He is hands down the most reliable and biggest playmaker that the offense has had this year. He showed up big again making acrobatic catches and hanging on while taking big hits. He had seven catches for 97 yards and two touchdowns.

David Montgomery, RB - His numbers weren’t eye-popping but he had kept churning his legs and getting touch yards where he could. There were next to no holes for him, but he still managed to have a really nice acrobatic catch over a defender and his second touchdown of the year.

Stock down

Charles Leno Jr., LT - What’s going on with him? Is it the emphasis on holding? Something else? Who knows, but the bottom line is, he needs to play better. If all of his sill was down to some technique that is now considered holding, then change it. Leno has been a solid, steady player and this is somewhat uncharacteristic of him. Take the bye and get better.

Kyle Long, RG - Is he finished? It’s sad that we’re asking that, considering where we were even just 12 months ago, when he was still considered a loss for the OL. Injuries have ravaged him and maybe he’s trying too hard to play through that hip injury, but either way, Leno and Long are just the two biggest weaknesses on what has been a bad offensive line.

Kevin Pierre-Louis, LB - It may have been only one play and it might have been a bit of a ticky-tack call, but this was such a bad penalty and a horrible time. The rule is there and it looked like he got blocked into the punter, but it wasn’t really a spot to be going for a block anyway. It gave the Raiders enough space to go for the fake, which was converted and then you know the rest.

Who did I miss? Was there another player deserving of a stock up designation?