It may have been ugly, it may have been too close for comfort, but a win is a win. And snapping a four-game losing streak was priority number one for the Chicago Bears and they met that challenge.
Maybe it’s a loss if Matt Stafford plays, but you can only line up against who’s on the other side. There’s no use in harping on the “but if” stuff because that’s any game in the NFL. The point here is they won.
You have to take them anyway you can. Even if it’s against a back up quarterback at home and even if it still features an ugly offense and a defense that’s supposed to be great giving up 357 yards to said QB.
There was some good and of course, a lot of bad. So let’s get to it.
Stock up
Mitch Trubisky, QB - Complain all you want, but this was his best game of the year. Yeah that’s an extremely low bar, but we have to take what we can get. Not great by any stretch but there were some good plays, especially his touchdowns to Ben Braunecker and Taylor Gabriel, which were both plays that have too often been over or under thrown this year.
Nick Kwiatkoski, LB - For the second time this year, Kwiat had to step in for a regular, higher profile teammate, and he performed admirably. He finished the game second in tackles with nine and had the most complete stat line: one TFL, one PD, one QB hit, one sack and his interception. He has shortcomings in his game, but the Bears could do worse for Danny Trevathan’s replacement.
Ben Braunecker, TE - In place of the (finally) benched Adam Shaheen, the Bears turned to Braunecker to see if there was anything they could get out of the tight end position. Braunk responded with only one catch for an 18 yard score, but it was the most significant play by a TE this season for Chicago.
Stock down
Khalil Mack, OLB - Is it blasphemous to put him here? His production was significantly declined since the Raiders game (coincidentally when Akiem Hicks got hurt), but we’re talking about Khalil flippin’ Mack! He should be able to overcome that stuff and still be making an impact. He was credited with just three tackles on Sunday and that’s it. The best defender on the team has to be better.
Cody Whitehair, C - The OL overall didn’t seem significantly better than they were with the old line up of Whitehair at G and James Daniels at C, but they were all right. No, this is more about the return of low and bad snaps. It reeks of desperation that they even had to make this move, but here we are, snaps rolling into the already panicky and gun-shy QB.
Kyle Fuller, CB - Fuller was called for three penalties; unnecessary roughness, defensive holding and pass interference. It wasn’t a great game for Fuller as he also fell down on the Lions’ only touchdown of the day, but that isn’t as bad as the penalties. Two of them came on third downs.
Who is up and down for you? Who stood out?