:format(webp)/cdn.vox-cdn.com/uploads/chorus_image/image/65732590/1188449049.jpg.0.jpg)
The Bears season, for all intents and purposes, is over. Mathematically they may be alive for a playoff spot, but at this point, they would need so much outside help, it’s safe to call it.
The rest of the 2019 season is just about development and scraping together whatever they can for the future.
This was the youngest roster in the league a year ago and now it seems like it was all a mirage. Can talent just evaporate? I can’t wrap my head around the fact that most of these same players were so much better a year ago.
To me, that’s on coaching.
Stock up
Roquan Smith, LB - Smith is finally rounding back into form. He led the team with 11 tackles, and had a pass defensed, a tackle for loss and finally his interception. Don’t look now, but Smith has 32 tackles in the last three games and is finally playing like we thought he would at the beginning of the season.
Eddie Jackson, S - Jackson has not followed up last year’s All-Pro campaign with an emphatic second act, but Sunday might have been his best game. He was third on the team with six tackles, had two tackles for loss and a forced fumble.
Tarik Cohen, RB - I thought Cohen had his best game Sunday night. He caught five of his six targets for 35 yards and an acrobatic, twisting touchdown. He also averaged 4.3 yards per carry on his nine attempts.
Stock down
Matt Nagy - Let’s not shy away from his bad performance Sunday night (or really the whole season). From maybe not knowing that his quarterback was hurt, to the speed option third down play call and the continued lack of I-formation, ground-and-pound to set up play action, the baffling nature of this offense continues.
Anthony Miller, WR - Miller’s bad sophomore campaign continued with the optically awful sequence of having a pass bounce off his hands, into a defender and then jawing at Rams players as walks off the field. Miller’s stat line at the end of the night was six catches on 11 targets for 54 yards.
Khalil Mack, OLB - I get that teams are scheming him out of games, but he is supposed to be transcendent and get through all of that. He was blanked in the box score, as in he didn’t register any stats. None. He can be disruptive without showing up with sacks and stuff, I get that, but for this team to salvage anything this year, he has to get out of his funk.