Stock up, stock down: Bears-Vikings

Getting to .500 took an incredibly painful and incredibly hallow win.

The Bears offense still struggled mightily and could only find the endzone once. But their kicker managed to hit all his field goals and they were able to win it in the final seconds.

While 8-8 is certainly disappointing, based on what the preseason expectations were for this team, but it is still better than having a losing season.

There wasn’t a whole lot that could be taken away from their game yesterday, mostly due to the fact that it was against back ups and it still took them 59:48 to win the game.

Stock up

Eddy Piniero, K - Piniero finished his first season making 11 straight kicks. Although most didn’t come at particularly tough moments, in either the game situation (save for Sunday) or weather and none were further than 46 yards, it’s still progress for the young kicker and he finished making 82.1 percent of his kicks, more than Robbie Gould’s first year in Chicago (77.8). It’s the second-most for a first-year kicker in Chicago behind Kevin Butler in 1985 (83.8).

David Montgomery, RB - I have been critical of Montgomery in his rookie year, but he had a very good game Sunday. He saw his lanes well and make good, decisive cuts for the most part. He finished with his second-most yards of the season (113) and had his third-highest yards per carry of his rookie year.

Kevin Pierre-Louis, LB - I don’t know that KPL is a long term guy, but he could definitely be a longterm depth player, especially with the contract of Nick Kwiatkoski expiring, Pierre-Louis could be a solid back up next year. Kwiat will be one of the big decisions that Ryan Pace must make on defense this offseason, but if they decide they can’t afford him, KPL could be the next man up.

Stock down

Leonard Floyd, LB - Floyd finished the Vikings game being credited with one tackle, one PD and one QB hit. He finished his fourth year with just three sacks and none after week nine in Philadelphia. His fifth-year option has been picked up already, but it will cost over $13 million for the Bears and cost nothing in dead cap to cut him, so long as he isn’t injured.

Mitch Trubisky, QB - Another late game, game-winning drive to make up for the first 50 minutes of the game where he was ineffective. His inconsistency is maddening and the Bears will do themselves no favors by blindly going into next season without challenging Trubisky with competition at the position.

Anthony Miller, WR - I am not putting him here because of his injury. He can’t help that. However, I think that Bears fans and their leaders are kidding themselves if they don’t see that his shoulder injuries haven’t gone away and have cost him games even after surgery to correct it. Miller can be a good number two WR but I don’t think you can rely on him being a starting player for the team long term with cumulative effect these injuries are going to play on his shoulder.