Bears lay the hammer down in prime time, beat Cowboys 31-24

The Bears needed to come away with a win heading into Thursday’s game, and they did just that off the shoulders of an impressive offensive performance against the Cowboys.

Chicago was able to effectively march down the field, and that played an important role in their 31-24 victory. Though the score seems close, make no mistake about it: this game was all Bears for most of the night.

We have a little switcharoo this week, so I’ll be taking over for Patti’s immediate recaps, while she will be taking over for my day-after notes. Here are some rapid fire takeaways from a third straight Chicago win.

Mitchell Trubisky defies the odds and shows up in prime time

The signal-caller finished with four touchdowns—three through the air and one on the ground—on his way to a second consecutive great game. He delivered a handful of great passes and contributed on the ground, as well. It may be too far gone in the season for this turnaround to make a big impact, but it’s encouraging to see him stringing together good games.

Allen Robinson is still a star

Robinson has been fantastic all year, and he continued his stellar season on Thursday, catching 2 touchdowns and making several difficult catches in tight windows. He has been a reliable target for Trubisky throughout the season, and he showed up in a major way.

Run game looks strong

David Montgomery broke free for several good runs against a tired Cowboys defense, showing off patience and contact balance to run through defenders with ease. Shoutout to Chicago’s offensive line for paving holes consistently for him throughout the night.

Khalil Mack is back in the sack column!

Opposing teams have targeted him all year and have prevented him from being as productive as he was in 2018, but he has still managed to tally 7.5 sacks this season.

Kudos to Matt Nagy

This may have been Nagy’s best game from a coaching aspect all year. He did a great job of scheming the passing game, and his game planning for the ground game looked better than it has in most games, too. Outside of his wildcat formation with David Montgomery and Cordarrelle Patterson in the backfield, Nagy was smart with a lot of his calls.

Anthony Miller continues his hot streak

He scored his first touchdown of the year, keeping up his streak of impactful performances in recent weeks. The 2018 second-round pick has shown a lot of promise and should be placed in a full-time No. 2 receiver role next year.

Akiem Hicks can’t come back soon enough

Chicago’s run defense struggled early against Ezekiel Elliott, and their defensive line’s inability to plug up holes was a big reason why. Hicks could come back next week against Green Bay, and his presence has been sorely missed along the defensive line.

Roquan Smith will be missed

The severity of his injury is unknown as of this writing, but his being declared out for the game with a pectoral injury so early after it happened is not good news. One can only hope that the injury isn’t season-ending, but all signs point to it potentially being just that. He currently has exactly 100 tackles on the year.

But Kevin Pierre-Louis stepped up

The journeyman veteran put together a solid outing in Smith’s absence and contributed in run support and as a blitzer. His ability to step up was encouraging to see from the backup.

Kevin Toliver is....alright

The former undrafted free agent stepped in for the injured Prince Amukamara and looked predictably inconsistent, but he had some flashes against the likes Amari Cooper and Michael Gallup. He ultimately allowed a touchdown to Cooper late in the fourth quarter that he could have turned around to make a play on, though. The Bears will use this game to help determine if they can trust Toliver to take on a bigger role next year.

Poor Jason Garrett

This game solidified that he should not be the Cowboys’ coach past the end of this year. The Bears looked in complete control for much of the game on both sides of the ball. A crucial prime time loss won’t help his case.

The Bears have improved to 7-6 after their third straight win. They head to Lambeau Field to take on the Packers in another very important game to keep their playoff hopes alive.