Stock up, stock down: Bears-Saints recap

The Bears are on a two-game skid and face another difficult test on the road against Tennessee this Sunday.

But the season is halfway done and the Bears have a winning record. It’s certainly not great, definitely not pretty but it is still winning football.

There is still a path to 10 wins, but let’s face it, as currently constructed and executing, that is a pipe dream. Realistically this is a seven-to-nine-win team. Middle of the pack. All defense, no offense. Again. Rinse and repeat.

There is still some fight in this team though, that’s why I don’t think they can be entirely written off. After that skirmish with Javon Wims (more on that in a minute) and the Saints’ touchdown by Taysom Hill, I thought the Bears were buried, but somehow, inexplicably and with a little dumb luck (looking at you Cole Kmet), they managed to get the game to overtime.

There are no moral victories when there’s another tick in the loss column, however, so there’s no room to take anything away from the game other than holy hell this team needs to get better.

Stock up

Bilal Nichols - Nichols is mostly viewed as “not Eddie Goldman” when the season started, and honestly that difference has been obvious throughout the year so far. However, I thought Nichols played well yesterday, even if it didn’t necessarily reflect in the post game stat line (4 tackles). He was disruptive and was occupying blockers to open things up for his teammates, such as...

Roquan Smith - I hope has turned the corner once and for all. He was great yesterday, he was everywhere. He had nine solo tackles and 11 combined, including two tackles for loss and a pass defensed. Smith drew the assignment a lot of staying on Alvin Kamara and often did a good job.

David Montgomery - Let’s give Montgomery some credit; he has basically no running room, no help and is constantly having to get yards after contact, which he’s doing. He’s fifth in the league with 303 yards after contact and leads the league with 18 broken tackles. He earned every one of his season-high 89 yards on Sunday.

Stock down

Javon Wims - Get him off the team. Like yesterday. There’s no excuse for what went down on Sunday and it nearly cost the team the game. He’s not a good enough player to get to come back from whatever suspension the league gives him.

Rashaan Coward - Boy is he not a good offensive lineman. He’s about as bad as any offensive lineman I can remember the Bears trotting out there and I remember Chris Spencer, Frank Omiyale and J’Marcus Webb. At least Coward is a back up and his expectations were low from the get-go but still. Not good.

Nick Foles - He is what he is. He’s not what the Bears were expecting when they traded for him, but he is still the better choice over Mitchell Trubisky. Sorry, that’s just the truth. The Bears are stuck with him.

Honorable mention on stock up to Danny Trevathan who had himself a very good game.

Who did you have on your list?