Bears put up impressively thorough loss to Buccaneers in lopsided thumpdown

Sometimes the Bears lose a game in heartbreaking fashion. They make enough key plays to give you hope, and fall short in enough key ways to make you obsess over what could have been if an inch had been different in way or another. Other times, it’s clear from the first two drives that your team doesn’t have a chance, and you are given the opportunity to divest yourself of hope and watch the comedy of errors as the Bears get all of the pent up incompetence out of their system.

Box score if you want to torture yourself.

Blindside blitz on play-action is a rough way to start a game

Justin Fields’ first pass drop-back had him looking right to fake a handoff for just long enough for the famously-on-the-board-when-Kmet-was-drafted safety Antoine Winfield Jr. to get to Fields for a strip-sack. Luckily Herbert recovered it, and Fields managed a pass on 3rd to return to the original line of scrimmage before punting. Yay!

3 and out followed by a big punt return into your territory is a rough way to start a game

After netting 0 yards on their first possession, O’Donnell’s 50 yard punt was returned 43 yards for a net 7 yard gain (less than the previous play’s 8 yard pass). Fun fact: that’s the longest punt return of the 2021 NFL season.

Pass interference followed by 2 unopposed runs into the end zone is a rough way to start a game

When you give up a touchdown before the greatest quarterback since Sid Luckman notches a single passing yard, things aren’t looking good for your defense.

A Cole Kmet drop on 3rd and 8 is a rough way to continue a game...

Ok. I promise I’ll stop.

Pig Simmons gets his first start!

With Germaine Ifedi out and Elijah Wilkinson a late addition to the COVID list, 2nd year second round pick Lachavious Simmons got his first start at right tackle. The first drive was lost on offense due to immediate pressure from the left side. So far so good.

Update: Simmons let Shaq Barrett beat him later in the first leading to a forced fumble and the Bucs 3rd short field in their first 4 drives.

Update: After giving up too many pressures, Simmons was replaced by Alex Bars. Looks like the Bear wasn’t quite ready. Keep working at it, big guy. We’re rooting for you!

So Fields overthrowing Robinson for an interception is a suboptimal trend...

Everyone wants to see Robinson get more involved in the Bears offense, and it seems to be that Fields looks his way when he gets into scramble mode, but they are either not on the same page, or Fields is showing a tendency to miss deep when things get messy. I’m holding out hope it’s the former.

Save some for the rest of us, Tommy

600 passing touchdowns? Come on. That’s just greedy. Don’t you ever get bored of this? Try something different, like throwing a pick six to Eddie Jackson. The guy needs a confidence boost.

Bears secondary is playing better than the score would suggest

The Bucs made most of their hay on the ground in the first half, and the Bears developing corners, Vildor and Shelley, both made some good plays in coverage. If the Bears offense didn’t consistently give the Bucs short fields, I think this defense would have been able to pose a challenge to Brady and friends.

Update: Jaylon Johnson gave up back to back huge plays coverage Mike Evans, the second resulting in a 4th Tampa Bay TD. Ughhghghh.

Fields plays better when he isn’t pressured instantly

I thought we’d learned this lesson in the Browns game, but apparently the Bears offensive think tank thought it might be a good idea to circle back to the plan of letting defenses get instant pressure against their rookie quarterback and see if it could produce better results. Good thought.

Khalil Herbert easily runs the best game against the Bucs rush defense this year

So we probably won, right?

Believe it or not, Justin Fields had a higher completion percentage than Tom Brady

So we probably won, right?

Is getting excited about working towards an earlier 2nd round pick a thing?