Chicago Bears: Is the offense a cause for serious concern? |
Through two games, the Bears have struggled on offense as fans have been frustrated with their lackluster performance on that side of the ball. As the Bears have managed to escape with a 1-1 record through those two games, fans continue to be concerned about the product the offense has displayed on the field. However, we can look at it as light at the end of the tunnel as the Bears did face off against two of the better defenses in the NFL.
As fans are becoming more and more frustrated with Mitch Trubisky and the lack of running game success thus far, Head Coach Matt Nagy is not jumping off the boat quite yet as he is extremely confident that his offense will find a rhythm soon enough. Now nearly 48 hours since their win on the road, Nagy continues to remain confident as he keeps looking for positive takeaways from one performance to the next. Now entering week three of the NFL, the Bears seemed to have lost some of their preseason hype that carried over from a memorable 2018 season. Whether that is because the Green Bay Packers have looked good or that they haven’t played at their level remains to be seen, but we all know that the Bears do need to play better if they expect to reach those levels once again. Heading into Monday morning, the Bears ranked 31 out of 32 NFL teams in terms of total offense. That is well below the expectations that Nagy and his staff expected out of that group this season. Part of the reason for that low ranking has to do with Chicago only scoring 19 points through two games with 13 of them coming from Kicker Eddy Pinero. However, given how the Bears played in week one, there was a significant improvement in week two, especially during the second half. After a lackluster first half once again, the Bears appeared to find more of their rhythm during the second half against the Broncos. As the running game began to show signs of life, Chicago was able to put together two solid second-half drives to move the football which inevitably gave Chicago a much-needed win with the help of Pinero’s leg. Once that running game got going in the second half, you could see the offense finding some rhythm as it seemed to relax everyone on the field. A key turning point during the second half was the 46-yard run from Cordarrelle Patterson which set the Bears up for their first touchdown of the season. Rookie David Montgomery followed that run with a 12 yarder of his own before a jet sweep to Taylor Gabriel for 17 more yards kept the ball moving as the Bears found their success on the ground. With most of the attention remaining on Trubisky with the offense on the field, Chicago knows their offense still needs to be sharper for them to take that next step as a unit. You can look at the Bears last three meaningful games as to what we mean by that as they have been some of the worst games Trubisky has played in his career. Despite errant throws and a lackluster showing in those three games, Trubisky always manages to find a way to drive the ball downfield to give his team a chance to win games. Nagy is aware of the Bears slow start on offense but isn’t getting worked up about it at this point in the season. “We feel good with where we're at," said Nagy. "I think it just comes down to more rhythm and keep trusting in one another and keep fighting through it. Eventually, it'll crack. And when it does, I think it's going to be pretty good." With a much easier defensive unit to take on the Bears in week three, we will see if Chicago can find that rhythm, they are looking for with hopes it carries over the rest of the season. Nagy remains optimistic with his offense and knows they can thrive by playing in tight games, but it would make things so much easier if the offense can play at the same level as the defense.
