Four games are in the books for the Chicago Bears (2-2), who've outplayed expectations in the first quarter of the 2022 season. Sure, Bears fans expected a competitive team, but that wasn't the case for most pundits.
Unfortunately, the Bears haven't looked like a .500 team on the field. But you are what your record says you are, right?
Now that the first quarter of the season is over let's grade the Bears' offense, defense, special teams and coaching staff.
Offense: D+
This is a tough grade to hand out. The passing game has been shockingly bad to start the season, while the running game has been one of the most dominant in the league. The offensive line has been bullying defenses on running plays but surrendering unacceptable pressures on passing plays. Receivers aren’t getting open, but Fields hasn’t exactly been blameless.
Giving the offense a ‘D+’ feels about right, but I want to stress again just how dominant the run game is. The Bears deserve credit for that. It’s also fair to point out that the wide receiver corps has suffered from injuries to N’Keal Harry and Velus Jones Jr., who were brought in for their explosive capabilities, and that the plan for the offensive line (Lucas Patrick starting at Center) was also derailed by a training camp injury.
The Bears' offense has a lot to prove, but Fields’ raw talent and the two-headed monster of David Montgomery and Khalil Herbert have done enough to win two out of four games so far.
Defense: C
The headline for the defense this year is that Eddie Jackson is back. Three interceptions in four games plus a fumble recovery to make it four takeaways? Yeah, he’s definitely back. Rookie Jaquan Brisker deserves credit for not only playing well in his own right but also for being the key that freed Jackson up to return to doing what he does best: creating turnovers.
But outside of those two, the defense has been a disappointment. Roquan Smith doesn’t look anything like a linebacker whose next contract should reset the market. The defensive line is getting cooked on the ground every week. The pass rush that started hot has cooled severely. Jaylon Johnson is still a lockdown corner, but he’s been absent the last two weeks with an injury.
Simply put, the defense needs to do better. Much better.
Special Teams: A-
Death, taxes, and a solid special teams unit in Chicago. The three certainties of life. Kicker Cairo Santos has been perfect on four field goals so far, and Michael Badgley, who filled in for Santos on Sunday while he was dealing with personal issues, was also perfect for four field goals.
Rookie punter Trenton Gill has been the biggest delight on special teams. The Bears lost longtime punter Pat O’Donnell to Green Bay over the offseason, but the early returns on Gill are that he's actually an upgrade. He’s averaging over 48 yards per punt, has just one touchback on nineteen punts, and seven landing inside the twenty. He’s flipping field position.
Coaching: C-
I've been underwhelmed by Matt Eberflus and his staff thus far and expect big improvements as the season progresses. Granted, these are all rookie coaches, so growing pains should be expected.
I will, however, credit Eberflus for getting his team to buy into his philosophy. Some Chicago media outlets pilloried Eberflus back in January when he talked about his H.I.T.S. principle for being hokey, but it’s clear that the players don’t think so. The hustle and heart that this team displays week in and week out is something we haven’t seen in a long time, most notably in the second-half comeback win over San Francisco in a monsoon.