(670 The Score) Another week, another productive loss for the Bears. There’s something to be said about how impressively innovative this Bears team is – it’s hard to think of too many other squads that, week after week, find so many unique ways to make fans not care one bit about losing. There’s also something to be said about how many defensive players that general manager Ryan Poles and coach Matt Eberflus are going to have to scout from now until April, but that’s a problem for February. The problem for now is deciding which Justin Fields highlight you’re going to talk to your co-workers about first Monday (jk we all know). Let’s hand out grades from a game that I guess the Bears technically lost 35-32 to the Dolphins on Sunday at Soldier Field.
Offense: A (again!)
If it wasn’t extremely obvious from their first drive of the game, the Bears are excited to have new receiver Chase Claypool. His first reception with the team came on a one-yard screen, but the deep-shot pass interference flag he drew a few plays later was arguably one of the most exciting incomplete passes of the season. It was the other Notre Dame guy making plays early though – tight end Cole Kmet (really!) looked dialed in throughout huge chunks of the game, whether it was getting the edge on jet sweeps, taking direct snaps for first downs or catching easy touchdown passes. Kmet’s first score wasn’t even the best touchdown catch of the second quarter – that award goes to wideout Darnell Mooney, who hauled in a beautiful corner throw from Fields with a hand in his face. The first half was weird. Despite outgaining the Dolphins in net yards, running almost 20 more plays and more than doubling their foe in time of possession, the Bears went into the locker room down four points. The second half featured a bunch of interesting football that definitely deserves a closer look, but if we’re being honest with one another, it does kind of feel like nothing matters outside *that* touchdown run. Fields’ electric 61-yard score was the longest touchdown run from a quarterback in team history and also officially recaptured the attention of a good chunk of Football Twitter that had checked out of Bears games sometime around early October. And hey, did you notice that the offensive line went almost the entire game without giving up a sack? And that every week it feels like the offensive coaching staff figures out how to utilize a different player’s strength in new and exciting ways? At the least, it feels like the Bears are going to end this season with an offense that’s officially fun. That in and of itself is enough to go into the offseason happy, right?
Defense: D (optimistically)
(Warning: You’re about to read a bunch of words about how bad the Chicago defense is – if you want to just point to the fourth-quarter stop that gave the Bears a chance to pull out a win, I’m cool with that.) The Bears’ defense right now is kind of like the sun: You know it’s there and you know that ultimately, it’s important, but it’s in your best interest to never look directly at it. There were problems all over the field, but the lack of pressure up front was one of the more glaring ones – Dolphins quarterback Tua Tagovailoa was 11-of-13 for 162 yards in the first half alone and was 21-of-30 for 302 yards in the game. And speaking of those problems all over the field, the Bears' secondary didn’t really handle guarding any of the Dolphins wide receivers particularly well. Tyreek Hill? Seven catches for 143 yards and one touchdown. Jaylen Waddle? Five catches for 85 yards and one touchdown. (Bears cornerback Jaylon Johnson DID have that nice breakup against Waddle in the fourth quarter.) Still, the amount of space that Miami receivers had to work with all day was predictable, if not a little alarming. The overall numbers are ugly – the Dolphins compiled 383 total yards (302 passing, 81 rushing). It helps that coach Mike McDaniels runs a "let Hill draw PIs" type of vertical passing offense, but it’s also hard to blame him for that. The Dolphins wasted no time either: Three of their touchdown drives came in seven plays or fewer. They would've scored on their first five possessions if not for a missed field goal at the end of the half. The Bears' defense was bad, and we don’t need to talk any more about it when we can instead talk about punter Trenton Gill.
Special teams: C
Nobody (metaphorically speaking) makes Gill bleed his own blood. Nobody! His mortality was on display for the first time all season when his punt was blocked and returned for a touchdown in the second quarter. And while that wasn't necessarily Gill’s fault, that’s life as a punter – you get all the credit, you take all the blame. It’s not for everyone. Otherwise, the finely tuned machine that is "Bears players who are paid to kick the ball" did fine. Cairo Santos had six points (one field goal, three extra points), and Khalil Herbert had one kick return for 30 yards. No one dropped a punt, which is currently the bar. It’s important to always remember that C's get degrees.
Cam Ellis is a writer for 670 The Score and Audacy Sports. Follow him on Twitter @KingsleyEllis.
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