UA-59049186-1 Bears 20, Vikings 10 - Recap - Good if it Goes
Home / Chicago / Bears 20, Vikings 10 – Recap

Bears 20, Vikings 10 – Recap

Box Score

Grading Primer (I wrote this about Michigan, but the grading procedures are still relevant.)

This game wasn’t actually that close. The Vikings points came on a drive that was extended by Akiem Hicks not playing to the whistle and Cornelius Washington stepping onto the field from the sideline and a touchdown with the game pretty well in hand for the Bears. I mean, wow, man. It’s worth noting that this sure didn’t look like the Vikings team that jumped out to that 5-0 start, but still, wow. There’s winning a game and there’s owning it, and this was the latter. The Vikings were banged up in the secondary, but it’s still a rather stout defense and the Bears were able to string together long drives, despite being down both Pro Bowl guards. The back half of the schedule features some winnable games. Now that Jay Cutler‘s back, the Bears may actually win them.

Player Grades

minn-h-o

minn-h-d

How’d they do?

Ratings are out of 100 and should be read similar to Madden ratings. Overall ratings for the season and the change in that number from the previous week are in parentheses.

QB: 94 (Season: 82, Change: +12)

This game should be titled “Why the ‘Brian Hoyer should start over Jay’ argument was a dumb one.” Credit Dowell Loggains for a great game plan and credit the offensive line for giving Cutler time to throw, but even Jay’s harshest critics have to give him his due for this game – he made quite a few impressive throws.

RB: 98 (Season: 90, Change: +2)

Jordan Howard had a day. Again, credit the offensive line (they will get plenty of credit in just a minute), but also Howard did a great job of finding the holes and bursting through them. I know I say this a lot, but his vision is really something. He’s the clear lead dog in the backfield at this point. Ka’Deem Carey was meh in limited action. Jeremy Langford made it back onto the field. He saw only a few snaps; one featured a catch for a first down that made me really nervous. The throw was fine, but he’s dropped better passes than that one. Fortunately, this one was not dropped.

FB: Unrein doesn’t count.

WR: 90 (Season: 90, Change: 0)

As expected, Alshon Jeffery benefitted from Cutler’s return. Cameron Meredith had another nice outing. Hopefully, the Bears will be able to re-sign Jeffery; if they can, he, Kevin White, Meredith, and Eddie Royal would make for a very formidable wideout group. Josh Bellamy and Deonte Thompson were both solid.

TE: 93 (Season: 87, Change: +2)

Zach Miller played well in both the passing and running games, but was especially good in the former. Logan Paulsen was fine as a blocker. Ben Braunecker was okay in limited action.

OL: 86 (Season: 78, Change: +4)

Cody Whitehair had a very impressive game. Eric Kush played quite well – good pickup by Ryan Pace right before the season. Charles Leno, Jr. had a nice outing. Ted Larsen and Bobby Massie didn’t grade out well, but they were both okay. Pass pro doesn’t show up that well in grading (after the season, I’ll look into tweaking my system so the grades do a better job of telling the whole story) and the pass pro was solid all around. This had the potential to be an awfully tough matchup given the skill level of the Vikings’ defense and the injuries to the Bears’ O-line, but these guys were up to the task. Well done.

DL; 88 (Season: 80, Change: +1)

Other than not playing to the whistle on the Sam Bradford fumble, Akiem Hicks had a great game. Mitch Unrein had a very nice game. I’m not saying he read the last few blogs and got tired of me saying he stunk, but I’m also not saying that’s not what happened. Jonathan Bullard was okay when he was on the field. Will Sutton had a bit of a rough game inside.

OLB: 93 (Season: 90, Change: +1)

Leonard Floyd, ladies and gentlemen. This was a second-consecutive excellent game for him. Willie Young had a couple biffs, but was solidly positive overall. Pernell McPhee looked to be most of the way back.

ILB: 89 (Season: 87, Change: +1)

You know how last week I said it would be nice if Jerrell Freeman and Danny Trevathan could have good games together? Well, here it was.

CB: 74 (Season: 68, Change: +4)

So, watching the game live, things looked pretty good, and then I watched the game back and…well, there weren’t any -10s. Tracy Porter and Cre’Von LeBlanc were slightly negative, which isn’t terrible in my system for a CB, but it’s also not good. De’Vante Bausby ended up at 0, as did Demontre Hurst, though he didn’t see many snaps. More on these guys later.

S: 87 (Season: 78, Change: +2)

Adrian Amos and Harold Jones-Quartey each only had half-a-minus. When they needed to make a play, they made it.

Takeaways

Let’s start with addressing something I was seeing a bit on Twitter after the game: the idea that the Bears should be tanking. Guys, it’s way too early for that. Do I expect them to make the playoffs? No. Does the possibility exist that they do? Yes. There’s half a season to play. You have to keep playing. Should you be happy about the win? Absolutely. This was an awfully impressive performance. It shows a lot of heart, meaning this team isn’t a dumpster fire, they’re just a bad team (right now). I must say this every week, but I have to say it again: bad football teams can become good football teams with good leadership and good coaching, which the Bears appear to have. On the topic of coaching, Dowell Loggains ate Mike Zimmer’s lunch. Loggains did a great job finding ways to beat the Vikings’ defense.

Okay, let’s talk about those CB grades. Not ideal. As I said while going through the positions, grading out slightly negative isn’t terrible for a DB in my system, but it definitely isn’t good, either. Coverage was solid a good amount of the time, but at other times, Bradford just missed dudes. That’s going to be something to keep an eye on going forward.

Yet To Be Named Gimmicky Award Meant To Show Who The Best Overall Performers Were

If you have an idea of what I should call this, let me know. Twitter handle and e-mail address are at the end of the blog.

Anyway, up to 3 may be awarded per player. Not necessarily the highest-graded players since different grades mean different things to different players (refer to the primer).

Offense

3: Jordan Howard, Jay Cutler, Zach Miller, Cody Whitehair

2: Eric Kush, Alshon Jeffery

1: Charles Leno, Jr.

Defense

3: Leonard Floyd, Danny Trevathan, Akiem Hicks

2: Pernell McPhee, Jerrell Freeman, Harold Jones-Quartey, Adrian Amos, Mitch Unrein

1: Willie Young

Yet To Be Named Gimmicky Award Meant To Show Who The Best Overall Performers Were Count

awards-wk8

Bear Down!

Twitter: @KSchroeder_312

E-mail: schroeder.giig@gmail.com

One Comment

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *