2022 Week 1: Chicago Bears 19, San Francisco 49ers 10

By Kevin Schroeder
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Updated: September 18, 2022

Sliding into the win column like [Photo: Chicago Bears on Twitter]

Player Grades

The grading scale goes from -3 to +3 for each play. Screens are graded as runs. Penalties are counted in whatever phase they were committed. Pre- and post-snap penalties are in the “Misc.” column. “Short” throws are 10 yards or less, “Medium” is 10-20, “Deep” is over 20. Everything else (scrambles, throwaways, reads, etc.) is under “Miscellaneous.” Parentheses in a column denote grades/snaps from the opposite side of the ball and are not included in grades/snaps from the player’s usual side. Snap counts are from Pro Football Reference. Box score and other relevant info can be found at that link as well.

I was told Roquan had a bad game.

His second half was definitely better than his first and there are definitely more points in the minus column in the run game than I would like to see, but I did think some of the plays that didn’t look so good for him were the result of the edge players not keeping contain. And this is why I didn’t want to trade Khalil Mack. And it’s why I was always so quick to defend him even when the monster sack numbers weren’t there. Hopefully, this isn’t a recurring theme. Of course, it’s worth noting that this figures to be the best rushing offense the Bears will see all year, so I’m not hitting the panic button yet.

And Morrow?

Yeah, rough game by him. Frequently out of position and/or being taken out of plays by the 49ers. Again, not hitting the panic button just yet. First game here, contain issues, so on and so forth. I did like both him and Roquan a lot in coverage. This is a rather encouraging sign as the Tampa-2 isn’t really that easy to install. At least not to the point where you’re playing the defense at a high level.

You know, if we didn’t trade Khalil Mack, we wouldn’t have Jaquan Brisker.

True, but if Old Ryan had listened to me in 2020, we’d have Grant Delpit instead of Cole Kmet.

Brisker’s gonna be better.

This was just one game, but yeah, that was an impressive debut. He, too, had some struggles early on, but he ended up with a nice game, all in all. He was strong against the run, solid in coverage, and recovered a fumble. A very nice debut.

Speaking of debuts…

Hello Dominique Robinson. Didn’t love him in the run game, but he was certainly noticeable rushing the passer. I’d give him the start Sunday night against Green Bay.

How come the offense still stinks?

Yeah, that was certainly less than encouraging. The second touchdown on the pass to Equinameous St. Brown was a positive sign; we didn’t see many clever plays like that from the last regime. Otherwise, yeah, less than ideal. The biggest problem was the offensive line not getting to the second level. Your author noticed several plays that were one block away from potential big gains. Bet you’ll never guess who the chief culprit here was. So, hopefully, this improves when Patrick’s hand has healed sufficiently enough to allow his to return to center and get Sam Mustipher out of the starting lineup.

Not helping the offensive woes was Montgomery not being patient and missing a couple holes. Khalil Herbert really is the better fit here, but his receiving leaves something to be desired and his pass protection leaves a whole lot more to be desired, thus Monty is still the starter.

As for Justin Fields, that pick just can’t happen. Simply a hideous decision. I think he knows that. Beyond that, he still needs to improve his processing speed. A couple times, he missed chances for solid gains just because he didn’t get through his progression quick enough. San Francisco has one of the better defenses the Bears will face all year and Green Bay at least has one on paper. Sure didn’t look like it against Minnesota; I think Justin Jefferson just caught another wide open pass. Point is, this game isn’t a reason to panic and if he doesn’t set the world on fire in Green Bay, that isn’t one, either. If he doesn’t look sharper against the Texans, then expectations may need to be tempered a bit.

What does this mean going forward?

I’m not going to get too worked up over one game. This outing inspires confidence that the team won’t be truly dreadful this year, but I still think the lack of pure talent puts a ceiling on what this team can do right now. That said, maybe the ceiling is just a little higher than I thought. Now onto Green Bay…

I knew Davante Adams was going to be hard for the Packers to replace, but yikes. Adams made you scheme around him. His placement determined how defenses would align. As big of a loss as his pure talent is, this may be an even bigger one. On the other side of the ball, they kept letting Justin Jefferson run wide open. Jefferson’s the best receiver in the league, but even so, there’s no excuse for him to be that wide open that often. These guys are beatable. If the Bears pull it off, then we can really get excited.

Monsters

Jones, Borom, Roquan, Jaylon, Brisker, Watts, Robinson

Chipmunks

Mustipher, Griffin, Pringle’s blocking, all edge persons not named Robinson against the run

Four Stars of the Game

Jaylon Johnson