Chicago Bears 2019 Season Weeks 1–9 Recap

Ryan Lechtenberg
Nov 4 · 3 min read

Every Chicago Bears fan had high hopes for the 2019 season, dreams of seeing Mitchell Trubisky hoist the Lombardi Trophy and prove all the doubters wrong, but here we are in the first week of November and the Chicago Bears are sitting last in their division with a record of 3–5. I, a die-hard Bears fan have found this team unwatchable and almost find myself missing the days of John Fox and Dowell Loggains.

It is clear that Trubisky is not the answer, although the 3–5 start is not all on Trubisky’s fragile shoulders. The offensive line has been surprisingly atrocious with the the injury to Kyle Long and the regression of Bobby Massie. On top of it all, Matt Nagy’s play-calling has left a lot to be desired. To be fair, the play calling could be because of the limitations set on him by his QB. The only bright spot of the entire offense has been Allen Robinson II as he has made a highlight reel type catch almost every game. We are also seeing the emergence of the promising third-round pick of the 2019 draft class, David Montgomery, as he had 200+all purpose yards and 3 rushing touchdowns over the last 2 games versus the Chargers and Eagles.

The defense has been a top 10 unit all season but would probably be a top 5 unit or better if they did not have to be on the field for what feels like 90% of the game. The pass rush this year has been quiet since week 4 however and that partly has to do with the fact that Akiem Hicks has been out for a while and every team schemes away from Khalil Mack and practically triple-teams him on every snap. That, however, should mean Leonard Floyd is having a monster year in the sack column right? Wrong. Floyd has been solid against the run but has only 24 tackles and 3 sacks to show for his efforts. To be fair, however, stats do not always tell the whole story. The defensive-backs have been solid all year but are lacking the ball-hawking ability they had last year. Overall the defense has been good but would be great if they had an offense that could move the ball and control the clock.

The special teams has been widely inconsistent all year. In terms of the kick-off and punt coverage units. The punt and kick returns have been better than last year with the addition of Cordarrelle Patterson. If only Tarik Cohen could learn how to run north and south it would be a dynamic return unit. Pat O’Donnell has been a great punter all year and has been critical in flipping the field when the Bears stall out at there own 25-yard line, which in turn has helped the defense not play on a short field on some occasions. Finally the kicking situation, this saga went on all off-season, all the way through preseason and up to the first game of the year. Eddy Piñeiro has been spectacular all year on PATs, kickoffs and field goals. His only bad game came against the Chargers, where he doinked one and missed on the game-winning one from 41 yards out. Don’t look now and knock on wood as I say this, but I think the Bears have found their kicker.

Overall the Chicago Bears have extremely under preformed and it is time to punt on this season, build next season and contend that following season. This will be a big off-season for the Bears as there is zero room for error. It starts first with finding a new QB to lead the 2020 Chicago Bears.