One game down and the results were a W.
Chicago Bears fans have endured a lot of losing the past three years, so you won’t find any of us apologizing for that W.
The Bears earned it. In an ugly way, but they still earned it. The Tennessee Titans put together a half. A very good half, but the Bears made the necessary adjustments and shut them down.
In a lot of ways, this game wasn’t what fans had talked about and hoped for all summer. But in other ways, it was a continuation of what we saw and hoped for at the end of last season.
The offense was awful. Putrid even. It was more of what’s been bad for eons in Chicago.
And yet the defense and special teams carried them to the win. In that regard, it was also what we’ve come to expect for eons.
They bailed the offense out and pulled out a win in the most unlikely way.
Let’s look at three players who are looking up and three who need to show more after week one.
Stock up
Darrell Taylor, DE – For a guy I was completely unfamiliar with, and one who has been with the team for roughly two weeks, Taylor made a huge debut splash with two sacks, a forced fumble and two tackles for loss. For just a sixth-round pick Ryan Poles found a player who looks like he will be an immediate difference maker.
Tyrique Stevenson, CB – Stevenson finished last season strong so it was natural to expect more this year. Starting the year off with the game-winning pick-six is a heck of a way to start. He added two pass breakups, too.
T.J. Edwards, LB – The captain notched a great stat line Sunday; 15 tackles, 10 solo, two TFL and the fumble recovery. It was the sort of great, understated game that is easy to get overlooked when his teammates were making flashier plays like interceptions and scoring touchdowns.
Stock down
Caleb Williams, QB – Let’s keep it short and sweet. It wasn’t the debut any of us expected or hoped for. Some of that was the play calling. A good chunk of it was the offensive line. Some was other players not catching balls (more on that in a minute). I expect him to bounce back and I’m not down on Williams long term. You can’t judge a player by his first NFL start. It was certainly humbling and a reminder that no matter how highly touted you are, playing in the NFL is hard.
Keenan Allen, WR – Much like Williams, I suspect this is a game that Allen will soon want to forget. He dropped an open touchdown. But overall it was just rocky. Sure there was a deep shot that was well off-target, but even the balls you would expect the veteran to catch, he didn’t. He finished with four catches on 11 targets for 29 yards.
Velus Jones, Jr. – By most accounts, Velus had a solid summer. He was featured on Hard Knocks and had a good showing while transitioning to running back. But he had a big turnover on a kick return and was replaced by DeAndre Carter, who broke a long return later in the game. On offense, he added 19 yards on three touches. That’s a decent 6.3 yards per touch, but I think we’ve seen the last of Jones on special teams.
Who did I miss? Who earned a spot on the up and down list?
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