5 Questions: Chicago Bears @ Baltimore Ravens

The Trubisky era began last week with a whisper, a tease of what is to come. The Bears played themselves and their prized rookie out of a win with mistakes and plenty of bad performances from pass catchers and defenders alike. The game was still exciting, sporting a fake punt touchdown and one of the most clever 2 point conversions I’ve ever seen, but a late interception and terrible penalty calls later the Bears fell to a field goal in the waning minutes. Week 6 is now upon us and the Bears are headed to Baltimore to face the Ravens, a team that has had good games but also got blown out by the Jaguars, so let’s see what questions are being asked.

1. Will Mitch Trubisky improve?

Smart money is on a yes, the Vikings defense is one of the better ones in the league and even though the Ravens are pretty good they are a notch below. Trubisky also got to taste a real NFL game and that alone will speed up his development. Trubisky has been trying to find out when and where to be his aggressive self, and in his second start, I fully expect him to take a few steps forward.

1. Can new receivers spark the Bears offense?

Tanner Gentry got his promotion, again, and To be blunt he should have never left in the first place. The Bears demoted him when Markus Wheaton got healthy enough to play, however, Wheaton went catchless for his 3 games before tearing his groin and now will sit a few weeks. Tre Mcbride came up last week and was clearly one of the better receivers on the field with only him and Kendall Wright finding any kind of separation. Gentry is the only receiver on the roster who has shown any proclivity as a deep threat and, with him and Trubisky already having a strong rapport, I expect them to take a few shots downfield.

1. What is with the penalties?

Last week penalties dictated the game, and while some (phantom holding) were iffy officiating and brought back a big Jordan Howard touchdown run, There were plenty others that were justified. This has been the theme for weeks, countless third down stops overturned by holds and tons of pre-snap penalties have set the offense back and killed drives. A majority of the Bears drives last week featured a 2nd and 7+ yards due to false starts and holds and so-called offensive pass interference and there is only one reason this problem persists. Coaching. John Fox and his staff continue to put out a mistake-prone and undisciplined roster and it never changes.

1. Has the defense finally found its teeth?

Sure looked that way Monday night, Leonard Floyd and Akiem Hicks wreaked havoc in the backfield all night and both easily could have had 3 or 4 sacks if not for penalties. The secondary consistently made plays on the ball and is finally showing confidence to attack as well as defend. Kyle Fuller and Eddie Jackson both have been extremely solid in the secondary this entire season. Jackson is still a rookie but may already be the Bears best coverage DB and Bryce Callahan has the slot on lock. If Floyd, Hicks, and McPhee can get consistent pressure then the secondary may finally be able to pull down a few of these errant passes.

1. Who is the new return man?

Deonte Thompson found himself out of a job this week and it says a lot when a receiver-needy team feels the need to get rid of one. I felt he had the best preseason of all the backup receivers, but when the regular season came around, he disappeared both as a receiver and returner. With that said the Bears have plenty of options to replace him and I believe first dibs go to Benny Cunningham. He was signed in the offseason because of his versatility and with him not getting many touches do to the duo of Howard and Cohen he will need to show his worth elsewhere. If he doesn’t get the job done then other options include rookie Eddie Jackson and DB Bryce Callahan but I doubt that either one is all that necessary.

Bonus: Where is Adam Shaheen?

With the receiving core in shambles and Dion Sims proving to be a nonfactor, the Bears have little to no reason to not see what the rookie second-rounder can do. They decided to take him over multiple good defensive players and he has only seen one target on the year. He and Trubisky have shown chemistry and even roomed together at camp so it would be plain silly to continue to keep him buried behind Simms on the depth chart. Zach Miller is still the best receiving option from the tight end position on the team but the only way for Shaheen to adjust and become what we hope he can be is to get into the action. Hopefully, Dowell Loggains can see that logic and make it happen.

This is actually a good matchup for the Bears this week. Although the Ravens defense shows flashes of greatness its weaknesses line up with what the Bears want to do. I expect a better overall game from the Bears offense but more than anything else they can not continue to shoot themselves in the feet with dumb penalties. Eliminate those, and Jordan Howard, Tarik Cohen, and Mitch Trubisky can do some work.