10 thoughts after the Chicago Bears won their third straight game, pummeling Minnesota Vikings quarterback Kirk Cousins for six sacks in a 16-6 victory at Soldier Field.
1. Chase Daniel has carved out quite a career for himself during 11 seasons in the NFL.
Chase Daniel hasn’t worn nearly as many jerseys as former Bears backup quarterback Josh McCown — and he probably never will. But he’s made a small fortune toiling as a No. 2 and sometimes No. 3 quarterback on the rosters of four different teams with two stays in New Orleans. When Daniel joined the Bears last season, he had earned a shade more than $24 million during the first nine seasons of his career while attempting a grand total of 78 passes in regular-season games. That’s an astonishing ratio when you consider some starters will crank up 78 attempts or more in the span of two games. It’s a credit to how Daniel makes offensive coaches feel at ease with his comprehension of the offense and ability, if needed, to fill in. It’s also representative of the fact that the teams employing him — Chiefs, Eagles and the aforementioned Saints — have had stable and healthy starting quarterbacks while Daniel has been on the roster.
What the Bears got from Daniel on Sunday, when he replaced injured starter Mitch Trubisky on the first possession of the Week 4 game, is what coach Matt Nagy expected and surely what general manager Ryan Pace expected. He provided an efficient effort and protected the football and all of that played to the strength of the roster — the defense. Daniel completed that first drive, hitting running back Tarik Cohen on an option route for a 10-yard touchdown and an early lead. The defense was staked to an early advantage with Trubisky in the locker room until halftime and then on the sideline in the second half with his left arm in a sling protecting his injured shoulder.
“I’ve said it before, I’ve been in the league a long time,” Daniel said. “I don’t want to show my age too much (he turns 33 Oct. 7), but out there when you get your opportunities, you never really know when they’re going to come as a backup quarterback. My mindset is always just be ready, be ready, and it was crazy because it felt like Mitch’s injury was happening in slow motion. He was literally right across from me maybe five yards, and at first, I thought it was a concussion because he tried to get up, down, tried to get up again, fell down.
“So, I’m like, ‘Oh, man, I’m at least going to have to go in, I’m going to have some time to warm up.’ I didn’t see the defensive holding penalty, so I went over there to start throwing, and they’re yelling at me, ‘Get in! Get in!’ So, I tried to just stay calm and cool, and I’ve been in this situation before. The two starts last year really helped me just with communication, especially with the offensive line. We’re doing a bunch of no-huddle stuff. So, it felt good.”
Daniel knows where to go with the ball. He had a nice pump fake and delivered a strike to Allen Robinson for a 25-yard gain to set up first-and-goal from the 5-yard line on his third attempt. He made a handful of other big throws, hitting Anthony Miller for a five-yard gain on fourth-and-3 before the two-minute warning in the first half, helping set up an easy 25-yard field goal for Eddy Pineiro that gave the Bears a 10-0 halftime lead.
“Chase has done this for a while now,” Robinson said. ‘He’s no spring chicken to playing football in general. He’s familiar with the offense. He’s like a coach for us when he’s not playing. That gives you a lot of confidence. He knows this offense in and out.”
Daniel looks more settled as a thrower than Trubisky. His feet are in rhythm. He’s not all over the place. He doesn’t look panicked. He looks like a veteran No. 2 guy should look when he comes in the game.
Those are all positives for the Bears. The problem for the franchise, however, is their No. 1 isn’t much of an upgrade over the veteran backup — not at this point anyway and not after the first three games of the season when the offense has scuffled. You expect a drop off when the No. 2 comes in and some teams have to change the offense. But the Bears didn’t change a thing.
The only thing that might change is Daniel, who attempted 76 passes last season and 30 in this game (22 of 30 for 195 yards, one touchdown and no turnovers), will start averaging less money per career pass attempt. Fivethirtyeight.com published an interesting story about Daniel in training camp before the start of the 2018 season. Per the article, he was No. 72 on the all-time earnings list for quarterbacks entering last season. At the conclusion of this season, when Daniel makes $6 million, only 51 quarterbacks will have earned more in a career.
It’s good that the Bears have a solid investment in a quarterback that has a coaching-level mastery of the offense.
“We just keep rolling,” Nagy said. “Zero changed, nothing, and that’s the beauty of having a guy like Chase. Look, he was ready. He prepares himself every single day, and it’s never different. It’s always the same. So we’re very, very lucky to have Chase as our backup.”
2. The Bears didn’t share much in the way of information regarding Mitch Trubisky’s injured left shoulder Sunday night.
The positive news was that coach Matt Nagy said he doesn’t believe it’s a season-ending injury for Mitch Trubisky. Other than that, we’re waiting for more information from the team, details that will come Monday or perhaps Wednesday. Surely, the team has an idea of what it’s looking at with the Trubisky. The team employs a handful of the best doctors in Chicago and they’re on hand at every game so the club at least has some general information at this point.
If Trubisky is out no time — or a short period of time — he will be able to pick up where he left off this season. The bye week certainly comes at a good time, right after the trip to London this week to face the Raiders.
Bears quarterback Mitch Trubisky wears a sling while watching the video board from the sideline in the third quarter. (John J. Kim / Chicago Tribune)
“He had a really good week of practice, and every week he’s so excited to get back at it and really get this thing going,” Nagy said.
“And so it’s, it happens early on, and now here he is, he’s out. But he’s able to — he’s out of the game and now he knows that we’ve got to just see where it’s at. I just, I want the kid to do really well. How many plays was it, six? I’m sure that part is frustrating. But again, he’s in there and very supportive of the guys, and we’ll just have to see exactly where he’s at.”
The Bears will have a decision to make on Trubisky after the season. By the spring, they need to determine whether or not they will pick up the fifth-year option (for the 2021 season) in his contract. It would likely take something drastic in the way of performance or health for the club to decline that option. There’s simply too much invested in Trubisky right now and finding a franchise quarterback can be such a difficult thing. But if he misses an extended period of time, say another three games or more, that takes out a big chunk of time for the Bears to see him play and for him to improve in games and on the practice field.
3. Nick Williams is a great story for the Bears.
Nick Williams is eighth in the NFL with four sacks through four games — and he was out of football at this time two years ago. Williams got his first sack at Denver in Week 2, added one last Monday at Washington and had two in the victory over the Vikings. The sack of Joe Flacco was the first of his career. It’s a testament to his perseverance, talent and some great coaching by Bears defensive line coach Jay Rodgers. There are a handful of really good defensive line coaches in the league right now, but you’d be hard-pressed to find one doing a better job than Rodgers, who isn’t working with a single first-round draft pick and has only one player originally drafted in the top two rounds — nose tackle Eddie Goldman, who was a second-round pick in 2015.
Williams, 29, was a seventh-round pick of the Steelers in 2013 after he came on as a senior at Samford and had six sacks. He only played one year of high school football in Birmingham, Ala., and was brought along slowly in college. Williams remained with the Steelers for two seasons but never appeared in a regular-season game. He landed with the Chiefs in 2015 and played in 14 games as a reserve in the rotation on the defensive line, making nine tackles. He split the 2016 season between the Chiefs and Dolphins, appearing in five games for each, and was out of football after Miami cut him in 2017. So when the Bears added Williams just before the draft in 2018, it was a depth addition, a body to take to training camp. The time off for Williams, who had only appeared in 26 games, proved to be a blessing and allowed him to heal from a turf toe injury and a nagging groin injury. His agent Dave Butz Jr. told him to heal up, work hard and be ready.
Bears defensive tackle Nick Williams celebrates after sacking Vikings quarterback Kirk Cousins during the 3rd quarter. (Stacey Wescott / Chicago Tribune)
“I was really hurt that whole training camp, that preseason, and it was good for me to be out,” Williams said. “The Lord taught me a lot of things about myself and I was able to spend a lot of time with my family and was able to refocus on what I wanted to be. I had a plan in place and I just stayed in Alabama, and just worked out like a dog. When Chicago came calling, I was ready.
“Turf toe and a groin strain, it was bugging me throughout OTAs and I couldn’t put my best football on the field. The Dolphins let me go, unfortunately, and I had time to get my body back right and be ready. It’s not hard (to wait for the next shot). I put all my faith in Jesus Christ and I knew he had another opportunity for me in the NFL. I just stuck to that, stayed ready because Dave puts a lot of trust in me and faith in me to stay ready when he has a job for me to do, and that’s what happened.
“This is my seventh year in the league. In Kansas City, but I was behind some great players — Dontari Poe, Allen Bailey, Jaye Howard, Mike DeVito. I was just lost in the shuffle but I didn’t let that discourage me. I looked at it as an opportunity to get better and be ready when my number is called.”
Williams gives the Bears quality depth and a player they can count on moving forward, no small factor when you consider that Akiem Hicks and Bilal Nichols were both sidelined in Week 4 with injuries.
4. The first word anything could be up with Roquan Smith, the Bears’ super talented inside linebacker, came at 1:32 p.m., less than two hours prior to kickoff when the team tweeted, “Bears LB Roquan Smith has been downgraded to doubtful for today’s game.”
The team’s PR staff quickly circulated word that it was a personal issue for Roquan Smith, who was not listed as missing any practice last week Wednesday through Friday.
Smith watched the game from the sideline and the club provided no clarity regarding the situation afterward. Nick Kwiatkoski filled in quite well with a team-high nine tackles, one sack, two tackles for loss and a forced fumble. It was a heck of a performance by Kwiatkoski, who is in the final year of his contract.
“Yeah, I’m going to leave it as it’s completely a personal matter and I’m just going to completely leave it at that,” coach Matt Nagy said after the game when asked about Smith’s absence.
Asked if it is an issue that could carry on beyond this week, Nagy put up a wall again.
“Again, I’m going to try to just — again, it’s personal,” he said. “And I’m just leaving it at that.”
Kwiatkoski learned he would be starting Sunday morning.
“I don’t know what all happened,” fellow inside linebacker Danny Trevathan said. “That was coach’s decision. Me? As his big brother, I’m just here for whatever he needs.”
As little as the Bears said after the game — really nothing — it’s impossible for Smith’s absence to go unexplained. People will be asking questions, seeking clarity for how the club’s 2018 first-round pick, a guy who signed an $18,477,168 contract for four seasons ($288,705 per regular-season game) could be sidelined in such a curious way. Multiple rumors were circulating Sunday night, and I’m not going to dabble in innuendo here. Smith is a bright guy and one of the very best players on the roster. Stay tuned to see what comes out regarding this story because a club has to better account for why a key player is suddenly de-activated.
5. Credit goes to the offensive line for what, watching it live anyway, looked like their best performance of the season.
The Bears did a nice job shutting down Von Miller and Bradley Chubb during Week 2 in Denver. The Vikings have a talented front seven and a secondary that can be dangerous coming off the edge — and the Bears offensive line held up well. Chase Daniel was sacked only once and Mitch Trubisky wasn’t sacked during his brief time. On the play Trubisky was injured, he had time to get the ball out and then spun into oncoming pressure.
Ted Larsen replaced Kyle Long at right guard, and that was probably a good move as a hip injury has given Long trouble in the early portion of the season. He hasn’t been moving well and it’s been evident. Larsen played most of the game, but a knee injury knocked him out and Rashaad Coward, who has worked primarily this year as a backup tackle, filled in.
“I’ve got to watch it,” coach Matt Nagy said. “I hate judging on not seeing it yet, but I felt like — my gut felt like they did a good job of stepping up. That’s a really, really good front that you’re playing there with some linebackers that fly around. I never felt like — there’s some things that they do on defense that might with some of this RPO stuff that, again, might take away the run so you’re throwing, and then that’s fine. But overall, I didn’t feel like – there was a couple one-on-one battles that were lost, but that’s going to happen. Overall, I felt better, I’ve just got to watch it on tape.”
“We played a good game protection-wise,” right tackle Bobby Massie said. “We’ve still got to pick it up in the run game, you know, but protection-wise we gave Chase time and he found some guys and made some plays. That defense is good.”
Added left tackle Charles Leno: “It was just preparation. We knew the kind of edge rushers we were getting into and we’ve got some good ones we see in practice. You have to carry over that technique to the field.”
Like Massie said, the pass protection was solid and the Bears need to get better in the run game. Look for that to be a point of emphasis.
6. Eddy Pineiro came onto the field late in the second quarter when the Bears faced fourth-and-3 at the Vikings’ 34-yard line.
It looked like he would attempt a 52-yard field goal. Then, holder Pat O’Donnell sent him off the field and the Bears were in punt formation, content to let the play clock run out and take a delay of game penalty. Confused, Vikings coach Mike Zimmer called timeout. It was a bad move, and Zimmer admitted as much afterward, as the Bears changed direction and sent the offense back on the field. Chase Daniel converted fourth down and Pineiro eventually came back out to make a 25-yard field goal, the first of three for him. He also hit from 38 and 30 yards, making him 8 for 9 on the season.
Pineiro was clearly limping somewhat as he left the field, a sign that his right knee injury, suffered in the weight room during Week 3, is still nagging him.
Bears kicker Eddy Pineiro celebrates the 16-6 win over the Vikings at Solder Field. (John J. Kim / Chicago Tribune)
“Still in pain,” Pineiro said. “I would say (I am) a little bit better. I’m still in pain. I just gotta get through it and try to get to the bye week and get better.”
The injury reduced Pineiro to kicking only one day during practice last week when he hit 20-25 balls. Typically, he kicks twice during the week and that is the norm for most NFL kickers. Once again, O’Donnell handled kickoff duties.
“It was far out of my routine,” Pineiro said. “I usually kick twice a week and kick a lot of balls. I’m the type of guy that likes to kick a lot to get into a good rhythm but obviously I had to cut back because of my knee. I am just trying to get back into that rhythm again.”
You can’t argue with the results to this point and hopefully the bye week gives Pineiro time to heal up.
7. Up next is the Bears’ first regular-season game in London since 2011 — long enough ago that none of the players from that team remain.
There are plenty in the Bears locker room that have been to London for a game as a member of another club. Coach Matt Nagy went in 2015 when the Chiefs thumped the Lions 45-10 at Wembley Stadium, tying Kansas City for the most points in a game played in England.
The Bears will depart for London after Thursday’s practice at Halas Hall, following the general schedule they used eight years ago when they beat the Buccaneers at Wembley Stadium. Their opponent, the Raiders, already departed for the U.K. following their victory Sunday at Indianapolis.
It will be the third London game for backup quarterback Chase Daniel. He went for a full week with the Saints in 2017 and after a Thursday practice with the Chiefs in ’15.
Bears quarterback Chase Daniel is hugged by head coach Matt Nagy as the game comes to a close against the Vikings. (Stacey Wescott / Chicago Tribune)
“Listen, it’s a fun experience if you have done it once,” Daniel said. “Cool if you have done it twice. Three times, it’s like all right, I’ve seen it. I understand what they are trying to do with the game (in Europe) but I’d rather just have a normal away game. It can be a distraction at times, right, with the travel and the food and stuff like that. But we’ve had great experiences there, and I’ve had fun. It’s fun for guys that have never been outside the country. It’s an opportunity that football brings these guys and the games are crazy. They are nutty. They cheer for field goals more than anything because they are used to soccer over there. You get a field goal and they are way more excited than a touchdown.
“I like the short week. The short week is a lot easier on coaches as well. They get the whole gameplan in (before leaving). Long week is cool but if you have kids, you are away from your family. The food can at times get a little stale or boring if you are there for seven days.
“I like going over there, getting there Friday, doing your Friday routine, waking up Saturday and getting used to (the time change) and playing (Sunday) and going home. It’s tough, the time change on Friday, but once Saturday comes you get that out of your system and you get ready to roll. Personally, I didn’t like the whole week. You’re over there a long time. You are away from family. You go downtown and you check it all out but there are only so many times you can see Big Ben. But it will be fun. I am looking forward to it and it’s good that we get a bye week after it.”
Guard Ted Larsen was on the Buccaneers when they faced the Bears in 2011 and he experienced a full week in England. He’s glad the Bears are cutting it down and not leaving until late Thursday.
“I think this is a pretty proven method of going just a couple days before,” he said. “It will be cool to play in that stadium. It’s brand new and I am a soccer fan. I just like watching the Premier League, Tottenham, Man City.”
Nickel cornerback Buster Skrine played in London with the Jets and got a kick out of the fans.
“It was cool how you went there and played and the fans had every jersey on,” Skrine said. “It wasn’t like just the Jets and Dolphins — it was fans of every team and they cheered for every play. It was cool. We went three days before and the time change is rough. The first team meeting, a lot of people were late. They overslept.”
One drawback for the players is the taxes they must pay in London. Players pay taxes in each state the games are played in in the United States. So, Bears players pay Illinois taxes for eight games, and then once in Wisconsin, once in Michigan, once in Minnesota, etc. The tax rate for the game in London is higher than any rate state side — higher than even California, which has the highest rate in the U.S.
“You pay way more,” Daniel said. “It’s awful. A lot of people don’t understand that.”
8. This has to be dubbed Khalil Mack Week, right?
The Bears are preparing to face Khalil Mack’s former team, the Raiders, and surely there is nothing Mack would like more than having a big game against them. Mack is off to a hot start with 4 ½ sacks to tie for sixth in the league. He also has four forced fumbles, tying him with Houston’s Whitney Mercilus for tops in the NFL. Mack didn’t want to spend too much time celebrating the victory — he had 1 ½ sacks and stripped Kirk Cousins for a takeaway on the first snap of the third quarter — or dwell on the current state of the NFC North race with the Bears and Packers both 3-1.
“A dog that poop fast don’t poop for long, man,” he said.
He also clearly wasn’t interested in hyping up the showdown with the Raiders in London.
“It’s just another game but we got to win,” Mack said. “It’s going to be a good one.”
Teammates get the feeling Mack will be poised for a big outing.
Bears outside linebacker Khalil Mack celebrates a 16-6 win over the Vikings at Solder Field. (John J. Kim / Chicago Tribune)
“He’ll have a big wall to go through on that right side with Trent Brown (6-foot-8, 380 pounds),” right tackle Bobby Massie said. “I would not want to be blocking Mack this week.”
Left tackle Charles Leno was back home in Oakland during the offseason and at Walgreens when another customer asked him if he was a football player.
“The guy said, ‘You play for the Raiders?’” Leno said. “I was like, ‘No, I don’t play for the Raiders. I play for the Bears. He was like, ‘Ohhhhh, man! Why did they give Khalil Mack to the Bears?!?’ I know Oakland is still mad about that.”
To put Mack’s start into perspective, he had a career-high six forced fumbles last year. He had a career-high 15 sacks in 2015, his second season. If Mack remains hot, he’s going to be a strong contender for his second defensive player of the year award.
9. It was a remarkable job by the defense to stop Minnesota’s running game, holding the Vikings to 40 yards on 16 carries and the NFL’s leading rusher Dalvin Cook to 35 yards on 14 attempts.
What you saw is a Vikings offense that is completely dysfunctional without the ground attack to set up the play-action passing game, and that was a group effort by a handful of Bears backups and the regulars. The line was terrific and Dalvin Cook, who usually has success picking holes on outside zone carries, didn’t leave much daylight for the back.
“Anytime you take a team that averages 193 yards in rush yards per game and you have 40 or 50 yards rushing and you hold that running back, who’s a really good running back to that minimal amount of yards, you’re doing something right, and those guys, they stepped up,” coach Matt Nagy said. “They wanted it. It was a challenge to them, and then again, our coaches put those guys in great positions. These are the fun ones. They all deserve credit.”
If the Bears can play run defense like this — they rank third in the league allowing 61.5 yards per game — they will be able to turn a bunch of offenses into one-dimensional attacks.
10. The Bears opened as a 5 1/2-point favorite over the Raiders for Sunday’s game at Tottenham Hotspur Stadium in London.
10a. The Fox crew of Dick Stockton, Mark Schlereth and Jennifer Hale will call the Bears-Raiders game.
10b. Worth noting Matt Nagy was 2-for-2 on replay challenges. Those were the first two successful challenges he’s had after going 0-for-3 with the red flag last season.
10c. It was a good game for wide receiver Javon Wims filling in for Taylor Gabriel, who was out with a concussion. Wims made four receptions for 56 yards.
10d. Cornerback Sherrick McManis, who was inactive the past two weeks, showed his value with two tackles on special teams. McManis was elevated with so many injured players out but the coaches might want to think about keeping him up when guys heal up and demoting Duke Shelley. The rookie has had problems with penalties on special teams.
10e. With 17 sacks, the Bears trail only the Patriots and Panthers (18) and they are on pace for 68.
