Chicago Bears: Month-by-month 2017 season review
September (1-3 record)
Even before the season started, the Chicago Bears had a quarterback controversy. The Bears signed veteran free agent Mike Glennon and named him the starter. That didn’t stop general manager Ryan Pace from drafting Trubisky. When Glennon struggled and Trubisky played well in the preseason, many clamored for the rookie to start. The Bears were steadfast in keeping Glennon as the starter to start the season, however.
The Bears had what looked to be a brutal first half of the schedule. In the first month, they played the NFC champion Atlanta Falcons, the rebuilt Tampa Bay Buccaneers, the always tough Pittsburgh Steelers, and the hated Green Bay Packers.
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With Glennon at the helm, the Bears started pretty much how we expected, though with some surprises. In the season-opening game against the Falcons, the Bears gave them everything they could handle. In fact, they were inside the five, with a chance to take the lead late in the game. Alas, four plays inside the Falcons’ five resulted in nothing and the Bears lost 23-17. Even though they lost, one player shined in the spotlight — Tarik Cohen.
Cohen was the Bears’ fourth-round pick out of North Carolina A&T. The pick surprised many, as the Bears already had Jordan Howard. The 5-6, 180-pound Cohen was a perfect complement to Howard. Cohen showed why his nickname was “The Human Joystick” with his incredible runs around defenses.
The highlight of the month was a surprise win against the Steelers. After a blowout loss to the Bucs in Week 2, things looked bleak. The Bears again played a good team tough, and this time the Bears came through with an overtime victory. Cohen thought he had the game-winning run in overtime but the referees ruled him out of bounds. Then Howard took the ball and got that game-winner.
Also, one of the most embarrassing things to happen (unfortunately not the only one this season) occurred. Marcus Cooper took a blocked field goal and looked like he had a touchdown run. Inexplicably, he slowed down at around the 10-yard line and a Steelers player knocked the ball away at the one. The Bears still had a shot to run a play and get a touchdown but a Charles Leno false start ruined that. Not a pretty look.
The game against the Packers was the last straw for Glennon. It appeared as if he played FOR the Packers with all the ways he gave the ball to them. He threw two interceptions and lost two fumbles.
For the month, Glennon owned a 1-3 record. He completed 66.4 percent of his passes for 833 yards. He threw 4 touchdown passes and 5 interceptions and had 5 fumbles. Overall, he didn’t look much different from Jay Cutler. Because of that, the Bears decided to go with the rookie the rest of the way.