Chicago Bears: Studs and duds from rejuvenating win vs. Washington

Stud: Taylor Gabriel

Have a game, Taylor Gabriel! In the first two games of the season, he received just seven targets, making three catches for 35 yards and no touchdown catches. Against Washington alone, he had seven targets, making six catches for 75 yards and an incredible three touchdowns.

Gabriel made all his touchdown catches in the second quarter. He became the first player to make three touchdown receptions in one quarter on Monday Night Football. He also became the first Bears receiver since Mike Ditka in 1963 with three touchdown catches in one half.

The speedy wide receiver was only able to have one glorious half, however. He had to leave the game early in the second half after suffering a concussion. Still, it was great to see him play so well. After not getting involved very much in the game plan over the first two weeks, seeing him do well as a complement to Robinson is encouraging.

We shouldn’t expect a performance like this every week but to have him involved and see him succeed gives the offense a big boost. I wrote before the game about how more receivers need to be involved. Too much of the attention was given to Robinson, to the detriment of the other receivers.

Nagy and Trubisky finally got Gabriel and the other receivers more involved. Again, Robinson had the most targets in the game with seven, but this time he shared that lead with Gabriel.

Hopefully, this is a stepping stone for Gabriel. If he continues to do well as the season progresses it bodes well for the offense. Having just one receiver getting a bulk of the attention is a recipe for disaster. Let’s see if the offense we saw against Washington is the one that we see from now on.