Chicago Bears: Offensive woes overshadow Robert Quinn’s great start

The Chicago Bears’ struggles on offense take the attention off linebacker Robert Quinn, who is having a great start.

The Chicago Bears had one of their worst offensive games in franchise history. In fact, their 1.1 yards per play in their loss against the Cleveland Browns was the second-worst this century. They had just 48 total yards of offense and only one total passing yard. Additionally, rookie quarterback Justin Fields was sacked nine times. It was ugly, and the 26-6 score didn’t show how ugly it really was.

Everything we see, read, and hear, about the Bears is the call for head coach Matt Nagy’s firing. He had a pathetic game plan and failed to adjust when that game plan wasn’t working. He certainly deserves all the negativity going his way. We are now in the fourth year of his reign yet this “offensive guru” has yet to take the offense to the heights the Chicago Bears front office expected.

This article is not about Nagy and his shortcomings, however. There is plenty of time to write about that and surely Nagy will commit more acts that will frustrate Bears fans.

What is frustrating about all this is that Chicago’s offensive struggles, especially after last week’s debacle, are overshadowing a big positive on the team — linebacker Robert Quinn’s fast start.

Many people were shocked when the Chicago Bears signed Quinn to a big free agent contract last year. With all of the Bears’ needs, many did see the need to sign a 30-year-old to a five-year, $70 million deal, with $30 million guaranteed.

Quinn then went out and had one of the worst seasons of his career. He had a career-low two sacks and his 20 tackles were the second-lowest of his career. The only season in which he had fewer was in 2016, and he missed seven games that season.

Seeing how well the player Quinn replaced, Leonard Floyd, did last season, the critics really hit general manager Ryan Pace hard for the signing. The reason for the signing was to help All-World linebacker Khalil Mack avoid having to deal with double or triple-teams all season long. That didn’t happen in 2020, though.

There was a lot of pressure on Quinn this season. If he had a repeat of what happened last season, things would be catastrophic.

Something happened when the season started, however. So far in three games, he’s off to a great start. He already has double the sacks he had last year and a third of the tackles.

Quinn looks like a different player. There was speculation that he had a foot injury that prevented him from having the explosiveness off the snap he needs to dominate.

Chicago Bears linebackers coach Bill Shuey says Quinn worked hard to improve from last year and it now shows.

"Rob’s off to a good start this year. He’s put in the work. He’s taking care of his body, and I think that’s helped him. And I think he knows his identity, and he’s playing to his strengths right now."

The sacks aren’t the only thing that impresses when you look at Quinn. Despite the horrible game overall against the Browns, Quinn was all over the place. He pressured quarterback Baker Mayfield throughout the game. While he was credited with 1.5 sacks in the game, there were other times in which he should have gotten more sacks.

Mayfield somehow got away from Quinn’s grasp on one play. On another, Quinn had Mayfield dead to rights one-on-one but Mayfield made a beautiful spin move to get away.

Khalil Mack and Robert Quinn are finally jelling

The vision Pace had for the Mack/Quin duo is now happening. The two are on pace to record 40 sacks and 68 tackles combined. Yes, it’s still early, but they are looking like a dynamic duo. On the sack attempt that Mayfield escaped Quinn’s clutches, Mack was there to clean up.

With Mack and Quinn leading the way, the Bears rank third in the league with 11 sacks. Only the New England Patriots with 14, and the Browns (thanks to last Sunday’s game) with 12, have more.

Hopefully, this duo can continue to wreak havoc on opposing backfields. If they can do so, it’ll really pick up the defense and help the secondary. Harassing quarterbacks hopefully results in them making mistakes and create turnovers. Now, if only the Bears’ offense can convert those turnovers into points.