Chicago Bears general manager Ryan Poles had a whirlwind week leading up to the NFL trade deadline. It will be interesting to see how the team responds.
A lot has happened to the Chicago Bears in the past week. Two of their defensive leaders were traded away for salary cap relief and three valuable draft picks.
Oh, and in the middle of all this, a game was played ( a 49-29 loss to the Dallas Cowboys) and another one is coming up this week (against the Miami Dolphins).
Bears general manager Ryan Poles is not waiting for the offseason to continue his overhaul of the roster. Many people speculated that he would amass his picks, acquire more in the offseason, then work on building a real contender.
Instead, he used one of his two 2023 second-round picks to acquire help for quarterback Justin Fields. He beat out the Green Bay Packers for the services of wide receiver Chase Claypool.
Claypool had back-to-back 800+ receiving yards since being drafted in the second round by the Pittsburgh Steelers in 2020. With struggling quarterbacks this season, however, and targeting Diontae Johnson and Geroge Pickens more, Claypool became expendable. Poles swooped in and pulled the trigger on a deal.
Now, the defense that got torched by the Dallas Cowboys last week, is even weaker. Poles and the Chicago Bears are fully embracing the rebuild. They will be using the young players more so they can evaluate who will be part of the rebuild going forward.
So far this season, the team has played hard for Poles, head coach Matt Eberflus and offensive and defensive coordinators Luke Getsy and Alan Williams, respectively. With the dismantling of the defense, will that continue? Additionally, will the coaches continue to be patient with the bevy of mistakes these young players will commit?
Dominique Robinson, who was considered a project when the Chicago Bears drafted him in the fifth round in this year’s draft, has played well in limited snaps. So well, in fact, that he is now starting.
Let’s see how Robinson responds to a bigger workload.
The Dolphins come into the game with a pretty good offense. They rank third in passing yards and fourth in passing touchdowns. Quarterback Tua Tagovailoa has a plethora of weapons and Miami’s offense is humming with him at the helm.
The Bears’ pass rush was nonexistent last week in Dallas. They need to pressure Tua or he will carve the secondary. Also, with their leading tackler now in Baltimore, will someone step up and make stops?
Can the Chicago Bears offense continue its improvement?
The Chicago Bears offense, with Fields leading it, has shown a big improvement over the past three weeks. Over that period, the Bears average 384 total yards of offense. The rushing game has gotten the bulk of those yards, averaging 240 rushing yards.
It will be interesting what happens this week against Miami. The Dolphins rank sixth in rushing yards allowed, but 26th in rushing touchdowns allowed. The Bears have the league’s best rushing attack and rank eighth in rushing touchdowns. Can the Bears’ rushing attack take advantage if they are inside the red zone?
On the other hand, the Dolphins’ pass defense has its troubles. They rank 28th in passing yards allowed and 23rd in passing touchdowns allowed.
Claypool adds a lot of help for Fields. We saw his targets drop multiple passes in the end zone in the middle of Chicago’s comeback bid. Claypool has 12 career touchdown receptions in three seasons. In comparison, Dante Pettis, who has the most career touchdown catches on the Bears roster, has 11 of them in five seasons.
Of course, Claypool will be limited in the snaps he receives. However, he can still contribute and when he is on the field the defense has to account for him. He adds speed to the unit and he and Darnell Mooney could put a lot of pressure on opponents.
Having Claypool can settle the wide receivers unit. With him manning the outside, some of the receivers who played there can now move over to the slot and perhaps play better there.
One surprising move (or non-move) was Poles keeping David Montgomery. He is in the final year of his rookie deal so he is in for a payday.
There are doubts if Poles resigns Montgomery at the end of the season. Similar to the Roquan Smith situation, many thought that if the Bears wouldn’t sign Montgomery they would trade him and receive compensation for him.
However, Poles did not do that. He kept Montgomery so there will be no more discussions on if he stays. The next talks will happen in the offseason.
Unlike Smith, though, Montgomery hasn’t said a word about his contract situation. He just plays and doesn’t indicate if he is happy or upset about talks. Smith took the contract situation personally, saying Poles did not negotiate in good faith and even requesting a trade.
Smith found his way out of Chicago while Montgomery has a chance to stay. Resigning him is still a long shot but the chance to do so is still there.
Montgomery’s touches were fewer in the past few weeks. In his first four games this season, he was targeted 10 times in the passing game. That includes Week 3 when he left the game early in the first quarter due to an injury. In his next three, he had only four.
Now that we know that Montgomery will be with the Chicago Bears for the rest of the season, he needs to be more involved in the offense. He doesn’t have to worry about whether his next touch might be his last one in a Chicago Bears uniform.
While the Bears haven’t gotten many victories over the past five games (1-4 record) but they played hard and made strides offensively. The hope is that continues. Hopefully, they keep playing hard and don’t get too discouraged by the losses. The development of the young players is the priority and hopefully, that continues throughout the rest of the season.