10 thoughts after the Chicago Bears lost to the New Orleans Saints 26-23 in overtime Sunday at Soldier Field.
1. As much as Matt Nagy might want to believe Javon Wims put the Bears down for the count, the fact is they were only in the third quarter.
There were plenty of rounds left, they got back in the game and the real knockout punch didn’t come until after they had a possession in overtime. No one will defend what Javon Wims did — slugging Saints safety C.J. Gardner-Johnson in front of officials — because it was outrageous. But don’t believe for a second that winning that fight — Gardner-Johnson alertly stood there and took it from Wims — is the reason they lost the battle in falling for the second straight week.
Wims was disqualified from the game by referee Tony Corrente, and in the next 48 hours we’ll find out how the Bears feel about the third-year wide receiver. If Nagy and/or general manager Ryan Pace want to send a message to the rest of the locker room that the undisciplined play that has punctuated the first half of the season — the Bears lead the NFL with 56 penalties going into the Monday night game between the New York Giants and Tampa Bay Buccaneers (46 penalties) — Wims could be a goner after his brainless stunt.
I’m hard-pressed to come up with a dumber Bears penalty in the last 20 years. The only one that comes to mind is the time David Terrell flipped the ball to Detroit Lions punter Nick Harris along the sideline after catching a 35-yard pass from Rex Grossman in a 2004 game at Soldier Field. The official was right there and threw a flag for taunting, an unsportsmanlike-conduct penalty that backed up the offense. In this instance, Wims lost whatever cool he has in the heat of the moment and attacked Gardner-Johnson. He’s lucky if he didn’t hurt his hands throwing punches at helmet.
The penalty, at the end of a 5-yard gain by Allen Robinson, backed up the Bears into second-and-20 on their second possession of the third quarter, and Nick Foles was intercepted on the next play, giving the Saints a short field that they turned into Wil Lutz’s second field goal of the half.
“I was looking down when I heard about it,” Matt Nagy said. “But what I did hear is what it looked like, which is completely unacceptable. We’ve talked to him and told him that that’s not how things go here. One of Javon’s strengths is his character, who he is as a person. He’s since apologized, but that’s not ... you don’t have that. There’s no part of that in this game. Again, I still haven’t seen it, but from what I’ve heard, it’s not good. That’s not how we roll here. We’ll be talking to him.”
Bears coach Matt Nagy talks to Javon Wims after he was ejected from the Week 8 game in the third quarter. (Jose M. Osorio / Chicago Tribune)
I asked Foles if Wims addressed the team afterward.
“You know what,” he said. “I don’t have a comment on that question. Being honest.”
The struggling Bears offense made some plays. Foles finally hooked up with rookie wide receiver Darnell Mooney on a schemed-up deep shot for a 50-yard gain. It’s the kind of huge play that flips the field that has been so hard to come by for the Bears.
Two plays later, Allen Robinson beat the Saints’ top cornerback, Marshon Lattimore, off the line of scrimmage, dusting him on a corner route and then making a diving reception in the end zone for a 24-yard touchdown, pinning the ball against his helmet as he hit the ground to secure it. Those are the big plays that have been missing.
Later, Robinson had a 28-yard gain, and there was a 38-yard David Montgomery run off an interesting play call on which the Bears had the Saints either guessing or out of position. Those are four big plays the likes of which the Bears haven’t seen many of through the first half of the season. So there’s a little reason to think maybe, just maybe, the offense is starting to put some things together.
“That’s what it is,” Nagy said. “It’s hard for me to try to figure that thing out. It’s hard because we’re all trying. We talked about just cutting it loose, having fun, not playing tight and doing that. There were a lot of times in that game where we were doing it. I’m just going to continue going back — I am really, really bothered by that third-quarter incident. That bothers me. I’m being completely honest with you guys. It bothers me. But I’m proud of the guys that played hard. I’m proud of the guys that were selfless and tried to do everything they could to help us win.”
Maybe it’s not surprising Wims’ meltdown happened in the third quarter, when the Bears have been positively awful this season. They’ve scored only seven points in the quarter all season, and on the first possession after halftime, a delay-of-game penalty set them back 5 yards, turning third-and-4 into third-and-9 from their 27-yard line. Foles was sacked on the next play and the Bears punted, with the Saints getting a short field for a game-tying Lutz field goal.
“That’s what bothers me and that’s what pisses me off is that there is that issue going on,” Nagy said. “Excuse my French. But, you know, we’re reading it from a wristband. I just — I’m struggling with that right now. It’s getting you into a hole. And so that has to change. I can’t sit here and say anything other than what you just said.
“When you have somebody throwing punches, when you have the things that are going on right now with us and the offense and just trying to get things going — guys are fighting. They’re sticking together. But then you have that happen. It takes away everything that you work hard to get to and fight for, and what bothers me is we’ve got a lot of good guys that are doing things the right way and then it just takes it away.”
I don’t know what course the Bears will choose with Wims, who was not made available to media after the game. He’s limited as a straight-line guy playing wide receiver. His biggest role has been as a blocker in the running game, and we all know what the ground game looks like right now. If they were to release Wims, or demote him for a week or more to inactive status, it would create a path to the field for last year’s fourth-round draft pick, Riley Ridley, who has been invisible this season.
The Bears are on pace for 116 penalties, which would be the sixth-most in franchise history. They had 124 in 2004 and 115 in 2017, the year before Nagy arrived. Penalties have not previously been a major problem for Nagy. The Bears had 103 last year, more than ideal but not a huge tripping point, and 97 in 2018. It’s eliminating some of the slim margin for error that a team with a challenged offense has. The Bears need to win the battle for field position and win with takeaways, and they cannot consistently lose with hidden yardage, which includes penalties.
If Ted Ginn Jr. lost his job as the punt returner for a really bad outing in the Monday night loss to the Rams, does Wims keep his after a indefensible decision to go Clubber Lang on a defensive back? Gardner-Johnson is the Saints player whom wide receiver Michael Thomas punched during practice recently. He has a reputation for being able to get under the skin of opponents — and teammates too apparently — but don’t let one terribly boneheaded decision take away from the bigger point: The Bears couldn’t match a Saints team that was without its two best wide receivers, Thomas and Emmanuel Sanders, and a third wideout in Marquez Callaway. The loss prevented the Bears (5-3) from vaulting into first place in the NFC North after the Minnesota Vikings upset the Green Bay Packers (5-2) at Lambeau Field.
Maybe there was previous bad blood between Wims, who played at Georgia, and Gardner-Johnson, who played at Florida? Who knows if we’ll ever find out? The two had a brief run-in on the first possession of the third quarter when Gardner-Johnson snatched Wims’ mouthpiece from him. The NFL fine for fighting as a first offense is $35,096. Wims is making $44,117 per week this season on a base salary of $750,000, so after taxes, he played this game without profit.
2. Is it just me or did the Bears become more fluid on offense after Javon Wims was ejected?
Without Javon Wims, they were down to three wide receivers in uniform and became more static in terms of substitutions. Maybe it didn’t make a difference and Anthony Miller would have remained on the field in the second half of the fourth quarter, when the Bears rallied from 10 points down to force overtime. But the offense had an 11-play drive to score a touchdown on a 3-yard pass to Darnell Mooney and then went 35 yards in 12 plays for Cairo Santos' tying 51-yard field goal without as much substituting from play to play as often happens.
Nick Foles does a nice job in tempo, and when the offense isn’t shuttling personnel on and off the field, it can go without a huddle and has been efficient at times. Wims is limited when he’s on the field and has five catches for 35 yards with one touchdown this season. My instinct is the Bears won’t cut Wims. Matt Nagy is an offensive coach and wants every piece he can have to make plays, and clearly the coaches have seen something from Wims in practice that’s more valuable to them than Riley Ridley.
Miller wound up with a team-high eight receptions for 73 yards. He finally showed up after going missing for much of the first half of the season, but there was still a dropped pass and he disappears way too often to be considered reliable. The Bears don’t have a consistent target opposite Allen Robinson, and that’s really hindering the passing game. But when the offense can go with tempo and complete passes, even short ones, it has a tendency to build a little momentum and move the chains. Yes, the coaches recognize this, and, yes, they’re seeking ways to incorporate this in what they do.
It was a good game for Mooney, too, as he caught five passes for 69 yards, including the short touchdown. He’s the guy who has to step up on a weekly basis on the other side of Robinson. He has special traits, and his development in the second half of the season will be one of the more important points if the Bears are able to make some real strides offensively. It starts with the line playing better and Foles doing a better job, but Mooney has the talent to make real gains and is the one to keep an eye on, in my opinion, more so than Miller.
The Bears seem intent on making that happen and that is a good thing. His playing time got a big spike as he was on the field for 65 of the 70 offensive snaps and that wasn’t because Wims got sent to time out by referee Tony Corrente.
3. We had our first Mitch Trubisky sighting since he lost his job during the third quarter of the Week 3 win in Atlanta.
The Bears inserted Mitch Trubisky on first-and-10 from the Saints 35-yard line in the first quarter. He faked a handoff to running back David Montgomery and followed tight end J.P. Holtz around the left end for a 3-yard gain. It’s the first time Matt Nagy has used Trubisky since he lost the starting job, and his running ability makes him an option the Bears could go to on occasion moving forward. If nothing else, it forces future opponents to spend some time talking about how they would defend Trubisky in instances when he replaces Nick Foles for a play or two.
“It’s a weapon for us to be able to use his legs and then obviously be able to throw the ball as well,” Nagy said. “That’s something that we’re looking at and every game could be a little bit different, but it’s something that teams have to prepare for.”
Bears quarterback Mitch Trubisky rushes with the ball as Saints middle linebacker Alex Anzalone defends in the first quarter. (Jose M. Osorio / Chicago Tribune)
Many have wondered if the Bears could carve out a Taysom Hill-type role in the offense for Trubisky, and I’d advise them to stop right there. Trubisky and Hill are different athletes, and that should have been reinforced in this game as Hill ran five times for 35 yards and caught two passes for 30 yards, including a 20-yard touchdown.
“Taysom Hill is a combination of a special teams stud/runner/physical player on contact,” said a scout who was asked about a comparison between the two. “Just think of it this way: Could you play Mitch on special teams? There’s your answer. Could you put Mitch as a wing and run outside zone behind him? There’s your answer. Could Mitch run QB power? He’s not a physical runner. He’s a finesse runner who has had shoulder injuries.
“Mitch is a more gifted thrower, no question about it, so there’s some room for creativity with him, but he’s not going to be a physical runner between the tackles, QB power, QB lead, all that stuff you might dream up. They can run some zone read with him and come up with some other stuff, but the Bears can’t do with Trubisky what the Saints do with Hill. Trubisky looks to get down when he runs. Hill drops his shoulder. Hill is basically a superback. He’s basically an H-back with power and athletic traits who can run the ball on designed quarterback run concepts and run routes and the guy covers kicks on special teams. When he does throw the ball, they’re schemed-up shots or play action down the field.
“Mitch is a better thrower, but the Bears would have to use him differently. Mitch is a quarterback and he does have running traits, but they have to use him as a runner and he’s not physical. More misdirection, zone read, QB sweep. You don’t want him running up the middle.”
4. Matt Nagy delivered on the pledge to get more playing time for rookie tight end Cole Kmet.
Tracking the playing time for Bears tight ends, and including plays wiped out by penalties, Cole Kmet had a season-high 30 snaps. The guy whose role was minimized in a big way was Demetrius Harris, who was on the field for only five snaps, the same as J.P. Holtz. Jimmy Graham played 44 snaps. What’s interesting is 18 of Kmet’s snaps came when he was the only tight end on the field, and I’ve said the only way for the team to seriously increase his playing time is to cut into Graham’s action.
The bump in playing time — Kmet’s previous high was 26 snaps in the Week 3 win in Atlanta — resulted in only one target in the passing game. He had a 2-yard catch on the first play of the final drive of regulation and was fortunate officials collaborated to correct an original call on the field, ruling that Kmet’s forward progress had been stopped before linebacker Demario Davis jarred the ball loose in what would have been a killer turnover.
Graham really struggled. He dropped a pass and produced only two catches for 13 yards on seven targets. He’s not doing a lot for the offense right now with 21 targets, 12 catches and 78 yards over the last three games. His lack of speed is showing, and it’s really an issue because there isn’t a lot of run-after-the-catch. At the halfway point in the season, he has 29 receptions for 247 yards and four touchdowns. That would translate to 58 catches for 494 yards and eight touchdowns. Sure, eight touchdowns from your top tight end is a nice figure, and you can live with 58 receptions, especially if you’re coming from where the Bears were at the position a year ago. But 8.5 yards per reception is indicative of Graham’s current athletic skills.
Hopefully for the Bears, Kmet can be smoothly integrated into the passing game and start getting some opportunities in which he can threaten secondaries after the catch.
5. It’s impossible to overstate wide receiver Allen Robinson’s value to the offense.
That’s especially true after a week in which he wasn’t able to practice because of a concussion suffered in the Monday night game at Los Angeles. Allen Robinson didn’t get cleared from the protocol until Saturday, then caught six balls for a team-high 87 yards, including a highlight-reel diving touchdown grab against Marshon Lattimore, one of the better cornerbacks in the NFC.
“I had a corner route,” Robinson said. “I tried to give him a nod or something to win. I was able to create some separation. Nick (Foles) threw a great ball and I was able to come down with it.”
It was a different week of preparation for Robinson, who has 50 receptions for 631 yards and three touchdowns. That puts him on pace to hit 100 catches and top 1,200 yards in an offense that is challenged all the way around.
“It was pretty crazy,” he said. “You know, not being able to practice, pretty much just trying to look at the game plan and just try to get it on the fly. That was probably the toughest part. I’m a big guy with muscle memory, being able to get there, get lined up whether it’s through walk-through or practice. So not being able to do that all week was pretty tough.
“I was able to try to do some things, mix that up, keep my conditioning up. But as far as the touchdown ball, based on how he was playing, I wanted to sell speed, get him a little off balance and then just run. And I was able to do that and Nick threw me a good ball.”
Bears wide receiver Allen Robinson makes a touchdown catch against the Saints in the second quarter. (Brian Cassella / Chicago Tribune)
That catch and the 50-yard bomb to Darnell Mooney two plays before the touchdown are what has been missing in the offense, so seeing that is a positive if you’re looking for takeaways from the loss.
“Whenever we can do that and get those chunks of the field, that definitely changed the landscape of the game,” Robinson said. “When you think about it, a 20-yard play is a fifth of the field. So depending on where you’re starting your drive, if you get a 35-yard play or a 20-yard play or a 40-yard play, I know there is some statistic out there that will for sure show that your chances of scoring increase. So that’s a big thing being able to create explosives. That’s the biggest thing for an offense. Five yards, (it) is tough to run like that. You have to create explosives in this league.”
6. It will be interesting to see how coaches evaluate the offensive line play coming out of this game.
I’m wondering if there is a scenario in which the Bears consider Sam Mustipher and Rashaad Coward and pick the one they’re most comfortable playing, with the goal of getting their five best linemen on the field. If they choose Coward, Cody Whitehair would reclaim the center spot when he returns from his calf injury. I would not rule out the possibility the Bears keep Mustipher at center and consider moving Whitehair back to the left guard position he has played previously, again with the idea of getting their five best linemen on the field.
One thing that has been noticeable since Mustipher was forced into action at Los Angeles is how coach Matt Nagy has praised him for being intelligent. It’s possible those are small clues we should follow.
“The biggest thing, probably, is the communication with these centers in regard to the Mike ID calls and the different looks you can get,” Nagy said. “The one thing I would say with a guy like Sam Mustipher is here’s a guy that takes the game extremely seriously. He’s been playing center for a long time. He’s a natural born leader You can feel it. Super hard worker.
“And are there times where things could happen, as in last week, where you might get beat technique-wise here or there? Yeah. But it sure as heck isn’t going to be because of effort and want. And so you take that, combine that with his teammates on that line and combine that with (offensive line coaches) Juan Castillo (and) Donny (Raiola), you just do nothing but keep plugging away. I thought that Sam has had a really good week of practice, and now we’ll see where it goes.”
It’s more complicated after right tackle Bobby Massie went out with a left knee injury. Jason Spriggs replaced Massie, and we got a good look at how limited he is. Cameron Jordan whipped Spriggs for one of the Saints’ five sacks. How the Bears handle the right tackle position will be worth watching. Massie is a tough customer and played through back issues last season. It’s not ideal if he’s going to miss time for a line already without left guard James Daniels.
But maybe the Bears consider a reconfigured line with Mustipher at center.
“Cody is working hard to get healthy, but we were so excited to get him back,” quarterback Nick Foles said. “Sam really did a great job stepping up. He’s a really great young player, really smart, great mentality. I thought he did a really nice job.”
Mustipher said he always has tried to prepare as if he’s playing. He spent last season on the practice squad and began this year in that role before Daniels went on injured reserve.
“I just think being on point, you know?” he said. “Knowing what your job is. That’s a critical factor for any football player, though, to be smart, to be intelligent. But not only that, to be able to apply it on the field is important, to be able to see things quickly, diagnose things and then go out and execute. And that’s something that I take pride in. So I love that people within the locker room look at me that way. I hope I can continue doing that.”
7. I thought it would be interesting to hear from a veteran what the tryout process is like for guys who get a call with a shot to make a roster.
Former Bears offensive lineman Ted Larsen was in Santa Clara, Calif., last Tuesday for a tryout with the San Francisco 49ers. It was his second tryout with them since August; this time the 49ers wound up signing Tony Bergstrom.
It’s almost a weeklong process for a team to identity a free agent, schedule a workout and get the player signed now because of a rule that requires tryout players to pass five COVID-19 tests before they’re allowed into the building.
Bears center Ted Larsen takes a breather in the first quarter of a preseason game against the Broncos at Soldier Field on Aug. 11, 2016.
Larsen, 33, is an 11-year veteran with 88 starts in 137 career games. He made two starts for the Bears last year and eight in 2016, and he has played for the Dolphins, Cardinals and Buccaneers. For players, the tryout process amounts to a lonely five-day existence in a hotel.
“The first day (I) got there early enough so I could go in and get a test,” Larsen said. “It’s five tests before you can even go in the building. They had a little program where you could go to a local gym and train and they had a couple free meals for you, but it’s not super helpful when you think about how vets used to join teams, when you’d fly to a city on a Monday, work out on a Tuesday and, if you were signed, you were practicing Wednesday.
“They set up a car service to get to the gym. I don’t know that a lot of players took advantage of the program they had when they were there for the 49ers. The front desk almost didn’t let me in. It’s a normal gym and it was by appointment, so there was 10, maybe 20 people there at the most. I did it three times and then I used this field that was near the hotel. I would have the driver drop me off at this field and I would work out there and then just walk back to the hotel.
“If you think about it, before they changed to the current protocol, you had to take three tests and that could be two nights if you’re there early enough on the first day and it was fine. And guys are still testing positive for COVID, so it’s not the tryout guys that have been introducing it to teams. There has really been no change or, I guess I should say, improvement with that.
“It’s a lot of watching Netflix or reading or you go for a walk. I went for a hike one day. I usually would go for a couple walks. I knew one of the other guys there that was working out when I was there. He brought an Xbox. I live in Phoenix but I had already taken a visit to the 49ers at the end of August and three days seemed long at the time, but five days felt like an eternity. I was actually on a little vacation in Idaho with the family on the west side of the Tetons when San Francisco called. I brought a bag in case I got a call for a workout, so I was ready to go. I left vacation early to go quarantine. We were having a good time, but the trip had to be cut short.
“I’ve had a couple calls and teams that wanted me to work out for a practice squad spot. I haven’t done that. The practice squad, as you look at how teams are manipulating rosters — I think the Cardinals signed Prince (Amukamara) to the practice squad — whoever allowed the rule changes really screwed a lot of veterans. They’ve taken away all their leverage so the teams can sign these guys to the practice squad for a very small amount, and these vets have no business being on the practice squad. You saw this week (veteran safety) Eric Reid come out and say, ‘I’m not signing to the practice squad (in Washington),’ and that’s what teams are trying to do to vets right now. It’s five days to get to try out and then you go practice squad and then they’ll move you up for the game and you go get your active pay if you’re lucky. The practice squad change was, I think, a solution to COVID and to people testing positive, but it’s been absolutely abused by these teams.
“Practice squads had seven players when I got into the league. It’s up to 16 with COVID and I think they were planning on having multiple COVID tests. There aren’t a lot of teams that are doing particularly well. You’ve got a lot with one or two wins. The teams that are trying to go to the playoffs are the ones you would think would be more interested in signing a vet than developing a rookie. A team like the Bears you’d think would be the perfect team for that, but obviously (they’ve gone with younger guys).
“The first time I was there I was in a bigger suite and they said, ‘Here’s all this food,’ so I was able to put it in the full-size fridge. This time they gave me all the food before I got to the hotel and the fridge was a dorm fridge, so I had to throw like half the food away.”
Larsen is staying ready, hoping for another call to go spend five more days in a hotel and hopefully win a roster spot. Depending on the status of Bobby Massie’s left knee injury, perhaps the Bears will bring in some veteran tackle options this week. They do have rookies Arlington Hambright and Lachavious Simmons in the pipeline. Hambright has been on the 53-man roster all season. Simmons is on the practice squad and is more of a potential tackle option than Hambright.
8. At this point it looks like Cairo Santos, who is on a one-year contract, is putting money in the bank.
I don’t think he will be in a position to break the bank (for kickers) with the Bears or another team, but he will be a free agent after the season and he’s on a nice run. The 51-yarder in breezy conditions — the weather wasn’t quite as treacherous as the forecast indicated it might be — was a huge kick. He has made his last 10 field-goal attempts and is 14-for-16 on the season.
I sense greater confidence in Cairo Santos than there was in Eddy Pineiro last season for a couple of reasons. First, Santos has made some long kicks, and circumstances simply didn’t create those opportunities for Pineiro after he won the Week 2 game in Denver. Second, coach Matt Nagy has a history with Santos in Kansas City, where he saw him make clutch kicks repeatedly for the Chiefs.
When you’re adding up the positives in a 5-3 start — and there is a good number — the emergence of Santos has been a big one for special teams coordinator Chris Tabor and the team as a whole. The Bears would love to have kicking issues in their rearview mirror.
9. The Bears have been protecting Tyler Bray on the practice squad most weeks, preventing other teams from potentially signing him away.
That has led to plenty of snarky comments on Twitter, and plenty of folks have asked why.
I would be very surprised if the Bears were exploring trade options for Mitch Trubisky. For starters, he doesn’t have much value right now. His game tape is not good and he will be a free agent after the season. Why would a team trade for Trubisky, give him three to four weeks to take a crash course on their offense and then watch him enter free agency after another four weeks or so?
If a team views Trubisky as a possible reclamation project, it would pursue him in free agency. The Bears don’t benefit from trading Trubisky because they would get very little in return and they need him in the event something happens with Foles, who has now started five games but has never started more than nine consecutive regular-season games in his career. Throw in the possibility of a positive COVID-19 test, and Trubisky has more value to the Bears on the roster than he does as trade bait.
It’s my assumption the Bears are protecting Tyler Bray for the same reason. The last thing they want is to be caught short-handed one week without a quarterback. What if one quarterback tests positive for COVID-19, and two days later another one tests positive? The Bears would be in a world of trouble without a third option in the building who knows the offense.
Bears quarterback Tyler Bray runs with a ball at training camp on Aug. 18, 2020. (Nam Y. Huh/AP)
Bray is that third option, so while people make light of the minor roster move each week, it strikes me as more frustration at the team’s overall quarterback situation than anything to do with Bray or general manager Ryan Pace’s decision. Sure, it’s easy to be critical of Pace because of the quarterback saga, specifically the career trajectory of Trubisky, but he would be open to even more criticism if he didn’t protect the team with a third quarterback in these unprecedented times.
10. How about punt returner Dwayne Harris?
Dwayne Harris gained 12 yards on his first return of a Thomas Morstead kick and fielded three of the four punts in all. Veteran Ted Ginn Jr. was inactive, and we’ll see if the Bears keep him around for long. They said they like what he brings to the wide receiver room, but you wonder, at least a little, if a veteran who isn’t playing can remain positive for the players around him. Cutting Ginn wouldn’t necessarily save the team any money. He could claim termination pay as a vested veteran.
10a. Thank you to the Bears for a nice tribute to former Tribune and Sun-Times sports writer Vaughn McClure, who was a bulldog on the Bears beat before moving on to cover the Atlanta Falcons for ESPN. The team set aside a spot for him in the press box for the first home game since his untimely death. Plans for a foundation are in the works, and I will pass along details when they’re complete.
10b. Khalil Mack’s strip-sack of Drew Brees gave him one sack in each of the last four games. It’s the first time he has had sacks in four consecutive games since his first four games with the Bears in 2018. Mack has 6½ sacks for the season. The problem is the Bears have only 17 as a team.
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10c. Inside linebacker Roquan Smith made a team-high 11 tackles and had two tackles for a loss. His 10 tackles for a loss on the season rank third in the NFL.
10d. As maligned as Danny Trevathan has been this season for his play in space, he made a terrific play on Alvin Kamara to stop him for a 3-yard loss. This was probably Trevathan’s best game of the season, and the Bears didn’t have a lot of answers for Kamara, who had 163 yards from scrimmage.
10e. The Fox Sports crew of Kevin Kugler, Chris Spielman and Laura Okmin will call Sunday’s game against the Tennessee Titans at Nissan Stadium in Nashville, Tenn.
10f. The Titans opened as 6½-point favorites over the Bears for Sunday’s game. It marks the seventh consecutive game the Bears have been an underdog and the eighth time overall this season.
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