Pressing Bears Issues Worth Pondering

Analysis: After two games five pressing Bears issues have surfaced and some of these have been plaguing the team for a while now.

Two games isn't much to go on, although it can be enough to indicate what kind of season it will be for a team.

For instance, in the last 33 years only 11.5% of NFL teams starting out 0-2 make the playoffs. It's easy to find isolated incidents and in Cincinnati 0-2 doesn't worry anyone because the Bengals started 0-2 last year and made it.

When you've started 0-2 and made the playoffs once over the last 12 seasons, then it's kind of an issue. Bears fans were polled by Fox Sports about how many wins they thought the team would have after the loss Sunday. The result was 62% of respondents said 1-4 victories. 

This what the Bears face, but from the way they've played so far anyone who mentions them and chances for the playoffs in the same sentence deserves a good Jim Mora impression: "Playoffs?"

Simply getting better is the goal for the Bears in their second year of the rebuild. They've said it after each of their two defeats.

Coach Matt Eberflus seemed to think this occurred Sunday, although there were many eyebrow-raising incidents.

Five issues have cropped up over the course of two games and need to be addressed if the Bears are to improve.

5. Did They Overestimate Their Depth?

Depth in the NFL is a luxury, yet it's also something teams can build rapidly. It's where GMs can fill in with cash spent wisely. You have to wonder whether GM Ryan Poles did it at this point.

One serious hole in the roster they seemed to have starting training camp, if not in the off-season, was third and fourth safety. Elijah Hicks had a less than impressive first year in his limited play with a passer rating against when targeted of 158.3, the worst number that can be recorded. On Sunday, Hicks missed an easy tackle where he could have driven Mike Evans out of bounds and it resulted in a 36-yard gain that led to a critical touchdown. Their seventh-round pick Kendall Williamson, didn't pan out initially and got waived, before landing on the practice squad. They brought in a safety for the 53-man roster who hadn't played a down in the NFL and as of Aug. 29 didn't know their defensive system.

It sure would have been nice for them to have the luxury of DeAndre Houston-Carson on Sunday when both Jaquan Brisker and Eddie Jackson left the game, but they didn't sign him back and he went to the Ravens for $1.8 million, got waived after two weeks of practices, and went to Houston. Perhaps he doesn't have a lot left or maybe he does at age 30 but the Bears had plenty of opportunities to bring him back and have at least one experience DB who knew the scheme and could be relied on in case of emergency.

And Sunday the emergency came when both Jaquan Brisker and Eddie Jackson went out of a game when the team was facing deep threats Chris Godwin and Mike Evans.

They traded a sixth-round pick for Dan Feeney at the end of August but showing a little more foresight and realizing their offensive line lacked depth would have allowed them to make a deal like this or sign someone better earlier.

They still have offensive line issues at tackle because of their inexperience. Both Braxton Jones and Darnell Wright have given up sacks and Jones has the textile industry straining at full capacity trying to keep up with all the flags he's churning out. A tackle with more successful experience than Larry Borom would have helped.

They really don't have much backing up Justin Fields if something happens. Their plan for P.J. Walker blew up in their faces as he was discarded. Tyson Bagent looked great in meaningless preseason games and is a project, but not ready to step onto an NFL field. Nathan Peterman's career 39.4 passer rating brings no comfort to anyone.

4. Status of Eddie Jackson and Darnell Mooney

Both went out in Week 12 last year for the duration with injuries and it's always a concern when recently injured players leave games without coming back.

The Bears, as usual, provide no information after a game on these injuries and insist they don't have to until Wednesday after practice. Technically they're right, if the goal is a clandestine operation and obstinance.

It's strange how a hangnail causes the Bears to say they don't have enough information yet to reveal more on an injury until Wednesday when players like Aaron Rodgers can suffer a season-ending injury like a ruptured Achilles tendon and the Jets can say as soon as the game ends what is wrong.

Other teams have this information out to their fans right away and always have.

3. Will the Bears Ever Commit to the Run?

The Bears have said they are run/play-action team. Yet their commitment in two games to running the ball has been non-existent. They're 24th in rushing attempts despite having a quarterback who runs. On Sunday, they let their running backs carry the ball 11 times. Teams usually try to establish the run early. The Bears had running backs carrying the ball four times in the first half.

The Bears were only down 10 in the third quarter and treated the run like a luxury. They used it sparingly. There was plenty of time for the run to work.

They managed to get the running backs a "hefty" load of 19 carries in the first game.

No wonder D'onta Foreman is sitting out inactive Sunday. There's no work for him here.

2. That Interior Rush Can Begin Any Time Now

Remember the off-season, after Poles had finished bringing in talent? Everyone looked at their pass rush and said "where is the edge rush coming from?"

The answer wound up being Yannick Ngakoue, who has provided some exterior rush. But the real answer the Bears gave at the time was their interior rush men would be in the quarterbacks' faces. It's partly why they drafted Zacch Pickens and Gervon Dexter Jr., added Andrew Billings to the line alongside Justin Jones, and signed end DeMarcus Walker, who has always slid inside to tackle in rush situations.

The inside rush would take double teams off the less accomplished edge rushers and this was something Eberflus had done in Indianapolis with his defenses.

They have one sack so far from Ngakoue in Week 1.

Sacks don't always equate to pressure. But they have only four quarterback hits in the two games with one coming from nose tackle Andrew Billings.

There obviously hasn't been a pass rush to speak of. Rush and cover doesn't work without the rush and all the third-and-longs they give up in coverage can be traced largely to no rush.

Remember the "four equals one" mantra of the Bears pass rush? 

Right now it's one and that's it. 

It's Ngakoue and he doesn't actually bring the QB to the ground, as Sunday's game with Baker Mayfield eluding everyone showed.

1. Same Old Question

Justin Fields is still the issue. 

Even after an 11-game stretch last year when he had good statistics, and with better targets, he has produced a horrible passer rating of 70.7, has been sacked 10 times and many of those came because he held the ball too long. He's at a sub-par 60.6% passing completion percentage.

This actually looks like regression, as his yards per attempt have dropped to 6.5 after being a healthier 7.1 last year. And now he's not even running, with his career-low 3 yards coming on only four carries Sunday.

If Fields isn't going to run well, and hasn't improved as a passer, how long until the Tyson Bagent chants begin?

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