Even in Victory, Bears' Inconsistent Nature Prevails

The negative offset the positive in this season-ending 21-19 victory by the Bears over the Minnesota Vikings subs.

Considering their .500 record on the year and inability to achieve any sort of consistency, this probably proved a fitting ending.

On one hand, they had rookie Riley Ridley making his first real contribution and showing an ability to produce under pressure. The fourth-round draft pick had a season-high three catches for 54 yards, including the clutch 32-yarder on fourth-and-9 coming across the field as Mitchell Trubisky rolled right.

"I just got off my route, I came off and I just tried to be a little physical," Ridley said. "When I saw that (defensive back) went down, I was just playing ball, a scramble drill from there."

Ridley was only on the field because of a concussion to Cordarrelle Patterson, shoulder injury earlier in the game to Anthony Miller and the concussion Taylor Gabriel had a month earlier.

"The guys have taught me a lot," Ridley said, citing Allen Robinson, Miller, Patterson and Gabriel. "I learned a lot from all of them, they're all different guys.

"One thing I did that stuck with me was when the time comes just have the guys' back and be able to pick up the slack. It's the next-man-up mentality and really that's what it was."

Eddy Pineiro's 4-for-4 day and 11 straight kicks to finish the season was a positive, as well.

"For us, you (media) all know that was a huge, huge, big void that we had going into this year," coach Matt Nagy said. "I feel pretty good that that void is filled and I like the way we handled it in regards to the coaches and I like the way Eddy and his guys are just all in.

"So I feel like that's a positive from this year."

It might be a positive for the Bears to point to the safety Nick Kwiatkoski scored after Deon Bush downed a Pat O'Donnell punt at the 1-yard line, the two points that eventually made the difference in the game.

But both Bush and Kwiatkoski are unrestricted free agents after the season and neither might be here next year.

Then there's Mitchell Trubisky and the offense. They scored five times, and rallied on the final drive to produce the win. Then again, they needed to win it at the end despite 37 1/2 minutes of possession time and only one touchdown in five red-zone trips.

This type of inconsistent play has plagued the offense throughout the season.

"I guess I'm just thinking about getting better for next year, what we can do," Trubisky said. "You've got to look at the season, you've got to be honest with yourself and with your teammates.

"And as a leader you've just got to make decisions that are best for you to get better."

So Trubisky will try to get better on his own and return to improve the offense.

"So I'm just gonna be super honest with how the film looks and what we need to work on this offseason and go from there but just focused and determined getting better for the future."

Nagy called the uneven performance through the course of the season a "tough year."

"It was mentally challenging for all of us," he said. "I hope that all of us understand, players and caches, that what we went through this year we need to turn that into a glass-half-full deal and learn from it."

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