On October 24th, 2021, Tom Brady and the Tampa Bay Buccaneers dug Justin Fields and the Chicago Bears a deep grave, and threw them in. Scoring 21 points in the first quarter alone, the Bucs looked scarily good against this Chicago defense. The game finished at a total of 38-3.
Being honest, the Bears looked bad from the start. On their first drive they were 4 and out, forced to punt the ball, where they allowed Jaelon Darden, the Bucs reterner to run into the 35 yard line. It was only downhill from there as well. From there it was pass interference, huge holes in the defense allowing for breakaway runs and touchdowns, and exploiting the pass defense.
The Bears defense totaled 0 interceptions, 0 sacks, and only one QB hit, making their loss almost inevitable. To rub in their lack of defense even more, Brady threw for his 600th career touchdown, which stung even more.
Flipping the switch looking at the Bucs defense, they clearly dominated. The Chicago Offensive line had a difficult time stopping the Bucs as they allowed Fields to get sacked 4 times, and let the defensive line have 6 QB hits. This pressure coming from the offensive line clearly rattled Fields as well, as he threw 3 interceptions, 5 turnovers, and could not even score one touchdown.
Looking at where the Bears struggled offensively, one thing is for sure. Khalil Herbert was not at fault. The running back rushed for 100 yards and demonstrated extreme toughness as he was able to catch 5 passes for 33 receiving yards. This is a truly impressive performance from the third string RB who was filling the shoes of David Montgomery and Damien Willaims. While active, Williams only rushed the ball 3 times for 5 yards and caught one pass for 3 yards. Herbert seems to look like the Bears new starting RB until Montgomery makes his return although there is no comment from Matt Nagy just yet.
Overall, the Bears offensive line was to blame. The Bucs pass rush was very strong yesterday but that is no excuse for such a poor performance. These guys need to learn to protect their QB, not let him get hit. Fields was able to endure the punches but he also needs to start to perform at a NFL soon, or Andy Dalton may be getting his starting job back. Personally, I would not be surprised if we saw that within the next few weeks.
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