What an ass-whooping! For some reason, Bears always lay points on Cowboys since 2010:
2010. Bears W. 27 points
2012. Bears W. 34 points
2013. Bears W. 45 points
2014. Bears L. 28 points
2016. Bears L. 17 points
2019. Bears W. 31 points
2022. Bears L. 29 points
2025. Bears W. 31 points
That means Bears avg 30 points/g vs Cowboys in last 8 clashes; wish Bears could play them whenever they need to kick-start sputtering offense.
Few quick observations.
1. The oline held up vs rush. This is the first game Caleb hasn’t been sacked. That’s both a testament to this oline’s strength as well as Caleb’s mobility, pocket awareness, and frankly, piss poor Dallas pass rush.
On the flip side, the pure run game struggled once more. It wasn’t really ’til late that it began gaining traction.
This was a strange game in the sense that Dallas was avg 6yds/rush at one point, yet somehow failed to score more.
2. Caleb stats were fantastic
But to quote the Wolf from Pulp Fiction, ‘Let’s not start sucking each other’s d*cks quite yet.’ Two things I noticed.
1. It seems Caleb sails when his release point looks premature and high. Is this related to height? He does it even when he has a clean pocket, so it’s a matter of consistency. Dunks are great, but gotta make the free-throws as well.
2. Maybe because of #1, Caleb continues missing. In this game, Caleb did hit most of the wide open receivers, yet struggled more with the contested throws. I would love to see his comp% with contested plays vs when the receivers are 2YDs open. At one point the broadcast counted 4 ‘off’ throws. Granted, this happens to all QBs. I watched Mahomes miss Kelce badly vs Gmen, and that’s about as solid a duo as you’re going to find; nevertheless, an issue to track going forward because Ben Johnson specifically addressed improving Caleb’s accuracy during preseason.
Speaking of Ben Johnson, his O has scored 30+ points on Eberflus 5 out of last 7 games.
Reality check:
We’ve been through “turning the corner”, “finally arrived” “at last we got a franchise QB!” with Cutler, Trubisky and Fields: all turned out to be fugazi.
This could be Caleb’s “Tampa Bay Christening.” Dallas’ D could simply be that dreadful.
That being said, if you’re given a gift, you take it. Caleb is trending in the right direction, and that’s priority numero uno.
On D, well, raise your hand if you predicted the Bears’ D to hold Dallas to 14 points!
The start of the game continued to look like a horror show. Cowboys were just shredding the D, then, the unthinkable occurred.
Arguably the worst starting CB in the league, Tyrique Stevenson, made a play that completely reversed momentum.
FINALLY, somebody on the Bears’ D made a play like a blue-chipper. Apparently, a player’s only meeting was called that I missed.
Whatever was said WORKED. I frankly wasn’t expecting a win. I only wanted Bears to play with some pride. They did, and then some. Defensive game-ball went to Tremaine Edmunds who made not one but TWO plays when badly needed. Don’t think we’ve seen that from a MLB since Lach.
Also, tip-o-the-hat to Dennis Allen who called a great game. Look at that 2nd pick. Allen had Sweat peel off into flats to essentially bracket TE Ferguson [who I think was 10/10 at that point] PLUS prevent Dak from booting.
Dak was trying to look-off coverage by feigning the middle, turned right to his true target in Ferguson, spotted a 6’7 monster staring right at him with secondary over the top, quickly shifted left with Dexter right in his face, finally chucking an INT in desperation.
Truly a team effort. Scheme, execution, and playmaking.
HOWEVER, this D still concerns me bigly. Those DTs were on skates; defenders taking bad angles, and seemingly confused [look at how late they were lining-up on several snaps]. CB Nathon Wright specifically played nightmarishly. I feel like a major part of their opportunism was pure Dallas incompetence. No doubt CeeDee Lamb getting INJed helped Bears’ D, but how the heck do you lose a game when you’re basically getting first downs at will and AVGing like 6-7 per rush while the D was ailing giving up 52 previously, with a 2nd string LB, 4rth string CB, and little to no pressure/sacks ’til late?
But hey, that’s a COWGIRL problem. For once it feels fantastic playing a team that chokes more than…[fill in the blank].
A wins a win.
Let’s celebrate Ben Johnson’s first victory. May it be the first of countless. Every journey starts with a step. Let’s go!
