Gabriel: Bears-Vikings Review
By Greg Gabriel--
(CBS) There's no other way to put: There wasn't much, if anything, to like about the Bears in their 38-17 loss to the Vikings on Sunday. Minnesota easily beat Chicago on the scoreboard and in every phase of the game.
Vikings second-year quarterback Teddy Bridgewater had been struggling of late and had only thrown nine touchdown passes all year. On Sunday, he completed 17 of 20 passes for 231 yards and four touchdowns. He also ran for a score. If you just looked solely at Sunday's game, you would swear Bridgewater is a future Hall of Famer.
That has been the trouble with this Bears team in recent weeks. They have found a way to make struggling teams and players look good. That's a disturbing trend.
After a Thanksgiving night win against the rival Packers in Green Bay, the Bears had the fan base excited. If they could win out, there was a chance the Bears could make the playoffs. That was nothing but false hope, as this Bears have now dropped three in a row since then.
Not only have the Bears not won, their play has gotten worse by the week. If there was one trait we could rely on from the Bears for most of the season, it was aggressive, hard play. That wasn't the case Sunday in Minnesota. The effort was lacking from all but a few.
Since I started working in the NFL in 1981, I have always tried to be an optimist, to look at the bright side. In all honesty, I could only find a few Bears players who gave me any kind of optimism Sunday.
The first is kickoff returner/receiver Deonte Thompson, who's only been returning kickoffs for a handful of games. In that time, he has averaged better than 32 yards a return, including five for 152 yards against the Vikings. He has the vision, instincts and burst needed to be a top returner.
Returning kickoffs is much different than returning punts, but in the final two games, I would like to see if Thompson has the traits needed to be a combination returner. If that turns out to be the case, a crucial need has been taken care of.
The other bright spot was the play of inside linebacker John Timu, who was was brought up from the practice squad earlier in the week and given the start alongside Shea McClellin. Yes, Timu made some mistakes, but he also finished with nine tackles and played aggressively at the point of attack. He gave the Bears a stronger inside presence than they have gotten from McClellin, Christian Jones or Jonathan Anderson.
What's confusing is why it take so long for the coaching staff to put Timu in the lineup. His play was a highlight of the preseason, yet he has spent most of the regular season on the practice squad. How he plays in the remaining two games will be huge in the offseason evaluation process when determining the Bears' needs for 2016.
The most disturbing takeaway from Sunday was the play of the Bears' offensive line. In the last three weeks, the play of right tackle Kyle Long has noticeably slipped. Through the first 11 games of the season, the arrow has been pointing up regarding his ability to play tackle. Since then, he's struggled, and now the coaches have to wonder, is he really best suited to play tackle?
Charles Leno has also been a bright spot at left tackle until Sunday. He too struggled in Minnesota. He needs to bounce back next week against the Bucs or the Bears may have to find two tackles this off season.
The one constant in most John Fox-coached teams is continued aggressive, competitive play. We didn't see that Sunday. If this team doesn't bounce back with a strong performance next week in Tampa Bay, then the roster turnover in the offseason will be far greater than we have assumed up until now.
Greg Gabriel is a former NFL talent evaluator who is an on-air contributor for 670 The Score. Follow him on Twitter @greggabe.
