The Bernstein Brief: Let's Just Think Leonard Floyd Might Be Good
By Dan Bernstein--
CBSChicago.com senior columnist
(CBS) When you're already at the pathetic point of knowing even a dominating win in December might have moved your team further from winning a championship, there's nothing wrong with trying a little harder than usual to find something good in all of it.
The Bears surrendered draft position to the execrable 49ers with their 26-6 victory Sunday, sure, but the continued rise of rookie linebacker Leonard Floyd might just be a small reason to think that it's worth caring at all. If he's a thing, it not only means a meaningful player doing a job critical to NFL success but a measure of hope that general manager Ryan Pace knows what he's scouting.
After a two-sack Sunday that included a highlight of a takedown of Blaine Gabbert for a fourth-quarter safety, Floyd now has seven sacks in nine games and is within reasonable striking distance of Mark Anderson's franchise rookie record of 12 set in 2006. He's using strength, speed and athleticism to do what Pace said he would when he traded up to get him, and he seems to be figuring it out as he goes.
Better to concentrate on a developing and potentially important young player than consider how many more like him it will take for the Bears to be better than merely able to beat one of the NFL's very worst teams.
Dan Bernstein is a co-host of 670 The Score's "Boers and Bernstein Show" in afternoon drive. You can follow him on Twitter @dan_bernstein and read more of his columns here.
