Chicago Bears

Bears Takeaways: Week 5

Updated Mar. 4, 2020 1:10 p.m. ET

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Brian Spurlock-USA TODAY Sports

Brian Hoyer played his best game as a Bear on Sunday, but came up just short of leading his team to a victory. The Bears had the ball inside the thirty-yard line, down six, with just over a minute to go, but Hoyer couldn’t find the end zone and the Bears fell to the Colts by the score of 29-23.

Penalties killed the Bears all game, as they stalled multiple drives inside the opposing thirty after being forced into long-yardage situations due to penalties. On the Bears last offensive play, a 4th & eight, Hoyer appeared to have Alshon Jeffrey wide open in the end zone, but threw to a double covered Cam Meredith instead. It was a tough way to lose for Hoyer, who played almost flawless football most of the game. Hoyer finished with the best stat line of his career which I’ll cover in detail below in my takeaways.

Takeaways: Week 5

1.) Jordan Howard is a beast

Howard gained 118 rushing yards on just 16 carries and added three catches for 45 yards and a touchdown through the air for a total of 163 yards from scrimmage. He managed to improve on a very impressive debut the week before and should have locked up the starting running back job moving forward, regardless of Jeremy Langford’s health.

Langford showed flashes of being an explosive running back as a rookie last season, but averaged under four yards per carry (3.6) and a similar 3.7 so far in 2016. More importantly, Langford hasn’t shown the ability to make people miss in the open field or gain yards after contact. His speed (4.40) is a weapon, but he’s looked more like a change-of-pace third down back than a guy that can carry an offense.

Howard has run with authority since given a chance late in the preseason; His second and third efforts have gained the Bears valuable yards, giving the Bears manageable 2nd & 3rd down situations and has also shown the ability to make people miss despite his 233-pound frame. He’ll have to prove that he can handle 20+ touches every week, but so far Howard is looking like a steal as a fifth-round pick in the 2016 draft and the Bears future at running back.

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2.) Hoyer played the best game of his career, until his final throw

For all but about three plays in Sunday’s game, Brian Hoyer looked like the best quarterback Chicago has seen since Eric Kramer. In his previous two starts, Hoyer relied on a dink & dunk passing scheme that was impressively accurate, but also nothing twenty-five or thirty other NFL quarterbacks couldn’t do. Last Sunday Hoyer showed he could complete downfield throws as well.

With 33 completions on just 43 attempts for 397 yards and two touchdowns, Hoyer played the best game of his eight-year career. He didn’t turn the ball over at all and probably would have put another touchdown or two on the board had the Bears not sabotaged drives with penalties in the red zone.

Hoyer was accurate on short, intermediate, and deep throws and managed to find an open receiver almost whenever he wanted to. It helped that the Colts put little to no pressure on Hoyer, but he still made plenty of impressive tosses. Not only did Hoyer lead the Bears to a 4th quarter touchdown on a 96-yard drive, but down six with around three minutes to go… Hoyer drove the Bears down to the Indy 30-yard line before the wheels came off.

Down six points, facing a first-and-ten from the Colts 30 with less than two minutes to go, Hoyer had a chance to win the game for the Bears . Unfortunately, Hoyer made his worst decisions and throws of the game on that last series.

Hoyer overthrew Jeffery on first down, decided to throw short to Royal on 3rd & 15 which left the Bears in a difficult 4th & 8 scenario, and then threw into double coverage to Cam Meredith when Alshon Jeffery was wide open in the end zone.

It was a disappointing end to the best game of Hoyer’s career, but showed that he has the ability to lead the Bears to wins and may have locked up the starting QB job for the rest of the season and ended Jay Cutler’s reign of error in Chicago.

3.) Willie Young was unstoppable

I have written at length this year on the Bears inability to generate a pass rush with just their front four, but Willie Young tried to prove me wrong on Sunday with three sacks and multiple QB pressures. He was a one-man wrecking crew against the Colts, consistently beating whoever he was lined up against and often beating double-teams as well.

If Andrew Luck wasn’t so mobile and hard to bring down, Young might have had two or three more sacks on the day. He was in the backfield almost as often as Colts RB Frank Gore and gave the Bears the pass rush they have been missing all season.

It ultimately wasn’t enough and Luck was able to escape Young often enough to throw for 322 yards and two TDs. It was a start though and the first time all year that Fangio’s plan of just rushing four showed any potential for success. If Fangio can combine an effective four-man rush with a little more blitzing, then the Bears pass rush may not be a lost cause after all.

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4.) Cameron Meredith had a breakout game

Who needs Kevin White? With all the attention focused on White’s development, Meredith has flown under the radar despite showing encouraging signs through the first few weeks of the season. Meredith has ideal size at 6’3, 207 pounds and good speed at 4.49. He was raw coming out of Illinois St as an undrafted free agent, since he played quarterback for three years, but has been drawing rave reviews from the coaching staff since training camp and showed what he could do this week when given a chance.

Meredith was the most targeted receiver on the team and finished with nine catches for 130 yards and a touchdown. He did have a crucial fumble that contributed to the Bears loss and failed to make a play on the Bears last pass of the game, but he was the Bears primary weapon in the passing game and made a number of impressive plays. The two plays that stood out most were a screen pass that he caught near the line of scrimmage, broke a tackle, and then tip-toed down the sideline for a 30-yard gain and his touchdown, where he made a nifty move to burn the cornerback and got wide open in the end zone for a 14-yard score.

With Kevin White out for at least most of the season, Meredith showed that he could step up and give the Bears a reliable weapon across from Alshon Jeffery. If Meredith can continue to improve throughout the season, it could give the Bears a fourth weapon at receiver in 2017 or make it easier to let Alshon Jeffery leave in the offseason.

5.) Fangio finally starts blitzing, but not till 2nd half

I’ve been all over Fangio this season for his lack of blitzing and reliance on just his front four for a pass rush. On Sunday, two things changed. One, the Bears were actually able to generate a pass rush with just four guys, thanks mainly to Willie Young. Two, Fangio finally decided to blitz in the 2nd half.

After only sending more than four guys after the QB just twice in the Lions game, Fangio finally opened the flood gates in the second half verse the Colts. The Bears sent a 5th rusher on at least five plays in the second half alone. I had given up counting since it seemed that Fangio had given up on blitzing all together, but the Bears were already getting roasted on big plays so why not send an extra defender or two and try to get to Luck before he found an open receiver?

The Bears racked up five sacks on the day with three coming in the 2nd half once they started blitzing more often. The Bears have a young, mostly untested secondary and can’t afford to give opposing QBs all day to find an open receiver. On the majority of big plays given up (and there were a lot of them), the Bears had only four pass rushers.

It’s a good sign that Fangio has finally recognized the need for additional pass rushers. It goes against his preferred scheme, but the Bears just haven’t been able to generate enough pressure with their current front four. The return of Eddie Goldman and Leonard Floyd might change things, but for now the Bears need to do whatever they can to get to the quarterback quickly and protect their young secondary.

6.) The Bears offensive line had their best game of the season

While the Colts gave up five sacks, the Bears offense didn’t allow any. They kept Hoyer clean in the pocket all game and opened sizable running lanes for Jordan Howard. Each game this season the Bears offensive line has improved. After just five games together, they are starting to look like an above-average unit.

Granted playing well against the Colts and Lions might be the two easiest matchups they have all season, but it’s still a promising sign that the o-line has been able to protect their quarterback and get enough traction as run blockers that Jordan Howard has gained over 100 yards in each of his two starts.

They have a stiffer test against the Jags this week, who are eighth in the league with 12 sacks so far and rank 10th in DVOA. If the O-line can keep improving, then so should the Bears offense and perhaps hide their deficiencies on defense by winning the time of possession battle.

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7.) Bryce Callahan might end up being the Bears best corner this year

With veteran corner Tracy Porter struggling to both stay healthy and stay with receivers now that he’s 30 and the rest of the Bears corners all with five or less starts under their belt, slot corner Bryce Callahan might be the most reliable corner on the Bears roster. Callahan has struggled with injuries as well, but he’s been mostly healthy the last two weeks and has made impact plays in both games.

He’s undersized at just 5’9, 191 pounds, but makes up for a lack of size somewhat with a 43″ vertical and an aggressive playing style. Callahan has done a great job stuffing opponent’s WR screen plays by attacking before the receiver can make a move and has made two clutch tackles inside the five yard-line the last two weeks to force field goals.

The fact that an undersized, undrafted free agent might be the Bears best corner reflects poorly on the Bears talent at the position, but if the Bears can at least develop one starting caliber corner this year then they will be in a better spot than they were going into the 2016 season.

8.) Penalties are keeping the Bears offense mediocre

The Bears have gained 830 total yards over the last two games, but somehow have only managed to score four touchdowns in that stretch. The Bears have moved the ball with relative ease since Hoyer took over as the starting QB, but the offense has stalled in the red zone. Part of that has to do with the Bears dink & dunk offensive scheme.

Once the field shortens, the defense tightens up and the short passing game isn’t as open anymore. There is more to it than just a short field though. The Bears offense has self-destructed once they near the red zone the last two weeks. Of the Bears 11 penalties on Sunday, five of them occurred inside of the Colts 40-yard line.

The Bears had multiple penalties the week earlier verse the Lions once they got into scoring range. The Bears don’t have an explosive or talented enough offense to make up for dumb mistakes and penalties, so will continue to struggle putting points on the board until they start playing more disciplined football.

9.) Connor Barth needs to go

After making his first two field goal attempts (35, 49), it looked like Barth finally had figured things out. Then he missed from 54, which is understandable, but due to a penalty got another shot from 49… and missed again. Barth’s troubles were magnified by 60-year-old (really 43) Colts kicker Adam Vinatieri making all five of his field goal attempts (including a 54 yarder).

Barth is now just five for eight on the season with another miss wiped out by a penalty. Barely over 50% is an unacceptable percentage for an NFL kicker and the Bears should be bringing in kickers to try out this week. With the Bears playoff chances just above zero, the Bears should look to find a young kicker to develop instead of a veteran who is clearly past whatever prime he had.