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With their 41-9 win over the Buffalo Bills, the Bears finished their first half-season under a rookie head coach with as many wins, or five, as they had all done last season under John Fox. For a groping franchise that has been shaking for the most part since the end of the Lovie Smith regime, reaching 5-3 in the mid-season is a feat, at least digital, if for no other reason than the Bears for a second week in a row. showed that they could indeed win a match without Khalil Mack or Allen Robinson.
The record is not the real point, however, as much as the progress, or how much these progresses are real.
"I feel myself and the guys on the team, we always have a chip on our shoulders," quarterback Mitch Trubisky said. "We are trying to gain the respect of the league by saying that we are a good team in all three phases and that we can play with anyone."
On a curve: Last season, the Bears lost five games by 10 points or more, compared to 6 in 2016. With the changes of coaches and staff, the three defeats of the Bears this year were 11 points. The Buffalo game was fifth in a row with the Bears with 24 points or more, the longest distance since five consecutive outings of more than 24 times in 2011, a race that ended with the season, when Jay Cutler took Is broken thumb against San Diego.
The Bears were 5-3 in the middle of Marc Trestman's first year (2013) and were defeated at home the following week by the Detroit Lions (as luck would have it, the Bears would host the Lions next week) to start a spiral to be restored.
Until now.
Leading your division means absolutely nothing in mid-season. While the Bears are ahead of Detroit, Green Bay and Minnesota do not matter if quarterback Mitch Trubisky can not reverse his divisional fortune for the 0-6 he has produced in his 20 games. as a Bears starter. He will have the chance to start next Sunday when the Bears begin a Lions-Vikings-Lions program over a 12-day period.
And firing a team does not establish whether the Bears are a good team or not. The Bills are among the top five ranked defensemen. They were second in the NFL in interceptions before Sunday (they intercepted Trubisky once) and wiped out the Minnesota Vikings by 21 points.
"You have to continue to bet on what you are doing well," said Trey Burton, last season's Super Bowl ringman in the role of Philadelphia Eagle. "Fortunately, there are a lot of things we're doing right now … you know, all we have to do is win. Do not listen to what the guys are saying outside and focus on what we are doing in the interior. "
For the moment, however, the Buffalo game suggests another step in the Bears' growth process. It was a situation that could have fallen into the trap of the Florida Follies (Tampa Bay-Miami), in which the Bears crashed a bad team (the Buccaneers in September, the Jets last week), then pulled out of the engine . in a match against a fragile team, severely challenged by the quarterback.
Nagy's charges seemed to have drawn lessons from the Miami debacle (defensive players discussed the day before the prospect of facing Brock Osweiler because of Ryan Tannehill's injury) and simply attacked Buffalo from the start and continued to attack.
In this regard, beating a team of Bills without offense was a significant step in the middle of the season beyond the scoreboard. The Bears won with a pedestrian performance at Trubisky (12 passes on 20 passes for 135 yards, the second lowest total of his last 19 games and his lowest total in the six-yard race of the season. Sunday were caused by the other side of football.
But Trubisky, the centerpiece of much of the Bears of '18 and beyond, won a game while he was not really dominant. This alone is remarkable.
"I can not begin to tell you how much this [Buffalo] the defense is, "said Nagy." The # 1 thing is that we won .It's always the only thing that matters. "No. 2, there were moments in this game where it had just been Leading this team and playing games when we needed him to play games This is what's most important when we follow this process with Mitch, he puts us in good situations, I'm really proud of him. "
This year was a learning process for the coach and the players, who really get to know each other and do this learning in real time, as in an NFL season. Nagy described several steps in this process, some good, some not: goods being learned to recover from a devastating loss (Green Bay); learn to react to a winning return (Arizona); the not-so does not learn to play after a week's vacation (Miami) or does not learn to indulge in an opponent at the quarterback challenge (Miami too). The Bears did not do it this time.
Regarding the upcoming match, Sunday was a rare triumph for all three phases. The offense scored three touchdowns, the defense scored two and the special teams scored one with Tarik Cohen's kickoff kick-two field goals by Cody Parkey. All this despite 14 penalties. You can only play the team in front of you, and beating a doormat is what a young budding team is supposed to do.
Five division games required remain on schedule, including three coming in twelve days, starting next Sunday against the Detroit Lions home and in Minnesota the following week, followed by Thanksgiving by a trip to Detroit. If you're worried, Trubisky would be 0-6 against opponents in the NFC's North Division, although four of the losses ended in seven points or less.
"I think we are in a good position as a team, but we are also looking forward to playing in the division," said Trubisky. "We are delighted to get back to work and prove ourselves in the division. We are looking forward to returning to Soldier Field to defend our country, so we feel good. "
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