Report Card: Bears Position Grades after win over Jaguars
Kirby Lee - USA Today Sports

Report Card: Bears Position Grades after win over Jaguars


by - Staff Writer -

The Bears have had a bumpy start to the season offensively, but they are now riding a winning streak of three games and sit at 4-2 after a strong win vs. the Jaguars in London.

So, let’s hand out our Bears grades from their blowout win over the Jacksonville Jaguars:

QUARTERBACK A

Caleb Williams has improved weekly and looked as good as advertised on Sunday. Williams may have turned in his best performance as a pro as he was 23-of-29 for 226 yards on Sunday against the Jaguars with four TD passes and one interception. Williams — as has been the case for Justin Fields and Mitch Trubisky — has been under heavy pressure but was only sacked once on Sunday. The No. 1 overall pick used his legs four times for 56 yards as well.

RUNNING BACKS A

D’andre Swift and Roschon Johnson have taken over this backfield, but it is far from being a committee. Johnson provides strong pass blocking and a goal line presence — but Swift touched him 21 to seven on Sunday as they combined to tear up the Panthers defense. Swift turned in his third straight game with over 100 scrimmage yards and 91 yards of rushing, 28 receiving, and a touchdown. Johnson had 33 total yards. A rookie QB’s best friend is a run game.

RECEIVERS A-

Week 5 saw DJ Moore’s breakout game, this week was Keenan Allen’s turn. Moore had four catches for 20 yards and Kennan Allen turned in his best game of the year with five grabs for 41 yards and a pair of TDs. Rookie WR Rome Odunze had two catches for 40 yards as well. Working Allen back into this mix should go a long way.

Cole Kmet had five catches for 70 yards and two TDs while also long snapping for the Bears special teams. He is proving himself as one of the league’s best TEs.

OFFENSIVE LINE B

The offensive line was better, still allowing pressure of Caleb Williams and three sacks, but they were able to open up holes in the run game and give Caleb ample time to throw. We will still need to see more out of this unit if the Bears have any playoff aspirations but they have been better.

DEFENSIVE LINE A

The Bears came away with four sacks against the Jaguars and generated heavy pressure on Trevor Lawrence all game. The Bears will look to get Montez Sweat more involved, as he had half a sack, but Christopher Williams and Demarcus Walker each had a sack.

LINEBACKERS B+

T.J. Edwards and Tremaine Edmunds combined for 13 tackles, which helped pace the Bears' excellent linebackers on Sunday. Amen Ogbongemiga had a sack, too. This unit looks poised to improve on its strong 2023.

SECONDARY A

Jaylon Johnson’s All-Pro journey is off to an excellent start, but the story of Sunday’s game was Kevin Byard’s pass breakup and Josh Blackwell’s interception. QBs have started to avoid targeting Johnson. This unit did a great job preventing damage all day — as they have all season.

SPECIAL TEAMS B

The Bears’ return men were quiet in the return game. A field goal missed from Cairos Santos and five extra points are nothing to report. Tory Taylor had an average punt of 61.5 yards which helped set the tone for a solid special teams unit.

COACHING B+

The playcalling was better. This team has a rookie quarterback and needs to do everything it can to make it easy for him. Matt Eberflus and Shane Waldron seem to be getting that. Plus, the defense has been strong and the Bears continue to grow.

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