Chicago Bears Week 1 Grades: Searching far and wide for any positives after Packers loss

The Bears lost to the Packers 38-20 on Sunday. It was a nightmare. Times 100. There is nothing to sugarcoat so with that in mind let’s get to the results from a Week 1 to forget.

QB: C

Justin Fields did not have his best day and he felt the need to apologize to both his teammates and the fans vowing the Bears will get better.

“I want to say sorry to the teammates and all of the fans that are rooting for us. We will bounce back. We will be good,” he said.

Fields actually deserved an apology from the coaching staff for the abysmal game plan and from the newly formed offensive line. Fields was under pressure 42 percent of the time according to ESPN Stats and Info, the same amount roughly he lived under last year.

Not good.

Fields still held on to the ball too long, threw a terrible interception to Quay Walker and looked a lot like the quarterback still searching for a pathway to success. He didn’t go forward or backwards, henceforth the middle of the road grade.

WR/TE: C

This category feels like it should get an incomplete. How in the world was DJ Moore only targeted two times? How did Tyler Scott not get a shot on a deep ball? Where was Chase Claypool? Darnell Mooney did lead the way with four catches for 53 yards and a touchdown followed by five catches from Cole Kmet for 44 yards. But it was not enough from a group that apparently did not block well enough either to make Luke Getsy’s game plan successful. More on that to come.

RB: B

Get your Roschon Johnson 23 jerseys while you can. Johnson is the lone reason Bears fans will get some sleep this week when they think about Johnson running over Packer would be tacklers including Johnathan Ford who got blasted by the Bears rookie running back. Bears running backs carried the ball 19 times for 63 yards which is not enough for an offense that will rely on the ground game to be effective for the foreseeable future. Fields did run for a team-high 59 yards, but he could use a little more from this group. Getting behind 24-6 did not help as well.

O-Line: D-

Bad. Braxton Jones was called for two holding penalties and a false start. The entire line looked out of sync all day starting with Lucas Patrick who seemed late snapping the ball on multiple occasions. Patrick’s rust from missing most of training camp stood out. His top contribution was protecting Justin Fields after a late hit going after Jaire Alexander. Darnell Wright laid out Quay Walker at the goal line after Walker picked off Justin Fields and returned it for a touchdown. Fields was under duress all day, again. Not good.

DL/LB: D+

Yannick Ngakoue had the lone sack of the day. T.J. Edwards made 14 tackles but none of them really stood out. What did stand out was Edwards getting beat by Aaron Jones for a 35-yard touchdown pass right through the Bears defense. There was little to no pressure on Jordan Love from a front seven that remains allergic to making things difficult for an opposing quarterback. Justin Jones talked a big game during the week saying the Bears ‘were going to be the ones giving the beat down.” Incredibly, Jones does not even appear on the stat sheet. No tackles, sacks, hurries, fumble recoveries. Zip.

Secondary: D

Eddie Jackson seemed out of place all day. Tyrique Stevenson got beat by Romeo Doubs on a TD pass. Stevenson did show his ability to hit hard, cracking Jayden Reed. Kyler Gordon left the game with what appears to be a hand injury that occurred on one of the rare Bears blitzes. Jaylon Johnson got beat as well. It’s hard to cover all day when there is no pass rush, but the Bears secondary did not find the ball for an interception or any turnover. Disappointing.

Special Teams: A

Cairo Santos made both his field goals including a 47-yard boot. Trenton Gill had a 53-yard average on 4 punts. Tyler Scott looked like a capable kickoff returner and Trent Taylor showed why he is the punt retuner that Ryan Poles feels like he can go the bathroom and not have to worry about the result.

Coaching: F

The game plan left everything to be desired. Apparently Luke Getsy thought a horizontal passing game with great blocking was the pathway to success. This is a bizarre philosophy when you are trying to develop a quarterback — not squeak out wins with gimmicks. The Bears looked undiscplined and did very little of the H.I.T.S philosophy that Matt Eberflus talks about. No one should feel worse about this game than the coaching staff who did not put the team in a position to win.