As expected, the Chargers were a much tougher opponent than the Raiders. One week after the Bears won decisively against a Brian Hoyer-led offense, the defense struggled to stop Justin Herbert, Austin Ekeler and Keenan Allen for much of the evening. On offense, too many mistakes prevented the team from sustaining success and scoring points. Will this loss stop the Tyson Bagent hype train too? Here are the Bears who played the best, and worst, in the team’s 30-13 loss in primetime.
STUDS
DJ MOORE
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No matter what’s going on, Moore keeps fighting. That’s been evident all season, and was on display again against the Chargers. Not only does Moore find ways to get open each week, he also always keeps his legs moving for extra yards. Moore broke several tackles for big gains. On a couple of occasions, Moore’s YAC turned into first downs. He did a great job giving the Bears offense little sparks on a night when the defense couldn’t make a stop.
DARNELL WRIGHT
Wright has had ups and downs this season, like many rookie tackles who start in their first season. Sunday night was one of his solid performances. Wright took on premiere pass rusher Joey Bosa throughout the night and did a good job neutralizing him– Bosa’s one sack came when he was lined up at defensive tackle next to Khalil Mack. Wright made a critical block on the Bears’ first touchdown, too. He was the lead blocker out in space on a Darrynton Evans pitch and cleared the way for the score. If there’s one knock on Wright’s game, it was that he couldn’t stay on his feet for a fourth down run that ultimately failed.
DUDS
NFL
VELUS JONES
Things started poorly for Jones when he made the decision to take the opening kick out of the endzone, but only made it to the 21-yard line. It wasn’t devastating, but it was a net negative. Unfortunately for Jones, things got progressively worse from there. Towards the end of the first quarter, Jones committed a fair catch interference penalty, which gave the Chargers great field position at their own 45-yard line. The worst was late in the second quarter, when Jones was wide open in the end zone but stumbled to the ground and dropped what should’ve been an easy touchdown. Every once in a while Jones comes through for a big splash play, but too often throughout his short career he’s splashed for major negative plays.
TYRIQUE STEVENSON
After the highs of last week’s impressive performance covering Davante Adams, Stevenson dropped back down to Earth with a rough night against several Chargers receivers. Such is the roller coaster ride for rookie cornerbacks in the NFL. Justin Herbert picked on Stevenson early and often, especially when Stevenson was in soft zone coverage. In some cases, Stevenson was able to come up and make a tackle in front of the sticks. In other cases he wasn’t able to stop the ball carrier, which leads us to our final point…
TACKLING
… Nobody on the Bears tackled well on Sunday, which surely frustrated head coach Matt Eberflus. The first, and the worst, was a T.J. Edwards whiff on Austin Ekeler that turned what could’ve been a TFL into a TD. Edwards was not alone, however. There were the aforementioned missed tackles from Stevenson. Kyler Gordon couldn’t bring guys down on several occasions. The defensive linemen might as well have been invisible throughout the day. On one Quentin Johnston catch, three Bears missed a tackle.
No pass rush + poor tackling is a bad, bad combo, and the Chargers made the most of it.