Bears Mailbag -- Seriously, Why Rashaad Coward?

The Chicago Bears just keep on chugging along.  Somehow underdogs to a well-coached but still an upstart Carolina Panthers team, the Bears went into Bank of America Stadium and throttled Teddy Bridgewater en route to a 23-16 win that wasn't as close as the final score. Chicago is 5-1 and sits atop the NFC North.  And still, no one seems to believe in them.  Here was my post-game thread on the game:

And here was my review of the All-22, which always helps clarify a lot of things!

The Bears do, however, have a tough stretch of games coming up.  They go to Los Angeles to play the Rams on Monday night.  Then they host New Orleans at home -- if you recall, the Saints dominated the Bears at Soldier Field in 2019.  And then Chicago heads to Nashville to take on the Titans, who are arguably the league's best team.  Yeesh. The Bears do play Minnesota as well before the bye week, so if they can salvage a split of these four games before the bye, they'll stand at 7-3.  Not bad at all. With that, I reach into this week's Bears Mailbag.  Thanks to all who submitted questions.  Follow me on Twitter @DhruvKoul to continue the conversation.

Mailbag

To expand on this a bit further -- Coward was pretty solid in pass protection overall, and while he made mistakes in the running game, it's clear that he is powerful and physical.  Do remember that this was his first game (ever) playing LG.  He played RG last year for a bit before losing his job this training camp to Germain Ifedi.  So fans (like the coaches) should expect mistakes.  And there were plenty.  But his raw talent is intriguing, at the very least. But with Aaron Donald on deck on Monday night, the Bears are going to have to game plan specifically to neutralize him.  Nick Foles is doomed if the interior of the pocket routinely collapses.