Bears fans, we have an offense.
It's been a long time since we have been able to make a claim like that, but first year head coach Matt Nagy has revitalized this offense and it's now starting to fire on all cylinders.
Over the past two weeks, the Bears have put up a combined 75 points! But not only is the offense starting to hum, the defense is playing their part as well and absolutely shutting down the opposition.
In a game that had a lot of good moments, it's time to look back and see who stood out and who has some work to do...
Stock Up: Mitchell Trubisky
This was it. This was his game. Mitch looked absolutely unstoppable on Sunday against the Lions. He went 23 for 30, 355 yards passing, 3 touchdowns through the air, 18 yards rushing and another touchdown on the ground. He played like a man in control of the offense yesterday. He was calling out audibles at the line of scrimmage, showed touch on every single one of his throws, navigated the pocket extremely well and showed that he can not only play in this league...but dominate. This was the game Mitch needed to silence the haters. And he did it in a big way. Stock is way up on the young quarterback.Stock Down: Cody Parkey
Well, you kind of knew this one was coming. How on earth do you hit the goal post four times in one game?! Parkey has to make those kicks. You absolutely cannot leave points on the field if you're wanting to make any sort of noise in the postseason...let alone get there. I think the Bears will bring in a couple kickers this week to workout, but I expect them to give Parkey another shot. Those kicks are so close to going in, but I expect that he'll be on a short leash for next weeks game. I don't know how Parkey's stock could be any lower...Stock Up: Khalil Mack
Welcome back, sir! After resting an ankle injury the past two games, Mack made his presence known again on defense. He notched two sacks, 5 combined tackles and 2 tackles for loss. He's an absolute game changer and is, without a doubt, one of the best defensive players in the league.There's not much that can be said about his performance other than, "Wow." He's in this section just in case you suffer from short-term memory loss and forgot how freaking good he is...stock way up.
Stock Down: The Running Game
If there's one reason to be concerned with the offense, it's the running game. Going up against a putrid run defense, the Bears dynamic duo of Cohen and Howard only ran for a combined 36 yards on 18 carries. That's not so good. The Bears run game needs to start stepping up in order for this team to make a difference later on in the year. Not every matchup will allow you to throw for 355 yards, so there needs to be a strong running game to step up when the passing game doesn't work. Kyle Long going on IR may be a bigger deal than most people may have realized. He's a tone-setter in the run game and the Bears offensive line lacked the intensity yesterday needed to push the Lions around and create holes for Howard. Nagy may want to spend some extra time working on this in practice this week. The Vikings pass defense is stout and they can shut down opposing wide receivers if they need to...forcing the Bears to become one-dimensional may be the key for them winning the game. But if the Bears can run the ball on that Vikings defense, they may come out with a victory on Sunday night. For the time being, stock down for the Bears run game.Stock Up: Roquan Smith
Last week, I included Roquan in a stock up section alongside Danny Trevathan. This week, he gets a section all to himself. Smith led the team in tackles yet again with 10, had a pass break up and sacked Stafford once.He's been stepping up in big ways over the past few weeks and has reinserted himself in the conversation for Defensive Rookie of the Year. If he continues to play like this, it wouldn't be a surprise to see Roquan making frequent trips to the Pro Bowl. He's that special.
