Bears have one unit under fire after Week 9, and the coaches have one clear change that could quickly turn things around
Special teams was a disaster for the Chicago Bears on Sunday.
The Chicago Bears survived the late-game comeback attempt by the Cincinnati Bengals to improve to 5-3 on the season, thanks in large part to an offensive explosion fueled by the breakout of two rookie play-makers.
A 47-point outing by head coach Ben Johnson’s offense should be the main story of this game, but instead, Chicago struggled again to play a complete game on all three sides of the ball.
Defensively, the Bears allowed Joe Flacco to have a career game at 40 years old with an injured shoulder. The Bears had no answer for Ja’Marr Chase and Tee Higgins in coverage. Despite that, the defense is far from the biggest concern for this entire team after Week 9.
Bears’ special teams continues to be a major issue, and nearly cost the Bears a win
Special teams was a disaster for the Bears on Sunday, starting with the first play of the game. Cairo Santos’ opening kickoff landed two yards short of the end zone, allowing a dangerous returner in Charlie Jones to run the ball out, and take it 98 yards untouched for a touchdown.
And it was far from the only mistake for the unit. Later in the opening quarter, Santos missed a 47-yard attempt but was fortunately bailed out by an offsides penalty that allowed Chicago’s offense to come back on the field and convert on a fourth-and-1.
Santos had another long attempt kick blocked from 47 yards, continuing a troubling trend he faced last season when it came to long attempts being blocked due to a low kick trajectory off his leg.
The next massive mistake came on the onside kick coverage in which Daniel Hardy touched the ball that was short of 10 yards, allowing Cincinnati’s kicking team to recover, which allowed the Bengals to capitalize with a go-ahead touchdown to go up one point with under a minute remaining.
Fortunately for Chicago, rookie tight end Colston Loveland made a spectacular play on the final drive to score the game-winning touchdown on a 58-yard catch and run. Had that drive turned into a potential Santos game-winning attempt, the entire fanbase would have been holding their breath, and for good reason. Which is problematic.
It was a multitude of special teams mistakes, and it’s not uncommon to see this at this point, which puts a lot of pressure on special teams coordinator Richard Hightower (one of the few assistants head coach Ben Johnson retained from the previous staff).
Hightower has one clear decision to make to help put out some of the heat, and it starts by making a change at kicker. Johnson has expressed trust in Santos, whom the team named a captain going into the season. But enough is enough.
Santos is costing the team points on a regular occurrence, and the team still has an immediate option on the roster in Jake Moody, who looked great in two brutal conditions, kicking the ball when Santos was hurt. It’s coaching malpractice at this point.
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