Bears Week 3 Pro Football Focus Grades: Cole Kmet's big receiving game overshadows blunder in pass protection
The Chicago Bears are coming off another tough defeat, this time against the Indianapolis Colts. Despite the loss, the Bears had a few standout players on offense this time around. Pro Football Focus has released all of the player grades from the game, here's the highs and lows from Week 3: Highest Graded Players Linebacker Jack […]
The Chicago Bears are coming off another tough defeat, this time against the Indianapolis Colts. Despite the loss, the Bears had a few standout players on offense this time around. Pro Football Focus has released all of the player grades from the game, here's the highs and lows from Week 3:
Highest Graded Players
Linebacker Jack Sanborn was the team's highest graded overall player, and highest graded defensive player, for the second consecutive week with an 87.1 grade. Sanborn had two tackles and one pass deflection despite playing just 11 defensive snaps.
As for the highest offensive grade, this one might come as a surprise to some. There were clearly two players who deserved this honor and they were both pass catchers. Ultimately, it was tight end Cole Kmet who took the team's top grade of the week with an 86.0 offensive grade.
Kmet honestly deserved it. The dude caught 10 of his 11 targets, turning it into 97 yards and one late touchdown in the fourth quarter. Seven of Kmet's receptions went for a first down. Kmet was given a 84.5 receiving grade for his efforts.
However, the thing that everyone complained about was the strip-sack Kmet allowed late in the game while matched up against Colts' rookie edge rusher Laiatu Latu. The play knocked his pass blocking grade down to a 62.6 for the game. So, it seems PFF valued his receiving impact more than his blocking.
Top 5 Grades
The defense once again had the majority of the Top-5 grades for the Bears this past weekend with three defenders ranking in the Top-5. Here's the official list:
LB Jack Sanborn – 87.1
TE Cole Kmet – 86.0
S Kevin Byard – 83.5
DE Austin Booker – 78.3
RB Roschon Johnson – 75.1
The biggest takeaway from this list has to be Roschon Johnson's grade. This guy played 0 offensive snaps despite being healthy in Week 2 and was the team's second-highest graded offensive player. He needs more looks going forward. It was also nice to see Austin Booker bouncing back after having the second-lowest grade in Week 2.
Bottom-5 Grades
Now for the lowest grades of the week. And this was certainly a surprise to see. All five of the Bears' lowest grades in Week 3 came from the defense.
LB T.J. Edwards – 29.9
DT Byron Cowart – 42.8
CB Kyler Gordon – 42.8
DT Andrew Billings – 45.0
DE Darrell Taylor – 48.2
Linebacker T.J. Edwards had the fourth-lowest grade in a game of his entire career in Week 3 after allowing two receptions for 50 yards with one missed tackle. Slot cornerback Kyler Gordon also struggled in coverage, allowing two receptions for 38 yards (but on six targets). Both players had under a 30.0 coverage grade.
For those interested in the lowest graded players from just the offense, here's that list:
TE Marcedes Lewis – 49.4
TE Gerald Everett – 49.5
RB D'Andre Swift – 51.5
WR Deandre Carter – 51.8
There's an argument to be made that all four of these players need to have their play time dropped going forward. They have been consistently bad and at the root of some of the team's biggest offensive issues so far this season.
