Chicago Bears Week 2 Recap
Bears handle the Bengals 20-17
This Bears team is so mediocre. On Sunday at Soldier Field, Chicago looked really good… at times. Then they looked really bad… at times. The surprising thing was the offense drove right down the field on the opening possession. Under Andy Dalton, the team scored a touchdown on their first possession which is a rare thing for Matt Nagy’s teams over the last couple of years.
The Monsters of the Midway played a solid game. If it wasn’t for the late Cincinnati touchdowns, which were partially Chicago’s inept offense’s fault, the Bears held the Bengals to 3 points while grabbing 4 takeaways, sacking Joe Burrow 5 times, and scoring once with superstar LB #58 Roquan Smith picking off a pass and taking it 53 yards to the house! As it turned out, the Bears had to hold on to a 20-17 victory.
Game Balls
- WR #11 Darnell Mooney – 6 catches, 66 yards, 8 targets
- OLB #94 Robert Quinn – 4 tackles, 2 sacks
- CB #33 Jaylon Johnson – 2 tackles, 4 PBU’s, 1 interception
- K #2 Cairo Santos – Made all 4 kicks including 2 FG’s and 2 PAT’s.
Player of the Game
- LB #58 Roquan Smith – The more and more I watch Roquan, I think of Bears great Wilber Marshall, who also wore #58. Wilber was a fantastic outside linebacker in the 1980’s Bears 4-3 defense called the “46”. Smith is what Wilber would look like playing middle linebacker instead of Mike Singletary, who played MLB in the 80’s. That’s proof of how the NFL has changed since the 1980s. Nowadays you want a faster linebacker in the middle of your defense that can cover receivers. Roquan is one of the best in the league. In this game, he controlled the Bengals. He totaled 9 tackles, 1 TFL, 1 Sack, 1 Interception, 53 yards, and his first career touchdown. That TD was likely the first of many in his budding Hall of Fame career.
Chicago Bears (1-1) at Cleveland Browns (1-1)
The Browns are a much better team than the Bears in my opinion. Cleveland has weapons all over the place. QB Baker Mayfield has two stud RB’s in Nick Chubb and Kareem Hunt. He has explosive receivers in Odell Beckham (just activated off of IR), Jarvis Landry (just went on IR this week due to a sprained MCL in his knee), Donovan Peoples-Jones, and Rashard Higgins. Plus, Cleveland features excellent tight ends in Austin Hooper, David Njoku, and Harrison Bryant. Don’t forget about the NFL’s top fullback in #31 Andy Janovich. He’s a multipurpose blocker/runner/receiver for the Browns and nobody does it better.
It’s early but the power ratings computed through two weeks have the Browns as a much stronger team than the average Bears. Cleveland’s offense is one of the best in the NFL while the Bears might be better on defense and special teams. Overall, the Browns are between 9th and 14th according to our two favorite stat providers as listed below, while Chicago is 21st to 23rd in a 32 team league.
Troy Aikman’s AER
- Chicago Bears (1-1) : 21st overall, 29th offense, 11th defense
- Cleveland Browns (1-1) : 14th overall, 3rd offense, 27th defense
- Chicago Bears : 23rd overall, 28th offense, 9th defense, 9th special teams
- Cleveland Browns : 9th overall, 1st offense, 25th defense, 24th special teams
Week 3 Prediction
The Browns are favored by 7.5 points according to SportsBettingDime.com. This game is on the road in Cleveland at FirstEnergy Stadium. Their breakdown has the Browns winning the game but the Bears beating the point spread. I don’t have as much faith in Chicago on Sunday as Sports Betting Dime. I think the environment will be a little too much for rookie QB Justin Fields in his first career start, filling in for the injured Andy Dalton. The Browns running game led by Nick Chubb, Kareem Hunt, and Andy Janovich will be too much for the Bears, with or without DT #91 Eddie Goldman, who may or may not play as of press time. Even if the Bears can stop the powerful ground game, they most likely won’t be able to stop QB Baker Mayfield and the Browns aerial attack. How much can Fields do in his debut? I’m guessing probably not enough to beat that point spread. PICK: Cleveland.
Cleveland Browns 27 Chicago Bears 13
Last week’s prediction: Chicago Bears 23 Cincinnati Bengals 20
Last week’s final score: Chicago Bears 20 Cincinnati Bengals 17 (we were really close to perfect)
2021 Season : Chicago Bears 1-1, Dutch Lion 2-0
2020 Season: Chicago Bears 8-9, Dutch Lion 14-3
Dutch Lion Sports 
1 comment