How the Bears look after 4 games: Not enough progress for Justin Fields, passing offense (2024)

The Bears have a .500 record through four games. The last time they went through a regime change that included a new general manager, they had a 1-3 record to start all three of John Fox’s seasons.

Progress?

A 2-2 start is probably better than many predicted considering the level of talent on the roster, but it doesn’t feel very positive for the Bears coming off a 12-point effort in the Meadowlands in which the defense couldn’t stop the Giants’ rushing attack.

This season is about finding foundational pieces for GM Ryan Poles and coach Matt Eberflus. It’s about finding breakout players, whether they’re rookies or free-agent additions. And it’s about figuring out what they have in quarterback Justin Fields.

The first four games haven’t provided a whole lot of answers.

Record

2-2, third place in NFC North (1. Vikings, 2. Packers, 3. Bears, 4. Lions)

Is team better, worse or about where expected after four games?

The Bears are about where I expected as a team, but no one could have predicted the passing game inefficiencies. Even the biggest Fields haters couldn’t have pegged the Bears having a historically unproductive passing game through three games. For wide receiver Darnell Mooney and tight end Cole Kmet to rank so low in receiving categories is startling. Mooney finally made some big plays against the Giants and Kmet had three catches, but for the team’s best passing performance of the season to amount to 174 yards says a lot.

The defense is about what we expected — average with some playmakers and a group that has created turnovers to help win games. But the Bears enter Week 5 after giving up 262 rushing yards to the Giants, a game in which they had missed tackles and struggled to maintain good eye discipline.

Team MVP

Safety Eddie Jackson. It’s been quite the turnaround for Jackson, who entered this season as one of two defensive players left from the 2018 team, along with Roquan Smith, and no player had drawn as much ire from the fan base since 2019 than Jackson. But he has three interceptions in four games after two in his previous 46. He’s tied for the league lead in picks. His open-field tackling is clearly improved. He’s been the most consistent player on defense through four games. Running back Khalil Herbert would be the runner-up in this category and the only player on offense worthy of any consideration for team MVP.

Breakout player

Running back Khalil Herbert. Maybe GM Ryan Poles was hoping the answer to this would have been a free-agent addition such as defensive tackle Justin Jones or linebacker Nicholas Morrow, or a draft pick like cornerback Kyler Gordon or safety Jaquan Brisker, but Herbert — the team’s No. 2 back — has been outstanding. In the opener, he had nine carries for 45 yards and a touchdown. He ran all over the Texans for 157 yards and two scores after David Montgomery left with an injury. He had 77 yards rushing against the Giants. Herbert has been the offense’s most reliable player.

Khalil Herbert goes 52 yards! He's up to 116 yards on the day. @JuiceHerbert

📺: #HOUvsCHI on CBS
📱: Stream on NFL+ https://t.co/i8TlkqNe5b pic.twitter.com/0VcG1aEFFx

— NFL (@NFL) September 25, 2022

Top rookie

Punter Trenton Gill. Four games into his NFL career and Gill’s punting average (48.5 yards) and the all-important net punting average (43.3 yards) are higher than any of Pat O’Donnell’s eight seasons as a Bear. The way the offense has been playing, field position has been crucial, and Gill is off to a good start flipping the field and helping out the defense. Brisker has had the most splash plays of any rookie (two tackles for loss, one sack, one fumble recovery), but he can be more consistent.

Key player who needs to improve

Quarterback Justin Fields, and there isn’t a close second. Four games into the season, Fields has yet to throw for 200 yards in a game. He’s completing 50.7 percent of his passes. He’s been sacked 16 times — that’s certainly not all on him, but he admitted after the loss to the Giants that he can be better with his protection adjustments. His best weapon has been his legs — he has 147 rushing yards — but he has not shown signs of vast improvement from his rookie season. A lot is going against him. He doesn’t have blue-chip players around him, and the play calling isn’t giving him enough opportunities to let it rip, but when he is asked to make a play, too often he is only doing so by scrambling. There’s a long way to go, but based on four games, Fields is at or near the bottom in all statistical categories for quarterbacks and he’s not instilling confidence that he can make the progress the franchise wanted to see.

Is head coach on hot seat or looking good for 2023 season?

Eberflus is safe for 2023. I don’t even want to know what it would take for the Bears to fire a head coach after one season. He’s stuck to his word about instilling a philosophy in the building and, along with Poles, has overhauled how things go at Halas Hall and on the field. Having two wins through four games is probably considered a good start for Eberflus, too, considering how many predicted the Bears to be the bottom of the league. And if they get to the bottom of the league, Eberflus can point to one of the youngest rosters in football and a team clearly in transition. Eberflus and the rest of the team need to find more consistency. In two wins, they’ve touted “HITS,” the way the Bears hustle and show intensity while taking the ball away. In two losses, “HITS” has been absent.

Toughest stretch of remaining games

After Thanksgiving weekend, the Bears host the Packers, then have their bye week before back-to-back home games against the Eagles and Bills. They could be heavy underdogs in all three of those matchups at Soldier Field, even in December. With the Falcons, Jets and Commanders coming up, plus games potentially against a backup quarterback in New England, the Bears could find themselves — wait for it — in the hunt come that stretch in December. Aaron Rodgers, Jalen Hurts and Josh Allen could smack them back to reality.

Playoff contender? Or pipe dream?

Wins over the 49ers and Texans showed that the 2022 Bears, like many Bears teams before them, can win games without much of a passing game, that they can win ugly. The NFC should have a pretty wide-open race for the final playoff spots, and the Bears face the Lions twice, the Commanders, the Jets and the Falcons. At 2-2 and with their remaining schedule, they can still be mathematically considered a contender. But how many more games can they win with a lackluster quarterback performance? This style is asking a lot of the running backs and a young defense.

(Top photo: Robert Deutsch / USA Today)

Kevin Fishbain is a staff writer for The Athletic covering the Chicago Bears. He spent the 2013-16 seasons on the Bears beat for Shaw Media publications, including the Northwest Herald, Daily Chronicle and Joliet Herald-News. Previously, he covered the NFL from 2010 to 2012 for Pro Football Weekly. Follow Kevin on Twitter @kfishbain