The **Chicago Bears** walked away from Sunday Night Football this week with their seventh win of the season (and first on Sunday night since 2018).
And yet, many fans went to bed on Sunday evening with some uneasiness about their favorite football team. Caleb Williams, after a masterful start in the first quarter, ended up having his worst game as a pro. Rome Odunze once again had a case of the drops. And the Bears suffered more injuries that left some big question marks moving forward.
Bears fans are in a very different place as a fan base than they were a couple of years ago when most would have done just about anything for a win on prime time, no matter how it came about. These days, if a win isn’t dominant enough, some sections of the fan base are calling for heads.
That is to say, expectations have risen.
But even though some (many) things were undoubtedly sloppy in this week’s game against the Bucs, the Bears never trailed and Williams delivered a game winning drive in crunch time when the team demanded it most. Let’s just hope this is an experience that results in growth down the stretch.
Let’s get to the game balls.
Burden suffered a concussion near the end of regulation when he took a helmet-to-helmet hit from Rueben Bain Jr. along the sideline. The hit caused Burden to drop the ball, resulting in a turnover that led to the Bucs tying the game with a touchdown and successful two-point conversion.
While the result of the play was costly, I’m not sure there’s a player in the league that could have taken that hit and _not_ dropped the ball. And there’s certainly an argument to be made that the hit should have resulted in a flag, whether the helmet-to-helmet hit was intentional or not.
But I digress. Prior to this play, Burden was once again the Bears’ number one and most reliable receiver throughout the game. He had seven catches for 97 yards and one touchdown.
Burden’s 56-yard touchdown was the Bears’ second of the night and a beautiful sight, including a couple of broken tackles. At this point, it appeared the Bears were going to run the Bucs out of the stadium.
Even though the Bucs would end up coming back, and credit to their defense for forcing several turnovers, Burden was the steady hand throughout most of the night on the offensive side of the ball.
Much has been written about Jeffery Simmons serving as a “multiplier” for a defense, and Bush has been one of the largest benefactors of said multiplication here in Chicago.
With Simmons drawing double teams and attention up front, there is less of an opportunity for blockers to get to the second level and get their hands on Bears linebackers. This has led to Bush being able to utilize his top notch speed and become a real weapon on defense.
That was certainly the case on Sunday night. Bush ended the night with 9 tackles, one tackle for loss, and two passes defended.
Honorable mentions on defense: DT Jeffery Simmons, DE Austin Booker, CB Jaylon Johnson, and CB Cam Lewis. This one really was a close call this week. Booker would have likely been my next choice.
_**Who would have received your game balls? Let us know in the comments section below.**_