18 and so far http://www.bearsfootballauthentics.com/bryce-callahan-jersey-authentic , it’s been another fun season filled with plenty of parity. While it’s still early, there are currently five teams that hold leads on divisions that didn’t finish at the top the year before.The Chicago Bears are one of those, yet they are the only team that is currently on track for a worst-to-first type turnaround. Will it last? Only time will tell, but they’ve surprised many around the league with their hot start.NFL teams often take the season week-by-week but it’s no secret that they also judge themselves by breaking up the season into four quarters, much like a 60-minute football game. With that in mind, let’s take a look at just how good the Bears have been and what’s ahead in their final 12 games.OffensePhoto by Joe Robbins/Getty ImagesSo far, it’s been a mixed bag of results for this brand new offense. The good news? It all came together in Week 4 with a 48-10 dismantling of the Tampa Bay Buccaneers. Quarterback Mitchell Trubisky finished the game with 354 passing yards, 53 rushing yards and a whopping six passing touchdowns. Throughout their prior three games, it was a much different story though. Plenty of panic had set in with the fanbase, and analysts around the league, as Trubisky and the offense sputtered out of the gate. Some had even questioned whether or not head coach Matt Nagy should be calling plays.Currently, the team’s offense ranks like this:8th in points (27.8)10th in rushing (121.5)20th in DVOA (-1.8%)22nd in yards (341)23rd in passing (219.5)Obviously, some of this has been skewed since Week 4’s performance, but one could make an argument that Week 3 had a similar impact in the other direction. Regardless of the semantics, this unit needs to be better but the hope is that Sunday’s performance will act as a launching pad for Trubisky and the offense.Three Studs:Photo by Jennifer Stewart/Getty ImagesLT Charles Leno Jr.RG Kyle LongRB Tarik CohenThree Duds:Photo by Rob Carr/Getty ImagesLG Eric KushTE Dion SimsRB Jordan HowardGrade: CIf not for last weekend’s performance, this grade is sizably lower. This isn’t to overlook their struggles in the first three contests, though. We’ve seen flashes from the offense and wondered what would happen if they dialed back the complexity and started successful hitting downfield. Sunday we witnessed exactly what this offense is capable of.No fan should expect 48 points or six touchdowns from Trubisky on a weekly basis, but everyone has seen that the second-year quarterback is capable of doing something that no Bears quarterback has accomplished since the 1940’s. If this unit can play at 60% of what it did, they could finish near the top 10. Consistency will be key moving forward.DefensePhoto by Joe Robbins/Getty ImagesContrary to the offensive side of the ball, the defensive unit has been unbelievable. Of course adding Khalil Mack to a top-10 unit (statistically speaking) from last year never hurts.This Bears defense has taken the league by storm. Not only are they putting up top five results in the way of traditional numbers, they’ve flat out dominated the majority of the time they’ve been out on the field. To illustrate their dominance a little better. The Bears have seen seven quarterbacks in four games. Two starters have been benched and one was hurt for a little under a quarter. For a better look at just how good this unit has been, here’s some numbers:1st in Defensive DVOA (-30%)1st in sacks (18)1st in defensive touchdowns (2)2nd in turnovers (11)3rd in points (16.3)4th in yards (294.5)Through four games, the Bears have been the best defensive unit in football and have thoroughly dominated each opponent (outside of Aaron Rodgers in the fourth quarter of Week 1). They’ve also had arguably the best front seven in football and all of this comes without Leonard Floyd factoring in the sack department just yet.As long as this unit stays healthy Youth Mitchell Trubisky Jersey , this is a group that will end up challenging Lovie Smith’s defenses of the mid-2000’s in most statistical categories. More importantly, this appears to be a Super Bowl caliber defense that only needs a league average offense to dominate in the win column.Three Studs:Photo by Jonathan Daniel/Getty ImagesOLB Khalil MackDL Akiem HicksS Eddie JacksonTwo Duds:Photo by Quinn Harris/Getty ImagesCB Kyle FullerDL Jonathan BullardGrade: AThis unit has been incredible and I don’t see that changing anytime soon, as long as they continue to stay healthy. In fact, this unit has been so good I couldn’t even highlight three “duds” because even the two listed haven’t been horrible.If Floyd can get going over the final 12 games in the pass rush department, it’s completely possible that the Bears could end up with close to 70 sacks this year. That may seem lofty but they’ve had the lowest blitz percentage in the league at close to 12% and are still averaging 4.5 sacks-per-game so far. With quarterback pressure will also bring a consistent flow of turnovers.Special TeamsPhoto by Jennifer Stewart/Getty ImagesSo far so good for this unit. As many know, I wasn’t a huge fan of the Chris Tabor hire, but so far he’s proved me wrong. Special teams can be hard to evaluate and I’m not going to sit here and pretend to know how to even do that. With that being said, here’s some numbers for why I believe this is a good unit:4th in made field goals (9)4th in punt return yardage (12.8)5th in Special Teams DVOA (+4.6)6th in net punting average (42.9)Long story short, this unit hasn’t given up anything but and has continued to come up when it’s needed.Grade: A-What’s AheadThe Bears have a bye in Week 5 before the attack the final 12 games on their schedule. Here’s a look at the remainder of their schedule:At DolphinsVs PatriotsVs JetsAt BillsVs LionsVs VikingsAt Lions At GiantsVs RamsVs PackersAt 49ersAt VikingsAs seen above, they’ll face the AFC East over the next four weeks. Their current 3-1 conference schedule will come into handy with any tie-breaking scenarios within the conference in the meantime.The second half of the schedule will see nothing but NFC opponents. Five of those games will be against divisional opponents, which is where their season will likely be decided. Heading into Week 5, the Bears currently hold the top spot in the NFC North and have a chance to hold that lead with a host of winnable games for the foreseeable future.With all of that being said, they must win within their division if they expect a playoff spot this year. Even if they match their first quarter of the season with a 3-1 record in the second installment, a 6-2 record likely won’t be enough to overcome poor divisional play in the second half. Even so, every team in the NFC North looks beatable. The Bears appear to be in a prime position to reach the playoffs for the first time since 2010, at least on paper. One way or another, the Bears exceeded expectations through the first four games and have a chance to mirror that through the next four.Week 3 Preview: Bears vs. Cardinals While things have been bad for the Bears’ offense, some teams have it worse. And while Chicago has seen some very bad offensive football over the years, the 2018 Cardinals is taking it to a new level.They have scored just six points, total, in their first two games of the season. The Cardinals have the fewest passing yards in the league, while the Bears aren’t a ton better, coming in 29th.So Sunday’s game doesn’t appear to be a high scoring affair but there’s plenty of intrigue Womens Trey Burton Jersey , especially on the Bears side. Could this be the game where the offense breaks through? How much more stifling can the defense be, especially after containing two of the league’s best quarterbacks?Arizona CardinalsSB Nation site: Revenge of the BirdsGame day/time/TV: Sunday, 3:25 p.m. CT, FOXRecord: 0-2Last week: 34-0 loss to the Los Angeles Rams. The Cardinals ended with five first downs, a QB that passed for less than 100 yards and converted just three of 12 third downs.They had 137 total offensive yards, while they allowed 432 yards to the Rams.They held Todd Gurley in check in the running game (just 42 yards and just 90 total allowed) but he still managed three scores on the ground.Bears all-time record against: 58-28-6Historical match ups: Being two charter franchises, that shared the same city for a number of years, this series goes back a ways. In fact, after the divisional opponents, the Cardinals are the next team with the most games against the Bears.The most iconic gamethough has to be the so-called Miracle in the Desert game, a.k.a. the ‘Crown their ass’ game. The Super Bowl bound Bears came back from a 20-0 deficit to win 24-23 with two defensive scores and a Devin Hester return TD.Offense: The Cardinals almost have none.They rank 32nd in offensive yards, 32nd in pass yards and 31st in rushing yards.The Cardinals are averaging just three points per game following a six point performance in week one and a shutout last week.Quarterback Sam Bradford is taking ‘checkdown’ to a whole new level. He has 243 yards, zero touchdowns and two interceptions on 61 pass attempts.He’s averaging four yards per attempt, 6.6 yards per completion, 2.5 Adjusted Yards Gained per Attempt and 2.16 Adjusted Net Yards per Attempt.His receivers are the future Hall of Famer Larry Fitzgerald (10 rec./104 yds./0 TD), Ricky Seals-Jones (7/36/0) and Christian Kirk (5/31/0).They also have the versatile pass catching running backs in David Johnson (6/33/0) and Chase Edmonds (9/39/0).Johnson has gotten off to a disappointing start as a runner as well, with just 85 rushing yards and the team’s only touchdown of the season. He is averaging just 3.9 yards per attempt. Edmonds is doing well with limited touches, as he has 29 yards on five attempts (5.8 YPC). Defense: Their defense, while having some big names, hasn’t fared a ton better than their offense. Maybe it’s the new schemes and coaches, maybe it’s the lack of help one unit is getting from the other.The Cardinals come in with the 30th ranked defense in yards allowed and they rank 25th in points allowed. Their pass defense is 27th and their rush defense is 28th.While the unit has Patrick Peterson (7 tackles, 1 sack, 1 INT Womens Aaron Lynch Jersey , 1 pass defensed), Chandler Jones (1 sack, 1 forced fumble, 2 tackles, 1 pass defensed) and Haason Reddick (3 tackles), they have been unable to slow down opponents.Injury report: The Cardinals are a lot more banged up than the Bears are, luckily for us.Their Wednesday injury report listed 11 players:Limited: QB Sam Bradford (non-injury related), S Ruby Ford (ankle), OL Mike Iupati (chest), DL Robert Nkemdiche (foot) and OL Andre Smith (elbow)Did not participate: WR Larry Fitzgerald (hamstring), LB Dennis Gardeck (ankle), DL Olsen Pierre (Toe)Full participation: OL Korey Cunningham (thumb), DE Markus Golden (knee), TE Jermaine Gersham (Achilles)See the Bears injury report here (spoiler alert: it’s tiny)Key match ups: This is going to be about Mitchell Trubisky reading and identifying his reads and targets against a suspect Cardinals secondary. Trubisky has to watch out for Patrick Peterson, who is one of the best in the game. Charles Leno Jr. is going to square off against Chandler Jones, who has gotten off to a slow start this season, but he remains one of the best in the game. This is a bigger test for Leno, who has quietly been very good, and will have a chance to really solidify himself as one of the better left tackles with a good game.For the Bears’ defense, it’s all about stopping David Johnson. So long as the Arizona offense can’t establish the run, then it will be a long day for them, because Bradford seems unable, or unwilling Womens Taylor Gabriel Jersey , to take downfield shots. Larry Fitzgerald remains one of the best receivers in the game, so it would be nice to see Kyle Fuller have a nice solid game against him after having some struggles in the first two games.What to watch for: Can the Bears offense put together an entire game and get touchdowns consistently?The offense has had its lumps during the first two weeks and everyone is waiting for Trubisky to get it all together. This week appears, on paper, to be that game.The Cardinals haven’t been able to move the ball or stop their first two opponents. If Trubisky and the offense really struggle again this week, then the alarm bells and panic buttons will be sounding all week around Chicago.However, this could be a big game for Jordan Howard. The Cardinals are 28th against the run (though they are not much better against the pass, 27th) so the o-line should be able get some push.On the other hand though, because of Mitch’s struggles, opponents are going to focus on slowing down Howard and make the QB beat them. It was Seattle’s gameplan and it worked in large part, until Matt Nagy utilized his wideouts in sweeps and outside runs to get rushing yards.I expect another game with upwards of five players receiving rushing opportunities.Key stats: The Bears are +1 in the turnover margin, while the Cardinals are -1The Bears are converting 42.9 percent of their redzone trips into touchdowns, which ranks 25th. The Cardinals rank 19th, converting 50 percent of their redzone trips, however they’ve had just two trips through two games.The Cardinals defense is 31st in third downs, allowing 50 percent of opponents to gain a first, their offense ranks dead last in third down conversion at 20 percent.This year, 39 times players have passed for more than Arizona QB Sam Bradford’s 243 yards passing in a single game. That is Bradford’s two game total.Bradford has not thrown a touchdown since week one of last season.Prediction: I think that this is a winnable game for the Bears, which scares me into thinking they will lose, so I think the Cards win 6-3. For my pick on the over/under check out my piece over on Sports Bet Collective by clicking here. (First pick is now free!)
