The Chicago Bears had come off a very close but encouraging loss to the Atlanta Falcons in week one which gave some people hope for the Bears to be competitive moving forward. Coming back to Tampa Bay in their second consecutive year, the Bears looked to get revenge for last year's blowout loss. This was also a homecoming for quarterback Mike Glennon who was a Buccaneer from 2013 through 2016. In the end things did not go as planned for Chicago as they lost 29-7 in a game where they turned the ball over four times in the first half alone.
Not only did the team play horribly, but more injuries piled up after already losing their top two receivers, their arguably best linebacker, and still being without pro bowl guard Kyle Long.
Absolutely nothing went right and the comments by head coach John Fox regarding him not planning on starting rookie Mitchell Trubisky next week made things even more frustrating for Bears followers.
First half disaster
The Bears were outscored 26-0 in the first two quarters which essentially sealed the game at half time. After the Bears' defense stopped the Bucs from getting into the endzone and only allowing a field goal on a long opening drive, the offense put together what looked like a promising drive. After Glennon connected with his targets and moved into Tampa Bay territory, he tried to slide a throw through triple coverage which ended in an interception. It set up the theme of first half turnovers as Tarik Cohen tried to grab a punt that should have been left alone and lost it, which gave Tampa the ball right back.
Glennon later lost a fumble and threw a pick six in the 2nd quarter.
Within all this the run game could not get itself going as Tampa Bay were all over Cohen and Howard with the line struggling to block for them. They finished with a combined 20 yards rushing the entire game. The secondary was struggling to cover their guys as Winston slowly picked them apart in the 1st half, and, by the second quarter with the big lead, he did not have to throw as much and let his running backs do the work that was already done.
The Bears scored one garbage time touchdown in the 4th quarter as Glennon played the whole game and racked up 301 fairly meaningless yards in the end.
John Fox
After the game there were questions regarding whether or not Fox would consider starting Trubisky. In the postgame he said there were no plans to start Trubisky and that Glennon cannot take all the heat for this game.
Many frustrated fans and analysts in Chicago seem to have had enough of John Fox as #FireFox has become a trend on Twitter. So, for those who want to see Trubisky start a game, it will have to wait because as of right now, Glennon is still the starting quarterback.
Reporter: "Will you think about Trubisky next week at quarterback?"#Bears coach John Fox: "Ah, no."
— Adam Jahns (@adamjahns) September 17, 2017
“I don’t think that loss was all about the quarterback,’’ #Bears John Fox said.
— Chicago Sports News (@ChiSportUpdates) September 17, 2017
"It mostly was," #Bears QB Mike Glennon said.
Injuries
A number of players left the game with apparent injuries on the field. Josh Sitton and Tom Compton had to leave their respective line position and have Cody Whitehair basically play all three inside offensive line positions in one game.
Linebacker Nick Kwiatkoski, who took over for Jerrell Freeman (on IR) also left the game and did not return. Adam Hoge also reported that Jordan Howard, who is having shoulder issues, had his right arm in a sling, so there will be a highly anticipated development to watch out for there.
This team is already banged up as it is, and facing the Steelers in week three at Soldier Field will not make things any easier.
Jordan Howard declined to speak to reporters & left the stadium with his right arm in a sling. He came into the game with a shoulder issue.
— Adam Hoge (@AdamHoge) September 17, 2017
