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2017 Chicago Bears season

November 14, 2023

The 2017 Chicago Bears season was the franchise's 98th season in the National Football League (NFL), as well as their third and final season under head coach John Fox. The Bears improved upon the previous year's 3–13 record, finishing 5–11, but failed to make the playoffs and suffered their fourth consecutive losing season.

2017 Chicago Bears season
OwnerThe McCaskey Family
General managerRyan Pace
Head coachJohn Fox
Home fieldSoldier Field
Results
Record5–11
Division place4th NFC North
Playoff finishDid not qualify
Pro BowlersNone
Uniform

This was their first season since 2008 without Jay Cutler as their starting quarterback, ending an eight-year era. Instead, the Bears picked up former Tampa Bay Buccaneers' quarterback Mike Glennon in free agency and traded up to the number two overall pick in the draft for Mitchell Trubisky. Glennon started the first four games of the season, but was benched for Trubisky after a 1–3 start. Despite entering the bye week with a 3–5 record, the Bears were eliminated from playoff contention following a week thirteen loss against the San Francisco 49ers, and finished the season 5–11. In addition, no Bears players were selected to the Pro Bowl. To add to these failures, it was the first season since 1969 that the Bears failed to win a game against a divisional opponent.

On January 1, 2018, after failing to produce a winning season for a third consecutive season, Fox was fired following the Bears 23–10 loss to the Minnesota Vikings the day prior.

Offseason edit

Organizational changes edit

On January 3, running backs coach Stan Drayton departed the team to become the running backs coach for the Texas Longhorns.[1] The following day, the Bears fired offensive line coach Dave Magazu and assistant defensive backs coach Sam Garnes.[2] The Bears lost a fourth assistant coach on January 7, when outside linebackers coach Clint Hurtt joined the New York Jets.[3] To take their places, the Bears hired San Francisco 49ers offensive coordinator Curtis Modkins, Miami Dolphins assistant offensive line coach Jeremiah Washburn and 49ers safeties coach Roy Anderson, respectively.[4] In addition to his role as Bears defensive coordinator, Vic Fangio assumed Hurtt's role as outside linebackers coach[5] until Chattanooga Mocs defensive coordinator Brandon Staley was hired on February 22.[6] Assistant offensive line coach Kevin Mawae was not retained by the Bears.[7] On January 30, wide receivers coach Curtis Johnson announced he would be leaving the team.[8] Tennessee Volunteers receivers coach / passing game coordinator Zach Azzanni was hired to replace Johnson on February 22.[9] The Bears and 49ers also swapped special teams coaches when the latter's ST coordinator Derius Swinton II, who served as an assistant for the Bears in 2015, returned to Chicago as the assistant ST coach;[10] meanwhile, Bears assistant ST coach Richard Hightower joined the 49ers as their new ST coordinator.[11]

Roster changes edit

Position Player Free agency
Tag 		Date signed 2017 team
OLB Sam Acho UFA April 15[12] Chicago Bears
LT Mike Adams UFA
CB Johnthan Banks UFA March 11[13] Chicago Bears
QB Matt Barkley UFA March 10[14] San Francisco 49ers
K Connor Barth UFA March 10 Chicago Bears[15]
LT Nick Becton UFA July 31 Detroit Lions[16]
QB Brian Hoyer UFA March 9[17] San Francisco 49ers
WR Alshon Jeffery UFA March 9[18] Philadelphia Eagles
G Eric Kush UFA February 15[19] Chicago Bears
G Ted Larsen UFA March 9[20] Miami Dolphins
RT Matt McCants UFA March 27[21] Cleveland Browns
TE Logan Paulsen UFA March 9[17] San Francisco 49ers
SS Chris Prosinski UFA March 20[22] Chicago Bears
WR Deonte Thompson UFA March 23[23] Chicago Bears
DE Cornelius Washington UFA March 9[24] Detroit Lions
DE C. J. Wilson UFA March 20[22] Chicago Bears
WR Marquess Wilson UFA June 20 New York Jets
WR Josh Bellamy RFA March 6[25] Chicago Bears
QB David Fales RFA April 5[26] Miami Dolphins
SS Demontre Hurst RFA April 3[27] Tennessee Titans
OLB Christian Jones RFA March 11[28] Chicago Bears
QB Connor Shaw RFA March 4[29] Chicago Bears
RB Bralon Addison ERFA
TE Daniel Brown ERFA March 6[25] Chicago Bears
CB Bryce Callahan ERFA March 6[25] Chicago Bears
ILB Danny Mason ERFA July 29 Denver Broncos[30]
LS Patrick Scales ERFA March 4[29] Chicago Bears
RFA: Restricted free agent, UFA: Unrestricted free agent, ERFA: Exclusive rights free agent

Acquisitions edit

The first transactions of the year occurred shortly after the conclusion of the 2016 regular season, on January 3, 2017, when the Bears signed to futures contracts cornerbacks De'Vante Bausby, Jacoby Glenn and Rashaad Reynolds, wide receiver Dres Anderson, running back David Cobb, tackle William Poehls, guard Cyril Richardson and center Cornelius Edison. Bausby, Glenn and Edison all saw regular season action for the Bears in 2016, with Glenn also earning three starts throughout the season, while Anderson, Cobb, Poehls, Reynolds and Richardson spent the 2016 season on the team's practice squad.[31]

On January 6, the team signed to a futures contract defensive end Kapron Lewis-Moore.[32] Lewis-Moore, a 2013 sixth-round pick by the Baltimore Ravens, was a practice squad player in Baltimore during the 2016 season after playing in five games (three tackles) in 2015.[33] Four days later, the Bears signed to a futures contract with wide receiver Rueben Randle.[34] Randle, a former second-round pick by the New York Giants in 2012, spent the 2016 season out of football after being released by the Philadelphia Eagles at the end of the preseason.[35]

On March 10, the Bears signed quarterback Mike Glennon, wide receiver Markus Wheaton, tight end Dion Sims and safety Quintin Demps. Glennon, who started 18 games for the Tampa Bay Buccaneers between 2013 and 2014, signed a three-year, $43.5 million deal with the Bears and started the first four games of the season.[36] Wheaton, a former third-round pick by the Pittsburgh Steelers in 2013, missed most of the 2016 season with a shoulder injury, after recording 44 receptions for 749 yards and five touchdowns in 2015.[37] Sims, an excellent blocker who started 11 games for the Miami Dolphins in 2016, signed a three-year, $18 million contract with the team.[38] Demps, a nine-year veteran who led the Houston Texans in interceptions in 2016, signed a three-year, $13.5 million contract with the Bears.[39]

On March 11, the team added cornerbacks Prince Amukamara and Marcus Cooper, offensive lineman Tom Compton and wide receiver Kendall Wright. Amukamara, a former first-round draft pick of the 2011 Giants, who started twelve games for the Jacksonville Jaguars in 2016, agreed to a one-year, $7 million contract, while Cooper, a 7th round pick by the San Francisco 49ers in 2013 who led the Arizona Cardinals in interceptions during the 2016 season, signed a three-year, $16 million contract with the team. Cooper played wide receiver at Rutgers.[40][41] Compton, a five-year veteran who played in all 16 regular season games for the 2016 NFC champion Atlanta Falcons, was a 6th round pick by the Redskins in 2012. Wright, a former first-round pick by the Tennessee Titans who played under Bears offensive coordinator Dowell Loggains and caught 280 passes for 2,244 yards and 18 touchdowns through his five seasons with the team, both agreed to one-year deals with the Bears.[42]

On March 17, the Bears signed defensive tackle John Jenkins, a 359-pound nose tackle who was a third-round pick by the New Orleans Saints in 2013, when Bears general manager Ryan Pace was the Saints' Director of player personnel. Jenkins agreed to a one-year, $900.000 contract with the team.[43] Los Angeles Rams running back Benny Cunningham signed with the team on March 21; also a kick returner, he returned 22 kicks for an average of 27.2 yards, fourth-best in the NFL.[44] Three days later, the Bears signed veteran quarterback Mark Sanchez to a one-year contract.[45] On April 5, cornerback B. W. Webb was signed on a one-year deal; Webb started eight games for the Saints in 2016 and recorded an interception.[46]

The first signing of May took place on May 1, signing interior offensive lineman and former Bear Taylor Boggs; after spending 2013 and 2014 with the Bears, Boggs played for the Cardinals in 2016.[47] The next day, the Bears signed another offensive lineman in Bradley Sowell, who played left and right tackle for the Seattle Seahawks in 2016.[48] On May 4, Kansas City Chiefs defensive end Jaye Howard signed with the Bears on a one-year contract; starting four games in 2016 with the Chiefs, Howard had 122 tackles and 7.5 sacks over his five-year career.[49] Four days later, linebacker Dan Skuta, a former player of Vic Fangio during their time with the 49ers, joined the Bears on a one-year deal.[50] On May 25, the Bears signed Giants' Victor Cruz to a one-year contract; Cruz caught 39 passes for 586 yards and a touchdown in 2016 after two seasons plagued with injuries.[51] On the final day of the month, Detroit Lions fullback Michael Burton was claimed off waivers by the Bears; in 2015, Burton caught six passes for 39 yards and a touchdown, along with four rushing attempts for two yards, while he did not record a rush or a reception in 2016.[52]

Departures edit

On January 9, linebacker Josh Shirley was waived.[53] Shirley, who was signed to the Bears' practice squad on December 14 and promoted to the active roster for the season finale, played only one defensive snap for the team in 2016.[53] On March 9, the team released longtime quarterback Jay Cutler; the 33-year-old quarterback held multiple franchise passing records, but played just five games in 2016 due to injury.[54] Later in the month, on March 31, the Bears waived defensive end Ego Ferguson, who last played during the 2015 season and was since on injured reserve twice.[55] Cornerback Tracy Porter was released on April 10; despite starting all sixteen games in 2016, he struggled with knee injuries throughout the year.[56] In early May, the Bears released six players: running backs David Cobb and Bralon Addison, defensive backs De'Vante Bausby and Jacoby Glenn; wide receiver Dres Anderson and tight end Justin Perillo.[47] On May 11, receiver Eddie Royal, defensive lineman Will Sutton, fullback Paul Lasike and center Cornelius Edison were waived; Royal struggled with injuries during his tenure with the Bears; Sutton, a 4–3 defensive tackle, did not fit Fangio's 3–4 defense and was unable to record a sack as a Bear.[57]

On March 9, free agency began with the departure of receiver Alshon Jeffery for the Eagles to end a five-year tenure in Chicago.[18] Quarterbacks Brian Hoyer and Matt Barkley, along with tight end Logan Paulsen, signed with the San Francisco 49ers.[14][17] Three other linemen who left the Bears included defensive end Cornelius Washington, who joined the Lions,[24] guard Ted Larsen, who signed with the Miami Dolphins,[20] and offensive tackle Matt McCants, who was signed by the Cleveland Browns.[21] On April 3, cornerback Demontre Hurst became a Titan.[27] Two days later, quarterback David Fales also signed with the Dolphins.[26] On July 29 and 31, linebacker Danny Mason and offensive lineman Nick Becton signed with the Broncos and Lions, respectively.[16][30]

2017 NFL Draft edit

Main article: 2017 NFL Draft

Pre-draft edit

Entering the draft, the Bears saw needs at various positions, including quarterback, offensive tackle, wide receiver, and safety.[58][59][60] In the months leading up to April's draft, the team interacted with 84 players; 21 had private visits, 7 players visited during the NFL Scouting Combine, 55 met during the Senior Bowl and 2 during the East–West Shrine Game, 4 had private workouts, while 2 had local visits. Of the 84, 6 had met with the team on multiple occasions.[61]

With the third-overall pick leading up to the draft, it was the highest selection by the Bears since the 2005 NFL Draft, in which the team drafted Texas Longhorns running back Cedric Benson;[62] it was also the first No. 3 pick since 1972, which was used on Southern Illinois Salukis offensive tackle Lionel Antoine.[63]

Draft edit

The Bears traded the third-overall pick, a 2017 third-round pick (No. 67) overall, a 2017 fourth-round pick (No. 111) and a 2018 third-round pick to the 49ers in exchange for their second-overall pick. Moving up a spot in the draft order, the Bears used it on North Carolina quarterback Mitchell Trubisky;[64] although he only started for one full season, Trubisky threw for 30 touchdowns and just six interceptions in 2016, including completing 68 percent of his passes and an average of 8.4 yards per pass.[65] In the second round, the Bears traded the 36th-overall pick and a seventh-round selection (No. 211) to the Cardinals in exchange for their 45th-overall pick, a fourth- (No. 119) and sixth-rounder (No. 197), and a fourth-rounder in 2018. With the new second-round pick, tight end Adam Shaheen of the Ashland Eagles was selected; in 2016, Shaheen recorded 16 touchdown receptions, the most in a season by a tight end in NCAA Division II history.[66] After trading their third-rounder to the 49ers, the Bears did not have a pick in that round, instead waiting until the next round to use the 112th-overall pick on Alabama safety Eddie Jackson; over the course of his college career, Jackson had nine interceptions, 12 pass breakups and five touchdowns (three on interception returns), including restricting opposing quarterbacks to a combined 38.3 passer rating when throwing his way in 2016. Also a punt returner, he averaged 23 yards on punt returns, but broke his leg on a return during a game last October.[67] The second fourth-round pick, the 119th-overall from Arizona, was used to select North Carolina A&T running back Tarik Cohen. The 5 ft 6 in (1.68 m), 160 lb (73 kg) running back attracted Internet attention in 2015 when a video surfaced of him performing a backflip and catching two footballs at the same time.[68] With the Aggies, Cohen was named Mid-Eastern Athletic Conference Rookie of the Year during his freshman year and was the MEAC Offensive Player of the Year three times as he recorded 5,619 rushing yards during his tenure.[69] A second Division II player, Kutztown Golden Bears offensive lineman Jordan Morgan, was drafted with Chicago's final pick (a fifth-rounder and the 147th-overall selection); the first Kutztown player to be drafted since Andre Reed in 1985, Morgan started 43 of 44 games with the Golden Bears, winning the 2016 Gene Upshaw Award and being named the Pennsylvania State Athletic Conference Eastern Division Offensive Athlete of the Year, the first lineman to receive the honor.[70]

Reception to the Bears' draft varied. The decision to trade up for the second-overall pick was criticized by various analysts: CBSSports.com writer Pete Prisco called it a "strange move to give up so much to move up a spot",[71] while Fox Sports 1 pundits Skip Bayless and Shannon Sharpe as "indefensibly idiotic" and as making "no sense", the latter also questioning the necessity of drafting a quarterback so early after signing Mike Glennon in free agency.[72] The Bears drafted three players from colleges not within the Division I Football Bowl Subdivision, the first time the team's draft class featured three non-FBS players since 2002, when the Bears drafted Delaware receiver Jamin Elliott (FCS), Georgia Southern running back Adrian Peterson (FCS) and Tuskegee cornerback Roosevelt Williams (Division II).[73]

2017 Chicago Bears draft
Round Pick Player Position College Notes
1 2 Mitchell Trubisky *  QB North Carolina From San Francisco
2 45 Adam Shaheen  TE Ashland From Arizona
4 112 Eddie Jackson *  S Alabama
4 119 Tarik Cohen *  RB North Carolina A&T From Arizona
5 147 Jordan Morgan  G Kutztown
      Made roster    †   Pro Football Hall of Fame    *   Made at least one Pro Bowl during career

Notes

  • The Bears acquired an additional fourth-round selection (No. 117 overall) as part of a trade that sent the team's 2016 second-round selection to the Buffalo Bills.[74]
  • The Bears traded their sixth-round selection (No. 188 overall) to the Houston Texans in exchange for tight end Khari Lee.[75]
  • The Bears traded their third-overall pick, third-round pick, a fourth-round pick and a 2018 third-round pick to the 49ers for the second-overall pick.
  • The Bears traded their second- and seventh-round selections (36th and 221st) to Arizona in exchange for Arizona's second-, fourth-, and sixth-round selections (45th, 119th, and 197th) as well as a fourth-round selection in 2018.

Undrafted free agents edit

After the draft, the Bears signed the following undrafted free agents:

Offseason activities edit

The first day of offseason workouts was on April 18. Other events included offseason team activities (OTAs) on May 23–25 and 30–31, and June 1 and 5–8. A mandatory minicamp took place from June 13–15.[77] Two weeks after the draft, the Bears hosted their Rookie Minicamp from May 12–14.[78] In addition to the draft picks and 13 undrafted free agents signed prior, the Minicamp featured 38 rookies and nine veteran players trying out.[79] At the end of the camp, the Bears signed veteran tryout and former New York Jets receiver Titus Davis, who retired after the 2016 season before participating at the camp.[80] In conjunction with the signing, Kermit Whitfield was waived.[81] On May 30, the Bears waived quarterback Connor Shaw, but following an injury to Mark Sanchez, rescinded the waiver and instead released Jhujuan Seales.[82] When Michael Burton was signed a day later, Franko House was released.[83]

Bears Training Camp was held at Olivet Nazarene University in Bourbonnais from July 26 to August 14.[84] The team's annual Family Fest was held at Soldier Field on August 5,[85] while a practice was conducted at Prospect High School on August 17.[86] On August 3, Joel Bouagnon was waived with an injury designation, with Tulane Green Wave running back Joshua Rounds being signed in his place.[87] A day later, during a practice, guard Eric Kush tore a hamstring from its bone, forcing the Bears to place him on the injured reserve list and rendering him out for the 2017 season.[88] To replace Kush, Chicago signed Alabama tight end Brandon Greene, who also played offensive lineman and was a run blocker for the Crimson Tide.[89] At Family Fest, Andy Phillips struggled and was released two days later, with his roster slot being filled by Tennessee Volunteers receiver Alton Howard.[90]

Preseason edit

Transactions edit

Preseason roster changes[91]
Additions
Departures
Reserve lists
  • On August 13, the Bears placed Rueben Randle on the injured reserve list.
  • On August 28, the Bears placed Patrick Scales on the injured reserve list.
  • On September 2, the Bears placed Connor Shaw, Ka'Deem Carey, Lamarr Houston, Cameron Meredith, Jordan Morgan, and Chris Prosinski on the injured reserve list.
  • On September 4, the Bears placed Deiondre' Hall on the injured reserve list.
Practice squad additions
  • On September 4, the Bears added Jonathan Anderson, Rashaad Coward, Tanner Gentry, Brandon Greene, DeAndre Houston-Carson, Isaiah Irving, Dieugot Joseph, Cameron Lee, and John Timu to the practice squad.

Schedule edit

The Bears' preseason schedule was announced on April 10. Like in 2016, the first game of the preseason was at home against the Broncos, who defeated the Bears 22–0 in last year's meeting. For the next two games, the Bears traveled to Arizona and Tennessee to take on the Cardinals and Titans before ending August in Soldier Field against a traditional preseason opponent in the Cleveland Browns; playing each other to close the preseason since 2004, the Bears held a 7–6 lead in the series.[92]

Week Date Opponent Result Record Game site NFL.com
GameBook 		NFL.com
recap
1 August 10 Denver Broncos L 17–24 0–1 Soldier Field GameBook Recap
2 August 19 at Arizona Cardinals W 24–23 1–1 University of Phoenix Stadium GameBook Recap
3 August 27 at Tennessee Titans W 19–7 2–1 Nissan Stadium GameBook Recap
4 August 31 Cleveland Browns L 0–25 2–2 Soldier Field GameBook Recap

Game summaries edit

Against the Broncos, the Bears' preseason started on a rough note; on the third play of the game, Mike Glennon's pass for Zach Miller was intercepted by Chris Harris Jr. and returned 50 yards for a touchdown. On the resulting kickoff, Deonte Thompson muffed the return, but managed to recover and return it to the Bears' 28-yard line, though Ka'Deem Carey was injured on the play. The Bears were later forced to punt on the drive.[93] Now on defense, Chicago started strong when Leonard Floyd sacked Trevor Siemian on the first play of the series, but the defense committed four consecutive penalties and Denver was able to add three points to the score with Brandon McManus' 38-yard field goal. Another turnover for the Bears offense occurred when Cody Whitehair's snap missed Glennon and was recovered by Jamal Carter of the Broncos. Both teams traded punts and Mark Sanchez eventually replaced Glennon at quarterback; Glennon struggled greatly, completing just two of eight passes for 20 yards with an interception and a 0.0 passer rating. Sanchez would play one series, completing a pass for four yards.[94] With 1:55 remaining in the first half, Mitchell Trubisky became the Bears' quarterback, where he led the offense by completing all four of his passes for 24 yards on a six-play, 50-yard drive, culminating in a two-yard touchdown pass to Victor Cruz. After the Broncos punted to start the second half, Trubisky guided the Bears on a 75-yard series, which ended with Benny Cunningham's one-yard touchdown run to take the 14–10 lead.[94] On Chicago's next possession, the offense traveled 45 yards before Connor Barth kicked a 25-yard field goal.[93] Despite the seven-point advantage, the Broncos scored 14 unanswered points on Kyle Sloter's 47-yard touchdown pass to Isaiah McKenzie and DeAngelo Henderson's 41-yard run on third down-and-22 with less than two minutes in the game.[94] Down 24–17, Trubisky attempted to rally a late drive and reached the Broncos' 22-yard line, but his final pass to Thompson fell incomplete as time expired.[93] In total, Trubisky completed his first ten passes and ended the day with 18/25 passes completed for 166 yards with a touchdown and a 103.1 rating.[94]

At University of Phoenix Stadium, Chicago scored first on Barth's 42-yard field goal in the opening quarter.[95] A quarter later, the Bears had another opportunity to score again, but Glennon's pass for Kendall Wright was intercepted by Tyrann Mathieu at the Cardinals' 11-yard line and was taken 52 yards to the Bears' 43.[96] During the resulting drive, J. J. Nelson was stripped by Quintin Demps and recovered by the Bears' Cre'Von LeBlanc, who returned the fumble 77 yards for the score, though it was overturned upon official review and Arizona retained possession of the ball. The Cardinals reached the Bears' one-yard line, but failed to score on first, second and third down before Carson Palmer threw a touchdown pass to Jermaine Gresham on fourth down.[95] Glennon rebounded by throwing a seven-yard touchdown pass to Wright despite facing a heavy blitz. On the final play of the first half, Cardinals kicker Phil Dawson attempted a 63-yard field goal, which fell short and was caught by Deonte Thompson, who returned it 109 yards for the touchdown.[96] During Arizona's first drive of the second half, Blaine Gabbert scored on a four-yard touchdown run. Sanchez entered the game for the Bears on the next series, though he fumbled on a snap and the Bears eventually punted. Trubisky took over a drive later, where he led the Bears offense into field goal range, though Roberto Aguayo missed a 49-yard field goal.[95] In the fourth quarter, Chicago's Roy Robertson-Harris recorded two consecutive sacks, while B. W. Webb intercepted a Gabbert pass by pulling the ball from Chris Hubert;[96] though the play initially resulted in a touchdown, it was overturned, though the Bears kept the ball. Trubisky eventually threw a six-yard touchdown pas to Cunningham to make the score 24–14, but the Cardinals scored on Dawson's 52-yard field goal and Gabbert's three-yard pass to Jeremy Ross to draw them within one point. Arizona attempted a two-point conversion, but Gabbert's pass for Ross fell incomplete to seal the win.[95]

In Nashville, the Titans punted on the opening drive, with Brett Kern's punt landing at the Bears' four-yard line.[97] Glennon successfully engineered a 15-play, 96-yard drive as he completed seven of nine passes for 89 yards and culminating with a one-yard touchdown pass to Dion Sims.[98] On their next drive, the Titans were forced to punt again, with Kern once again forcing the Bears to start deep within their own territory with a 61-yard punt landing at the six. Unlike the first drive, Chicago was unable to score on the second and was forced to punt, though the offense entered Tennessee's side of the field. During Kern's third punt,[97] Robertson-Harris blocked it in the end zone and Adam Shaheen attempted to recover, but was ruled out of bounds, giving the Bears two points via safety. The Titans' Ryan Succop later tried a 40-yard field goal, but missed it to the right; the Bears' Barth responded by converting his 41-yard field goal to give his team a 12–0 lead at halftime.[98] Trubisky entered the game in the third quarter, though neither team scored during the quarter.[97] On the first play of the fourth quarter, Tennessee's Marcus Mariota threw a three-yard touchdown pass to Derrick Henry to decrease the margin to five points, though the Bears retaliated as Trubisky launched a 45-yard pass to Tanner Gentry for the score.[98] Two series later, Titans quarterback Matt Cassel was strip-sacked by Lamarr Houston, with Chicago's John Jenkins recovering; Connor Shaw eventually took over the Bears' quarterback role, though his drive also ended with a fumble when Freddie Stevenson lost the ball after being tackles by Justin Staples, with Daren Bates recovering. With 1:46 Alex Tanney guided the Titans offense into Chicago territory before failing to convert on fourth down. Shaw kneeled once to end the game with a 19–7 win.[97] Despite the win, the Bears roster suffered a variety of injuries: Prince Amukamura had an ankle injury early in the game,[99] receiver Cameron Meredith suffered a left anterior cruciate ligament injury that required replacement and ruled him out until 2018,[100] long snapper Patrick Scales injured his right knee and was placed on the waived/injured list,[101] and linebackers Floyd and Dan Skuta had a foot injury and underwent concussion protocol, respectively.[99]

Trubisky was named the starter for the final preseason game against the Browns, the Bears hoping doing so would give the rookie game experience. He started the game by handing off on nine consecutive plays, with three straight drives ending with punts. By the end of the game, he attempted only four passes, completing two for ten yards. The game was scoreless until late in the first half, when Cleveland's Cody Kessler threw a 27-yard touchdown pass to Rannell Hall. In the second half, the Browns scored 18 unanswered points: Zane Gonzalez kicked a 53-yard field goal, Calvin Pryor and Karter Schult sacked Shaw in the end zone for a safety, and Kevin Hogan threw 51- and 21-yard touchdown passes to Randall Telfer and Jordan Leslie, respectively.[102] Trubisky returned to the game in the fourth quarter on two occasions when Shaw was hurt, though he could not lead the Bears on a scoring drive and was sacked at the Browns' nine-yard line on the final play of the game.[103]

Regular season edit

Transactions edit

Regular season roster changes[91]
Additions
  • On September 12, the Bears promoted Jonathan Anderson and Tanner Gentry to the active roster.
  • On September 19, the Bears promoted DeAndre Houston-Carson to the active roster.
  • On September 23, the Bears promoted John Timu to the active roster.
  • On October 2, the Bears promoted Tre McBride to the active roster.
  • On October 9, the Bears promoted Isaiah Irving to the active roster.
  • On October 11, the Bears promoted Tanner Gentry to the active roster.
  • On October 26, the Bears acquired Dontrelle Inman in a trade with the Los Angeles Chargers.
  • On November 9, the Bears promoted Ben Braunecker to the active roster.
  • On November 11, the Bears promoted Jonathan Anderson to the active roster.
  • On November 20, the Bears signed Cairo Santos.
  • On November 23, the Bears promoted Howard Jones to the active roster.
  • On November 29, the Bears signed Lamarr Houston.
  • On December 2, the Bears promoted Deiondre' Hall to the active roster.
  • On December 4, the Bears signed Mike Nugent.
  • On December 5, the Bears promoted Howard Jones and Cameron Lee to the active roster.
  • On December 9, the Bears promoted Rashaad Coward to the active roster.
Departures
  • On September 19, the Bears released Tanner Gentry.
  • On September 23, the Bears released Tre McBride.
  • On October 11, the Bears released Deonte Thompson.
  • On October 26, the Bears released Jonathan Anderson.
  • On November 11, the Bears released Tanner Gentry.
  • On November 20, the Bears released Connor Barth.
  • On November 27, the Bears released Mario Alford.
  • On November 28, the Bears released Tre McBride.
  • On November 30, the Bears released Howard Jones.
  • On December 9, the Bears released Jonathan Anderson.
Reserve lists
  • On September 12, the Bears placed Kevin White and Jerrell Freeman on the injured reserve list.
  • On September 29, the Bears placed Quintin Demps on the injured reserve list.
  • On October 10, the Bears placed Willie Young on the injured reserve list.
  • On November 9, the Bears placed Zach Miller on the injured reserve list.
  • On November 23, the Bears placed Leonard Floyd on the injured reserve list.
  • On December 2, the Bears placed Isaiah Irving on the injured reserve list.
  • On December 4, the Bears placed Cairo Santos on the injured reserve list.
  • On December 5, the Bears placed Kyle Long and Mitch Unrein on the injured reserve list.
Practice squad additions
  • On September 12, the Bears added Joshua Rounds and Mario Alford to the practice squad.
  • On September 19, the Bears added Mike Purcell to the practice squad.
  • On September 21, the Bears added Tanner Gentry to the practice squad.
  • On September 26, the Bears added Tre McBride and Doran Grant to the practice squad.
  • On October 2, the Bears added Jason Thompson to the practice squad.
  • On October 6, the Bears added Howard Jones to the practice squad.
  • On October 11, the Bears added Carl Bradford and Darreus Rogers to the practice squad.
  • On October 16, the Bears added Nelson Spruce to the practice squad.
  • On November 7, the Bears added Colin Thompson to the practice squad.
  • On November 14, the Bears added Tanner Gentry and Travis Averill to the practice squad.
  • On December 2, the Bears added Howard Jones to the practice squad.
  • On December 5, the Bears added Colin Thompson and Will Pericak to the practice squad.
Practice squad departures
  • On September 19, the Bears removed Joshua Rounds from the practice squad.
  • On October 6, the Bears removed Mike Purcell from the practice squad.
  • On October 16, the Bears removed Jason Thompson from the practice squad.
  • On November 14, the Bears removed Darreus Rogers from the practice squad.
  • On December 2, the Bears removed Colin Thompson from the practice squad.

Schedule edit

Week Date Opponent Result Record Game site NFL.com
GameBook 		NFL.com
recap
1 September 10 Atlanta Falcons L 17–23 0–1 Soldier Field GameBook 2017-09-16 at the Wayback Machine Recap
2 September 17 at Tampa Bay Buccaneers L 7–29 0–2 Raymond James Stadium GameBook 2017-10-04 at the Wayback Machine Recap
3 September 24 Pittsburgh Steelers W 23–17 (OT) 1–2 Soldier Field GameBook 2017-10-04 at the Wayback Machine Recap
4 September 28 at Green Bay Packers L 14–35 1–3 Lambeau Field GameBook 2017-10-03 at the Wayback Machine Recap
5 October 9 Minnesota Vikings L 17–20 1–4 Soldier Field GameBook 2017-10-11 at the Wayback Machine Recap
6 October 15 at Baltimore Ravens W 27–24 (OT) 2–4 M&T Bank Stadium GameBook 2017-10-18 at the Wayback Machine Recap
7 October 22 Carolina Panthers W 17–3 3–4 Soldier Field GameBook 2017-10-25 at the Wayback Machine Recap
8 October 29 at New Orleans Saints L 12–20 3–5 Mercedes-Benz Superdome GameBook 2017-11-02 at the Wayback Machine Recap
9 Bye
10 November 12 Green Bay Packers L 16–23 3–6 Soldier Field GameBook 2017-11-16 at the Wayback Machine Recap
11 November 19 Detroit Lions L 24–27 3–7 Soldier Field GameBook 2017-11-23 at the Wayback Machine Recap
12 November 26 at Philadelphia Eagles L 3–31 3–8 Lincoln Financial Field GameBook 2017-11-30 at the Wayback Machine Recap
13 December 3 San Francisco 49ers L 14–15 3–9 Soldier Field GameBook 2017-12-07 at the Wayback Machine Recap
14 December 10 at Cincinnati Bengals W 33–7 4–9 Paul Brown Stadium GameBook 2017-12-14 at the Wayback Machine Recap
15 December 16 at Detroit Lions L 10–20 4–10 Ford Field GameBook 2017-12-21 at the Wayback Machine Recap
16 December 24 Cleveland Browns W 20–3 5–10 Soldier Field GameBook 2017-12-28 at the Wayback Machine Recap
17 December 31 at Minnesota Vikings L 10–23 5–11 U.S. Bank Stadium GameBook 2018-01-04 at the Wayback Machine Recap
Note: Intra-division opponents are in bold text.
Legend
 #  Games played with color uniforms.
 #  Games played with white uniforms.
 #  Games played with 1940s throwback uniforms.
 –  Light green background indicates a victory.
 –  Light red background indicates a loss.
Note: The Bears' Color Rush uniforms for the Week 4 Thursday Night game at the Green Bay Packers consisted of navy blue pants with their standard navy jerseys.[104]

Game summaries edit

Week 1: vs. Atlanta Falcons edit

Week One: Atlanta Falcons at Chicago Bears – Game summary
Period 1 2 34Total
Falcons 3 7 31023
Bears 0 10 0717

at Soldier Field, Chicago, Illinois

Game information
 
The Bears played all of their home games at Soldier Field.

For the season opener, the Bears were considered an obvious underdog as they faced the Atlanta Falcons, who appeared in Super Bowl LI a year earlier.[105] After 26 total meetings, the Bears led the series 14–12; entering the 2017 game, the Bears had a two-game winning streak against the Falcons, with the most recent game in 2014 being a 27–13 victory.[106] The offense, which ranked 15th in 2016 (17th in rushing and 14th passing), took on a Falcons defense that was ranked 25th (17th in run and 28th in pass). During his tenure with the Buccaneers, Mike Glennon completed 71.6 percent of his passes for 683 yards with six touchdowns, no interceptions, and a 109.2 passer rating against the Falcons.[107] Although Glennon had strong stats against Atlanta, CBS Chicago writer and former Bears director of college scouting Greg Gabriel suggested the Bears should utilize its rushing attack due to a lack of options at receiver. Rookie running backs Tarik Cohen and Taquan Mizzell, both players with high agility, were recommended by Gabriel for use, as "gimmicks" are more effective at the start of the season due to a lack of preparation for them.[105] The Bears' 15th-ranked defense (27th in run and seventh in pass) faced a Falcons offense led by 2016 MVP quarterback Matt Ryan and ranked second in offense (fifth in rushing and third in passing).[107] Gabriel wrote the Bears defensive line and linebackers were among the best in the league, and played against a Falcons offensive line that was considered one of the weakest parts of the team. On the other hand, Gabriel added the Bears secondary was an area of concern, meaning the DL and LB corps were to be relied on to apply pressure to Ryan.[105]

The Falcons' Matt Bryant kicked a 48-yard field goal on the opening drive. After the two teams exchanged punts, Connor Barth converted a 54-yard field goal at the start of the second quarter to tie the game.[108] Although Devonta Freeman scored on a five-yard touchdown run, the Bears responded with a 75-yard drive featuring exclusively run plays. On the series, Cohen escaped two Falcons and shifted from the left side of the field to the right to record a 46-yard run. Cohen later took a direct snap from the center in the Wildcat formation and handed the ball to Jordan Howard, who received assistance on a block by Glennon to score a five-yard touchdown.[109] The first three drives of the second half ended with a punt before Bryant kicked a 28-yard field goal.[108] After another Chicago punt, the defense appeared to have forced a fourth down situation on Atlanta until Akiem Hicks was penalized for roughing the passer. Ryan capitalized by throwing to an open Austin Hooper, who stiff-arm fended Quintin Demps to score an 88-yard touchdown.[109] Glennon threw a 19-yard touchdown pass to Cohen to decrease the gap to three points until Bryant kicked a 37-yard field goal. Down by six with 3:21 remaining in the game, Glennon drove the Bears downfield and reached the Falcons' five-yard line, but his first three passes to Josh Bellamy, Howard, and Miller fell incomplete. On fourth-and-five, Glennon was sacked by Brooks Reed for a turnover on downs. Ryan kneeled to seal the Bears' 23–17 defeat.[108]

The loss marked the fourth straight opening week loss for the Bears.

Week 2: at Tampa Bay Buccaneers edit

Week Two: Chicago Bears at Tampa Bay Buccaneers – Game summary
Period 1 2 34Total
Bears 0 0 077
Buccaneers 10 16 0329

at Raymond James Stadium, Tampa, Florida

Game information

For the second week of the season, Mike Glennon returned to Raymond James Stadium to take on his former team, the Tampa Bay Buccaneers. Although the Bears led the all-time series 38–19 and had won three of the last four games, the Buccaneers routed the Bears 36–10 in their latest meeting in 2016.[110] Chicago's 25th-ranked defense (tenth against the run and 27th against the pass) faced a Tampa offense spearheaded by quarterback Jameis Winston, who threw for 28 touchdowns and 18 interceptions for a passer rating of 86.1 passer rating in 2016.[111] Winston's catchers included receivers Mike Evans and DeSean Jackson, along with tight ends Cameron Brate and O. J. Howard; Brate, an Illinois native and Bears fan, had excelled against his favorite team, recording a 46-yard catch in 2015 and a career-high seven receptions for 84 yards and a touchdown in 2016.[112] Bears defensive coordinator Vic Fangio described the Bucs' tight ends as "good players. [Brate] has been a really good red-zone player for them. The quarterback is very comfortable throwing to him. He's got great route instincts and route-running ability and he's a very good catcher of the ball. Howard is a very good athlete with good size, a good blocker that can get down the field. They've got two really good weapons at tight end."[113]

The Buccaneers opened the game with Nick Folk's 42-yard field goal.[114] On Chicago's first drive, Glennon completed his first six passes before his pass for Dion Sims was intercepted by Kwon Alexander, and while the Bucs were forced to punt on the resulting series, Tarik Cohen attempted to field a bouncing punt as he was covered by two players, causing him to fumble. Tampa's Cameron Lynch recovered the loose ball, with Winston throwing a 13-yard touchdown pass to Evans on the next play.[115] During the Bears' next series, Glennon was sacked by Noah Spence and fumbled, with the Bucs' Lavonte David recovering. Jacquizz Rodgers eventually scored on a one-yard touchdown run. Glennon's woes continued when he was intercepted by Robert McClain, who returned the 47 yards for a touchdown. Although Folk missed the extra point, he kicked a 50-yard field goal to give the Buccaneers a 26–0 lead by halftime. The Bears punted on the first drive of the second half, but reclaimed the ball when Charles Sims was stripped by Pernell McPhee and Leonard Floyd recovered, though the Bears failed to capitalize on the takeaway as they were forced to punt. Folk kicked a 23-yard field goal in the fourth quarter to increase the lead by 29 points. Chicago's next two drives reached Tampa's red zone, but both ended with turnovers on downs.[114] With 1:43 left in the game, Glennon threw a 13-yard touchdown pass to Deonte Thompson, though it was too late to make a comeback.[115]

Week 3: vs. Pittsburgh Steelers edit

Week Three: Pittsburgh Steelers at Chicago Bears – Game summary
Period 1 2 34OTTotal
Steelers 0 7 73017
Bears 7 10 00623

at Soldier Field, Chicago, Illinois

Game information

In week three, Chicago hosted the 2–0 Pittsburgh Steelers, who trailed the all-time series 18–7–1 and had not defeated the Bears since 2005.[116] WBBM-TV writer Jeff Joniak described the Bears as in "clean-up mode" after a poor performance in Tampa. The battle between the Bears' rushing attack and the Steelers' run defense featured the former averaging just 2.9 yards per carry (27th in the league) taking on a defense that allowed just 74 yards per game and 3.3 yards per carry. Joniak added Chicago's running game should try to make progress on early downs to allow Mike Glennon to succeed against Pittsburgh. Defensively, Joniak wrote the Bears had "their hands full" as Steelers quarterback Ben Roethlisberger was aided by receivers Antonio Brown and Martavis Bryant, running back Le'Veon Bell, and tight end Jesse James. In spite of Pittsburgh's success in contrast with Chicago's struggles, a common belief was that the Steelers would often "play down to their competition," one that was spurned in the wake of Glennon's 2014 Buccaneers upsetting the Steelers 27–24.[117]

The first two drives of the game ended with punts, but on the Bears' first punt of the game, Steelers returner Eli Rogers muffed the ball and Sherrick McManis recovered. Jordan Howard would score a three-yard touchdown run on the drive. On the Steelers' next drive, Roethlisberger was sacked by Bryce Callahan and fumbled, with Akiem Hicks recovering. The takeaway failed to result in points, however, as Connor Barth missed a 47-yard field goal. In the second quarter, Roethlisberger threw a seven-yard touchdown pass to Brown, which the Bears responded via Glennon's two-yard touchdown pass to Adam Shaheen.[118] On the final play of the first half, Chris Boswell's 35-yard field goal was blocked by McManis into Marcus Cooper's hands. Cooper raced down the field before suddenly slowing down before he reached the end zone, which allowed Pittsburgh's Vance McDonald to knock the ball away at the one-yard line. The ball was then batted out of the end zone, which led to a penalty against the Steelers and an untimed play for the Bears. A false start penalty on Charles Leno Jr. prompted the Bears to instead kick a 24-yard field goal.[119] In the second half, the Bears suffered their first turnover of the game when Howard was stripped by Ryan Shazier; the Steelers took advantage to score on Bell's one-yard touchdown run. A second giveaway occurred when Glennon's pass for Zach Miller was intercepted by J. J. Wilcox, which enabled the Steelers to tie the game on Boswell's 32-yard field goal. The game remained scoreless through the rest of the half, resulting in overtime. After winning the coin toss to start overtime with the ball, the Bears quickly scored on the second play of the series;[118] Tarik Cohen broke through for a 73-yard touchdown run, but was ruled to have stepped out of bounds at the Steelers' 37-yard line.[119] Two plays later, Howard scored the game-winning touchdown on a 19-yard run.[118]

In claiming their first victory of the season, the Bears' running backs provided a solid performance, recording a combined 220 yards on the ground – 200 yards more than in week two. The defense also shone, forcing two turnovers after having just one in the first two games.[119]

Week 4: at Green Bay Packers edit

Week Four: Chicago Bears at Green Bay Packers – Game summary
Period 1 2 34Total
Bears 0 7 0714
Packers 14 7 7735

at Lambeau Field, Green Bay, Wisconsin

Game information

Coming off their victory against Pittsburgh, the Bears traveled to Green Bay to take on the rival Packers. In 194 total games, the all-time series was tied 94–94–6, with the Packers having won all but three games since 2010.[120] To challenge the Packers defense, Jeff Joniak wrote the Bears should utilize their running game; after the first three games of 2017, the Packers had allowed eight runs of at least ten yards, along with 5.7 rushing yards on first down. Jordan Howard and Tarik Cohen had eight and four runs of 10+ yards, respectively, with the former being the second-most in the NFL. A product of running the ball would be keeping Packers quarterback Aaron Rodgers off the field; Rodgers, who was 15–4 against the Bears, led the league in completions and passing first downs (49), along with second in passing yards. The Packers offense was ranked third in third down conversion percentage (48.8) and time of possession. However, the Packers offensive line was struggling with injuries, especially with five tackles hurt and three on injured reserve, which Joniak expected the Bears to capitalize on.[121]

Rodgers opened the scoring on the first drive of the game, throwing a five-yard touchdown pass to Davante Adams. On the Bears' first offensive play, Glennon was sacked by Clay Matthews III and fumbled, with Green Bay's Jake Ryan recovering the ball. Another Packers score took place three plays later on Rodgers' two-yard throw to Randall Cobb. Chicago's woes continued when Cody Whitehair's snap bounced off Glennon and was recovered by Blake Martinez.[122] Unlike the previous drive, the Packers were unable to score off the takeaway and were forced to punt. The next four series of the game also ended with punts. On Chicago's next possession, Glennon's pass for Markus Wheaton was intercepted by Ha Ha Clinton-Dix, which set up Rodgers' 58-yard pass to Jordy Nelson and Aaron Jones' two-yard touchdown run. With eight seconds left in the second quarter, Glennon threw a five-yard touchdown pass to Kendall Wright, completing a 72-yard drive that began with less than two minutes to go. On the Bears' first drive of the second half, Connor Barth missed a 47-yard field goal wide right, which led to Rodgers' four-yard touchdown pass to Nelson.[123] On the drive, Danny Trevathan tackled Adams, but collided with his head in a helmet-to-helmet hit, causing the receiver to be sent off the field in a stretcher. A series later, Glennon had his fourth turnover of the game when his pass was intercepted by Kentrell Brice, which led to an eight-yard touchdown pass to Nelson. With 6:01 left in the game, Howard scored on a three-yard run to make the final score 35–14.[122]

With the loss, the Bears trailed the all-time series for the first time since 1933. Although the Bears had built a strong lead for much of the rivalry, Packers quarterbacks Brett Favre and Rodgers had beaten the Bears 35 of 45 times; Rodgers had won 16 of 20 meetings.[124] Trevathan apologized for the hit on Adams, explaining he was attempting to make a play. He was later suspended two games,[125] though it was reduced to one game following an appeal.[126] Trevathan's suspension resulted in glaringly worse depth for the linebackers, which had already lost Nick Kwiatkoski to a pectoral injury. John Timu, who had been on the practice squad at the start of the season, became the new leading inside linebacker in place Trevathan.[127] The Monday after the game, Glennon was benched in favor of Mitchell Trubisky; Glennon's eight turnovers across the first four games of the season led the league.[128]

Week 5: vs. Minnesota Vikings edit

Week Five: Minnesota Vikings at Chicago Bears – Game summary
Period 1 2 34Total
Vikings 0 3 14320
Bears 2 0 7817

at Soldier Field, Chicago, Illinois

Game information

On Monday Night Football, Mitchell Trubisky made his NFL debut against the Minnesota Vikings, who led the all-time series 58–52–2, though the Bears had won all but two games at Soldier Field since 2007.[129] Trubisky is the eleventh rookie quarterback in team history to start a game and the first since Kyle Orton in 2005, though only three won their first games (Jim McMahon, Rex Grossman, Craig Krenzel); furthermore, since 2009, only one of nine Bears quarterbacks won in their debuts with the team (Todd Collins).[130] Jeff Joniak emphasized a focus on first down success; the Bears' rushing game, which averaged 5.3 yards per carry on first down in 2016, had just 3.7 yards in 2017, including 17 plays in which Jordan Howard and Tarik Cohen were tackled behind the line of scrimmage. Chicago took on a Minnesota defense that allowed just 71.2 yards per game, the third-least in the league. Instead, Joniak suggested relying on the passing attack; on first down, the Vikings allowed opposing quarterbacks to complete 80 percent of their passes for a 121.1 passer rating. The Bears also had to focus on improving their league-worst –7 turnover ratio; over the past three seasons, the team had a combined ratio of –31. For the Bears defense, Joniak wrote the unit had to prevent the Vikings from making big plays courtesy of Stefon Diggs and Adam Thielen, who had a combined 15 catches for at least 20 yards, while a combined 30 receptions resulted in first downs. Joniak further added the "excitement Trubisky brings into this game at Soldier Field" should be used by the "Bears to their advantage to keep the crowd engaged and loud."[131]

Trubisky led the Bears into Vikings territory on the opening drive, but a holding penalty on Cody Whitehair pushed the offense back before the Bears punted. The Vikings were unable to exit their side of the field on their first two drives and were forced to punt; likewise, the Bears reached Minnesota's side before punting on their drives.[132] Late in the first quarter, Sam Bradford was sacked by Leonard Floyd in the end zone for a safety.[133] In the second quarter, Trubisky was strip-sacked by Everson Griffen, which resulted in the Vikings' Linval Joseph recovering. Kai Forbath kicked a 26-yard field goal to give the Vikings a 3–2 lead. Bradford, who was sacked three times in the first half, was replaced by Case Keenum for the remainder of the game.[132] On the Vikings' first drive of the second half, Keenum threw a 13-yard touchdown pass to Kyle Rudolph, to which the Bears responded with a trick play: on fourth down, punter Pat O'Donnell instead threw a pass to Benny Cunningham, who escaped two Vikings to score on the 38-yard play.[133] The Bears defense suffered another loss when reserve linebacker John Timu suffered a knee injury. A play later, Minnesota's Jerick McKinnon ran 58 yards for the touchdown. Down 17–9, Trubisky answered with a 79-yard drive that ended with a 20-yard touchdown pass to Zach Miller, who caught a pass that had been tipped by Andrew Sendejo.[133] Now trailing by just two points, the Bears elected to go for a two-point conversion, on which they attempted another trick play: Trubisky handed the ball to Howard on what appeared to be a draw play until Howard gave it to Miller, who was running in the opposite direction. Trubisky ran alongside Miller on a reverse option play, catching a lateral from the tight end when Miller was stopped by Anthony Barr, allowing the quarterback to run into the end zone unscathed.[134] The next three series ended with punts. With 2:32 remaining in the game and pinned at his team's ten-yard line, Trubisky's pass for Miller was intercepted by Harrison Smith, which set up Forbath's game-winning 26-yard field goal with 12 seconds to go. On the final play of the game, Trubisky passed to Markus Wheaton, who lateraled to Cohen before he was tackled to end the game.[132]

In his debut, Trubisky completed 12 of 25 passes for 128 yards, one touchdown, one interception, and a 60.1 passer rating. He also had three rushing attempts for 22 yards. John Fox reflected on Trubisky's first game by connecting it to Joe Montana's before adding he was "not making comparisons at this point. But [Trubisky] will do nothing but get better."[133]

Week 6: at Baltimore Ravens edit

Week Six: Chicago Bears at Baltimore Ravens – Game summary
Period 1 2 34OTTotal
Bears 0 10 77327
Ravens 0 3 714024

at M&T Bank Stadium, Baltimore, Maryland

  • Date: October 15
  • Game time: 1:00 p.m. EDT/12:00 p.m. CDT
  • Game weather: 69 °F (21 °C), partly sunny
  • Game attendance: 70,616
  • Referee: Ed Hochuli
  • TV announcers (Fox): Sam Rosen, Ronde Barber and Kristina Pink
  • Recap, Gamebook
Game information

In week six, the Bears traveled to M&T Bank Stadium to play the 3–2 Baltimore Ravens, whom the Bears led 3–2 in five all-time meetings. The series had been a see-saw in victors, with the winning team alternating each time; the Bears won the most recent game in 2013 23–20, but the Ravens won the latest game in Baltimore (a 31–7 rout in 2009).[135] For the Bears offense, the unit hoped to provide more support for Mitchell Trubisky in his first NFL away game. "The kid's going to be special and we've got to do our jobs around him; keep getting in the right spot, make plays and catch the football, and making sure we're keeping him out of first-and-17s," offensive coordinator Dowell Loggains stated. "We have a lot of faith and confidence in Mitchell."[136] To do this, USA Today's Lorin Cox wrote the offensive line needed to stop Ravens nose tackle Michael Pierce, whose 13 stops in 2017 tied for fifth among defensive linemen.[137] On defense, the Bears entered the game with the sixth-ranked defense (allowing 305 yards per game) that also ranked ninth in average yards allowed per play (5.07).[138] With Danny Trevathan returning from suspension, the defense faced a Ravens offense that ranked sixth in rushing with 130.4 yards per game.[136] On the other hand, Baltimore's offensive line – particularly the guards – had been struggling due to injuries, and Cox wrote the defense should take advantage of the openings. While the Bears had yet to record an interception in 2017, Ravens quarterback Joe Flacco had thrown 33 in his last 31 games, including one in ten consecutive games; Cox added, "It's up to this defense to actually finish the turnover."[137]

The first five drives of the game ended with punts. The Bears opted for a run-based attack for much of the game; on their first scoring drive in the second quarter, all but one play was a run, with the series ending on Connor Barth's 24-yard field goal. On the Ravens' next drive, Maxx Williams was stripped by Christian Jones and Trevathan recovered the loose ball. Although the Bears were unable to capitalize on the takeaway, the defense recorded another turnover on the next drive when Bryce Callahan intercepted Flacco's pass intended for Breshad Perriman.[139] On a halfback option, Tarik Cohen eventually threw a 21-yard touchdown pass to Zach Miller to put the Bears up 10–0.[140] Justin Tucker kicked a 27-yard field goal to put the Ravens on the scoreboard with three seconds remaining in the first half. During the third quarter, Trubisky led a 66-yard drive that ended with a 27-yard touchdown pass to Dion Sims.[139] During the ensuing kickoff, Joshua Bellamy appeared to trip Ravens kick returner Bobby Rainey, but Rainey instead got back up and ran 96 yards for a touchdown. Upon review, the referees determined Bellamy's hand did not touch Rainey.[140] Subsequently, the Bears committed two turnovers: Cohen fumbled at the Bears' 39-yard line – which set up Tucker's 31-yard field goal to narrow the gap to four points – and Trubisky was strip-sacked by Lardarius Webb with C. J. Mosley recovering. The Ravens reached the Bears' 30-yard line,[139] where Flacco was intercepted by Adrian Amos, who returned his first career interception 90 yards for the touchdown to put the Bears up by 11 points with 5:08 left in the game. However, Tucker kicked a 50-yard field goal with 2:53 remaining, while Michael Campanaro scored on a 77-yard punt return touchdown and Flacco completed the two-point conversion to Nick Boyle to tie the game at 24 apiece and enter overtime.[140] Neither team was able to score on their first drive;[139] on Chicago's second series, the offense was pinned at its own seven-yard line. Jordan Howard recorded a 53-yard run on the first play of the possession, which was later followed by Trubisky's 18-yard pass to Kendall Wright on third down to draw the Bears closer. Barth kicked a 40-yard field goal to win the game.[140]

It was the Bears' first road victory since 2015 against the Buccaneers, breaking a ten-game losing streak. The Bears' rushing attack resulted in a career high 167 rushing yards on 36 carries for Howard, while Cohen had 14 carries for 32 yards. Trubisky threw just 16 passes, completing eight for 113 yards and a touchdown. John Fox explained the Ravens were the reason for the run-based strategy, having used the same philosophy with the 2012 Denver Broncos; in that team's game against Baltimore, the Broncos ran 44 times against just 21 passing plays despite the presence of Peyton Manning.[140]

Week 7: vs. Carolina Panthers edit

Week Seven: Carolina Panthers at Chicago Bears – Game summary
Period 1 2 34Total
Panthers 0 3 003
Bears 7 10 0017

at Soldier Field, Chicago, Illinois

  • Date: October 22
  • Game time: 12:00 p.m. CDT
  • Game weather: 70 °F (21 °C), cloudy with periods of rain, thunder possible
  • Game attendance: 61,256
  • Referee: Walt Anderson
  • TV announcers (CBS): Ian Eagle, Dan Fouts and Evan Washburn
  • Recap, Gamebook
Game information

Chicago hosted the Carolina Panthers, who trailed the all-time series 5–4, in week seven. With the exception of a playoff loss in 2005, the Bears had won every meeting at Soldier Field.[141] Jeff Joniak stressed a run-heavy offense; although the Panthers had not allowed a 100-yard rusher nor 100-yard receiver in 2017, the lack of linebacker Luke Kuechly weakened the Panthers defense. Furthermore, Jordan Howard was averaging 2.1 yards per carry, while his 245 rushing yards after contact was the second-highest in the league behind the Kansas City Chiefs' Kareem Hunt. For the defense, the unit needed to contain Cam Newton by preventing the scramble-skilled quarterback from running, while also dealing with Kelvin Benjamin, Christian McCaffrey, and Ed Dickson.[142]

The Bears started the game on a strong note when Newton's pitch to Curtis Samuel was dropped and recovered by Eddie Jackson, who returned the fumble for a 75-yard touchdown.[143] The next three drives ended with punts,[144] with Chicago's next series stalling after Mitchell Trubisky was sacked for a nine-yard loss on Carolina's 25-yard line. Connor Barth's 52-yard field goal attempt was partially blocked by Kawann Short and hit the crossbar.[143] On the Panthers' following possession, Newton's pass for Benjamin was broken up by Prince Amukamara and intercepted by Jackson, resulting in a 76-yard pick six. Graham Gano kicked a 36-yard field goal, which the Bears responded with Trubisky's 70-yard pass to Tarik Cohen to set the offense up at the five-yard line. Howard's two carries were stopped, while Trubisky's touchdown run on third down was overturned as he was down before crossing the goal line. This resulted in 19-yarder by Barth to make the score 17–3 at halftime.[144] In the second half, neither team was able to score as all but two drives concluded with a punt: on the Panthers' first series of the second half, Newton's attempt to run on fourth down and two was stopped by Eddie Goldman, while in the fourth quarter, Danny Trevathan intercepted a pass by Newton.[143]

The victory marked Chicago's second consecutive win, the first time the Bears had done so since November 2015. Jackson's two scores made him the first player in NFL history to record two defensive touchdowns of at least 75 yards in a game; as a whole, the defense excelled as it sacked Newton a season-high five times and forced three turnovers. In contrast to the defensive success, the offense was restricted to just five first downs and 153 total yards, while converting just two of eleven third down situations. In the second half, the offense was forced to punt on four straight drives and ended the day having allowed four total sacks.[143] Trubisky completed just four of seven passes, making him the first quarterback since the 2011 Denver Broncos' Tim Tebow to win a game while completing less than five passes; coincidentally, Tebow's head coach was also John Fox. While coaching the Panthers in 2006, Fox's team defeated the Falcons as quarterback Chris Weinke also completed four of seven passes.[145]

Week 8: at New Orleans Saints edit

Week Eight: Chicago Bears at New Orleans Saints – Game summary
Period 1 2 34Total
Bears 0 3 3612
Saints 7 7 0620

at Mercedes-Benz Superdome, New Orleans, Louisiana

Game information

During the eighth week of the season, the Bears went to the Mercedes-Benz Superdome to play the New Orleans Saints, who trailed the series 15–14 but had won every meeting since 2011.[146] Jeff Joniak wrote a goal of the Bears offense would be to get into scoring position; since Mitchell Trubisky became the starter, the offense had entered the red zone only twice in three games, with both trips ending in field goals. Upon reaching the 20-yard line, using the running game would be ideal; Jordan Howard ranked fifth in the league in rushing, second in yards after contact, and led the offense rushing first downs with 32. In contrast, the Saints defense ranked 30th in rushing yards allowed per carry. Joniak also emphasized the need for Trubisky to tune out the loud Superdome crowd and lead the offense without making errors. For the defense, it faced Drew Brees, who, according to Joniak, was to be pressured quickly if the Bears were to succeed – while being blitzed, Brees was intercepted three times and sacked twice. Otherwise, Brees was successful in quickly passing the ball for gains of six yards in a fast-paced offense. Turnovers were also priority; in the last two games, the Bears had forced six and scored on three, and while Brees had recorded turnovers in his last two games, the Saints still had the fifth-best turnover difference.[147]

On the Saints' opening possession, Wil Lutz was lining up for a 32-yard field goal attempt when Kyle Fuller was penalized for jumping offsides.[148] This set up Alvin Kamara's eight-yard touchdown run to put New Orleans up by seven points. After the next two drives resulted in punts, Connor Barth made a 27-yard field goal in the second quarter, though Mark Ingram II scored on a one-yard touchdown run. Barth missed a 48-yard field goal wide left late in the first half as the Bears entered halftime with an 11-point deficit.[149] In the third quarter, Trubisky threw a 25-yard touchdown pass to Zach Miller, who landed on his knee and dislocated it in the process. The touchdown was eventually nullified when referee Carl Cheffers determined Miller had let go of the ball in pain while on the ground. The Bears were forced to settle for Barth's 44-yard field goal.[148] In the fourth quarter, Lutz kicked a 45-yard field goal to increase the lead to 17–6.[149] With 7:32 remaining in the game, Jonathan Bullard stripped Ingram and Christian Jones recovered the fumble. Aided by Trubisky's 46-yard run, Tarik Cohen dove into the end zone from the Saints' one-yard line to score the offense's first touchdown in 25 series (dating back to the Baltimore game).[148] The Bears failed to score on the two-point conversion but were just five points down.[149] Chicago forced another takeaway when Adrian Amos stripped and recovered the ball from Ingram with 2:12 left.[148] Although the Bears turned the ball over on downs, they had another chance after Lutz's 49-yard field goal put them behind by eight points. However, Trubisky's pass for Tre McBride was intercepted by Marshon Lattimore to seal the loss.[149]

Miller was taken to the University Medical Center New Orleans for treatment. In addition to a dislocated knee, Miller was revealed to have torn the popliteal artery in his region, an injury that is common in car accidents and raised the possibility of amputation. Vascular surgery was successfully completed the day after the game.[150] The overturning of Miller's catch was controversial. Cheffers defended the call, stating when Miller was falling to the turf, he "has to survive the ground. He went to the ground, he temporarily lost control of the ball. The ball hit the ground; therefore it's incomplete."[148] The NFL's Vice President of Officiating Alberto Riveron also maintained Miller had not completed the catch, but predecessors Mike Pereira and Dean Blandino argued otherwise. "At some point the process of the catch ends, and it ends when he rolls over on the ground with control. It was ruled a catch on the field. I didn't see anything definitive to overturn it and quite frankly, if it had been ruled incomplete on the field, if it had been me in the command center, I would have reversed it to a catch," Blandino said.[151] On Monday, John Fox announced he would send video of the play to the NFL.[152]

Week 10: vs. Green Bay Packers edit

Week Ten: Green Bay Packers at Chicago Bears – Game summary
Period 1 2 34Total
Packers 3 7 31023
Bears 3 3 01016

at Soldier Field, Chicago, Illinois

  • Date: November 12
  • Game time: 12:00 p.m. CST
  • Game weather: 39 °F (4 °C), rain
  • Game attendance: 61,285
  • Referee: Tony Corrente
  • TV announcers (Fox): Thom Brennaman, Chris Spielman and Peter Schrager
  • Recap, Gamebook
Game information

Although the Bears now trailed the Packers in the all-time series, they were the five-point favorite against Green Bay among bookkeepers for the first time since week sixteen of 2008. The odds had been influenced by Aaron Rodgers' season-ending collarbone injury in October along with backup quarterback Brett Hundley's struggles in the previous week's 30–17 loss to the Lions.[153] Although the Bears had not defeated the Packers at home since 2010, the Packers were 2–3 since the two teams' last meeting in week four, while Green Bay head coach Mike McCarthy was 1–3 against the Bears without Rodgers. Jeff Joniak described his ideal Bears offensive gameplan as "[p]laying a clean game" to avoid swinging the "tempo or momentum in favor of a team that's on a three-game losing streak." To do this, Mitchell Trubisky would have to avoid getting sacked, while the running game would have to reduce its runs resulting in negative yardage. Through the air, the Bears remained an unknown entity due to a lack of available film on Trubisky and receivers Markus Wheaton and Dontrelle Inman,[154] the latter making his Bears debut in week ten after being traded to the team in late October.[155] On defense, Joniak wrote the unit needed to prevent Hundley from developing his accuracy, especially as the Chicago defense was excelling in preventing touchdowns, along with containing running back Ty Montgomery, who recorded 162 rushing yards on 16 carries against the Bears in week sixteen last year.[154]

In a game that ChicagoBears.com writer Larry Mayer described as having "[reverted] to an early-season trend, the Bears shot themselves in the foot repeatedly," Chicago struggled with penalties during the game as the team committed seven in the first half.[156] The Bears punted on the first drive, which led to an exchanging of field goals on Mason Crosby's 40- and Connor Barth's 45-yard kicks. Three drives later, in the second quarter, Montgomery scored on a 37-yard touchdown run to give the Packers the lead. On the next drive,[157] Trubisky threw a screen pass to Benny Cunningham, who ran to the Packers' goal line and dived for the pylon. His knee landed out of bounds and the play was ruled as such at the two-yard line, which the Bears challenged with the belief that the ball had reached the pylon before he went out; instead, the challenge went against the Bears when it was determined he had lost the ball before it had touched the pylon, resulting in a touchback and possession being granted to the Packers.[156] Chicago eventually added three more points on Barth's 44-yard field goal as time expired in the first half. Crosby kicked a 24-yard field goal on the first drive of the second half, which was followed by one from 50 yards in the fourth quarter.[157] The Bears ended their touchdown-scoring troubles (scoring just one touchdown in 35 drives across the previous four games) when Trubisky threw a 46-yard touchdown pass to Josh Bellamy, who escaped Davon House for the score. However, the Packers responded with a 75-yard drive that ended with Hundley's 19-yard touchdown pass to Davante Adams.[156] Barth added a 49-yard field goal to draw the Bears within a touchdown, and remained in contention when Crosby missed a 35-yarder wide right with 1:02 left in the game. After completing an 11-yard pass to Kendall Wright, Trubisky's next three passes were incomplete. On fourth-and-ten, Trubisky passed to Cunningham for five yards, who lateraled to Hroniss Grasu and ran two yards before he was tackled for a turnover on downs.[157]

Week 11: vs. Detroit Lions edit

Week Eleven: Detroit Lions at Chicago Bears – Game summary
Period 1 2 34Total
Lions 0 21 0627
Bears 10 7 0724

at Soldier Field, Chicago, Illinois

Game information

In week eleven, the Bears hosted the Detroit Lions, whom the Bears led 97–72–5 in the all-time series but had defeated only once since 2013.[158] Entering the game, Mitchell Trubisky hoped to improve on his productive game against the Packers in addition to reducing sacks; in five starts, he had been sacked 16 times, including five times last week. Larry Mayer also raised the possibility of using Tarik Cohen more frequently; after catching a combined 24 passes in the first four games, he had just one in the last five, a trend that Dowell Loggains explained was a result of Cohen's inexperience. Questions surrounded the defense, which went from forcing eight turnovers across three straight games to allowing a season-high 160 yards and no takeaways against the Packers. "You've got to have a short memory in this league," Akiem Hicks stated. "You've got to take it game-by-game. [...] But at the end of the day, you've got to lock into your next opponent because they don't care what happened last week. They want to beat you. So you have to have that mindset where, 'OK, you didn't get the results you want last week, but you're coming in fighting this week.'"[159]

The Bears offense made early progress on the opening drive as it reached the Lions' five-yard line before stalling and settling for Connor Barth's 23-yard field goal. On Detroit's first series, Matthew Stafford was sacked by Nick Kwiatkoski and fumbled, with Hicks recovering the ball; the Bears capitalized on the takeaway via Jordan Howard's 50-yard run and Trubisky's one-yard touchdown pass to Adam Shaheen.[160] The Lions scored on a turnover of their own when Trubisky fumbled Cody Whitehair's snap, which Detroit's D. J. Hayden picked up and returned 27 yards for the touchdown. Chicago answered with a 78-yard drive that ended with Howard's 12-yard touchdown run to make the score 17–7 midway through the second quarter. However, Stafford threw two touchdown passes to Marvin Jones and Ameer Abdullah to put the Lions up 21–17 by halftime.[161] The third quarter went scoreless before Matt Prater kicked a 27-yard field goal in the fourth quarter to increase the margin by seven points.[160] With 5:02 left in the game, the Bears drove 78 yards and tied the game on Cohen's 15-yard touchdown run, in which he dove over safety Glover Quin into the end zone. Prater converted a 52-yard field goal to give the Lions the lead once again with 1:52 remaining. Trubisky led the offense down the field, including one play on fourth-and-13 in which he kept the drive alive via a 19-yard scramble, but Barth missed the game-tying 46-yard field goal wide right.[161] Stafford kneeled once to seal the Bears loss.[160]

A day after the loss, Barth was released and replaced by Cairo Santos. In two seasons with the Bears, Barth converted 29 of 39 field goals, including 11 of 16 in 2017; all five of his misses were of at least 40 yards. Santos had been with the Chiefs since 2014, made 31 of 35 in 2016 (the fifth-highest conversion percentage in the league), and recorded a career-high 55.8 touchback percentage on kickoffs. In three games with Kansas City in 2017, Santos made all three of his field goals and all six of his extra points, but re-aggravated a groin injury from Training Camp in week three and was released.[162]

Week 12: at Philadelphia Eagles edit

Week Twelve: Chicago Bears at Philadelphia Eagles – Game summary
Period 1 2 34Total
Bears 0 0 303
Eagles 7 17 0731

at Lincoln Financial Field, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania

  • Date: November 26
  • Game time: 1:00 p.m. EST/12:00 p.m. CST
  • Game weather: 49 °F (9 °C), sunny
  • Game attendance: 69,596
  • Referee: Walt Coleman
  • TV announcers (Fox): Kevin Burkhardt, Charles Davis and Pam Oliver
  • Recap, Gamebook
Game information

For week twelve's game, the Bears visited Lincoln Financial Field to play the 9–1 and league-leading Eagles.[163] Although the Bears led the all-time series 30–14–1, they had not defeated the Eagles since 2011, while also losing their most recent game in Philadelphia in 2013 54–11.[164] To take on the Eagles defense, Jeff Joniak elaborated on using a rushing attack that ranked fifth in the league, along with keeping Mitchell Trubisky protected and scoring points; entering the game, the Eagles were allowing less than 19 points per game. Defensively, the Bears faced quarterback Carson Wentz, who led the league in touchdown passes with three, and an offense that ranked first in scoring; eleven different players on the Eagles had scored a touchdown in 2017. With Danny Trevathan and Leonard Floyd out due to injuries, the backups were also challenged by a rushing unit featuring LeGarrette Blount and Jay Ajayi, which ranked second in the NFL. Philadelphia also succeeded in developing high margins of victory, winning by more than 15 points per game, and scoring at least 26 points in every game but their only loss in week two. Despite the stacked odds, as the Bears were able to defeat three perennial playoff teams in Pittsburgh, Baltimore, and Carolina, Joniak wrote the team had to "believe [victory over the Eagles] can happen, and the longer they hang around, the more they will believe."[163]

The two teams traded punts to start the game, though the Eagles struck first on Wentz's 17-yard touchdown pass to Zach Ertz. On the first play of the Bears' next drive,[165] Trubisky's pass to Tre McBride was batted and intercepted by Malcolm Jenkins, but Dion Sims stripped the ball away and McBride recovered to continue the series.[166] Four plays later, the Bears punted, but got the ball back after the Eagles' first play of their drive;[165] Blount broke free for a 35-yard run, but Adrian Amos forced a fumble and Sam Acho recovered. Chicago attempted to take advantage of the takeaway, but Cairo Santos' 54-yard field goal went wide right. A drive later, the Bears forced a three-and-out until a holding penalty on Prince Amukamara gave the Eagles a first down. Wentz later escaped a blitz from Cre'Von LeBlanc on third-and-nine to record a 16-yard run, followed by throwing a 15-yard touchdown pass to Nelson Agholor, who escaped Eddie Jackson and Kyle Fuller for the touchdown. Later in the first half, Jake Elliott made a 45-yard field goal to increase the gap, and Wentz threw an eight-yard touchdown pass to Alshon Jeffery with five seconds remaining to make the halftime score 24–0.[166] During Chicago's first drive of the second half, Santos successfully kicked a 38-yard field goal to give the Bears three points, which followed with the defense stopping the Eagles on fourth down,[165] but Philadelphia scored once again in the fourth quarter when Ajayi fumbled in the end zone and Agholor recovered the loose ball.[166] Nick Foles relieved Wentz late in the game and lost a fumble to Isaiah Irving, but Corey Graham intercepted Trubisky's pass for McBride.[165]

Week 13: vs. San Francisco 49ers edit

Week Thirteen: San Francisco 49ers at Chicago Bears – Game summary
Period 1 2 34Total
49ers 3 6 3315
Bears 7 7 0014

at Soldier Field, Chicago, Illinois

  • Date: December 3
  • Game time: 12:00 p.m. CST
  • Game weather: 54 °F (12 °C), sunny
  • Game attendance: 61,302
  • Referee: Ed Hochuli
  • TV announcers (CBS): Andrew Catalon and James Lofton
  • Recap, Gamebook
Game information

Chicago hosted the 1–10 San Francisco 49ers in week thirteen, the fourth straight year in which the two teams met and the third at Soldier Field and in December, with the Bears winning 2016's game 26–6.[167] Offensively, the Bears rushing game had an opportune chance to succeed against a 49ers defense that was ranked 30th against the run (28th overall with 374.2 total yards allowed per game), allowing 129.5 rushing yards per game,[168] 42 runs of at least ten yards in 2017 and three running backs to record 100-yard games. For the 49ers offense, it was led by Jimmy Garoppolo in his first start for the team, and Garoppolo was supported by a West Coast offense that ranked 12th in yards after the catch. Although the 49ers were ranked last in the league in time of possession, they were tied for the most drives of ten plays or more with 22, with 19 resulting in scores (including eight ending in touchdowns). In contrast, the Bears offense's 140 points were the fewest in the NFL, while also having a league-high 40 drives end with punts. As such, Jeff Joniak stressed the importance of playing "loose" by letting "it rip in every phase." With San Francisco's optimism in Garoppolo, the Bears had "to ruin that excitement and create some of its own."[169]

Former Bears kicker Robbie Gould opened the game by converting a 33-yard field goal. While the Bears punted on their first drive,[170] Kyle Fuller recorded his first interception since 2015 when he yanked the ball from Louis Murphy's hands, which set up Mitchell Trubisky's eight-yard touchdown pass to Dontrelle Inman. Gould added a 28-yard field goal in the second quarter to narrow the gap to one point, but Tarik Cohen responded with a 61-yard punt return touchdown; after catching the punt at his 39-yard line, Cohen ran back to his 24, moved to his right, then ran forward for the touchdown.[168] With 24 seconds left in the first half, Gould kicked his third field goal (35 yards), followed by one from 34 yards in the third quarter to put the 49ers behind by two.[170] Early in the fourth quarter, Cohen returned a punt for 67 yards to the 49ers' 16-yard line, but Ben Braunecker was penalized for an illegal block in the back to negate the play and force the Bears to start at their own 14.[168] Although the offense was able to reach 49ers territory, it could not progress further and the Bears eventually punted. Pinned at his eight with 5:27 remaining in the game, Garoppolo led the 49ers downfield to set up Gould's game-winning 24-yard field goal with four seconds left. On the final kickoff, Josh Bellamy handed the ball to Cohen, who threw to Eddie Jackson before the play was stopped as Cohen's lateral was a forward pass.[170]

The loss dropped the Bears to 3–9, their fourth straight losing season and worst stretch since they had five consecutive from 1996 to 2000. It was also the Bears' fifth straight loss, the first such losing streak since Marc Trestman's final season as the Bears head coach in 2014.[168]

Week 14: at Cincinnati Bengals edit

Week Fourteen: Chicago Bears at Cincinnati Bengals – Game summary
Period 1 2 34Total
Bears 6 6 71433
Bengals 7 0 007

at Paul Brown Stadium, Cincinnati, Ohio

  • Date: December 10
  • Game time: 1:00 p.m. EST/12:00 p.m. CST
  • Game weather: 31 °F (−1 °C), partly cloudy
  • Game attendance: 52,002
  • Referee: John Parry
  • TV announcers (Fox): Sam Rosen, Brady Quinn and Jenny Taft
  • Recap, Gamebook
Game information

The Cincinnati Bengals hosted the Bears in week fourteen, holding a 6–4 lead in the series against Chicago. While the Bears won the most recent meeting in 2013 21–13, the Bengals dominated the last game in Cincinnati, a 45–10 victory in 2009.[171] As the Bengals defense was struggling to contain opposing running attacks, allowing 170 carries of at least four yards, the most in the NFL, while the Bears had 141 of such attempts (15th in the league), Jeff Joniak wrote the Bears should effectively utilize Jordan Howard and Tarik Cohen, while also reducing the number of negative runs (with 50 entering week fourteen).[172] On defense, the Bears had to play without players like Pernell McPhee, Leonard Floyd, Eddie Goldman, Willie Young, Mitch Unrein, Jerrell Freeman, Adrian Amos, and Quintin Demps, all of whom were sidelined due to injuries.[173] Joniak took note of Bengals quarterback Andy Dalton's struggles under pressure, being sacked 19 times on third down in 2017, while the Bears led the league in third-down sacks with 17 sacks, including at least one sack in every game in 2017. As a result, Joniak stressed the importance of providing a heavy blitz. Joniak also added taking advantage of a Bengals special teams unit that was ranked 27th in average return yards allowed with 10.7, including four 20+-yard returns and a return touchdown. After a physical game against the Steelers in week thirteen, Joniak expressed the possibility of the Bengals being "flat", and "[i]f so, the Bears should pounce on the opportunity and prove they are still playing for pride and the future."[172]

After the Bengals punted on their first drive,[174] the Bears scored on their opening series for the first time in 2017, doing so on Howard's 21-yard touchdown run. However, Mike Nugent, who was signed earlier in the week to replace an injured Cairo Santos, missed the extra point as the kick hit the right upright. The Bengals responded late in the first quarter when Dalton threw a 14-yard touchdown pass to Brandon LaFell, who evaded Deon Bush for the score.[173] Early in the second quarter, Mitchell Trubisky threw a 15-yard touchdown pass to Cohen, but it was nullified by Tom Compton's holding penalty; the Bears were eventually forced to settle for Nugent's 34-yard field goal to retake the lead. Nugent added a 27-yard field goal with 2:15 remaining in the half to give the Bears the 12–7 lead at halftime. Following punts on the first two drives of the second half,[174] Trubisky scored on a four-yard touchdown run. On the ensuing drive, Dalton's pass to A. J. Green was deflected and intercepted by Eddie Jackson, which resulted in Trubisky's one-yard touchdown pass to Adam Shaheen. Jackson forced another takeaway when he pulled the ball away from Green's hands and recovered; Chicago once again capitalized via Howard's eight-yard touchdown run to put the Bears up 33–7.[173] Neither team was able to score for the rest of the game.[174]

The 26-point victory marked the largest blowout for the Bears since a 51–20 win over the Tennessee Titans in 2012.[173] It was also Chicago's highest-scoring game since the team scored 37 against the St. Louis Rams in 2015. The Bears offense ended the game with a season-high 482 total yards, nearly 200 more than in the Bears' last two games, along with 232 rushing yards and three touchdowns on the ground. Howard recorded 167 rushing yards, resulting in a season total of 1,032, and he became the first running back in Bears history to have 1,000-yard rushing seasons in his first two years in the NFL.[175]

Week 15: at Detroit Lions edit

Week Fifteen: Chicago Bears at Detroit Lions – Game summary
Period 1 2 34Total
Bears 0 3 0710
Lions 3 10 7020

at Ford Field, Detroit, Michigan

  • Date: December 16
  • Game time: 4:30 p.m. EST/3:30 p.m. CST
  • Game weather: Played indoors (dome stadium)
  • Game attendance: 65,872
  • Referee: Jeff Triplette
  • TV announcers (NFLN): Mike Tirico, Kurt Warner and Heather Cox
  • Recap, Gamebook
Game information

The Bears visited Ford Field to play the 7–6 Lions for the second time in 2017 in week fifteen. Jeff Joniak emphasized a consistent offensive production against Detroit, one that would be similar to the success in Cincinnati but would be difficult to maintain if the offense was to lose awareness; the Lions defense forced 12 fumbles and 26 sacks, while seven players had intercepted a pass and the unit had seven return touchdowns.[176] In spite of the Lions' success at forcing turnovers, the defense ranked 27th in total yards allowed, 20th against the run, and 27th in pass defense.[177] For the Bears defense, it saw the return of linebacker and leader Danny Trevathan; Joniak described his presence as a "Trevathan effect", with the defense allowing 81 points in three losses and failing to win a game when he was absent, while allowing 17.6 points per game and going 4–5 when he was playing. The defense entered the game with a fifth-ranked red zone touchdown efficiency, while also excelling in providing pressure, ranking second in sacks on third down, ninth in opposing quarterback rating when blitzed, and leading the league in fumble recoveries with 12. The unit took on a Lions offense that ranked sixth in the NFL in yards after catch with 1,759 (47.5 of the team's total yards), but was one of three teams in the league with less than 300 total rushing attempts and averaging fewer than 77 rushing yards per game.[176] Detroit's passing attack continued to be led by Matthew Stafford, who recorded a career-best 120.2 passer rating against the Bears earlier in the season.[177]

Matt Prater made a 48-yard field goal on the Lions' opening drive, followed by a 31-yard kick in the second quarter to put Detroit up by six. After being pinned on his team's eight-yard line, Stafford led a 92-yard drive that ended with a three-yard touchdown pass to T. J. Jones.[178] On the ensuing kickoff, Tarik Cohen recorded a 90-yard return to the Lions' 14-yard line, but a holding penalty on DeAndre Houston-Carson nullified the play and forced the Bears to start at their own 14. Later in the quarter, Sam Acho stripped Theo Riddick and Eddie Jackson recovered. Mike Nugent made a 41-yard field goal with two seconds remaining in the half to grant the Bears' first points of the game. However, the Bears' first drive of the second half ended when Mitchell Trubisky's pass for Kendall Wright was overthrown and intercepted by Darius Slay, which set up Stafford's eight-yard touchdown pass to Eric Ebron.[179] After a trading of punts,[178] Trubisky guided the Bears to the Lions' five-yard line, but he was once again intercepted when his pass for Dontrelle Inman was picked off by Quandre Diggs.[179] Unlike the previous takeaway, the Lions could not capitalize and were forced to punt.[178] The Bears went 92 yards and eventually scored on Trubisky's nine-yard touchdown pass to Benny Cunningham to create a ten-point game, but he was intercepted for the third time on the next drive.[179]

After recording 222 rushing yards on 30 carries in the first game against Detroit, the Bears had just 43 yards on 15 attempts in week fifteen. Chicago also committed a season-high 15 penalties for 97 yards.[179]

Week 16: vs. Cleveland Browns edit

Week Sixteen: Cleveland Browns at Chicago Bears – Game summary
Period 1 2 34Total
Browns 0 3 003
Bears 6 0 14020

at Soldier Field, Chicago, Illinois

Game information

For the final home game of the 2017 season, the Bears hosted the winless Browns on Christmas Eve. In 15 regular season meetings, the Browns led the series 9–6, though the Bears had won the last two games.[180] While the Browns were 0–14, head coach Hue Jackson was 2–0 in Christmas games, including recording the Browns' lone win of 2016 on the day. On offense, protecting Mitchell Trubisky from Gregg Williams' blitz-heavy defense; despite its frequency of utilizing the pass rush, the Browns ranked 29th in quarterback knockdowns with 62, while also allowing ten touchdowns on blitzes. Furthermore, the Browns defense led the league in fewest rushing yards allowed per carry on first down. For the Bears defense, it faced a Browns offense that turned the ball over 36 times, including 19 interceptions from quarterback DeShone Kizer. Entering the game, Chicago had just six interceptions in 2017, meaning Cleveland marked a prime opportunity to increase the stat.[181] The Bears were 6.5-point favorites for the game; in three seasons under John Fox, the Bears had lost all seven games in which they were favored, including defeats to the Packers and 49ers in 2017. In spite of this, considering the Bears' opposition in week sixteen, 247Sports.com's Matt Eurich wrote it would be "satisfying for many to at least see the Bears earn a victory for the first time in three years in which it has been favored."[182]

After the first three series ended with punts,[183] Jordan Howard scored on a two-yard run, but Mike Nugent's extra point was blocked.[184] Following five drives that featured three-and-outs, Kizer's pass for Josh Gordon was intercepted by Kyle Fuller, but the Bears were forced to punt. Zane Gonzalez kicked a 48-yard field goal with one second remaining in the first half to make the score 6–3 at halftime. On the first offensive play of the second half,[183] Trubisky was intercepted by Myles Garrett, who returned the pick to the Bears' five-yard line, but the play was called back because of an offsides penalty on Carl Nassib.[184] With the drive saved, Trubisky completed a 40-yard pass to Benny Cunningham to set the offense up in the Browns' red zone, which led to Howard's 16-yard touchdown run. Upon getting the ball back, Trubisky guided the offense downfield on a 66-yard drive that culminated in his four-yard touchdown run. A series later,[183] Rashard Higgins caught Kizer's pass and reached the Bears' three-yard line, where he was stripped by Danny Trevathan and the ball went into the end zone, where Prince Amukamara recovered. Another takeaway for the Bears occurred with 4:11 left in the game, when Kizer's pass was intercepted by Bryce Callahan. However, neither team scored for the rest of the game as the Bears triumphed 20–3.[184]

With the win, the Bears defeated all four AFC North teams in 2017, a similar feat accomplished in 2013.[185] Trubisky ran for 246 yards, the most by a Bears quarterback since Kordell Stewart in 2003, along with throwing for 193 yards; the latter increased his season passing yard total to 2,015, the most by a rookie in Bears history.[186]

Week 17: at Minnesota Vikings edit

Week Seventeen: Chicago Bears at Minnesota Vikings – Game summary
Period 1 2 34Total
Bears 0 7 0310
Vikings 7 9 7023

at U.S. Bank Stadium, Minneapolis, Minnesota

Game information

On New Year's Eve, Chicago played 12–3 Minnesota, who led the NFC North and would clinch the second seed in the playoffs with a win, at U.S. Bank Stadium. The Bears' 30th-ranked offense (11th in rushing and 31st in passing) faced a Vikings defense that led the league, including second-place rankings in rush and pass defense.[187] To survive, Jeff Joniak emphasized protecting Mitchell Trubisky and utilizing the rushing attack, especially as the Vikings pass defense allowed less than 200 net passing yards in just nine games in 2017.[188] Defensively, the Bears' eighth-ranked defense (ninth in run, eighth in pass) took on the Case Keenum-led tenth-ranked offense (eighth in rushing, 13th in passing);[187] Joniak described Chicago's defense as having "survived an array of injuries and some powerful offenses for the most part," ranking in the top half in points allowed (fourth), sacks (sixth), first downs allowed (11th), and third downs allowed (tenth). Although the Vikings ranked third in converting third downs, Joniak wrote there was "some momentum with this defense."[188]

The Bears punted on the opening drive, which led to Latavius Murray scoring on a one-yard touchdown run. Murray added another one-yard score in the second quarter to put the Vikings up by 14.[189] During the early stages of the game, Bryce Callahan was penalized for pass interference, resulting in the Vikings gaining 24 and 27 yards, though he redeemed himself during the second quarter on a punt return;[190] Tarik Cohen prepared to field a punt on one side of the field, while Callahan kneeled on the other side. Cohen acted as if he was going to field the punt, prompting the Vikings to chase him, though the punt was actually being returned by Callahan, who ran 59 yards unopposed for the touchdown.[191] However, the Vikings added two more points when Trubisky, facing a blitz from Linval Joseph, was penalized for intentional grounding, resulting in a safety.[190] Minnesota attempted to score again on the last play of the first half, but Kai Forbath's 55-yard field goal was wide right. The first four drives of the second half resulted in punts, which ended when Keenum threw a 16-yard touchdown pass to Stefon Diggs.[189] Trubisky attempted to guide the offense downfield, reaching as far as the Vikings' six-yard line, but he threw four consecutive incomplete passes to turn the ball over on downs. With 8:22 left in the game, Mike Nugent converted a 55-yard field goal to make the score 23–10, and the offense once again entered the Vikings' red zone on their next series. However, despite reaching the two-yard line, the Bears suffered another turnover on downs.[190] The Bears dropped to 5-11 and were swept by all of their divisional rivals for the first time since 1969.

Postseason edit

One day after the loss to the Vikings, John Fox was fired. Rumors of his release were reported earlier in the 2017 season, though no official announcement was made until January 1, 2018. Fox ended his tenure in Chicago with a 14–34 record, never recording a winning streak longer than two games and finishing last in the NFC North in all three seasons. "Thank you to all the players, coaches, the city of Chicago and Bears fans everywhere, your passion for the game and this team is unmatched in the NFL," Fox stated in a team release. "Today is the tough part of our results-oriented business but I wish the Bears organization the best for years to come."[192] One week later, Chiefs offensive coordinator Matt Nagy was hired as the 16th head coach in Bears history.[193]

For January 28's 2018 Pro Bowl, no Bears were voted in for the third consecutive year, though Jordan Howard, Kyle Long, Tarik Cohen, and Akiem Hicks were named first, second, second, and fourth alternates for the game, respectively.[194][195] Josh Sitton (two), Kyle Fuller (two), and Cohen (one) received votes for the Associated Press' All-Pro Team.[196]

Standings edit

Division edit

NFC North
W L T PCT DIV CONF PF PA STK
(2) Minnesota Vikings 13 3 0 .813 5–1 10–2 382 252 W3
Detroit Lions 9 7 0 .563 5–1 8–4 410 376 W1
Green Bay Packers 7 9 0 .438 2–4 5–7 320 384 L3
Chicago Bears 5 11 0 .313 0–6 1–11 264 320 L1

Conference edit

NFC
# Team Division W L T PCT DIV CONF SOS SOV STK
Division leaders
1[a] Philadelphia Eagles East 13 3 0 .813 5–1 10–2 .461 .433 L1
2[a] Minnesota Vikings North 13 3 0 .813 5–1 10–2 .492 .447 W3
3[b] Los Angeles Rams West 11 5 0 .688 4–2 7–5 .504 .460 L1
4[b][c] New Orleans Saints South 11 5 0 .688 4–2 8–4 .535 .483 L1
Wild Cards
5[c] Carolina Panthers South 11 5 0 .688 3–3 7–5 .539 .500 L1
6 Atlanta Falcons South 10 6 0 .625 4–2 9–3 .543 .475 W1
Did not qualify for the postseason
7[d] Detroit Lions North 9 7 0 .563 5–1 8–4 .496 .368 W1
8[d] Seattle Seahawks West 9 7 0 .563 4–2 7–5 .492 .444 L1
9[d] Dallas Cowboys East 9 7 0 .563 5–1 7–5 .496 .438 W1
10 Arizona Cardinals West 8 8 0 .500 3–3 5–7 .488 .406 W2
11[e] Green Bay Packers North 7 9 0 .438 2–4 5–7 .539 .357 L3
12[e] Washington Redskins East 7 9 0 .438 1–5 5–7 .539 .429 L1
13 San Francisco 49ers West 6 10 0 .375 1–5 3–9 .512 .438 W5
14[f] Tampa Bay Buccaneers South 5 11 0 .313 1–5 3–9 .555 .375 W1
15[f] Chicago Bears North 5 11 0 .313 0–6 1–11 .559 .500 L1
16 New York Giants East 3 13 0 .188 1–5 1–11 .531 .458 W1
Tiebreakers[g]
  1. ^ a b Philadelphia claimed the No. 1 seed over Minnesota based on winning percentage vs. common opponents. Philadelphia's cumulative record against Carolina, Chicago, the Los Angeles Rams and Washington was 5–0, compared to Minnesota's 4–1 cumulative record against the same four teams.
  2. ^ a b LA Rams claimed the No. 3 seed over New Orleans based on head-to-head victory.
  3. ^ a b New Orleans clinched the NFC South division over Carolina based on head-to-head sweep.
  4. ^ a b c Detroit finished ahead of Dallas and Seattle based on conference record, while Seattle finished ahead of Dallas based on head-to-head victory.
  5. ^ a b Green Bay finished ahead of Washington based on record vs. common opponents. Green Bay's cumulative record against Dallas, Minnesota, New Orleans and Seattle was 2–3, compared to Washington's 1–4 cumulative record against the same four teams.
  6. ^ a b Tampa Bay finished ahead of Chicago based on head-to-head victory.
  7. ^ When breaking ties for three or more teams under the NFL's rules, they are first broken within divisions, then comparing only the highest ranked remaining team from each division.

Staff edit

2017 Chicago Bears staff
Front office
  • Secretary of the board of directors – Virginia Halas McCaskey
  • Chairman – George McCaskey
  • President/CEO – Ted Phillips
  • General manager – Ryan Pace
  • Vice president & general counsel – Cliff Stein
  • Director of player personnel – Josh Lucas
  • Director of college scouting – Mark Sadowski
  • Director of pro personnel – Anthony Kelly
  • Director of football administration – Joseph Laine

Head coaches

Offensive coaches

Defensive coaches

Special teams coaches

Strength and conditioning

  • Strength and conditioning – Jason George
  • Assistant strength and conditioning – Rick Perry
  • Assistant strength and conditioning – Pierre Ngo

Final roster edit

2017 Chicago Bears final roster
Quarterbacks

Running backs

Wide receivers

Tight ends

Offensive linemen

Defensive linemen

Linebackers

Defensive backs

Special teams

Reserve lists


Practice squad


Rookies in italics
 53 active, 15 inactive, 10 practice squad

References edit

  1. ^ Thamel, Pete (January 3, 2017). "Texas adds esteemed running backs coach Stan Drayton to coaching staff". Sports Illustrated. Retrieved January 3, 2017.
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November 14, 2023
2017, chicago, bears, season, franchise, 98th, season, national, football, league, well, their, third, final, season, under, head, coach, john, bears, improved, upon, previous, year, record, finishing, failed, make, playoffs, suffered, their, fourth, consecuti. The 2017 Chicago Bears season was the franchise s 98th season in the National Football League NFL as well as their third and final season under head coach John Fox The Bears improved upon the previous year s 3 13 record finishing 5 11 but failed to make the playoffs and suffered their fourth consecutive losing season 2017 Chicago Bears seasonOwnerThe McCaskey FamilyGeneral managerRyan PaceHead coachJohn FoxHome fieldSoldier FieldResultsRecord5 11Division place4th NFC NorthPlayoff finishDid not qualifyPro BowlersNoneUniform 2016 Bears seasons 2018 This was their first season since 2008 without Jay Cutler as their starting quarterback ending an eight year era Instead the Bears picked up former Tampa Bay Buccaneers quarterback Mike Glennon in free agency and traded up to the number two overall pick in the draft for Mitchell Trubisky Glennon started the first four games of the season but was benched for Trubisky after a 1 3 start Despite entering the bye week with a 3 5 record the Bears were eliminated from playoff contention following a week thirteen loss against the San Francisco 49ers and finished the season 5 11 In addition no Bears players were selected to the Pro Bowl To add to these failures it was the first season since 1969 that the Bears failed to win a game against a divisional opponent On January 1 2018 after failing to produce a winning season for a third consecutive season Fox was fired following the Bears 23 10 loss to the Minnesota Vikings the day prior Contents 1 Offseason 1 1 Organizational changes 1 2 Roster changes 1 2 1 Acquisitions 1 2 2 Departures 1 3 2017 NFL Draft 1 3 1 Pre draft 1 3 2 Draft 1 3 3 Undrafted free agents 1 4 Offseason activities 2 Preseason 2 1 Transactions 2 2 Schedule 2 3 Game summaries 3 Regular season 3 1 Transactions 3 2 Schedule 3 3 Game summaries 3 3 1 Week 1 vs Atlanta Falcons 3 3 2 Week 2 at Tampa Bay Buccaneers 3 3 3 Week 3 vs Pittsburgh Steelers 3 3 4 Week 4 at Green Bay Packers 3 3 5 Week 5 vs Minnesota Vikings 3 3 6 Week 6 at Baltimore Ravens 3 3 7 Week 7 vs Carolina Panthers 3 3 8 Week 8 at New Orleans Saints 3 3 9 Week 10 vs Green Bay Packers 3 3 10 Week 11 vs Detroit Lions 3 3 11 Week 12 at Philadelphia Eagles 3 3 12 Week 13 vs San Francisco 49ers 3 3 13 Week 14 at Cincinnati Bengals 3 3 14 Week 15 at Detroit Lions 3 3 15 Week 16 vs Cleveland Browns 3 3 16 Week 17 at Minnesota Vikings 4 Postseason 4 1 Standings 4 1 1 Division 4 1 2 Conference 5 Staff 6 Final roster 7 ReferencesOffseason editOrganizational changes edit On January 3 running backs coach Stan Drayton departed the team to become the running backs coach for the Texas Longhorns 1 The following day the Bears fired offensive line coach Dave Magazu and assistant defensive backs coach Sam Garnes 2 The Bears lost a fourth assistant coach on January 7 when outside linebackers coach Clint Hurtt joined the New York Jets 3 To take their places the Bears hired San Francisco 49ers offensive coordinator Curtis Modkins Miami Dolphins assistant offensive line coach Jeremiah Washburn and 49ers safeties coach Roy Anderson respectively 4 In addition to his role as Bears defensive coordinator Vic Fangio assumed Hurtt s role as outside linebackers coach 5 until Chattanooga Mocs defensive coordinator Brandon Staley was hired on February 22 6 Assistant offensive line coach Kevin Mawae was not retained by the Bears 7 On January 30 wide receivers coach Curtis Johnson announced he would be leaving the team 8 Tennessee Volunteers receivers coach passing game coordinator Zach Azzanni was hired to replace Johnson on February 22 9 The Bears and 49ers also swapped special teams coaches when the latter s ST coordinator Derius Swinton II who served as an assistant for the Bears in 2015 returned to Chicago as the assistant ST coach 10 meanwhile Bears assistant ST coach Richard Hightower joined the 49ers as their new ST coordinator 11 Roster changes edit Position Player Free agencyTag Date signed 2017 teamOLB Sam Acho UFA April 15 12 Chicago BearsLT Mike Adams UFACB Johnthan Banks UFA March 11 13 Chicago BearsQB Matt Barkley UFA March 10 14 San Francisco 49ersK Connor Barth UFA March 10 Chicago Bears 15 LT Nick Becton UFA July 31 Detroit Lions 16 QB Brian Hoyer UFA March 9 17 San Francisco 49ersWR Alshon Jeffery UFA March 9 18 Philadelphia EaglesG Eric Kush UFA February 15 19 Chicago BearsG Ted Larsen UFA March 9 20 Miami DolphinsRT Matt McCants UFA March 27 21 Cleveland BrownsTE Logan Paulsen UFA March 9 17 San Francisco 49ersSS Chris Prosinski UFA March 20 22 Chicago BearsWR Deonte Thompson UFA March 23 23 Chicago BearsDE Cornelius Washington UFA March 9 24 Detroit LionsDE C J Wilson UFA March 20 22 Chicago BearsWR Marquess Wilson UFA June 20 New York JetsWR Josh Bellamy RFA March 6 25 Chicago BearsQB David Fales RFA April 5 26 Miami DolphinsSS Demontre Hurst RFA April 3 27 Tennessee TitansOLB Christian Jones RFA March 11 28 Chicago BearsQB Connor Shaw RFA March 4 29 Chicago BearsRB Bralon Addison ERFATE Daniel Brown ERFA March 6 25 Chicago BearsCB Bryce Callahan ERFA March 6 25 Chicago BearsILB Danny Mason ERFA July 29 Denver Broncos 30 LS Patrick Scales ERFA March 4 29 Chicago BearsRFA Restricted free agent UFA Unrestricted free agent ERFA Exclusive rights free agentAcquisitions edit The first transactions of the year occurred shortly after the conclusion of the 2016 regular season on January 3 2017 when the Bears signed to futures contracts cornerbacks De Vante Bausby Jacoby Glenn and Rashaad Reynolds wide receiver Dres Anderson running back David Cobb tackle William Poehls guard Cyril Richardson and center Cornelius Edison Bausby Glenn and Edison all saw regular season action for the Bears in 2016 with Glenn also earning three starts throughout the season while Anderson Cobb Poehls Reynolds and Richardson spent the 2016 season on the team s practice squad 31 On January 6 the team signed to a futures contract defensive end Kapron Lewis Moore 32 Lewis Moore a 2013 sixth round pick by the Baltimore Ravens was a practice squad player in Baltimore during the 2016 season after playing in five games three tackles in 2015 33 Four days later the Bears signed to a futures contract with wide receiver Rueben Randle 34 Randle a former second round pick by the New York Giants in 2012 spent the 2016 season out of football after being released by the Philadelphia Eagles at the end of the preseason 35 On March 10 the Bears signed quarterback Mike Glennon wide receiver Markus Wheaton tight end Dion Sims and safety Quintin Demps Glennon who started 18 games for the Tampa Bay Buccaneers between 2013 and 2014 signed a three year 43 5 million deal with the Bears and started the first four games of the season 36 Wheaton a former third round pick by the Pittsburgh Steelers in 2013 missed most of the 2016 season with a shoulder injury after recording 44 receptions for 749 yards and five touchdowns in 2015 37 Sims an excellent blocker who started 11 games for the Miami Dolphins in 2016 signed a three year 18 million contract with the team 38 Demps a nine year veteran who led the Houston Texans in interceptions in 2016 signed a three year 13 5 million contract with the Bears 39 On March 11 the team added cornerbacks Prince Amukamara and Marcus Cooper offensive lineman Tom Compton and wide receiver Kendall Wright Amukamara a former first round draft pick of the 2011 Giants who started twelve games for the Jacksonville Jaguars in 2016 agreed to a one year 7 million contract while Cooper a 7th round pick by the San Francisco 49ers in 2013 who led the Arizona Cardinals in interceptions during the 2016 season signed a three year 16 million contract with the team Cooper played wide receiver at Rutgers 40 41 Compton a five year veteran who played in all 16 regular season games for the 2016 NFC champion Atlanta Falcons was a 6th round pick by the Redskins in 2012 Wright a former first round pick by the Tennessee Titans who played under Bears offensive coordinator Dowell Loggains and caught 280 passes for 2 244 yards and 18 touchdowns through his five seasons with the team both agreed to one year deals with the Bears 42 On March 17 the Bears signed defensive tackle John Jenkins a 359 pound nose tackle who was a third round pick by the New Orleans Saints in 2013 when Bears general manager Ryan Pace was the Saints Director of player personnel Jenkins agreed to a one year 900 000 contract with the team 43 Los Angeles Rams running back Benny Cunningham signed with the team on March 21 also a kick returner he returned 22 kicks for an average of 27 2 yards fourth best in the NFL 44 Three days later the Bears signed veteran quarterback Mark Sanchez to a one year contract 45 On April 5 cornerback B W Webb was signed on a one year deal Webb started eight games for the Saints in 2016 and recorded an interception 46 The first signing of May took place on May 1 signing interior offensive lineman and former Bear Taylor Boggs after spending 2013 and 2014 with the Bears Boggs played for the Cardinals in 2016 47 The next day the Bears signed another offensive lineman in Bradley Sowell who played left and right tackle for the Seattle Seahawks in 2016 48 On May 4 Kansas City Chiefs defensive end Jaye Howard signed with the Bears on a one year contract starting four games in 2016 with the Chiefs Howard had 122 tackles and 7 5 sacks over his five year career 49 Four days later linebacker Dan Skuta a former player of Vic Fangio during their time with the 49ers joined the Bears on a one year deal 50 On May 25 the Bears signed Giants Victor Cruz to a one year contract Cruz caught 39 passes for 586 yards and a touchdown in 2016 after two seasons plagued with injuries 51 On the final day of the month Detroit Lions fullback Michael Burton was claimed off waivers by the Bears in 2015 Burton caught six passes for 39 yards and a touchdown along with four rushing attempts for two yards while he did not record a rush or a reception in 2016 52 Departures edit On January 9 linebacker Josh Shirley was waived 53 Shirley who was signed to the Bears practice squad on December 14 and promoted to the active roster for the season finale played only one defensive snap for the team in 2016 53 On March 9 the team released longtime quarterback Jay Cutler the 33 year old quarterback held multiple franchise passing records but played just five games in 2016 due to injury 54 Later in the month on March 31 the Bears waived defensive end Ego Ferguson who last played during the 2015 season and was since on injured reserve twice 55 Cornerback Tracy Porter was released on April 10 despite starting all sixteen games in 2016 he struggled with knee injuries throughout the year 56 In early May the Bears released six players running backs David Cobb and Bralon Addison defensive backs De Vante Bausby and Jacoby Glenn wide receiver Dres Anderson and tight end Justin Perillo 47 On May 11 receiver Eddie Royal defensive lineman Will Sutton fullback Paul Lasike and center Cornelius Edison were waived Royal struggled with injuries during his tenure with the Bears Sutton a 4 3 defensive tackle did not fit Fangio s 3 4 defense and was unable to record a sack as a Bear 57 On March 9 free agency began with the departure of receiver Alshon Jeffery for the Eagles to end a five year tenure in Chicago 18 Quarterbacks Brian Hoyer and Matt Barkley along with tight end Logan Paulsen signed with the San Francisco 49ers 14 17 Three other linemen who left the Bears included defensive end Cornelius Washington who joined the Lions 24 guard Ted Larsen who signed with the Miami Dolphins 20 and offensive tackle Matt McCants who was signed by the Cleveland Browns 21 On April 3 cornerback Demontre Hurst became a Titan 27 Two days later quarterback David Fales also signed with the Dolphins 26 On July 29 and 31 linebacker Danny Mason and offensive lineman Nick Becton signed with the Broncos and Lions respectively 16 30 2017 NFL Draft edit Main article 2017 NFL Draft Pre draft edit Entering the draft the Bears saw needs at various positions including quarterback offensive tackle wide receiver and safety 58 59 60 In the months leading up to April s draft the team interacted with 84 players 21 had private visits 7 players visited during the NFL Scouting Combine 55 met during the Senior Bowl and 2 during the East West Shrine Game 4 had private workouts while 2 had local visits Of the 84 6 had met with the team on multiple occasions 61 With the third overall pick leading up to the draft it was the highest selection by the Bears since the 2005 NFL Draft in which the team drafted Texas Longhorns running back Cedric Benson 62 it was also the first No 3 pick since 1972 which was used on Southern Illinois Salukis offensive tackle Lionel Antoine 63 Draft edit The Bears traded the third overall pick a 2017 third round pick No 67 overall a 2017 fourth round pick No 111 and a 2018 third round pick to the 49ers in exchange for their second overall pick Moving up a spot in the draft order the Bears used it on North Carolina quarterback Mitchell Trubisky 64 although he only started for one full season Trubisky threw for 30 touchdowns and just six interceptions in 2016 including completing 68 percent of his passes and an average of 8 4 yards per pass 65 In the second round the Bears traded the 36th overall pick and a seventh round selection No 211 to the Cardinals in exchange for their 45th overall pick a fourth No 119 and sixth rounder No 197 and a fourth rounder in 2018 With the new second round pick tight end Adam Shaheen of the Ashland Eagles was selected in 2016 Shaheen recorded 16 touchdown receptions the most in a season by a tight end in NCAA Division II history 66 After trading their third rounder to the 49ers the Bears did not have a pick in that round instead waiting until the next round to use the 112th overall pick on Alabama safety Eddie Jackson over the course of his college career Jackson had nine interceptions 12 pass breakups and five touchdowns three on interception returns including restricting opposing quarterbacks to a combined 38 3 passer rating when throwing his way in 2016 Also a punt returner he averaged 23 yards on punt returns but broke his leg on a return during a game last October 67 The second fourth round pick the 119th overall from Arizona was used to select North Carolina A amp T running back Tarik Cohen The 5 ft 6 in 1 68 m 160 lb 73 kg running back attracted Internet attention in 2015 when a video surfaced of him performing a backflip and catching two footballs at the same time 68 With the Aggies Cohen was named Mid Eastern Athletic Conference Rookie of the Year during his freshman year and was the MEAC Offensive Player of the Year three times as he recorded 5 619 rushing yards during his tenure 69 A second Division II player Kutztown Golden Bears offensive lineman Jordan Morgan was drafted with Chicago s final pick a fifth rounder and the 147th overall selection the first Kutztown player to be drafted since Andre Reed in 1985 Morgan started 43 of 44 games with the Golden Bears winning the 2016 Gene Upshaw Award and being named the Pennsylvania State Athletic Conference Eastern Division Offensive Athlete of the Year the first lineman to receive the honor 70 Reception to the Bears draft varied The decision to trade up for the second overall pick was criticized by various analysts CBSSports com writer Pete Prisco called it a strange move to give up so much to move up a spot 71 while Fox Sports 1 pundits Skip Bayless and Shannon Sharpe as indefensibly idiotic and as making no sense the latter also questioning the necessity of drafting a quarterback so early after signing Mike Glennon in free agency 72 The Bears drafted three players from colleges not within the Division I Football Bowl Subdivision the first time the team s draft class featured three non FBS players since 2002 when the Bears drafted Delaware receiver Jamin Elliott FCS Georgia Southern running back Adrian Peterson FCS and Tuskegee cornerback Roosevelt Williams Division II 73 2017 Chicago Bears draftRound Pick Player Position College Notes1 2 Mitchell Trubisky QB North Carolina From San Francisco2 45 Adam Shaheen TE Ashland From Arizona4 112 Eddie Jackson S Alabama4 119 Tarik Cohen RB North Carolina A amp T From Arizona5 147 Jordan Morgan G Kutztown Made roster Pro Football Hall of Fame Made at least one Pro Bowl during careerNotes The Bears acquired an additional fourth round selection No 117 overall as part of a trade that sent the team s 2016 second round selection to the Buffalo Bills 74 The Bears traded their sixth round selection No 188 overall to the Houston Texans in exchange for tight end Khari Lee 75 The Bears traded their third overall pick third round pick a fourth round pick and a 2018 third round pick to the 49ers for the second overall pick The Bears traded their second and seventh round selections 36th and 221st to Arizona in exchange for Arizona s second fourth and sixth round selections 45th 119th and 197th as well as a fourth round selection in 2018 Undrafted free agents edit After the draft the Bears signed the following undrafted free agents Position Player CollegeRB Joel Bouagnon Northern IllinoisDL Raashad Coward Old DominionLB Hendrick Ekpe MinnesotaWR Tanner Gentry WyomingTE Franko House Ball StateLB Isaiah Irving San Jose StateOT Dieugot Joseph Florida InternationalOL Mitchell Kirsch James MadisonK Andy Phillips UtahLB Alex Scearce Coastal CarolinaWR Jhajuan Seales Oklahoma StateFB Freddie Stevenson Florida StateWR Kermit Whitfield Florida StateSource 76 Offseason activities edit The first day of offseason workouts was on April 18 Other events included offseason team activities OTAs on May 23 25 and 30 31 and June 1 and 5 8 A mandatory minicamp took place from June 13 15 77 Two weeks after the draft the Bears hosted their Rookie Minicamp from May 12 14 78 In addition to the draft picks and 13 undrafted free agents signed prior the Minicamp featured 38 rookies and nine veteran players trying out 79 At the end of the camp the Bears signed veteran tryout and former New York Jets receiver Titus Davis who retired after the 2016 season before participating at the camp 80 In conjunction with the signing Kermit Whitfield was waived 81 On May 30 the Bears waived quarterback Connor Shaw but following an injury to Mark Sanchez rescinded the waiver and instead released Jhujuan Seales 82 When Michael Burton was signed a day later Franko House was released 83 Bears Training Camp was held at Olivet Nazarene University in Bourbonnais from July 26 to August 14 84 The team s annual Family Fest was held at Soldier Field on August 5 85 while a practice was conducted at Prospect High School on August 17 86 On August 3 Joel Bouagnon was waived with an injury designation with Tulane Green Wave running back Joshua Rounds being signed in his place 87 A day later during a practice guard Eric Kush tore a hamstring from its bone forcing the Bears to place him on the injured reserve list and rendering him out for the 2017 season 88 To replace Kush Chicago signed Alabama tight end Brandon Greene who also played offensive lineman and was a run blocker for the Crimson Tide 89 At Family Fest Andy Phillips struggled and was released two days later with his roster slot being filled by Tennessee Volunteers receiver Alton Howard 90 Preseason editTransactions edit Preseason roster changes 91 AdditionsOn August 13 the Bears signed Roberto Aguayo On August 18 the Bears signed Kelvin Sheppard On August 28 the Bears signed Jeff Overbaugh On September 3 the Bears acquired Andrew DePaola Tre McBride and Taquan Mizzell off waivers On September 4 the Bears signed John Jenkins DeparturesOn August 18 the Bears released Hendrick Ekpe On August 29 the Bears released Kapron Lewis Moore and Alex Scearce On September 2 the Bears released Roberto Aguayo Jonathan Anderson Daniel Braverman Rashaad Coward Titus Davis Tanner Gentry Brandon Greene DeAndre Houston Carson Alton Howard Isaiah Irving Harold Jones Quartey Dieugot Joseph Mitchell Kirsch William Poehls MyCole Pruitt Rashaad Reynolds Cyril Richardson Joshua Rounds Freddie Stevenson John Timu Johnthan Banks Taylor Boggs Victor Cruz Jaye Howard John Jenkins Kelvin Sheppard Dan Skuta B W Webb and C J Wilson On September 3 the Bears released Ben Braunecker Jeremy Langford and Jeff Overbaugh Reserve listsOn August 13 the Bears placed Rueben Randle on the injured reserve list On August 28 the Bears placed Patrick Scales on the injured reserve list On September 2 the Bears placed Connor Shaw Ka Deem Carey Lamarr Houston Cameron Meredith Jordan Morgan and Chris Prosinski on the injured reserve list On September 4 the Bears placed Deiondre Hall on the injured reserve list Practice squad additionsOn September 4 the Bears added Jonathan Anderson Rashaad Coward Tanner Gentry Brandon Greene DeAndre Houston Carson Isaiah Irving Dieugot Joseph Cameron Lee and John Timu to the practice squad Schedule edit The Bears preseason schedule was announced on April 10 Like in 2016 the first game of the preseason was at home against the Broncos who defeated the Bears 22 0 in last year s meeting For the next two games the Bears traveled to Arizona and Tennessee to take on the Cardinals and Titans before ending August in Soldier Field against a traditional preseason opponent in the Cleveland Browns playing each other to close the preseason since 2004 the Bears held a 7 6 lead in the series 92 Week Date Opponent Result Record Game site NFL comGameBook NFL comrecap1 August 10 Denver Broncos L 17 24 0 1 Soldier Field GameBook Recap2 August 19 at Arizona Cardinals W 24 23 1 1 University of Phoenix Stadium GameBook Recap3 August 27 at Tennessee Titans W 19 7 2 1 Nissan Stadium GameBook Recap4 August 31 Cleveland Browns L 0 25 2 2 Soldier Field GameBook RecapGame summaries edit Against the Broncos the Bears preseason started on a rough note on the third play of the game Mike Glennon s pass for Zach Miller was intercepted by Chris Harris Jr and returned 50 yards for a touchdown On the resulting kickoff Deonte Thompson muffed the return but managed to recover and return it to the Bears 28 yard line though Ka Deem Carey was injured on the play The Bears were later forced to punt on the drive 93 Now on defense Chicago started strong when Leonard Floyd sacked Trevor Siemian on the first play of the series but the defense committed four consecutive penalties and Denver was able to add three points to the score with Brandon McManus 38 yard field goal Another turnover for the Bears offense occurred when Cody Whitehair s snap missed Glennon and was recovered by Jamal Carter of the Broncos Both teams traded punts and Mark Sanchez eventually replaced Glennon at quarterback Glennon struggled greatly completing just two of eight passes for 20 yards with an interception and a 0 0 passer rating Sanchez would play one series completing a pass for four yards 94 With 1 55 remaining in the first half Mitchell Trubisky became the Bears quarterback where he led the offense by completing all four of his passes for 24 yards on a six play 50 yard drive culminating in a two yard touchdown pass to Victor Cruz After the Broncos punted to start the second half Trubisky guided the Bears on a 75 yard series which ended with Benny Cunningham s one yard touchdown run to take the 14 10 lead 94 On Chicago s next possession the offense traveled 45 yards before Connor Barth kicked a 25 yard field goal 93 Despite the seven point advantage the Broncos scored 14 unanswered points on Kyle Sloter s 47 yard touchdown pass to Isaiah McKenzie and DeAngelo Henderson s 41 yard run on third down and 22 with less than two minutes in the game 94 Down 24 17 Trubisky attempted to rally a late drive and reached the Broncos 22 yard line but his final pass to Thompson fell incomplete as time expired 93 In total Trubisky completed his first ten passes and ended the day with 18 25 passes completed for 166 yards with a touchdown and a 103 1 rating 94 At University of Phoenix Stadium Chicago scored first on Barth s 42 yard field goal in the opening quarter 95 A quarter later the Bears had another opportunity to score again but Glennon s pass for Kendall Wright was intercepted by Tyrann Mathieu at the Cardinals 11 yard line and was taken 52 yards to the Bears 43 96 During the resulting drive J J Nelson was stripped by Quintin Demps and recovered by the Bears Cre Von LeBlanc who returned the fumble 77 yards for the score though it was overturned upon official review and Arizona retained possession of the ball The Cardinals reached the Bears one yard line but failed to score on first second and third down before Carson Palmer threw a touchdown pass to Jermaine Gresham on fourth down 95 Glennon rebounded by throwing a seven yard touchdown pass to Wright despite facing a heavy blitz On the final play of the first half Cardinals kicker Phil Dawson attempted a 63 yard field goal which fell short and was caught by Deonte Thompson who returned it 109 yards for the touchdown 96 During Arizona s first drive of the second half Blaine Gabbert scored on a four yard touchdown run Sanchez entered the game for the Bears on the next series though he fumbled on a snap and the Bears eventually punted Trubisky took over a drive later where he led the Bears offense into field goal range though Roberto Aguayo missed a 49 yard field goal 95 In the fourth quarter Chicago s Roy Robertson Harris recorded two consecutive sacks while B W Webb intercepted a Gabbert pass by pulling the ball from Chris Hubert 96 though the play initially resulted in a touchdown it was overturned though the Bears kept the ball Trubisky eventually threw a six yard touchdown pas to Cunningham to make the score 24 14 but the Cardinals scored on Dawson s 52 yard field goal and Gabbert s three yard pass to Jeremy Ross to draw them within one point Arizona attempted a two point conversion but Gabbert s pass for Ross fell incomplete to seal the win 95 In Nashville the Titans punted on the opening drive with Brett Kern s punt landing at the Bears four yard line 97 Glennon successfully engineered a 15 play 96 yard drive as he completed seven of nine passes for 89 yards and culminating with a one yard touchdown pass to Dion Sims 98 On their next drive the Titans were forced to punt again with Kern once again forcing the Bears to start deep within their own territory with a 61 yard punt landing at the six Unlike the first drive Chicago was unable to score on the second and was forced to punt though the offense entered Tennessee s side of the field During Kern s third punt 97 Robertson Harris blocked it in the end zone and Adam Shaheen attempted to recover but was ruled out of bounds giving the Bears two points via safety The Titans Ryan Succop later tried a 40 yard field goal but missed it to the right the Bears Barth responded by converting his 41 yard field goal to give his team a 12 0 lead at halftime 98 Trubisky entered the game in the third quarter though neither team scored during the quarter 97 On the first play of the fourth quarter Tennessee s Marcus Mariota threw a three yard touchdown pass to Derrick Henry to decrease the margin to five points though the Bears retaliated as Trubisky launched a 45 yard pass to Tanner Gentry for the score 98 Two series later Titans quarterback Matt Cassel was strip sacked by Lamarr Houston with Chicago s John Jenkins recovering Connor Shaw eventually took over the Bears quarterback role though his drive also ended with a fumble when Freddie Stevenson lost the ball after being tackles by Justin Staples with Daren Bates recovering With 1 46 Alex Tanney guided the Titans offense into Chicago territory before failing to convert on fourth down Shaw kneeled once to end the game with a 19 7 win 97 Despite the win the Bears roster suffered a variety of injuries Prince Amukamura had an ankle injury early in the game 99 receiver Cameron Meredith suffered a left anterior cruciate ligament injury that required replacement and ruled him out until 2018 100 long snapper Patrick Scales injured his right knee and was placed on the waived injured list 101 and linebackers Floyd and Dan Skuta had a foot injury and underwent concussion protocol respectively 99 Trubisky was named the starter for the final preseason game against the Browns the Bears hoping doing so would give the rookie game experience He started the game by handing off on nine consecutive plays with three straight drives ending with punts By the end of the game he attempted only four passes completing two for ten yards The game was scoreless until late in the first half when Cleveland s Cody Kessler threw a 27 yard touchdown pass to Rannell Hall In the second half the Browns scored 18 unanswered points Zane Gonzalez kicked a 53 yard field goal Calvin Pryor and Karter Schult sacked Shaw in the end zone for a safety and Kevin Hogan threw 51 and 21 yard touchdown passes to Randall Telfer and Jordan Leslie respectively 102 Trubisky returned to the game in the fourth quarter on two occasions when Shaw was hurt though he could not lead the Bears on a scoring drive and was sacked at the Browns nine yard line on the final play of the game 103 Regular season editTransactions edit Regular season roster changes 91 AdditionsOn September 12 the Bears promoted Jonathan Anderson and Tanner Gentry to the active roster On September 19 the Bears promoted DeAndre Houston Carson to the active roster On September 23 the Bears promoted John Timu to the active roster On October 2 the Bears promoted Tre McBride to the active roster On October 9 the Bears promoted Isaiah Irving to the active roster On October 11 the Bears promoted Tanner Gentry to the active roster On October 26 the Bears acquired Dontrelle Inman in a trade with the Los Angeles Chargers On November 9 the Bears promoted Ben Braunecker to the active roster On November 11 the Bears promoted Jonathan Anderson to the active roster On November 20 the Bears signed Cairo Santos On November 23 the Bears promoted Howard Jones to the active roster On November 29 the Bears signed Lamarr Houston On December 2 the Bears promoted Deiondre Hall to the active roster On December 4 the Bears signed Mike Nugent On December 5 the Bears promoted Howard Jones and Cameron Lee to the active roster On December 9 the Bears promoted Rashaad Coward to the active roster DeparturesOn September 19 the Bears released Tanner Gentry On September 23 the Bears released Tre McBride On October 11 the Bears released Deonte Thompson On October 26 the Bears released Jonathan Anderson On November 11 the Bears released Tanner Gentry On November 20 the Bears released Connor Barth On November 27 the Bears released Mario Alford On November 28 the Bears released Tre McBride On November 30 the Bears released Howard Jones On December 9 the Bears released Jonathan Anderson Reserve listsOn September 12 the Bears placed Kevin White and Jerrell Freeman on the injured reserve list On September 29 the Bears placed Quintin Demps on the injured reserve list On October 10 the Bears placed Willie Young on the injured reserve list On November 9 the Bears placed Zach Miller on the injured reserve list On November 23 the Bears placed Leonard Floyd on the injured reserve list On December 2 the Bears placed Isaiah Irving on the injured reserve list On December 4 the Bears placed Cairo Santos on the injured reserve list On December 5 the Bears placed Kyle Long and Mitch Unrein on the injured reserve list Practice squad additionsOn September 12 the Bears added Joshua Rounds and Mario Alford to the practice squad On September 19 the Bears added Mike Purcell to the practice squad On September 21 the Bears added Tanner Gentry to the practice squad On September 26 the Bears added Tre McBride and Doran Grant to the practice squad On October 2 the Bears added Jason Thompson to the practice squad On October 6 the Bears added Howard Jones to the practice squad On October 11 the Bears added Carl Bradford and Darreus Rogers to the practice squad On October 16 the Bears added Nelson Spruce to the practice squad On November 7 the Bears added Colin Thompson to the practice squad On November 14 the Bears added Tanner Gentry and Travis Averill to the practice squad On December 2 the Bears added Howard Jones to the practice squad On December 5 the Bears added Colin Thompson and Will Pericak to the practice squad Practice squad departuresOn September 19 the Bears removed Joshua Rounds from the practice squad On October 6 the Bears removed Mike Purcell from the practice squad On October 16 the Bears removed Jason Thompson from the practice squad On November 14 the Bears removed Darreus Rogers from the practice squad On December 2 the Bears removed Colin Thompson from the practice squad Schedule edit Week Date Opponent Result Record Game site NFL comGameBook NFL comrecap1 September 10 Atlanta Falcons L 17 23 0 1 Soldier Field GameBook Archived 2017 09 16 at the Wayback Machine Recap2 September 17 at Tampa Bay Buccaneers L 7 29 0 2 Raymond James Stadium GameBook Archived 2017 10 04 at the Wayback Machine Recap3 September 24 Pittsburgh Steelers W 23 17 OT 1 2 Soldier Field GameBook Archived 2017 10 04 at the Wayback Machine Recap4 September 28 at Green Bay Packers L 14 35 1 3 Lambeau Field GameBook Archived 2017 10 03 at the Wayback Machine Recap5 October 9 Minnesota Vikings L 17 20 1 4 Soldier Field GameBook Archived 2017 10 11 at the Wayback Machine Recap6 October 15 at Baltimore Ravens W 27 24 OT 2 4 M amp T Bank Stadium GameBook Archived 2017 10 18 at the Wayback Machine Recap7 October 22 Carolina Panthers W 17 3 3 4 Soldier Field GameBook Archived 2017 10 25 at the Wayback Machine Recap8 October 29 at New Orleans Saints L 12 20 3 5 Mercedes Benz Superdome GameBook Archived 2017 11 02 at the Wayback Machine Recap9 Bye10 November 12 Green Bay Packers L 16 23 3 6 Soldier Field GameBook Archived 2017 11 16 at the Wayback Machine Recap11 November 19 Detroit Lions L 24 27 3 7 Soldier Field GameBook Archived 2017 11 23 at the Wayback Machine Recap12 November 26 at Philadelphia Eagles L 3 31 3 8 Lincoln Financial Field GameBook Archived 2017 11 30 at the Wayback Machine Recap13 December 3 San Francisco 49ers L 14 15 3 9 Soldier Field GameBook Archived 2017 12 07 at the Wayback Machine Recap14 December 10 at Cincinnati Bengals W 33 7 4 9 Paul Brown Stadium GameBook Archived 2017 12 14 at the Wayback Machine Recap15 December 16 at Detroit Lions L 10 20 4 10 Ford Field GameBook Archived 2017 12 21 at the Wayback Machine Recap16 December 24 Cleveland Browns W 20 3 5 10 Soldier Field GameBook Archived 2017 12 28 at the Wayback Machine Recap17 December 31 at Minnesota Vikings L 10 23 5 11 U S Bank Stadium GameBook Archived 2018 01 04 at the Wayback Machine RecapNote Intra division opponents are in bold text Legend Games played with color uniforms Games played with white uniforms Games played with 1940s throwback uniforms Light green background indicates a victory Light red background indicates a loss Note The Bears Color Rush uniforms for the Week 4 Thursday Night game at the Green Bay Packers consisted of navy blue pants with their standard navy jerseys 104 Game summaries edit Week 1 vs Atlanta Falcons edit Week One Atlanta Falcons at Chicago Bears Game summary Period 1 2 34TotalFalcons 3 7 31023Bears 0 10 0717at Soldier Field Chicago Illinois Date September 10Game time 12 00 p m CDTGame weather 64 F 18 C sunnyGame attendance 61 857Referee Jeff TripletteTV announcers Fox Kevin Burkhardt Charles Davis and Pam OliverRecap Gamebook Game informationFirst quarter ATL Matt Bryant 48 yard field goal 8 01 Falcons 3 0 Drive 11 plays 62 yards 7 04 Second quarter CHI Connor Barth 54 yard field goal 15 00 Tied 3 3 Drive 10 plays 41 yards 4 24 ATL Devonta Freeman 5 yard run Matt Bryant kick 4 34 Falcons 10 3 Drive 11 plays 83 yards 6 59 CHI Jordan Howard 4 yard run Connor Barth kick 0 20 Tied 10 10 Drive 7 plays 75 yards 4 15 Third quarter ATL Matt Bryant 28 yard field goal 2 15 Falcons 13 10 Drive 13 plays 76 yards 6 29 Fourth quarter ATL Austin Hooper 88 yard pass from Matt Ryan Matt Bryant kick 12 10 Falcons 20 10 Drive 3 plays 95 yards 0 59 CHI Tarik Cohen 19 yard pass from Mike Glennon Connor Barth kick 7 33 Falcons 20 17 Drive 9 plays 75 yards 4 29 ATL Matt Bryant 37 yard field goal 3 29 Falcons 23 17 Drive 9 plays 56 yards 4 02 Top passers ATL Matt Ryan 21 30 321 yards TD CHI Mike Glennon 26 40 213 yards TDTop rushers ATL Devonta Freeman 12 rushes 37 yards TD CHI Tarik Cohen 5 rushes 66 yardsTop receivers ATL Austin Hooper 2 receptions 128 yards TD CHI Tarik Cohen 8 receptions 47 yards TDTop tacklers ATL Brian Poole 6 tackles 1 assist 1 sack CHI Jerrell Freeman 7 tackles 3 assists nbsp The Bears played all of their home games at Soldier Field For the season opener the Bears were considered an obvious underdog as they faced the Atlanta Falcons who appeared in Super Bowl LI a year earlier 105 After 26 total meetings the Bears led the series 14 12 entering the 2017 game the Bears had a two game winning streak against the Falcons with the most recent game in 2014 being a 27 13 victory 106 The offense which ranked 15th in 2016 17th in rushing and 14th passing took on a Falcons defense that was ranked 25th 17th in run and 28th in pass During his tenure with the Buccaneers Mike Glennon completed 71 6 percent of his passes for 683 yards with six touchdowns no interceptions and a 109 2 passer rating against the Falcons 107 Although Glennon had strong stats against Atlanta CBS Chicago writer and former Bears director of college scouting Greg Gabriel suggested the Bears should utilize its rushing attack due to a lack of options at receiver Rookie running backs Tarik Cohen and Taquan Mizzell both players with high agility were recommended by Gabriel for use as gimmicks are more effective at the start of the season due to a lack of preparation for them 105 The Bears 15th ranked defense 27th in run and seventh in pass faced a Falcons offense led by 2016 MVP quarterback Matt Ryan and ranked second in offense fifth in rushing and third in passing 107 Gabriel wrote the Bears defensive line and linebackers were among the best in the league and played against a Falcons offensive line that was considered one of the weakest parts of the team On the other hand Gabriel added the Bears secondary was an area of concern meaning the DL and LB corps were to be relied on to apply pressure to Ryan 105 The Falcons Matt Bryant kicked a 48 yard field goal on the opening drive After the two teams exchanged punts Connor Barth converted a 54 yard field goal at the start of the second quarter to tie the game 108 Although Devonta Freeman scored on a five yard touchdown run the Bears responded with a 75 yard drive featuring exclusively run plays On the series Cohen escaped two Falcons and shifted from the left side of the field to the right to record a 46 yard run Cohen later took a direct snap from the center in the Wildcat formation and handed the ball to Jordan Howard who received assistance on a block by Glennon to score a five yard touchdown 109 The first three drives of the second half ended with a punt before Bryant kicked a 28 yard field goal 108 After another Chicago punt the defense appeared to have forced a fourth down situation on Atlanta until Akiem Hicks was penalized for roughing the passer Ryan capitalized by throwing to an open Austin Hooper who stiff arm fended Quintin Demps to score an 88 yard touchdown 109 Glennon threw a 19 yard touchdown pass to Cohen to decrease the gap to three points until Bryant kicked a 37 yard field goal Down by six with 3 21 remaining in the game Glennon drove the Bears downfield and reached the Falcons five yard line but his first three passes to Josh Bellamy Howard and Miller fell incomplete On fourth and five Glennon was sacked by Brooks Reed for a turnover on downs Ryan kneeled to seal the Bears 23 17 defeat 108 The loss marked the fourth straight opening week loss for the Bears Week 2 at Tampa Bay Buccaneers edit Week Two Chicago Bears at Tampa Bay Buccaneers Game summary Period 1 2 34TotalBears 0 0 077Buccaneers 10 16 0329at Raymond James Stadium Tampa Florida Date September 17Game time 1 00 p m EDT 12 00 p m CDTGame weather 88 F 31 C clearGame attendance 56 640Referee Ronald TorbertTV announcers Fox Dick Stockton Mark Schlereth and Shannon SpakeRecap Gamebook Game informationFirst quarter Nick Folk 42 yard field goal TB 3 0 Jameis Winston 13 yard pass to Mike Evans Folk PAT TB 10 0Second quarter Jacquizz Rodgers 1 yard run Folk PAT TB 17 0 Robert McClain 47 yard interception return PAT missed TB 23 0 Nick Folk 50 yard field goal TB 26 0Third quarter No Scoring PlaysFourth quarter Nick Folk 23 yard field goal TB 29 0 Mike Glennon 14 yard pass to Deonte Thompson Connor Barth PAT Top passers CHI Mike Glennon 31 45 301 YDS TD 2 INT TB Jameis Winston 18 30 204 YDS TDTop rushers CHI Tarik Cohen 7 RUSH 13 YDS TB Jacquizz Rodgers 19 RUSH 67 YDS TDTop receivers CHI Kendall Wright 7 REC 69 YDS TB Mike Evans 7 REC 93 YDS TDTop tacklers CHI Eddie Jackson 7 tackles 1 assist TB Lavonte David 8 tackles 1 assists For the second week of the season Mike Glennon returned to Raymond James Stadium to take on his former team the Tampa Bay Buccaneers Although the Bears led the all time series 38 19 and had won three of the last four games the Buccaneers routed the Bears 36 10 in their latest meeting in 2016 110 Chicago s 25th ranked defense tenth against the run and 27th against the pass faced a Tampa offense spearheaded by quarterback Jameis Winston who threw for 28 touchdowns and 18 interceptions for a passer rating of 86 1 passer rating in 2016 111 Winston s catchers included receivers Mike Evans and DeSean Jackson along with tight ends Cameron Brate and O J Howard Brate an Illinois native and Bears fan had excelled against his favorite team recording a 46 yard catch in 2015 and a career high seven receptions for 84 yards and a touchdown in 2016 112 Bears defensive coordinator Vic Fangio described the Bucs tight ends as good players Brate has been a really good red zone player for them The quarterback is very comfortable throwing to him He s got great route instincts and route running ability and he s a very good catcher of the ball Howard is a very good athlete with good size a good blocker that can get down the field They ve got two really good weapons at tight end 113 The Buccaneers opened the game with Nick Folk s 42 yard field goal 114 On Chicago s first drive Glennon completed his first six passes before his pass for Dion Sims was intercepted by Kwon Alexander and while the Bucs were forced to punt on the resulting series Tarik Cohen attempted to field a bouncing punt as he was covered by two players causing him to fumble Tampa s Cameron Lynch recovered the loose ball with Winston throwing a 13 yard touchdown pass to Evans on the next play 115 During the Bears next series Glennon was sacked by Noah Spence and fumbled with the Bucs Lavonte David recovering Jacquizz Rodgers eventually scored on a one yard touchdown run Glennon s woes continued when he was intercepted by Robert McClain who returned the 47 yards for a touchdown Although Folk missed the extra point he kicked a 50 yard field goal to give the Buccaneers a 26 0 lead by halftime The Bears punted on the first drive of the second half but reclaimed the ball when Charles Sims was stripped by Pernell McPhee and Leonard Floyd recovered though the Bears failed to capitalize on the takeaway as they were forced to punt Folk kicked a 23 yard field goal in the fourth quarter to increase the lead by 29 points Chicago s next two drives reached Tampa s red zone but both ended with turnovers on downs 114 With 1 43 left in the game Glennon threw a 13 yard touchdown pass to Deonte Thompson though it was too late to make a comeback 115 Week 3 vs Pittsburgh Steelers edit Week Three Pittsburgh Steelers at Chicago Bears Game summary Period 1 2 34OTTotalSteelers 0 7 73017Bears 7 10 00623at Soldier Field Chicago Illinois Date September 24Game time 12 00 p m CDTGame weather 85 F 29 C sunnyGame attendance 62 172Referee Clete BlakemanTV announcers CBS Greg Gumbel Trent Green and Jamie ErdahlRecap Gamebook Game informationFirst quarter Jordan Howard 3 yard run Connor Barth PAT CHI 7 0Second quarter Ben Roethlisberger 7 yard pass to Antonio Brown Chris Boswell PAT Mike Glennon 2 yard pass to Adam Shaheen Barth PAT Connor Barth 24 yard field goal Third quarter Le Veon Bell 1 yard run Boswell PAT Fourth quarter Chris Boswell 32 yard field goal Overtime Jordan Howard 19 yard run Top passers PIT Ben Roethlisberger 22 39 235 yards TD CHI Mike Glennon 15 22 101 yards TD INTTop rushers PIT Le Veon Bell 15 carries 61 yards TD CHI Jordan Howard 23 carries 140 yards 2 TDsTop receivers PIT Antonio Brown 10 receptions 110 yards TD CHI Jordan Howard 5 receptions 26 yardsTop tacklers PIT Ryan Shazier 11 tackles CHI Danny Trevathan 8 tackles 2 assists In week three Chicago hosted the 2 0 Pittsburgh Steelers who trailed the all time series 18 7 1 and had not defeated the Bears since 2005 116 WBBM TV writer Jeff Joniak described the Bears as in clean up mode after a poor performance in Tampa The battle between the Bears rushing attack and the Steelers run defense featured the former averaging just 2 9 yards per carry 27th in the league taking on a defense that allowed just 74 yards per game and 3 3 yards per carry Joniak added Chicago s running game should try to make progress on early downs to allow Mike Glennon to succeed against Pittsburgh Defensively Joniak wrote the Bears had their hands full as Steelers quarterback Ben Roethlisberger was aided by receivers Antonio Brown and Martavis Bryant running back Le Veon Bell and tight end Jesse James In spite of Pittsburgh s success in contrast with Chicago s struggles a common belief was that the Steelers would often play down to their competition one that was spurned in the wake of Glennon s 2014 Buccaneers upsetting the Steelers 27 24 117 The first two drives of the game ended with punts but on the Bears first punt of the game Steelers returner Eli Rogers muffed the ball and Sherrick McManis recovered Jordan Howard would score a three yard touchdown run on the drive On the Steelers next drive Roethlisberger was sacked by Bryce Callahan and fumbled with Akiem Hicks recovering The takeaway failed to result in points however as Connor Barth missed a 47 yard field goal In the second quarter Roethlisberger threw a seven yard touchdown pass to Brown which the Bears responded via Glennon s two yard touchdown pass to Adam Shaheen 118 On the final play of the first half Chris Boswell s 35 yard field goal was blocked by McManis into Marcus Cooper s hands Cooper raced down the field before suddenly slowing down before he reached the end zone which allowed Pittsburgh s Vance McDonald to knock the ball away at the one yard line The ball was then batted out of the end zone which led to a penalty against the Steelers and an untimed play for the Bears A false start penalty on Charles Leno Jr prompted the Bears to instead kick a 24 yard field goal 119 In the second half the Bears suffered their first turnover of the game when Howard was stripped by Ryan Shazier the Steelers took advantage to score on Bell s one yard touchdown run A second giveaway occurred when Glennon s pass for Zach Miller was intercepted by J J Wilcox which enabled the Steelers to tie the game on Boswell s 32 yard field goal The game remained scoreless through the rest of the half resulting in overtime After winning the coin toss to start overtime with the ball the Bears quickly scored on the second play of the series 118 Tarik Cohen broke through for a 73 yard touchdown run but was ruled to have stepped out of bounds at the Steelers 37 yard line 119 Two plays later Howard scored the game winning touchdown on a 19 yard run 118 In claiming their first victory of the season the Bears running backs provided a solid performance recording a combined 220 yards on the ground 200 yards more than in week two The defense also shone forcing two turnovers after having just one in the first two games 119 Week 4 at Green Bay Packers edit Week Four Chicago Bears at Green Bay Packers Game summary Period 1 2 34TotalBears 0 7 0714Packers 14 7 7735at Lambeau Field Green Bay Wisconsin Date September 28Game time 7 25 p m CDTGame weather 65 F 18 C cloudy with rainGame attendance 78 362Referee John HusseyTV announcers CBS NFLN Amazon Video Jim Nantz Tony Romo Tracy Wolfson and Jay FeelyRecap Gamebook Game informationFirst quarter Aaron Rodgers 5 yard pass to Davante Adams Mason Crosby PAT Aaron Rodgers 2 yard pass to Randall Cobb Crosby PAT Second quarter Aaron Jones 2 yard run Crosby PAT Mike Glennon 5 yard pass to Kendall Wright Connor Barth PAT Third quarter Aaron Rodgers 4 yard pass to Jordy Nelson Crosby PAT Fourth quarter Aaron Rodgers 8 yard pass to Jordy Nelson Crosby PAT Jordan Howard 3 yard run Barth PAT Top passers CHI Mike Glennon 21 33 218 yards TD 2 INT GB Aaron Rodgers 18 26 179 yards 4 TDTop rushers CHI Jordan Howard 18 carries 53 yards TD GB Aaron Jones 13 carries 49 yards TDTop receivers CHI Kendall Wright 4 receptions 51 yards TD GB Jordy Nelson 4 receptions 75 yards 2 TDsTop tacklers CHI Danny Trevathan 6 tackles 7 assists GB Morgan Burnett 6 tackles 3 assists Coming off their victory against Pittsburgh the Bears traveled to Green Bay to take on the rival Packers In 194 total games the all time series was tied 94 94 6 with the Packers having won all but three games since 2010 120 To challenge the Packers defense Jeff Joniak wrote the Bears should utilize their running game after the first three games of 2017 the Packers had allowed eight runs of at least ten yards along with 5 7 rushing yards on first down Jordan Howard and Tarik Cohen had eight and four runs of 10 yards respectively with the former being the second most in the NFL A product of running the ball would be keeping Packers quarterback Aaron Rodgers off the field Rodgers who was 15 4 against the Bears led the league in completions and passing first downs 49 along with second in passing yards The Packers offense was ranked third in third down conversion percentage 48 8 and time of possession However the Packers offensive line was struggling with injuries especially with five tackles hurt and three on injured reserve which Joniak expected the Bears to capitalize on 121 Rodgers opened the scoring on the first drive of the game throwing a five yard touchdown pass to Davante Adams On the Bears first offensive play Glennon was sacked by Clay Matthews III and fumbled with Green Bay s Jake Ryan recovering the ball Another Packers score took place three plays later on Rodgers two yard throw to Randall Cobb Chicago s woes continued when Cody Whitehair s snap bounced off Glennon and was recovered by Blake Martinez 122 Unlike the previous drive the Packers were unable to score off the takeaway and were forced to punt The next four series of the game also ended with punts On Chicago s next possession Glennon s pass for Markus Wheaton was intercepted by Ha Ha Clinton Dix which set up Rodgers 58 yard pass to Jordy Nelson and Aaron Jones two yard touchdown run With eight seconds left in the second quarter Glennon threw a five yard touchdown pass to Kendall Wright completing a 72 yard drive that began with less than two minutes to go On the Bears first drive of the second half Connor Barth missed a 47 yard field goal wide right which led to Rodgers four yard touchdown pass to Nelson 123 On the drive Danny Trevathan tackled Adams but collided with his head in a helmet to helmet hit causing the receiver to be sent off the field in a stretcher A series later Glennon had his fourth turnover of the game when his pass was intercepted by Kentrell Brice which led to an eight yard touchdown pass to Nelson With 6 01 left in the game Howard scored on a three yard run to make the final score 35 14 122 With the loss the Bears trailed the all time series for the first time since 1933 Although the Bears had built a strong lead for much of the rivalry Packers quarterbacks Brett Favre and Rodgers had beaten the Bears 35 of 45 times Rodgers had won 16 of 20 meetings 124 Trevathan apologized for the hit on Adams explaining he was attempting to make a play He was later suspended two games 125 though it was reduced to one game following an appeal 126 Trevathan s suspension resulted in glaringly worse depth for the linebackers which had already lost Nick Kwiatkoski to a pectoral injury John Timu who had been on the practice squad at the start of the season became the new leading inside linebacker in place Trevathan 127 The Monday after the game Glennon was benched in favor of Mitchell Trubisky Glennon s eight turnovers across the first four games of the season led the league 128 Week 5 vs Minnesota Vikings edit Week Five Minnesota Vikings at Chicago Bears Game summary Period 1 2 34TotalVikings 0 3 14320Bears 2 0 7817at Soldier Field Chicago Illinois Date October 9Game time 7 30 p m CDTGame weather 70 F 21 C partly cloudyGame attendance 61 834Referee Jerome BogerTV announcers ESPN Sean McDonough Jon Gruden and Lisa SaltersRecap Gamebook Game informationFirst quarterCHI Sam Bradford sacked in the end zone by Leonard Floyd for a safety 1 31 Bears 2 0 Second quarterMIN Kai Forbath 26 yard field goal 1 02 Vikings 3 2 Drive 4 plays 5 yards 1 26 Third quarterMIN Kyle Rudolph 13 yard pass from Case Keenum Kai Forbath kick 8 16 Vikings 10 2 Drive 13 plays 75 yards 6 44 CHI Benny Cunningham 38 yard pass from Pat O Donnell Connor Barth kick 5 23 Vikings 10 9 Drive 7 plays 75 yards 2 53 MIN Jerick McKinnon 58 yard run Kai Forbath kick 3 31 Vikings 17 9 Drive 5 plays 82 yards 1 52 Fourth quarterCHI Zach Miller 20 yard pass from Mitchell Trubisky Mitchell Trubisky run 12 24 Tied 17 17 Drive 11 plays 79 yards 6 07 MIN Kai Forbath 26 yard field goal 0 12 Vikings 20 17 Drive 6 plays 20 yards 2 08 Top passersMIN Case Keenum 17 21 140 yards TD CHI Mitchell Trubisky 12 25 128 yards TDTop rushersMIN Jerick McKinnon 16 rushes 95 yards TD CHI Jordan Howard 19 rushes 76 yardsTop receiversMIN Jerick McKinnon 6 receptions 51 yards CHI Kendall Wright 4 receptions 46 yards On Monday Night Football Mitchell Trubisky made his NFL debut against the Minnesota Vikings who led the all time series 58 52 2 though the Bears had won all but two games at Soldier Field since 2007 129 Trubisky is the eleventh rookie quarterback in team history to start a game and the first since Kyle Orton in 2005 though only three won their first games Jim McMahon Rex Grossman Craig Krenzel furthermore since 2009 only one of nine Bears quarterbacks won in their debuts with the team Todd Collins 130 Jeff Joniak emphasized a focus on first down success the Bears rushing game which averaged 5 3 yards per carry on first down in 2016 had just 3 7 yards in 2017 including 17 plays in which Jordan Howard and Tarik Cohen were tackled behind the line of scrimmage Chicago took on a Minnesota defense that allowed just 71 2 yards per game the third least in the league Instead Joniak suggested relying on the passing attack on first down the Vikings allowed opposing quarterbacks to complete 80 percent of their passes for a 121 1 passer rating The Bears also had to focus on improving their league worst 7 turnover ratio over the past three seasons the team had a combined ratio of 31 For the Bears defense Joniak wrote the unit had to prevent the Vikings from making big plays courtesy of Stefon Diggs and Adam Thielen who had a combined 15 catches for at least 20 yards while a combined 30 receptions resulted in first downs Joniak further added the excitement Trubisky brings into this game at Soldier Field should be used by the Bears to their advantage to keep the crowd engaged and loud 131 Trubisky led the Bears into Vikings territory on the opening drive but a holding penalty on Cody Whitehair pushed the offense back before the Bears punted The Vikings were unable to exit their side of the field on their first two drives and were forced to punt likewise the Bears reached Minnesota s side before punting on their drives 132 Late in the first quarter Sam Bradford was sacked by Leonard Floyd in the end zone for a safety 133 In the second quarter Trubisky was strip sacked by Everson Griffen which resulted in the Vikings Linval Joseph recovering Kai Forbath kicked a 26 yard field goal to give the Vikings a 3 2 lead Bradford who was sacked three times in the first half was replaced by Case Keenum for the remainder of the game 132 On the Vikings first drive of the second half Keenum threw a 13 yard touchdown pass to Kyle Rudolph to which the Bears responded with a trick play on fourth down punter Pat O Donnell instead threw a pass to Benny Cunningham who escaped two Vikings to score on the 38 yard play 133 The Bears defense suffered another loss when reserve linebacker John Timu suffered a knee injury A play later Minnesota s Jerick McKinnon ran 58 yards for the touchdown Down 17 9 Trubisky answered with a 79 yard drive that ended with a 20 yard touchdown pass to Zach Miller who caught a pass that had been tipped by Andrew Sendejo 133 Now trailing by just two points the Bears elected to go for a two point conversion on which they attempted another trick play Trubisky handed the ball to Howard on what appeared to be a draw play until Howard gave it to Miller who was running in the opposite direction Trubisky ran alongside Miller on a reverse option play catching a lateral from the tight end when Miller was stopped by Anthony Barr allowing the quarterback to run into the end zone unscathed 134 The next three series ended with punts With 2 32 remaining in the game and pinned at his team s ten yard line Trubisky s pass for Miller was intercepted by Harrison Smith which set up Forbath s game winning 26 yard field goal with 12 seconds to go On the final play of the game Trubisky passed to Markus Wheaton who lateraled to Cohen before he was tackled to end the game 132 In his debut Trubisky completed 12 of 25 passes for 128 yards one touchdown one interception and a 60 1 passer rating He also had three rushing attempts for 22 yards John Fox reflected on Trubisky s first game by connecting it to Joe Montana s before adding he was not making comparisons at this point But Trubisky will do nothing but get better 133 Week 6 at Baltimore Ravens edit Week Six Chicago Bears at Baltimore Ravens Game summary Period 1 2 34OTTotalBears 0 10 77327Ravens 0 3 714024at M amp T Bank Stadium Baltimore Maryland Date October 15Game time 1 00 p m EDT 12 00 p m CDTGame weather 69 F 21 C partly sunnyGame attendance 70 616Referee Ed HochuliTV announcers Fox Sam Rosen Ronde Barber and Kristina PinkRecap Gamebook Game informationFirst quarter no scoring playsSecond quarter CHI Connor Barth 24 yard field goal 10 54 Bears 3 0 Drive 10 plays 60 yards 4 19 CHI Zach Miller 21 yard pass from Tarik Cohen Connor Barth kick good 2 53 Bears 10 0 Drive 2 plays 20 yards 0 43 BAL Justin Tucker 27 yard field goal 0 03 Bears 10 3 Drive 12 plays 55 yards 1 37 Third quarter CHI Dion Sims 27 yard pass from Mitchell Trubisky Connor Barth kick good 6 01 Bears 17 3 Drive 7 plays 66 yards 3 41 BAL Bobby Rainey 96 yard kickoff return Justin Tucker kick good 5 47 Bears 17 10 Fourth quarter BAL Justin Tucker 31 yard field goal 11 26 Bears 17 13 Drive 10 plays 26 yards 3 58 CHI Adrian Amos 91 yard interception return Connor Barth kick good 5 08 Bears 24 13 BAL Justin Tucker 50 yard field goal 2 56 Bears 24 16 Drive 10 plays 44 yards 2 12 BAL Michael Campanaro 77 yard punt return Nick Boyle pass from Joe Flacco good Tied 24 24Overtime CHI Connor Barth 40 yard field goal 2 06 Bears 27 24 Drive 8 plays 71 yards 5 40 Top passers CHI Mitchell Trubisky 8 16 113 yards TD BAL Joe Flacco 24 41 180 yards 2 INTTop rushers CHI Jordan Howard 36 rushes 167 yards BAL Alex Collins 15 rushes 74 yardsTop receivers CHI Dion Sims 4 receptions 42 yards TD BAL Chris Moore 8 receptions 28 yardsTop tacklers CHI Adrian Amos Christian Jones American football 6 tackles 2 assists INT BAL Matthew Judon 12 tackles 2 sacks In week six the Bears traveled to M amp T Bank Stadium to play the 3 2 Baltimore Ravens whom the Bears led 3 2 in five all time meetings The series had been a see saw in victors with the winning team alternating each time the Bears won the most recent game in 2013 23 20 but the Ravens won the latest game in Baltimore a 31 7 rout in 2009 135 For the Bears offense the unit hoped to provide more support for Mitchell Trubisky in his first NFL away game The kid s going to be special and we ve got to do our jobs around him keep getting in the right spot make plays and catch the football and making sure we re keeping him out of first and 17s offensive coordinator Dowell Loggains stated We have a lot of faith and confidence in Mitchell 136 To do this USA Today s Lorin Cox wrote the offensive line needed to stop Ravens nose tackle Michael Pierce whose 13 stops in 2017 tied for fifth among defensive linemen 137 On defense the Bears entered the game with the sixth ranked defense allowing 305 yards per game that also ranked ninth in average yards allowed per play 5 07 138 With Danny Trevathan returning from suspension the defense faced a Ravens offense that ranked sixth in rushing with 130 4 yards per game 136 On the other hand Baltimore s offensive line particularly the guards had been struggling due to injuries and Cox wrote the defense should take advantage of the openings While the Bears had yet to record an interception in 2017 Ravens quarterback Joe Flacco had thrown 33 in his last 31 games including one in ten consecutive games Cox added It s up to this defense to actually finish the turnover 137 The first five drives of the game ended with punts The Bears opted for a run based attack for much of the game on their first scoring drive in the second quarter all but one play was a run with the series ending on Connor Barth s 24 yard field goal On the Ravens next drive Maxx Williams was stripped by Christian Jones and Trevathan recovered the loose ball Although the Bears were unable to capitalize on the takeaway the defense recorded another turnover on the next drive when Bryce Callahan intercepted Flacco s pass intended for Breshad Perriman 139 On a halfback option Tarik Cohen eventually threw a 21 yard touchdown pass to Zach Miller to put the Bears up 10 0 140 Justin Tucker kicked a 27 yard field goal to put the Ravens on the scoreboard with three seconds remaining in the first half During the third quarter Trubisky led a 66 yard drive that ended with a 27 yard touchdown pass to Dion Sims 139 During the ensuing kickoff Joshua Bellamy appeared to trip Ravens kick returner Bobby Rainey but Rainey instead got back up and ran 96 yards for a touchdown Upon review the referees determined Bellamy s hand did not touch Rainey 140 Subsequently the Bears committed two turnovers Cohen fumbled at the Bears 39 yard line which set up Tucker s 31 yard field goal to narrow the gap to four points and Trubisky was strip sacked by Lardarius Webb with C J Mosley recovering The Ravens reached the Bears 30 yard line 139 where Flacco was intercepted by Adrian Amos who returned his first career interception 90 yards for the touchdown to put the Bears up by 11 points with 5 08 left in the game However Tucker kicked a 50 yard field goal with 2 53 remaining while Michael Campanaro scored on a 77 yard punt return touchdown and Flacco completed the two point conversion to Nick Boyle to tie the game at 24 apiece and enter overtime 140 Neither team was able to score on their first drive 139 on Chicago s second series the offense was pinned at its own seven yard line Jordan Howard recorded a 53 yard run on the first play of the possession which was later followed by Trubisky s 18 yard pass to Kendall Wright on third down to draw the Bears closer Barth kicked a 40 yard field goal to win the game 140 It was the Bears first road victory since 2015 against the Buccaneers breaking a ten game losing streak The Bears rushing attack resulted in a career high 167 rushing yards on 36 carries for Howard while Cohen had 14 carries for 32 yards Trubisky threw just 16 passes completing eight for 113 yards and a touchdown John Fox explained the Ravens were the reason for the run based strategy having used the same philosophy with the 2012 Denver Broncos in that team s game against Baltimore the Broncos ran 44 times against just 21 passing plays despite the presence of Peyton Manning 140 Week 7 vs Carolina Panthers edit Week Seven Carolina Panthers at Chicago Bears Game summary Period 1 2 34TotalPanthers 0 3 003Bears 7 10 0017at Soldier Field Chicago Illinois Date October 22Game time 12 00 p m CDTGame weather 70 F 21 C cloudy with periods of rain thunder possibleGame attendance 61 256Referee Walt AndersonTV announcers CBS Ian Eagle Dan Fouts and Evan WashburnRecap Gamebook Game informationFirst quarter CHI Eddie Jackson 75 yard fumble return Connor Barth kick 8 59 Bears 7 0 Second quarter CHI Eddie Jackson 76 yard interception return Connor Barth kick 12 28 Bears 14 0 CAR Graham Gano 36 yard field goal 3 18 Bears 14 3 Drive 16 plays 56 yards 9 10 CHI Connor Barth 19 yard field goal 1 10 Bears 17 3 Drive 5 plays 74 yards 2 08 Third quarter No scoring playsFourth quarter No scoring plays Top passers CAR Cam Newton 21 34 211 yards 2 INT CHI Mitchell Trubisky 4 7 107 yardsTop rushers CAR Cam Newton 9 rushes 50 yards CHI Jordan Howard 21 rushes 65 yardsTop receivers CAR Christian McCaffrey 7 receptions 36 yards CHI Zach Miller 2 receptions 29 yardsTop tacklers CAR Shaq Thompson 4 tackles 2 assists CHI Christian Jones 9 tackles 2 assists Chicago hosted the Carolina Panthers who trailed the all time series 5 4 in week seven With the exception of a playoff loss in 2005 the Bears had won every meeting at Soldier Field 141 Jeff Joniak stressed a run heavy offense although the Panthers had not allowed a 100 yard rusher nor 100 yard receiver in 2017 the lack of linebacker Luke Kuechly weakened the Panthers defense Furthermore Jordan Howard was averaging 2 1 yards per carry while his 245 rushing yards after contact was the second highest in the league behind the Kansas City Chiefs Kareem Hunt For the defense the unit needed to contain Cam Newton by preventing the scramble skilled quarterback from running while also dealing with Kelvin Benjamin Christian McCaffrey and Ed Dickson 142 The Bears started the game on a strong note when Newton s pitch to Curtis Samuel was dropped and recovered by Eddie Jackson who returned the fumble for a 75 yard touchdown 143 The next three drives ended with punts 144 with Chicago s next series stalling after Mitchell Trubisky was sacked for a nine yard loss on Carolina s 25 yard line Connor Barth s 52 yard field goal attempt was partially blocked by Kawann Short and hit the crossbar 143 On the Panthers following possession Newton s pass for Benjamin was broken up by Prince Amukamara and intercepted by Jackson resulting in a 76 yard pick six Graham Gano kicked a 36 yard field goal which the Bears responded with Trubisky s 70 yard pass to Tarik Cohen to set the offense up at the five yard line Howard s two carries were stopped while Trubisky s touchdown run on third down was overturned as he was down before crossing the goal line This resulted in 19 yarder by Barth to make the score 17 3 at halftime 144 In the second half neither team was able to score as all but two drives concluded with a punt on the Panthers first series of the second half Newton s attempt to run on fourth down and two was stopped by Eddie Goldman while in the fourth quarter Danny Trevathan intercepted a pass by Newton 143 The victory marked Chicago s second consecutive win the first time the Bears had done so since November 2015 Jackson s two scores made him the first player in NFL history to record two defensive touchdowns of at least 75 yards in a game as a whole the defense excelled as it sacked Newton a season high five times and forced three turnovers In contrast to the defensive success the offense was restricted to just five first downs and 153 total yards while converting just two of eleven third down situations In the second half the offense was forced to punt on four straight drives and ended the day having allowed four total sacks 143 Trubisky completed just four of seven passes making him the first quarterback since the 2011 Denver Broncos Tim Tebow to win a game while completing less than five passes coincidentally Tebow s head coach was also John Fox While coaching the Panthers in 2006 Fox s team defeated the Falcons as quarterback Chris Weinke also completed four of seven passes 145 Week 8 at New Orleans Saints edit Week Eight Chicago Bears at New Orleans Saints Game summary Period 1 2 34TotalBears 0 3 3612Saints 7 7 0620at Mercedes Benz Superdome New Orleans Louisiana Date October 29Game time 12 00 p m CDTGame weather Played indoors dome stadium Game attendance 73 192Referee Carl CheffersTV announcers Fox Justin Kutcher Chris Spielman and Jennifer HaleRecap Gamebook Game informationFirst quarter NO Alvin Kamara 8 yard run Wil Lutz kick 11 08 Saints 7 0 Drive 7 plays 81 yards 3 52 Second quarter CHI Connor Barth 27 yard field goal 14 52 Saints 7 3 Drive 10 plays 67 yards 5 25 NO Mark Ingram II 1 yard run Wil Lutz kick 3 41 Saints 14 3 Drive 8 plays 80 yards 4 30 Third quarter CHI Connor Barth 44 yard field goal 5 42 Saints 14 6 Drive 8 plays 72 yards 3 31 Fourth quarter NO Wil Lutz 45 yard field goal 12 54 Saints 17 6 Drive 7 plays 26 yards 2 26 CHI Tarik Cohen 1 yard run pass failed 3 58 Saints 17 12 Drive 10 plays 72 yards 3 34 NO Wil Lutz 49 yard field goal 1 35 Saints 20 12 Drive 4 plays 7 yards 0 16 Top passers CHI Mitchell Trubisky 14 32 164 yards INT NO Drew Brees 23 28 299 yardsTop rushers CHI Jordan Howard 23 rushes 102 yards NO Mark Ingram II 18 rushes 75 yards TDTop receivers CHI Tre McBride 3 receptions 92 yards NO Michael Thomas 7 receptions 77 yardsTop tacklers CHI Danny Trevathan 9 tackles 4 assists NO Kenny Vaccaro 6 tackles 3 assists During the eighth week of the season the Bears went to the Mercedes Benz Superdome to play the New Orleans Saints who trailed the series 15 14 but had won every meeting since 2011 146 Jeff Joniak wrote a goal of the Bears offense would be to get into scoring position since Mitchell Trubisky became the starter the offense had entered the red zone only twice in three games with both trips ending in field goals Upon reaching the 20 yard line using the running game would be ideal Jordan Howard ranked fifth in the league in rushing second in yards after contact and led the offense rushing first downs with 32 In contrast the Saints defense ranked 30th in rushing yards allowed per carry Joniak also emphasized the need for Trubisky to tune out the loud Superdome crowd and lead the offense without making errors For the defense it faced Drew Brees who according to Joniak was to be pressured quickly if the Bears were to succeed while being blitzed Brees was intercepted three times and sacked twice Otherwise Brees was successful in quickly passing the ball for gains of six yards in a fast paced offense Turnovers were also priority in the last two games the Bears had forced six and scored on three and while Brees had recorded turnovers in his last two games the Saints still had the fifth best turnover difference 147 On the Saints opening possession Wil Lutz was lining up for a 32 yard field goal attempt when Kyle Fuller was penalized for jumping offsides 148 This set up Alvin Kamara s eight yard touchdown run to put New Orleans up by seven points After the next two drives resulted in punts Connor Barth made a 27 yard field goal in the second quarter though Mark Ingram II scored on a one yard touchdown run Barth missed a 48 yard field goal wide left late in the first half as the Bears entered halftime with an 11 point deficit 149 In the third quarter Trubisky threw a 25 yard touchdown pass to Zach Miller who landed on his knee and dislocated it in the process The touchdown was eventually nullified when referee Carl Cheffers determined Miller had let go of the ball in pain while on the ground The Bears were forced to settle for Barth s 44 yard field goal 148 In the fourth quarter Lutz kicked a 45 yard field goal to increase the lead to 17 6 149 With 7 32 remaining in the game Jonathan Bullard stripped Ingram and Christian Jones recovered the fumble Aided by Trubisky s 46 yard run Tarik Cohen dove into the end zone from the Saints one yard line to score the offense s first touchdown in 25 series dating back to the Baltimore game 148 The Bears failed to score on the two point conversion but were just five points down 149 Chicago forced another takeaway when Adrian Amos stripped and recovered the ball from Ingram with 2 12 left 148 Although the Bears turned the ball over on downs they had another chance after Lutz s 49 yard field goal put them behind by eight points However Trubisky s pass for Tre McBride was intercepted by Marshon Lattimore to seal the loss 149 Miller was taken to the University Medical Center New Orleans for treatment In addition to a dislocated knee Miller was revealed to have torn the popliteal artery in his region an injury that is common in car accidents and raised the possibility of amputation Vascular surgery was successfully completed the day after the game 150 The overturning of Miller s catch was controversial Cheffers defended the call stating when Miller was falling to the turf he has to survive the ground He went to the ground he temporarily lost control of the ball The ball hit the ground therefore it s incomplete 148 The NFL s Vice President of Officiating Alberto Riveron also maintained Miller had not completed the catch but predecessors Mike Pereira and Dean Blandino argued otherwise At some point the process of the catch ends and it ends when he rolls over on the ground with control It was ruled a catch on the field I didn t see anything definitive to overturn it and quite frankly if it had been ruled incomplete on the field if it had been me in the command center I would have reversed it to a catch Blandino said 151 On Monday John Fox announced he would send video of the play to the NFL 152 Week 10 vs Green Bay Packers edit Week Ten Green Bay Packers at Chicago Bears Game summary Period 1 2 34TotalPackers 3 7 31023Bears 3 3 01016at Soldier Field Chicago Illinois Date November 12Game time 12 00 p m CSTGame weather 39 F 4 C rainGame attendance 61 285Referee Tony CorrenteTV announcers Fox Thom Brennaman Chris Spielman and Peter SchragerRecap Gamebook Game informationFirst quarterGB Mason Crosby 40 yard field goal 7 25 Packers 3 0 Drive 11 plays 70 yards 4 37 CHI Connor Barth 45 yard field goal 2 21 Tied 3 3 Drive 8 plays 53 yards 5 05 Second quarterGB Ty Montgomery 37 yard run Mason Crosby kick 11 49 Packers 10 3 Drive 3 plays 79 yards 1 43 CHI Connor Barth 44 yard field goal 0 01 Packers 10 6 Drive 10 plays 39 yards 1 37 Third quarterGB Mason Crosby 24 yard field goal 10 20 Packers 13 6 Drive 10 plays 40 yards 4 44 Fourth quarterGB Mason Crosby 50 yard field goal 13 14 Packers 16 6 Drive 10 plays 26 yards 4 20 CHI Josh Bellamy 46 yard pass from Mitchell Trubisky Connor Barth kick 10 48 Packers 16 13 Drive 4 plays 70 yards 2 30 GB Davante Adams 19 yard pass from Brett Hundley Mason Crosby kick 5 37 Packers 23 13 Drive 8 plays 75 yards 5 10 CHI Connor Barth 49 yard field goal 3 23 Packers 23 16 Drive 8 plays 49 yards 2 10 GB Brett Hundley 18 25 212 yards TD CHI Mitchell Trubisky 21 35 297 yards TDTop rushersGB Jamaal Williams 20 rushes 67 yards CHI Jordan Howard 15 rushes 54 yardsTop receiversGB Davante Adams 5 receptions 90 yards TD CHI Dontrelle Inman 6 receptions 88 yards Although the Bears now trailed the Packers in the all time series they were the five point favorite against Green Bay among bookkeepers for the first time since week sixteen of 2008 The odds had been influenced by Aaron Rodgers season ending collarbone injury in October along with backup quarterback Brett Hundley s struggles in the previous week s 30 17 loss to the Lions 153 Although the Bears had not defeated the Packers at home since 2010 the Packers were 2 3 since the two teams last meeting in week four while Green Bay head coach Mike McCarthy was 1 3 against the Bears without Rodgers Jeff Joniak described his ideal Bears offensive gameplan as p laying a clean game to avoid swinging the tempo or momentum in favor of a team that s on a three game losing streak To do this Mitchell Trubisky would have to avoid getting sacked while the running game would have to reduce its runs resulting in negative yardage Through the air the Bears remained an unknown entity due to a lack of available film on Trubisky and receivers Markus Wheaton and Dontrelle Inman 154 the latter making his Bears debut in week ten after being traded to the team in late October 155 On defense Joniak wrote the unit needed to prevent Hundley from developing his accuracy especially as the Chicago defense was excelling in preventing touchdowns along with containing running back Ty Montgomery who recorded 162 rushing yards on 16 carries against the Bears in week sixteen last year 154 In a game that ChicagoBears com writer Larry Mayer described as having reverted to an early season trend the Bears shot themselves in the foot repeatedly Chicago struggled with penalties during the game as the team committed seven in the first half 156 The Bears punted on the first drive which led to an exchanging of field goals on Mason Crosby s 40 and Connor Barth s 45 yard kicks Three drives later in the second quarter Montgomery scored on a 37 yard touchdown run to give the Packers the lead On the next drive 157 Trubisky threw a screen pass to Benny Cunningham who ran to the Packers goal line and dived for the pylon His knee landed out of bounds and the play was ruled as such at the two yard line which the Bears challenged with the belief that the ball had reached the pylon before he went out instead the challenge went against the Bears when it was determined he had lost the ball before it had touched the pylon resulting in a touchback and possession being granted to the Packers 156 Chicago eventually added three more points on Barth s 44 yard field goal as time expired in the first half Crosby kicked a 24 yard field goal on the first drive of the second half which was followed by one from 50 yards in the fourth quarter 157 The Bears ended their touchdown scoring troubles scoring just one touchdown in 35 drives across the previous four games when Trubisky threw a 46 yard touchdown pass to Josh Bellamy who escaped Davon House for the score However the Packers responded with a 75 yard drive that ended with Hundley s 19 yard touchdown pass to Davante Adams 156 Barth added a 49 yard field goal to draw the Bears within a touchdown and remained in contention when Crosby missed a 35 yarder wide right with 1 02 left in the game After completing an 11 yard pass to Kendall Wright Trubisky s next three passes were incomplete On fourth and ten Trubisky passed to Cunningham for five yards who lateraled to Hroniss Grasu and ran two yards before he was tackled for a turnover on downs 157 Week 11 vs Detroit Lions edit Week Eleven Detroit Lions at Chicago Bears Game summary Period 1 2 34TotalLions 0 21 0627Bears 10 7 0724at Soldier Field Chicago Illinois Date November 19Game time 12 00 p m CDTGame weather 33 F 1 C partly cloudyGame attendance 60 635Referee Gene SteratoreTV announcers Fox Thom Brennaman Chris Spielman and Peter SchragerRecap Gamebook Game informationFirst quarter Connor Barth 23 yard Field Goal 8 24 Bears 3 0 Drive 13 plays 70 yards 6 39 Adam Shaheen 1 yard pass from Mitchell Trubisky Connor Barth kick 3 29 Bears 10 0 Drive 3 plays 55 yards 1 23Second quarter DJ Hayden 27 yard fumble return Matt Prater kick 14 09 Bears 10 7 Jordan Howard 12 yard run Connor Barth kick 8 36 Bears 17 7 Drive 8 plays 78 yards 5 30 Marvin Jones 28 yard pass from Matthew Stafford Matt Prater kick 5 24 Bears 17 14 Drive 7 plays 86 yards 3 13 Ameer Abdullah 2 yard rush Matt Prater kick 0 24 Lions 21 17 Drive 8 plays 72 yards 3 15Third quarter Fourth quarter Matt Prater 27 yard field goal 10 04 Lions 24 17 Drive 12 plays 63 yards 7 05 Tarik Cohen 15 yard run Connor Barth kick 5 09 Tied 24 24 Drive 8 plays 78 yards 4 59 Matt Prater 52 yard field goal 1 40 Lions 27 24 Drive 9 plays 76 yards 3 27 Top passers DET Matthew Stafford 21 31 299 yards 2 touchdowns CHI Mitchell Trubisky 18 30 179 yards touchdownTop rushers DET Theo Riddick 9 carries 35 yards CHI Jordan Howard 15 carries 125 yards touchdownTop receivers DET Marvin Jones 4 catches 85 yards touchdown CHI Dontrelle Inman 3 catches 43 yardsTop tacklers DET Tahir Whitehead 8 tackles 1 assist CHI Christian Jones 6 tackles 2 assists sack In week eleven the Bears hosted the Detroit Lions whom the Bears led 97 72 5 in the all time series but had defeated only once since 2013 158 Entering the game Mitchell Trubisky hoped to improve on his productive game against the Packers in addition to reducing sacks in five starts he had been sacked 16 times including five times last week Larry Mayer also raised the possibility of using Tarik Cohen more frequently after catching a combined 24 passes in the first four games he had just one in the last five a trend that Dowell Loggains explained was a result of Cohen s inexperience Questions surrounded the defense which went from forcing eight turnovers across three straight games to allowing a season high 160 yards and no takeaways against the Packers You ve got to have a short memory in this league Akiem Hicks stated You ve got to take it game by game But at the end of the day you ve got to lock into your next opponent because they don t care what happened last week They want to beat you So you have to have that mindset where OK you didn t get the results you want last week but you re coming in fighting this week 159 The Bears offense made early progress on the opening drive as it reached the Lions five yard line before stalling and settling for Connor Barth s 23 yard field goal On Detroit s first series Matthew Stafford was sacked by Nick Kwiatkoski and fumbled with Hicks recovering the ball the Bears capitalized on the takeaway via Jordan Howard s 50 yard run and Trubisky s one yard touchdown pass to Adam Shaheen 160 The Lions scored on a turnover of their own when Trubisky fumbled Cody Whitehair s snap which Detroit s D J Hayden picked up and returned 27 yards for the touchdown Chicago answered with a 78 yard drive that ended with Howard s 12 yard touchdown run to make the score 17 7 midway through the second quarter However Stafford threw two touchdown passes to Marvin Jones and Ameer Abdullah to put the Lions up 21 17 by halftime 161 The third quarter went scoreless before Matt Prater kicked a 27 yard field goal in the fourth quarter to increase the margin by seven points 160 With 5 02 left in the game the Bears drove 78 yards and tied the game on Cohen s 15 yard touchdown run in which he dove over safety Glover Quin into the end zone Prater converted a 52 yard field goal to give the Lions the lead once again with 1 52 remaining Trubisky led the offense down the field including one play on fourth and 13 in which he kept the drive alive via a 19 yard scramble but Barth missed the game tying 46 yard field goal wide right 161 Stafford kneeled once to seal the Bears loss 160 A day after the loss Barth was released and replaced by Cairo Santos In two seasons with the Bears Barth converted 29 of 39 field goals including 11 of 16 in 2017 all five of his misses were of at least 40 yards Santos had been with the Chiefs since 2014 made 31 of 35 in 2016 the fifth highest conversion percentage in the league and recorded a career high 55 8 touchback percentage on kickoffs In three games with Kansas City in 2017 Santos made all three of his field goals and all six of his extra points but re aggravated a groin injury from Training Camp in week three and was released 162 Week 12 at Philadelphia Eagles edit Week Twelve Chicago Bears at Philadelphia Eagles Game summary Period 1 2 34TotalBears 0 0 303Eagles 7 17 0731at Lincoln Financial Field Philadelphia Pennsylvania Date November 26Game time 1 00 p m EST 12 00 p m CSTGame weather 49 F 9 C sunnyGame attendance 69 596Referee Walt ColemanTV announcers Fox Kevin Burkhardt Charles Davis and Pam OliverRecap Gamebook Game informationFirst quarter PHI Zach Ertz 17 yard pass from Carson Wentz Jake Elliott kick 6 04 Eagles 7 0 Drive 8 plays 44 yards 3 36 Second quarter PHI Nelson Agholor 15 yard pass from Carson Wentz Jake Elliott kick 10 52 Eagles 14 0 Drive 9 plays 56 yards 5 27 PHI Jake Elliott 45 yard field goal 6 52 Eagles 17 0 Drive 5 plays 18 yards 2 29 PHI Alshon Jeffery 8 yard pass from Carson Wentz Jake Elliott kick 0 05 Eagles 24 0 Drive 13 plays 69 yards 4 33 Third quarter CHI Cairo Santos 38 yard field goal 8 40 Eagles 24 3 Drive 10 plays 36 yards 6 20 Fourth quarter PHI Nelson Agholor 0 yard fumble return Jake Elliott kick 13 37 Eagles 31 3 Drive 6 plays 73 yards 2 25 Top passers CHI Mitchell Trubisky 17 33 147 yards 2 INT PHI Carson Wentz 23 36 227 yards 3 TDTop rushers CHI Mitchell Trubisky 4 rushes 12 yards PHI LeGarrette Blount 15 rushes 97 yardsTop receivers CHI Dontrelle Inman 4 receptions 64 yards PHI Zach Ertz 10 receptions 103 yards TD For week twelve s game the Bears visited Lincoln Financial Field to play the 9 1 and league leading Eagles 163 Although the Bears led the all time series 30 14 1 they had not defeated the Eagles since 2011 while also losing their most recent game in Philadelphia in 2013 54 11 164 To take on the Eagles defense Jeff Joniak elaborated on using a rushing attack that ranked fifth in the league along with keeping Mitchell Trubisky protected and scoring points entering the game the Eagles were allowing less than 19 points per game Defensively the Bears faced quarterback Carson Wentz who led the league in touchdown passes with three and an offense that ranked first in scoring eleven different players on the Eagles had scored a touchdown in 2017 With Danny Trevathan and Leonard Floyd out due to injuries the backups were also challenged by a rushing unit featuring LeGarrette Blount and Jay Ajayi which ranked second in the NFL Philadelphia also succeeded in developing high margins of victory winning by more than 15 points per game and scoring at least 26 points in every game but their only loss in week two Despite the stacked odds as the Bears were able to defeat three perennial playoff teams in Pittsburgh Baltimore and Carolina Joniak wrote the team had to believe victory over the Eagles can happen and the longer they hang around the more they will believe 163 The two teams traded punts to start the game though the Eagles struck first on Wentz s 17 yard touchdown pass to Zach Ertz On the first play of the Bears next drive 165 Trubisky s pass to Tre McBride was batted and intercepted by Malcolm Jenkins but Dion Sims stripped the ball away and McBride recovered to continue the series 166 Four plays later the Bears punted but got the ball back after the Eagles first play of their drive 165 Blount broke free for a 35 yard run but Adrian Amos forced a fumble and Sam Acho recovered Chicago attempted to take advantage of the takeaway but Cairo Santos 54 yard field goal went wide right A drive later the Bears forced a three and out until a holding penalty on Prince Amukamara gave the Eagles a first down Wentz later escaped a blitz from Cre Von LeBlanc on third and nine to record a 16 yard run followed by throwing a 15 yard touchdown pass to Nelson Agholor who escaped Eddie Jackson and Kyle Fuller for the touchdown Later in the first half Jake Elliott made a 45 yard field goal to increase the gap and Wentz threw an eight yard touchdown pass to Alshon Jeffery with five seconds remaining to make the halftime score 24 0 166 During Chicago s first drive of the second half Santos successfully kicked a 38 yard field goal to give the Bears three points which followed with the defense stopping the Eagles on fourth down 165 but Philadelphia scored once again in the fourth quarter when Ajayi fumbled in the end zone and Agholor recovered the loose ball 166 Nick Foles relieved Wentz late in the game and lost a fumble to Isaiah Irving but Corey Graham intercepted Trubisky s pass for McBride 165 Week 13 vs San Francisco 49ers edit Week Thirteen San Francisco 49ers at Chicago Bears Game summary Period 1 2 34Total49ers 3 6 3315Bears 7 7 0014at Soldier Field Chicago Illinois Date December 3Game time 12 00 p m CSTGame weather 54 F 12 C sunnyGame attendance 61 302Referee Ed HochuliTV announcers CBS Andrew Catalon and James LoftonRecap Gamebook Game informationFirst quarter Robbie Gould 33 yard field goal 8 16 49ers 3 0 Drive 14 plays 60 yards 6 48 Dontrelle Inman 8 yard pass from Mitchell Trubisky Cairo Santos kick 0 16 Bears 7 3 Drive 7 plays 59 yards 4 31Second quarter Robbie Gould 28 yard field goal 12 01 Bears 7 6 Drive 7 plays 64 yards 3 13 Tarik Cohen 61 yard punt return Cairo Santos kick 6 12 Bears 14 6 Robbie Gould 35 yard field goal 0 29 Bears 14 9 Drive 11 plays 58 yards 5 25 Third quarter Robbie Gould 34 yard field goal 2 00 Bears 14 12 Drive 16 plays 70 yards 8 19 Fourth quarter Robbie Gould 24 yard field goal 0 08 49ers 15 14 Drive 14 plays 86 yards 5 23 Top passers SF Jimmy Garoppolo 26 37 293 yards INT CHI Mitchell Trubisky 12 15 102 yards TDTop rushers SF Carlos Hyde 17 carries 54 yards CHI Jordan Howard 13 carries 38 yardsTop receivers SF Marquise Goodwin 8 receptions 99 yards CHI Tarik Cohen 4 receptions 39 yardsTop tacklers SF Reuben Foster 7 tackles CHI Christian Jones 10 tackles 3 assists sack Chicago hosted the 1 10 San Francisco 49ers in week thirteen the fourth straight year in which the two teams met and the third at Soldier Field and in December with the Bears winning 2016 s game 26 6 167 Offensively the Bears rushing game had an opportune chance to succeed against a 49ers defense that was ranked 30th against the run 28th overall with 374 2 total yards allowed per game allowing 129 5 rushing yards per game 168 42 runs of at least ten yards in 2017 and three running backs to record 100 yard games For the 49ers offense it was led by Jimmy Garoppolo in his first start for the team and Garoppolo was supported by a West Coast offense that ranked 12th in yards after the catch Although the 49ers were ranked last in the league in time of possession they were tied for the most drives of ten plays or more with 22 with 19 resulting in scores including eight ending in touchdowns In contrast the Bears offense s 140 points were the fewest in the NFL while also having a league high 40 drives end with punts As such Jeff Joniak stressed the importance of playing loose by letting it rip in every phase With San Francisco s optimism in Garoppolo the Bears had to ruin that excitement and create some of its own 169 Former Bears kicker Robbie Gould opened the game by converting a 33 yard field goal While the Bears punted on their first drive 170 Kyle Fuller recorded his first interception since 2015 when he yanked the ball from Louis Murphy s hands which set up Mitchell Trubisky s eight yard touchdown pass to Dontrelle Inman Gould added a 28 yard field goal in the second quarter to narrow the gap to one point but Tarik Cohen responded with a 61 yard punt return touchdown after catching the punt at his 39 yard line Cohen ran back to his 24 moved to his right then ran forward for the touchdown 168 With 24 seconds left in the first half Gould kicked his third field goal 35 yards followed by one from 34 yards in the third quarter to put the 49ers behind by two 170 Early in the fourth quarter Cohen returned a punt for 67 yards to the 49ers 16 yard line but Ben Braunecker was penalized for an illegal block in the back to negate the play and force the Bears to start at their own 14 168 Although the offense was able to reach 49ers territory it could not progress further and the Bears eventually punted Pinned at his eight with 5 27 remaining in the game Garoppolo led the 49ers downfield to set up Gould s game winning 24 yard field goal with four seconds left On the final kickoff Josh Bellamy handed the ball to Cohen who threw to Eddie Jackson before the play was stopped as Cohen s lateral was a forward pass 170 The loss dropped the Bears to 3 9 their fourth straight losing season and worst stretch since they had five consecutive from 1996 to 2000 It was also the Bears fifth straight loss the first such losing streak since Marc Trestman s final season as the Bears head coach in 2014 168 Week 14 at Cincinnati Bengals edit Week Fourteen Chicago Bears at Cincinnati Bengals Game summary Period 1 2 34TotalBears 6 6 71433Bengals 7 0 007at Paul Brown Stadium Cincinnati Ohio Date December 10Game time 1 00 p m EST 12 00 p m CSTGame weather 31 F 1 C partly cloudyGame attendance 52 002Referee John ParryTV announcers Fox Sam Rosen Brady Quinn and Jenny TaftRecap Gamebook Game informationFirst quarter CHI Jordan Howard 21 yard run kick failed 11 00 Bears 6 0 Drive 4 plays 51 yards 1 06 CIN Brandon LaFell 14 yard pass from Andy Dalton Randy Bullock kick 2 15 Bengals 7 6 Drive 7 plays 72 yards 3 59 Second quarter CHI Mike Nugent 34 yard field goal 12 38 Bears 9 7 Drive 10 plays 73 yards 4 37 CHI Mike Nugent 27 yard field goal 1 46 Bears 12 7 Drive 15 plays 86 yards 8 11 Third quarter CHI Mitchell Trubisky 4 yard run Mike Nugent kick 4 54 Bears 19 7 Drive 9 plays 76 yards 5 15 Fourth quarter CHI Adam Shaheen 1 yard pass from Mitchell Trubisky Mike Nugent kick 14 52 Bears 26 7 Drive 7 plays 43 yards 3 23 CHI Jordan Howard 8 yard run Mike Nugent kick 9 18 Bears 33 7 Drive 7 plays 80 yards 4 13 Top passers CHI Mitchell Trubisky 25 32 271 yards TD CIN Andy Dalton 14 29 141 yards TD INTTop rushers CHI Jordan Howard 23 carries 147 yards 2 TD CIN Giovani Bernard 11 carries 62 yardsTop receivers CHI Kendall Wright 10 receptions 107 yards CIN Giovani Bernard 6 receptions 68 yardsTop tacklers CHI Danny Trevathan 4 tackles 6 assists CIN Jordan Evans and Clayton Fejedelem 10 total tackles each The Cincinnati Bengals hosted the Bears in week fourteen holding a 6 4 lead in the series against Chicago While the Bears won the most recent meeting in 2013 21 13 the Bengals dominated the last game in Cincinnati a 45 10 victory in 2009 171 As the Bengals defense was struggling to contain opposing running attacks allowing 170 carries of at least four yards the most in the NFL while the Bears had 141 of such attempts 15th in the league Jeff Joniak wrote the Bears should effectively utilize Jordan Howard and Tarik Cohen while also reducing the number of negative runs with 50 entering week fourteen 172 On defense the Bears had to play without players like Pernell McPhee Leonard Floyd Eddie Goldman Willie Young Mitch Unrein Jerrell Freeman Adrian Amos and Quintin Demps all of whom were sidelined due to injuries 173 Joniak took note of Bengals quarterback Andy Dalton s struggles under pressure being sacked 19 times on third down in 2017 while the Bears led the league in third down sacks with 17 sacks including at least one sack in every game in 2017 As a result Joniak stressed the importance of providing a heavy blitz Joniak also added taking advantage of a Bengals special teams unit that was ranked 27th in average return yards allowed with 10 7 including four 20 yard returns and a return touchdown After a physical game against the Steelers in week thirteen Joniak expressed the possibility of the Bengals being flat and i f so the Bears should pounce on the opportunity and prove they are still playing for pride and the future 172 After the Bengals punted on their first drive 174 the Bears scored on their opening series for the first time in 2017 doing so on Howard s 21 yard touchdown run However Mike Nugent who was signed earlier in the week to replace an injured Cairo Santos missed the extra point as the kick hit the right upright The Bengals responded late in the first quarter when Dalton threw a 14 yard touchdown pass to Brandon LaFell who evaded Deon Bush for the score 173 Early in the second quarter Mitchell Trubisky threw a 15 yard touchdown pass to Cohen but it was nullified by Tom Compton s holding penalty the Bears were eventually forced to settle for Nugent s 34 yard field goal to retake the lead Nugent added a 27 yard field goal with 2 15 remaining in the half to give the Bears the 12 7 lead at halftime Following punts on the first two drives of the second half 174 Trubisky scored on a four yard touchdown run On the ensuing drive Dalton s pass to A J Green was deflected and intercepted by Eddie Jackson which resulted in Trubisky s one yard touchdown pass to Adam Shaheen Jackson forced another takeaway when he pulled the ball away from Green s hands and recovered Chicago once again capitalized via Howard s eight yard touchdown run to put the Bears up 33 7 173 Neither team was able to score for the rest of the game 174 The 26 point victory marked the largest blowout for the Bears since a 51 20 win over the Tennessee Titans in 2012 173 It was also Chicago s highest scoring game since the team scored 37 against the St Louis Rams in 2015 The Bears offense ended the game with a season high 482 total yards nearly 200 more than in the Bears last two games along with 232 rushing yards and three touchdowns on the ground Howard recorded 167 rushing yards resulting in a season total of 1 032 and he became the first running back in Bears history to have 1 000 yard rushing seasons in his first two years in the NFL 175 Week 15 at Detroit Lions edit Week Fifteen Chicago Bears at Detroit Lions Game summary Period 1 2 34TotalBears 0 3 0710Lions 3 10 7020at Ford Field Detroit Michigan Date December 16Game time 4 30 p m EST 3 30 p m CSTGame weather Played indoors dome stadium Game attendance 65 872Referee Jeff TripletteTV announcers NFLN Mike Tirico Kurt Warner and Heather CoxRecap Gamebook Game informationFirst quarter DET Matt Prater 48 yard field goal Lions 3 0 Drive 8 plays 47 yards 3 02 Second quarter DET Matt Prater 31 yard field goal Lions 6 0 Drive 11 plays 49 yards 5 27 DET T J Jones 3 yard pass from Matthew Stafford Matt Prater kick Lions 13 0 Drive 10 plays 92 yards 5 44 CHI Mike Nugent 41 yard field goal Lions 13 3 Drive 2 plays 4 yards 0 10 Third quarter DET Eric Ebron 8 yard pass from Matthew Stafford Matt Prater kick Lions 20 3 Drive 9 plays 41 yards 4 22 Fourth quarter CHI Benny Cunningham 9 yard pass from Mitchell Trubisky Mike Nugent kick Lions 20 10 Drive 13 plays 92 yards 6 51 Top passers CHI Mitchell Trubisky 31 46 314 yards TD 3 INT DET Matthew Stafford 25 33 237 yards 2 TDTop rushers CHI Jordan Howard 10 carries 37 yards DET Theo Riddick 8 carries 49 yardsTop receivers CHI Kendall Wright 7 receptions 81 yards DET Marvin Jones Jr 3 receptions 85 yardsTop tacklers CHI Eddie Jackson 7 tackles 1 assist DET Tahir Whitehead 6 tackles 3 assists The Bears visited Ford Field to play the 7 6 Lions for the second time in 2017 in week fifteen Jeff Joniak emphasized a consistent offensive production against Detroit one that would be similar to the success in Cincinnati but would be difficult to maintain if the offense was to lose awareness the Lions defense forced 12 fumbles and 26 sacks while seven players had intercepted a pass and the unit had seven return touchdowns 176 In spite of the Lions success at forcing turnovers the defense ranked 27th in total yards allowed 20th against the run and 27th in pass defense 177 For the Bears defense it saw the return of linebacker and leader Danny Trevathan Joniak described his presence as a Trevathan effect with the defense allowing 81 points in three losses and failing to win a game when he was absent while allowing 17 6 points per game and going 4 5 when he was playing The defense entered the game with a fifth ranked red zone touchdown efficiency while also excelling in providing pressure ranking second in sacks on third down ninth in opposing quarterback rating when blitzed and leading the league in fumble recoveries with 12 The unit took on a Lions offense that ranked sixth in the NFL in yards after catch with 1 759 47 5 of the team s total yards but was one of three teams in the league with less than 300 total rushing attempts and averaging fewer than 77 rushing yards per game 176 Detroit s passing attack continued to be led by Matthew Stafford who recorded a career best 120 2 passer rating against the Bears earlier in the season 177 Matt Prater made a 48 yard field goal on the Lions opening drive followed by a 31 yard kick in the second quarter to put Detroit up by six After being pinned on his team s eight yard line Stafford led a 92 yard drive that ended with a three yard touchdown pass to T J Jones 178 On the ensuing kickoff Tarik Cohen recorded a 90 yard return to the Lions 14 yard line but a holding penalty on DeAndre Houston Carson nullified the play and forced the Bears to start at their own 14 Later in the quarter Sam Acho stripped Theo Riddick and Eddie Jackson recovered Mike Nugent made a 41 yard field goal with two seconds remaining in the half to grant the Bears first points of the game However the Bears first drive of the second half ended when Mitchell Trubisky s pass for Kendall Wright was overthrown and intercepted by Darius Slay which set up Stafford s eight yard touchdown pass to Eric Ebron 179 After a trading of punts 178 Trubisky guided the Bears to the Lions five yard line but he was once again intercepted when his pass for Dontrelle Inman was picked off by Quandre Diggs 179 Unlike the previous takeaway the Lions could not capitalize and were forced to punt 178 The Bears went 92 yards and eventually scored on Trubisky s nine yard touchdown pass to Benny Cunningham to create a ten point game but he was intercepted for the third time on the next drive 179 After recording 222 rushing yards on 30 carries in the first game against Detroit the Bears had just 43 yards on 15 attempts in week fifteen Chicago also committed a season high 15 penalties for 97 yards 179 Week 16 vs Cleveland Browns edit Week Sixteen Cleveland Browns at Chicago Bears Game summary Period 1 2 34TotalBrowns 0 3 003Bears 6 0 14020at Soldier Field Chicago Illinois Date December 24Game time 12 00 p m CSTGame weather 24 F 4 C cloudyGame attendance 58 796Referee Terry McAulayTV announcers CBS Tom McCarthy Steve Beuerlein and Steve TaskerRecap Gamebook Game informationFirst quarter CHI Jordan Howard 2 yard run kick failed 1 23 Bears 6 0 Drive 9 plays 57 yards 5 11 Second quarter CLE Zane Gonzalez 48 yard field goal 0 06 Bears 6 3 Drive 4 plays 48 yards 0 30 Third quarter CHI Jordan Howard 16 yard run Mike Nugent kick 12 30 Bears 13 3 Drive 4 plays 60 yards 2 37 CHI Mitchell Trubisky 4 yard run Mike Nugent kick 3 33 Bears 20 3 Drive 12 plays 66 yards 7 30 Fourth quarter No scoring plays Top passers CLE DeShone Kizer 18 36 182 yards 2 INT CHI Mitchell Trubisky 14 23 193 yardsTop rushers CLE Isaiah Crowell 12 rushes 44 yards CHI Jordan Howard 22 rushes 44 yards 2 TDTop receivers CLE Duke Johnson 7 receptions 81 yards CHI Benny Cunningham 2 receptions 62 yardsTop tacklers CLE James Burgess 7 tackles 2 assists sack CHI Nick Kwiatkoski 4 tackles 3 assists For the final home game of the 2017 season the Bears hosted the winless Browns on Christmas Eve In 15 regular season meetings the Browns led the series 9 6 though the Bears had won the last two games 180 While the Browns were 0 14 head coach Hue Jackson was 2 0 in Christmas games including recording the Browns lone win of 2016 on the day On offense protecting Mitchell Trubisky from Gregg Williams blitz heavy defense despite its frequency of utilizing the pass rush the Browns ranked 29th in quarterback knockdowns with 62 while also allowing ten touchdowns on blitzes Furthermore the Browns defense led the league in fewest rushing yards allowed per carry on first down For the Bears defense it faced a Browns offense that turned the ball over 36 times including 19 interceptions from quarterback DeShone Kizer Entering the game Chicago had just six interceptions in 2017 meaning Cleveland marked a prime opportunity to increase the stat 181 The Bears were 6 5 point favorites for the game in three seasons under John Fox the Bears had lost all seven games in which they were favored including defeats to the Packers and 49ers in 2017 In spite of this considering the Bears opposition in week sixteen 247Sports com s Matt Eurich wrote it would be satisfying for many to at least see the Bears earn a victory for the first time in three years in which it has been favored 182 After the first three series ended with punts 183 Jordan Howard scored on a two yard run but Mike Nugent s extra point was blocked 184 Following five drives that featured three and outs Kizer s pass for Josh Gordon was intercepted by Kyle Fuller but the Bears were forced to punt Zane Gonzalez kicked a 48 yard field goal with one second remaining in the first half to make the score 6 3 at halftime On the first offensive play of the second half 183 Trubisky was intercepted by Myles Garrett who returned the pick to the Bears five yard line but the play was called back because of an offsides penalty on Carl Nassib 184 With the drive saved Trubisky completed a 40 yard pass to Benny Cunningham to set the offense up in the Browns red zone which led to Howard s 16 yard touchdown run Upon getting the ball back Trubisky guided the offense downfield on a 66 yard drive that culminated in his four yard touchdown run A series later 183 Rashard Higgins caught Kizer s pass and reached the Bears three yard line where he was stripped by Danny Trevathan and the ball went into the end zone where Prince Amukamara recovered Another takeaway for the Bears occurred with 4 11 left in the game when Kizer s pass was intercepted by Bryce Callahan However neither team scored for the rest of the game as the Bears triumphed 20 3 184 With the win the Bears defeated all four AFC North teams in 2017 a similar feat accomplished in 2013 185 Trubisky ran for 246 yards the most by a Bears quarterback since Kordell Stewart in 2003 along with throwing for 193 yards the latter increased his season passing yard total to 2 015 the most by a rookie in Bears history 186 Week 17 at Minnesota Vikings edit Week Seventeen Chicago Bears at Minnesota Vikings Game summary Period 1 2 34TotalBears 0 7 0310Vikings 7 9 7023at U S Bank Stadium Minneapolis Minnesota Date December 31Game time 12 00 p m CSTGame weather Played indoors dome stadium Game attendance 66 802Referee Craig WrolstadTV announcers Fox Kevin Burkhardt Charles Davis and Pam OliverRecap Gamebook Game informationFirst quarterMIN Latavius Murray 1 yard run Kai Forbath kick 9 07 Vikings 7 0 Drive 7 plays 70 yards 3 45 Second quarterMIN Latavius Murray 1 yard run Kai Forbath kick 9 30 Vikings 14 0 Drive 11 plays 71 yards 6 08 CHI Bryce Callahan 59 yard punt return Mike Nugent kick 5 50 Vikings 14 7 MIN Penalty on Mitchell Trubisky enforced in the end zone for a safety 2 25 Vikings 16 7 Third quarterMIN Stefon Diggs 15 yard pass from Case Keenum Kai Forbath kick 0 14 Vikings 23 7 Drive 7 plays 63 yards 3 36 Fourth quarterCHI Mike Nugent 55 yard field goal 8 22 Vikings 23 10 Drive 5 plays 11 yards 1 31 Top passersCHI Mitchell Trubisky 20 36 178 yards MIN Case Keenum 21 29 189 yards TDTop rushersCHI Tarik Cohen 3 rushes 13 yards MIN Latavius Murray 20 rushes 111 yards 2 TDTop receiversCHI Dontrelle Inman 5 receptions 94 yards MIN Stefon Diggs 6 receptions 65 yards TD On New Year s Eve Chicago played 12 3 Minnesota who led the NFC North and would clinch the second seed in the playoffs with a win at U S Bank Stadium The Bears 30th ranked offense 11th in rushing and 31st in passing faced a Vikings defense that led the league including second place rankings in rush and pass defense 187 To survive Jeff Joniak emphasized protecting Mitchell Trubisky and utilizing the rushing attack especially as the Vikings pass defense allowed less than 200 net passing yards in just nine games in 2017 188 Defensively the Bears eighth ranked defense ninth in run eighth in pass took on the Case Keenum led tenth ranked offense eighth in rushing 13th in passing 187 Joniak described Chicago s defense as having survived an array of injuries and some powerful offenses for the most part ranking in the top half in points allowed fourth sacks sixth first downs allowed 11th and third downs allowed tenth Although the Vikings ranked third in converting third downs Joniak wrote there was some momentum with this defense 188 The Bears punted on the opening drive which led to Latavius Murray scoring on a one yard touchdown run Murray added another one yard score in the second quarter to put the Vikings up by 14 189 During the early stages of the game Bryce Callahan was penalized for pass interference resulting in the Vikings gaining 24 and 27 yards though he redeemed himself during the second quarter on a punt return 190 Tarik Cohen prepared to field a punt on one side of the field while Callahan kneeled on the other side Cohen acted as if he was going to field the punt prompting the Vikings to chase him though the punt was actually being returned by Callahan who ran 59 yards unopposed for the touchdown 191 However the Vikings added two more points when Trubisky facing a blitz from Linval Joseph was penalized for intentional grounding resulting in a safety 190 Minnesota attempted to score again on the last play of the first half but Kai Forbath s 55 yard field goal was wide right The first four drives of the second half resulted in punts which ended when Keenum threw a 16 yard touchdown pass to Stefon Diggs 189 Trubisky attempted to guide the offense downfield reaching as far as the Vikings six yard line but he threw four consecutive incomplete passes to turn the ball over on downs With 8 22 left in the game Mike Nugent converted a 55 yard field goal to make the score 23 10 and the offense once again entered the Vikings red zone on their next series However despite reaching the two yard line the Bears suffered another turnover on downs 190 The Bears dropped to 5 11 and were swept by all of their divisional rivals for the first time since 1969 Postseason editOne day after the loss to the Vikings John Fox was fired Rumors of his release were reported earlier in the 2017 season though no official announcement was made until January 1 2018 Fox ended his tenure in Chicago with a 14 34 record never recording a winning streak longer than two games and finishing last in the NFC North in all three seasons Thank you to all the players coaches the city of Chicago and Bears fans everywhere your passion for the game and this team is unmatched in the NFL Fox stated in a team release Today is the tough part of our results oriented business but I wish the Bears organization the best for years to come 192 One week later Chiefs offensive coordinator Matt Nagy was hired as the 16th head coach in Bears history 193 For January 28 s 2018 Pro Bowl no Bears were voted in for the third consecutive year though Jordan Howard Kyle Long Tarik Cohen and Akiem Hicks were named first second second and fourth alternates for the game respectively 194 195 Josh Sitton two Kyle Fuller two and Cohen one received votes for the Associated Press All Pro Team 196 Standings edit Division edit NFC Northviewtalkedit W L T PCT DIV CONF PF PA STK 2 Minnesota Vikings 13 3 0 813 5 1 10 2 382 252 W3Detroit Lions 9 7 0 563 5 1 8 4 410 376 W1Green Bay Packers 7 9 0 438 2 4 5 7 320 384 L3Chicago Bears 5 11 0 313 0 6 1 11 264 320 L1Conference edit NFCvte Team Division W L T PCT DIV CONF SOS SOV STKDivision leaders1 a Philadelphia Eagles East 13 3 0 813 5 1 10 2 461 433 L12 a Minnesota Vikings North 13 3 0 813 5 1 10 2 492 447 W33 b Los Angeles Rams West 11 5 0 688 4 2 7 5 504 460 L14 b c New Orleans Saints South 11 5 0 688 4 2 8 4 535 483 L1Wild Cards5 c Carolina Panthers South 11 5 0 688 3 3 7 5 539 500 L16 Atlanta Falcons South 10 6 0 625 4 2 9 3 543 475 W1Did not qualify for the postseason7 d Detroit Lions North 9 7 0 563 5 1 8 4 496 368 W18 d Seattle Seahawks West 9 7 0 563 4 2 7 5 492 444 L19 d Dallas Cowboys East 9 7 0 563 5 1 7 5 496 438 W110 Arizona Cardinals West 8 8 0 500 3 3 5 7 488 406 W211 e Green Bay Packers North 7 9 0 438 2 4 5 7 539 357 L312 e Washington Redskins East 7 9 0 438 1 5 5 7 539 429 L113 San Francisco 49ers West 6 10 0 375 1 5 3 9 512 438 W514 f Tampa Bay Buccaneers South 5 11 0 313 1 5 3 9 555 375 W115 f Chicago Bears North 5 11 0 313 0 6 1 11 559 500 L116 New York Giants East 3 13 0 188 1 5 1 11 531 458 W1Tiebreakers g a b Philadelphia claimed the No 1 seed over Minnesota based on winning percentage vs common opponents Philadelphia s cumulative record against Carolina Chicago the Los Angeles Rams and Washington was 5 0 compared to Minnesota s 4 1 cumulative record against the same four teams a b LA Rams claimed the No 3 seed over New Orleans based on head to head victory a b New Orleans clinched the NFC South division over Carolina based on head to head sweep a b c Detroit finished ahead of Dallas and Seattle based on conference record while Seattle finished ahead of Dallas based on head to head victory a b Green Bay finished ahead of Washington based on record vs common opponents Green Bay s cumulative record against Dallas Minnesota New Orleans and Seattle was 2 3 compared to Washington s 1 4 cumulative record against the same four teams a b Tampa Bay finished ahead of Chicago based on head to head victory When breaking ties for three or more teams under the NFL s rules they are first broken within divisions then comparing only the highest ranked remaining team from each division Staff edit2017 Chicago Bears staff Front office Secretary of the board of directors Virginia Halas McCaskey Chairman George McCaskey President CEO Ted Phillips General manager Ryan Pace Vice president amp general counsel Cliff Stein Director of player personnel Josh Lucas Director of college scouting Mark Sadowski Director of pro personnel Anthony Kelly Director of football administration Joseph LaineHead coaches Head coach John FoxOffensive coaches Offensive coordinator Dowell Loggains Quarterbacks Dave Ragone Running backs Curtis Modkins Wide receivers Zach Azzanni Tight ends Frank Smith Offensive line Jeremiah Washburn Assistant offensive line Ben Wilkerson Offensive assistant John Dunn Offensive assistant Ben McDaniels Defensive coaches Defensive coordinator Vic Fangio Defensive line Jay Rodgers Outside linebackers Brandon Staley Inside linebackers Glenn Pires Defensive backs Ed Donatell Assistant defensive backs Roy Anderson Defensive quality control Sean DesaiSpecial teams coaches Special teams coordinator Jeff Rodgers Assistant special teams Derius Swinton IIStrength and conditioning Strength and conditioning Jason George Assistant strength and conditioning Rick Perry Assistant strength and conditioning Pierre NgoFinal roster edit2017 Chicago Bears final roster Quarterbacks 8 Mike Glennon 6 Mark Sanchez 10 Mitchell TrubiskyRunning backs 46 Michael Burton FB 29 Tarik Cohen KR PR 30 Benny Cunningham 24 Jordan Howard 33 Taquan MizzellWide receivers 15 Josh Bellamy 17 Dontrelle Inman 12 Markus Wheaton 13 Kendall WrightTight ends 84 Ben Braunecker 85 Daniel Brown 87 Adam Shaheen 88 Dion Sims Offensive linemen 76 Tom Compton T 55 Hroniss Grasu C 60 Brandon Greene T 63 Cameron Lee G 72 Charles Leno Jr T 70 Bobby Massie T 71 Josh Sitton G 79 Bradley Sowell T 65 Cody Whitehair CDefensive linemen 90 Jonathan Bullard DE 69 Rashaad Coward DE 91 Eddie Goldman NT 96 Akiem Hicks DE 73 John Jenkins NT 95 Roy Robertson Harris DE Linebackers 93 Sam Acho OLB 58 Jonathan Anderson ILB 99 Lamarr Houston OLB 52 Christian Jones American football ILB 57 Howard Jones OLB 44 Nick Kwiatkoski ILB 53 John Timu ILB 59 Danny Trevathan ILBDefensive backs 38 Adrian Amos SS 20 Prince Amukamara CB 26 Deon Bush FS 37 Bryce Callahan CB 31 Marcus Cooper CB 23 Kyle Fuller CB 32 Deiondre Hall FS 36 DeAndre Houston Carson FS 39 Eddie Jackson FS 22 Cre Von LeBlanc CB 27 Sherrick McManis CBSpecial teams 49 Andrew DePaola LS 16 Pat O Donnell P 1 Mike Nugent K Reserve lists 21 Quintin Demps SS IRTooltip Injured reserve nbsp 94 Leonard Floyd OLB IRTooltip Injured reserve nbsp 50 Jerrell Freeman ILB Suspended 47 Isaiah Irving OLB IRTooltip Injured reserve nbsp 64 Eric Kush C IRTooltip Injured reserve nbsp 75 Kyle Long G IRTooltip Injured reserve nbsp 92 Pernell McPhee OLB IRTooltip Injured reserve nbsp 81 Cameron Meredith WR IRTooltip Injured reserve nbsp 86 Zach Miller TE IRTooltip Injured reserve nbsp 67 Jordan Morgan G IRTooltip Injured reserve nbsp 2 Cairo Santos K IRTooltip Injured reserve nbsp 48 Patrick Scales LS IRTooltip Injured reserve nbsp 98 Mitch Unrein DE IRTooltip Injured reserve nbsp 11 Kevin White WR IRTooltip Injured reserve nbsp 97 Willie Young OLB IRTooltip Injured reserve nbsp Practice squad 62 Travis Averill C 18 Demarcus Ayers WR 19 Tanner Gentry WR 35 Doran Grant CB 74 Caushaud Lyons DE 80 Mekale McKay WR 68 Will Pericak OG 14 Nelson Spruce WR 82 Colin Thompson TE 78 D J Tialavea OTRookies in italics 53 active 15 inactive 10 practice squadReferences edit Thamel Pete January 3 2017 Texas adds esteemed running backs coach Stan Drayton to coaching staff Sports Illustrated Retrieved January 3 2017 Biggs Brad January 4 2017 Bears fire two longtime John Fox assistants Dave Magazu and Sam Garnes Chicago Tribune Retrieved January 4 2017 Gantt Darin January 7 2017 Jets hire former Bears assistant Clint Hurtt Profootballtalk com Retrieved January 9 2017 Mayer Larry January 19 2017 Bears hire three assistant coaches Chicago Bears Archived from the original on January 22 2017 Retrieved January 26 2017 Potash Mark January 25 2017 Bears upgrade their coaching staff Vic Fangio with OLBs Chicago Sun Times Retrieved January 27 2017 Jahns Adam February 22 2017 Bears hire Brandon Staley to coach outside linebackers Chicago Sun Times Retrieved February 22 2017 Campbell Rich January 24 2017 Former Bears assistant Kevin Mawae eyes new coaching gig Hall of Fame nod Chicago Tribune Retrieved August 10 2017 Biggs Brad January 30 2017 WRs coach Curtis Johnson becomes 3rd assistant to leave Bears staff Chicago Tribune Retrieved January 30 2017 Biggs Brad February 22 2017 Bears hire Zach Azzanni as receivers coach complete coaching staff Chicago Tribune Retrieved February 22 2017 Derius Swinton returns to Bears staff Profootballtalk com February 21 2017 Retrieved February 22 2017 Eurich Matt January 31 2017 Report Bears assistant coach Richard Hightower to join 49ers 247Sports com Retrieved February 22 2017 permanent dead link Associated Press April 15 2017 Bears re sign linebacker Sam Acho to a one year contract USA Today Retrieved April 27 2017 Emma Chris March 11 2017 Bears Re Sign Cornerback Johnthan Banks WBBM TV Retrieved March 23 2017 a b Malocco Matt March 9 2017 SOURCE 49ERS REACH TWO YEAR CONTRACT AGREEMENT WITH QB MATT BARKLEY Comcast SportsNet Bay Area Archived from the original on March 10 2017 Retrieved March 10 2017 Biggs Brad March 10 2017 Bears re sign kicker Connor Barth Chicago Tribune Retrieved March 10 2017 a b Meinke Kyle July 31 2017 Lions lose offensive tackle to retirement sign Nick Becton Booth Newspapers Retrieved August 9 2017 a b c 49ers Agree to Terms with Seven Free Agents San Francisco 49ers March 9 2017 Archived from the original on March 12 2017 Retrieved March 9 2017 a b Dickerson Jeff March 9 2017 Former Bears WR Alshon Jeffery heading to Eagles ESPN Retrieved March 9 2017 Gantt Darin February 15 2017 Bears sign center Eric Kush to two year deal Profootballtalk com Retrieved February 15 2017 a b PRESS RELEASE Dolphins Sign C G Ted Larsen Miami Dolphins March 10 2017 Archived from the original on March 13 2017 Retrieved March 23 2017 a b Browns sign OL Matt McCants Cleveland Browns March 27 2017 Archived from the original on March 30 2017 Retrieved April 5 2017 a b Campbell Rich March 20 2017 Bears sign safety Chris Prosinski and defensive end C J Wilson Chicago Tribune Retrieved March 23 2017 Hawley Larry March 23 2017 Bears re sign receiver Deonte Thompson to one year contract WGN TV Retrieved March 23 2017 a b Gantt Darin March 9 2017 Lions add Bears defensive end Cornelius Washington Profootballtalk com Retrieved March 9 2017 a b c Emma Chris March 6 2017 Bears Re Sign Daniel Brown Tender Exclusive Rights To Josh Bellamy Bryce Callahan WBBM TV Retrieved March 23 2017 a b Wilcox J T April 6 2017 Dolphins Sign Quarterback David Fales WFOR TV Retrieved April 27 2017 a b Wyatt Jim April 3 2017 Titans Agree to Terms with CB Demontre Hurst TitansOnline com Emma Chris March 11 2017 Bears Re Sign LB Christian Jones To 1 Year Deal WBBM TV Retrieved March 23 2017 a b Mayer Larry March 4 2017 Bears ink Connor Shaw Patrick Scales Chicago Bears a b Jhabavala Nicki July 29 2017 Broncos bring back LB Danny Mason in wake of injuries to edge rushers The Denver Post Retrieved August 9 2017 Bears Sign Eight Players to Futures Contracts Bear Goggles On January 5 2017 Retrieved March 5 2017 Zrebiec Jeff January 6 2017 Kapron Lewis Moore leaves Ravens signs with Chicago Bears The Baltimore Sun Retrieved January 10 2017 Zrebiec Jeff January 6 2017 Kapron Lewis Moore leaves Ravens signs with Chicago Bears The Baltimore Sun Retrieved March 5 2017 Bergman Jeremy January 10 2017 Bears sign Rueben Randle to reserve futures contract National Football League Retrieved January 10 2017 Dickerson Jeff Bears sign former Giants second round pick Rueben Randle ESPN Retrieved March 5 2017 Report Bears Mike Glennon to sign three year 43 5 million deal March 9 2017 Retrieved March 10 2017 Dickerson Jeff March 10 2017 Bears begin to fill receiver void by agreeing with Markus Wheaton ESPN Retrieved March 10 2017 Dickerson Jeff Bears upgrade tight end by adding Miami s Dion Sims ESPN Retrieved March 10 2017 Dickerson Jeff March 10 2017 Quintin Demps brings interceptions to Bears mix but age is a concern ESPN Retrieved March 20 2017 Sessler Marc March 10 2017 Chicago Bears add cornerback Prince Amukamara National Football League Retrieved March 10 2017 Dickerson Jeff March 11 2017 Plot thickens at cornerback after Bears sign Marcus Cooper ESPN Retrieved March 20 2017 Mayer Larry March 11 2017 Bears add WR Wright OT Compton Chicago Bears Retrieved March 20 2017 John Jenkins Chicago Bears contract details released 247Sports com Retrieved March 21 2017 permanent dead link Finley Patrick March 21 2017 Bears sign returner running back Benny Cunningham Chicago Sun Times Retrieved March 23 2017 Mayer Larry March 24 2017 Bears sign Sanchez to one year deal Chicago Bears Archived from the original on March 26 2017 Retrieved March 24 2017 Campbell Rich April 5 2017 Bears sign cornerback B W Webb Chicago Tribune Retrieved April 27 2017 a b Bears bring back Taylor Boggs cut six others Profootballtalk com May 1 2017 Retrieved June 1 2017 Report Bears sign Bradley Sowell Profootballtalk com May 1 2017 Retrieved June 1 2017 Bears sign ex Chiefs DL Jaye Howard to 1 year deal ESPN May 4 2017 Retrieved May 9 2017 Shook Nick May 8 2017 Transactions roundup Chicago Bears sign Dan Skuta National Football League Retrieved May 8 2017 Victor Cruz Chicago Bears agree to one year contract USA Today May 25 2017 Retrieved June 1 2017 Finley Patrick May 31 2017 Bears claim FB Michael Burton from Lions Chicago Sun Times Retrieved June 1 2017 a b Wiltfong Jr Lester January 9 2017 Chicago Bears Roster Update Windy City Gridiron Retrieved January 10 2017 Patra Kevin March 9 2017 Chicago Bears release quarterback Jay Cutler National Football League Retrieved March 9 2017 Campbell Rich March 31 2017 Bears waive former second round pick Ego Ferguson Chicago Tribune Retrieved April 27 2017 Chicago Bears release CB Tracy Porter United Press International April 10 2016 Retrieved April 26 2017 Campbell Rich May 11 2017 Bears release Eddie Royal waive Will Sutton others ahead of rookie minicamp Chicago Tribune Retrieved June 1 2017 Perez Bryan March 14 2017 Chicago Bears top 4 NFL Draft needs after wave of free agent signings USA Today Retrieved April 26 2017 Alcarez IV Gil March 21 2017 2017 NFL Draft Ranking Chicago Bears Top Needs After Free Agency Foxsports com Retrieved April 26 2017 Cooney Frank April 19 2017 2017 NFL Draft Chicago Bears top five needs best fits on the clock at No 3 CBSSports com Retrieved April 26 2017 Cherepinsky Walter 2017 NFL Draft Prospect Visits Tracker By Team WalterFootball Archived from the original on April 18 2017 Retrieved April 26 2017 Zeglinski Robert April 27 2017 Ryan Pace s plan for the Bears and excitement for the draft must match his action SB Nation Retrieved April 30 2017 Well this third overall pick is the highest the Bears have drafted since 2005 when they selected Texas Cedric Benson Neveau James January 2 2017 Bears Get Highest Draft Pick Since 1972 Thanks to Poor Season WMAQ TV Retrieved April 30 2017 By virtue of their loss to the Minnesota Vikings on Sunday the Bears secured the third overall pick in the draft The selection will be their highest since the 1972 Draft when they selected offensive tackle Lionel Antoine out of Southern Illinois University Alper Josh April 27 2017 Bears trade up to No 2 take Mitchell Trubisky Profootballtalk com Retrieved April 27 2017 Barnwell Bill April 27 2017 The Chicago Bears and a Mitchell Trubisky mystery ESPN Retrieved April 28 2017 Wiederer Dan April 28 2017 Bears select Ashland TE Adam Shaheen with No 45 pick in NFL draft after trade with Cardinals Chicago Tribune Retrieved April 28 2017 Stankevitz JJ April 29 2017 EDDIE JACKSON HEALTHY READY TO BRING CENTER FIELDER RANGE TO BEARS SECONDARY Comcast SportsNet Chicago Retrieved April 30 2017 Wiederer Dan April 29 2017 New Bears running back Tarik Cohen flipping out over NFL opportunity Chicago Tribune Retrieved April 30 2017 Mills Jeff April 29 2017 Chicago bound A amp T s Tarik Cohen chosen in fourth round of NFL Draft News amp Record Retrieved April 30 2017 Kutztown University s Jordan Morgan drafted by Chicago Bears Reading Eagle April 29 2017 Retrieved April 30 2017 Prisco Pete April 30 2017 Prisco s NFL Draft Grades for all 32 teams Five earn A s and two fall short with D s CBSSports com Retrieved April 30 2017 Scott Nate April 28 2017 Skip and Shannon grade the Bears indefensibly idiotic pick of Mitchell Trubisky Foxsports com Retrieved April 30 2017 Dickerson Jeff April 29 2017 Bears follow worst season ever by drafting 3 non FBS players ESPN Retrieved April 30 2017 Mayer Larry April 29 2016 Bears trade down twice draft Whitehair Chicago Bears Archived from the original on May 1 2016 Retrieved April 29 2016 Biggs Brad September 2 2015 Bears trade for Texans tight end Khari Lee Chicago Tribune Retrieved September 2 2015 Finley Patrick May 11 2017 Breaking down the Bears 13 undrafted free agent signees Chicago Sun Times Retrieved August 10 2017 Haislop Todd July 5 2017 FL offseason schedule 2017 OTAs minicamp dates for each team Sporting News Retrieved August 10 2017 Mayer Larry March 21 2017 Bears announce key offseason dates Chicago Bears Archived from the original on August 8 2017 Retrieved June 11 2017 Campbell Rich May 12 2017 Bears announce rookie minicamp roster undrafted free agent signings Chicago Tribune Retrieved June 11 2017 Eurich Matt May 14 2017 Bears sign wide receiver Titus Davis 247Sports com Archived from the original on May 24 2017 Retrieved June 1 2017 Sonnone Brendan May 14 2017 NFL Noles Whitfield waived by Chicago Bears 247Sports com Archived from the original on May 18 2017 Retrieved June 11 2017 McLemore Michael May 30 2017 Please don t go Bears holding onto Connor Shaw after all The State Retrieved August 7 2017 Krinch Scott May 31 2017 BEARS SIGN FULLBACK MICHAEL BURTON WAIVE TIGHT END FRANKO HOUSE Comcast SportsNet Chicago Retrieved June 1 2017 Johnson Christen A July 27 2017 Bears training camp offers up family fun Chicago Tribune Retrieved July 27 2017 Finley Patrick August 6 2017 Three Bears who stood out at Family Fest Chicago Sun Times Archived from the original on August 8 2017 Retrieved August 7 2017 Wiederer Dan August 10 2017 Bears to hold practice at Prospect High School on Aug 17 Chicago Tribune Retrieved August 17 2017 Butler Alex August 4 2017 Chicago Bears swap rookie running back Joel Bouagnon for Joshua Rounds United Press International Retrieved August 4 2017 Finley Patrick August 8 2017 Bears Eric Kush tears hamstring from bone needs surgery to go on IR Chicago Sun Times Archived from the original on August 8 2017 Retrieved August 9 2017 Williams Charean August 7 2017 Bears sign OL Brandon Greene to take Eric Kush s roster spot Profootballtalk com Retrieved August 7 2017 Finley Patrick August 8 2017 Bears cut rookie kicker Andy Phillips Chicago Sun Times Archived from the original on August 9 2017 Retrieved August 10 2017 a b Transactions Chicago Bears Retrieved December 11 2017 Mayer Larry April 10 2017 Bears preseason schedule announced Chicago Bears Archived from the original on August 11 2017 Retrieved August 11 2017 a b c Broncos vs Bears Play By Play ESPN Retrieved August 11 2017 a b c d Mayer Larry August 10 2017 Trubisky stars in first preseason game Chicago Bears Archived from the original on August 11 2017 Retrieved August 11 2017 a b c d Bears vs Cardinals Play By Play ESPN Retrieved August 25 2017 a b c Mayer Larry August 20 2017 Bears show improvement in preseason win Chicago Bears Archived from the original on August 26 2017 Retrieved August 25 2017 a b c d Bears vs Titans Play By Play ESPN Retrieved August 27 2017 a b c Mayer Larry August 27 2017 Game Recap Bears record complete game victory Chicago Bears Archived from the original on August 28 2017 Retrieved August 27 2017 a b Kwiecinski Chris August 27 2017 NFL Preseason Week 3 Bears suffer long list of injuries vs Titans USA Today Retrieved August 27 2017 Bears WR Cameron Meredith to have left ACL surgery ESPN August 30 2017 Retrieved August 31 2017 Biggs Brad August 28 2017 Bears sign long snapper Jeff Overbaugh after Patrick Scales suffers serious injury Chicago Tribune Retrieved August 31 2017 Mayer Larry August 31 2017 Game Recap Trubisky appreciates every rep in finale Chicago Bears Archived from the original on September 3 2017 Retrieved September 3 2017 Associated Press August 31 2017 Trubisky gets few chances as Bears fall to Browns 25 0 ESPN Retrieved September 3 2017 Chicago Bears 2017 Uniforms Archived from the original on September 4 2016 Retrieved September 1 2017 a b c Gabriel Greg September 5 2017 Gabriel Defensive Line Matchup Advantages Are Key To Bears Upset Hopes Against Falcons WBBM TV Retrieved September 6 2017 All Matchups Chicago Bears vs Atlanta Falcons Pro Football Reference com Retrieved September 6 2017 a b Myer Larry September 6 2017 Bears continue preparing to host Falcons Chicago Bears Archived from the original on September 7 2017 Retrieved September 6 2017 a b c Falcons vs Bears Play By Play ESPN Retrieved September 10 2017 a b Mayer Larry September 10 2017 Bears fall short in opener against Falcons Chicago Bears Archived from the original on September 11 2017 Retrieved September 10 2017 All Matchups Chicago Bears vs Tampa Bay Buccaneers Pro Football Reference com Retrieved September 18 2017 Mayer Larry September 17 2017 Bears begin preparing to face Buccaneers Chicago Bears Archived from the original on September 16 2017 Retrieved September 13 2017 Auman Greg September 13 2017 Brate on converting Bears fans They haven t given up yet Tampa Bay Times Retrieved September 18 2017 permanent dead link Mayer Larry September 16 2017 4 things to watch Bears Buccaneers Chicago Bears Archived from the original on September 19 2017 Retrieved September 18 2017 a b Bears vs Buccaneers Play By Play ESPN Retrieved September 18 2017 a b Mayer Larry September 18 2017 Game Recap Turnovers cost Bears in lopsided loss to Buccaneers Chicago Bears All Matchups Chicago Bears vs Pittsburgh Steelers Pro Football Reference com Retrieved September 26 2017 Joniak Keys To Bears Steelers WBBM TV September 22 2017 Retrieved September 26 2017 a b c Steelers vs Bears Play By Play ESPN Retrieved September 26 2017 a b c Mayer Larry September 24 2017 Game Recap Bears top Steelers in overtime Chicago Bears Retrieved September 26 2017 All Matchups Chicago Bears vs Green Bay Packers Pro Football Reference com Retrieved September 29 2017 Joniak Jeff September 28 2017 Joniak Keys To Bears Packers WBBM TV Retrieved September 29 2017 a b Mayer Larry September 28 2017 Game Recap Mistake prone Bears lose in Green Bay Chicago Bears Retrieved September 29 2017 Bears vs Packers Play By Play ESPN Retrieved September 29 2017 Florio Mike September 29 2017 After 84 years Packers again lead Bears series Profootballtalk com Retrieved October 1 2017 Danny Trevathan suspended two games for Adams hit National Football League September 30 2017 Retrieved October 1 2017 Rapaport Daniel October 3 2017 Bears Danny Trevathan Has Suspension Reduced to One Game Sports Illustrated Retrieved October 9 2017 Jahns Adam October 7 2017 Bears confidently turn to John Timu at inside linebacker Chicago Tribune Retrieved October 11 2017 Campbell Rich October 2 2017 Bears FAQ Mitch Trubisky promoted and Mike Glennon benched Chicago Tribune Retrieved October 11 2017 All Matchups Chicago Bears vs Minnesota Vikings Pro Football Reference com Retrieved October 11 2017 Mayer Larry October 5 2017 How many Bears QBs started as rookies Chicago Bears Archived from the original on October 11 2017 Retrieved October 11 2017 Joniak Jeff October 7 2017 Joniak Keys To Bears Vikings WBBM TV Retrieved October 11 2017 a b c Vikings vs Bears Play By Play ESPN Retrieved October 11 2017 a b c d Mayer Larry October 10 2017 Game Recap Bears edged by late field goal Chicago Bears Retrieved October 11 2017 Brinson Will October 10 2017 WATCH Mitchell Trubisky runs bananas jet sweep pitch for two points after his first TD CBSSports com Retrieved October 11 2017 All Matchups Chicago Bears vs Baltimore Ravens Pro Football Reference com Retrieved October 15 2017 a b Mayer Larry October 14 2017 4 things to watch Bears Ravens Chicago Bears Retrieved October 15 2017 a b Cox Lorin October 15 2017 4 keys for the Bears to defeat the Ravens in Week 6 USA Today Retrieved October 15 2017 Hoge Bears Defense Goes From Good To Great In Baltimore WGN TV October 15 2017 Retrieved October 15 2017 a b c d Bears vs Ravens Play By Play ESPN Retrieved October 16 2017 a b c d e Mayer Larry October 15 2017 Game Recap Bears beat Ravens on OT field goal Chicago Bears Retrieved October 16 2017 All Matchups Chicago Bears vs Carolina Panthers Pro Football Reference com Retrieved October 23 2017 Joniak Jeff October 20 2017 Keys to Joniak Keys To Bears Panthers WBBM TV Retrieved October 23 2017 a b c d Mayer Larry October 22 2017 Game Recap Bears defense dominant in win over Panthers Chicago Bears Retrieved October 23 2017 a b Panthers vs Bears Play By Play ESPN Retrieved October 23 2017 Wagner McGough Sean October 22 2017 Trubisky joins Tebow in exclusive club by completing only four passes in Bears win CBSSports com Retrieved October 23 2017 All Matchups Chicago Bears vs New Orleans Saints Pro Football Reference com Retrieved October 31 2017 Joniak Jeff October 27 2017 Keys to Joniak Keys To Bears Saints WBBM TV Retrieved October 31 2017 a b c d e Mayer Larry October 29 2017 Game Recap Bears fall to Saints in New Orleans Chicago Bears Retrieved October 31 2017 a b c d Bears vs Saints Play By Play ESPN Retrieved October 23 2017 Kane Colleen October 30 2017 Zach Miller in good spirits after serious knee injury says coach John Fox Chicago Tribune Retrieved October 31 2017 Smith Michael David October 31 2017 Former officiating department heads Blandino Pereira both say Zach Miller scored Profootballtalk com Retrieved October 31 2017 Dickerson Jeff October 30 2017 Bears seek further clarification on Zach Miller s overturned TD catch ESPN Retrieved October 31 2017 Emma Chris November 7 2017 For First Time Since 2008 Bears Are Favorites Over Packers WBBM TV Retrieved November 14 2017 a b Joniak Jeff November 10 2017 Joniak Keys To Bears Packers WBBM TV Retrieved November 14 2017 Perez Bryan November 12 2017 WR Dontrelle Inman establishes himself as go to guy after 1st game with Bears USA Today Retrieved November 14 2017 a b c Mayer Larry November 12 2017 Game Recap Bears lose to Packers at home 23 16 Chicago Bears Retrieved November 14 2017 a b c Packers vs Bears Play By Play ESPN Retrieved November 14 2017 All Match, wikipedia, wiki, book, books, library,

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