Chicago Bears lose to Buccaneers: Defensive grades

Secondary: C-

Even good secondaries will struggle at times if their front can’t pressure the quarterback. That’s just how football works. You can’t cover people indefinitely.

And if your secondary play is average on a good day, the lack of a pass rush can be devastating.

The Chicago Bears couldn’t touch Winston for much of yesterday’s game, and it showed in the way he systematically picked apart the Bears’ back end. Mike Evans and DeSean Jackson had time and tons of space with which to operate yesterday, and Winston found them repeatedly.

Marcus Cooper wasn’t completely terrible, but consistently matching up with the receivers like Evans will mean that he gets beat like this.

That’s just the cost of the doing business. Kyle Fuller actually kept up with Jackson far better than I anticipated, even forcing him out of bonds on a sideline fade. But speed often wins in the end, and Jackson will always have more of that than Fuller.

Also, can someone get Fuller some “stick ’em” for his gloves? Watching that interception bounce off his hands, even though it didn’t matter much at that point, still made me sad.

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One positive: while I still don’t have the faintest clue where Quintin Demps is half the time or what he’s doing, Eddie Jackson is getting closer and closer to making a big play. You can just see it.

Though Winston tested him, he couldn’t beat Jackson over the top yesterday. And on underneath routes, Jackson continually found himself inches from getting his hands on the football. The game is clearly slowing down for the rookie safety, and it’s only a matter of time before he swipes one.