Chicago Bears vs. New York Jets: Completely serious Week 8 awards

As long as anyone can remember, the Bears have been unable to defend or run a screen pass. So what was that on Sunday?

If there’s one Bears tradition that has never wavered, it’s been a complete confusion at what to do with a screen pass on either side of the ball. This is what happens when you toss them to the bad Adrian Peterson and the like, or when your defense always seems to be infected by works every time the opposing offense leaks its offensive line out.

I’ve seen more Bears running backs trip over the one guy they had to avoid to bust a big play on a screen, and almost always that one guy was already on the ground and just throwing up a hand in desperation that a Bear would always find as stout as a boulder, than I’ve seen rainbows. Just two weeks ago we watched the Bears defense turn into a collection of dizzy octopi when the Miami Dolphins got the ball into space. Actually, take that back, octopi would have stuck to any ball-carrier for more than a third of a second.

It is just not something the Bears have been able to do.

So seeing Tarik Cohen get behind a blitz, only see blue shirts in the entire screen, with a convoy of blockers, was pretty much akin to seeing the Northern Lights for the first time. Something so beautiful and strange should not be of this world. It was a gift that we thought would never be bestowed upon us, and I’m still wary of the price that will be exacted for accepting the same. This must be a poison chalice.
Ricky knows: