Chicago Bears: 3 takeaways from the Detroit Lions game
Offensive line stepped up
When starting right guard and the heart and soul of the team was injured in the Buffalo Bills game, no doubt fans thought to themselves “here we go again.” Just as the offensive line was starting to gel and play great as a unit, an injury to a key player threatened to derail that progress.
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Bears fans are all too familiar with injuries impacting the outcome of the season. So you couldn’t blame fans for worrying when they learned Kyle Long would be placed on injured reserve and likely miss 6-8 weeks.
However, this year’s team is different. For once they have something they haven’t in previous seasons — depth. The “next man up” mentality is great, but if you don’t have a capable next man, it’s just coaches speak.
However, the Bears have almost seamlessly moved on without Long over the last two games — at least from a pass protection standpoint. Now granted, their run game hasn’t gotten going yet, but not all of that is on the offensive line. Some of it is attributable to the play calling.
Regardless, it’s tough to ignore the play of Eric Kush last week against the Buffalo Bills. During that game Bryan Witzmann, acquired after the Bears placed Sam Acho on IR, also shared some snaps with Kush.
Well this week, it appears Witzmann has secured the starting role with both hands. Although Kush was healthy, he didn’t see the field once. Perhaps that’s because Mitch Trubisky was only sacked once, and otherwise was given plenty of time to carve up the Lions’ secondary. That’s good news moving forward for the Bears.