Chicago Bears must clean up the penalties moving forward

The Chicago Bears must clean things up as they move forward into the tougher part of their schedule.

Through three games, the Chicago Bears are doing their best to get into a rhythm on the offensive side of the ball. On the defensive side, it appears they are already in mid-season form and could be even better than the 2018 version when it’s all said and done.

The offense took a big step forward against the Washington Redskins on Monday Night football, while the defense continued to dominate. However, there was one area that has been a problem so far for the Bears in 2019 and if it is not corrected, could be a huge issue going forward.

We’re talking about penalties. So far, they have not technically cost the team a game, but once the Bears start getting into the tougher part of their schedule, they are going to have to play more disciplined football, or it will come back to bite them.

In 2018, the Bears were successful for a variety of reasons. They had a great defense, they stayed really healthy, and were relatively penalty-free. Last season, they were assessed the fifth-fewest penalties in the league at 100 which translated to 848 yards for their opponents. In total, they were only flagged 117 times with 12 penalties declined and five more offsetting.

Already this season, they have been assessed the fifth-most with 26 for 235 yards, which does not count 6 more that were declined and another that resulted in an offsetting penalty.

Look, penalties are going to occur, but what the Bears need to eliminate are the “unforced errors.” For example on defense, they have committed three offsides penalties and one neutral zone infraction. On the offensive side, there were even more of these types of penalties, with two delay of games, one false start, and one too many men on the field penalty.

Of course, it would behoove them to cut down on the number of offensive holding penalties (they have five already) but in fairness, those are going to happen in the heat of battle, and frankly, the number of holding penalties is up across the league as it has been a point of emphasis early this season.

However, what they can control are some of the mental mistakes or undisciplined errors that shouldn’t occur with a veteran team as the Bears have. Hopefully, things will even out as they get more into the swing of the season and continue to work out the kinks. But if they don’t, better teams are going to take advantage of those mistakes and additional opportunities.