Chicago Bears: The depth on this team is remarkable

The Chicago Bears showed off one of the many reasons why they have a legitimate shot at the Super Bowl this season.

That was some performance by the Chicago Bears last night, but it’s easy to forget just how improbable that sort of dominance seemed just an hour before game time.

Heading into their matchup against the Minnesota Vikings, there was a lot at stake. The Green Bay Packers lost earlier in the week, and the Detroit Lions lost a heartbreaker earlier in the day to the Kansas City Chiefs — meaning the Bears could retake a share of first place with a win.

However, they appeared to have a daunting task. They were already playing without Taylor Gabriel, Bilal Nichols, Akiem Hicks, Mike Davis, and Kyle Long, while Eddy Pineiro was still dealing with a nerve injury in his knee and was far from 100 percent. Then, shortly before kickoff, we learned that they would also be without Roquan Smith who would miss the game with what was called a personal matter (though Matt Nagy refused to provide any details after the game).

Then, to make matters even worse, Mitchell Trubisky was lost for the game (and likely more) with a shoulder injury on the first drive of the game. You could feel the collective “gulp” from the fans as it seemed like the deck was stacked against the team on this day.

But not only did the Bears come away with a victory, but they did so in absolutely dominating fashion. Dalvin Cook came into the game leading the NFL in rushing with 375 yards (good for 6.6 yards per carry). He finished the game with 35. His running mate, Alexander Mattison, pitched in five more. And that was it for their rushing attack.

And while Kirk Cousins finished with 233 yards, a good chunk of that came in the fourth quarter while the Bears were playing a prevent defense.

However, all of the credit and superlatives must go to the backup players on the defense who played out of their minds and displayed the tremendous depth on this team — which is essential on a Super Bowl aspiring team.

Players like Nick Williams, Roy Robertson-Harris and Nick Kwiatkoski played exceptionally well. They finished with 2, 1.5 and 1 sacks respectively and combined for all five of the Bears’ tackles for losses. Kwiatkoski also led the team with 10 tackles and was all over the field, flying to the ball and stuffing the run.

It was a fantastic performance for a player who at times has been criticized for his shortcomings in the passing game. But the Bears did a good job of mixing in Kevin Pierre-Louis on some passing downs to maximize each of their strengths.

It was a masterful job by Chuck Pagano to utilize his players’ strengths and a testament to how well defensive line coach Jay Rodgers prepares his players. It was also a credit to the job Ryan Pace has done finding some of these diamonds in the rough who seem to step in and not miss a beat, even when the defense is missing a number of their studs.

Even Javon Wims got into the mix and chipped in 4 catches for 56 yards, and Ted Larsen filled in admirably for Kyle Long until he left the game with an injury and was replaced by Rashaad Coward, who also held his own.

All in all, it was a great win for the Bears who will look to keep the momentum going next week against the Oakland Raiders in London, before heading into a much-needed bye week.