Chicago Bears: What not having Taylor Gabriel means to the offense

Taylor Gabriel is not traveling with the Chicago Bears to London and will be inactive this Sunday. What should we expect to see from the offense in his absence?

Taylor Gabriel had a dominant performance for the Chicago Bears in Week 3 against the Washington Redskins. The speedy wide receiver caught all three of Mitchell Trubisky‘s touchdown passes. Unfortunately, Gabriel suffered a concussion in the game. A concussion that not only kept him out of the Bears Week 4 matchup against the Vikings but now Gabriel is out this Sunday too.

It was reported late on Thursday night that Gabriel would not be traveling with the team to London and will be inactive. Gabriel had not been practicing throughout the week and it makes sense why he would not be traveling across the pond to London.

Although not dangerous, flying in an airplane after a concussion can cause symptoms to worsen. The flight from Chicago to London is nearly 10 hours. If Gabriel was still showing symptoms from his concussion, flying for that long would not be a good way to recover. Turbulence and the altitude can both cause head pain to worsen.

Keeping Gabriel home and letting him rest before the bye week is the best solution. I would expect he will be fully healthy and return in Week 6. What does this mean for the other wide receivers though in Week 5? The offense is in desperate need of an injection of scoring.

As we look back at Week 4 against the Vikings, the snap counts should explain everything. And although Matt Nagy says the offensive game plan does not change with Chase Daniel at quarterback, I do not believe he can say the same for not having Gabriel. Javon Wims saw a snap percentage of 26% in Week 3. In Week 4, Wims saw a 94% snap share.

At the same time, Anthony Miller saw his snap percentage of 52% in Week 3, increase to 62% in Week 4. Here is the thing though, neither of these guys plays the game the same way as Taylor Gabriel. Miller seems to play his best out of the slot position and Wims is more similar to Allen Robinson. Losing Gabriel has to affect the play calling and routes.

Some might think Tarik Cohen took on the Gabriel role. Well, his snap counts actually decreased from Week 3 to Week 4. Now, the good news for the Bears is that their wide receiver corps. is very deep with talent. Even though different skill sets are involved, the drop off from Gabriel to Wims or Miller is not drastic. Some might argue that those two are even better than Gabriel.

We should expect to see a similar snap share in London this week. Wims might drop slightly and Miller and Cohen might bump up a little, but the difference should be minimal. If we look back at preseason and the chemistry Daniel and Wims were showing, I would expect to see a decent amount of targets going to Wims again this week even if he sees fewer snaps.

After only three targets throughout the first three weeks, Wims saw five in Week 4. My guess would be he sees another five to seven against the Raiders. Anthony Miller saw three targets over the last two weeks. I want to see him get more targets in this game. He needs a minimum of five per week in my opinion. Allen Robinson will always see a decent amount of targets, nothing will change there this week.

Overall, without Gabriel on the field, look for the Bears to throw more crossing and slant routes. I would expect a few shots downfield, but they will likely be more back shoulder type, 50/50 balls where Robinson and Wims can go up and get the ball. The speedy, throw it downfield and hope Gabriel gets there first type throws are probably unlikely.

This game script will be very similar to the game against the Vikings, but with Oakland being near the bottom in pass defense, hopefully, the offense can find more open windows for bigger plays.