Did the Chicago Bears make a mistake by not hiring Brian Daboll?
By Todd Welter
On the surface, it feels like the Chicago Bears made a mistake by passing on Daboll.
There are a few differences between the Giants’ situation and the Bears’ situation. The Giants were able to get a head start on upgrading their defensive and offensive line in last year’s draft.
New York was able to draft defensive end Kayvon Thibodeaux with the No. 5 pick. They used the seventh pick to draft offensive lineman Evan Neal. That was the pick the Giants received from the Bears in the 2021 NFL Draft Day trade that paved the way for Chicago to select Justin Fields.
The Giants already had Dexter Lawrence and Leonard Williams at defensive tackle. We all saw how they could disrupt a game when they were part of a defensive effort that sacked Justin Fields five times and held Chicago to 12 points in Week 5.
Even though the Giants had to deal with injuries to their wide receivers, drama with Kenny Golladay, and trading Kadarius Toney, New York was still able to get solid production from Darius Slayton and Richie James.
They combined for 103 catches for 1293 yards and six touchdowns. The entire Chicago Bears wide receivers position group had only nine more receptions.
Also, the Giants found ways to win in games decided by one possession. New York played 13 games where the game was decided by a possession or less and went 8-4-1. The Bears faced the same situation eight times and only won one of those games.
Some of that could be attributed to coaching but in the Bears’ case, they were playing games with second and third stringers. At some point, better talent is going to win out.