I'm Still Excited About The 2018 Chicago Bears

Sunday night's game against the Green Bay Packers was not ideal for the Chicago Bears. It was ideal for the first 35 minutes of the game as they cruised to a 20-0 lead and everything was wonderful in this crazy world that we live in. Then, things went to shit, and um, well, shit, everybody knows what happened, and the Bears are now 0-1. That outcome wasn't ideal, but I'm still pretty excited about the Chicago Bears this year.

First off, there is Khalil Mack who more than lived up to the hype surrounding his arrival in a trade last week. Even in limited time, he was a menace on the field, getting sacks and interceptions and touchdowns too. His meaningful damage came in the first half, but even a tired Mack caused disruption with pressures in the second half. As he gets up to game speed, he's only going to be more terrifying, which is incredibly exciting.

Speaking of the defense, Akiem Hicks was pretty damn dominant as well early on in the game. He was causing havoc by crushing the pocket, and he is creating a pick your poison situation where you can focus on blocking Hicks or you can focus on blocking Mack, but it's going to be really tough to block both.

On the less positive side, Leonard Floyd showed nothing in this game. The athleticism is evident, but I still haven't seen enough in his pass rushing techniques to get excited. He'll get some sacks on speed rushes, but until he can translate that speed into a respectable bull rush move, I don't know how dangerous he is going to be.

But the Bears should definitely play Roquan Smith more. Nick Kwiatkoski is a capable backup, but he simply doesn't have the athleticism to play linebacker as teams will continually expose him. Roquan is a monster who has every physical trait you could possibly want in a modern day linebacker. Give me more Roquan.

Oh, and the most obvious thing to point out on the defense. If Kyle Fuller catches that ball that hit him in the chest, the Bears are not only 1-0, but I can guarantee that people would be talking about the Bears as the favorite in the division. I'm not necessarily saying that people should be saying that, but people love making broad proclamations after one week.

On the offensive side, you're not going to believe this, but I won't start with Mitch Trubisky. Let's instead take a step back and truly enjoy the greatness of Jordan Howard. For some reason, it seemed that everybody wanted to toss him aside to get more Tarik Cohen in the offense. But Howard serves a huge role for this team. He is the bellcow back, and there is no reason that he shouldn't seen the majority of snaps. He did everything he could to win the game for the Bears on their second-to-last drive, and had they trusted him more, he probably could have iced the game away.

Okay, now let's talk about Mitch Trubisky. He showed good athleticism, movement in the pocket, and threw some excellent balls, but in the second half, he tightened up and refused to take chances. I saw him fire balls down the field in college, so I'm hoping this is just an adjustment period to not having a ton of experience and being in a brand new offense. With Allen Robinson being a player who has shown that he can be a top receiver in the NFL, and with all the rave reviews about Anthony Miller, let's hope Trubisky uses those assets to open up the offense in week two.

Right now, the Bears are 0-1, but winning in Green Bay is never easy, and although it seems like one that got away, the important thing is to see how they bounce back, because 15-1 still ain't too bad of a season. Go Bears.

Breaking Down the Chicago Bears Fourth Round Pick: West Virginia Linebacker - Nick Kwiatkoski

The NFL Draft has come and gone, and it appears that the Bears have a plan in place. Did I agree with that plan at every twist and turn? No, not really, but I also really enjoyed some of their moves so it all balances out. And they were active, and that definitely made for an exciting weekend. But what's done is done. The picks I like will obviously work out, and hopefully my genius fails me on the picks that I didn't like. So far, I have had the chance to break down:

First Round Pick: Leonard Floyd, Linebacker, Georgia
Second Round Pick: Cody Whitehair, Offensive Guard, Kansas State
Third Round Pick: Jonathan Bullard, Defensive Lineman, Florida

Today, we look at the Bears first fourth round pick, Nick Kwiatkoski, a linebacker out of West Virginia. Now with the Bears first three picks, it was plenty easy to find game tape to watch enough film to make strong evaluations. That changes in the fourth round, as Draft Breakdown only had one game of film to watch (which I should mention is still amazing that I can even get one ten-minute film of an entire game's worth of plays), so I'll be checking out his game against Kansas State to see what type of player the Bears were able to acquire.

Inside linebacker is an instinctual position without a whole lot of flash to it. It fills a role, but it's rarely a big play position. It's consistency that is the key. A worry may be how he performs in coverage, as he got caught looking into the backfield instead of sticking with the tight end on this play.

I mean, the bad news is obvious. He lost track of his man and gave up a 20-yard reception. The good news is that when he jammed him off the line of scrimmage, he pushed the tight end about five yards outside, so nice pop from Kwiatkoski.

Kwiatkoski did have three interceptions on the year, but it was not because of excellent coverage skills. He caught one off of a deflection, one when he jumped near the line of scrimmage and the quarterback just didn't throw the ball high enough, with his final one being the most impressive as he was sitting in zone coverage and made a nice break on the ball.

And that was about the only play that stood out in the least bit against Kansas State. It was definitely not his best game of the season, as there was virtually nothing to go off of on the film. So I decided to consult the highlight video to see if I could find out anything more about Kwiatkoski.

That power showed up again on run plays as he showed that he can fill a hole and stop a running back from getting any forward momentum with this hit.

That is a great job by him to explode through the tackle and wrap up to finish the job.

His athletic numbers are not only solid, but that is what you would expect from a fourth round pick, unless that fourth rounder was VERY raw. Kwiatkoski is not going to win with athleticism, he'll do it with instincts, which seems to be the case for just about every successful middle linebacker.

Even after the highlight video, it was tough to get too excited, but that's not Kwiatkoski's game. He's going to fill a role. The guy doesn't have exciting potential, but he's also not likely to kill you. He can be a solid middle linebacker. I know that's not sexy, but considering what the Bears were forced to trot out last year, depth was needed, even with their free agent signings. He'll start off as a backup inside linebacker, and he seems like a guy who can step up as a starter if needed.