Bear Down, Nerd Up: Bears stat breakdown and other info, Week 4

What an ugly Week 4 performance from the Bears.

They had three points through the first 55 minutes of Sunday's 19-11 loss to the Indianapolis Colts. The Bears have issues on offense. We're going to attempt to understand them in the latest edition of Bear Down, Nerd Up, where we look at the stats and other info that made this week unique for the Bears.

Freaky fast Foles: Nick Foles released passes quickly against Atlanta and the Colts. He's fifth in the NFL with the quickest average to release passes from snap to throw at 2.52 seconds, according to NFL Next Gen Stats.

He's making quick decisions and also trying to fit passes into tight windows. Per Next Gen Stats, 22.5% of Foles' passes are into tight coverage (1 yard of separation or less). That's fourth highest in the NFL. Mitch Trubisky ranks second (31.4%) which could be a reflection of the scheme, not so much the quarterbacks.

If Foles is releasing the ball quickly, that doesn't give his receivers a lot of time to get open. Combined with the fact defenses are playing tight on Bears receivers at the line of scrimmage, it's not a great recipe for the Bears. Their receivers have some of the smallest cushions (yards from nearest defender) at the time of the snap. Anthony Miller, Allen Robinson, Darnell Mooney and Jimmy Graham all rank in the bottom half of Next Gen Stats' "cushion" metric.

With Foles throwing quickly it's no surprise those four targets all rank low in separation from the nearest defender at the time the ball reaches them. This explains why Foles' aggressiveness rating is high.

Defenses don't play other teams in this same manner. Baltimore's top four targets all average bigger cushions than the Bears' top four. Defenses want to keep Baltimore's weapons in front of them.

The Bears don't seem to be instilling the same fear.

Robinson (more on him in a moment) is thriving even with these tight windows. But he can have a 100-yard, one-touchdown game and the Bears can still lose. Defenses know Robinson is going to get his, so to speak. They're OK with getting beat here and there by Robinson. But if they limit Mooney, Miller and Graham, the passing attack becomes one-dimensional.

Until a second option consistently beats a defender in the 2.52 seconds Foles (and coach Matt Nagy's scheme) gives them to do it, defenses aren't going to respect anyone not named Robinson.

About A-Rob: He had his 14th career 100-yard receiving game and eclipsed 5,000 receiving yards for his career on a 27-yard catch in the second quarter.

According to Next Gen Stats, Robinson had two of the top 20 most difficult catches of Week 4. His touchdown catch in the fourth quarter had just a 16.9% chance of being completed, making it the No. 1 toughest completion of the week and sixth toughest of the season. His 25-yard catch moments earlier was No. 20 of the week with a 28.5% catch probability.

Robinson is ninth in the NFL in receiving yards on a team that is 21st in passing yards per game. As mentioned above, he's doing it with defenders draped all over him.

Per Next Gen Stats, when the ball is snapped, Robinson has an average cushion of 4.9 yards. Out of more than 130 qualified receivers and tight ends, Robinson is tied for the 22nd-smallest cushion.

That means his separation from defenders at the time of catch is also small (2.2 yards). It seems he is always making difficult catches with defenders draped all over him because he is.

Replacing Cohen: With running back Tarik Cohen out for the season due to a torn ACL, David Montgomery spent far more time on the field than he has all season. His 53 offensive snaps (85% of offensive plays) were significantly more than he had in Weeks 1 and 2 when Cohen was healthy. Montgomery's six targets in the pass game were a career high. He caught three of them for 30 yards.

It was evident Sunday the Bears don't have a perfect fit for the role Cohen played.

Roquan rolling: If you haven't noticed, inside linebacker Roquan Smith has been phenomenal. While Danny Trevathan's production has raised a few questions, Smith has been stellar.

He had 13 tackles against Indianapolis and three tackles for loss. It was his 12th career game with 10-plus tackles, and he became the fourth NFL defender since 2018 with 13-plus tackles and three-plus tackles for loss in a game.