Bears offense is carrying them, and that's been a long time coming

What jumps off the tape of the Bears' 33-27 win over the Vikings on Sunday is how well the offense is playing, and it wasn't only because the Vikings defense isn't very good.

For four weeks now the offense has played well enough for the Bears to win but it was the defense that let them down versus the Packers and Lions.

Why has it taken this long for the offense to come around?

Matt Nagy explained Monday, "I'll start off with just saying that again when somebody goes down with an injury and sometimes you're forced into certain decisions and you see is a guy ready or not ready.

"That happened with us with both Sam (Mustipher) and Alex (Bars). I mean, Alex played center for us and now he is playing right guard. Sam played center and then he got hurt and then came back a few weeks later and (Germain) Ifedi switches over to tackle and Cody (Whitehair is) moving over to left guard.

"We had a feeling coming out of the bye that health-wise and then position-wise, putting these guys in these spots is what's best for this offense," Nagy continued. "When you watch tape you see these linemen, they're running to the ball, they're picking guys up off the ground, they're celebrating.

"Go check out the touchdown run and watch Sam Mustipher's celebration after the touchdown. It's pretty neat, and that's kind of where we're at right now."

The offensive line's improvement has been huge, but not more so than the improved play of Mitch Trubisky at quarterback.

Nagy told us, "We do feel like it's a good place with the identity of the offense with Mitchell playing the way he's playing, with the scheme, with the consistency of O-line and with the growth of all these younger players."

Offense: During the win over the Vikings, the offense was spot on.

You can't get closer to perfect balance than 199 yards on the ground and 198 through the air.

David Montgomery had a career game at running back, Trubisky was near flawless at quarterback, particularly after Nagy confirmed his lone interception was the right read to Allen Robinson but the ball got away from him and you can't expect perfect on every throw.

Wideouts and tight ends were available to Trubisky all day in the passing game, and they are doing a really good job right now of blocking in the run game.

Pass protection still gets iffy too often across the front, and the offense lost its rhythm a couple times in the red zone, but overall it was a very good day. Grade: A-

Defense: Dalvin Cook was bound to make a few big plays against the Bears eventually and he did Sunday, but they didn't let him take over the game.

The pass rush was fierce at times but inconsistent at others, and you'd like to see them play 60 minutes, and 27 points isn't horrible but it isn't good either.

Bilal Nichols, John Jenkins and Robert Quinn played their best games of the season, Khalil Mack was his usual game-changing self, and Danny Trevathan was everywhere.

Kindle Vildor and Duke Shelley made a few of the mistakes you'd expect but for the most part both were impressive.

Unfortunately Eddie Jackson still is not himself, and it's allowing teams to make too many big plays on third down.

They can play much better, but they were good enough. Grade: B-

Special teams: The kicking game was perfect as Cairo Santos was 4-for-4 on field goals and 3-for-3 on extra points, Patrick O'Donnell's one punt went 44 yards and was downed inside the 20 at the Vikings' 12 and the return game and coverage were solid. Grade: A-

Coaching: Why Nagy and company hadn't appeared to know what they had in players like Mustipher and Bars until they were forced to put them on the field, and why it's taken this long to unleash Trubisky's, Montgomery's, Cole Kmet's and others' talent is an ongoing concern.

But the Bears were impressive against the Vikings on offense for 60 minutes, the defense was opportunistic and made almost every big play, and Nagy and his staff appeared to have them in the right positions and schemes to make it happen all afternoon long. Grade: B+

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