Chicago Bears still have work to be done

After breaking down the tape of the Chicago Bears' 17-13 victory over the New York Giants in their home opener Sunday, there is no doubt they did improve over the opening-week victory at Detroit.

There also is very little doubt there is still a quite a bit of work to do for this team to reach its full potential.

Quarterback: Mitch Trubisky is seeing the field better, making better reads, maintaining his poise in the pocket, using his legs more than he did last season. And while his accuracy from the pocket still must get better, it was better Sunday than the week before.

The first pick Trubisky threw was a bad choice but dictated by his primary receiver being taken away at the line of scrimmage. The second pick was on receiver Allen Robinson, not Mitch. He took another small step forward Sunday for a B.

Running backs: David Montgomery played his best game as a Bear and did most of his damage after returning from a horrific landing on his head that looked season- and career-threatening in real time.

Cordarrelle Patterson got 7 carries and 2 receptions and he freezes defenses every time he touches the ball. But Tarik Cohen continues to struggle on straight running plays. Montgomery A; B-plus for the group.

Receivers: The wideouts had a bad day, with Anthony Miller in articular struggling and Robinson looking very un-A-Rob like. No, I don't believe Robinson's struggles had anything to do with his contract.

Darnell Mooney was a revelation with his first NFL touchdown, and Javon Wims made a couple of nice plays.

Nagy told the media on Monday that he loves the tight ends' run blocking. "When you (go) back and watch that tape ... the way that our tight ends performed in that run game ... those tight ends are getting after it and they're enjoying it."

Which is good, but in two games the tight end group collectively has 5 catches on 11 targets for just 55 yards and Graham's 1 TD. With the number of two and three tight ends sets the Bears are playing, that isn't good enough. C

Offensive line: These guys did a great job blocking the run against the Giants, particularly Germain Ifedi and James Daniels. But Ifedi got a costly chop-block penalty and the pass protection just isn't cutting it. B-minus

'D' front seven: The pass rush still needs to get more consistent and productive, but Robert Quinn clearly made a difference and Khalil Mack, while still not as impactful as he can be, made more plays this week.

Roquan Smith was much more active than he was in Detroit. Also, 4 sacks and 2 take-aways was a nice afternoon's work for the group.

But Bilal Nichols and Roy Robertson-Harris have to make more plays, and Danny Trevathan spent as much time on the sidelines as he did on the field and had 1 tackle.

The Trevathan mystery must be solved because the depth behind him is unimpressive. B

Secondary: Kyle Fuller and Eddie Jackson are all-pros every week, Deon Bush came up with a big pick, Tashaun Gipson showed up more than the week before in Detroit, and Jaylon Johnson played well with 3 solo stops and a pair of passes broken up.

Holding the Giants to 5.0 per pass play, 3-for-13 on third down and just 13 points was a really nice day's work. The late, long drives, however, have to stop. B-plus

Special teams: The Cairo Santos missed field goal was the only blemish on the day for this group, but he never should have been asked to try that kick. That said, he still needs to hit it.

Pat O'Donnell had a nice day with a 41.0 net average on 3 punts and two downed inside the 20, and coach Chris Tabor's troops are starting to look like a "special" group. B

Coaching: I don't grade play-calling; there are too many variables and unknown for me to be qualified to judge Matt Nagy.

But one of the main reasons the Bears came back against the Lions last Sunday was Matt Patricia sending Matt Prater out to try a 55-yarder with three minutes left. He missed, giving the Bears a short field from the 45. Seeing Nagy make the same mistake this week with Santos was frustrating. B-minus