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When you have a struggling offense, there’s little room for error. Unfortunately for the Chicago Bears, there have been plenty of errors over the first 10 weeks of the 2019 season.
And it doesn’t just fall on third-year quarterback Mitchell Trubisky, who deserves a fair share of the blame for the offense’s struggles.
When your young quarterback is struggling, you need to do everything you can to help him. Establish the run game (which has been inconsistent and suspect this season), give him a clean pocket (which hasn’t always been the case this season) and have your playmakers come down with the ball.
Given that most of these factors — including the quarterback’s play — haven’t been working, it’s no wonder the Bears boast the NFL’s 29th-ranked offense.
In fact, the Bears have the highest drop rate in the NFL at 7.36 percent. Of 299 attempts, Bears receivers have 22 drops, which also ranks highest in the league. They’re the only team that has a drop rate greater than 7 percent.
Here are the 2019 drop rates for all 32 NFL teams, again using unofficial counts collected by Fox. Bears have the highest drop rate, Packers the lowest. pic.twitter.com/sP6UDy0N2i
— Greg Auman (@gregauman) November 12, 2019
The Bears have two players that rank in the top 35 in the NFL in drops: running back Tarik Cohen (6) and receiver Allen Robinson (3).
This certainly doesn’t let Trubisky off the hook, who needs to do a better job of giving his receivers a chance to catch the ball, for the offense’s struggles.
But Trubisky would certainly benefit from better pass protection from his offensive line, which ranks 22nd in the league with 27 sacks allowed through the first 10 weeks.
Which isn’t to say that Trubisky hasn’t had a hand in several of those sacks. You could argue that most of his five sacks last Sunday against the Detroit Lions were on him.
Simply put, the entire offense needs to do better. It’s not just one guy. It would be easier if it were.