It seems logical to assume that most, if not all, of the 11 remaining undefeated teams in the NFL would rank at or near the top of league power rankings, but that isn’t the case for the Chicago Bears, who check-in at No. 17 in The Athletic’s most recent NFL rundown.
17. Chicago Bears
What we learned: Their defensive stars have to carry them. It was a choppy performance that could have ended in disaster, but the Bears escaped with a win over the Giants to improve to 2-0. Robert Quinn had a sack/fumble in the first. Akiem Hicks had a big third-down sack in the second half. And Eddie Jackson’s pass breakup ended the Giants’ final rally. Again, it was far from a perfect performance, but this defense has a chance to be really good. The Bears will need more from Khalil Mack to keep Matt Ryan and the Falcons’ offense in check in Week 3.
It isn’t totally unfair that the Bears are ranked at the top of the bottom half of the league. Chicago began the season with few if any expectations, largely because of the still unanswered questions thrust at former second-overall pick, Mitch Trubisky.
There’s also the fact that neither of the Bears’ two wins is impressive, by pundits’ standards.
The Detroit Lions were a D’Andre Swift reception away from defeating Chicago in Week 1 and the New York Giants came close to stealing the Bears’ Week 2 victory with an inexplicable final drive of the fourth quarter last Sunday at Soldier Field.
Still, execution matters, and the Bears are executing on enough plays through two games to win.
Here’s the biggest takeaway from Chicago’s early-season success: Mitch Trubisky is playing sound football. And if this continues, the Bears will rise in the power rankings as the weeks march on.
Trubisky enters Week 3’s game against the Falcons with 432 passing yards, five touchdowns and two interceptions through two games. He’s completing just 59.2% of his passes but has been victimized by several costly drops to begin the year.
This Trubisky, with a star-studded defense led by Khalil Mack and Eddie Jackson, is one of the 10-best teams in the NFL.
It’ll just take a few more wins before the rest of the league realizes it.