This article is part of our NFL Observations series.
That was painful -- even watching the 40-minute versions.
The Bears played well enough to win. They stuffed Dalvin Cook, opened holes for David Montgomery, limited Justin Jefferson and got after Kirk Cousins. But terrible play by Justin Fields, untimely turnovers, bad play calling and awful personal foul penalties sunk them. As someone with Bears +4.5 (before the line soared to seven), it was a tough watch.
- Justin Fields passed the eye test for me in previous games, but I'll give him an "F" for this one. He didn't just take sacks, he took deep ones. He threw the ball behind receivers, he fumbled and he didn't get rid of the ball. Matt Nagy's play calling -- deep-drop short passes on 4th-and-1! -- didn't help, either.
- Kirk Cousins (87 passing yards, 51 net after sack) did nothing. Dalvin Cook (28-89-0, 3-2-2-0) did nothing, and Justin Jefferson (10-4-47-1) scored an early TD and not much else.
- Nick Chubb (23-91-1, 1-1-2-0) had a decent game, but it could have been better but for a hold that nullified a second TD. I don't know why the Browns always taking Chubb out on passing downs, but they do it even with Kareem Hunt out.
- The Browns have no passing game whatsoever, irrespective of the quarterback.
- With Darren Waller out, the Raiders have no one, either. Hunter Renfrow (5-3-32-0) is a good slot man, but he did little, and Derek Carr's top targets were Zay Jones (9-6-67-0) and Foster Moreau (9-7-65-0.)
- This is the least I've had to say about two games that I can remember. The NFL would have been better off postponing or cancelling them after all.
