The Chicago Bears whooped up on the Buccaneers defense with a whopping five touchdowns in the first half. The secondary looked lost, and the only veteran back there was Brent Grimes. And Grimes did a whole lot of nothing.
Bears QB Mitch Trubisky exploited everyone in the secondary, and that includes our linebackers who had to play coverage in an attempt to give the secondary some help. It didn’t help.
The Bucs secondary was exposed, the entire game and the lack of experience was evident.
Tampa went into Soldier Field short guys in the secondary. Safety Jordan Whitehead was inactive with a shoulder injury, and Safety Chris Conte was out on IR.
The Bucs signed CB Marcus Williams to help with depth in the secondary, and although he has been on the field, he seemed to be virtually invisible.
I do not think one player in the secondary even recorded a pass defended. No one recorded an interception; That’s for sure.
One could argue the lack of a pass rush from the defensive line as a cause for the abysmal play of the secondary, but that’s a cop-out. Yes, the Bears offensive line is stout, but the defensive line did not create mismatches all over the field, and they got torched by a wheel route more than a few times.
Of course, the lack of a pass rush did not help the secondary, but the fact that our safeties, corners, and linebackers were out of position and playing from behind the entire game is the main reason for that blowout. That falls on expertise.
Now it is the bye week and it’s time to stock up in secondary. Don’t bring in QB’s for a workout, unless you are trading Griffin or Fitzpatrick and stop bringing in washed up running backs. Establish a running game first, and then do not give up on it mid-way through the game.
If the game in Soldier field is any indicator of what to expect week 6, then the 1-3 Atlanta Falcons are going to look like the league’s first-place Kansas City Chiefs. Example: Week 4 in Soldier Field.
Julio Jones may score his very first three touchdowns of the season, against our weak flexible secondary.
