Some weeks are better than others for the Bears.
Here’s how three Bears fared in Sunday’s 31-28 overtime loss to the Dolphins at Hard Rock Stadium:
Good week
Taylor Gabriel has been the Bears’ best receiver the last two games. Sunday, he led the team with 110 receiving yards on five catches. Against the Buccaneers, he had seven catches for 104 yards.
Gabriel, a speedster who the Bears have turned into an every-down receiver, is handling the adjustment well.
“Taylor is really fast and when the guy approaches him and the safety stays in the middle of the field, that’s a one-on-one match-up that I like,” quarterback Mitch Trubisky said. “He’s getting by him, and I’m just trying to put the ball in the right spot for him to make a play. We’re just trying to … I think we match up really well with our receivers on the outside. We’ve got a lot of weapons, and we’re just trying to find exactly what everyone does well, and Taylor is a great vertical threat as well as a great route runner, along with the other guys.”
Bad week
For practical purposes, it’s easier to give the nod to Bears defensive coordinator Vic Fangio than it is the entire starting unit. The Bears, after all, allowed Brock Osweiler to throw for a career-high 380 yards. They entered the game leading the NFL in sack percentage — and then didn’t sack Osweiler. They allowed as many offensive touchdowns Sunday as they did in the previous 130 minutes, 13 seconds.
It was ugly all around for the Bears defense. Tom Brady won’t make it any better next week.
Worse week
The Bears gave Cody Parkey a four-year, $15 million contract — with $9 million guaranteed — this offseason to make game-winning kicks. He missed the 53-yarder in overtime that would have done just that.
That Parkey’s miss came against his old team and near his hometown — he grew up in Jupiter, an hour north of Hard Rock Stadium — makes a bad week downright worse.
