Halas Intrigue Bears Report: Breaking down Week 12 win vs. Giants

The good: It wasn’t pretty, but as quarterback Mitch Trubisky noted, the Bears scored more points than their opponent.

The bad: The Bears’ sluggish running game continued to sputter, averaging 2.5 yards in 26 carries. Rookie David Montgomery has 22 yards in 13 carries and Tarik Cohen had 25 in six.

The ugly: Normally reliable Pat O’Donnell — one of the busiest punters in the NFL this season because of the Bears’ inept offense — had a second-quarter punt travel 13 yards.

Let’s get to it ...

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Offense: A win but ‘it’s not good enough’

Mitch Trubisky put it best: The Bears won, but this wasn’t pretty. “It’s not good enough,” Trubisky said. It’s not that Trubisky was awful Sunday. It’s that the Giants’ defense certainly is. The Bears raised their record to 5-6, and the Giants fell to 2-9. That’s why any positive emotions should be tempered. The Bears made a ton of mistakes Sunday and our Rick Morrissey puts it all in perspective.

By the numbers:

• Mitch Trubisky completed 25 of 41 passes for a season-high 278 yards and rushed for his first touchdown since last November.
• WR Allen Robinson caught six passes for a season-high 131 yards. It was his 11th career game eclipsing the 100-yard mark, the second time this season and third since joining the Bears (regular season).

Offensive play of the game:

Defense: Mack makes the stat sheet!

It was finally fun again for the Bears’ defense, and the crescendo of their exuberant afternoon against the Giants was Khalil Mack performing his signature crowd-pleaser. As quarterback Daniel Jones dropped back, on a play that was doomed from the start with left tackle Nate Solder facing Mack with no help, the Bears’ most dangerous man ripped into the backfield. Mack swung his massive right arm like a sledgehammer just as Jones tried to throw, and the ball skipped freely toward the end zone. Jason Lieser has all the details on the defense’s big day.

By the numbers:

• 1 SACK: And that sack led directly to a Daniel Jones’ forced fumble and a touchdown.
• 1 TAKEAWAYS: The aforementioned fumble was a big one.

Defensive play of the game:

Special Teams: Purists must look away

This wasn’t a good day for kickers, with the Giants missing two field goals and the Bears missing an extra-point attempt that got backed up to 48 yards out. Oh, and both kickers managed to boot kickoffs out of bounds. Here’s a detailed look at a Bears circus act after one touchdown that led to a bizarre series of circumstances.

By the numbers:

• Eddy Pineiro: 2-for-2 on field goals (26 and 24 yards); 1-for-2 on extra points.
• Pineiro isn’t the only kicker having issues recently. After two failed attempts Sunday, Giants kicker Aldrick Rosas has now missed three field goals and three extra points over the last four weeks.

What They’re Saying

• Coach Matt Nagy: “I think for us time is of the essence. There’s no time here, so we have to get rolling.”
• QB Mitch Trubisky: “Happy we won, but it’s not good enough — not nearly good enough for this offense, from myself. We can’t have the turnovers. Got to get better on third down. Got to be better in the red zone. Enjoy the win, but quick turnaround this week ... so we’ve got to find ways to get better, improve and quit making mistakes.”
• Giants RB Saquon Barkley: “Definitely frustrating. It was another one of those games where we had an opportunity to win and we just couldn’t figure it out.”

From Our Notebooks

• Right tackle Bobby Massie left the game in the third quarter with a right ankle injury. He was in a walking boot after the game. Massie — who has missed only three games in 3 ½ seasons with the Bears — was replaced by Cornelius Lucas. Special teams wiz Sherrick McManis hurt his groin while covering a second-quarter punt, and did not return.
• Defensive lineman Akiem Hicks could return from a dislocated left elbow in Week 15 against the Packers, though it’ It’s unclear whether the Bears see value in taking him off injured reserve if they’re out of the playoff race. On the Bears’ radio pregame show, though, general manager Ryan Pace said the team was “really optimistic of where that’s heading.”
• Giants safety Julian Love, whose friends Joseph Ramos and Antonio Lemon were killed in a one-car accident last weekend and later found in Lake Michigan, intercepted a Mitch Trubisky pass on the first play of the fourth quarter. Love, a Nazareth Academy and Notre Dame alum, made one tackle.

Here are even more game highlights.

What’s Next?

The Bears don’t have much time to rest before playing the Lions at 11:30 a.m. CT on Thanksgiving Day. In last year’s holiday matchup between the same teams, Chase Daniel stepped in to throw for 230 yards and two touchdowns in a 23-16 victory for the Bears.

View From New York

• The Giants’ performance unsurprisingly didn’t impress the New York Post, which handed the offense an “F” grade after going 1-for-12 on third downs. The coaching and special teams also weren’t reviewed well.
• Looking ahead to the Bears’ next game, Lions coach Matt Patricia has put himself squarely on the hot seat. The Detroit Free Press’ Jeff Seidel says the Lions have sunk to a new level of unwatchable ineptitude.

On the Podcast

On today’s episode, Patrick Finley, Jason Lieser and Mark Potash discuss the play of Mitch Trubisky and the dominance of the defense. They then break down the Bears’ series of errors and what to expect in the Thanksgiving Day game against the Lions.

In the “Pot-Cast,” Mark talks about winning T-shirts on sports talk radio.

Listen here.

Also, got any questions for the Bears? Email us or tweet at @suntimes_sports and we’ll see if we can get them answered in one of our next newsletters.

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Halas Intrigue Bears Report

Expert analysis and reporting before and after every Bears game, from the journalists who cover the Monsters of the Midway best.

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