Hub Arkush: Bears earn high grades for demolishing Texans

I will say it again, it was the Houston Texans, and, yes, they are an awful football team.

That said there were a few things about the Bears' 36-7 demolition of the Texans that probably will have some real impact on the Bears' future and are most likely more worthy of this space than position-by-position grades, so let’s just say this.

The offense gets a B+ with Hub’s grades of B+ at quarterback, A at running back, B+ at wide receiver, B at tight end and B- on the offensive line.

The only real negatives were their inability to put the game away on the ground in the second half but some of that was by design and is one of the things we’ll talk about in a moment, and the pass protection still needs a lot of work.

The defense also gets a B+ with an A- for the front seven and B for the secondary.

Khalil Mack had his best game of the season, dominating throughout. Whenever you get seven sacks in one afternoon the pass rush is outstanding, particularly from Mario Edwards Jr. and Roquan Smith, showing Chuck Pagano had decided it was time to blitz a bit more. Akiem Hicks appeared healthier, and Bilal Nichols continues to improve each week and makes big plays.

The only negatives here were the 7-of-14 conversions for the Texans on third down isn’t near good enough, and Eddie Jackson continues to play below his own bar, leaving another pick on the field.

Special Teams get a B as the coverage was solid, the return game didn’t really have many opportunities, Cairo Santos was perfect again, and Patrick O’Donnell has become a weapon punting the ball inside the 10-tard line.

Coaching was also a B. Matt Nagy and company had their guys ready and focused in spite of the crushing disappointments of the two prior weeks. The gameplan was solid and executed well, and there were no game or clock management issues to debate.

However, even running the ball exceptionally well Nagy and Bill Lazor again preferred not to run it enough.

Asked Monday why after an 80-yard run on the first play from scrimmage David Montgomery finished with just 10 more carries Nagy said, “You see the first run of the game, it’s a big run. I thought that in a perfect world, you’d love for him to get a few more, but we’re scoring 36 points.

“For the most part, I think probably 15 to 20 is a really good number for David.”

Really? Why?

Do you believe Montgomery can be a No. 1 back or not, because No. 1s get 20-to-25 touches a game or more.

Why entering the second half with a 30-7 lead and going on to shut the Texans out in the second half would you throw the ball 13 times and run it just nine?

Nagy said they wanted to “stay aggressive,” but you can be pretty aggressive pounding a team into the ground with your run game too.

In spite of what he’s said repeatedly it’s getting harder and harder to believe Nagy really wants to run the football.

The other focus should be what we are to make of the suddenly stalwart play of Mitch Trubisky, not just last week but over the last three.

According to Nagy, “I've mentioned the identity part the last couple weeks, and we feel that way, and the guys are playing with confidence, and I do believe that's real for Mitchell right now, and I like where he's at.”

Passing game coordinator Dave Ragone added, “You've got a guy right now who feels comfortable when he's throwing the football, and he's putting it where he wants to put it.

“And you've got guys around him who are also not just making the catch but they're getting yards after the catch.

“And again, when you're able to run the football and you're now all the sudden running after the catch obviously you start to put some points on the board and I think we're starting to do that.”

If Trubisky performs over the next three weeks as he has over the last three and continues to improve, can the Bears afford to just let him walk?

The Texans game may have given us more questions than answers, but at least it was fun to watch.