Bear Down, Nerd Up: When DJ Moore touches the football, the Bears usually score

The Bears are in wait-and-see mode with starting quarterback Justin Fields. Head coach Matt Eberflus said the Bears were “doubtful” that the QB will play this weekend against the Las Vegas Raiders after Fields dislocated his thumb Sunday.

It could be time for Tyson Bagent to make his first NFL start. For the Bears, Sunday was a disappointing game even before Fields injured his thumb. The offense was stagnant, and star receiver DJ Moore went silent one week after having the best game of any Bears wide receiver in a decade.

Here are the stats, numbers and figures that stood out in Week 6 for the Bears. Get out your calculators for Bear Down, Nerd Up.

Do this Moore: The Vikings did a good job of bottling up Moore one week after Moore had the best game of his career with 230 yards and three touchdowns against Washington. With Fields in the game Sunday, Moore had only two targets and one catch for 7 yards.

He finished the game with five catches for 51 yards, but that was mostly with Bagent in the second half.

With this Bears passing attack, throwing to Moore is the only way they seem to get anything going. The numbers back that up, too. Good things happen when your best player has the football in his hands.

The Bears have scored 14 touchdowns this season. Moore has caught at least one pass on 10 of 14 touchdown drives.

When Moore catches two or more passes on a given possession, the Bears have scored on eight of 10 drives. They’ve scored a touchdown on seven of those 10 drives, with one field goal.

Even simply throwing the ball his way seems to lead to good results. The Bears have had 13 possessions this season where Moore was targeted at least twice. They scored points on nine of those 13 drives. They scored touchdowns on seven.

Part of the problem with this offense right now is that the Bears don’t have a good second option at wide receiver. Moore leads the team with 32 receptions for 582 yards and five touchdowns. No other wide receiver has more than 10 catches. Darnell Mooney has 10 catches for 152 yards and one touchdown. For all intents and purposes, tight end Cole Kmet is the No. 2 option in this passing attack. Kmet has 25 catches for 240 yards and three touchdowns.

Defenses are going to try to take away Moore. The Bears have to find creative ways to throw him the football. They also need a second option to step up.

Undrafted rookie: Bagent became the Bears’ first undrafted rookie quarterback to enter a regular-season game during his rookie season since Caleb Hanie did so in Week 7 of 2009. The last undrafted quarterback to make his starting debut for the Bears also was Hanie, who made his first regular-season start two years later in 2011. Before that it was Henry Burris, who made his lone NFL start for the Bears in 2002.

Bagent finished Sunday’s game 10-of-14 passing for 83 yards with one interception and a 1-yard rushing touchdown. He went 3 for 5 on passes that went 10 yards or more beyond the line of scrimmage for 47 yards and one interception.

Speedster: Velus Jones Jr. was getting antsy to return a kick. In the Bears’ first five games, he didn’t return a single kick. Teams were content to kick the ball over his head, and the Bears’ coaching staff was happy to take touchbacks.

“I for sure did [want to],” Jones told Shaw Local. “But, you know, being coachable is key. So anything that was deeper than what I was set to do, just listen to coach. But most definitely wanted to take a few out.”

I for sure did [want to return a kick]. But, you know, being coachable is key. So anything that was deeper than what I was set to do, just listen to coach. But most definitely wanted to take a few out.”

—  Velus Jones Jr., Bears kick returner

On Sunday, he finally had his chance to bring the football out. Special teams coordinator Richard Hightower gave Jones the green light. It resulted in the three returns for 90 yards (a 30-yard average). His long was a 37-yard return.

On his 19-yard kick return in the third quarter, Jones reached a top speed of 19.74 mph, according to NFL Next Gen Stats. That mark was good enough to make the top 20 fastest ball carriers of the week in Week 6. Jones’ return was 19th on the list this week.

Jones’ 110 scrimmage yards, including what he did on offense, marked a career high.

Quick sack: T.J. Edwards’ strip sack was a top 20 fastest sack on the season so far in the NFL, per Next Gen Stats. He reached the QB in 2.7 seconds and knocked the ball from Kirk Cousins hand. Fellow Bears linebacker Tremaine Edmunds picked it up for a takeaway.

Only Cardinals linebacker Kyzir White had a faster sack in Week 6. White’s 1.97-second sack against the Rams marked the fastest sack by an NFL defender in two years.

It marked Edwards’ second sack of the season and second in as many weeks. Edwards has had success as a blitzer in each of the past two games.

Takeaways: Edmunds’ fumble recovery on the strip sack marked his first career fumble recovery. It marked his first takeaway as a member of the Bears.

Interestingly, Edmunds hasn’t notched a forced fumble in the stat book since his rookie season in 2018, although he does have five career interceptions.

As a team, the Bears now have five takeaways, which is still bottom half of the league. They are one of eight teams with five takeaways, all tied for 22nd in the league in that category.

The Bears are near the bottom of the league in turnover margin as well. They are minus six, which ties them for 27th in the league. Offensively, they’ve turned the ball over 11 times (tied for 27th).

Kickin’ Cairo: At the risk of jinxing him for next week, Bears kicker Cairo Santos is perfect on all 10 field goal tries and all 12 extra points so far this season. His 53-yard field goal in the second quarter Sunday marked a season long. It was his longest made field goal since 2020.