Ravens Grind Out A Home Win Over The Bears To Potentially Save Their Season

Scott Taetsch. Getty Images.

Season back on?!? Who the hell knows.

But after a clown show of a first 6 weeks and an even more frustrating week leading up to a seemingly do-or-die game, it was really refreshing to see a team execute and play a cohesive and self-aware 60 minutes of football.

All the Lamar injury report drama aside - this team suffered in the weeks leading up to the bye week with understanding what their capabilities were and how to build a gameplan around it. The defense had done a very poor job of getting after the quarterback and a litany of other things, which put a lot of pressure on the offense to be something it wasn't, especially given an endless onslaught of injuries. Time of possession numbers and total offensive play numbers were wildly imbalanced in the weeks leading up to the bye, and the first quarter today honestly suggested little had changed. The Bears moved the football with ease, the Ravens went 3-and-out on their first drive, and it felt like the Rams game all over again in the sense that maybe we'd hang around for a bit but there was little hope to keep up offensively.

That changed pretty quickly. We were fortunate enough to get 2 red zone stops ending in 6 points for the Bears, and then Todd Monken called a really good game. Tyler Huntley was just about everything you could hope for - he was 17 for 22 for a modest 186 yards and a touchdown… and at one point was 14 for 15 with the one miss being a drop by Derrick Henry on a 3rd and short that admittedly could've been thrown a little more accurately on a rollout.

There were very few chunk plays…. but they dinked and dunked and ran the ball juuuust effectively enough to keep the Bears guessing and move the chains when they needed.

That was something that was seriously lacking in the Cooper Rush-led version of this offense and was a big reason they won today. When they had the ball and the lead in the 2nd half, they did a very good job of keeping it that way.

And of course, all of that is moot if the defense didn't do an awesome job of standing on its head for the last 3 quarters of the game. Nobody's calling the Bears offense a wagon, but they are capable of putting up their fair share of points and they looked like they were going to have a field day in the early going. 

A play that felt like a real turning point was the sack/intentional grounding on a key 3rd down in the middle of the 2nd quarter by Kyle Hamilton. It's no secret we've struggled to generate pressure from our front 4, but we brought the heat with Hamilton off the edge and forced a huge loss and a punt, which we were able to chew more clock and kick a field goal before half. That positioned us to get the ball out of half with a 4 point lead, extend that lead to 7, and dictate the terms in the 2nd half from there.

Other major play was the pick by Nate Wiggins… he is really stepping into the upper echelon of premier cornerbacks in the league. He blanketed Davante Adams beautifully 2 weeks ago and came up with the play of the game today. That pick was a pure ballhawk type of interception that totally sealed the game for the Ravens deep in Chicago territory.

What a win, and one that didn't feel like quicksand for once. They executed with a lead the way that good football teams do - obviously something they've struggled with in the past with or without Lamar involved.

That gets us to 2-5 with the Steelers playing a tough Green Bay team tonight and the possibility of being 2 games out of the division lead right there and both Pittsburgh games on the schedule in front of us. Regardless of result in that game, these Ravens are far from dead. Plenty of work left to be done that would get a hell of a lot easier with a 2-time MVP QB at the helm, so we'll see how the week progresses.

Go beat Miami on Thursday and we'll go from there.