5 Things on the Bears: Local heroes Sanborn and Kmet shine; where was Claypool?
In celebration of Veterans Day, our nation's heroes were honored throughout the Bears' 31-30 loss to Detroit on Sunday at Soldier Field.
Military personnel lined the field for the national anthem; the white lines at the back of each end zone were engraved with “SALUTE TO SERVICE” and “IT TAKES ALL OF US”; and the Bears honored Capt. Lori Hess Tompos, one of the first women to deploy in Desert Storm.
With that as the backdrop, it only seemed appropriate that two local heroes had the biggest days of their NFL careers.
Cole Kmet, who played football and baseball at St. Viator High School, hauled in a pair of touchdowns — the second of which was a 50-yarder and gave the Bears a 24-10 lead. Meanwhile, Lake Zurich High School product Jack Sanborn recorded a pair of sacks in just his second start at linebacker. Sanborn also picked off a third-quarter pass, but it was nullified due to an illegal-hands-to-the-face penalty on Jaylon Johnson. (Terrible call, by the way, as Johnson's hands never touched the receiver's head.)
Before the infraction was announced, it was impressive to see Sanborn, Eddie Jackson and others stand on the goal line and salute the military members among the fans.
“Those people that sacrifice so much for us to be able to play this game — that's what this country's all about,” said Sanborn, whose maternal grandfather was in the Marines. “I thought it was a great idea by Eddie to salute them because we're playing for more than just a football game.”
Said coach Matt Eberflus: “What a nice play by Sanborn. I mean, gosh getting in the window there. ... He really had a nice game today. ... We're pleased with where he's going.”
Sanborn also finished with a game-high 12 tackles.
As for Kmet, the big tight end out of Notre Dame hauled in 4 passes for 74 yards. His 50-yarder late in the third quarter was the longest reception of his NFL career and gave the Bears a 24-10 lead.
Five of Kmet's last 11 grabs have gone for touchdowns. Pretty incredible when you consider none of his previous 88 receptions ended up in the end zone.
Numbers game:
Justin Fields, who ran for 141 yards against Detroit, now has 749 yards on the ground this season. That ranks sixth in the NFL behind the Giants' Saquon Barkley (931), Tennessee's Derrick Henry (923), Cleveland's Nick Chubb (904), Las Vegas' Josh Jacobs (821) and Houston's Dameon Pierce (772).
Barring injury, it's nearly a lock that Fields will surpass Bobby Douglass' team record for most rushing yards in a season by a quarterback (968). If Fields averages 66 yards in the final seven games, he'll also pass Lamar Jackson's single-season record of 1,209.
The Bears are averaging 201.7 rushing yards per game and remain on pace to break the franchise record for total rushing yards (2,974) and Baltimore's NFL record (3,296).
Velus not rising:
Although it's been a rough season for WR Velus Jones Jr., it was still somewhat of a surprise to see the rookie inactive for a second straight game. Eberflus basically reiterated what he said a week ago: that the coaching staff is putting the best players on the field each week.
We get that, but it's still concerning that your third-round pick isn't good enough to get on the field.
It's something to investigate further, for sure.
WR snap counts:
After being on the field for 26 plays in his Bears debut, Chase Claypool only saw 19 offensive snaps against the Lions on Sunday. That was the lowest total among wideouts, trailing Darnell Mooney (53 out of 61), Equanimeous St. Brown (31), Dante Pettis (27) and Byron Pringle (20).
Claypool had 1 catch for 8 yards on 2 targets. We get that he's still learning the system, but his lack of involvement was curious against a Lions squad that came in allowing 268.5 passing yards per game — fourth-worst in the league.
Too much laundry:
The officials had another rough day at the Bears' expense Sunday and it left a sour taste in Eddie Jackson's mouth. Still, the veteran safety wasn't making excuses afterward.
“I feel like some of those calls were kind of BS,” Jackson said. “But, hey, again, we gotta leave no doubt. We've gotta come in and we gotta do what have to do ... especially when we've got a 14-point lead.”
The Bears had 9 penalties for 86 yards, while the Lions had just 2 for 15.
Two key ones that were largely forgotten because of the way the game ended:
• Braxton Jones' holding call on the first drive that negated a first down and put the Bears in second-and-14 at the Lions' 19. A likely touchdown turned into a field goal.
• Cole Kmet's face mask penalty during a 9-yard run by David Montgomery on the Bears' second drive. Instead of having a first down at the Lions' 22, the Bears faced second-and-12 from the 42. Two plays later, the Bears punted.
The Bears rank 21st in penalty yards per game overall (51.1) and dead last over the last three weeks (74.3). Remember, though, that 47 yards came on a bogus pass interference call on Jackson against the Dolphins in Week 9.