Bears pass catchers are way behind the rest of the NFL through 3 games
The word has already been out regarding the Chicago Bears and their dismal passing numbers through three games of the 2022 NFL season. Despite the Bears being 2-1 following their 23-20 victory over the Houston Texans, the overarching story continues to be the lack of passing in each one of their games.
Much of the conversation has centered around quarterback Justin Fields and his struggles in the pocket. No matter what stat or category you choose, he’s had historically low passing numbers through three games. But what isn’t being talked about are the dismal numbers of the Bears pass catchers.
When a passing offense isn’t working, the low numbers aren’t limited to the quarterback. None of the Bears receivers have truly stood out yet and the numbers back it up. Through three games of the NFL season, every single team has at least one player who has accumulated 100 receiving yards or more, except the Bears.
In fact, every other team minus the Carolina Panthers have two players hit that total for the year already. The Bears leading receiver, meanwhile, is Equanimeous St. Brown with 77 yards. That’s tied with five other players for 110th place in the league at this point in the season. The next closest player for the Bears is Dante Pettis, who still has just one catch for 51 yards from the broken touchdown play in the opening game against the San Francisco 49ers.
Entering Week 4, the Chicago Bears are the only team without a player with 100 or more receiving yards for the season.
Every other team had at least one player reach that total by the end of Week 2.
Equanimeous St. Brown is the team leader with 77 yards, tied for 110th place. pic.twitter.com/fU98tIsFbi
— Brendan Sugrue (@BrendanSugrue) September 26, 2022
What’s even worse? Every other team had a player reach 100 receiving yards after just two games this season. The Bears are entering their fourth game during the first weekend of October and still have yet to reach that number with any of their players.
It was evident early on that this receiving corps wasn’t going to be great this year, but it’s surprising to see even players like Darnell Mooney and Cole Kmet fail to reach triple digits at this point. Of course it’s difficult to get yards when passing opportunities become limited as the Bears have yet to attempt more than 18 passes in a game.
Still, getting chunk receiving plays has been a struggle to say the least and it’s showing both on tape and in the stat sheet. Here’s hoping someone can step up next week and break free of this drought.
