Grading Chase Daniel's Turkey Day Performance in Detroit

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“We came. We saw. We conquered.”

Chicago Bears linebacker Khalil Mack said it best following his team’s fifth consecutive victory over the Detroit Lions on Thanksgiving.

We came.
We saw.
We conquered.#DaBears https://t.co/cF82LhV10U

— Chicago Bears (@ChicagoBears) November 22, 2018

Chicago’s win on Thursday wasn’t pretty by any means. However, there was no way in which it could have been. Odds were stacked against the Bears on Turkey Day.

The Monsters of the Midway were given the shortest amount of rest between games in NFL history. Defeating a struggling, but capable, Detroit team with nothing to lose is not an easy task after laying everything on the line against the Minnesota Vikings last Sunday night.

Plus, the Bears were without starting quarterback Mitchell Trubisky. Regardless, Chicago got it done and served itself a Lion entree upon improving to 8-3 overall.

Speaking of the quarterback situation, perhaps no one on Matt Nagy’s roster exemplified Mack’s concluding statement more than backup quarterback Chase Daniel.

The Missouri product is going on his tenth season as a backup. Daniel hadn’t started a game since 2014 before Thursday.

The quarterback’s life is one most people envy for that very reason, not because of his performance on the field. Daniel has made $26 million combined over the last five years and has only had to start three games during that span.

Veteran? Sure. Seasoned? Not so much. Still, Daniel stepped in and truly did enough to give Chicago a win it needed considering the difficult games that lie ahead.

With that being said, let’s grade Chase Daniel’s Thanksgiving performance in its entirety.

Decision-Making: A.

Daniel’s performance against Detroit was the best of his elongated, unsuccessful NFL career for a number of reasons.

The quarterback notched single-game career highs in completions (27), passing yards (230), and touchdowns (two).

Daniel played significantly above expectations. Daniel’s main job was to go in there and not mess anything up.

Ideally, it seemed Chicago would be able to earn a victory if Daniel simply facilitated the run game, threw when he needed to, and let the defense take it from there.

Well, Daniel did a little more than that. That could have been a recipe for disaster leading to the quarterback making ill-advised decisions. It wasn’t though.

It's all gravy, baby.#CHIvsDET | #DaBears https://t.co/QL3dNRklYe

— Chicago Bears (@ChicagoBears) November 22, 2018

Though Daniel did more than simply allow the game to run its course, he didn’t make any crucial mistakes.

Daniel did, in fact, take four sacks in the game. A few of these probably wouldn’t have been sacks if Trubisky was under center, given Mitch’s pocket awareness and ability to run.

But, Daniel didn’t throw any interceptions or cough up any turnovers overall. He even scrambled on a trick play that resulted in a first down.

Daniel almost always threw to the right guy. Chicago probably would have scored more points as well if Trey Burton didn’t fumble the ball on Detroit’s 38, with the Bears threatening to score first.

In fact, Burton inhibited the offensive production a few times. Burton dropped a wide open pass for an easy first down in the second half. Later on, he was flagged for holding to negate another first down.

Daniel’s solid decision-making developed 16 offensive points, which was enough to win. That is all one can ask for. More points would have occurred if Burton wasn’t so out of sorts as well.

Of course, Bears players will be confident in whoever Nagy puts under center. However, the fact that Daniel has been part of Nagy’s system for five seasons, and probably knows it better than Trubisky, gave a concrete reason to be confident in him.

Daniel’s knowledge of Nagy’s system showed on Thursday. The quarterback followed it to a tee and didn’t let pressure induce any impactful mistakes.

Accuracy: A-.

Daniel failed to receive a solid A here because his deep ball could have been a little better against Detroit. Notably, when he overthrew Tarik Cohen a bit on what would have been a touchdown.

Although, it is not as if he was missing his receivers downfield all game long. The backup simply didn’t toss up many long balls on Thursday. This supports the notion that Daniel’s decision-making was on point.

Overall, Daniel completed 2-5 deep passes. It is also relevant to point out that he did throw some impressive balls down the field.

The QB made a nice throw to Allen Robinson, who made an impressive catch for 29 yards in the second quarter. Daniel also connected with Anthony Miller for 26 yards later in the half.

More importantly, other than on long passes, Daniel almost always hit his receivers right in the chest. And it is not as if Daniel was only throwing screen passes.

.@Smokee_4 gives us the lead headed into the half.#CHIvsDET | #DaBears https://t.co/43TOFdXZvP

— Chicago Bears (@ChicagoBears) November 22, 2018

The QB came up with a few key third-down conversions and also successfully snuck the ball in between tight coverage a few times on Thursday.

Daniel completed 73 percent of his passes against the Lions, a career-best by far. At one point, the quarterback completed seven consecutive passes.

All in all, Daniel’s accuracy was right on the money against the Lions. In terms of deep passes, Trubisky isn’t great at launching the ball either. So, a 2-5 mark there is acceptable for Daniel. Like Trubisky, Daniel’s short accuracy constructed a nice outing.

Overall: A.

Daniel wasn’t the only reason the Bears won on Thursday. It is important to note, however, that Chicago wouldn’t have won if the backup quarterback failed to deliver an effective performance.

Daniel did everything he was asked, and then some. Most were anticipating the Bears to run much more than they did against the Lions. Instead, over 70 percent of Chicago’s plays from scrimmage were passes. That is because Nagy rightfully trusted a player he developed.

Equally important to the Bears winning the game is that Chicago is now reassured of its second-string QB’s ability to step up if needed.

Trubisky’s shoulder injury isn’t serious. He most likely didn’t play because of the quick turnaround and should be back in action next Sunday against the Giants.

You never know though. With how frequent and aggressively Trubisky runs the ball, he is one of the more prone quarterbacks to injury. Chicago’s offensive line isn’t great either.

Knock on wood, but Mitch could get injured again. It is relieving for Bears fans to know that Daniel can deliver wins when necessary in short-term circumstances.

About Post Author

Eddie Herz

Born and raised in the suburbs of Chicago, Eddie Herz is a senior journalism major at Colorado State University. He has been a beat reporter for CSU's newspaper, the Rocky Mountain Collegian, since he was a freshman. Eddie has also contributed to the BTPowerhouse.com, a sister website of SBnation. Eddie will be the CSU Football beat reporter for the Rocky Mountain Collegian this coming Fall.

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