The Chicago Bears lost more than just a game last week against the Arizona Cardinals. Defensive tackle Andrew Billings, an anchor on the line, suffered a pectoral injury that requires surgery. He is now out for the season.
The hits keep on coming for the Chicago Bears. After an embarrassing 29-9 loss against the Arizona Cardinals, they have now lost two games in a row. The offense has struggled to move the ball. After throwing seven touchdown passes during the team’s three-game winning streak, quarterback Caleb Williams has zero in the last two games.
Now that loss to the Cardinals is more costly. It turns out that defensive tackle Andrew Billings, an anchor on the Chicago Bears defensive line, suffered a pectoral tear. He requires surgery and is now out for the rest of the season. It just adds to an already long list of injured players.
Cornerback Kyer Gordon (hamstring) and safety Jaquan Brisker (concussion) both missed multiple games due to injuries. Offensive linemen Kiran Amegadjie and Braxton Jones both missed last week’s game. Another offensive lineman, Ryan Bates, has only played in one game after suffering a shoulder injury in Week 1.
The loss of Billings is a huge blow for the Chicago Bears. He signed as a free agent last year and did such a good job that General Manager Ryan Poles re-signed him before the season’s end.
Billings is not a flashy player and he does not have huge numbers. In fact, this season he had 13 tackles (2 for loss), one sack, and one forced fumble. He also had three quarterback hits. None of that jumps out. His value comes in how he helps free up space for his teammates, however.
Billings is a plug in the middle who required double teams. He freed up space for Gervon Dexter to do his thing. With Dexter and Billings taking up space in the middle, the edge rushers like Montez Sweat and DeMarcus Walker were able to pressure and sack the quarterback.
Additionally, Billings and Dexter helped plug up the middle against the run. Last season, the duo helped the Chicago Bears have the top run-defense in the NFL. This season they rank 14th but a big reason is because they gave up 213 rushing yards to Arizona. That was about 20 percent of the total yards they’ve given up this season.
We will find out quickly how valuable Billings is to the Chicago Bears’ defense. We saw how Sweat helped transform the pass rush. If teams are able to double team him again without worrying about someone else hurting them, it will be a bad sign for Sweat.
Dexter understands the importance of Billings. He is having a breakout season so far and knows a big reason for that is because of Billings.
We’re going to miss a leader, a person that we knew exactly what we were going to get from him. Just his presence alone was a lot. Sometimes when stuff wasn’t going well, Billings would be that spark we needed.
The Chicago Bears did not make any trades to add to the roster at Tuesday’s trade deadline. That means a rotation of Zacch Pickens, Chris Williams, and Byron Cowart will try to make up for the loss of Billings. It will be a difficult task, however. Billings was an unsung hero on the defense.
The Chicago Bears will find out how invaluable Billings really is starting this week against the New England Patriots. While the Patriots are one of the worst teams in the league, we don’t know how much further the spiraling Chicago team will drop.
After they play the Patriots, the Bears start play against their NFC North Division foes. Six of their last eight games are against their division rivals. They are in last place in the division and will have to survive that stretch to have any playoff hope. Losing Billings makes that task even tougher.
