Bears @ Chargers · Week 5

WEEK 5 · FINAL

THE READ

Bears win the turnover battle and the game

Justin Herbert threw 3 interceptions in the same game he posted 369 yards and 3 touchdowns, and somehow the Chargers still lost by 6—that's what 4 total giveaways will do to a team that outyards you 465 to 285. Ladd McConkey caught 10 balls for 170 yards and 3 scores, the kind of afternoon that usually wins football games, except the Bolts handed Chicago the game with turnovers while getting zero sacks and bearing down on nothing. The Bears' defense got 4 sacks to zero and didn't need much else; Los Angeles moved the ball like a playoff team and played like a winless one, and now they're 0-5.

Riley Parker The chaos merchant

THE WIDER PICTURE

Team	SRS	SOS	MARGIN	TO +/-
Bears	+6.4	-0.3	+6.7	+6
Chargers	-11.9	+1.7	-13.7	-10

SRS is how many points a side beats an average team by once you account for who they played — beat a good team by 3 and it counts for more than beating a bad one by 20. SOS is how hard that schedule has been. Full table.

Bears — NFC #7 · 7-3 Playoff picture →

IN THE BOOTH

Sierra Vaughn Analyst

The Chargers gave this away—4 turnovers against a defense that forced just 2, and Herbert's 3 interceptions buried what should have been a signature day: 369 yards and 3 touchdown passes mean nothing when you're handing Chicago a 2-point swing on giveaways alone.

Ethan Price The numbers guy · replying

Chicago's defense lives on volume it shouldn't need: 4 sacks against a Chargers line that isn't historically porous suggests the Bolts' real problem isn't protection but that McConkey is now carrying an entire offense while Herbert sorts out what 369 yards and 3 picks actually mean.

They only ever read the box score and this league's own numbers — none of them has a source, and none of them can report anything that did not happen.

Justin Herbert

Chargers

26/44, 369 yards, 3 TD, 3 INT

Ladd McConkey

Chargers

10 catches, 170 yards, 3 TD

Charlie Becker

Bears

7 catches, 61 yards

THE STORY SO FAR

⭐ Justin Herbert has not had a better afternoon this season.

⭐ Ladd McConkey has not had a better afternoon this season.

📉 Omarion Hampton is still searching for it: 26 rushing yards a game across his last three, against an average of 46.

📉 Charlie Becker is still searching for it: 34 receiving yards a game across his last three, against an average of 55.

WHAT DECIDED IT

Total yards Chargers 465, Bears 285 Chargers

Through the air Chargers 369, Bears 193 Chargers

On the ground Chargers 96, Bears 92 Chargers

Pressure Chargers 0 sacks, Bears 4 Bears

THE ROOM Final. The recap is below.

📺 THE WEEK 5 SHOW this game is in the week's show ▶ Watch the show

THE MATCHUP SCOUT every number below is counted from the export or read off the roster — nothing is inferred about playcalling

LEAGUE DATA counted by Madden, and arithmetic on top of it

Balanced Pass 54% · Rush 46% · 31.9 scored, 25.2 allowed

10.9 yds/att 60.4% completions 6.3 yds/carry 344.9 yds/game 1.7 giveaways/game 2.8% sack rate last 5: 4-1

Primary weapon: Zavion Thomas WR — 38% of the receiving yards · DEPENDENCY HIGH

SAPPHIRE METRICS QB efficiency 68 · Aggressive Balance 96 Ball security 52 Back usage 38% QB runs 3.0/game

Most exposed: one-man passing game -- Zavion Thomas takes 38% of the receiving yards

PERSONNEL off the roster — unit averages, best starters only

QB 96 WR 81 TE 85 RB 84 OL 83 DL 79 LB 83 DB 84

Best: Caleb Williams QB 96 Fastest: Zavion Thomas WR 96 SPD 5 at star dev or better

YOUR NOTEBOOK what you wrote about them — private, and never a Sapphire statistic

HOW THEY PLAY the man, not the franchise — only weeks the record attributes to him, this season

CELTICSPRIDE1

Bears · his last 8 games

Runs it One target

Pass / run53% / 47% Points for / against31.1 — 22.5 Margin+8.6 Giveaways a game1.8 Sacks taken2.3% of dropbacks Lead backD'Andre Swift · 10.8/g Top targetZavion Thomas · 42% QB carries3.0 a game

Counted from the weeks each man actually held his team — so a franchise that changed hands is not credited to whoever has it now. Nothing above is a playcall: the export does not carry those, and neither does this.

MATCHUP ADVANTAGES unit averages against each other — inside three points is a push

Bears receivers vs Chargers secondary 81 v 84 CHARGERS

Chargers receivers vs Bears secondary 81 v 84 BEARS

Bears line vs Chargers front 83 v 78 BEARS

Chargers line vs Bears front 85 v 79 CHARGERS

Bears backs vs Chargers run defence 84 v 77 BEARS

Chargers backs vs Bears run defence 81 v 81 EVEN

Bears passer vs Chargers secondary 96 v 84 BEARS

Chargers passer vs Bears secondary 90 v 84 CHARGERS

TOP PERFORMERS

Justin Herbert QB Chargers 369 pass yds

Caleb Williams QB Bears 193 pass yds

Ladd McConkey WR Chargers 170 rec yds

Quentin Johnston WR Chargers 92 rec yds

David Njoku TE Chargers 71 rec yds

Charlie Becker WR Bears 61 rec yds

Omarion Hampton HB Chargers 59 rush yds

Jaylon Johnson CB Bears 3 INTs

🎬 The Game Recap
this game as an episode -- the score, the stars, the numbers that decided it -- and a video you can post ›

BOX SCORE

BEARS

PLAYER	C/ATT	YDS	TD	INT	SCK	LNG	RTG
Caleb Williams QB	21/29	193	1	0	0	20	101.6

CHARGERS

PLAYER	C/ATT	YDS	TD	INT	SCK	LNG	RTG
Justin Herbert QB	26/44	369	3	3	4	70	80.5

BEARS

PLAYER	CAR	YDS	AVG	TD	BTK	YAC	LNG	FUM
Raleek Brown HB	8	45	5.6	2	2	25	32	1
D'Andre Swift HB	8	31	3.9	1	3	6	12	1
Caleb Williams QB	8	14	1.8	0	0	0	7	0
Charlie Becker WR	1	2	2	0	1	1	2	0
Luther Burden III WR	0	0	0	0	1	0	0	0

CHARGERS

PLAYER	CAR	YDS	AVG	BTK	YAC	LNG	FUM
Omarion Hampton HB	13	59	4.5	1	2	8	0
Justin Herbert QB	4	17	4.2	0	0	6	0
Keaton Mitchell HB	7	16	2.3	1	2	6	0
Kimani Vidal HB	1	4	4	0	0	4	0
Ladd McConkey WR	0	0	0	1	0	0	0
David Njoku TE	0	0	0	1	0	0	0
Quentin Johnston WR	0	0	0	1	0	0	1

BEARS

PLAYER	REC	YDS	AVG	TD	YAC	DRP	LNG
Charlie Becker WR	7	61	8.7	0	12	1	18
Luther Burden III WR	4	49	12.2	0	16	0	17
D'Andre Swift HB	4	32	8	0	21	0	14
Zavion Thomas WR	3	26	8.7	0	2	0	20
Rome Odunze WR	1	19	19	1	0	0	19
Colston Loveland TE	1	8	8	0	0	1	8
Raleek Brown HB	1	-2	-2	0	0	0	0

CHARGERS

PLAYER	REC	YDS	AVG	TD	YAC	LNG
Ladd McConkey WR	10	170	17	3	93	70
Quentin Johnston WR	7	92	13.1	0	25	30
David Njoku TE	5	71	14.2	0	27	19
Danny Scudero WR	1	28	28	0	5	28
Omarion Hampton HB	2	5	2.5	0	6	7
Oronde Gadsden TE	1	3	3	0	0	3

BEARS

PLAYER	TKL	SCK	INT	PD	FF	CMP ALW
T.J. Edwards SAM	7	1	0	0	0	4
Devin Bush MIKE	7	0.5	0	0	1	4
Dillon Thieneman SS	6	0	0	0	0	3
Gervon Dexter Sr DT	5	0.5	0	0	0	0
Evan Johnson CB	4	0	0	0	0	5
Malik Muhammad CB	3	0	0	0	0	1
Shemar Turner DT	3	0	0	0	0	0
L'Jarius Sneed CB	2	0	0	1	0	1
Daniel Hardy LEDG	2	0	0	0	0	0
Jaylon Johnson CB	2	0	3	0	0	2
Ruben Hyppolite II SAM	2	0	0	1	0	2
Jacob Rodriguez WILL	1	0	0	0	0	0
Coby Bryant FS	1	0.5	0	0	0	1
Montez Sweat REDG	1	1	0	0	0	0
Princewill Umanmielen LEDG	0	0.5	0	0	0	0

CHARGERS

PLAYER	TKL	FF	CMP ALW
Daiyan Henley WILL	8	0	4
Genesis Smith SS	6	0	3
Jalon Kilgore SS	5	0	5
Tarheeb Still CB	3	1	3
Kyle Kennard REDG	3	0	0
Donte Jackson CB	2	1	1
Junior Colson MIKE	2	0	1
Derwin James Jr SS	1	0	3
Dorian Strong CB	1	0	0
Tuli Tuipulotu LEDG	1	0	0
Elijah Molden FS	1	0	1
Nick Barrett DT	1	0	0
Jamaree Caldwell DT	1	0	0

BEARS

PLAYER	FG	XP	LNG
Dominic Zvada K	1/1	4/4	43

CHARGERS

PLAYER	FG	XP	LNG
Cameron Dicker K	1/1	0/0	32

RECENT FORM

Bears

L 35–38 vs Panthers WK 4

W 38–14 vs Vikings WK 3

W 35–14 vs Seahawks WK 2

Chargers

L 17–21 vs Raiders WK 4

L 7–38 vs Lions WK 3

L 3–30 vs Chiefs WK 2

TEAM STATS

Bears		Chargers
285	TOTAL YARDS	465
193	PASSING YARDS	369
92	RUSHING YARDS	96
0	SACKS ALLOWED	4
4	SACKS MADE	0
2	GIVEAWAYS	4
4	TAKEAWAYS	2

Bold is the side that won that line. Giveaways come off a team's own offensive rows and takeaways off its own defensive rows — two separate payloads, so they need not tie out against each other.

ALL-TIME HEAD-TO-HEAD

1 BEARS — 0 CHARGERS

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