Kyler Gordon's Playing Time and Other Bears Snap Count Observations From Week 6 Win

The Chicago Bears came away with an impressive 31-23 win over the Atlanta Falcons on Sunday.

The final score doesn't paint an accurate picture of the contest, as Chicago controlled the tempo of the game for the first 49 (and final four) minutes. They had a few strong contributors on both offense and defense, including incredible performances by two returning franchise cornerstones on both sides of the ball.

This was another game with a lopsided time-of-possession difference, as they had 77 snaps on offense compared to 55 on defense. Chicago actually rested some key defensive starters for one drive at the start of the fourth quarter (a fact that almost came back to bite them).

Offensive snap count

Observations

The most impressive aspect of the offensive snap count was the fact that Luther Burden III blew up the stat sheets (he led the team with eight catches for 95 yards) despite playing only 39% of the snaps. He was heavily involved in the gameplan and could explode with more playing time.

Meanwhile, Rome Odunze's stat line (three catches, 39 yards) looks a bit empty with him being on the field for 74 plays, but he did have a 24-yard catch-and-run taken away due to a penalty.

Jahdae Walker and Zavion Thomas both played ten snaps, and their roles are becoming clearly defined as the season progresses. Walker didn't see any targets, but made a few key blocks in the running game. Meanwhile, Thomas caught three passes for 25 yards despite seeing limited action. It felt like a concerted effort to get him involved.

Sam Roush continues to play a healthy dose of snaps, as Ben Johnson has no interest in throwing in the towel on that experiment anytime soon.

The Bears also had three backup offensive linemen get into the action against Atlanta. We knew Ozzy Trapilo would be out there, and it was good to see them actually rotate him in at left tackle rather than letting him get his feet wet in jumbo personnel. They'll eventually expect him to take over for Theo Benedet there once he's ready to play a full complement of snaps.

Jonah Jackson going down with a hip injury was hugely disappointing, as he's arguably been their most underrated offensive lineman this season. However, they didn't skip a beat with Luke Newman taking over for him for 27 snaps. Second-round selection Logan Jones also got his first taste of regular-season NFL action late in the contest for a resting Garrett Bradbury.

Defensive snap count

Observations

Kyler Gordon getting three sacks and forcing two fumbles despite playing only 17 snaps is not only the biggest story for the Bears, but it's the biggest story across the entire league this week. That's ridiculous production in limited playing time. Unsurprisingly, he leads all defensive backs in sacks this season despite debuting yesterday.

Devin Bush and Noah Sewell deserve a world of credit for keeping Bijan Robinson in check this week. As expected, the Bears were in their base defense more often this week, and they finished first and second on the team in tackles (Sewell getting six tackles and one TFL despite playing half the snaps is especially impressive). That's the type of output you want to see from the guys in the middle.

Austin Booker was a bit quieter this week, but their added attention to him might've been a factor that led to Gordon and Daniel Hardy eating on the other side. To Hardy's credit, he also had a strong performance in relief of Montez Sweat, finishing with two QB hits and one sack.

Defensive tackle James Lynch also saw by far his heaviest snap count of the season. While he didn't finish the contest with any tackles, he did do a great job of getting his hands on a pass on fourth down.

It was also good to see cornerback Clark Phillips III finally get into the action on the defensive side of the ball against his former team. While he wasn't nearly as flashy as Gordon, he also got some heat on Penix coming off the edge a few times. The Falcons had no answer for Chicago's aggressive gameplan.

Meanwhile, defensive lineman Shemar Turner didn't play nearly as much as some expected in his season debut. They'll probably ease the 2025 second-round pick into the lineup slowly, and he'll have to make some big plays to secure more playing time.