The Chicago Bears and Los Angeles Chargers entered Sunday night with the same number of wins, but not the same number of star players.
The multipliers. The impact players. The game changers.
The Chargers have Justin Herbert, Keenan Allen, Khalil Mack, Joey Bosa and Derwin James.
The Bears have DJ Moore.
Those differences were magnified on Sunday night when the Chargers’ top players — specifically Herbert — played at a high level and the Bears didn’t make enough key stops on defense or big plays on offense.
Each team circled who to contain, and one team did it better, with the Chargers winning 30-13.
“Didn’t play up to our standard,” Bears linebacker T.J. Edwards said. “I felt like I left some plays out there. It’s back to fundamentals. That’s where they got us today. I thought we had a good plan but at times didn’t execute.”
Edwards made the point we hear often from players on the losing side, that those in the winning locker room “get paid, too.”
“Every team has good players. They’ve got guys who can make you miss,” he said. “They get paid a lot of money, too. End of the day, it’s just technique. We’ve got to find a way to get them down, get more numbers to the pile. That’s one that pisses me off on my side, just making those plays I know I can make. I’ll make them down the stretch for sure.”
What we saw Sunday night was the good players who get paid to play for the Chargers were better than those for the Bears.
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