Yardbarker
x

Chicago Bears wide receiver Darnell Mooney has been a bright spot on an otherwise struggling offense. He’s taken big strides from last season and sets himself to become an integral part of the offense going forward.

We’ve once again seen the Chicago Bears struggle on offense. It seems that a struggling Bears offense is as common as toast. If it isn’t the quarterback, it’s the running back. If it isn’t the running back then it’s the wide receivers. When it comes to the offensive line, it’s always a problem.

There are a couple of bright spots in the offense this season, however. David Montgomery, along with the rest of the Chicago Bears running game, played well. The running game ranks eighth in the league in rushing. Even when Montgomery missed four games because of a sprained knee, the Bears kept running the ball effectively.

The other bright spot on the offense is the play of wide receiver Darnell Mooney. In his two seasons in Chicago, he really earned the coaches’ confidence. Last season, he moved past Anthony Miller to be the second option on the receivers corps. This season, he took another step forward and moved past Allen Robinson as the top receiver on the roster.

In Week 12, Mooney had 123 yards on five catches. It was the second consecutive game in which he had over 120 receiving yards. Also, it is the third time he’s done that. For the season, he leads the team with 694 receiving yards, already eclipsing the 631 yards he had in his rookie season. In addition, he leads the team in targets with 83, receptions with 46, and touchdowns with 3. After Robinson had back-to-back 1,000-yard seasons, Mooney is on his way to having his own. He is on pace to gain 1,072 receiving yards this season.


Robinson was having a rough season in terms of yards. Now, he has a hamstring problem that forced him to miss the last two games. Playing under the franchise tag, it is doubtful he signs a new multi-year contract with Chicago. Mooney is showing the Bears that it’ll be okay and that he’ll be fine taking over for Robinson as WR1.

Offensive coordinator Bill Lazor loves Mooney’s laser focus on the job.

The thing I’ll say about Darnell Mooney is his mindset. He just loves football, businesslike approach, professional approach, does not get distracted. I’ve never seen the guy get distracted from his job. The guy is focused on his job and being a great player. I really can’t say enough of how impressed I am by his mindset.

We saw Mooney’s strong work ethic after the Week 11 game against the Baltimore Ravens. He had five catches for 123 yards in that game but felt upset with his performance. He pointed out that the quarterbacks in the game targeted him 16 times. That means there were 11 misses and that was unacceptable to him. In the next game. he caught five of eight targets that went his way.

Mooney is the only starter who has chemistry with rookie quarterback Justin Fields. Mooney and Fields’ work ethic is the reason for that. Fields received no reps with the starters during training camp. That put him behind in development when he took over as the starter. However, Mooney worked with Fields after practice on a daily basis. We now see the results of that extra work.

We should expect to see Mooney have more success down the stretch of the season. The Bears might not rack up wins and the offense may struggle some more, but Mooney will continue to develop and impress.

This article first appeared on Full Press Coverage and was syndicated with permission.

More must-reads:

Customize Your Newsletter

+

Get the latest news and rumors, customized to your favorite sports and teams. Emailed daily. Always free!

This site is protected by reCAPTCHA and the Google Privacy Policy and Terms of Service apply.