Alshon Jeffery didn’t show out like expected in Bears-Buccaneers game

It’s been a sort of a down year for Chicago Bears wideout Alshon Jeffery. Finally healthy, he has 583 yards and just one touchdown through the first eight games, and he’s only topped the 100-yard mark in a game once this season, in Week 1. That didn’t change this week with Jay Cutler back under center and the Bears facing off against a terrible Tampa Bay Buccaneers secondary.

Jeffery finished the Week 10 game with just four receptions for 47 yards in a 36-10 loss that didn’t feature much of anything going right for the Bears.

The fifth-year receiver has thrived with the mercurial quarterback behind center, recording 1,000+ yard campaigns in 2013 and 2014 before injury woes cut his 2015 short.

Cutler missed five games with a sprained thumb this fall, but returned in Week 8 to help deliver a Monday Night Football upset over Minnesota.

With the veteran Pro Bowler at starting quarterback in 2016, Jeffery has averaged 4.3 receptions and 88 yards per game. With Brian Hoyer behind center, he caught more passes on average but for only 13.6 yards per reception. The key to turning the athletic wideout into a downfield threat, it seems, has been the presence of Cutler.

After a rocky rookie year, Jeffery made his mark as one of the league’s top young receivers in 2013 when he caught 89 passes for 1,421 yards and seven touchdowns — though his quarterbacks that season alternated between Cutler and Josh McCown, who started five games in relief for the injured passer. He followed that up with an 1,100-yard, 10-touchdown campaign before a hamstring injury limited him to nine games in 2015.

Jeffery only played about half the season last fall, but still managed to gain 807 yards for a Bears team with few other offensive options. With Cutler back behind center, he’s intent on proving he’s still one of the NFL’s most dynamic receiving threats. But that didn’t come to fruition against the Buccaneers.