Hub Arkush: After Thomas Graham Jr.’s breakout performance, can Bears find any more hidden gems?

A number of Bears are due more props than they’ve received for how well they played individually Monday night in spite of all the adversity the team faced just to field 53 healthy bodies.

The defense as a group was outstanding as shorthanded as they were.

If the Bears were a .500 team, Robert Quinn would be a legitimate Defensive Player of the Year candidate. And he played like it – again – against Minnesota.

It’s been so long since he’s been healthy that many had forgotten the fury and purpose that Akiem Hicks brings when he’s right. And he owned the Vikings’ offensive line.

Of course, David Montgomery and Roquan Smith gave their usual 101%.

But perhaps the most interesting man in the NFL on Monday was rookie and sixth-round draft choice Thomas Graham Jr., who had to be brought up from the practice squad for his first NFL start/game just so the Bears could field a starting secondary. And he arguably was the Bears’ best defender on the field.

Graham finished with seven tackles and three passes defensed.

To give you an idea of how impressive that is, the three PBUs tied Graham Jr. for the third most on the Bears for the entire season. Only Jaylon Jonson (nine), Kindle Vildor (four) and DeAndre Houston-Carson have (four) more in 13, 14 and 13 games, respectively.

The obvious question of course is, ‘Why did it take 14 weeks for him to get off the practice squad and onto the roster?’ So I asked him Wednesday.

“First, I think I needed the time in general just to help me get back in the flow of things,” Graham said. “It took some time for me to regain my confidence.”

Remember, after starting as a true freshman and playing three full seasons, Graham opted out of his final season at Oregon before the Bears drafted him.

“After the bye week is really when it started to come back and I started to feel like who I felt I was and who I am,” he said.

Of course, pundits and fans immediately started to question how the Bears could have allowed Graham to languish on the practice squad with the deficiencies they’ve had recently at cornerback. But on the practice squad, any of the 31 other teams in the league could have come for him any time they chose, and no one bit.

You really don’t need one more thing to punish Matt Nagy and Ryan Pace for.

Credit them for drafting him, assuming he proves to be the guy he played like against the Vikings.

Don’t forget it was one game with Adam Thielen in street clothes.

Knowing the questions the Bears have at corner, Graham must start the last three games now to see what they really have, and it would also be wise to try Vildor in the slot after he had a bounce-back performance of his own Monday night.

Maybe the cornerback position isn’t as dire as it’s looked, also raising the question if there are any other players hiding in plan sight that need to be seen now.

Jesper Horsted immediately comes to mind.

His two catches this year in only seven games are both touchdowns, and he had the game-winning TD grab in Detroit last year on Thanksgiving. But he can’t get on the field.

I have no idea if he’s a tight end or ever will be, but it seems possible, perhaps even likely, he’s the third-best receiver on the team after Allen Robinson and Darnell Mooney.

With Justin Fields’ development clearly being slowed by a lack of professional targets, get Horsted on the field and find a way to use him to see what you’ve got.

We assume Larry Borom, fresh off the COVID-19 list, will be immediately reinserted into the starting lineup at right tackle, and it’s time to fish or cut bait with Rodney Adams, Isaiah Coulter, Dazz Newsome, Caleb Johnson, Ledarius Mack and Charles Snowden, too.

Play ‘em! Heck, start ‘em!

If Graham actually is who he played like against the Vikings, that’s a bigger win than the game would have been. And if you do have a couple more like him and don’t know it yet, finding them would make these last three games worth playing.

• Hub Arkush is a Shaw Media correspondent.