It only took one game before Roquan Smith was ready to take over as a starter in the Chicago Bears defense.

He played eight snaps against the Green Bay Packers in Week 1, and that was enough for defensive coordinator Vic Fangio to let the eighth-overall pick make his first-career start against the Seattle Seahawks on Monday night.

Smith was on the field for 59 of the defense’s 66 total plays, and he performed about as well as you would expect from a highly touted rookie in his first extended action.

He showed flashes of the immense potential that made him a Top 10 pick, but he also made plenty of mistakes that reminded you he was making his starting debut.

Smith inserted himself right into the action from the first play of the game. The Seahawks handed it off to Chris Carson on a typical split zone run. The rookie linebacker diagnosed it perfectly and went unblocked as he reached the running back in the backfield.

The problem was, he took too wide of an angle to the ball-carrier, and Smith’s first snap as a starter only produced a missed tackle.

Play No. 1 was a microcosm of his performance as a whole. All the potential is there, but it’s going to take time for it to all come together.

Looking more closely at some of his rookie mistakes, it’s clear that the pieces are in place, and it won’t be long before he’s making big plays in the middle of the Bears’ defense.