"Embearessment"

November 28, 2017

For the second time in Bear history the Bears go win-less in November. You have go all the way back to last year, the first time it happened. This game was reminiscent of a Bulls blowout loss. You knew going into it they weren’t going to win. The Eagles had three fumbles and 11 penalties and the Bears still managed to lose 31-3.

The Bears were bad in every aspect of the game. Rest assured, lame duck coach John Fox lent a helping hand. Before we look at the players, here are 2 more reasons Fox has to go. When your season is spiraling down the drain, you don’t send in the field goal unit in on fourth and two yards for a first down. On top of that, it was a 54 yard attempt in a tough stadium to kick in. The field goal try was not even close, giving Philadelphia a first down starting at their own 44. Dumbness number two. Third down at the Bears' one yard line. Sends in the punting team. Realizing he has one more down then needs to call a time out to set up next play.

The Bears' punter had his worst game in what has been a pretty good year. He had a punt for 34 yards and one tipped. The punter is not the biggest problem on special teams. Although he had a kick return for 40 yards, Tarik Cohen should not be the return man. It seems to me that he runs smack in the middle of his opponents then tries spin out and loses six more yards. This is usually compounded by the Bears continuously dumb block in the back or holding penalty on almost every return.

The defense, which I thought would keep them competitive in games, disappeared. Led by this season’s best quarterback Carson Wentz, the Eagles carved the Bears up like a Thanksgiving turkey. He threw for three touchdowns. There were many culprits that contributed to this debacle. Rookie Eddie Jackson who has looked good, missed a tackle and the runner hurdled him. As usual for this team, he also missed on 2 interception chances. Cornerback Prince Amukamara had a couple of nice break-ups along with 2 holding penalties on third down. I guess that’s better than the long gains over him. The Bears' defensive line and linebackers gave up 176 yards on the ground.

The offense just stunk. A key for the Bears to have any chance of winning is running the ball. With the Eagles daring the Bears to pass with nine men upfront, the Bears stubbornly called running plays for a measly total of eleven yards. Trubisky probably had his worst game. He was off the mark on many passes, sailing balls high and wide. He threw 2 interceptions and the Eagles dropped two other chances. He will get better. He needs better protection from the offensive line and receivers who can get open. Dontrell Inman officially became a Chicago Bear. Although he caught four passes he dropped three. Outside burner receiver Markus Wheaton played 5 snaps.

What was once looking to be a nice turn around, the season has turned into a nightmare. At the beginning of the season I predicted 5-11. When Trubisky replaced Glennon I changed it to 6-10. You may be interested to know that the Bears weren’t the biggest turkey of the holiday weekend. The Bulls lost to Golden State by 49 points.

We've Got A Ways To Go

November 24, 2017

If the playoffs started today the Blackhawks would not make the field. However, there are still 60 games left on the schedule. Despite a 3-2 loss to Tampa Bay (currently with best record) they have been playing much better as of late with victories over the Rangers and Penguins.

The backbone of this team is Corey Crawford. Aside from one poor performance he has played Vezina-caliber in goal. When the Hawks were going through the scoring drought, he won games; pitching a couple of shut outs while being bombarded with shots.

Once a year, it seems the Hawks have trouble scoring for long stretches. The offensive players are probably partially to blame.  Helping out in the defensive end is holding up the offense. Coach Quenneville seems to have settled on his defensive pairings to help turn the tide.  Duncan Keith is still playing at a high level and teams up with Cody Franson as their top defensive pairing. Whereas, Connor Murphy and his partner, overpaid, slow and untradeable Seabrook make another pairing. This has got to change. The final pairing of Forsling and Rutta could be the new version of the old Keith-Seabrook pairing. Both are young, good and getting better.

There are some questions on offense. In recent games, the fore checking and possession in the opponent’s end is improving. You can count on getting consistent production from Anisimov, Scmaltz, and one of the top players in hockey, Patrick Kane. Saad, Toews and Panik haven’t clicked. Toews is an excellent player whose goal and points production have regressed. Panik had a couple of good streaks, but I think this line would be better served with 19 year old Alex Debrincat who is a future star. Sharp, Hartman and Panik plus Bouma, Wingels and Hayden are all doing what they’re supposed to.

Don’t fret too much. This team will make the playoffs. The regular season games will become meaningful and much more fun to watch. What you want to happen is for the Hawks to get on a roll going into the playoffs e.g. last year’s Nashville Predators. That being said, I don’t think there will be a rally in Grant Park. The Hawks still have problems with teams with a lot of speed. Maybe they can figure out a way to combat this.

With the Bears, Bulls and Blackhawks when does baseball’s spring training start? 

Close Only Counts In Horseshoes and Hand Grenades

November 20, 2017

Just missed by that much! Sorry about that Bears, you need to be a little bit better to win these close games. Lapses in all phases of the game were costly. With each loss, Coach Fox gets closer to the launching pad.

Defense was back to normal when it comes to opponents' running game. However, that’s not good enough to beat the Lions. After the sack fumble of Matt Stafford he proceeded to pick apart the Bears with precision passes. He also had a lot of help from the Bears secondary. Marcus Cooper, he of the famed fumble at the one yard line after an interception was awful. On a third and fifteen from their own nine yard line he gave his man a huge cushion resulting in a 17 yard completion and a first down. Soon after he got beaten up top for a 26 yard touchdown. Albeit, Stafford does this to most teams.  There has been a recent trend where the Bears have had multiple chances at interceptions  without catching the ball. I thought this was only limited to the receivers.The defense did do a better job in holding them to 2 field goals in the second half.

The Bears offense looked the best it has all year in scoring 24 points which should be enough to win. With Jordan Howard leading the way they rushed for over 200 yards. However, the dumbness that defines the Bears crept in. The first dumb came after a first down run by Trubisky which was followed by Kyle Long’s unnecessary roughness penalty after the play. Instead of having the ball on the forty-two yard line it was at the twenty-seven. As a rookie quarterback, Trubisky is going to make mistakes. He mishandled the snap and Detroit ran it for a touchdown. Who knows if things might have been different without the penalty? Although the Bears responded with a nice touchdown drive, Detroit seemed to have woken up and scored 2 touchdowns before the half.

 In the second half, after a Detroit field goal, Trubisky led the team down field with the forgotten man, Tarik Cohen leaping for the tying touchdown. With less than 2 minutes the Bears defense stopped Detroit from scoring with no time left on the clock and forced them to settle for a field goal. Prater, one of the best kickers in the game connected on a 52 yard field goal. This set up dumb number two with the aforementioned Cohen. Taking the kickoff out five yards deep in the end zone to the 15. This cost the Bears ten yards and took time off the clock. The Bears could have used both. 

Even so, after his first and only sack, Trubisky has a 19 yard run on 4^th and 13.  He then completes a pass to Ingram setting up a 46 yard field goal attempt. Alas, Connor Barf missed badly. You’ll be happy to know that earlier today they cut him and signed a new kicker.

I read a column today by David Haugh of the Chicago Tribune, complaining about the troubles of Trubisky. Paraphrasing, he wrote if he had been better in the first 58 minutes they wouldn’t have needed Connor Barf heroics. On the other hand, he gave Barf a chance to tie the game. Regardless, Trubisky has improved and keeps getting better. If you’re looking at why the Bears win or mostly lose then you are watching for the wrong reason. The Bears are going nowhere, the only thing that matters is the growth of your franchise quarterback. 

If there's anything worse than the Bears, it's the Bulls.

November 17, 2017

I thought the Bears were bad. If there’s something worse, it is the Chicago Bulls. The highlight of the year is Bobby Portis punching out Nikola Mirotic. He wants to be traded which would be a good thing; the Bulls will get nothing in return. He did not receive many overtures as a restricted free agent. You have heard of addition by subtraction. With both guys sitting out, it let the Bulls start rookie Lauri Markkanen. He has been the only reason to watch this team. As a centerpiece of the rebuild he can shoot 3 pointers, rebound and continue to improve his defense. As good as he is now he should get better. Add to his game post up moves and he will be something special.

When the Bulls do home game introductions, the best player comes last. Butler, Rose, Jordan etc. Now, it’s Robin Lopez. What a comedown. He is a decent player and does an admirable job. However, I don’t think he figures into the rebuild process. In fact, most of the starters, with the exception of Markkanen, don’t figure in this process. Most are other team castoffs. Jerian Grant brings nothing to table. He is not a great assist man and can’t get open. He is proposed to be a good shooter who never gets up many shots.

Justin Holiday can play both guard and small forward, neither exceptionally well. My favorite thing about him is when said he couldn’t explain his 3 point shooting woes. He laughingly said they went in the preseason and shoot arounds. Here is a clue. They play defense in regular season NBA games.

From what I've seen the other starter is Zipser. A second round pick who does nothing extremely well. Occasionally his 3 pointer is going in and he plays some defense. What baffles me is how he starts ahead of first round draft choices Portis and Valentine.

Portis has played well in spots however he thinks he’s a number 2 guard launching long distance shots. In all the years he’s been on this team, it’s criminal he hasn’t been taught how to use his height and strength to be a low post threat. This combined with his outside shot could make him a much better player.

Here’s the rub. Evaluation and development is not the Bulls’ forte. They traded for lottery pick McDermott. One way or another it was bad evaluation, development or both. The pick of “no D.” Valentine looks like a bust. They traded for Dunn, a number 4 overall draft pick, and my confidence is low in him living up to his potential.

Coach Fred Hoiberg has a cushy job. Not being evaluated by wins and losses. He only needs to play hard and be competitive. The way they’re getting consistently blown away shows he can’t do that. He can now run his fast pace offense and spread the floor with 3 point shooters. Too bad you only have one that’s any good, and there’s no one that can drive the lane to kick the ball out to any open three point shooter. The fast pace only gives opponents more chances to score on the porous Bull defense.

The key to the Butler trade is supposed to be Zach LaVine. He is scheduled to be ready to play in December. Maybe with him and Dunn replacing Grant they can be better. Not! I can’t wait until next year’s draft, should be a high lottery pick.

Bears Lose to Packers, Again

November 13, 2017

Last time I wrote about the Bears the quandary was between the cup being ½ full or ½ empty. After this, it is completely empty. With a week off this team was still ill prepared. It was as if Brett Favre was the quarterback not Brett Hundley making his third professional start. However, Connor Barth converted three field goals over 40 yards. Too bad that is almost the only good thing that happened.

What had been a strength all year was the defense against the running game. The Packers gained 160 yards on the ground. Tyler Montgomery looked like Forrest Gump running untouched for a 37 yard touchdown run. The injury to Danny Trevathan was not why the defense was so bad. Toward the end, the Packers were down to their third string running back. They still gauged the Bears with long first down runs making it easier to get first downs and maintain possession.  Kyle Fuller reverted to his old self. On two occasions he had a chance for an interception. One would have been a great play, the other he just dropped. He also missed a tackle enabling the Packers to get a first down. He also got burned by two long passes where he didn’t turn his head around. This team needs turnovers to win.

All in all the Packers only scored 23 points. However, the Bears have scored 20 points only twice all year. Although Trubisky’s numbers sound good (21/35, 297 yards, 1 touchdown, 98 rating) he still is learning and making mistakes which is okay as long as he isn’t making them in week 17. He got sacked 5 times where he couldn’t get out of the pocket and throw the ball away. Which brings me to who may be the worst offensive coordinator in the league, Dowell Loggains. In the first series, Trubisky rolled out and completed a 31 yard pass to Shaheen. This play was never called again. Rolling out gives him a better chance to get rid of the ball when his receivers are covered, which is more often than not. Also calling a run on almost every first down may not be a good thing when the Packers have nine up waiting for Jordan Howard. After Jordan Howard gained 1 or no yards on first down the stupidity that creeps into every game occurs. False start penalties, making it second down and 15 yards is tough on any quarterback. This happens multiple times, as it did earlier this season.  When they do get a first down, a holding call negates that. One good thing is the new Bear receiver, Inman, caught 6 passes for 88 yards but couldn’t come down with the third and ten throw on the final drive.

However, speaking of stupidity, John Fox takes the cake. This game just about puts the nail in the coffin. You need a better coach and staff to develop prize possession, MitchTrubisky. That was a nice challenge. No one on the staff realizing the call could be a touchback giving the ball back to the Packers. The play is right in front of him on the scoreboard. He waits until 10 seconds on the play clock to throw his challenge flag. Just run up to the two yard and run a play. It didn’t look like the Packers were going to challenge. Fox has repeatedly said the Bears could have won these close games. Not as long as he is the coach.

To complete the stupidity that defines the Bears I have never seen a delay of game penalty on an extra point!

Classic World Series

November 11, 2017

It was a great World Series. The teams with best records in their respective leagues faced off against each other. Although I predicted the Dodgers to win I was rooting for the Astros to bring some cheer to a city ravaged by Hurricane Harvey. The major reason the Astros prevailed is that their stars (Springer, Bregman, Altuuve and Correa) were far superior to the Dodgers (Seager, Turner, Belllinger and Piug). I don’t think any had a batting average over .200. Despite this, the series went to seven games. Like the Cubs, the Astros went through many losing seasons while building a championship team. White Sox fans should be excited about them emulating these two teams' rebuilding.

Game 1- A classic pitching duel between Keuchel and Kershaw. With the score 1-1 after five innings, Justin Turner hit what turned out to be a winning 2 run homer. It would be the last you hear of Turner for the rest of the series.

Game 2- In another 1-1 game, Dodger manager Dave Roberts reaches into his Joe Maddon playbook and takes out pitcher Rich Hill after 4 innings after allowing only 1 run. The Dodgers were ahead 3-1 which included a 2 run homer from Chris Taylor. All was going well until reliever Brandon Morrow ran into trouble in the 8^th inning. Enter Jansen for a seven out save. He allows a run scoring single and moves on to the ninth inning. A lead-off home run to Gonzalez ties the game. Move on to the 10^th where Dodgers have to use bottom shelf reliever Josh Fields. Altuve and Correa hit back to back home runs for a two run lead. Dodgers respond with two runs, including a Piug homer to tie the game. In the 11^th Astros score two more runs off Brandon McCarthy. Dodgers get a two out home run from Culberson but no more as Astros win 7-6.

Game-3- 1. Yu Darvish, who had been dominant in the post season doesn’t make it past the second inning giving up 4 runs. The Dodgers repeatedly put men on base but couldn’t deliver big hits. They do score 3 runs and lose 5-3.

Game 4 – In another close game, Roberts waits until Wood gives up the tying run in the 6^th inning to go to his bullpen. This time Dodgers score 5 more runs and the bullpen does their job. Dodgers win 6-2.

Game 5 – This was one of the greatest games in World Series history. There were 3 comebacks from 3 run deficits. Aces Keuchel and Kershaw were gone before the 6^th inning. The Dodgers took an early 4-1 lead. This is usually enough for Kershaw but he gave up a 3 run homer to Gurriel to tie the game. In the 5th Cody Bellinger, who broke the record for strikeouts, gave the Dodgers the lead with a 3 run homer. In the bottom of the inning a 3 run homer by Altuve tied the score at seven. In the 7^th inning Springer played a single into a run scoring triple. He led off the bottom with a solo home run. The game is tied at 8. Later that inning against a worn out bullpen, Altuve hits an RBI double and Correa a 2 run homer, 11-8 Astros. The Dodgers get one run in the 8^th as do Dodgers, 12-9. Another 3 run deficit is erased when Dodgers come back behind a 2 run homer by Piug and RBI single from Culberson to tie the game at 12. The Astros win game in the bottom of the 10^th on RBI single from Bregman. Best game I’ve seen since Game 6 of 1975 when pinch hitter Bernie Carbo of Red Sox tied the Reds with 3 run homer forcing extra innings. Classic Carlton Fisk Fisk homer in the 11^th inning to force a game 7.

Game 6- Justin Verlander had been excellent, not losing a game in the post season. He was cruising with a one run lead into the sixth. The Dodgers scored 2 soft runs. There being no DH, he was pinch hit for, and out of the game. The Dodgers scored 1 more and a rested bullpen took over for a 3-1 Dodger victory.

Game 7- Too bad game seven wasn’t a better game. Once again, Darvish couldn’t make it out of the second. When Springer hits a 2 run homer to make it 5-0 it was all over for the Dodgers, who on multiple occasions couldn’t hit with men on base. 5-1 Astros.