Bad News Bears

December 17, 2017

After a week of excitement for beating a bad Cincinnati Bengals team, reality came back in Detroit. This was one of the most boring games I’ve ever watched. The only exciting play was Tarik Cohen’s 90 yard kick-off return. Alas, it was called back on one of the Bears 13 penalties. Speaking of Cohen, he continues to make bad decisions when coming out of the end zone. In the other three returns he gained only 26 yards. His decision on where and when to field punts is even worse. The final score 20-10 came without lame duck coach John Fox blowing a challenge call.  However, his fingerprints are all over this loss.

Lions quarterback Matt Stafford had a pedestrian outing. He did complete 25-33 passes for 237 yards. That doesn’t sound bad although if you subtract the 4 sacks for losses, the net yardage is only 202. Sort of like net carbs when you subtract the fiber. How did he put up points?  Bear defensive penalties especially on third downs. The defense was good holding them to two field goals in their first three possessions. One of these scoring drives came after another third down penalty. The Bears got the ball back and were at their 45 yard line when the stupidity of John Fox took over. Tell me if you heard this before? Fourth and 1, your team is 4-9 and you punt. You have one of the best running backs and don’t think he can get three feet?  Detroit gets the ball back. Following an 8 yard penalty, on third down of course, creates anther Lions first down. Next they are staring at third down and 18 for a first down. After escaping the rush, Stafford fires downfield. In one of rookie Eddie Jackson’s worst plays this season he allows the reception. It was a remarkable catch but was defensible. The defense did cause a fumble at the end of the half that the Bears converted to a field goal. Halftime Lions 13 Bears 3.

Last time the Bears played the Lions they had 222 yards rushing. Now I agree you want Trubisky to throw more often but not 46 times. The Bears totally abandoned the run which would have benefited the passing game. For the geniuses calling the plays, what about hand offs out of the shotgun? I also didn’t see much play action. Trubisky has had success rolling to his right. The Bears call one roll out all day, albeit to his left, hence,one an interception. Lions go 41 yards for the touchdown, 20-3. Trubisky wasn’t all that bad making some good throws. The one I loved was when Cohen got tackled after two yards inside the bears 7. Two more penalties put them near the goal line where he completes a 22 yard pass for a first down. Penalty after penalty continued to stall the offense. Trubisky completed long conversions for first downs, but as fate would have it he throws a pick in the end zone going up the middle. Where have I seen that before? As usual, some passes that should have been caught weren’t and the receivers had trouble getting open.

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I sound like a broken record. There is not much else left to say; this is just a very bad team with an even worse coach. As a show of solidarity of what is sure to be no shows at next eek's game, I will skip my Bear reports until the firing of John Fox and what needs to be done for next year. Before the year I predicted the Bears would 5-11. This looks spot on.