Bears Optimism Fading Fast

October 22, 2018

I didn’t think the Chicago Bears would beat the New England Patriots. When the Bears scored their second touchdown, I thought maybe they could pull off an upset. However, it’s hard to overcome your special teams giving away fourteen points. So the Bears lose another game they should have won. Their record is now 3-3 and they’ve gone from first place to last in their division.

I think it would be prudent to sit Khalil Mack for the next game and have him healthy for the stretch run (if it matters). It seems he can’t push off his ankle to pass rush and his dropping into coverage resulted in one tackle. The defense was considered to be the strong suit before he arrived and should help them beat the lousy New York Jets and Buffalo Bills. If the Bears lose either one, I may be forced to watch Bulls basketball.

The defense on Sunday was not that bad when you consider New England was scoring 30 plus points and the Bears gave up only 24. New England opened the game with an easy touchdown drive. The defense then proceeded to force turnovers and some three and outs giving the offense great field position. The kick return turned the game around. Before the half was over, with no pass rush, Tom Brady had time to find wide open receivers and lead the Patriots on a 64 yard touchdown drive. The Bears trailed at halftime. They scored early in the third quarter to take a three point lead. Then the Bears had their only sack and forced the Patriots to settle for a field goal instead of  a touchdown tying the game. Then came the inexcusable blocked punt.  The biggest failure of the defense was not stopping the Patriots running game with three minutes left leaving the Bears with no time outs and only 30 seconds when they got the ball back.

The offense took advantage of the turnovers and field position provided by the defense. They had a field goal and two touchdowns on drives, the longest being 36 yards. Most of the offense came when quarterback Mitch Trubisky scrambled to avoid sacks.  At one point he had more yards than the Patriots team. His 8 yard reverse of the field touchdown was terrific- like a Dennis Savard Spin-o-Rama.

The reason the Bears lost were the two special teams gaffes. A blocked punt gave the Patriots a 7 point lead. The loss also had offensive guru Coach Matt Nagy’s fingerprints all over it. His quarterback had been inaccurate in the first half completing 9 passes in 20 attempts. He unbelievably calls 30 more pass plays, never trying to establish the run to make the passing game more effective. If you combine the run with a short passing game you can keep Brady and the Patriots offense off the field. On manageable third downs, he’s calling long bombs. He calls these 50-50 balls. However, most of these are never close enough for his receivers to make a catch. If you call 50-50 plays you  get receptions or knockdowns and/or interceptions. You watch Brady and see how the short passing game works. You can also look at your previous throws to Trey Burton. Throwing pass after pass, Trubisky is intercepted twice with the Bears only trailing by a touchdown.

The Bears do make a game of it. Trailing by a touchdown, Trubisky throws a hail Mary pass that’s caught by Kevin White at the one yard line. He doesn’t get into the end zone; game over. It infuriates me when people say they were only a yard away from tying the game. That play means nothing unless you have Trubisky as your fantasy quarterback.

 Pass happy Matt Nagy’s press conference was something to behold. He thought Trubisky played well. Completing 26 out 50 passes with two interceptions. His runs bring him up to only a C-. Nagy said he had some dropped balls. I counted three, which out of fifty is not that bad, He said nothing about the two dropped interceptions by the Patriots. I said it once, I’ll say it again: There is a big difference in having a big offensive playbook and calling the right plays.