Monday, October 21, 2019

Bears Lay an Egg and Destroy Playoff Hopes


October 21, 2019
Sunday afternoon was a great day. I was sitting in a Soldier Field sky box to celebrate my godson/nephew’s 40th birthday. Surrounded by family and friends, these are the days I live for. Not even the Bears sour play could diminish what a wonderful day this was. 

If I had watched this game at home, I would have gone berserk. It was a must win game against an undermanned New Orleans Saints team. This was the Bears worst performance in Coach Matt Nagy’s tenure. In one of my very first posts, I wrote that Nagy was a bad choice. He was hired because he was the first interviewee to say yes to a low ball offer. 

Never in the future do I want to read any reference to Nagy receiving Coach of the Year honors. Without the defense he's a .500 coach at best. He was supposed to develop quarterback Mitch Trubisky who has regressed from last year. He continues to run a pass happy offense with an inconsistent (or bad, take your pick) QB. Trubisky is a good passer for six or fewer yards, unless he needs that distance on third down. He woefully missed wide open receivers downfield. Trubisky threw a career high 54 passes against the Saints. He did pad his stats during garbage time against a second string defense. Take away the points the Bear score  without defensive help and you will see how anemic Nagy's offense has been.. 

Nagy has talked about improving the running game. He has had 23 games and still can’t figure it out. They ran the ball seven times for a measly 17 yards. There was a stretch in the first half where he called passes on 23 of 28 plays. The running game is very vanilla with no misdirection plays. The offensive line can't open any holes. When the game is close like the first half was, you can’t give up the running game. It didn’t help when Anthony Miller fumbled, leading to a Saints TD and a 9-0 Saints lead.

The lone highlight for the Bears was Cordarrelle Patterson’s 102 yard kickoff return to cut the lead to two points. With the offense so bad, I don’t care if kickoffs are in the end zone, he should return them. The teams traded field goals and things went downhill from there. On the Bears first possession of the second half, running back David Montgomery fumbled leading to a Saints touchdown. With the lead 19-10, that pretty much sealed the Bears fate. Thanks partially to a terrible offense, the defense caved in.

The Bears had multiple 3 and out possessions. By the end of the third quarter the Saints had the ball 30 minutes, the Bears 15. The pass rush was slowed down, recording only one sack. The secondary was exhausted, giving up huge pass receptions. Would they be better under former defensive coordinator Vic Fangio? New defensive coach Chuck Pagano is said to be more aggressive than Fangio. So, if the down lineman aren’t getting to the quarterback, why not send in another pass rusher? Things couldn’t have been worse. The Bears offense may waste a good defense even with Akiem Hicks injured.

There are ten games left and no answers for the offensive problems. In a season that began with Super Bowl expectations, the Bears probably miss out on the playoffs.  Nagy is signed for three more years and I see no evidence that he will ever be a good coach. The Bears traded away next year’s first round pick in the trade for Mack. Therefore, they can’t replace Trubisky until the 2021 draft. I think in my next post, we’ll get away from Chicago sports and look at the World Series, which should be very good viewing.

2 comments:

  1. Saw the post Hannah made from the suite and it looked like an amazing experience. Interesting thought about Patterson returning kicks regardless of ball position. He seemed to be the MVP on Sunday. Didn't he recover one of the onside kicks as well? Special teams had an impressive game squandered by Mitch's inability to see the field and make the open throws accordingly. Great insight on a game I wasn't able to fully watch Barry!

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