Bears Find a Team That's Worse

November 25, 2019

One of my followers feels reading my posts on Chicago sports teams is depressing. He suggested I write about a global climate catastrophe. Since this may be a hoax, I will stick to the Bears. Last week I posted the Bears are a bad team. However, there are teams that are even worse. The New York Giants is one of these teams. In a game with low entertainment value, the Bears won 19-14. If you thought the Bears should have had an easier time, you haven’t been watching. The Bears have won 5 games. Four of those wins came against teams with a combined record of 10-33-1 record. The only victory against a winning team was game 4 against the Minnesota Vikings. Maybe Bear fans can take solace in the San Francisco Forty-Niners 37-8 drubbing of the Green Bay Packers Sunday night.

Many coaches have scripted the first 15-20 plays. This allows them to foresee what calls to make later. Bears coach, offensive guru Matt Nagy, has a script of 3 plays. The usual results are the Bears league leading three and outs. The Bears had only 3 first half points. With seconds remaining, the Bears kicker, Eddy Pineiro, reacted like he had made a Super Bowl winning kick from a whopping 26 yards out. The Bears trailed 7-3 at the half.

Bears quarterback Mitch Trubisky was both good and bad. He completed 25 of 41 passes for 278 yards. He had some completions gaining over 20 yards. The Bears got a break when the Giants kick-off went out of bounds to start the second half. With the ball at their 40 yard line, the Bears quickly scored on a 32 yard pass to Allen Robinson (6 catches, 131 yards). Khalil Mack forced a fumble, giving the ball to the Bears offense at the Giants 3-yard line. Nagy calls two runs up the middle for David Montgomery, netting one yard. When is this idiot coach going to learn? This hasn’t worked all year. Trubisky runs the ball in from two yards on a pass option play.

Next on the funniest thing since Curly of the Three Stooges running while dropping banana peels, was the Bears extra point. Lining up for a two point conversion, a completion was negated by a penalty.  Lining up for the extra point kick, the coaching staff sends a 12^th man on the field costing them another five yards. This made the extra point try coming from 48 yards. Being way out his range, Pineiro misses the try. The Bears would return to normal, scoring no points the rest of the game.

The defense gave up a 92 yard scoring drive, keeping the Giants hopes alive. The Giants scored a touchdown on a 23 yard pass on 4^th and 16.  Inexplicably, the receiver was uncovered in the end zone. This points to another coaching problem. If the pass rush isn’t working, why not blitz, especially a rookie QB?

The Bears would eventually win thanks to the Giants having a worse field goal kicker than Pineiro. Aldrick Rosas missed 2 field goals. The Giants would have scored 20 points. Matt Nagy’s offense,for the 17^th time in 28 games, failed to score 20 points.

Up next is the Detroit Lions. The Bears may win this one, but after that it will get ugly.

Bears Worse Than Mediocre

November 18, 2019

Came home from a Blackhawks game for a late night viewing of a recorded Bears game. I would have  been better off going to bed, as the script remained the same. The Bears lost to the L.A. Rams 17-7. The Bears continue to lose to mediocre teams. This can only mean that they are just plain bad.  The players and more so coaches shoulder the blame.

We’ll start with the offense. Even if Eddy Pineiro hits his field goals, guru coach Matt Nagy’s offense failed to reach 20 points for the 16th time in 27 games. Problems in running the football are partially due to the coaching.  In past games, David Montgomery has looked good with a fullback leading the way. I may have been blurry eyed but I don’t recall seeing this formation once. Montgomery is not in the weak Big 12 college football conference anymore. He seems to have no vision and isn’t quick to the line. He averaged less than three yards per carry. Contrast this to Tarik Cohen who averaged over 4. It didn’t help that Nagy called a run on almost every first down.

QB Mitch Trubisky didn’t look too bad. He also had his usual struggles. Nagy’s first down calls were setting up 2nd and long for first downs. Trubisky was able overcame this to put the Bears in field goal position. Pineiro missed badly on a 47 yard attempt. Nagy, who weekly loses more trust in his players, eschewed the field goal from the same spot on the next possession. He later let Pineiro try from 48 yards. While the first one was wide left, this was way off to the right.  This led to the Bears being shut out in the first half.

Trubisky looked really good and directed an 80-yard touchdown drive on the Bears first second half possession. After that, the Bears reverted to their three and outs. Nagy, who had no trouble calling first down runs, lost faith in his running game and was sending in pass plays in short yardage situations.  My favorite was the pitch option that Trubisky completely botched.

Last year the defense was scoring on takeaways or setting up short scoring drives. The 17 points they gave up Sunday were good. However, this year’s team needs to limit opponent offenses to 12 points.  There were a couple of unexpected glaring weaknesses. Cornerback Kyle Fuller let a pick- 6 interception go right through his hands. He also made a bad decision in coverage that led to the decisive touchdown. Making matters worse, Khalil Mack is akin to finding Waldo.  He has been invisible as of late. The Bears figured out how to stop running back Todd Gurley. Rams erratic QB, Jarrod Goff, was forced to pass and had no pressure on any of his throws. I’m not sure if the absence of Akiem Hicks is the problem. It is inexcusable for Mack and Leonard Floyd not to have any tackles.

The Bears Harry Hiestand is supposed to an excellent offensive line coach. If so, why can’t he teach them how to block on a running play? Maybe they need to reconstruct the offensive line. Eddy Pineiro has joined the likes of Cody Parkey, Connor Barth and Cairo Santos. Since Robbie Gould’s departure the Bears have missed 19 field goals. In that same time span Gould has missed only 3.  Bears have no first round pick to draft a quarterback. Therefore, with their second pick they should choose the best college kicker. Availability will not be a problem.        

A Hollow Victory

November 11, 2019

The Chicago sports scene is dire. Despite the dismal starts of the Bulls and Blackhawks, I find them more entertaining to watch than the disappointing Chicago Bears. Don’t get me wrong, I’m overjoyed they found a team worse than them, beating the Detroit Lions 20-13. However, even in victory, the problems that have plagued the Bears continue to persist.

If the Lions starting quarterback, Matt Stafford, wasn’t injured, the Lions would have won this game. While also missing their two best running backs, Stafford was replaced by Jeff Driskel. Driskel was drafted in the sixth round in 2016 and had started only 5 games. The Bears defense seems to have lost their mojo.  On their first possession the Lions easily moved the ball downfield to the Bears 10 yard line. The Bears held them to a field goal. For the remainder of the game, Driskel continued to make plays. Without Akiem Hicks, the running defense has suffered. The Lions were getting 4-5 yards on first down running plays. Luckily for the Bears, inexperienced quarterbacks have trouble with consistency and Driskel wasn’t able to always come up with first downs. On another possession in the first half the Bears stymied the Lions in Bear territory. On a third down, the Lions committed a 5 yard penalty. Coach Matt Nagy, who has lost confidence in his team, declined the penalty. The Lions Matt Prater kicked a 54 yard field goal to put the Lions up 6-0. For the most part Driskel eluded the Bears pass rush and completed 27 of 46 passes for 269 yards, more than the Bears total offense. Even with a 14 point lead the Bears defense wasn’t applying pressure.

The Bears offense continued to struggle. The Lions are ranked 31st in total defense and 31st against the pass. Until the final drive of the second half, the Bears had a total of 29 yards with a plethora of three and outs resulting in punts. The offense finally clicked on an 80 yard drive, capped by a 27 yard touchdown pass to tight end Ben Braunecker. On their first possession of the second half, passes to Allen Robinson and a pass interference at the 10 yard line set up a Mitch Trubisky touchdown pass to Tarik Cohen. An interception by linebacker Nick Kwiatkoski, replacing injured Danny Trevathan, put the ball on the Lions 25 yard line. Trubisky connected with Taylor Gabriel for a 24 yard touchdown pass. That was it for the Bears offense, as it reverted to the three and outs. The Bears scored only a lowly 20 points. The only team they scored over 21 points against was the Washington Redskins, who like the Lions, are a bad defensive team

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The Bears had a chance to ice the game running out the clock out with two minutes left. Good luck with that. The hand-offs to Montgomery were as usual, unsuccessful. (I don’t know why Nagy hasn’t figured out they can run the ball with a fullback in the backfield with Montgomery). Nagy has lost so much confidence in his offense; on third down with the Lions having nine people on the line, he chose not to pass. Another punt gave the Lions a chance and they came up just short at the Bears 25 yard line when an incomplete pass in the end zone ended the game.

For those of you who think the Bears can turn things around, there are some swamp lands in Florida you may be interested in. After Sunday night’s game in Los Angeles against the Rams, you can turn off the lights on the Bears’ season. So come on Bulls and Blackhawks, make me feel better.

P.S. Baseball starts March 26th

Just One More Thing

November 5, 2019

I inadvertently deleted this juicy takeaway from Bears Eagles game. Rather than edit the column, here is the juicy take away I missed.

The defense should have gotten some rest at halftime. However, the Eagles took the second half kickoff 75 yards. The drive was capped off with former Bear running back, Jordan Howard, running 13 yards untouched for a touchdown. On the day, Howard had 19 carries for 82 yards. Howard’s downturn last year was due to Nagy not knowing how to install a running game into hiss pass happy offense. He still hasn’t figured it out. The return on the Howard trade was an inconsequential sixth round pick. Unbelievable!

Speaking of former Chicago athletes, I recently watched the Detroit Pistons Derrick Rose. The Bulls did not pursue Rose and bring him back as a free agent. Rose at age 31 and healthy is better than any guard on the Bulls roster.  John Paxon and Gar Forman should leave town and take Nagy with them.

Bears Getting Tougher to Watch as Playoff Hopes Slip Away

November 4, 2019

The Chicago Bears were historically bad, losing their fourth straight game to the beatable Philadelphia Eagles, 22-14. In what was one of the most hyped seasons, the Bears have collapsed. I can’t see them winning many more games and they could finish 5-11. The two more wins ensure that beleaguered coach Matt Nagy will be back next year. This may sound like a broken record but General Manager Ryan Pace should take most of the blame.

The Bear defense has gone from great to good. As opposed to last year, you don’t see takeaways or wreaking havoc on quarterbacks. For most of the year I’ve blamed the bumbling offense keeping the defense on the field, to the point of exhaustion. However, the Eagles carved up the defense on their first possession with a long, time consuming drive. This was aided by stupid, off-sides penalties on the Bears. The Bears did hold them to a field goal as they would on another drive. Meanwhile, the offense was keeping the defense on the field with multiple three and outs. The Eagles lone, first half touchdown came when Eagle tight end Zach Ertz ran into cornerback Kyle Fuller getting open for a touchdown reception. Fuller argued for a penalty, but nine times out of ten this isn’t called.

David Montgomery has looked good with a fullback in front in a two back formation. Why does Nagy more often line up Montgomery as a single back where he gains one to three yards? Has Matt Nagy given up developing quarterback Mitch Trubisky? He shows no confidence in him or his offense. Not running another play prior to Eddy Pineiro’s missed field goal; not trying two point conversions; not going for a first down on a fourth down and six yards to go at the Eagles 44 yard line. Why can’t Nagy see that Trubisky is terrible from the pocket? He rolls out and completes a 53 yard pass to Taylor Gabriel and this play is never called again. The Bears did score twice in the red zone, albeit with the obligatory call of Tarik Cohen up the middle losing a yard. With a grand total of 14 points Nagy’s offense has now scored less than 20 points for the 14^th time in 25 games.

I think it’s safe to say Trubisky is a bust. Pace first round picks have been pathetic. 2015 Kevin White (out of football), Leonard Floyd who shows up once in a while, and 2018 regressing Roquan Smith. Add his hiring of Nagy and he should be launched, but it’ not going to happen. The only positive to all of this is the Bears will have a soft schedule next year.