Na Na Na Na Na Na Hey Hey Goodbye

December 16, 2019

There are two meaningless games left in the Bears disappointing 2019 season. Losing 21-13 to the Green Bay Packers has ended their playoff quest. However, the Bears were essentially eliminated after back to back losses to the lowly L.A. Chargers and Philadelphia Eagles. Think how much better you would feel if the Bears record was 9-5 not 7-7. For good measure, you can also look back to a costly loss against the Oakland Raiders.

The anguish from the Packers game came in the first quarter. The Bears had a fumble recovery on a punt at midfield. In one of the worst calls I’ve seen the Bears were penalized with a personal foul for interference. This gave the ball back to the Packers at the Bear 35 and from there they easily scored to take a 7-0 lead. Instant replay was installed to make sure the calls made on the field were correct. A personal foul is not reviewable. The refs have made a plethora of egregious calls over the past few years.  Here’s hoping at the next owners meeting they look at making more questionable calls reviewable.  I’m sure the networks televising the games wouldn’t mind the extra ad revenue for the delays.

The main reason for this disastrous season has been the offense. Sunday’s game was no different. Once again offensive guru Coach Matt Nagy’s offense failed to score 20 points. In seven games they have scored 16 or less points. In the two games against the Packers they have scored only one touchdown. Sunday the Bears had their highest yard output of the season but failed to score after drives that stalled in the Packers red zone, resulting in field goals. QB Mitch Trubisky had 29 completions in 53 attempts for 348 yards. Allen Robinson and Anthony Miller each had over 100 receiving yards.  The running game is pathetic. All year long I’ve watched David Montgomery have positive yardage in the “I” formation. Not once were the Bears lined up that way. Montgomery had 14 carries for a measly 39 yards. On one possession with four yards needed, Nagy inexplicably called two Montgomery runs for no gain. Trubisky has a knack for being good and prefers a moving pocket. Nagy rarely called a roll-out play although they worked. Play calling wasn’t the only problem. Nagy challenged a play; Packer running back Demonte Jones running out of bounds on his touchdown run. It wasn’t even close. So after burning one time-out, he couldn’t afford to challenge a close call when Robinson was ruled out of bounds at the one-yard line

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Overall, the defense was pretty good. After allowing a score on a brief drive they fell apart on two long touchdown drives. It seems the Packers always get receivers wide open. With no pressure, Packers QB Aaron Rodgers has no problem completing passes. By the way, there’s an APB out for Khalil Mack.  They ended up giving up only 21 points. They also completely stopped the Packer offense in the fourth quarter. The offense got the ball back a couple of times, once at the Bears 40-yard line. However, in a microcosm of the season, the Bears offense couldn’t capitalize on these opportunities.

I never thought the Bears would win their last three games to reach the playoffs. Even if they did win all three, they were going to need some help. One thing needed was the Rams losing two games. The Rams were upset by the Dallas Cowboys. There is a good chance they will lose again against the San Francisco Forty-Niners. The other was the Minnesota Vikings losing one game, which could happen against the Packers. Alas, if the Bears were only 9-5 it would a much different scenario.