Bad News Bears

 November 9, 2020

While watching the Bears game, my mind wandered to one of my favorite movies, Animal House. The analogy to this game is the scene where Katie asks Boone, "How was your party?" His response was, "We reached a new low." This summed up my feelings after Tennessee Titans cornerback, Desmond King scored a 63 yard touchdown after a David Montgomery fumble. The flip side of this was the mysterious play call of Coach Matt Nagy. The Bears were only a few yards from moving into field goal range. It was third down and 13 yards for a first. The Bears didn’t need a first down, they just needed to gain a few yards. Inexplicably, the play was a short sideline pass to Montgomery. Even if he doesn’t fumble, the play is a three yard loss. The Bears did end up scoring in what is typically known, as garbage time. Titans 24 Bears 17. Maybe you can take solace in Pat O’Donnell having a great day punting the football.

Against one of the worst defenses in the NFL, Nagy’s offense once again fell short of twenty points. With the fumble they gave away seven. The depletion of the offensive line negated the downfield passing game. On their first possession, with quick short throws, the Bears moved the ball to the Titans 41 yard line.  On fourth and 1, instead of a quarterback sneak, Nagy couldn’t resist running David Montgomery up the middle. The play lost two yards and the Bears turned the ball over on downs. Will Nagy ever learn? This play never works.

Statistically, Nick Foles had his best game. He completed 26 of 52 passes for 335 yards and two touchdowns. However, most of this was against the soft prevent defense of the Titans after they took a 17-0 lead. His only problem was getting sacked. In his defense, few QBs can avoid rushers who are in the backfield in less than 3 seconds. The Titans are the worst team allowing third down conversions. The Bears were 2 of 15. The running game continued to be non-existent. The Bears longest running play was linebacker Barkevioyus Mingo’s 11 yards on a fake punt. Montgomery had 14 carries for only 30 yards before leaving the game with a concussion. When it comes to installing a running game, I think Nagy is concussed. The only time I’ve seen Montgomery have a modicum of success is in the I-Formation, where he can follow the lead block by his backfield partner. This is especially prudent when the offensive line isn’t getting the job done. Unfortunately, Nagy rarely uses this formation.

On their first possession in the third quarter the Bears encountered a fourth down with inches to go for a first down. In their version of the Keystone Kops, they committed back to back illegal motion penalties to make it fourth and 10, forcing a punt. Another one of my favorite moments was first and goal from the Titans 5 yard line. The first play was what looked like a failed college option. Second down was obligatory Montgomery up the middle for two yards. The next was a batted down pass. None of these plays would have resulted in a touchdown. This is all on Nagy’s play calling.

The only bright spot was the defense, surrendering only17 points. They held Derrick Henry, the league's rushing leader to 68 yards on 21 carries. Take away his 25-yard run and he barely averages over two yards per carry. Titans QB Ryan Tannehill was ordinary.  He made a couple of big plays when needed. The Bears had tackling issues on some big Titan gains. However, the biggest problem is if the Bear defense doesn’t force takeaways, they lose. They have gone two games in a row without one.

Earlier I predicted the Bears would be lucky to win four games. I was wrong, as they have won five. I had hopes that they would have a good year. However, the playoffs are now a long shot and I see only two possible wins left on the schedule. By the way, the Cincinnati Bengals were without four starting offensive linemen and scored 31 points last week against the Titans.