Just Another Ugly Loss

 

December 21, 2021

The national television audience was treated to another debacle from the Bears. The Minnesota Vikings mediocrity was enough to beat the Bears 17-9. The game was not this close as the Bears scored a touchdown with no time left on the clock. The Bears season continues to unravel as they have lost 8 of their last 9 games. The future doesn’t look any better, although it can’t be much worse.

Without the conciliatory touchdown, offensive guru Matt Nagy’s offense scored only three points. His play calling was conservative and predictable. Once again the play calls were not tailored to rookie quarterback, Justin Fields strengths. Reaching the red zone 5 times, scoring 9 points is unacceptable. The one example that shows the Bears ineptitude comes when they have first and goal from seven yards out. Every time the first play is David Montgomery up the middle for no gain. Montgomery once again had a few good runs but as usual a bunch of bad ones. The Bears seem to be the only that can’t pick a first down when they only need one yard. The Bears did convert on a fourth down and 1 on a pass. The next time the situation arose, with confusion on the field Nagy should have called a time-out. The pass play got stuffed and the Bears turned the ball over on downs. A good team runs the ball and rarely has a problem picking up a first down in these situations. This shows Nagy’s lack of confidence in his running game

Justin Fields looked like he regressed in his development. This due in part to Nagy’s play calling. His biggest fault is holds on to the ball too long. He will learn it’s better to get rid of the ball, instead of trying to make plays. Fields at times can elude tacklers however, many times he gets sacked for big loses. I have not lost confidence that Fields will be an elite quarterback.  Rookie tackle Teven Jenkins got his first start. He got called for holding on the Bears first play after Montgomery gained nine yards. He played pretty well after that. He did get an unsportsmanlike conduct penalty when he took exception on a brutal but legal hit on Fields. The only problem I have is that the other players were nowhere to be found as he was surrounded by Vikings

The Vikings came into the game with an explosive offense. The Bears had all second tier players in the secondary. A secondary can look real good if the quarterback is being pressured. The return of Akiem Hicks and the continued strong play of Robert Quinn and Raquan Smith resulted in five sacks. With constant pressure they held Vikings quarterback Kirk Cousins to only 87 yards passing. All-star receiver Justin Jefferson only had 4 catches. Hicks presence also helped the Bears keep Vikings running back, Dalvin Cook in check. Despite their good play the defense made two costly 15 yard penalties on third downs during the Vikings last touchdown drive. The killer was an unsportsmanlike conduct after the whistle. This was just plain stupid. It’s very likely that Hicks won’t be back next year.

With the Bears now 4-10 rest assured Nagy is gone.  Therefore, the new chant at sporting events should be fire Ryan Pace. The Bears have to find a new person to oversee football operations. This person hires a new GM and they get together to hire a new coach. Next year the offensive playbook should be designed as what works best for Fields.

 

 

 

Another Sunday Night Fiasco

 

December 13, 2021

 

The Bears had some explosive plays in the first half to jump ahead of the Green Bay Packers. The Bears led 24-14 following a 97 yard punt return for a touchdown. It only took 47 seconds for Rodgers & Co. to close the gap. The Bears ended the half up 27-21. The Packers outscored the Bears 24 to 3 in the second half, leading to a 45-30 victory. Aaron Rogers still owns the Bears, passing for 341 yards with 4 touchdowns. The defense which was stout at the beginning fell apart in the second half. At least there were no headset malfunctions.

 

The offense scored 20 points and a touchdown on special teams. I can’t remember the last time the Bears scored 27 points in a game, let alone a half. Justin Fields was good and bad. He hooked up with Jakeem Grant for a 46 yard touchdown. Later he stared down his receiver and was intercepted by Rusal Douglas who ran it in for a touchdown giving the Packers a 14-10 lead. However, Fields came right back with a beautifully thrown pass to Damiere Byrd for a 54 yard touchdown. With less than two minutes in the half, Grant scored his second touchdown on a punt he should have never caught near his goal line. Rodgers countered with a touchdown pass to a wide open Davante Adams. It seems the Packers frequently have wide open receivers when they play the Bears. Fields engineered a nifty short drive to set up a Cairo Santos field goal. It was all downhill after that.

 

Once again the defense faltered, surrendering 45 points. Whether running or passing the Bear defense was totally ineffective. GM Ryan Pace has gutted the defense which keeps getting worse. There are major injuries but like the offense there is no depth. The Bears have many holes to fill on both sides of the ball. They will probably be without Allen Robinson and Akiem Hicks next year. 

 

The Bears can’t go a game without coaching blunders. Just because you are leading, doesn’t mean you don’t make halftime adjustments. The offensive guru’s offense was completely discombobulated and they didn’t score until the end of the fourth quarter. Contrast this to the Packers who made adjustments as early as the first quarter after sacks and pressure on Rodgers. The most important thing for the Bears is to protect Fields. One adjustment they could have made was adding a blocker to help out rookie lineman Trevor Jenkins. He was getting beaten all night. This caused Fields to be hit from the blind side and fumble. This led to an easy Packer touchdown from 25 yards out. Fields ran the ball well to keep from getting sacked and hit less often. Nagy failed to call any roll-outs, insisting they run his offense which has never worked. They had some play action which only works if you’ve established the run. The coup de grace is Nagy opting to punt on fourth down with inches to go, down eleven with a little over 8 minutes left. This shows he has little faith in his offense to convert this. It’s not as bad a play if your defense is playing well. Watching his defense, what the hell was he thinking?  

Just Pathetic

 

·         

 

December 6, 2021

 

The Arizona Cardinals have the best record in the National Football League. With returning starters, quarterback Kyler Murray and wide receiver DeAndre Hopkins, they faced offed against the injury depleted Chicago Bears. The Cardinals took advantage of four interceptions to pummel the Bears 34-22. This game was not even close as this lopsided victory. The Bears got a consolation touchdown against a soft Cardinal defense up 34-14 with three minutes left. In what epitomizes the Bear season, on fourth down and twelve the Cardinals were penalized for roughing the punter. On the ensuing play, Andy Dalton threw his third interception. Before I go on, the let me dispel the notion that there is no such thing as Bear weather.

 Aside from the consolation touchdown, offensive guru Matt Nagy’s offense put up 14 points. Andy Dalton threw four interceptions. While excuses abound he was responsible for three. The first was a sickly thrown ball on which the receiver had to contort his body to make the catch. Instead he tipped the ball to a Cardinal defender. The fact that he tipped it was pretty amazing. The second was not Dalton’s fault. Down 7-0, the Bears were on a scoring drive. A completion to tight end Cole Kmet would have given the Bears a first down at the Cardinal 10 yard line. However, Kmet lost control and the ball fell into the hands of a Cardinal defenseman who ran it back to the Bears 15 yard line. It took no time at all for Murray to scamper nine yards to a 14-0 Cardinal lead. The excuse for the third interception was the ball was tipped. The ball was thrown by Dalton so the tip is his fault. There was no excuse for the fourth one. I often criticize David Montgomery but I thought he had his best game of the year. He had 21 carries for 90 yards and there were more nice runs than the three or less variety. They finally used his pass catching ability as he had five receptions for 51 yards.

 I hark back to when Nagy proclaimed if healthy, “Dalton is the starter. The next day he announced Fields would start over a healthy Dalton. It’s a bold face lie when he says he made the decision himself and not that somebody above him told to start Fields. Another recurring problem is the Bears never make half time adjustments. Just look at how many times they get shut out in the third quarter. The Bears offense rankings are in or near the bottom in every category. However, they do lead the league in headset malfunctions.

 It saddens me that the Bears defense is no longer their calling card. You can’t put too much blame on them as most of the Cardinal scoring drives were from less than thirty yards out. Break downs and tackling are two consistent problems. With the exception of Detroit, they are allowing 30 points per game. In years past, they were able to make opponents settle for field goals which they did only twice against the Cardinals.

 As a glutton for punishment, I will still watch. It doesn’t matter if they win or lose, it’s all about the development of Justin Fields. Last week I said the Bears would not win another game this year. Then I see the Minnesota Vikings lose to the Detroit Lions. Can the Vikings be as bad as the Bears? Next up is nationally televised night game against Green Bay. The Bears are usually abysmal in prime time and are sure to lose. I don’t understand that NBC has the option to show another game and are staying with this stinker.

Bears Struggle to Beat Hapless Lions

 

November 25, 2021

It would have been extremely embarrassing if the Bears had lost to the winless Detroit Lions. A Cairo Santos field goal with no time left lifted the Bears to a 16-14 win. The Bears would not have beaten any other NFL team. The Bears may not have won this game if the Lions best offensive player, running back D’Andre Swift didn’t get hurt in the second quarter. He may have been helpful on the Lions last possession. They were on the 50 yard line and without Swift they went to the passing game. Three consecutive holding penalties put them back to the 20 yard with a third down and 32 yards for a first down.

There are times watching football you may you see things you have never seen before. The Lions also had a third and 32 in the first half; Bears Coach Matt Nagy won a challenge. I can’t remember him winning any others. Something else I’ve never seen before is a delay of game penalty for two time outs without a play in between. 

This may sound like a broken record, but once again offensive guru Nagy’s offense scored less than 20 points. It’s hard to imagine this when your quarterback throws for over 300 yards. The Bears seem to be allergic to touchdowns. They move the ball into the red zone and become very vanilla. They always seem to settle for field goals. Throwing an interception in the end zone doesn’t help matters either. The only reason they had the one touchdown pass is that the man covering Graham had the ball slip right through his hands. The Bears didn’t get much from the running game. In Nagy’s tenure they have never been able convert in short yardage situations.  Third down or fourth down conversions with 2 yards are never successful. A good coach would figure it out after four years. David Montgomery averaged a measly 2.9 yards per carry. He had many runs that lost yardage. This is partly due to a bad offensive line. However, I have never seen Montgomery try to bump a run outside a pile of bodies up the middle.  

It was easy for the defense to stop this team.  The Lions don’t have many offensive weapons. They also committed 11 penalties, many of them holding on the offense. Bears linebacker Robert Quinn Jr. has been terrific and could be the comeback player of the year. The only bad news is the Bears best defensive player Roquan Smith left the game with a hamstring injury.

The Bears snapped a five 5 game losing streak with this victory. They will probably have a longer streak by losing their last 6 games. Matt Nagy is certain to be gone the Monday after the final game if not sooner. The Bears will also need to dump General Manager Ryan Pace. He has made multiple mistakes and they can’t afford him to stick around to pick a coach. John Fox and now Nagy will be gone before their contracts run out. Owner George McCaskey and team President Ted Phillips are responsible for
bringing them back for this year. I can’t believe they would be stupid enough not to make these changes.

Monstrosities of the Midway

 

 

 

November 22, 2021

 Winnable games? Give me a break. The Baltimore Ravens were without former MVP quarterback Lamar Jackson. They also had multiple players out due to injuries. The Bears lost their fifth in a row 16-13. Coach Matt Nagy and General Manager have turned this once proud franchise into a joke. There are problems in all facets of the game. Having too many men on the field and a blocked punt are inexcusable. I see Nagy on the sideline wearing a visor, so maybe his brain freezes.

 Once again offensive guru Matt Nagy’s offense didn’t score a first half touchdown and less than 20 total points. The disaster started when their first play was quarterback run. I liked the idea but you don’t show it on the first play or for that matter any first down. A major drawback is Fields gets hit enough on pass plays due to an ineffective offensive line.

 Fields was having an off day and the play calls were not tailored to his strengths. There were zero roll-outs or boot legs and only one play action pass. The Bears also don’t know how to score touchdowns. Nagy’s calls in the red zone are pathetic. Third and five at the Ravens 22 yard line he calls for a forward pitch to the running back, this play goes horizontally. Someone has to tell Nagy you want to go vertical. The Ravens have one of the worst pass defenses in the league and are apt to give up big gains. However, the Bears didn’t exploit this until late in the game. Running back David Montgomery had his typical game. He had four runs for 39 yards and ten other carries for only 19 yards, less than two per carry. Andy Dalton replacing Fields had two touchdown passes, the second as he changed the play call. This gave the Bears a 13-9 lead. Nagy inexplicably burned a time-out deciding to go for a 1 or 2 point conversion. Either way you get beaten by a Ravens touchdown. The Bears went for two and didn’t converThe defense was on the field for 39 minutes. This is still no excuse for letting an undrafted second year quarterback lead his team 72 yards for the winning score in less than two minutes. This was worse than last week when the Steelers only needed a field goal not a touchdown to win. The fateful drive was when the awful Kindle Vildor was called for a twenty yard pass interference. The Ravens were still 50 yards and all the Bear had to do was to keep the ball in front of them and not allow a big play. However, blown coverage on two pass plays gave the Ravens first and goal at the 4 yard line. At this point the Bears could have called a time out to leave some time to come back for a game tying field goal. However, the bumbling Nagy had burned all three time outs. This wasted a seven sack game in which Robert Quinn Jr. and Roquan Smith excelled.

 Teams usually don’t fire coaches during the season. This doesn’t mean it can’t be done. The Bears hierarchy has ample evidence to show this would be a time to do it. The main objective was to develop and protect the franchise QB. Fields hampered by Nagy’s offense stunted his growth and he also left the game with bruised ribs. In four days they play the Detroit Lions, who are poised to get their first victory of the year. I don’t want to hear that this a winnable game.

The Good the Bad and the Ugly

 

November 17, 2021

The Chicago Bears have dominated my recent posts. With this being their bye week, I thought I would write about other happenings in the world of sports.

It’s been a lot of fun watching the Bulls. V.P. of Basketball Operations, Arturas Karnisovas with the help of GM Marc Eversley have completely revamped the Bulls roster. There are only two players left since they have been in charge. With their wheeling and dealing they have put together a playoff team.

It started last year when they traded for all-star center Nikolas Vucevic. He was acquired to be another scorer to help Zach LaVine. Whatever you may think, LaVine is prolific scorer. Things didn’t go smoothly as they didn’t have time to learn about each other, especially with LaVine being injured at the end of the year.

The Bulls biggest need was at point guard as Lavine was turning the ball over on a consistent basis. The Bulls pulled off a sign and trade deal acquiring Lonzo Ball. A think first passer, he has been excellent at running the offense and leads the team
in assists per game. He has been working on his shot and scored 27 points with six three pointers in the Bulls rout of the Lakers. At 6’ 5” he is also excellent defensively. They also acquired former all-star Demar Derozan who leads the team in scoring with 26.9 points per game.

The Bulls have also been one of the best defensive teams holding opponents to a little under 103 points per game. Led by newcomer Alex Caruso they have been creating turnovers and wreaking havoc for their opponents. Caruso got the main assignment of guarding Paul George, one of league’s best guards. George did score 27 points but he shot 7/25.

Coach Billy Donovan deserves a lot of credit. The team has bought in to his fast paced offense and his defensive schemes. The Bulls are 10-4, winning 2 of 3 on the current 5 game road stand. This is without Vucevic who had his best game before testing positive for COVID-19.  Finishing the west coast swing 3-2 would be good, 4-1 would be outstanding.

 There are still many players in sports who are not getting vaccinated.  Not only are they in danger of catching the virus, they can pass it on to teammates and opponents. The most prominent of these players is Green Bay Packers MVP quarterback, Aaron Rodgers.

When asked if he was vaccinated, Rodgers said yes and added he was immunized to the virus. Turns out he was lying, insinuating that he been vaccinated. He never followed any safety protocols such as wearing a mask. He went on explain it is a personal choice for every individual. Not so when you can infect others. He made false statements claiming the vaccines are not proven to be effective and can cause infertility, both wrong. I used to love watching him play and will still watch hoping he and the Packers start losing.

The more disturbing story is the Chicago Blackhawks cover up of sexual abuse
accusations. Since there was nothing more important than winning the Stanley Cup, the Hawks didn’t address this matter until three weeks later. It took ten years and an investigation when the law firm of Jenner & Block released their findings. Former Blackhawks video coach Brian Aldrich pleaded guilty. He had to register as a sex offender as well. There were many men who were complicit in the cover up. Two were GM Stan Bowman and Coach Joel Quenneville.  Bowman and Quenneviille both resigned from their positions as GM and coach. Their whole lives have been hockey. They resigned in disgrace and neither will be hired ever again. The Hawks were fined 2 million dollars and have to reach a settlement agreement with Kyle Beach. The Hawks stench extends to the ice. They are one of the worst teams in hockey. This is a team that Bowman has been putting together for five years, the last time this team made the playoffs.

Justin Fields the Real Deal

 

 

November 9, 2021

 

Cairo Santos’ desperation 65 yard field goal attempt and the Bears came up short in their bid to upset the Pittsburgh Steelers. Steeler kicker Chris Boswell’s 40 yard field goal with 30 seconds left gave the Steelers a 29-27 victory. Even though the Bears outplayed the Steelers, they weren’t able to avoid their fourth consecutive defeat.

In what was one of the worst officiated games I have ever seen, the Bears ended up on the short end of the stick. They had 12 penalties for 115 yards. Most of these were how stupid can you be penalties, e.g. too many men on the field. These penalties were critical in this loss.

I am not that upset that the Bears lost. The sting was lessened by the play of rookie quarterback Justin Fields. He was terrific and it looks like the Bears have found the franchise QB they have spent years looking for. He completed 17/29 passes for 291 yards with one touchdown and one interception and ran for 45 yards. He also showed extreme composure in a hostile environment.  He had his longest completion of the year, a 50 yarder to Marquise Goodwin. The only problem is, first and goal at the ten yard line usually results in a Bears field goal. They could have scored a touchdown if tight end Jimmy Graham hung onto a catchable ball in the end zone. About midway through the third quarter, Fields threw a touchdown pass to Graham that was negated by a penalty. James Daniels was flagged for an illegal block which would have been the right call if he hadn’t fallen down and couldn’t make the block. Again they settled for a field goal and trailed 14-6. The Steelers led 20-6 heading into the final quarter. Early in the fourth, Fields led the Bears on an 82 yard touchdown drive. The TD came with the Bears in Willdcat formation. David Montgomery took the snap but instead of running, pitched the ball to wide receiver Darnell Mooney who waltzed 15 yards to the end zone. This is the prettiest play of the year to date. Fields was on fire and led the Bears to a 75 yard touchdown drive, capped by a gorgeous 16 yard thread the needle touchdown pass to Mooney giving the Bears a 27-26.

Cole Kmet, who keeps getting better, had 6 catches for 87 yards. Although not up to his standards, Allen Robinson got involved with 4 catches for 68 yards, including a 34 yard completion on the final drive. Much to my chagrin, David Montgomery got the start at running back. Overall, his numbers looked good. My problem with Montgomery is he can run for a ten yard gain and then he can run three more times and not get ten yards.

It may seem that the defense played bad in surrendering 29 points. However, due to the offense not clicking and poor punt coverage, the Steelers only needed to get 54 yards and then 30 yards for two touchdowns in the first quarter. They held the Steelers to 285 yards. Special teams forced a fumble return for a touchdown. It was real nice seeing Eddie Goldman come alive. You have to believe with a week off Khalil Mack and Akiem Hicks will be healthy and the defense will get better. Now if we can only find someone to replace cornerback Kindle Vildor.

The key moment of the game came in the fourth quarter. Edge rusher Cassius March, sacked Steeler QB Ben Roethlisberger with under 4 minutes left.  He was penalized for taunting. This call was very controversial and instead of punting, the Steelers got a fresh set of downs. This penalty stymied the Bears momentum. The Steelers took precious time off the clock before they were held to a field goal. Fields then drove the Bears 75 yards and the Bears were ahead 27-26. The problem is there was still 1:45 minutes left for the Steelers to get in position for the winning field goal. Their final drive was helped by three consecutive off-sides penalties. Lining up in the neutral zone multiple times is just plain stupid.

The Death Spiral Continues

 

November 1, 2021

 Sunday was a winnable game. The Bears had home field advantage against a struggling San Francisco Forty-Niners team who had lost their last four games. Plus Coach Matt Nagy wasn’t on the sideline. The Bears were ahead 16-9 before they snatched defeat from the Jaws of victory, losing 33-22. The Detroit Lions look like the only victory left on the schedule and they may lose that game as well. .

What was once a stingy defense has now given up 95 points in the last three games. 49ers QB Jimmy Garoppolo who is having a poor year, had more passing yards than quarterbacks Aaron Rodgers and Tom Brady. Garoppolo completed 17 of 28 passes for 322 yards. The 49ers also ran the ball for 145 yards. With time running out in the first half, Garoppolo completed a 50 yard pass to wide receiver Deebo Samuel set up their third field goal.  Although San Francisco had only three field goals, they were moving the ball easily. You might think the Bears would make some adjustments. On their first possession of the second half the 49ers went on an 80 yard drive to score their first touchdown. This was highlighted by an 83 yard screen pass to Samuel 83 yards to set up the 49ers first touchdown. The 49ers missed the extra point so the Bears were still leading 16-15 The Bears’ problem is they never have a plan B for either offense or defense.  On their next series the 49ers scored a touchdown with a two point conversion to take the lead 23-16. 

 The positive is this was probably Justin Fields’ best game. They finally started calling plays more suited to his game. They had play action and roll-out pass plays. One roll-out produced a touchdown when on the run, he threw in the end zone, where only tight end Jesse James could catch it. He showed off his legs carrying the ball 10 times for 103 yards. One was a dazzling 22 yard touchdown to make the score 23-22 He was dead to right when he escaped four defenders in the pocket, went left, eluding more tacklers and veered right into the end zone. Cairo Santos missed the extra point and the Bears trailed 23-22 The usually reliable Cairo Santos missed the extra point that would have tied the game The play calling was somewhat baffling. Fields completed 19 of 27 passes but only 175 yards. The 49ers lead the league in pass interference and yet the Bears didn’t throw a deep pass all game. After having success with Fields on play-action an roll-outs, towards the end of the game Fields was under center. However, in the time it takes to drop back, he was always under pressure. With this porousoffensive line, with players who wouldn’t start anywhere else, a shotgun formation would have given Fields a little more time. 

 Seeing Fields’ growth is the only reason to keep watching. This offense can be real good if tailored to Fields and what he can do. However, offensive guru Matt Nagy is so hung up on his offense this won’t happen as long as he is the coach. He has got to go so Fields can develop into a franchise quarterback.   

Bears Hit Rock Bottom

 

October 25, 2021

 

Over the years I have witnessed mostly bad Bears teams. Since 1985 they have played in only one Super Bowl and got blown out. Speaking of blowouts, yesterday’s game in Tampa ranks among the Bears all-time worst losses. The Tampa Bay Buccaneers scored 32 first half points leading to a 38-3 victory. The Bucs are probably the best team in the NFL and are poised to win a second straight Super Bowl. While no one expected the Bears to win, they might not have expected it would be this ugly.

Tom Brady threw four touchdown passes in the first half. He probably could have
thrown four more if the Bucs hadn’t decided to carve up the Bear defense running the ball. Without Akiem Hicks and Robert Quinn, Khalil Mack and the pass rush are invisible. Quinn is out with COVID-19. If vaccinated, you are allowed to play if you have you negative tests prior to the game. Unvaccinated players have to sit out. Being unvaccinated, Quinn also put his teammates in danger of contracting the virus.

 Rookie QB Justin Fields had a poor outing with five turnovers. While he made some mistakes, some of these came under extreme duress. Inexplicable, but not surprising, the Bears made no adjustments. The main objective of the offense should be to protect your franchise quarterback at all costs. Coach Matt Nagy just doesn’t get it. If you need a silver lining, running back Khalil Herbert gained 100 yards on 18 carries. He also caught five pas
ses for 33 yards.

 

If you think things couldn’t get worse for Chicago sports fans, you haven’t been following the Blackhawks. The Hawks are 0-5-1. They haven’t had a lead in any of the games. There have been relatively no changes from last year’s low scoring offense. Instead of improving on that end, GM Stan Bowman acquired three defensemen and a goalie. You could have all Norris Trophy winning defensemen, but when you don’t score and rarely have possession of the puck you can’t win. The Blackhawks will probably not make the playoffs for the fifth consecutive year.*  I can’t figure out why Bowman is still allowed to run the team.

 If you are looking for a positive, there are the Chicago Bulls. President of Basketball Operations, Arturas Karnisovas, and GM Marc Eversley have completely revamped the Bulls roster.  This is a fun and exciting team to watch. They are currently 3-0, but I will curb my enthusiasm as they have played two of the worst teams in the league. We will know more as they face tougher competition this week.

 *The Hawks made the playoffs when the field expanded to 24 teams in the shortened pandemic season otherwise they would not have qualified.

 

Same Old Story as Aaron Rodgers and the Green Bay Packers Beat the Bears

 October 18, 2021

Things started out rosy for the Bears Sunday against Green Bay. Green Bay had the first possession and the Bears disguises on defense had QB Aaron Rodgers befuddled. He was sacked twice and Green Bay punted. The Bears scored a touchdown to take a 7-0 lead. They stopped the Packers on their second possession and were driving for a second score. Packers nose tackle Kenny Clark jumped off-sides and Bears QB Justin Fields thought he had a free play. He overthrew Allen Robinson and the ball was intercepted. Problem was no flag was thrown and the momentum switched to the Packers. Rodgers figured things out and made clutch plays when needed, leading the Packers to a 24-14 victory. After scoring a touchdown to give the Packers a fourth quarter 10 point lead, Rodgers screamed at the crowd “I own you” a couple of times. Although this may seem harsh it’s also true. Rodgers is 22-5 against the Bears in his storied career. By the way, Bears coach, Matt Nagy, is 1-6 versus the Packers.

A rookie quarterback is going to have their ups and downs. Justin Fields is no different. However, he has shown that his future is bright.  On the Bears first scoring drive he completed three of three crisp passes for 46 yards. With the Packers up 17-7, Fields engineered another impressive drive. He was five for five for 64 yards. He also had a couple of nice runs. The Bears scored a touchdown that was taken back by a holding penalty. Fields got them back in the end zone with a touchdown pass to Darnell Mooney. Overall Fields was 16-27 for 174 yards, with 43 yards on six carries. Sixth round pick Khalil Herbert, starting due to injuries was also a big contributor. He has great vision and quickness to avoid traffic jams at the line. He had 19 carries for 97 yards, averaging over 5 yards per carry.

The biggest problem with the offense was the play calling. I don’t know if you can criticize Bill Lazor’s play calling because he has Nagy’s playbook. The Packers had three backups in the secondary and instead of attacking the middle, they sent every receiver deep.  They never got into their routes before Fields was being chased. They had no check down receiver underneath. All the offensive coaches have to be whacked before they ruin Fields.

The Bears have a pretty good defense. This would be an elite defense if they knew how to tackle, especially the two safeties. Aaron Rodgers was not having a monster game, so the missed tackles were critical. Tashaun Gipson missed a tackle allowing A.J. Dillon to gain 36 yards that set up a Packers field goal. He also failed to tackle Aaron Jones who caught a pass two yards behind the line of scrimmage for a 12 yard touchdown. Bears cornerback Jaylon Johnson
, did a pretty good job covering DaVante Adams, limiting him to four receptions. The one reception on the Packers final scoring drive really hurt. The completion gained 41 yards. This could have been cut in half had Eddie Jackson made the tackle. Instead he tried to bump him out of bounds, rather than wrap him up. And he would have had a touchdown if he hadn’t stepped out of bounds at least 10 yards after the hit. These were the most costly but there was many other instances of bad tackling technique. 

There were a couple other things that irked me. Last week Nagy took undue credit for the offense, stating all the plays ultimately run through him. In the loss there was no accountability. When the camera showed Fields on the sideline, there were no coaches talking to him. I know Khalil Mack is nursing an injury and needs to take plays off. Yet I can’t understand why they rest him on third down passing situations.

Wat Until Next Year

 

October 14, 2021

 

There were many exciting moments for the 2021 White Sox. There seemed to be a
different hero every night. The Field of Dreams game was spectacular. For a team with World Series aspirations, the season ended up a disappointment. The Houston Astros thoroughly dominated the Sox, winning in the first round of the playoffs 3-1. The Sox window is still wide open. I wouldn’t be surprised to see them playing the Astros in future post seasons.

 

The White Sox starting pitchers had the best ERA in the American League. However, no Sox pitcher made it past the fifth inning. The Astros have the best offense in the majors. They scored 31 runs in four games. They also have top notch defense as well. Yet, I still didn’t expect the Sox to be crushed in their three losses.

 

The only thing that may have changed the outcome is home field advantage. The Sox ended up 0-6 in the Astros home park. The Sox would have needed three more wins to have gotten this advantage. I don’t think it would have even been close if not for major injuries. Outfielders Eloy Jimenez and Luis Robert were out for most of the season. Tim Anderson, the heart and soul of the team missed 39 games. Pitchers Lucas Giolito and Lance Lynn missed a couple of starts, while Carlos Rodon missed several.  Yasmani Grandal injured himself at the end of spring training. He started out batting .138 the first two months and was only getting on base on a walk. When he got healthy, he was the best hitter on the team. He also suffered an injury causing him to miss four weeks.

 

White Sox owner, Jerry Reinsdorf, said the worst that ever happened was letting GM Ken Harrelson fire Tony LaRussa. What was worse was his choice of LaRussa coming back to manage.  No matter how you spin it he was solely responsible for allowing GM Rick Hahn to make the decision. Time has passed LaRussa by. Admitting to not knowing the rules, he used his closer Liam Hendricks as the runner on second base in extra innings. I don’t think he ever
realized you can get any play you want reviewed in the eighth and ninth inning, holding on to his challenges like they were gold. He publicly criticized a player on an issue that should have been handled internally. He used to be a master at handling bullpens, but couldn’t adjust to the new three batter minimum for relief pitchers. I could point out bad moves all year, but you only have to go back to game two of the past series to see an example.

 

The Sox led 4-2 when LaRussa decided to replace Giolito with one out and two men on base in the fourth inning. In the last few weeks of the season he was stretching out Michael Kopech to three innings. Instead he brings in Garrett Crochet. Crochet had thrown 24 pitches in relief in game one. 

 

Previously this season Crochet has struggled in back to back games. He walks the next batter and allows both inherited runners to score. When asked why he didn’t use Kopech, LaRussa said he liked the lefty-lefty match up. Even if Crochet retired the batter, the next three hitters were all right handed. Later in the game with the Sox trailing by one, he pinch hits for Adam Engel. With Gavin Sheets on the bench he sends up weak hitting Cesar Hernandez who strikes out. The move proved even more costly when Leury Garcia misplayed a line drive RBI double off Craig Kimbrel. Kimbrel then put the game out of reach, allowing a two run homer. When asked why he keeps bringing in an ineffective Kimbrel, Tony’s response was, “Look at his resume.” Add this all up and you can see why LaRussa is the worst manager in baseball.

 

The Sox went for it all this year. I was all in on the trade for Kimbrel but it turned out to be a disaster. I heard the Sox plan to pick up his option and then trade him. The question is will there be any suitors? Hahn was not as aggressive in pursuit of a second baseman. Acquiring a .231 hitter in Cesar Hernandez. He came with a reputation for power with 18 home runs. In two months, he hit three for the Sox. Once again they’ll be looking for a second baseman next year. Trading Madrigal for Kimbrel looks worse every day.

 

What Were the Odds the Bears Would Beat Las Vegas Raiders

 

October 11, 2021

Not many people predicted the Bears would beat the Las Vegas Raiders, including yours truly. The Raiders opened the scoring with field goal. Thanks in part to Raider penalties, the Bears scored 14 unanswered points and were never really challenged in a 20-9 upset victory. This game showed that there is a glimmer of hope. If Bears QB Justin Fields continues to grow, I may have to revise my win total projection.

The defense this for the most part has been outstanding.  New Defensive Coordinator Sean Desai has been a tremendous upgrade over Chuck Pagano. Once again the Bears defense could be their calling card.  The Raiders offense was flying high in its previous four games. Raiders QB Derek Carr was averaging 329 passing yards per game. The Bears held him to 205 yards and an interception. The Bears continue to thwart offensives on fourth downs.  Khalil Mack is having his best season since 2018.  After the Raiders scored their only touchdown, it was his sack on Carr that prevented a two point conversion that would have cut the lead to a field goal.

The offense is not exactly a juggernaut, but there are a lot of positives. Without running back David Montgomery the Bears still racked up 143 rushing yards. Damien Williams had 64 yards on 16 carries. What was surprising is sixth round draft pick Khalil Herbert, had 75 yards on 18 carries. The Bears were opportunists taking advantage of Raider penalties. The Bears had a first and goal at the ten yard line. Th. Early in the first touchdown drive Raider’s Yannick Ngakoue’s roughing the passer gave the Bears a first down on what would have been a third and 18 The Bears had a first and goal from the 10 yard line. This usually leads to a Bears field goal. After two penalties it was first and goal from the two yard line. Fields fired his first career touchdown pass to tight end Jesper Horsted, giving the Bears the lead. Later in the first Fields left the game with an injury. After missing three plays he completed a 12 yard pass on third and 7 to wide receiver Allen Robinson. Damien Williams completed the drive with a 4 yard touchdown. After the lead had been cut to five, Field’s had his best sequence. He completed a 13 yard pass to Darnell Mooney to convert a third and 12. He the connected with tight end Cole Kmet for 11 yards leading to a Cairo Santos 46 yard field goal. Santos would later connect on another 46 yarder. He has now made 34 in a row. What may be most important is the Bears were turnover free.

What does all this mean?  The Bears defense will keep them in most games. They need an uptick in the offense to make them competitive against upper echelon teams. The schedule gets really tough with a game against Aaron Rodgers Packers followed by a road game against Tom Brady and the Bucs. Although
highly unlikely, winning either of these games would be huge.  

Baseball Playoffs

 

October 6, 2021

The White Sox coasted through the Central Division. Despite this being the weakest division in baseball, 93 wins is nothing to sneeze at. The Baseball Prospectus (BP) had them winning 83 games. The Sox closed the season on a high note, winning 6 of their last seven games.  If healthy, Luis Robert will become one of the best all-around players in the game.

The Sox will face off in Houston against the Astros, who won their division by a comfortable margin. Last time the Sox were in Houston they lost 4 straight. However the Sox were without Robert, Eloy Jimenez and Yoan Moncada was just coming off the IL. The rest of the team was in a funk that they were not in as this season ended, especially Yasmani Grandal. I think this series will be decided by who shows more power.

The Tampa Bay Rays won their division by 8 games. The BP had them winning 86 games. They finished with 100. The real excitement was going into the last day; four teams had a shot to make the playoffs. The Seattle Mariners and Toronto Blue Jays were sent home packing setting up a classic, the Boston Red Sox vs. the New York Yankees. The winner will face Tampa in a best of seven series.

In the National League, Atlanta started out slow but came on to win the division. The competition faded as the season progressed. They will face the Milwaukee Brewers, who got really hot midseason and were never really challenged for the Central Division. I think Milwaukee’s pitching will get them to the next round in the post season. The Cardinals rode a 17 game winning streak to claim a wild card spot. They will have a rough go as they face either the Dodgers or Giants.

The two best teams in the National League are in the West Division. Everyone knew the Dodgers would be good. They are loaded with talent and won 106 games. The biggest surprise of the season were the  San Francisco Giants who edged out the Dodgers with 107 wins. BP had them winning 77 games. A Giants-Dodger series renews an old rivalry and could be lots of fun. The biggest disappointment were the San Diego Padres. The Padres spent a lot of money acquiring players to challenge the Dodgers. Yu Darvish was the big prize in the off-season. However, he had the worst season of his career. He went 8-11 with a  4.22 era. Injuries to pitchers made them so desperate that they picked up Jake Arrieta who, by now, is washed up. They won 79 games, BP had the Padres winning 96.

I reference the Baseball Prospectus because they have all the formulas for predicting win totals. Their projected wins for most teams was way out of whack. As a White Sox fan, I was dismayed the Sox total was 83.  In the future I will disregard the predicted wins.

Nagyless Bears Beat Detroit

 

October 4, 2021

 

Believe it or not, the Bears played a team that is lousier than they are. After building a 21 point lead, the Bears coasted to a 24-14 victory over the woebegone Detroit Lions. However, the Bears may not have won without help from the Lions. The Lions failed to score on three straight chances inside the Bears 10 yard line. On the first one, the Lions messed up a snap and the Bears recovered a fumble. The second stop came after first and goal from the five when Alec Ogletree batted down a pass from Lions QB Jared Goff. Next with third and goal from the 3 yard line, Robert Quinn knocked the ball out of Goff’s hands. In the closing minutes the Lions needed a field goal and a touchdown to tie the game. Instead of kicking a short field goal Goff threw an incomplete pass on fourth and one.

 

I had a feeling the offense would have a good day when I saw Coach Matt Nagy without his billboard of plays. The plays were being called by offensive coordinator Bill Lazor. It must have been jarring for Nagy to see the running game dominating the play calling. Nagy would never run the ball two times for every pass. The Bears led by David Montgomery’s 106 yards rushed for 188 yards. Damien Williams had 55 yards on eight carries. It’s too bad that both exited the game with injuries.

 

Justin Fields showed why he may become a great QB. Lazor added two tight ends to protect the franchise QB. Fields responded, completing 11 of 17 passes for 209 yards. Darnell Mooney made a one handed grab for Fields’ first completion. Showing off his great arm strength, Fields consistently hit receivers downfield. What also must been jarring to Nagy, is the Bears averaged 19 yards per completion. Take this all with a grain of salt as the Lions have one of the worst defenses in the NFL.

 

The Bears defense was giving up chunks of yardage to the Lions on the ground and in the air. However, the defense stiffened up when they needed to. Game ball goes to Linebacker Robert Quinn who is having a really good bounce back season. He came up with a two yard tackle for a loss in the second goal line stand and knocked the ball out Goff’s hands in the third. Eddie Goldman returned to the line-up to complete their three down linemen. Things might have looked better had Akiem Hicks not gotten hurt on the first play. Roquan Smith and Khalil Mack also played well.

 

Matt Nagy is always quick to divert attention away from his disastrous coaching. He also seems to like to take credit when it is not due. After praising Lazor, Nagy said, “Ultimately it goes through me. Everything we do, regardless of who’s calling this or who’s calling that, it goes through me.” It wouldn’t surprise me if he starts Andy Dalton start next week. But Fields needs a chance to build on this performance. 

 

Things get much harder with a road game against the Las Vegas Raiders. After that it’s the Green Bay Packers, who are the cream of the crop in the division.  Until number 12 retires or goes to another team, no one else wins this division.