January 4, 2021
The Bears were keeping the
game against the Green Bay Packers close, trailing by only five
points in the fourth quarter. All week long I had told people the
Bears didn’t have a snowball’s chance in Hell of winning this
game. Despite this loss, in the battle of back-up quarterbacks, the
Rams defeated the Cardinals putting the Bears in the playoffs as a number seven
seed.
It’s
easy for an offense to score 30 points against teams like Houston and
Jacksonville who packed it in a while ago. The Bears were also
able to put up big points against Detroit and Minnesota. The Packers are a
completely different story, Once again the Bears couldn’t muster 20 points. I
don’t know who’s calling the plays, but ultimately the offense
is Coach Matt Nagy’s responsibility.
The Bears scored a touchdown
on their first series with a drive that took over 7 minutes. They
would reach the Packers red zone 4 more times and would come away with only
three field goals. In the middle of the third quarter, that Trubisky
would connect with Darnell Mooney on a 53 yard pass play. The Bears had first
and goal at the nine yard line. The Bears have trouble
scoring on first and goal from the 5 yard line. First and goal from the nine
is a death knell. On the ensuing three plays called, not one was a
pass in the end zone. The first was a hand-off to Montgomery. A
quarterback option would have made more sense. A Bear field
goal made it 21-16, Packers. The Bears
faced multiple fourth down conversions throughout the game. These are
not ideal situations. After converting many, It caught up to them when
they inexplicably tried a pass on 4th and 1 at the Pacers 25 yard line that was
incomplete. When asked about this play Trubisky said “the only thing we
could have done in that situation, was maybe run something else.” Ya
think? The Packers would take over from here with two more touchdowns.
Many people ask me why I
don’t like David Montgomery. How does a 3.1 average yards per carry grab
you? His only good games have been against bad defenses. His one long
run skews his yards per carry average in those games.
However, he is an excellent receiver out of the backfield.
Trubisky yards per completions was seven. Take away Mooney’s 53 yard
reception and it drops to 6.3. Extrapolating further take away the 23
yard completion to Allen Robinson and the average drops to 5.6. How
do you not target Allen Robinson more? Baffling play calling is a big
problem All are offensive issues that need a new coach to correct.
The Bears finish no better
than last year at 8-8. Excluding Tampa Bay, the combined record of the
teams they beat is 32-80. They face the Saints who they took to
overtime before eventually losing. With Kamara questionable, some
think the Bears can win this game and start a run. If everybody is
heathy, in this bizarre world, maybe they beat the Packers. Not a chance.
Their playoff run most likely will be four quarters.
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