Bears Win Second Straight Meaningless Game

 January 3, 2021

It is really tough being a Bear fan. It has to be even harder for New York Giant fans. Only the Detroit Lions and Jacksonville Jaguars have won less games. So after beating a mediocre Seattle Seahawks team, the Bears pummeled the Giants 29-3. For me these are hollow victories. The only thing left is to see what changes the Bears are going to make in a week from now.

This game was somewhat reminiscent of 2018 when the defense won the game
with little help from the offense. This should be the final home game for lame duck offensive guru coach Matt Nagy. Although the Bears scored 29 points, the offense was responsible for only 13 of them. In the second half, they scored one lone touchdown. Last week with Nick Foles at quarterback, the offense generated 25 points. So, of course, Nagy starts Andy Dalton who is also playing his last home game as a Bear. Dalton completed 18 of 35 passes for 173 yards. This averages to less than 10 yards per pass. There were no explosive plays against one of the worst defenses in the NFL. After barely averaging a tad over two yards per carry against Seattle, running back David Montgomery averaged less than three yards per carry. It’s also time to put away the Wildcat formation. Most teams run this very effectively. Montgomery runs straight into tacklers unless he throws an interception as he did yesterday. He has not improved much since he entered the league. He is slow to the line and consistently runs into piles instead of bumping runs to the outside. The Bears left the home fans with the familiar first and goal from the ten yard line and as usual settled for a field goal.

The Giants starting quarterback was Mike Glennon. You might remember him as the guy who lost his starting job as the Bear’s quarterback to the forgettable Mitch Trubisky. Glennon fumbled on the first play and the Bears drove the ball three yards for the touchdown. On their second possession, Glennon was intercepted and the Bears capitalized on this with a four yard touchdown pass to Mooney. The defense also recorded a safety and sacked Glennon four times. The sack by Robert Quinn broke Richard Dent’s record for sacks in a season. 

Bear fans shouldn’t have to wait long for changes after the last game Sunday. Fans will be in an uproar if Nagy isn’t gone. For that matter GM Ryan Pace has to go. It would also be nice to fire Ted Phillips as President and hire someone who knows football. The new regime will have a big job in front of them to make the Bears relevant again. They have no draft picks, therefore they’ll have to be active signing free agents. It would nice to see if a new front office can keep Allen Robinson around. Akiem Hicks, Andy Dalton and Jimmy Graham will most likely be gone freeing up some money for free agency.