Worse Than I Thought

 November 15, 2022

The Detroit Lions are supposed to be the antidote for struggling teams. They have one of the worst defenses in the NFL. With the Bears offense clicking, I thought the Bears would win this game. The Bears scored 30 points, yet lost the game 31-30. The Lions have won two road games since December 2020, both against the Bears. This loss was a total team effort. They committed nine penalties for 86 yards, many on crucial plays, one negating an interception. Even the usually consistent kicker, Cairo Santos, missed
an extra point. He also had a kick-off go out of bounds, plus a five yard penalty, giving the Lions the ball at their 45 yard line. One positive is they now stand to have the third pick in the draft.

Once again Justin Fields was spectacular and is worth watching. He led the team with 147 yards on 13 carries with two touchdowns. On the first, he broke tackles and barreled into the end zone. The second one he eluded defenders and used his blazing speed for a 67 yard touchdown. The only problem is, a lot of these runs are predicated by breakdowns in pass protection and receivers not getting open.

The Bears are a predominately running team and lead the league in rushing yardage. That being said, Fields only got off passes 20 times completing 12 for 167 yards. These are pedestrian numbers however, when he gets time and moves in the pocket, he is pretty good. Being a young QB, he is going to make mistakes. An ill-advised pass was intercepted and returned for a touchdown.

Fields has started to form a connection with tight end Cole Kmet. He had the most targets and four receptions for74 yards including two touchdowns. It was also nice to see Khalil Herbert get more carries than David Montgomery. Montgomery will have a new home next year. Darnell Mooney also had four catches. It would be nice to add a couple of play making receivers.

The defense again was awful. The pass rush was non-existent making it easy for Lions QB Jarred Goff. They made Goff look like Peyton Manning in his prime. Goff completed 19 of 36 passes for 236 yards with no interceptions and, for the second game in a row, the Bears had no turnovers. It didn’t matter what the distance was as they converted tons of third downs. Bear penalties also contributed to extending Lions scoring drives. Jack Sanborn, who started the year on the taxi squad led the Bears with 12 tackles and their only two sacks. With the exception of Sanborn, Jaylon Johnson, Eddie Jackson and rookies Jaquan Brisker and Kyler Gordon no other defensive players could start on other teams. 

I feel sorry for head coach Matt Eberflus. It’s hard to win games with the talent deficient roster put together by GM Ryan Poles. I’ve criticized Poles for not doing anything to improve the offense. I don’t think he envisioned Fields to be this good. He’s gutted the defense and replaced starters with second tier players. When the season started the four highest salaries were dumped and he didn’t use the savings in free-agency. The Roquan Smith situation became a fiasco. They said they weren’t going to be able to agree on the terms of a new contract. For the Bears, it all comes down to money which Poles should know is why he got the job. He has so much work to do, so I think the Bears will suck for a couple more years by which time fans will be calling for his ouster.

The Growth of Justin Fields

 

November 8, 2022

 

The Bears lost to the Miami Dolphins 35-32 last Sunday at Soldier Field. Disregard the won and lost record. Fields has started to put things together and it seems we have found the quarterback of the future. In all my years of watching the Bears I’ve never been so excited about a Bears quarterback. I can’t remember the last time the Bears scored four touchdowns two weeks in row. 

Fields is the primary reason the Bears‘ offense is on a roll. He ran the ball 15 times for a record 178 yards. The only downside is the Bears called a quarterback run only about 8 times. Fields picked up a majority of his yards on scrambles.  Fields showed off his elusiveness and speed which was fun to watch. His passing numbers weren’t great as Fields was 17-28 for 123 yards.

 Fields’ results are the fault of receivers who can’t get open or catch passes. Just imagine how good he could be if he had some help. The Bears had a couple of chances in the closing minutes to tie the game or take the lead. They would have been in field goal range if the ref doesn’t blow a pass interference call. The game ended when Bear receiver Equanimeous St. Brown dropped a pass right in his hands which, if caught, gives the Bears a first down. This game was also a coming out party for tight end Cole Kmet. He had five catches, two for touchdowns. He also ran the ball once for eight yards and picked up a first down on a direct snap.

 The defense is a joke. Miami scored on four out of five possessions to start the game. The only time they didn’t score was on a missed field goal. There was no pressure on Miami quarterback Tua Tagovailoa, and he had all the time world to hit wide receivers Tyrek Hill and Jaylen Waddle. Most every quarterback can look good with no pressure, and good offenses will run up multiple points. The only positive is that rookie linebacker Jack Sanborn replacing Roquan Smith had seven tackles.

The Bears defense is so bad that they can’t win a game when scoring 30 points per game. This is okay this year however, they need to fix their talent deviancies heading into next year. In the meantime watching Fields continue to grow should be exciting.  

Back to Earth

 October 31, 2022

The Bear defense gave up 42 points yesterday. The first thing the Bears did to address this problem was trade their best defensive player, Roquan Smith. I have the sneaking feeling the Bears didn’t want to pay him.  This is just the latest of many bad moves by first time GM Ryan Poles. The Bears gave up touchdowns on the Dallas Cowboys first four possessions. However, the Bears were able to score enough to tighten up the game but ultimately got blown away 49-29

If you’re looking for a silver lining it is the improvement of QB Justin Fields. He had his best quarterback rating of 120.0. He was 17-23 for 151 yards. He also gained 60 yards on eight carries. Down 28-7, Fields engineered two touchdown drives. With a Cairo Santos field goal in between, the Bears were within five points. The Cowboys increased their lead to 12. The Bears tried to come back when David Montgomery fumbled. Fields' only mistake was not touching down Micah Parsons who got up and rumbled 36 yards into the end zone. This is not the first the Bears failed to play until they heard the whistle. Down 20 points the Bears went to their ground game. This was a big mistake as the offense was having a good game and you need to pass the ball when you are trailing by a lot.

The defense was atrocious as Dallas pounded them on the ground and in the air. They applied no pressure on Dallas QB Dak Prescott who went 21-27 for 250 yards. Running back Tony Pollard gained 131 yards averaging 9.4 yards per carry. This led to easy third down conversions A big part of the problems is this is the worst tackling team I’ve ever seen.. The defense hasn’t been very good and yesterday was their worst performance of the year.

The Bears have played five of eight road games. The return for two games against Miami and Detroit. They aren’t any good but neither are the Bears. I still can’t get my head around the Roquan Smith trade. Poles is all in on his plans to build this team from the ground up.  So he better be on target with free-agent signings and in the draft.