The Sad and Bad Chicago Bulls

January 16, 2020

When is John Paxson going to be held accountable? At the start of the season he said the Bulls would be competitive and make the playoffs. Once again, they are on the outside looking in. The Bulls record is 15-27. They are 1-16 versus teams with .500 records. They can only beat teams with worse records than theirs. Nine of their wins have come against the woeful Atlanta Hawks, Washington Wizards and Detroit Pistons who are a combined 37-84. Subtract that and they have only won 6 games. Paxon has been in charge since 2003 and has only had success in the Derrick Rose era. Sadly, this was short lived as Rose suffered the first of many injuries in the opening round of the playoffs in his third year.

Rose tried to come back but was let go because he couldn’t co-exist with Jimmy Butler. Butler had made himself a star. He showed considerable growth in talent and ego. He refused to adapt to former coach Fred Hoiberg’s offense, playing his own selfish game. Paxon thought he could turn things around by acquiring past their prime players, Dwayne Wade and Rajon Rondo. The Bulls did reach the playoffs, facing the Boston Celtics in a best of five series. Rondo spearheaded two upset victories in Boston. He injured his thumb and was out for the remainder of the series. Butler, who thinks he’s a superstar, couldn’t carry the team to one victory even with two home games.

Seeing the Bulls were going nowhere with Butler, Paxson traded the prima donna headache and contract to the Minnesota Timberwolves. In return, they received the seventh overall pick, forward Lauri Markkanen Markkanen seemed to be a really good player. However, it seems he has regressed back to his rookie season. They also obtained guard Zach LaVine. LaVine is a scoring machine   but plays no defense and makes poor decisions. Neither player is capable of elevating the other three on the court.  After the trade, Paxson proclaimed the Bulls were in a rebuild mold to buy him some time.

The following year the Bulls were trying to lose games trying to receive a high draft pick. The Bulls weren’t bad enough and ended up with the seventh overall pick, Wendell Carter Jr. Hurt most of his first year, the Bulls believed he would make major strides this season. Prior to his current injury, there were games when he reached double digits in rebounds and points. With his size, he should get 10 rebounds every game. When you only average 11 points a game, the double-double is nothing to crow about. Part of the problem the numbers aren’t better is because he spends a good portion of the game on the bench in foul trouble. He would be the perfect second string player for a good team. This year, the Bulls found themselves with another inconsequential seventh overall pick. Coby White may have been the best player left and was yet still behind Kris Dunn on the depth chart. With the injuries he has gotten more playing time. He sometimes shoots lights out and times when he’s cold. This will happen to a young player when 90% of his shots are 3 pointers.

Three years into the rebuild and the Bulls haven’t improved one bit. You can’t build a competitive team when your number one pick is seventh overall. Did anyone think Paxson would succeed? Most people who are this incompetent would not keep their jobs. However, there is no better job security than working for the loyalist Reinsdorfs.

Paxon has an abysmal track record when it comes to coaching and things are no different with Jim Boylen. He is the antitheses of a modern NBA coach. He reminds me a of fictional coach Norman Dale in the movie “Hoosiers”. He paces the court and yells at his players. Since Boylen has failed as a college coach and there is no chance in Hell he will be offered another pro job, maybe he can get a high school job. His offense centers on fast pace up the court. This gives him the luxury of not setting up plays. The one play he calls is where LaVine hogs the ball. This is also a bad shooting team and when you miss a lot of shots (especially 3-pointers), it puts pressure on your defense to set up. I know that the Bulls steal balls and force turnovers. If they don’t, the set defense is lousy. They fail to cover up 3 point shooters and don’t communicate. This becomes very apparent when opponents get uncontested lay-ups on pick and rolls. These are things a good coach can improve.

A good coach knows he should be on an even keel, not to get too high or too low. This will help his players do the same. However, Bulls management, players and coach get euphoric with wins over teams like Atlanta, Washington etc. I am also sick and tired of Boylen putting a positive spin on every loss. Paxson can’t see this coach is a mistake? Do he and Ryan Pace hang out? The Bulls need a star that makes his teammates better. My suggestion is do whatever it takes to trade for a top three pick. If it means giving up two number one picks, so be it. Don’t be afraid to include Markkanen or LaVine in a package deal.

Bears Fall Flat

January 5, 2020

Prior to the 2019 season the Bears felt if they found a reliable kicker it would take them to the Super Bowl. They could not foresee a myriad of other problems. The Bears recently called a press conference to discuss the season. The two biggest problems for the Bears are the people addressing the media, General Manager Ryan Pace and Coach Matt Nagy. Their fingerprints are all over this disappointing 8-8 record.

Unlike 2018, this year’s Bear defense was ravaged by injuries. Pro-Bowler, Akiem Hicks went down early in the year. Opposing teams were able to double and sometimes triple team Khalil Mack, and the pass rush was non-existent the rest of the year. With no pressure, opposing quarterbacks were able to pick apart the secondary. The bears thought Chuck Pagano could replace Vic Fangio without skipping a beat. Pagano never fixed this problem with different schemes or blitz packages. The Bears lost the heart and soul of the defense when they lost Danny Trevathan. Nick Kwiatkoski did an admiral job filling in however, he can’t replace the leadership and veteran savvy of Trevathan. Roquan Smith had regained last year’s form when he went down with 3 games left. None the less the Bears defense ranked eighth in the league.  Pace moved up in the draft to pick up Leonard Floyd 3 years ago. Although he has not improved and was invisible this year they have exercised his fifth year option.

If you don’t admit the problem, you can’t solve it. This is where the Bears are when it comes to quarterback Mitch Trubisky. Pace is fully committed to Trubisky because he can’t admit his mistake of drafting him second overall in 2017. He and Nagy are talking about improvement when he actually regressed. Nagy was brought in to develop Trubisky who ranked 28^th in passer efficiency. He has failed miserably. Nagy’s awful play calling doesn’t help.  Nagy can’t install a running game. While most teams run to set up the pass he does the opposite. Also, you could have a touchdown drive with eight running plays and two passes. Nagy doesn’t like that type of offense so he would change to his pass happy offense on the next possession. The offensive line is a mess. They drafted center James Daniels but continue playing him in the line while Cody Whitehair snaps the ball, often erratically. Charles Leno Jr. who is signed for 2 more years is the most penalized offensive lineman in the NFL.  Another fine 4-year contract from Pace. They got no production from tight end. Trey Burton was injured all year. Adam Shaheen, the third pick in the second round of the 2017 draft, is another Pace bust that can’t play. They had to start players from the practice squad. The only positive on offense is Allen Robinson.

There is a lot of work to be done this off-season. Hopefully key players recover from their injuries. The softer schedule should help.  However, Nagy is still your coach and Trubisky is still the quarterback. Pace said he is considering an upgrade at quarterback and thinking of letting Chase Daniel and Tyler Bray go. What kind of chance is there of getting a capable quarterback will sign just to back up Trubisky?  I am really excited to see who the Bears select with the sixth round pick they obtained for the Jordan Howard trade…

NFL Playoffs Must See TV

December 31, 2019

As a football fan, I love the upcoming NFL Playoffs. This week and next, you’ll be able to watch two games on both Saturday and Sunday. After the wild card games there will eight teams left. I will list the top four teams in each conference. All teams, with the exception of the Houston Texans, have a legitimate shot playing in Super Bowl LIV.

NFC

1. New Orleans Saints

2. San Francisco Forty-Niners

3. Green Bay Packers

4. Seattle Seahawks

I’m really looking forward to the Green Bay Packers Aaron Rodgers facing off against the New Orleans Saints Drew Brees. San Francisco has already had two close games against Seattle, therefore this will be fun as well.

AFC

1. Baltimore Ravens

2. Kansas City Chiefs

3. New England Patriots

4. Houston Texans

I’m really looking forward to watching football’s most dominant player, Ravens quarterback Lamar Jackson. He can take over games. The Ravens are also great defensively. Despite what transpired during the regular season, you can’t count out Bill Belichick and Tom Brady’s Patriots. Same goes for Andy Reid’s Chiefs. If you like to see a lot of points, watch Kansas City versus New England.

HAPPY NEW YEAR!

Matt Nagy: Bears New Head Coach

Let's Talk Sports

Tuesday, January 9, 2018

Matt Nagy: Bears New Head Coach

January 9, 2018

The Chicago Bulls, though getting better, are basically a bad team. The Blackhawks, who usually provide Chicago with championship hopes are sputtering. With their most important player Corey Crawford out, making the playoffs is the one goal. Leave it to the Bears to grab the headlines and take our eyes off the winter warriors of the United Center.

The Bears search for the 16^th coach in history ended after one week of what was to be an extensive search. They did connect with 6 candidates, although only four were truly under consideration. They were all offensive coordinators whose main focus should be to develop Mitchell Trubisky.

Let’s look at the candidates. The Vikings' Pat Shurmur developed an unknown quarterback, Casey Keenum, to lead a very good offense. His hiring would also take something away from a division rival. Patriots' Josh McDaniels has previous coaching experience and oversaw the explosive Patriots offense. Eagles coordinator John DeFilippo developed second year quarterback Chris Wentz into one of the best in the NFL. He is in the picture when it comes to MVP voting.

If any of these three wanted the job, they were all better choices than Matt Nagy. Two of the other candidates developed a quarterback and the third grew with Tom Brady. There is no evidence to show Nagy can do this. His quarterback Alex Smith has been around since 2005, so no development was needed. His experience is limited to calling plays for a total of five games. Although they did average 28 points in those games, he was inept in his last game. He couldn’t put together any plays to score one point in the second half loss to Tennessee. Granted, he lost a key player, the team he is coming to loses multiple players.

In the long run, the coach doesn’t matter. In his introduction Nagy said he’s going to evaluate his players. What he’ll find is a lack of talent. They can’t catch passes or play on the offensive line, both of which are greatly needed for Tru

Na Na Na Na Na Na Hey Hey Goodbye

December 16, 2019

There are two meaningless games left in the Bears disappointing 2019 season. Losing 21-13 to the Green Bay Packers has ended their playoff quest. However, the Bears were essentially eliminated after back to back losses to the lowly L.A. Chargers and Philadelphia Eagles. Think how much better you would feel if the Bears record was 9-5 not 7-7. For good measure, you can also look back to a costly loss against the Oakland Raiders.

The anguish from the Packers game came in the first quarter. The Bears had a fumble recovery on a punt at midfield. In one of the worst calls I’ve seen the Bears were penalized with a personal foul for interference. This gave the ball back to the Packers at the Bear 35 and from there they easily scored to take a 7-0 lead. Instant replay was installed to make sure the calls made on the field were correct. A personal foul is not reviewable. The refs have made a plethora of egregious calls over the past few years.  Here’s hoping at the next owners meeting they look at making more questionable calls reviewable.  I’m sure the networks televising the games wouldn’t mind the extra ad revenue for the delays.

The main reason for this disastrous season has been the offense. Sunday’s game was no different. Once again offensive guru Coach Matt Nagy’s offense failed to score 20 points. In seven games they have scored 16 or less points. In the two games against the Packers they have scored only one touchdown. Sunday the Bears had their highest yard output of the season but failed to score after drives that stalled in the Packers red zone, resulting in field goals. QB Mitch Trubisky had 29 completions in 53 attempts for 348 yards. Allen Robinson and Anthony Miller each had over 100 receiving yards.  The running game is pathetic. All year long I’ve watched David Montgomery have positive yardage in the “I” formation. Not once were the Bears lined up that way. Montgomery had 14 carries for a measly 39 yards. On one possession with four yards needed, Nagy inexplicably called two Montgomery runs for no gain. Trubisky has a knack for being good and prefers a moving pocket. Nagy rarely called a roll-out play although they worked. Play calling wasn’t the only problem. Nagy challenged a play; Packer running back Demonte Jones running out of bounds on his touchdown run. It wasn’t even close. So after burning one time-out, he couldn’t afford to challenge a close call when Robinson was ruled out of bounds at the one-yard line

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Overall, the defense was pretty good. After allowing a score on a brief drive they fell apart on two long touchdown drives. It seems the Packers always get receivers wide open. With no pressure, Packers QB Aaron Rodgers has no problem completing passes. By the way, there’s an APB out for Khalil Mack.  They ended up giving up only 21 points. They also completely stopped the Packer offense in the fourth quarter. The offense got the ball back a couple of times, once at the Bears 40-yard line. However, in a microcosm of the season, the Bears offense couldn’t capitalize on these opportunities.

I never thought the Bears would win their last three games to reach the playoffs. Even if they did win all three, they were going to need some help. One thing needed was the Rams losing two games. The Rams were upset by the Dallas Cowboys. There is a good chance they will lose again against the San Francisco Forty-Niners. The other was the Minnesota Vikings losing one game, which could happen against the Packers. Alas, if the Bears were only 9-5 it would a much different scenario.       

Will this win start a streak that will get the Bears tn the playoffs? Nah

December 6, 2019

The Dallas Cowboys received the opening kick-off and promptly went 75 yards for a touchdown. On the Bears first possession, quarterback Mitch Trubisky threw an errant pass that was intercepted by the Cowboys at their one-yard line. My first feeling was this would be another embarrassing Bears performance before a national television audience. However, in what perhaps was their best game of the season, the Bears pulled off a stunning 31-24 upset. This game was not as close as the final score indicates. The Bears totally dominated this game.

I have to give credit where credit is due. Bears coach Matt Nagy installed a perfect game plan as the Bears racked up the second most points in a game this year. Trubisky had an even better game than last week when he threw for over 300 yards. With Nagy getting him out of the pocket, he completed 23 of 31 passes for 244 yards with 3 touchdowns. What is more remarkable is the Bear tight ends combined for 7 catches.  Receivers were gaining multiple yards after the catch. This was partially due to the Cowboys bad tackling.

The first touchdown drive ended in a 5 yard touchdown pass to Allen Robinson, who had another excellent game. The drive was highlighted by the best call play I’ve seen this year. A screen pass to tight end J.P. Holtz for 30 yards. The second touchdown was an 8 yard pass to Robinson, making another great catch in the end zone. This drive was highlighted by a 21 completion to Anthony Miller. Miller would later score a touchdown on a 14 yard completion with 10 yards coming after the catch. Sandwiched between these scores was an Eddy Pineiro field goal. The Bears scored 24 straight points after falling behind 7-0.

 Despite his fumble, David Montgomery had his best game. He rushed 20 times for 86 yards, more than the entire Dallas team. The Cowboys star running back Ezekiel Elliott gained only 81 yards. Trubisky ran for 63 yards including a nifty 23 yard touchdown. Kudos to the offensive line for their run blocking and pass protection.

 After allowing an opening touchdown, the Bear defense kept Dallas off the scoreboard until a third quarter fumble gave them good field position. There were about 5-6 minutes left in the third quarter. Dallas used up a lot of time and didn’t score until the beginning of the fourth quarter. This cut the Bears lead to ten before Trubisky’s touchdown restored the Bears 17 point lead. Elliott had gained 56 yards on the first drive and the Bears shut him down the rest of the game. Dallas had to discard their running game making life difficult for Dallas QB Dak Prescott. The Cowboys struggled, using up time before scoring with a little over 4 minutes left. Then the Cowboys used two timeouts as the Bears were trying to run out the clock. After gaining only 3 yards on two runs, Nagy called for a roll-out for Trubisky. He completed a pass to tight end Jesper Horsted for a first down. This pretty much sealed the Cowboys’ fate.I thought the Cowboys were good but I guess I was wrong. They were supposed to have a really good defense and one the best offenses. Is it possible that the Bears are that much better?

 Nothing is impossible, although it’s highly unlikely the Bears will make the playoffs. What will be interesting to see the rest of this season, is if Trubisky continues to grow. Akiem Hicks returns to bolster the defense, which will be needed against the Packers, Chiefs and Vikings. However, the defense lost their best tackler, Roquan Smith, for the remainder of the season.

Another Meaningless Win

November 30, 2019

 

Turkey, stuffing, sweet potatoes and string bean casseroles are all parts of a traditional Thanksgiving dinner. Another Thanksgiving tradition is watching the Chicago Bears play the Detroit Lions. The Bears disappointing season has made this game lose some of its luster though it was still entertaining. The Bears came back to beat the Lions 24-20 and reach .500 with a 6-6 record. If anyone is thinking about the Bears winning out, finishing 10-6 and making the playoffs, let me assure you, it’s not going to happen. Of the 6 Bear victories, 5 have come against last place teams. I don’t see any left on the schedule.

The game had an auspicious start. I have never seen offsetting penalties on the opening kick-off. The game officially started when Cordarrelle Patterson fielded the ball 7 yards deep in the end zone. Most returners would take a knee for a touchback. However, the Bears offense has been so inept it is better for Patterson to run it out. He ended up returning the kick to midfield. From there it took the Bears less than 4 minutes to score a touchdown, a 10 yard pass to Allen Robinson. Robinson has been the Bears best player on offense this year. It was the Bears first touchdown of the year in the opening quarter. Of course from then on they could only manage a measly field goal at the end of the half.

Injuries on the Lions forced them to start third-string rookie quarterback David Blough. He and the Lions carved up the Bears defense. The Lions third play was a 75 yard touchdown pass to Kenny Golladay. On their next possession, the Lions drove 75 yards and scored on an 8 yard pass from Blough to Marvin Jones. The Lions added a 25 yard field goal by Matt Prater.

The Bears were down 17-10 at halftime. It seemed liked they had reached a new low. Unbelievably, Bears quarterback Mitch Trubisky engineered a comeback. After several pitiful starts, this was one of the best games in his brief career. He completed 29 of 38 passes for 338 yards.* One was a beautiful 18 yard touchdown pass to rookie tight end Jasper Horsted to tie the game. The Lions went ahead by 3 points on another Prater field goal.

Bears second year wide receiver Anthony Miller was invisible the first 10 games of the year. He was another player in whom Coach Matt Nagy had lost faith. Last game against the Giants he had 7 catches for 77 yards. Being the beneficiary of double coverage on Allen Robinson, he had a career best game Thursday. He had 9 catches for 140 yards. On the winning drive he caught a 35 yard pass on a third and four at the Bears 16-yard line. Four plays later, third and 5 at the Lions 34, he caught a 32 yard pass at the two yard line. On first down Matt Nagy called a run up the middle for David Montgomery.  The Bears committed a penalty negating his net rush of zero yards. When is idiot coach Nagy going to learn this play never works? When is Nagy going to learn that Montgomery’s best runs come in the I-formation with a fullback blocking in front of him? In a single back formation, he goes nowhere. However, on the next play had a huge 5-yard run and caught a two yard touchdown pass to give the Bears the lead.

After getting torched in the first half, the defense only allowed 3 second half points. They made a couple of clutch plays that contributed to the win. With the Lions having a third and one inside the Bears 10 yard line, Kyle Fuller made an ankle tackle on running back J.D. McKissie to force a field goal.  After the Bears go-ahead score, the Lions got the ball back with a little over two minutes left. At the Bear 27 yard line, linebacker Roquan Smith had 13 yard sack. On the next play under pressure, Blough threw a desperation pass that was easily intercepted by Eddie Jackson. Game over.

*This is only one game against the 30^th-ranked pass defense.