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

 

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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.