No Big Deal Bears Beat Texans

 

September 26, 2022

Two of the worst in football paired off Sunday afternoon at Soldier Field. Cairo Santos kicked three fields, one with no time left and the Bears beat the Houston Texans, 23-20. There were some good performances, albeit against a very bad team.

Once again the passing game was non-existent. Fields seems to be regressing as things keep getting worse and worse. Fields completed seven passes in only 17 attempts. He was sacked 5 times and threw two interceptions. I thought new offensive coordinator Luke Getsy was going to fix this. With David Montgomery out, the Bears featured Khalil Herbert, who gained 157yards on 20 carries. He also scored the Bears’ lone two touchdowns.

The Bear defense was pretty good, although they were helped by the ineptitude of Houston’s offense. The Bears came up with two interceptions that basically won this game. When Texas was inside the ten yard line, Kindle Vildor tipped a pass that Eddie Jackson picked off. There were other plays that stood out. Late in the third quarter, the Texans had a third and one from the Bears two yard line. Roquan Smith got in the backfield and tackled Texans running back Dameon Pierce for a three yard loss and Houston had to settle for a tying field goal. After Fields threw his second interception, the Texans were in Bears territory. Defensive tackle Justin Jones came up with the only Bears sack for a loss of eight yards. Linebacker Nick Marrow followed, tackling running back Pharaoh Brown for a five yard loss forcing the Texans to punt. On the Texans final drive, lineman Angelo Blackson tipped a pass into the hands of Smith, who returned it 18 yards to set up the winning field goal.

One of the proposed reasons the Bears didn’t extend an offer to Roquan Smith is that they wanted to see how he played in a new system. Sixteen tackles and one interception says it all. We’ll see if they cough up the money to re-sign him. David Montgomery is in the last year of his rookie contract and there has been no talk of an extension. This may be his last season as a Bear with Herbert becoming the running back of the future.

Next up is another bad team, the New York Giants. I believe the Bears may have trouble on the road however, a win is possible.

Reality Check

 

September 20, 2022

Things started out rosy for the Bears on Sunday night. The Bears made the Green Bay Packers settle for a field goal on their opening possession. The Bears countered with a touchdown and led 7-3. I was feeling good when things got ugly. The Packers scored three touchdowns and held the Bears to three total yards in the quarter. Each team added a field goal in the second half as the Packers once again beat the Bears 27-10.

 Packers quarterback Aaron Rodgers could have had a monster game as he hit on most of his passes .However, the Packers won the game running the ball, gaining 203 yards on the ground. Packer running backs were bouncing off would-be tacklers all night. Tackling continues to be a problem that needs to be fixed.

 Bear running backs were not the problem on offense. Both David Montgomery and Khalil Herbert were  spectacular. When trailing by multiple points you need to have a passing game. The Bears is non-existent. Fields was sacked three times and was being pressured consistently. Even the best quarterbacks need protection to succeed. You need a passing game to win, which does not bode well for the Bears.

The Bears did have a chance to make this game interesting. With 8:07 remaining, the Bears had a fourth and goal from two feet. The proper call is a quarterback sneak. For some strange reason Fields is in the shot gun formation. Fields failed to run for the score and instead of being one touchdown down, they 
stayed 14 points behind. These short distance plays have been problematic for years. I have yet to hear an explanation for this call.

 The Packers are probably the best team the Bears face all year. They also have the best quarterback Aaron Rodgers, who makes players surrounding him better. No one else wins this division until he retires. By that time the Bears may be competitive.

Bears Shine in the Rain

 

September 12, 2022

The Chicago Bears pulled of a stunning upset over the San Francisco 49ers winning their home opener 19-10. This was a game of two halves in which the Bears came from behind to win. I know it’s only one win but a win is a win.

 The 49ers scored on their first second half possession to go in front 10-0. Bear fans may have been thinking here we go again. However, for the first time in years the coaching staff made halftime adjustments. The Bears only had 68 yards and QB Justin Fields couldn’t complete a downfield pass in the first. Fields had to be better for the Bears to have a chance. His first touchdown pass was a thing of beauty as he broke tackles, reversed fields and found wide receiver Dante Pettis wide open and with a key block from wide receiver Equanimeous St. Brown scampered 30 yards into the end zone.

The 49ers committed 12 penalties many resulting in first downs. They committed three third down penalties aiding the Bears next touchdown, an eighteen yard pass to Brown and suddenly the Bears were up 13-10. The Bears later cashed in on a turnover. This short drive ended with Khalil Herbert scoring from five yards out and 19-10 lead.

Another thing we haven’t seen recently is good clock management. The only disconcerting things was Cairo Santos missing 2 point after attempts. David Montgomery averaged 1.5 yards per carry. I don’t how much longer he can be the featured back.

The defense was pretty good in the first half. San Francisco had good field position throughout the first half and the Bears held them to seven points. They staved off disaster causing a fumble at their 10 yard line. The 49ers moved the ball but couldn’t put up any points. It was nice to see the Bears make defense adjustments as well. They starting putting pressure on QB Trey Lance and disguised there defense to confuse the second year QB. This led to a fourth quarter interception by Eddie Jackson, his first since 2019. His return set up the offense for their final score. The defense and poor field conditions shut out the 49ers after the early third period field goal.

This should be a good boost for the Bears. It will take a while to see if they might be better than most thought. Their next game is prime time Sunday in Green Bay against the Packers. The Bears usually embarrass themselves in front of national audiences. The Packers will be seeing red or should I say loaded for bear after getting crushed by Minnesota in their opener.    

Bad News Chicago Bears

 

September 7, 2022It 

After an excruciating play-off loss and three mind numbing seasons, the Bears have pushed the reset button. Since it worked so well in the past, the Bears hired first time GM Ryan Poles and rookie coach Matt Eberflus. One of the most distressing things is Poles is content with Bears being lousy not only this year but next year as well. His roster consists of 10 players who were let go by other teams. Poles filled the roster with second tier players on one or two year contracts.

The Bears have been one of the worst offensive teams in the NFL. With the exception of center Lucas Patrick, Poles did nothing to improve the offense. Justin Fields has all the attributes you need to be a good quarterback, however, he needs some help. New offensive coordinator Luke Getsy said his offense will be focused around the strengths of Fields. One problem that crops up is- who is he going to pass to? The Bears have only one proven receiver, Darnell Mooney.  Tight end Cole Kmet should get some targets. The other big problem is with the porous offensive line, Fields may be running for his life. To show what the Bears think of running back David Montgomery, who is in the final year of his rookie contract, there are no signs that they will re-sign him.

Eberflus is supposed to be a defensive genius and will have to be for the Bears defense to be any good. The Defense will now have four lineman and three linebackers. Robert Quinn will anchor the front four. Trevis Gipson had some good moments last year. Unknowns Al-Quadin Mohammed and Dominique Robinson will be the other two starters. Roquan Smith and Mathew Adams will surround middle linebacker Nicholas Morrow. Eddie Jackson and first pick Jaquan Brisker will start at safety. Brisker has looked pretty good so far. The starting Cornerbacks are Jaylon Johnson and second pick Kyler Gordon. I don’t know how good this defense will be. Eberflus’ goal is to make them respectable.

The Bears special teams is solidified by kicker Cairo Santos. Santos may turn out to be their MVP. Third pick Velus Jones JR. vs. the 49ers front four led by Nick Bosa could make it a rough day for Fields. They were the third best defense last season. The second game is NBC’s game of the week. This does not bode well as the Bears are usually embarrassed on national TV. Their opponents are the Packers in Green Bay so the Bears start 0-2.  The Bears are no shoe-ins when they have weaker opponents. 6-11 sounds right.  

It Can't Get Much Worse

 

August 29, 2022

Losing series to the Texas Rangers, Kansas City Royals and Arizona Diamondbacks the White Sox (63-65) are five games back of the Cleveland Guardians. For all intents and purposes the season is all but over. The Sox have been one of the most disappointing teams of my lifetime. Sox fans have a right to be angry including yours truly. What went wrong? Here’s hoping I can answer that.

What was supposed a powerhouse team, the Sox are 27^th   in Home Runs. They have played 50 games by two or less runs. If they were in the middle of the pack, they would be 5 games up in first. This team doesn’t walk either. Most balls in play are ground ball outs.

The Sox are the worst defensive team in baseball. Their fielding percentage would be even worse if not for gift hits by scorekeepers. This what you get when you have first basemen playing the outfield or playing Eloy Jimenez in left. The only players above average are Luis Robert in center, Josh Harrison at second and Yoan Moncada at third.

The Sox at the top of the league in runners thrown out on the bases. Third base coach Joel McEwing sends runners home with no chance of scoring. Tony LaRussa likes his aggressiveness I like aggressiveness but these are this just stupid decisions. Sox runners also never seem to look at defensive positioning affecting their decision making on the base paths.

Sox come out flat and with no fire. This is a direct reflection on curmudgeon manager Tony LaRussa. He   continues to make mistakes. The only time his seems to have fire is in confrontations with reporters in post-game press conferences.

The Chicago Cubs (55-73) have been out of contention since April. However, there is reason for optimism on the North Siders. Since August 5^th   the Cubs are 13-10. Playing well the rest of the year should build confidence heading into next year.

Cub starting pitching has been very good in this stretch. Justin Steele has become one the best left-handers in baseball and should anchor this rotation for yours to come. He will be joined by Keegan Thompson and both can be better next year. Drew Smyly has been surprisingly outstanding and may be pitching himself to be in next year’s rotation. Free agent signee, Marcus Stroman has been a major disappointment and Kyle Hendricks is out for the year. Many pitchers are getting the chance to audition for jobs in 2023. President Jed Hoyer promised the Cubs would be signing free agents. However, the pitching is slim pickings.

The Cubs have to lock up All-Star Ian Happ and shortstop Nico Hoerner and dip into free agency. There is one free agent player who could make your team an instant contender. However, I don’t the Cubs will be in the Aaron Judge sweepstakes. The more intriguing possibility is getting Boston shortstop Xander. Boggaerts and moving Hoerner to second base. The Cubs have many other needs but I don’t think there is very good crop of free agents. The Cubs have a stacked farm system with many players auditioning to see if they can make the team next year Don’t be surprised if the Cubs resign Willson Contreras. This may make fans happy but doesn’t make the team better.

Chicago Baseball Blues

 

July 9, 2022

The White Sox (39-42) are in third place and trail first place Minnesota by six games. I haven’t seen anything to convince me they will win the division. The Sox were supposed to run away and easily win the division. So what happened?

The Sox didn’t start hitting until June. They then started putting up runs in bunches, but this didn’t translate into wins. The problem is they have no power. Home runs exponentially increase the chance of winning games. Jose Abreu leads the team with a mere 10 home runs. One nice thing is Josh Harrison has started hitting, which keeps Leury Garcia out of the line-up. Catchers, Reese McGuire and Seby Zavala, are much better than Yasmani Grandal. Knowing Tony LaRussa, Grandal will be in the line-up when he comes off the IL. They should trade Grandal. As P.T. Barnum said, there is a sucker born every minute. 

Dylan Cease has become an elite starter and is worth the price of admission. The other starters have been woefully inconsistent. However, Johnny Cueto is a big upgrade from Dallas Keuchel.

The Sox have also had major injuries but none have hurt as much as injuries in the bullpen. Things seemed to be going smoothly until Aaron Bummer went on the disabled list for the second time and they lost closer Liam Hendriks. The Sox lost two games scoring nine runs and coughed up late leads big and small.

The biggest problem is this is the worst defensive team in baseball. Physical errors, double plays not turned, miscommunication in the outfield and pop-ups dropping between three players. Players are often playing out of position, especially right with two first basemen and Garcia. Dylan Cease had a start where he gave up 6 runs, all unearned.

Tony LaRussa continues to make bad moves leading to Sox losses. The most egregious was his walking Trea Turner with 1-2 count. This move went national and not one person thought this was a good move. When a reporter asked about the move LaRussa’s arrogance came out. His response was, “Are you really asking me that question?” He then went on a rant spewing inaccuracies about what Turner hits with two strikes. The number he should have known is that lefties were hitting .364 against Bennett Sousa. Left handed Max Muncy followed with a three run homer. LaRussa should be fired but like his team, both are going nowhere.

The Cubs (34-48) are playing worse than their low expectations. Despite that, they are seventh in average attendance with the second highest ticket prices. It costs a family of four over $329.00 to attend a game. With the assets surrounding Wrigley, the Ricketts family is making tons of money. With all that money it’s time to loosen up the purse strings and let Jed Hoyer go to work on prime free agents.

Hoyer’s plans to flip players on one year contracts has flopped. Only closer David Robertson has any value to other teams. Because he is 37 years old he'll probably be traded. Also likely to be traded is their best offensive player, catcher, Willson Contreras. The Cubs offense has been crippled by injuries. Nico Hoerner came back and is hitting .304. Nick Madrigal was projected to be the second baseman but he has been on the IL most of the year and was bad when he did play. The Cubs called up Christopher Morel who can play multiple positions which helps when looking for free agents. The other key loss was key free-agent signee Seiya Suzuki.  He has shown some flashes but lost at bats could cripple his development. In the remaining games he can get invaluable experience and put it all together next year.

If there is a positive it is the future of a promising starting rotation. Justin Steele and Keegan Thompson as rookie starters have their ups and downs and should be even better next year.  Caleb Kilian had a couple of starts and showed he has major league stuff. Add a healthy Marcus Stroman and you have a nice starting four.  I also think it’s time to move on regarding Kyle Hendricks. You can probably get a nice return. Then you get a quality free-agent starter.

The Rebuild Begins Despite Jed Hoyer's Rebuild Denial

 

May 24, 2022

The Chicago Cubs (17-24) are playing as expected. There are a lot of holes that need to be filled. It may take some time, but President Jed Hoyer has done a good job stocking the minors. In the coming months, you may be seeing the future Cubs. Inconsistency has been a major problem.

Hoyer’s biggest free agent signing was Japanese superstar Seiya Suzuki. He lit the world on fire at the start of season and was April’s rookie of the month. He has since fallen on hard times. Pitchers make adjustments and word spread on how to get him out. He is also seeing pitches he’s never encountered. A good example is the ease in which White Sox pitcher Lucas Giolito got him out with his deadly change-up. Good hitters adjust and figure out how pitchers are trying to get them out. Being a rookie, it sometimes takes till the end of this or the next season to become acclimated to major league pitching. One thing he has that many rookies don’t, is a great knowledge of the strike zone.  I hate to be a downer but I can only think of two players, Ichiro Suzuki and currently Shohei Ohtani who have had success after playing in Japan.

What was unexpected was the Cubs relievers having more success than the starters. Kyle Hendricks is no longer an elite starter. Although he can be good at times, he has had as many awful starts. He has struggled and put the Cubs behind the eight ball. Hoyer should deal him before you can’t get a big return. Hoyer’s other free agent was pitcher Marcus Stroman who is battling illnesses and his starts have been inconsistent. Drew Smyly had a couple of good starts before coming off the rails, while the jury is still out on Wade Miley. The future lies with Justin Steele. He keeps getting better in his first year as starter and should be the ace of the staff next year. The Cubs do have some reinforcements in Iowa. It shouldn’t be long before the Cubs call up 25 year old Caleb Kilian, who is 2-1 with a 1.31 era.  Next year Keegan Thompson needs to be stretched to join the rotation. 

The Cubs bullpen has been outstanding. They have excellent set-up men for rejuvenated closer David Robertson, who has 6 saves and 1.78 era. Set-up men Keegan Thompson, Rowan Wick and Scott Effross have a combined 1.58 era. Chris Martin, Jesse Chavez are two more reliable set-up men.

The Cubs scored 21 runs against the Pirates, otherwise the offense has been as pathetic as the White Sox. The best hitter on the team is catcher Willson Contreras. Right now he is a little banged up and Yan Gomes is catching. Gomes is not part of the future so I’m wondering why recently called up Brandon Hughes is not catching. The Yankees are looking for catching and could land Contreras at the trade deadline. It may not end up being the Yankees, but he’s almost certain to be gone.  The Cubs have much of the season without their double play combination most of the year. Shortstop Nico Hoerner and second baseman Nick Madrigal were expected to be table setters but have been out most of the season and David Bote’s career is in jeopardy. I didn’t expect first baseman Frank Schwindel to be the hitter he was last year but not as bad as .226. Only an injury kept him from being sent down. Third baseman Patrick Wisdom has nine homers in only 126 at-bats.  He also has struck out a whopping 56 times. Ian Happ in leftfield is having a typical Ian Happ season. His numbers are never overwhelming but he is one of the Cubs most consistent hitters.

One of the Cubs main objectives should be to get younger. Therefore, it was good to bring up Christopher Morel. Morel will turn 23 in June and is filling a hole at second base. When Nick Madrigal comes back, Manager David Ross has to realize that Morel is a better option in centerfield than Jason Heyward. It will be interesting to see if the players Hoyer got in last year’s blockbuster trades pan out.