adam

We also have another WR that is great at jet sweeps and has thrown a TD pass. Something to consider, the 2023 FA WR class is terrible, a bunch got extended this offseson. If Claypool was an FA, he would get Christian Kirk money, so this is pretty fair compensation.

Woo hoo. I always felt Pace reached for Kmet instead of staying with the board and drafting Claypool. Claypool may be the best WR the Bears have now. I believe he is still younger than Velus too.

Nice cutback by Herbert and blocking up front. Failed 2pt but now 28-23. Hopefully we see the Bears usual 2nd half defense, because that would make this a game. The defense has to step up.

Getsy gets too cute (Nagy flashbacks) on what should be an easy conversion. Why do a direct snap to Monty? What is that doing? It just draws all the defenders to him. Which is exactly what happened. Such and odd call and play design on that one.

If they don't help Vildor or replace him, it is going to be a long game. Literally 75% of their first downs, receptions, and runs were at him. The rest of the defense is playing good enough. Jackson with a huge INT there. Cowboys were getting cocky there. A TD to open the 2nd half would make it a 4 pt game, which is insane to think if you look at the Dallas offensive stats. Even if they lose, I just want to see Fields make some more plays with his arm. Mooney and Kmet are still way too silent for me. Velus drops what should've been a long catch. Fields needs some help.

Yeah, not a good look. Vildor forgot how to play apparently. They targeted him early and often and he got burned every time. 28 pts before the half? The Cowboys plays are so predictable too. Offense at least needs to put up some pts, but this game is over. The Pats game was the fluke, these are the Bears.

Yeah, not a good look. Vildor forgot how to play apparently. They targeted him early and often and he got burned every time. Bears already down 7-0

Even after what seemed like better games for Fields, he still is dead last in the NFL in DVOA (35th) at -49.9% which is worse than last year and would be one of the worst seasons for a QB in NFL history. Only Baker Mayfield is even close to him, then a huge gap between him and recently benched Matt INT Ryan. Maybe the only saving grace is his QBR is up to 37.3 (28th) and right behind Aaron Rodgers. Hopefully this new formula will open things up more for him, and seemed like the recipe everyone was asking for since Day 1. At this point, I just want to continue to see development and some consistency in his performances. Even breaking 200 yds passing with a positive TD to INT ratio with a decent Comp% would be an improvement at this point. The bar is still extremely low. The Bears O-Line has not helped, they are ranked 32nd in Pass Pro (DVOA) but are one of the best in run blocking.

After Mustipher, Borom has been the weak link on the O-Line. So it is not like Reiff can play any worse than Borom has recently. Leatherwood is also activated. If the Bears can beat Dallas, which would be an even bigger upset than NE, then that last win was no fluke. However, a loss would make any playoff chance extremely unlikely as Dallas is currently one of those Wild Card teams (Giants too) and the Bears will have lost both head to heads with those teams killing any tie breakers. So the last wild card spot would come down to competing with GB, the non-Division winner in the west (so SF, ARZ, and LAR right now). Just based on shear numbers competing for the same spot, at 3-5, there is no point even discussing playoffs. It would take a 6-2 finish after 3-5 to even have a chance to make the playoffs. At 4-4, 5-3 might be good enough. I am still thinking 6-7 wins is probably where this team ends up getting 3-4 wins after a loss to Dallas (going 4-5 or 3-6 after starting 3-5).

The Cowboys are technically the toughest opponent the Bears will have faced to date. They are 3rd in DVOA, have the #18 offense and #2 defense. So another huge challenge for Fields and the offense. It looks like the Cowboys will be without Elliott, but have Prescott back. I never liked this matchup and it still looks pretty bad. The line is heavily in the the Cowboys favor. It will depend on which teams show up. If the Bears team that played the Pats shows up, the Bears can actually win this game, but if any other team shows up, it could be a long day against that defense. I figure this one will be a little bit lower scoring. Dallas only scored 24 against the Lions, but only allowed 6. They have allowed only 17 or under in every win, and 19 and over in every loss. So that seems like the sweet spot. The Bears will need probably 24+ to win. I am going: Cowboys 27-17

Kramer? I know they liked him before the injury. Definitely need an upgrade at RT.

A 4th is good considering his contract over the next 2 years. Von Miller netted a 2nd and 3rd.

I just hated Pace's attitude, smartest guy in the room. He did that with the Trubisky pick instead of using the normal logic with Watson and Mahomes. He got cute with Shaheen. Mike Glennon's contract? He had a lot of head scratchers.

I wonder if he broke a toe? Normally you can tape those up.

Yeah, these rankings used to be fairly accurate. Now, it is all to get clicks. Even with recentcy bias, the Bears have been in every game and basically lost 3 due to late game fumbles. So even then, they should at least be ahead of every 2 win team at this point.

Oh wow, that is surprising. I was figuring low 20s.

The Bears are 3-4, beat SF and NE, and were in every game. ESPN has them at #28: https://www.espn.com/nfl/story/_/id/34830163/nfl-week-8-power-rankings-1-32-poll-2022-season-stats DEN, NO, CLE, JAX, LVR, IND, WAS, ARZ, ATL and NE are all ahead of the Bears. These things are such a joke.

I really like Poles. Night and day compared to Pace. I am so glad Pace is gone.

Overall, this was the most complete team victory since the TB win in 2018.

Yep, it really does open up everything, because if they key on guy in motion, Fields can take it; if they key on Fields, he can give it to Herbert, or play action pass after the bite. The one thing they need to work on is having the O-Line at least block a little before releasing. There are too many free runners, but that can be fixed.

Fields:

More designed runs, Fields got down or out of bounds on most. They were very timely too. We had barely seen any of these yet, which made it easier to defend. Now everyone had to account for him to just take off at the snap. That is different than a scramble. This is what makes defending Lamar so tough. As long as they don't over do it, this is only going to help.

Did we just watch the tables turn on MNF? Are people starting to believe Fields is better than Jones finally? Jones has been terrible this year and was masked last year by a lot of factors. Now with Zappe, who may not be great, but looks better than Jones. Zack Wilson is still throwing for under 150 yds and Lawrence goes from a 300 yard game to multiple INTs. So is it a reach to say Fields is at least in the conversation as the best 2nd year QB, especially considering the talent around him?

Yeah, the entire coaching staff. I don't know if we could ever say the Bears out coached anyone since Lovie, and the Bears did it with all units and time management.

The designed runs for Fields was the missing piece. Now defenses not only have to worry about him scrambling, but now they have to account for him from the snap as a runner. This is what I needed to see. I have not been impressed with some of the play designs but his play calling tonight was his best game yet. Very few plays were predictable outside of a few runs.