adam

There are two players on the entire team you have to account for, Waller and Crosby. If the Bears concentrate on them, they win.

This is going to hurt, but I am glad it is not season-ending. In other team news, it looks like they traded a 6th Round Pick for WR Jakeem Grant from Miami. He is a Return Specialist and will likely take over both the KR and PR duties with Herbert moving to RB2. Webster probably getting cut for his reluctance to even fair catch a ball last week like Ted Ginn did last year. Grant also has some speed, but until they used Goodwin and Byrd, he won't be much of an option on offense, which is fine with me.

This is going to hurt, but I am glad it is not season-ending. In other team news, it looks like they traded a 6th Round Pick for WR Jakeem Grant from Miami. He is a Return Specialist and will likely take over both the KR and PR duties with Herbert moving to RB2. Webster probably getting cut for his reluctance to even fair catch a ball last week like Ted Ginn did last year. Grant also has some speed, but until they used Goodwin and Byrd, he won't be much of an option on offense, which is fine with me.

Bears are currently 6.5 dogs in Las Vegas. The line seems about right unless you watched MNF. The Raiders looked terrible with only 213 yards on offense, most coming on 2x TD drives (159 yds) in the 3rd quarter. For the other 3 quarters, nothing. They looked like the Bears playing the Browns. Their first 7 drives (the entire first half) consisted of the following: 3 and out, punt 3 and out, punt 3 and out, punt 4 and out, turnover on downs 6 plays, punt 3 and out, punt 2 plays, end of half 26 total yards in the first half, down 21-0 On their only first down in the first half, a 21 yard gain to Waller, Waller got a 15-yard penalty for taunting lol. They turned it around in the 3rd quarter with 2x TD drives, but ended the game with a missed FG, Interception, and 4 and out. So out of 12 drives, they only scored on 2, then had 3 turnovers, 5 punts, 1 missed FG, and 1 end of half. The bad news is they are the #1 passing team in the league. Ruggs, Waller, Renfrow, and Edwards all have over 200 yards receiving. The good news is the Chargers play the same style defense as the Bears. On the other side of the ball, they were absolutely gashed by Ekeler on the ground. He had 117 yards on only 15 carries. So even if we have Williams/Herbert, I think we will be ok. Justin Herbert was not sacked or intercepted and had 8 different receivers catch a pass. I really like this matchup for the Bears with the Raiders on a short week. If Fields starts, Bears 27-17 If Dalton starts, Raiders 24-17

Yeah, that's the ultimate goal. Teams cannot defend the run, medium AND deep routes.

Exactly, very inconsistent. That's the thing, they didn't blow the whistle before the fumble.

LOL no wonder everyone voted blue pill.

I don't disagree that the defense overall was a C or C- collectively. The Safeties were an F, the D-Line was a C and the CBs were no better than a C-, probably a D, though Johnson and Shelley were pretty good, so I think we are splitting hairs. If you give the Lions two FGs or even a FG and a TD, they still lose. A turnover is a turnover, it was a freak play but it's like a batted or tipped ball that gets intercepted. One factor that needs to be mentioned again is how terrible the officiating was. Even the commentators were confused on a few calls. Literally, both scoring drives were impacted by bad calls: - Bears are called offsides on a play where the play clock expired. You can't be offsides on a delay of game. It ends up a free play for Goff who gets a long completion that keeps the drive alive (penalty is declined) and the Lions eventually score a TD. The drive should've ended in a punt. - Crawford makes a textbook tackle on special teams and they call returner interference, 15 extra yards and the Lions start on Bears 44 before scoring TD. Do they score if they start from their 41? There were also these 3 gems: - Tonga playing to the whistle, on a play where the ball was intercepted, gets penalized for unnecessary roughness. They didn't even review the play. - Mack gets penalized for roughing the passer after he tips a pass and his follow-through grazes Goff's helmet. That keeps the drive alive. Quinn later gets strip-sack to stop this drive. - Swift gets smashed lands on the back of a Bear as he fumbles. The play is ruled dead so it can't be reviewed or challenged. On replay it showed the ball coming out before he was down. It should've been a fumble.

There is a chance that Fields gives us the better chance to win and make the playoffs, but if those were the only two options, would you mind enduring a down year for future success?

I watched Coach Matt Nagy not groom a young quarterback. - Scary that we are back in the same place, he is considering going with Dalton over grooming Fields. I watched Coach Nagy tell me the team should run more, when he is the one making the call on how often to run. This is the Bears. We run the ball. - Monty had 10 carries against Cleveland, 10, while they watched Fields get sacked 9 times. I watched coach Nagy give up play-calling and see some success with Coach Bill Lazor. Then, I watched coach Nagy take the play-calling back, which resulted in some less than stellar performances against our most bitter rivals, the Packers and the Saints. - If this happens again, fans need to boycott the next home game, just don't show up, that is the only thing that will get their attention. It is crazy that you wrote that in January and it is still accurate in October AFTER they drafted another QB and Pace handed out some more stupid contracts.

That is understandable, I am probably a little bias from how bad the Cleveland game was. For the O-Line, 1 sack and over 170 yards rushing is a good O-Line day regardless of opponent. Michael Brockers and Nick Williams are pretty decent on the D-Line. The only reason the TEs didn't get an F is because they at least blocked well, and are they at fault for not getting targets (not getting open) or is it the play calls? On the defense, it is hard to lump them all together, and the game is not won by yardage. They stopped the Lions when they needed to and got some takeaways that helped the offense. 4 sacks, 2 takeaways and only 14 pts allowed is a decent day at the office. There is room for improvement on the DLine and in the secondary for sure. Considering that the Ravens essentially lost to the Lions the week before except for a missed call and record FG, were beating GB in the 2nd half before the wheels fell off, and lost to the 49ers by one score; the Lions may be devoid of talent, but they have been competitive in every game.

Remember all the talk about Trey Burton being the "adjuster", then it was Cohen. The adjuster was the key to Nagy's offense, so now what? Who is playing that role? It can't be any of the TEs based on their usage. Graham has 3 targets in 4 games, on pace for 4 receptions and 44 yards lol.

There were two calls that were inexcusable, that one because how can it be interference if he caught the ball cleanly? The other one was on the offsides after the play clock expired. It should've been a delay of game on the offense. Both of those were huge calls that accounted for -25 yards in total.

Me too. Just put a lock on it and throw away the key. There is no need to go back.

With a division win against Detroit, the Bears are now 2-2, which is where most people expected them to be after 4 games. Now comes the teeth of the schedule. They need to survive this stretch and come out of it .500 to have a chance at the playoffs. They have LV, GB, TB, SF, PIT, and BAL as their next 6 games. They need to split these and win at least 3 to have a chance at the playoffs. LV, SF, and PIT seem like the best opportunities for a win. GB, TB, and BAL are going to be tough games. With that said, here is how I would rate the units for the game against the Lions: QB - A solid "B", still a few plays left on the field and a couple of chances missed. Those mistakes will get cleaned up with more reps. The future is bright for Fields. His improvement from Cleveland was visual and he still has a long way to go. However, the potential is there and is night and day compared to Mitch. RB - Definitely an "A", they rode the RBs to victory, 3 TDs from this group and a nice return by Herbert. Hopefully Monty's injury is not season-ending as he was nearing All-Pro discussions. TE - A big fat "D-" - for the money (Graham) and draft capital (Kmet) this group is not doing much. Holtz had a nice ST tackle, and the unit blocked decent, but man where are the targets for the TEs (3 for Kmet, 0 for all other TEs). James had some great chemistry with Fields in the preseason, lets see what he can do or Horsted. Those guys should be able to create some mismatches against LBs in coverage. OL - B+, Only one sack allowed, and Fields took the blame for it. RBs had some space to run, a good overall game from the O-Line. No glaring problems and no drive-killing penalties. If they played like that for the rest of the year, I would be overjoyed. DL - C, the unit seemed to drop off a little bit after Hicks went out. Hopefully Goldman will get better with more reps as he was not really a factor. It felt like this unit wasn't getting much push inside or were able to clog lanes as they should. I don't recall hearing Nichols name called once, and Tonga was only mentioned for an unnecessary roughness penalty that shouldn't have been called. Edge - A, these guys are rolling, Quinn is playing like he has a full head of hair, Mack looks much better, and even Gipson has chipped in. All 3 had sacks and Quinn had some TFLs, a strip-sack, and some QB hurries. Mack has another chance at a revenge game next week in Vegas. I hope he is up to the challenge. ILB - B, this group was ok, Smith had a nice sack and 10 tackles, Ogletree had 12 tackles but it seemed like coverage was an issue for both of these guys. It is hard to argue with the tackle totals, but it felt like they were a step slow getting to gaps and in coverage. CB - C-, still too many big plays given up by this unit. If players like Cephus, St. Brown, and Raymond are all getting 20+ yard receptions (and TDs) on you, life is going to get really hard against actual NFL WRs. Johnson was fine and Shelley had a nice PBU on Hockenson, but the unit still feels like they are playing soft coverages and allowing easy receptions on every drive. S - F, I thought this unit was going to be a strength after hearing a Gipson interview in the offseason, but they have become the worst unit on the team, and that is saying something with the O-Line and CBs. I just don't understand what is going on here. Bush has been with this team longer than any other defensive player, so he should know every coverage and call by now. They are still having too many breakdowns that lead to an easy TD. Eddie Jackson is the most overrated player on the team and now has the worst contract based on his play with how well Quinn is now playing. Eddie gets the golden toilet seat. His play is baffling. It reminds me of playing organized sports in the Army where you had the reluctant player who really didn't want to be out there. So they are on the field, but sort of floating around and are never really in the play. That is Jackson to a T. If you have Game Pass, go back and watch every defensive play and see what Jackson does. He ended the game with 2 tackles, that's it. He has zero PBUs in 4 games. His lone highlight is his single forced fumble. To me it's related to his injury. He has never been the same player since that injury. He shies away from contact and whiffs more than he hits. It is quite embarrassing. The team will need to address this position sooner than later. I would look to trade Jackson just for cap relief as any player can come in and do what he does for league minimum. He should still have some value but the more bad games he puts on tape, the less they will get for him. ST - Santos continues his brilliance with 4 more kicks. Crawford got penalized on a bogus call, which ultimately led to a Lions TD. There were several missed calls and the Bears got the brunt of them. They were called for offsides when there should've been a delay of game called on the Lions, Kmet was held in the end zone (handful of jersey) with no call, and the refs swallowed their flags when the Lions offense was holding/tackling. Coaching - B, It was nice to see Lazor calling plays and you could tell the difference. Just like last year. Nagy should just hang up the play calling visor and card, and just be a HC. On defense, they did enough to win, and I liked the pressure packages, but the backend stuff has to be fixed. Desai is an old secondary coach, so this is extra puzzling. The Special Teams did what they were supposed to do and there were no breakdowns from the coverage units. Overall, the team gets a B, they beat the Lions, at home. Not a huge accomplishment, but something to build on. The Raiders game feels like it will define the rest of the year. With a win, you are looking at a 9-10 win team. With a loss, expect 5-6 wins with a 6 game losing streak starting next week.

They might have listened to MadLith, that looked like a totally different offense compared to last week.

Justin Fields explosive play rate was 22%. That will only go up as he starts making quicker decisions, especially to tuck and run. For a 2nd career start, the numbers don't do it justice because the Bears went into a kill-the-clock mode once they got up by 3 TDs early in the 3rd quarter. Even so, he finished 11-17, 209 yds and 1 INT off a tipped ball. I know people don't like to compare, but here are Trubisky's first 4 starts: 12-25, 128 yds, 1 TD, 1 INT 8-16, 113 yds, 1 TD 4-7, 107 yds 14-32, 164 yds, 1 INT So Trubisky's stats looked like this thru his first 4 games as a rookie: 38-80, 47.5%, 502 yds, 2 TD, 2 INT which averages out to be: 9.5-20, 125 yds, 0.5 TD, 0.5 INT per game My expectation for Fields is that he will continually improve as he gets more reps with the 1s. If you consider Cleveland as his first preseason game, Detroit was number 2. Number 3 is where you really should see the improvement, which is next Sunday in Vegas. The good thing is the Raiders play MNF on the road. So they will have 1.5 less days to prep for the Bears and they only have one game of tape with the new offense to review. I expect Fields to have 250+ yds next week, with 2 TDs and a few extra yards on the ground. I think you will see some more TE usage next week as well. Thoughts?

I agree on Desai, they need to find the best players for the positions. They need Danny T back and Mario Edwards to play like he did last year. Goldman finally got a game under his belt, he will only get better, which is good. I don't like when they only use 2x DL with Mack and Quinn. That is a light box.

So Trey Lance replaces Jimmy G, starts 1 for 5, with a 76 yard TD. That equates to a QB Rating of 118.8, that is how skewed that stat is.

It's not scheme, its the players. Shelley looked better, but man the Safeties are terrible. They confused themselves between who is playing zone and man. They need to have better communication and those plays just cannot happen. Danny T will help when he is able to return. Jackson is such a liability but there is no way they are going to bench him. He is so reluctant to tackle it is sickening.

Only 90 yards rushing allowed this week, the Lions lowest total of the season.

You could clearly tell Nagy was not calling plays, because they worked. If not for some terrible calls, the Bears would've won by 20+. The Monty injury sucks, but I really like Williams and Herbert as they are probably better pass catchers than Monty. Quinn's emergence has been huge. Quinn, Mack, Gipson, and Smith all with sacks. Quinn also had a strip, and a TFL. He has been earning his pay. The secondary is still an issue. Jackson needs to be benched. He is either out of position or misses a tackle. He is now just a body on the field. Put someone else in there who is willing to tackle. They need to clean up the blown coverages, it seems likely every week they give up 1 TD pass. One good thing for next week, the Raiders play MNF in LA. So they have travel back to LV then prep, so they lose at least a day and a half of prep. LV has been playing out of their minds on offense (33, 26, 31 pts), and their defense has allowed 27, 17, and 28. So this is actually a decent matchup for the Bears. They will need to double Waller and make someone else beat them.

Lol, it was so easy to see. The runs are even different. Plays are linked together. If the refs were calling the game even, it would've been a 20 pt win.

Victory formation for JF1! Good all around win with a lot of potential. The Monty injury is huge but the RB room is pretty deep with Williams and Herbert. Fields is only going to get better. If he is not named starter next week, fire Nagy.

These officials mannnnn. The play clock expired, you can't have an offsides.