Vikings at Bears Official Game Thread (Sun, Nov 18, 7:20 PM CST/NBC SNF/Bears -2.5, O/U 45.5)

[adam]

14-0 Bears, I have been screaming on almost every play. Pounding it with Howard is working, need to keep that up. On the Trubisky INT, shouldn't have thrown it, but also a bad play call against 2 deep safeties. Basically throwing into triple coverage. 

The defense has been absolutely dominant. 

I would like to see Burton and Shaheen get more involved in the end half. 

We get the ball to start the half, need points on that drive, preferably a TD and make it a 3 TD game. 

[Bill]

My dad and I were both born in Chicago.  Butkus went to the same High School as my dad.  He lived long enough to see them win in 85.  This is not my dads Bears!!!

[Stinger226]

pretty

[Bill]

Both my dad and I were born in Chicago.  Butkus went to the same High School as my dad.  He lived long enough to see 85.  This is not my dads Bears!!

[Bill]

Opps repeat.  But just as true

.

[Bill]

This was a hard fought win against a tough team.  Not a good game by Mitch.  Ugly win against one of the best teams in the NFL.  

Really time to sit up and take notice.  The Bears are BACK!!!

[Alaskan Grizzly]

1 hour ago, adam said:

On the Trubisky INT, shouldn't have thrown it, but also a bad play call against 2 deep safeties. Basically throwing into triple coverage.

Can’t say as I agree.  QB has ultimate choice on where it goes. The receiver ran a seam route into the middle of outside zones.  Meaning there was someone(s) underneath for a shorter dump.

The second INT  was just slop.  Looks like Robinson may have stopped the route but still Trubiksy’s pass sailed high.  He’s got to work on those long routes.  Last week he was pretty much spot on but today he got sloppy again.  He had at least two others that could’ve just as easily been picked off.

But before I get accused of being too negative; for a large portion of tonight’s game Trubiksy looked confident and solid. His scrambling has definitely become a new positive wrinkle to the offense. 

[adam]

On 11/16/2018 at 9:02 PM, adam said:

So a score of: 
CHI 26
MIN 22
on a neutral field. If you give us +3 for home field or (+2 for us and -1 for them), you get Bears 28-21. So we will see how this goes, I had 27-21 in my first look, so it was interesting to see the numbers come up so close.

 

Bears win 25-20, damn close to projections. A lot of garbage time yards for Minnesota. Defense is legit, offense still a work in progress. They need some underneath routes. 

[AZ54]

24 minutes ago, Alaskan Grizzly said:

Can’t say as I agree.  QB has ultimate choice on where it goes. The receiver ran a seam route into the middle of outside zones.  Meaning there was someone(s) underneath for a shorter dump.

The second INT  was just slop.  Looks like Robinson may have stopped the route but still Trubiksy’s pass sailed high.  He’s got to work on those long routes.  Last week he was pretty much spot on but today he got sloppy again.  He had at least two others that could’ve just as easily been picked off.

But before I get accused of being too negative; for a large portion of tonight’s game Trubiksy looked confident and solid. His scrambling has definitely become a new positive wrinkle to the offense. 

First INT i agree, not a pass he should have thrown.  Second INT I have no clue what happened with Robinson standing still on the route.  On the deep passes I said at the beginning of the season I supported him taking those chances so he can learn to make the throws, and when to make the throws.  I don't want Trubisky to become like Alex Smith was 3 years into the league and become Captain Checkdown.   When we needed a score at the end Trubisky delivered it, and so did Parkey.  That was a huge drive.  

If we can just get Fangio's prevent defense to be more prevent I'd be happy. 

On a side note:  I didn't see much of Bilal Nichols in this game.  Maybe I just missed him.  Akiem Hicks ...now everyone knows your name and your game.     

Great win for a young team.  This is the kind of game I expected especially from Minnesota with two weeks to prepare.  This was their best shot and they came up short.  In the next game against them Nagy and Trubisky will be more prepared for what they will see. 

 

 

[Stinger226]

6 hours ago, adam said:

Bears win 25-20, damn close to projections. A lot of garbage time yards for Minnesota. Defense is legit, offense still a work in progress. They need some underneath routes. 

I had 24-20 so it was close, but none of all of this matters, we won, I dont care if its pretty, lucky, or a bad win, a win is a win, we did enough to be in first place. This was a very good team, taking away Cook was huge , it made Cousins be relied on to much and forced him into mistakes. The first half, diggs and Thielien had 2 receptions. We can beat anyone with this defense. I think the Detroit game could be a trap game, hopefully it turns out well. If we beat D and NY then its prime time with Rams with a 9-3 record, I think the Rams lose to KC, so one game apart and we get to play them at home, all looking like good timing.

[jason]

10 hours ago, Alaskan Grizzly said:

Can’t say as I agree.  QB has ultimate choice on where it goes. The receiver ran a seam route into the middle of outside zones.  Meaning there was someone(s) underneath for a shorter dump.

The second INT  was just slop.  Looks like Robinson may have stopped the route but still Trubiksy’s pass sailed high.  He’s got to work on those long routes.  Last week he was pretty much spot on but today he got sloppy again.  He had at least two others that could’ve just as easily been picked off.

But before I get accused of being too negative; for a large portion of tonight’s game Trubiksy looked confident and solid. His scrambling has definitely become a new positive wrinkle to the offense. 

Agree.

I LOVE the progression and improvement Trubisky has shown. He's pretty lethal on mid-range and underneath stuff. Tom Brady has proven a career can be made on such passes. However, when the opportunities present themselves, they have to be exploited. Trubisky is still struggling with 1-2 really bad decisions a game, and a few poorly thrown long balls per game. Right now I'll take those flaws, but they could hurt the Bears eventually.

[Alaskan Grizzly]

22 minutes ago, jason said:

I LOVE the progression and improvement Trubisky has shown. He's pretty lethal on mid-range and underneath stuff.

Yeah me too and you’re right about Brady.

Was going to point out that they must have a pretty decent line these days.  To include a guy ‘Wentzman’(?) in the starting lineup. Sure Trubiksy’s mobility helped tremendously but when you nullify a player like Danielle Hunter, and keep him to no sacks and minimal hurries you must be doing something right.  

[Stinger226]

We have to keep reminding ourselves that MT is a QB that we are developing and will not be a year before we see limited mistakes from him.

Watson was 16/24 208 1td and 2 ints. Watson has settled down to a regular QB since his last year success.  Pat Maholmes  is having a very successful year but I think next year is the time we can honestly compare MT to these two. The arrow is pointing up with MT, shows wow plays once in a while and shows whoa plays sometimes. All of these works because we have the best defense in the league. If the season stopped now , how many pro bowl players do we have?

Mack--no brainier

Hicks-- I think he makes it easily

Callahan-- if he stays healthy I think he makes it. Held Theilien to one catch in the first half. Then Minny moved him around out of the slot.

Jackson-- he keeps having pick 6s this turns into a no brainier.

Fuller--he leads the league in PDs and is second with 4 int., all stats that suggest he goes.

With us spreading the ball all around I do not see anyone with strong enough stats to make it.

Maybe Whitehair? time will tell

[Stinger226]

K. Johnson and Marvin Jones will both not play Thursday. Our karma just keeps getting better as we move forward.

[BearFan2000]

First of all huge win.  We've all noted how critical this win was.  A loss and we drop to second place in the division, a win and we're a game and a half up on the Vikings.  While the Packers and Lions fight it out for 3rd/4th place.  We have put ourselves in a great position we are 7-3 and on top of our division by a game and a half.  6 games to go and we have a favorable schedule going forward, Minny's gets tougher.  10 or more wins is very doable even if we drop a couple and go 4-2 the rest of the way that's a flip of last year putting us at 11-5 and at worst a 4 seed possibly even a 3 seed with the NFC East being a bit of a mess.  The number 1 see will probably be NO, the #2 the Rams.  So our playoff road would likely be a home wild card round game, then a road divisional round likely vs the Rams, win that and we'd be on the road again to face the Saints in the NFC championship game.  That's a tough road but however that shakes out will be icing on the cake of a massive turnaround this team has made over the past 4 years (I include Fox's years here because we wouldn't be where we are as a team without his time here rebuilding the locker room and bringing competitiveness back to a lifeless Bears team that Trestman left).  Making the playoffs and possibly even advancing to the second round is a successful season for the first year under Nagy, and the new offense.  We are fairly young, and are built for the long term.  The Bears are becoming a force to be reckoned with going forward.  

To the game itself The offense looked sharp and put the Vikings in a 14 pt hole at half time.  The bad is that the offense managed just 3 points in the second half, but the D added a TD.  It was the kind of game I expected.  It was a hard fought close game.  It wasn't pretty but when we needed to we found ways to make critical plays.  Up 14 at the half but a pair of FG's cut the lead to 8.  Their FG's set up by turnovers with great starting position and huge stops by the D to hold both of those to FG's.  We get a key pick 6 and 2pt conversion to go up 22-6.  They matched our TD and 2 pt conversion to pull to within 8 points 22-14,  Then the offense comes through with a critical FG to make it a 2 score game at 25-14 inside 3 min left.  We give up a TD but stop their 2pt conversion 25-20 their only hope is an onside kick that Cunningham snagged out of the air ending the game.  It wasn't pretty but we did what we needed to to come away with hugely important win.  I'm proud of my team.  We are winning games this year that the last 3 years we would have lost.  This kind of win is huge for the Bears, they refused to give up, refused to let Minn steal this game.  The good teams find ways to win when the chips are down.  We served notice to the rest of the league that the Bears are back.  

[DABEARSDABOMB]

12 hours ago, AZ54 said:

First INT i agree, not a pass he should have thrown.  Second INT I have no clue what happened with Robinson standing still on the route.  On the deep passes I said at the beginning of the season I supported him taking those chances so he can learn to make the throws, and when to make the throws.  I don't want Trubisky to become like Alex Smith was 3 years into the league and become Captain Checkdown.   When we needed a score at the end Trubisky delivered it, and so did Parkey.  That was a huge drive.  

If we can just get Fangio's prevent defense to be more prevent I'd be happy. 

On a side note:  I didn't see much of Bilal Nichols in this game.  Maybe I just missed him.  Akiem Hicks ...now everyone knows your name and your game.     

Great win for a young team.  This is the kind of game I expected especially from Minnesota with two weeks to prepare.  This was their best shot and they came up short.  In the next game against them Nagy and Trubisky will be more prepared for what they will see. 

 

 

This was a really good team win and a great performance by the D.  Offensively, they didn't put up a lot of points and they turned the ball over far more than I would have liked, but they also converted a good amount of 3rd downs and that says something, given how stingy the Vikings defense is.  I'll consider this game a great barometer for the Bears and even for Mitch since Minny is one of the best defenses in the league.

In terms of his two picks, the first one was just an awful read / decision. No doubt about that. The 2nd one has me totally confused as Robinson stopped and I don't know if it was a miscommunication, illegal contact (looked like the DB was all over Robinson) or a combination of the two. Was a really odd play though.  

[AZ54]

14 hours ago, DABEARSDABOMB said:

This was a really good team win and a great performance by the D.  Offensively, they didn't put up a lot of points and they turned the ball over far more than I would have liked, but they also converted a good amount of 3rd downs and that says something, given how stingy the Vikings defense is.  I'll consider this game a great barometer for the Bears and even for Mitch since Minny is one of the best defenses in the league.

In terms of his two picks, the first one was just an awful read / decision. No doubt about that. The 2nd one has me totally confused as Robinson stopped and I don't know if it was a miscommunication, illegal contact (looked like the DB was all over Robinson) or a combination of the two. Was a really odd play though.  

Post-game Nagy said something about Robinson's route timing being off from Trubisky.  Clearly there is something there with Robinson not making the cut.  Either it's on ARob for not finding his way inside or Trubisky for not reading the inside leverage of the DB.   Trubisky threw it right where he expected ARob to be so it's not a bad throw.  It's just part of everyone learning a new offense.  

[ChileBear]

On 11/16/2018 at 8:56 PM, adam said:

We are still either -2.5 or -3.0, which means we are favored. We are not underdogs anywhere that I can see.

https://www.oddsshark.com/nfl/odds

 

 

So right Adam. That's why I don't gamble. This old mind gets muddled, more times than I'd like. Just ask the wife!