Giants at Bears - Week 2 - Official Game Thread - 9/20, Bears -5.5, 12:00 PM CT, CBS

[Bertva]

4th and 5?

 

[Bertva]

Jones is shredding this defence

[Bertva]

WHAT!!! over...scared me...

[Bertva]

2 - 0 ,  Tied for 1st in the North...

[adam]

Man, another game stolen. 2-0 somehow, someway. Not the way you plan it but you take 2-0 and run to the locker room. It is clear to me the team has zero confidence in Trubisky.

[adam]

I wonder if they go to Foles next week. Trubisky has been terrible and incredibly inconsistent. Every throw felt like it was going to be intercepted. He had 2, but should've had 4-5. 

[McGowan]

If it's possible to feel worse about this team than I did before the start of the season despite being 2-0, they've done it. 
I never thought their defense was an elite unit but I did think they were in the 7-12 range league wide. Now I think they're average at best. 

Mack has disappeared since the loss to the Eagles in the playoffs. 

[adam]

13 minutes ago, McGowan said:

If it's possible to feel worse about this team than I did before the start of the season despite being 2-0, they've done it. 
I never thought their defense was an elite unit but I did think they were in the 7-12 range league wide. Now I think they're average at best. 

Mack has disappeared since the loss to the Eagles in the playoffs. 

It is a weird feeling, but the Giants did score more against Pittsburgh who was supposedly a better defense. Even before Saquon got hurt, they had several 3 and outs. 

The Giants were 8-15 on 3rd Down against PIT but only 3-13 against the Bears.  In both games, Jones had 2 turnovers and the Bears sacked Jones 4 times while PIT sacked him 3 times.

It does feel like the team is less dominant but the defense looked better as a whole. If not for two bad penalty calls, this game isn't this close. 

[adam]

I hated the 2nd half offense. The Bears did exactly what they needed to do in the first half and scored late in the 2nd right before half to go up 17-0. Then they came out in the 2nd half and looked terrible.

The defense forced the Giants to punt on their first possession which gave the Bears the ball at their own 25. Trubisky went into fart mode and had a bad INT. That gave the Giants the ball at the Bears 25. The defense held again and only allowed 4 yards and a 39 yard FG. To me, those points are on the offense.

On the next drive, the offense moves the ball, then gets stalled at the Giants 38. Instead of going for it on 4th up 14, Nagy punts and it works. O'Donnell pushes them back to the 5. So its late in the 3rd and the Giants have to go 95 yards to score a TD. Jones passes his way to the 1 yard line, then Lewis finishes the drive off with a TD run. This was the worst drive of the game for the defense. 95 yards without Barkley?

So now it is pucker time, 17-10 and the offense is doing nothing. So just like clockwork, the Bears get a couple of first downs, then the dreaded stare down your receiver INT by Trubisky. ARob had 4-5 defenders around him when the ball was deflected. At this point, the team had zero confidence in Trubisky. They were playing to not lose the game, and now he has his 2nd INT with good field position in 10 minutes. 

The Giants march right down the field and luckily the defense only bends and allows another FG on a turnover. That is 6 points on the offense. 17-13 and the wheels are falling off.

The offense gets the ball at 7:36, and Montgomery took over. He got the team down to the Giants 31 before Trubisky took a one-yard sack instead of throwing the ball away. Right on character, Santos misses a 50 yarder and the Giants now have the ball at the 40 with 2:02 left. The Giants get all the way down to the 10 and get a shot at a TD. 

There was no way in hell the game should've been that close. Trubisky looked as bad as he did in the first 3 quarters against Detroit. This was a bad Giants team and we won the 2nd game on the last play of the game. Right now, this team feels like a 6 or 7 win team and will get destroyed against a real opponent.

[Mongo3451]

As far the defense is concerned; that is the product of Pace trading away the equivalent of two drafts away.  The youth in the pipeline is lacking.  That's why making Trubisky pan out is so important.  

[adam]

Just now, Mongo3451 said:

As far the defense is concerned; that is the product of Pace trading away the equivalent of two drafts away.  The youth in the pipeline is lacking.  That's why making Trubisky pan out is so important.  

I really don't think they can afford him. I would not be surprised to see Foles start shortly. The offense has looked completely inept for 6 quarters out of the first 8 this season against some terrible defenses. Trubisky cannot process anything beyond his first read and was staring down Arob on the INTs. He is too inconsistent to be a starter. Foles is on contract for next year, Trubisky is not.

I almost think they are showcasing Trubisky for a trade before the deadline. I know that would be shocking, but if you don't, he ends up like Floyd with nothing to show for a first round pick. There will be a team looking for a QB with all these injuries.

I have seen enough of Trubisky to be honest. 

[Bill]

5 hours ago, adam said:

I wonder if they go to Foles next week. Trubisky has been terrible and incredibly inconsistent. Every throw felt like it was going to be intercepted. He had 2, but should've had 4-5. 

I don't think they will ever bench MT as long as they are winning.  Or in the game to the end.  

 

[Bears4Ever_34]

The only improvement I've seen on offense seems to be the run game. They weren't that effective today until that last series, but I like the way the RB's are being used, and I also like that they stuck with it for the entire game.

Outside of that, it's pretty obvious that what's holding them back is the quarterback. Mitch is a backup. He still doesn't have much pocket awareness, and he still doesn't see the field as well as he should. What helped him in year 2 was his legs, but he's practically abandoned that part of his game since then. I know they won't do it, because they won, but I'd really like to see Nick Foles in this offense. It's hard to imagine him being much worse than this. 

Defensively, the CB's have been the best part of the year so far. Fuller and Jaylon Johnson are balling right now. I really love the way the rookie has played. I think he's good enough to be a future pro bowler with his instincts. He came close to picking off Stafford at the goal line last week, and batted a couple more passes away today. He needs to keep it up.

That being said, the pass rush has not been good, and the ILB'ers have been pretty terrible in pass coverage—Trevathon in particular. Quinn playing more regularly should help, but they have got to figure out how to generate a more consistent pass rush or some of these weaknesses will continue to get exposed by better teams.

[adam]

4 minutes ago, Bill said:

I don't think they will ever bench MT as long as they are winning.  Or in the game to the end.  

 

Something has to give this year at the QB position. Trubisky has done nothing to show he is the long term answer. They will ride him, but with ATL and IND next, if Trubisky plays like he has, the Bears are 2-2 going into Week 5 against TB. 

[adam]

3 minutes ago, Bears4Ever_34 said:

The only improvement I've seen on offense seems to be the run game. They weren't that effective today until that last series, but I like the way the RB's are being used, and I also like that they stuck with it for the entire game.

Outside of that, it's pretty obvious that what's holding them back is the quarterback. Mitch is a backup. He still doesn't have much pocket awareness, and he still doesn't see the field as well as he should. What helped him in year 2 was his legs, but he's practically abandoned that part of his game since then. I know they won't do it, because they won, but I'd really like to see Nick Foles in this offense. It's hard to imagine him being much worse than this. 

Defensively, the CB's have been the best part of the year so far. Fuller and Jaylon Johnson are balling right now. I really love the way the rookie has played. I think he's good enough to be a future pro bowler with his instincts. He came close to picking off Stafford at the goal line last week, and batted a couple more passes away today. He needs to keep it up.

That being said, the pass rush has not been good, and the ILB'ers have been pretty terrible in pass coverage—Trevathon in particular. Quinn playing more regularly should help, but they have got to figure out how to generate a more consistent pass rush or some of these weaknesses will continue to get exposed by better teams.

Yeah, Fuller has really stepped up his game and Johnson is getting his hands in on a lot of pass breakups. Very encouraging. It was nice to see Quinn and Mack on the field at the same time. I am expecting them to get better as the season gets going. 

[Bears4Ever_34]

Just playing devil's advocate here, but all 6 of their games to start the year look very winnable based on what we've seen from teams in the first 2 weeks. Obviously it's too early to judge, and a lot can change from week to week, but Atlanta just blew a massive lead to Dallas today, and looked terrible in week 1; The Colts have Phillip Rivers at quarterback, who doesn't scare anybody anymore; The Bucs don't look like the juggernaut many thought they'd be, and Brady looks even worse than he did last year. Also, the Panthers are 0-2.

I haven't seen anything this season to suggest the Bears can do something crazy, like start off 6-0 or something, but it's hard to say any of their next 4 upcoming opponents look head and shoulders better than they do right now. The game next week is going to tell a lot, in my opinion. Atlanta will be their most dangerous opponent yet, and despite being 0-2, are very capable of putting up a ton of points. I don't think this offense can win next week scoring 17 points, so it's going to be a huge test.

If they end up getting blown out, that changes the conversation back to them being bad again. Like I said before, it's too early in the season to get a solid feel either way. Right now, they are 2-0 but haven't looked that good doing it. I think after the first month, we'll have a better answer.

[DABEARSDABOMB]

20 hours ago, adam said:

Trubisky with 2 INTs in the second half, not all his fault, but man, offense not helping the defense right now.

Mack with a huge sack unblocked, wow.

Yeah - Consistency of the offense an issue. The good thing is, they have consistently ran the ball well. If they can keep that up and make it an identity of the unit, I expect we'll see the team start to capitalize on that more.  There were some real costly drops by Miller (the TD and a separate 3rd down conversion). Not easy catches - but ones he knows he'd like to make. Robinson had a pretty soft game. 

Will be interesting to see how Mooney responds now that the league is probably getting some footage on him a bit.  He's the only explosive wideout this squad has (not counting Ginn) - where he can literally take the top off of the defense.  

[DABEARSDABOMB]

19 hours ago, adam said:

I wonder if they go to Foles next week. Trubisky has been terrible and incredibly inconsistent. Every throw felt like it was going to be intercepted. He had 2, but should've had 4-5. 

I don't know what throws you were watching, but all I saw were 2 picks thrown by Mitch that shouldn't have been picks. I didn't see him make many bad throws but he played way too conservative in the 2nd half and didn't make enough plays. Period.  He had a really strong 1st half though.  

[DABEARSDABOMB]

14 hours ago, adam said:

It is a weird feeling, but the Giants did score more against Pittsburgh who was supposedly a better defense. Even before Saquon got hurt, they had several 3 and outs. 

The Giants were 8-15 on 3rd Down against PIT but only 3-13 against the Bears.  In both games, Jones had 2 turnovers and the Bears sacked Jones 4 times while PIT sacked him 3 times.

It does feel like the team is less dominant but the defense looked better as a whole. If not for two bad penalty calls, this game isn't this close. 

The Eddie Jackson play was PI. He was there early. We don't like it but it was.  

[DABEARSDABOMB]

14 hours ago, adam said:

I hated the 2nd half offense. The Bears did exactly what they needed to do in the first half and scored late in the 2nd right before half to go up 17-0. Then they came out in the 2nd half and looked terrible.

The defense forced the Giants to punt on their first possession which gave the Bears the ball at their own 25. Trubisky went into fart mode and had a bad INT. That gave the Giants the ball at the Bears 25. The defense held again and only allowed 4 yards and a 39 yard FG. To me, those points are on the offense.

On the next drive, the offense moves the ball, then gets stalled at the Giants 38. Instead of going for it on 4th up 14, Nagy punts and it works. O'Donnell pushes them back to the 5. So its late in the 3rd and the Giants have to go 95 yards to score a TD. Jones passes his way to the 1 yard line, then Lewis finishes the drive off with a TD run. This was the worst drive of the game for the defense. 95 yards without Barkley?

So now it is pucker time, 17-10 and the offense is doing nothing. So just like clockwork, the Bears get a couple of first downs, then the dreaded stare down your receiver INT by Trubisky. ARob had 4-5 defenders around him when the ball was deflected. At this point, the team had zero confidence in Trubisky. They were playing to not lose the game, and now he has his 2nd INT with good field position in 10 minutes. 

The Giants march right down the field and luckily the defense only bends and allows another FG on a turnover. That is 6 points on the offense. 17-13 and the wheels are falling off.

The offense gets the ball at 7:36, and Montgomery took over. He got the team down to the Giants 31 before Trubisky took a one-yard sack instead of throwing the ball away. Right on character, Santos misses a 50 yarder and the Giants now have the ball at the 40 with 2:02 left. The Giants get all the way down to the 10 and get a shot at a TD. 

There was no way in hell the game should've been that close. Trubisky looked as bad as he did in the first 3 quarters against Detroit. This was a bad Giants team and we won the 2nd game on the last play of the game. Right now, this team feels like a 6 or 7 win team and will get destroyed against a real opponent.

Just want to point out the bolded - a 1 yard sack is better than an incompletion in that situation.  Kept the clock rolling.  The offense chewed a ton of TOP - but the bottom line is - it didn't score enough. They have to get better, but fact that they've ran the ball better than they have since Nagy took over - that is a HUGE positive.  

[DABEARSDABOMB]

14 hours ago, Bears4Ever_34 said:

The only improvement I've seen on offense seems to be the run game. They weren't that effective today until that last series, but I like the way the RB's are being used, and I also like that they stuck with it for the entire game.

Outside of that, it's pretty obvious that what's holding them back is the quarterback. Mitch is a backup. He still doesn't have much pocket awareness, and he still doesn't see the field as well as he should. What helped him in year 2 was his legs, but he's practically abandoned that part of his game since then. I know they won't do it, because they won, but I'd really like to see Nick Foles in this offense. It's hard to imagine him being much worse than this. 

Defensively, the CB's have been the best part of the year so far. Fuller and Jaylon Johnson are balling right now. I really love the way the rookie has played. I think he's good enough to be a future pro bowler with his instincts. He came close to picking off Stafford at the goal line last week, and batted a couple more passes away today. He needs to keep it up.

That being said, the pass rush has not been good, and the ILB'ers have been pretty terrible in pass coverage—Trevathon in particular. Quinn playing more regularly should help, but they have got to figure out how to generate a more consistent pass rush or some of these weaknesses will continue to get exposed by better teams.

Very spot on commentary. The one thing I will say is - Mitch made more plays today on 2nd/3rd reads than he did most of last year.  He's better - problem is better isn't likely to be good enough.  I just don't think that high of Foles that I'd rather see what and how much better Mitch is.  

[DABEARSDABOMB]

Anthony Miller wasn't on the field a lot and he graded out as an F from PFF.  No matter what the dude flashes - it is pretty evident from his useage that the coaching staff has not faith that he will show up play after play after play.  There has to be a lot in the tape that he isn't doing right. 

[ASHKUM BEAR]

57 minutes ago, DABEARSDABOMB said:

Anthony Miller wasn't on the field a lot and he graded out as an F from PFF.  No matter what the dude flashes - it is pretty evident from his useage that the coaching staff has not faith that he will show up play after play after play.  There has to be a lot in the tape that he isn't doing right. 

The issue with Miller is his shoulder.  He cannot be trusted to pass block yet.  That will be a key for defenses to read and why we will see a lot more 2 TE sets

[DABEARSDABOMB]

23 minutes ago, ASHKUM BEAR said:

The issue with Miller is his shoulder.  He cannot be trusted to pass block yet.  That will be a key for defenses to read and why we will see a lot more 2 TE sets

If that is the case - I would actually say that is kind of good news vs. a bigger more fundamental issue.  But this was yet another week where the Bears wideouts failed to create much separation.  

[ASHKUM BEAR]

9 minutes ago, DABEARSDABOMB said:

If that is the case - I would actually say that is kind of good news vs. a bigger more fundamental issue.  But this was yet another week where the Bears wideouts failed to create much separation.  

Think I heard it from Brad Biggs on the score, could be wrong.