Week 5 Official Game Thread - CHI @ LVR , +6.5, O/U 45, SUN 10/10, 3:05PM CT - CBS

[Alaskan Grizzly]

1 hour ago, adam said:

Horsted with a great TD catch and Graham may have had the block of the game, or push, helping Herbert get 3 more yards against a DLineman. 

Those were probably some of the highest of highlights in the game.  
 

BearFan I agree that the Raiders seem like dirty but if nothing else they are certainly undisciplined.  Early in the game they had two offensive holding calls (simultaneously by two players) on the same play.  That no doubt contributed to the Bears being able to score early on.  And yes there were some cheap shots taken by them a few times.  
 

On the other hand, Roquan continues to become an all around serious LB.  Today he showed some serious (Danny T like) thumping ability.  Unfortunately his hits, although clean look a lot more ‘illegal’ from the naked eye and probably will get called every time.  He crunched both Carr and the backup QB in nearly back to back plays.  Both were with the shoulder but left an imprint and garnered at least one penalty.  
 

Overall the Bears looked ok.  Other than him not being ready, Dalton looked solid in relief duty.  Given how beat up Justin had been at that point i would’ve had no issue with him sitting out until halftime.  Offense maybe scored a ‘C’ while the defense got a ‘B+’.  

[ASHKUM BEAR]

36 minutes ago, Mongo3451 said:

Good summary Adam.  At this point, it's only Detroit and the Raiders.  I don't think much of either team.  But, the team looks different with Lazor calling plays.  I can actually see that it has given the defense confidence.  Lazor wins the time of possession battle and gives our D a rest.  He also schemes an offense that allows our OL to succeed.  They weren't perfect today, but the effort and physicality was really good.  Especially with the middle three.  I'll take the ugly wins everyday!

If Nagy ever tries to take play calling back, he should be fired.  Lazor may not be a "great", but he puts together a game the players can execute.  

[AZ54]

3 hours ago, Mongo3451 said:

Good summary Adam.  At this point, it's only Detroit and the Raiders.  I don't think much of either team.  But, the team looks different with Lazor calling plays.  I can actually see that it has given the defense confidence.  Lazor wins the time of possession battle and gives our D a rest.  He also schemes an offense that allows our OL to succeed.  They weren't perfect today, but the effort and physicality was really good.  Especially with the middle three.  I'll take the ugly wins everyday!

We really need to be giving Desai more credit for the way our D is performing.  Each week they seem to get better perhaps minus Bo Jack.  I say that just because game broadcasts don't show safety play that well but the obvious miscues on coverages are still there on his side of the field.  Regardless, the overall view is that we went on the road and held the Raiders passing game to 206 yds, and nobody got over the top of the D.  There was a 50/60yd drop late in the game that should be added in but whatever.  We gave up no passing TDs which no other team has done this year to the Raiders.   Overall that's a good day so I tend to think there is improvement in the secondary and Jackson is part of that.  

 I also think he's being more physical, mostly around the LOS, so someone or something is getting to him.  The first thing about making tackle is you have to want to do it.  I don't think he wanted to tackle in the first couple games.   I'm likely in the minority but I liked his play at the goal line where he stole the ball from the RB.  If not for a few inches or 0.1 second that's a game day highlight.  If he's getting back the emotion and desire to be a football player then the passes defensed and interceptions will show up in the 2nd half of the season.  

I think Desai is starting to bring back the swagger our D had years ago under Fangio.  

[Mongo3451]

7 hours ago, AZ54 said:

I think Desai is starting to bring back the swagger our D had years ago under Fangio. 

Indeed.

[adam]

9 hours ago, AZ54 said:

We really need to be giving Desai more credit for the way our D is performing.  Each week they seem to get better perhaps minus Bo Jack.  I say that just because game broadcasts don't show safety play that well but the obvious miscues on coverages are still there on his side of the field.  Regardless, the overall view is that we went on the road and held the Raiders passing game to 206 yds, and nobody got over the top of the D.  There was a 50/60yd drop late in the game that should be added in but whatever.  We gave up no passing TDs which no other team has done this year to the Raiders.   Overall that's a good day so I tend to think there is improvement in the secondary and Jackson is part of that.  

 I also think he's being more physical, mostly around the LOS, so someone or something is getting to him.  The first thing about making tackle is you have to want to do it.  I don't think he wanted to tackle in the first couple games.   I'm likely in the minority but I liked his play at the goal line where he stole the ball from the RB.  If not for a few inches or 0.1 second that's a game day highlight.  If he's getting back the emotion and desire to be a football player then the passes defensed and interceptions will show up in the 2nd half of the season.  

I think Desai is starting to bring back the swagger our D had years ago under Fangio.  

They did that without Hicks, which is huge. We have yet to see Hicks and Goldman with Danny T and Gipson at the same time. 

I disagree on Jackson, rewatch the game. He is the worst player on the field on every play. It is like a random fan in uniform told to run around in a designated area and look busy. He has 0 passes defended in 5 games, 1 TFL, 0 INTs and takes a penalty at the LOS when he is not going to make a play anyway. He can't tackle, avoids contact, and has yet to touch an opponent's pass with any body part. He has one impact play all year in 326 snaps. That is unheard of. Gipson has 165 snaps 

[jason]

17 hours ago, Alaskan Grizzly said:

I swear Horstead has Spider-Man hands.  Amazingly good receiver.  

Does anyone else think the TD pass was extremely lucky? It was basically thrown straight at the defender. I get that the defender's head was turned, and that's what allowed the TD, but usually those are thrown to the back shoulder, or higher, to avoid the defender.

[adam]

6 minutes ago, jason said:

Does anyone else think the TD pass was extremely lucky? It was basically thrown straight at the defender. I get that the defender's head was turned, and that's what allowed the TD, but usually those are thrown to the back shoulder, or higher, to avoid the defender.

Probably a little low, but the defender had no chance. Also, Horsted was facing the sideline, so he couldn't really throw back shoulder the way Horsted was engaged with the defender.

[Bill]

Also a good block er tackle?

[Bill]

sorry shown before did not see.

 

[adam]

33 minutes ago, Bill said:

sorry shown before did not see.

 

I loved that play, especially on a player like Abraham, who is a heavy hitter.

[AZ54]

6 hours ago, adam said:

They did that without Hicks, which is huge. We have yet to see Hicks and Goldman with Danny T and Gipson at the same time. 

I disagree on Jackson, rewatch the game. He is the worst player on the field on every play. It is like a random fan in uniform told to run around in a designated area and look busy. He has 0 passes defended in 5 games, 1 TFL, 0 INTs and takes a penalty at the LOS when he is not going to make a play anyway. He can't tackle, avoids contact, and has yet to touch an opponent's pass with any body part. He has one impact play all year in 326 snaps. That is unheard of. Gipson has 165 snaps 

Maybe one day I'll be motivated again to subscribe and get the All-22 tape.  That's where you get to see the good and the bad.   Today is not that day so I'll take your word here. 

The backups (DHC, Bush)are finally starting to play better but it took years to see them play like this.  If I'm not mistaken they were doing a rotation with Gipson on the field part time against the Raiders.  Maybe we ran some 3 safety schemes?  If Jackson continues to struggle will they use this type of rotation with Bush/DHC taking snaps away from Jackson?  At this point drafting a safety in Rd 2/3 is my plan this offseason.   

You are correct his contract for next year in untenable but the whole league knows that.  We'd have to give away a pick or another player in a deal (no good options) to move him but I'd just as soon keep the pick to help find a replacement.  

snap counts against Raiders:

[adam]

46 minutes ago, AZ54 said:

Maybe one day I'll be motivated again to subscribe and get the All-22 tape.  That's where you get to see the good and the bad.   Today is not that day so I'll take your word here. 

The backups (DHC, Bush)are finally starting to play better but it took years to see them play like this.  If I'm not mistaken they were doing a rotation with Gipson on the field part time against the Raiders.  Maybe we ran some 3 safety schemes?  If Jackson continues to struggle will they use this type of rotation with Bush/DHC taking snaps away from Jackson?  At this point drafting a safety in Rd 2/3 is my plan this offseason.   

You are correct his contract for next year in untenable but the whole league knows that.  We'd have to give away a pick or another player in a deal (no good options) to move him but I'd just as soon keep the pick to help find a replacement.  

snap counts against Raiders:

The All-22 posts 24 hours after game end, so I will look at it tonight. However, from the TV view it was pretty evident he was terrible and avoiding contact.

Looking back at his numbers, it is clear to me that Jackson is not the same player since the injury. It has nothing to do with the contract. He is avoiding contact so he doesn't get hurt again. It is either physical or mental, but he is not even a quarter of the player he was in 2017 and 2018. 

The mistake by Pace was not seeing the steep decline in his play in 2019 and signing him to an extension only after 3 years of play. He was already a different player. In 30 games prior to injury he had 8 INTs and 21 PD.

Since that point, in 37 games, he has 2 INTs and 10 PD.  In 7 more games, 25% of the INTs and half as many PDs. And those last 2 INTs were the last play of the games against Sean Mannion (MIN) a hail mary, and a deep pass by David Blough (DET) on Thanksgiving into double coverage. It's not like those two plays were impactful. So his last meaningful INT was the one he got injured on against GB in 2018, which is crazy. So it is coming up on 3 years since he has a seriously impactful play that changed the game.  

 

[AZ54]

3 hours ago, adam said:

The All-22 posts 24 hours after game end, so I will look at it tonight. However, from the TV view it was pretty evident he was terrible and avoiding contact.

If you watch the All-22 can you take a look at ARob and let us know if he's able to get any separation?   Seems like on all of Fields' throws in ARob's direction he's tightly covered.  I know he can make contested catches but that alone is not worth $20mil/yr.  It can also be that Fields is just late on the timing and that's obvious on some plays.  

[Mongo3451]

13 minutes ago, AZ54 said:

If you watch the All-22 can you take a look at ARob and let us know if he's able to get any separation?   Seems like on all of Fields' throws in ARob's direction he's tightly covered.

That was the rub the last couple years with Trubisky.  Was Trubisky late or Arob slow off the break?  He's a possession receiver, not a dominant #1.

[killakrzydav]

Arob has always had a problem with separation

[BearFan2000]

10 hours ago, killakrzydav said:

Arob has always had a problem with separation

It's also possible he's lost a step, but his biggest assist has always been his ability to win jump balls and his catch radius as a big bodied WR.  I don't think he's ever been considered a burner.  He also may not be doing the little things with his footwork and moves to create space/separation.  A WR with more dangerous speed can do that easier as DB's have to respect the straight line speed.  

[adam]

Man, they have turned the All-22 into crap. For some reason, not all the plays and only half the game are available in that format. So it just jumps from one series to the next, missing plays and entire series. It is hard to watch unless one specific play you want to see if available for playback.

From what I can tell, ARob looks slower. Almost like he is just going thru the motions. 

On Jackson, for a ballhawk, he is never around the ball. Outside of the time where the plays goes directly at him and he is forced to attempt a tackle, he is literally just running around the field for the other 60 plays. It is so weird. 

[AZ54]

12 hours ago, adam said:

Man, they have turned the All-22 into crap. For some reason, not all the plays and only half the game are available in that format. So it just jumps from one series to the next, missing plays and entire series. It is hard to watch unless one specific play you want to see if available for playback.

From what I can tell, ARob looks slower. Almost like he is just going thru the motions. 

On Jackson, for a ballhawk, he is never around the ball. Outside of the time where the plays goes directly at him and he is forced to attempt a tackle, he is literally just running around the field for the other 60 plays. It is so weird. 

We'll probably have to cut our losses on that contract but it won't happen this year.  In the meantime, I like what I see so far from Desai.  He's got a lot on his hands as a new coordinator but as he settles in, along with his assistants learning what he wants from their position group, I'd like to see if he can turn around Jackson's performance.  As mentioned Bush and DHC seem to be playing better than past years so if they continue then I think we'll see some snap count adjustments.