Week 12 - Turkey Day Game Official Thread - Dalton to Start Vs Lions

[DABEARSDABOMB]

Per some NFL insiders - too short of a turnaround. Dalton will start. Not surprised but still bummed. Was hoping Fields would crush Lions and make my thanksgiving extra exciting as I get delusional over prospects of next season with a real qb entering his 2nd year in the league ready to ascend!!!

[Alaskan Grizzly]

In other (but somewhat related because we still have to play them again) news.  Something of note:  

 

[adam]

I thought I read it was only bruised ribs, but no point to run him out there if the extra rest will get him back to 100%. 

[adam]

We can use this for the game thread for the Turd Bowl. I figure they will win just because how bad the Lions are. It is going to be an ugly game, Bears 13-10.

[adam]

Bears offense gets one first down, punts. Lions score a TD without any resistance from the defense. Artie Burns getting torched by Josh Reynolds and Jared Goff. 

What an embarrassment. 

[adam]

Just when you thought a team could be more pathetic than the Bears, the Lions say hold my beer. They just had a 1st and 30 after penalties and luckily could convert.

Grant had a nice punt return, then Dalton with a deep shot to Mooney and then TD to Graham. Bears 10-7.

[adam]

Somehow Dalton threw for over 300 yards, which seems impossible if you watched the game.  The offense only scored one TD against the Lions defense, but the Bears defense allowed two. Santos missed another FG and the Bears somehow won. In reality, the Lions lost. They called back-to-back timeouts on defense, then two plays later were trying to call a 3rd as they had 13 players on the field, but to not be outdone for bad coaching, Nagy actually called a timeout. Then on the next play, Dalton kneels anyway.  Bears survive 16-14 and are now 1-5 in their last 6 games. 

Nagy's job is saved. 

[Uncle Buck]

If George evaluates this season on this game against a winless team then he’s a bigger idiot than I thought . This team is hapless and the management is the reason.

[adam]

By the way, Jackson played but was a ghost again. I didn't hear his name called once. 2 tackles and another game without a pass defended or INT. Pitiful.

Vildor was benched then Artie Burns got burnt on both TD drives. 

[adam]

This was the 3rd straight game the patchwork defense has allowed less than 300 total yards and 180 yards passing. They lost 2 of those games. 

[AZ54]

If Dalton intended to show teams he’s still a viable starter it didn’t work.  Detroit’s head coach is in over his head but there’s no way this win did anything to save Nagy’s job.  

[adam]

9 hours ago, AZ54 said:

If Dalton intended to show teams he’s still a viable starter it didn’t work.  Detroit’s head coach is in over his head but there’s no way this win did anything to save Nagy’s job.  

You are spot on. It is crazy how a QB can throw for over 300 yards and yet look so bad. There were at least 3 dropped interceptions. If the Lions even get one more of those, the Bears lose. The Lions had 8 passes defended and an INT. In comparison, the vaunted Bears defense had 1 pass defended. 

This game actually showed Nagy is hopeless. This should've been a 20+ blowout win. Not a GW FG with no time left. The only reason the Bears won is because the Lions have an even worse set of coaches. On the last drive for the Bears, the Lions called consecutive timeouts (which is a penalty), then 2 plays later tried to call another one because they had 13 players on the field, but for some unknown reason, Nagy called a timeout. An unbelievable sequence. On the next play, Dalton takes a knee anyway. Then instead of preserving a timeout and a down in case there is a penalty or some other problem on the FG, Nagy uses all his timeouts and goes to 4th Down with 1 second. If the Bears committed a penalty, it would've been game over because of the 10 second run off. 

The Lions had two drives that were a microcosm of their franchise. In the 2nd quarter, they went 17 yards on 10 plays, chewing up almost 8 minutes. After getting to the Bears 32, they had 3 straight OLine penalties (False Start, Holding, False Start) which pushed them back to 1st and 30, then had a -6 yard pass play and punted from the 50. Then in the 4th quarter, on their last drive, with a 14-13 lead and a 1st Down from their own 44, they end up with 3 straight OLine penalties again (False Start, Holding, Holding) to put them at 2nd and 32! That ended up costing them the game.

 

Here is my review of the game.

The good:

1. Mooney had 5-124 with a nice 52-yard reception. He is still dropping a few passes, but it is hard to argue with back-to-back 100-yard games (he now has 3 of those this season). He is on pace for over 1K yards and 70 receptions. Not bad for a WR2. 
2. Kmet led the team with 11 targets (career-high) and had a career-high 8 receptions for 65 yards. He is on pace for 55+ receptions and 550 yards. 
3. Quinn had another sack and is now 3rd in the NFL in sacks with 11 but leads the league for all players that have not played the Bears. Garrett leads the NFL with 13, but had 3.5 against the Bears. Watt has 12.5 and had 3 against the Bears. Quinn is on pace for 17 sacks. 
4. The Defense overall was without Hicks, Mack, Trevathan, and lost Smith and still held the Lions to 239 total yards and 163 passing yards. The Lions helped with penalties, but outside of 2-3 plays (bad plays by Burns and Bush), the defense held its own.
5. The 2020 draft, the Bears drafted Kmet, Johnson in the 2nd, and Gipson and Mooney in the 5th. That's 4 players with major contributions in this game. That may end up as Pace's best draft class, but he followed that up with Fields, Jenkins, Borom, Herbert, and Tonga. I know the cap is a mess but Nagy is more of a problem than Pace is. Pace's worst mistake this offseason was not addressing CB2. 

The bad:

1. Eddie Jackson. He returned from injury and didn't miss a beat being a complete waste of a roster spot. It is hard to imagine a safety being less impactful than he is in a game. Remember how his drop in production was Pagano. Now, what is the excuse? 
2. The running game. What the hell happened to that? Montgomery had 46 yards on 17 carries (2.7 ypc) and Herbert was 4-9 yds. The Lions were terrible against the run and the Bears couldn't do anything on the ground.  
3. Grant taking kickoffs out of the end zone and not even making it to the 20. I get that they want to be aggressive, but at some point you have to figure out that the 25 is much better than the 18. I am going to go thru all his returns. I think downing the ball wherever it ends up would provide better field position than what Grant has done on kickoffs. 
4. When a win still feels like a loss. Like AZ said, Dalton didn't do himself any favors. He should've had 3 INTs at least. Nagy just showed how inept he is and nothing has changed. Every week we expect something different, and the team is unorganized, still taking penalties, players not on the same sheet of music, etc, etc. There is no game plan. It feels like a pick up game. Just go out there and call random plays and see what happens. After 4 years with Nagy this team has zero identity. 

[Connorbear]

Nagy still gets canned at the end of the year. He's a good guy but a bad head coach. 

Peace

[Alaskan Grizzly]

3 hours ago, adam said:

The 2020 draft, the Bears drafted Kmet, Johnson in the 2nd, and Gipson and Mooney in the 5th. That's 4 players with major contributions in this game.

A few points of contention/disagreement.  
 

Kmet had been a bit of a mess until recently. Johnson to me still hasn’t proven much other than being the guy benefitting from teams not throwing his way because all the rest of the defensive backfield is a mess (remember Desai’s ‘area of expertise’).  Gipson has been coming on as of late and I've always liked Mooney so I’ll agree those two are earning their spots.  
 

Problem is the offense (and to some degree coaching) is so inept, some of the players aren’t able to shine in their respective positions.  Take Graham.  He finally got a TD yesterday where he’s excelled in most of his career; in the red zone.  He was the leading TD receiver last season and now he’s just a memory.  I have a hard time believing he’s the problem.  The aforementioned Kmet has been doing what seems like dropping passes more than catch them until recently.  The running game suddenly went to shit.  When Monty was out Herbert did pretty darn good.  Monty comes back and they both barely get any yardage.  What’s changed?  
 

Most of these issues we know lie at the feet of Nagy and the coaching staff.  I’m not sure we’re really ever to fully evaluate most of the players due it.  

[Bill]

1 hour ago, Alaskan Grizzly said:

Most of these issues we know lie at the feet of Nagy and the coaching staff.  I’m not sure we’re really ever to fully evaluate most of the players due it.  

My point exactly.  It's hard for me to tell who is bad because it's that way throat the whole organization?  Who do you keep or let go?  This guy sucks at his position but is he even being used correctly?  It's a rudderless, hell it doesn't even ave a hem, ship in a fog.  And the ball boys know as much about what is going on then anyone else.