Bears at Falcons Official Game Thread, SUN, 11-20, 12PM CST, FOX, ATL -3, O/U 49

[adam]

This is the perfect game for the Spiderman meme. Bears 32nd Passing Attack, Falcons 30th, Bears 1st Rushing Attack, Falcons 4th. On defense, both teams are near the bottom of the league in pts allowed (Bears 24.7 vs Falcons 25.0) and sacks. 

This is a Fields homecoming game, but also a Cordarrelle Patterson, Ryan Pace, Germain Ifedi, Abdullah Anderson, Nick Kwiatkoski Revenge Game. Falcons are 3-2 at home.

The Falcons have lost their last two with their last game being a loss to PJ Walker and the Panthers by 10. They are somehow 4-6, but are not much better than the Bears, but are only 1GB for 1st place in their division. 

I feel like this will be very similar to the Lions game, low scoring and close in the first half, then the wheels fall off both defenses in the 2nd making for a high scoring game.

Bears 34-31.   update: Bears 37-24 (Dome game, Fields will be even faster on turf)

[killakrzydav]

This can be a glorious tank loss. We really need Jax, Oak, and Houston to win some games

[adam]

18 hours ago, killakrzydav said:

This can be a glorious tank loss. We really need Jax, Oak, and Houston to win some games

Houston ain't winning lol. However, the Raiders and Jaguars should win a few. 

[adam]

I would like to see more quick passing plays, uptempo and getting Claypool more involved in this one. 

[Alaskan Grizzly]

A co-worker of mine, a huge Atlanta fan, guarantees a Bears win.  31-17.  Says Mariota “isn’t it”.  All they do it run, and not very well . 

[adam]

11 minutes ago, Alaskan Grizzly said:

A co-worker of mine, a huge Atlanta fan, guarantees a Bears win.  31-17.  Says Mariota “isn’t it”.  All they do it run, and not very well . 

CPat is back and healthy, he is still a threat. London is pretty good as well. I am not worried about scoring. I am worried about the defense. Yeah, Mariota is serviceable, but that's it. 

[AZ54]

23 hours ago, adam said:

CPat is back and healthy, he is still a threat. London is pretty good as well. I am not worried about scoring. I am worried about the defense. Yeah, Mariota is serviceable, but that's it. 

I watched the Falcons/Panthers game.  CPat is not nearly as agile as he used to be, he's mostly a linear athlete at this point or at least at this point in a season where he's primarily been used as a RB. 

Mariota, if he plays this week, was horrible in his reads, late on throws and forced some deep passes into coverage.  He is under a lot of pressure which usually doesn't improve his performance.   On the flip side he's still a mobile QB and can give a pass rush fits when he escapes the pocket.  

My other main takeaway from that game was that I like what our coaches are doing with our roster talent far more than what Atlanta is doing.  It's a road game we need to get a good start and hopefully get their fans booing.  

[Stinger226]

I think all our games are going to be like the last two unless we can stop making critical mistakes and have a good refed game. We will score points and the defense will be shoddy. The difference for a victory will be TOs and a lack of mistakes. If we limit mistakes it will be 37-13, if not 31 -27.

[adam]

Bears will have over 200 yards rushing, Fields will have over 100 and at least 4 TDs. I think he will end up in the mid 200s for passing yards with 2-3 passing TDs, over 100 rushing yards and 1-2 TDs there. If Monty is healthy, he should have a big day. Kmet gets another TD, Claypool gets one too.

[Stinger226]

I have been betting on Fields over 1.5 TDs and 1 running TD and it has paid off two weeks in a row. Im going with 2 anytime TDs this time, it pays with great odds. I will say 118 rushing and 268 passing yds. If this is going to be our breakout O game, he will get 3 TDs in the air and we will go over 40 points. That would be nice.

[adam]

2 hours ago, Stinger226 said:

I have been betting on Fields over 1.5 TDs and 1 running TD and it has paid off two weeks in a row. Im going with 2 anytime TDs this time, it pays with great odds. I will say 118 rushing and 268 passing yds. If this is going to be our breakout O game, he will get 3 TDs in the air and we will go over 40 points. That would be nice.

Man, 2 anytime TDs is easy money right now.  A PJ Walker led team scored 25, and they have allowed 25 or more in 3 out of the last 4 weeks (20 in the 4th week). So the Bears will have an opportunity to put up points. 

[adam]

One other note about this game, ATL is 30th in Defensive DVOA (only LVR and CLE are worse). So this will be the easiest defense the Bears have faced all season. 

[Stinger226]

It will come down to D, I see the O just keep on rolling.

[adam]

Fields passing yards high this season is 208, I would like to see 250. I assume he still gets well over 50 yards rushing, so that will always be there. Now we need some statistical improvement with the passing game against a really bad defense.

I was listening to a cross over podcast and the Atlanta crew likened Mariota to Fields, saying they are basically the same QB, but Fields is a better runner. They were trying to justify picking Pitts over Fields. They used passing stats from the last 4 games as a comparison tool. I about fell out of my recliner and dropped my PBR all over the shag carpet. 

Mariota has had 5 games out of his last 7 with less than 150 yards passing. Fields has 1. In those 7 games, Mariota has 50 yards rushing twice, Fields? 6, and his worst game was 47. It is so funny to me when people cherry pick stats.

[Stinger226]

Well, its the Alt fan base  , that is to be expected. They are worst than us for pass rushing and the only good one is Jarret. I think we can control that and our passing goes up today. Over 250, 3 TDs for Justin today.

[adam]

3 minutes ago, Stinger226 said:

Well, its the Alt fan base  , that is to be expected. They are worst than us for pass rushing and the only good one is Jarret. I think we can control that and our passing goes up today. Over 250, 3 TDs for Justin today.

I know, but it's pretty funny considering what Mariota has done his entire career to think that they are equal. I am not claiming Fields is a sure fire HoFer, but he is already better than Mariota. 

[AZ54]

https://bearswire.usatoday.com/2022/11/20/bears-falcons-inactives-week-11-teven-jenkins-velus-jones/

Alright we have quite a bit to see today. 

WR:  Velus is back on the active roster and Harry is inactive.   Pringle gets two games in a row at WR and seeing how he and a more comfortable-with-the-playbook Claypool change things (or not) is a big focus.

RB:  Darrynton Evans is active, will he get some snaps at RB or do they stick with Ebner and Monty?   If he's getting snaps it's a glimpse into a possible future without Montgomery.  

LB:  Adams is back this week, how will they line up this week?  Weatherford is active as well (maybe he was last week) but we can watch him on special teams.  

Oline:  Jenkins is active so I look forward to see improved running lanes.  Will Reiff continue to start at RT?   Based on Eberflus' comments it seems that's how we'll end the season.  

DBs:  We have a healthier Jaylon Johnson and Vildor is back.   Many don't like Vildor but I think he's pretty good 10-15yds from the LOS and in run support.  That matters this week because Atlanta isn't a team that will threaten us downfield much and will instead prefer to run to the edges.  

DE:  AQM is back and we'll get to see Taco.

[adam]

8 minutes ago, AZ54 said:

https://bearswire.usatoday.com/2022/11/20/bears-falcons-inactives-week-11-teven-jenkins-velus-jones/

Alright we have quite a bit to see today. 

WR:  Velus is back on the active roster and Harry is inactive.   Pringle gets two games in a row at WR and seeing how he and a more comfortable-with-the-playbook Claypool change things (or not) is a big focus.

RB:  Darrynton Evans is active, will he get some snaps at RB or do they stick with Ebner and Monty?   If he's getting snaps it's a glimpse into a possible future without Montgomery.  

LB:  Adams is back this week, how will they line up this week?  Weatherford is active as well (maybe he was last week) but we can watch him on special teams.  

Oline:  Jenkins is active so I look forward to see improved running lanes.  Will Reiff continue to start at RT?   Based on Eberflus' comments it seems that's how we'll end the season.  

DBs:  We have a healthier Jaylon Johnson and Vildor is back.   Many don't like Vildor but I think he's pretty good 10-15yds from the LOS and in run support.  That matters this week because Atlanta isn't a team that will threaten us downfield much and will instead prefer to run to the edges.  

DE:  AQM is back and we'll get to see Taco.

Bears by 20! 

[Alaskan Grizzly]

54 minutes ago, AZ54 said:

Harry is inactive.   Pringle gets two games in a row at WR

FWIW I think this is a mistake. Prove me wrong Pringle.  

[Stinger226]

TOs matter and we actually made a few today. As the game moves forward you will notice Atl players getting beat up. The Bears are more physical than they are. 

[Alaskan Grizzly]

Sucks that he did it against us. But happy for Patterson setting the record.  Congrats Corradelle.  

[Alaskan Grizzly]

Schofield is having a bad day all around.  

[AZ54]

Yeah I was disappointed in Schofield and run blocking was very hit or miss.  Ebner is lost in the tight spaces of the NFL. 

18 carries for Fields is a huge no no.  Calling QB runs when he is obviously injured is flat out stupid.    

[BearFan PHX]

12 minutes ago, AZ54 said:

Yeah I was disappointed in Schofield and run blocking was very hit or miss.  Ebner is lost in the tight spaces of the NFL. 

18 carries for Fields is a huge no no.  Calling QB runs when he is obviously injured is flat out stupid.    

and even on the play he was injured on, before he was injured you could see his legs were heavy.

[Mongo3451]

I didn't understand this one.  Too much Fields running.  Why aren't they throwing to the one on one matchups on the outside?  We should see at least 6 of those per game.  Bad game plan today.