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

[Alaskan Grizzly]

1 hour ago, Mongo3451 said:

Bad game plan today.

Yep.  Justin seemed to revert to holding the ball too long.  Not sure that was him not seeing open men or result of play-calling. 

[AZ54]

21 minutes ago, Alaskan Grizzly said:

Yep.  Justin seemed to revert to holding the ball too long.  Not sure that was him not seeing open men or result of play-calling. 

This game was a homecoming for Fields, playing in front of family and friends.  I don't like the play calling but I also wonder if Justin reverted back to focusing on the big plays as he did earlier in the season, in this case hoping to impress people.   

[Alaskan Grizzly]

41 minutes ago, AZ54 said:

This game was a homecoming for Fields, playing in front of family and friends.  I don't like the play calling but I also wonder if Justin reverted back to focusing on the big plays as he did earlier in the season, in this case hoping to impress people.   

The more I think of it, this could be part of it. I also wonder if they’re trying to get him to run less and expand his play options.  Seems they were heavy running early on with Montgomery and Ebner and less designed run plays for Justin.  As the game wore on they seemed to want him to throw more (that and he was clearly getting tuckered out). I wonder with their record as it is they feel like looking more at the games as practice sessions for evaluating next year?  The offense is scoring plenty of points.  Defense just can’t seem to stop anyone right now.  
 

 

[BearFan PHX]

3 minutes ago, Alaskan Grizzly said:

I wonder with their record as it is they feel like looking more at the games as practice sessions for evaluating next year?

100% - and we are putting a major top of the first round draft pick stud on the D line.

[Stinger226]

Observations:

             Ebner cant create holes, I seen him 4 times run up the ass of a blocker. no vision

              Play calling was bad in the the second half knowing at halftime that Justin had a strain hamstring. Then hurt his shoulder and still calling him running. Gretsy not getting a HC next yr. 

               OL was bad. Whitehair has not played well since he came back. Schofield had a terrible game. Jenkins needs to be back. 

                Hard to get rhythm with the WRs when you only pass 21 times a game. We need to get at least 30 reps there.

                 Kmet had a highlight reel catch today

        I would much rather be winning these games but the losing doesnt hurt as bad when I know we are going to get a top 5 pick.

[adam]

The defense actually played much better. They only allowed 20 and ATL was gifted a TD vs a FG (4pt swing) on the Gordon Roughing the Passer penalty when he touched Mariota's foot. So only 16 pts on the road is pretty good for a defense. That was a week after 24 against Detroit (they scored 7 on a pick-6).

It is wild to me how the Bears have lost 5-6 games that have come down to one play/penalty. The Gordon penalty was on a 3rd Down incompletion. If ATL kicks a FG instead of getting a TD, the Bears win 24-23. 

How about the no calls on Fields? Slide, gets hit, no call. Runs out of bounds, pushed, no call (Goff got the same call last week), gets sacked, on one knee, then gets hit again and defender lands on top of him, no call. 

I have no clue about Getsy's play calling, especially on the last drive. Fields is hurting, you have 1:47 left, and you run Fields TWICE. He gets hit and hurts his shoulder on the first play, then you call a QB Draw on the 2nd play? Come on dude. They are playing prevent. You can dink and dunk down the field at that point. I am still not sold on Getsy as a play caller. 

The O-Line was terrible, but the play calls are not helping. If the O-Line is playing that bad, why are you not getting the ball out instantly? You have Kmet and Claypool, both can make contested catches. Throw them the ball. 

The only good thing is the draft position, but now the Bears are giving up the 33rd pick for Claypool, which is much worse now than it was when they made the trade. 

[Stinger226]

We can't worry about the traded pick. We need to get Claypool involved in the offense to make that trade worth while. The fact we are in games until the end and is decided by a penalty or a bad mistake, tells us we are doing something right.

How many OLs do we need next year ? IMO, they stick with the development of Jones and Jenkins is set. If Whitehair doesn't play better , I can see them replacing him next year. So I think they bring in a OC and OT in FA. I think after the  break they give Leatherwood playing time to see if he can play. I don't think Poles abandons all his moves this year and start over with new development players. Carter may get first chance to replace Whitehair but not sure he will go through another year to develop the OL. Tough decision.

[adam]

2 hours ago, Stinger226 said:

We can't worry about the traded pick. We need to get Claypool involved in the offense to make that trade worth while. The fact we are in games until the end and is decided by a penalty or a bad mistake, tells us we are doing something right.

How many OLs do we need next year ? IMO, they stick with the development of Jones and Jenkins is set. If Whitehair doesn't play better , I can see them replacing him next year. So I think they bring in a OC and OT in FA. I think after the  break they give Leatherwood playing time to see if he can play. I don't think Poles abandons all his moves this year and start over with new development players. Carter may get first chance to replace Whitehair but not sure he will go through another year to develop the OL. Tough decision.

I think they bring in 3, one Center, one OT, and then either a 2nd OT to replace Jones or OG to replace Whitehair. Then let the best 5 earn the starting roles. Borom needs to be the Swing Tackle and not a starter. 

[Stinger226]

If our second string include B. Jones, Patrick, Borom, that would be a strong unit.

[Mongo3451]

2 hours ago, adam said:

I think they bring in 3, one Center, one OT, and then either a 2nd OT to replace Jones or OG to replace Whitehair. Then let the best 5 earn the starting roles. Borom needs to be the Swing Tackle and not a starter. 

Since Poles has extra money to play with, I'll keep Whitehair. He's our most consistent OL and he can play center.  I forget whether he was good at that or not.  If good, he could be the fix at center, especially if Leatherwood turns it around.  I think Leatherwood came into the league not ready to make the next step.  In reading his draft profile, intensity was a red flag.  He may have that gentle giant mentality.  That trait can be coached out of a guy.  I know this personally from being coached.  My coach had to deeply hurt my feelings by not giving me the letter I earned my junior year.  He explained it to me during my senior year while earning all conference and all county honors.  I would have been all nothing if he hadn't given me that lesson.  Wounded pride may allow Leatherwood's beast to come out.  If he makes the transition, we only need to obtain a center and a tackle.  Preferably one that can play left or right.

[AZ54]

1 hour ago, Mongo3451 said:

Since Poles has extra money to play with, I'll keep Whitehair. He's our most consistent OL and he can play center.  I forget whether he was good at that or not.  If good, he could be the fix at center, especially if Leatherwood turns it around.  I think Leatherwood came into the league not ready to make the next step.  In reading his draft profile, intensity was a red flag.  He may have that gentle giant mentality.  That trait can be coached out of a guy.  I know this personally from being coached.  My coach had to deeply hurt my feelings by not giving me the letter I earned my junior year.  He explained it to me during my senior year while earning all conference and all county honors.  I would have been all nothing if he hadn't given me that lesson.  Wounded pride may allow Leatherwood's beast to come out.  If he makes the transition, we only need to obtain a center and a tackle.  Preferably one that can play left or right.

Poles has taken a lot of pain this year to put himself in the driver's seat.  Unlike teams in cap space purgatory Poles can build and make decisions when the time is right.  There is no reason to move on from Whitehair early, he should wait until the timing is right and he has confidence we have signed someone equally as good or better.   If that takes until 2024 so be it.  That may also mean a decision after training camp.