The Bears are who we thought they were!

[jason]

Reminded me of the Cardinals game and Denny Green. All D/ST, with virtually no O.

[Mongo3451]

I don't think 65 could have a worse game with two broken legs.  Nate Davis was terrible as well.  Caleb kept grinding and I like some of the things I saw.  Poles has allowed this team to be vulnerable and it was my fear coming into the season.  I'd definitely would trade Keenan Allen for one of the two centers that were the big free agents.

[ASHKUM BEAR]

12 minutes ago, jason said:

Reminded me of the Cardinals game and Denny Green. All D/ST, with virtually no O.

The combination of Caleb over/under throwing and getting passes batted down, the WRs dropping catchable balls, and the oline being door greeters, the Bears should have been better and the game Mayne won much earlier. 

It is game 1 and Caleb is the first #1 pick rookie QB to win his first game in like 14 years.  I'll take it. 

[AZ54]

52 minutes ago, ASHKUM BEAR said:

The combination of Caleb over/under throwing and getting passes batted down, the WRs dropping catchable balls, and the oline being door greeters, the Bears should have been better and the game Mayne won much earlier. 

It is game 1 and Caleb is the first #1 pick rookie QB to win his first game in like 14 years.  I'll take it. 

I’ll celebrate that too. But then I love good defense and that’s not why he was drafted.   Caleb has a lot to learn but there was no point in that game where I felt Levis was even close to him in talent.  I’d trade the often injured Keenan Allen for a good center too.  

[DABEARSDABOMB]

1 hour ago, jason said:

Reminded me of the Cardinals game and Denny Green. All D/ST, with virtually no O.

I was having flashbacks of that game too. We need Ryan Bates healthy quick cause Shelton was abused in week 1. 
 

With that said - Caleb finally sees a real defense (preseason doesn’t count)….so this is first step of development now to see how he grows and emerges this first quarter of the season. Taking the season as week 1 is the throwaway and now we have 4 quarters of the season left - looking for growth in each quarter out of Caleb. 

[BearFan PHX]

Wow, weird game.

On offense, we got away from the run way too early. I know that we had a plan to attack the edges, but we needed to at least challenge the middle, else there was no conflict for the defenders. So the offensive playcalling got away from the run. Hopefully, they will all identify that this week in film study. We also went for it on 4th and 1 twice, and I think both were mistakes. Punt! Take the field goal! Sheesh.

Williams was under a lot of pressure, but he was truly awful through most of the first half. I told my girlfriend, who Id been hyping up about Caleb all offseason that Caleb was crowning and hadnt been born yet with around 5 min to go in the 2nd qtr. The most rookie moment was when he gave up 15+ yards running backward because he thought he would eventually win and turn a corner - as if other defenders werent bearing down on that location. He will have to learn to play within himself and take the losses as they come and live to fight another down, not gamble away an unobtainable amount of yardage.

But Caleb got better each quarter, and threw what should have been his first touchdown pass to Allen right before half time.

In the second half, Caleb looked MUCH better. There were a number of fast pocket passes that looked excellent. There were also a bunch of overthrows throughout the game. One assumes that he was trying too hard - too much adrenaline etc. I feel like if he settles down a bit, hes going to be fine.

The OL was really exposed by probably the best defensive tackle duo in the NFL. Of course if you want to beat the KC Chiefs in a superbowl youre gonna have to block a pretty damned good DT too, so we need to get players up to that task. Davis only played like 18 snaps and then they replaced him with Bates. It got a little better after that.

Sheldon was awful. Jenkins got beat pretty bad a couple of times, but Sheldon was the weakest link. I think next week you're looking at Bates at center and Pryor at right guard. Or the seldom seen Bill Murray, who keeps getting written up well, but I just havent noticed yet.

I really wish we'd seen more carries for Swift. that was a problem.

But while the special teams were, for the most part, excellent, the Velus Jr returner experiment has to be over. We stopped letting him field punts because hed fumble where there were too many defnders around him, so they figured put him on Kickoffs, no one is near him when he catches the ball so if he fumbles, he can recover it. Velus said "hold my beer" and proceeded to kick the ball back to the kicking team 20 yards forward. DUDE. WTF.

But we got a blocked punt. I heard that hightower told the players this week that he had identified a weakness in the Titans punt formation, and he expected a blocked kick this week from his guys. Cool!

And speaking of that, and seguing into the defense, hello Darrell Taylor! He blocked a punt, and he got 2 sacks. Amazing. That dude can play, and we have our guy. WHen Booker is ready, thatll be a strong rotation. Walker looks good inside too on passing downs.

The defensive front looked pretty good. They had pressure on almost every passing play. it was nice to see the pocket collapse the way it looks when we have the ball for a change.

And Billings is a force. Hes not only an unmoveable object in the run game, but hes starting to become a real problem on passing downs. And the Titans OL is supposed to be pretty good. Maybe the defensive line is ready now?

Stevenson had his pick, and Jaylon Johnson is incredible. They threw at him twice all game. Once was almost an interception in the end zone, and the other one was a pick. On the near interception he jogged and baited the QB into the throw too. Hes a real impact player.

All in all, the offense was on life support, and the defense took this game. Turnovers, defensive scores, field goals - this was a real team win. I was amazed the defense didnt tire out after being on the field so long. The coaches did a good job of rotating guy in and out on the line to keep guys fresher.

I do think Caleb was born some time in the 2nd half of the game. He started making fast relaxed reads. But if this is a super hero QB origin story, then today is the first scene where our hero to be is a kitchen slave in a remote prison somewhere. This is the rock bottom the hero rises from. It was a great first scene. Now show me something next week and lets take another step out of this hole, and into the light.

Worst: Offensive Play Calling, Sheldon at center, Davis at right guard, Velus Jones Jr.

Best: Darrell Taylor, Jaylon Johnson, Tyrique Stevenson, Andrew Billings

Hon Mentions: Tory Taylor, Gervon Dexter Jr, Daniel Hardy, Defensive Coaching

[ASHKUM BEAR]

11 minutes ago, BearFan PHX said:

Wow, weird game.

On offense, we got away from the run way too early. I know that we had a plan to attack the edges, but we needed to at least challenge the middle, else there was no conflict for the defenders. So the offensive playcalling got away from the run. Hopefully, they will all identify that this week in film study. We also went for it on 4th and 1 twice, and I think both were mistakes. Punt! Take the field goal! Sheesh.

Williams was under a lot of pressure, but he was truly awful through most of the first half. I told my girlfriend, who Id been hyping up about Caleb all offseason that Caleb was crowning and hadnt been born yet with around 5 min to go in the 2nd qtr. The most rookie moment was when he gave up 15+ yards running backward because he thought he would eventually win and turn a corner - as if other defenders werent bearing down on that location. He will have to learn to play within himself and take the losses as they come and live to fight another down, not gamble away an unobtainable amount of yardage.

But Caleb got better each quarter, and threw what should have been his first touchdown pass to Allen right before half time.

In the second half, Caleb looked MUCH better. There were a number of fast pocket passes that looked excellent. There were also a bunch of overthrows throughout the game. One assumes that he was trying too hard - too much adrenaline etc. I feel like if he settles down a bit, hes going to be fine.

The OL was really exposed by probably the best defensive tackle duo in the NFL. Of course if you want to beat the KC Chiefs in a superbowl youre gonna have to block a pretty damned good DT too, so we need to get players up to that task. Davis only played like 18 snaps and then they replaced him with Ryan. It got a little better after that.

Sheldon was awful. Jenkins got beat pretty bad a couple of times, but Sheldon was the weakest link. I think next week you're looking at Ryan at center and Pryor at right guard.

I really wish we'd seen more carries for Swift.

But the special teams were, for the most part, excellent. The Velus Jr returner experiment has to be over. We stopped letting him field punts because hed fumble where there were too many defnders around him, so they figured put him on Kickoffs, no one is near him when he catches the ball so if he fumbles, he can recover it. Velus said "hold my beer" and proceeded to kick the ball back to the kicking team 20 yards forward. DUDE. WTF.

But we got a blocked punt. I heard that hightower told the players this week that he had identified a weakness in the Titans punt formation, and he expected a blocked kick this week from his guys. Cool!

And speaking of that, and seguing into the defense, hello Darrell Taylor! He blocked a punt, and he got 2 sacks. Amazing. That dude can play, and we have our guy. WHen Booker is ready, thatll be a strong rotation. Walker looks good inside too on passing downs.

The defensive front looked pretty good. They had pressure on almost every passing play. it was nice to see the pocket collapse the way it looks when we have the ball for a change.

And BIllings is a force. Hes not only an unmoveable object int he run game, but hes starting to become a real problem on passing downs. And the Titans Ol is supposed to be pretty good. Maybe the defensive line is ready now?

Stevenson had his pick, and Jaylon Johnson is incredible. They threw at him twice. Once was almost an interception, and the other one was a pick. On the near interception he baited the QB into the throw too. Hes a real impact player.

All in all, the offense was on life support, and the defense took this game. Turnovers, defensive scores, field goals - this was a real team win. I was amazed the defense didnt tire out. The coaches did a good job of rotating guy in and out on the line to keep guys fresher.

I do think Caleb was born some time in the 2nd half of the game. He started making fast relaxed reads. But if this is a super hero QB origin story, this is the first scene where our hero to be is an a kitchen slave in a prison somewhere. This is the rock bottom the hero rises from. It was a great first scene. Now show me something next week and lets take another step out of this hole, and into the light.

Worst: Offensive Play Calling, Sheldon at center, Davis at right guard, Velus Jones Jr.

Best: Darrell Taylor, Jaylon Johnson, Tyrique Stevenson, Andrew BIllings

Hon Mentions: Tory Taylor, Gervon Dexter Jr, Daniel Hardy, Defensive Coaching

I thought Jaylon started giving up on that almost int and realized the play was coming his way and took the angle to jump the route.  If that ball was thrown deeper, it was a td. 

[BearFan PHX]

6 minutes ago, ASHKUM BEAR said:

I thought Jaylon started giving up on that almost int and realized the play was coming his way and took the angle to jump the route.  If that ball was thrown deeper, it was a td. 

fair, I did see Jaylon jog a few steps, which is not his style, and then cut the angle to close the ground. I wanna think it was intentional, but I cant really prove youre wrong either.

[Bears4Ever_34]

I'm reaching for optimism, but it's possible A.) The Titans defense is going to be really good and B.) They had the element of surprise advantage coming into this game, given the fact they had a new coordinator with no play calling experience. You'd figure it might be easier to scout a Texans team who's defense you actually have film on. 

[Mongo3451]

To summarize the game for me, it was all love and kumbaya from training camp in the first half.  Once they figured out it was a big boys game, they pulled their pants up and started getting after it.  Caleb now knows that the real game is faster than he thought it was going to be.  I'm certain he will adjust his timeline accordingly. 

Going in to Houston next week, they'll have to come out of the gate a lot sooner.

[BearFan PHX]

49 minutes ago, Mongo3451 said:

To summarize the game for me, it was all love and kumbaya from training camp in the first half.  Once they figured out it was a big boys game, they pulled their pants up and started getting after it.  Caleb now knows that the real game is faster than he thought it was going to be.  I'm certain he will adjust his timeline accordingly. 

Going in to Houston next week, they'll have to come out of the gate a lot sooner.

for sure. it has to be much better. this was an introductory offer and the only two reason we arent freaking out are 1) we won thanks to the defense and special teams 2) we know it was everyone's first game.

But yeah, that was not a professional offense in the first half. Call it square 1.

[Pixote]

37 minutes ago, BearFan PHX said:

But yeah, that was not a professional offense in the first half. Call it square 1.

It wasn't a professional offense, PERIOD. In the first AND second half, our offense was a joke. 

I expected Caleb to make some errors in judgment; after all, he is a rookie playing his first game.

I was stunned and disappointed in his physical execution. Pocket presence, footwork, accuracy, etc...

I look forward to seeing the Caleb we KNOW he can be instead of what we saw today.

(Of course, it would help if his OL can give him time, and his receivers catch the damn ball when on target.)

Did everyone else notice the wide-open Allen (or was it Odunze, damn my memory sucks) in the flat to Caleb's right when he threw an incompletion to Moore to his left on the sideline?

Disappointing.

 

[ASHKUM BEAR]

31 minutes ago, Pixote said:

It wasn't a professional offense, PERIOD. In the first AND second half, our offense was a joke. 

I expected Caleb to make some errors in judgment; after all, he is a rookie playing his first game.

I was stunned and disappointed in his physical execution. Pocket presence, footwork, accuracy, etc...

I look forward to seeing the Caleb we KNOW he can be instead of what we saw today.

(Of course, it would help if his OL can give him time, and his receivers catch the damn ball when on target.)

Did everyone else notice the wide-open Allen (or was it Odunze, damn my memory sucks) in the flat to Caleb's right when he threw an incompletion to Moore to his left on the sideline?

Disappointing.

 

It was Allen, but seen it.  He was locked on moore the whole time.  Something I didn't expect him to do was lock on one target, so hopefully he breaks it.

 

[BearFan PHX]

He had a bunch of good rhythm throws in the second half. Im not saying he was awesome, because he score a total of zero touchdowns. But I am saying that he did make a bunch of rhythm throws. And the playcalling and OL were terrible right along with him.

He also needs to be more disciplined in finding throwing lanes. Too many batted balls.

[AZ54]

I can say that for however poorly he played Caleb Williams was not:  Will Levis incompetent.  He wasn't Jayden Daniels either at 7/55yds but ran on 16 carries (I didn't watch anything at all of Wash).  He also wasn't Mitch Trubisky or Justin Fields in their first starts.   In other words, as bad as it was the game doesn't seem to be too big for him.   The coaches largely left him in the pocket so we didn't have to do the usual roll outs to narrow down the reads for him to one side of the field.  While there is tons of needed growth I don't think he's starting from the lower levels as much as we've seen in the past.  I'm very curious to see how quickly he adapts after seeing the film.  

[Stinger226]

For that offence to look that bad, it took many flaws, Interior OL, dropped passes and QB bad decisions. As AZ stated it doesnt come across as a clown show that we seen so many times in the past. I think Waldron leaving him in the pocket so much was a bad decision also. I expected instant suceess but it never works that way. We also didnt run the ball very well. All things will be corrected but probsbly not this week against the Texans. 

Thinks I liked   DeAndre Carter can play

                         Darrell Taylor showed up big time. 8 Ts-2 sacks-2 TFL-2 QB hits. 

                         Andrew Billings seemed like he was involved in every play but the stats dont show that, I noticed him.

                         The defense gave up 140 yards rushing , yet the defense seemed to be in control most of the game.
                          We had pressure for most of the day and that was a good sign

                          Flus made some adjustments at halftime that the D shut them out.

                          We won the game

Bad                   Velus Jones is still on the team

                          Rome Odunze is getting an MRI over an injury he substained.

                          IOL was terrible and that includes Jenkins.

                          Waldron keep CW in the pocket to long.

                           Caleb was holding the ball to long, he missed WRs, never got into a rhythm in the flow of offense. He had a strech of quick passes but anythimg downfield                              was off.