Week 3 Official Game Thread - CHI @ IND, 9/22, 12pm, CHI +1.5 O/U 43.5, CBS

[BearFan PHX]

47 minutes ago, Bears4Ever_34 said:

Yep, he looks like a disaster of a signing. No vision or contact balance, whatsoever. At the very least, I thought he'd be useful catching passes out of the backfield, but so far, he's been terrible at that, too. 

It's hard to fathom how this team could go from a top 5 rushing team to the worst in a year. I know Fields makes up for a huge chunk of that, but they still got positive production out of both Herbert and Foreman for several games, some of those came with Tyson Bagent.

I don't know if they're running a new blocking scheme or what, but they have got to figure something in a hurry because Williams cannot survive throwing the ball 52 times playing behind this OL all season. Personally, I'd like to see more Herbert, and if the struggles continue for another week or two, you might be forced into Velus out of desperation. It's crazy that we're already at this point.

Im no JF fan, and I'm still all in for Caleb, but part of why we ran well last year was that the defense had to respect the edges with Justin.

Waldron brings his WRs in close to the formation to run, so theres more defenders closer to the ball. DUMB.

[adam]

48 minutes ago, Bears4Ever_34 said:

Yep, he looks like a disaster of a signing. No vision or contact balance, whatsoever. At the very least, I thought he'd be useful catching passes out of the backfield, but so far, he's been terrible at that, too. 

It's hard to fathom how this team could go from a top 5 rushing team to the worst in a year. I know Fields makes up for a huge chunk of that, but they still got positive production out of both Herbert and Foreman for several games, some of those came with Tyson Bagent.

I don't know if they're running a new blocking scheme or what, but they have got to figure something in a hurry because Williams cannot survive throwing the ball 52 times playing behind this OL all season. Personally, I'd like to see more Herbert, and if the struggles continue for another week or two, you might be forced into Velus out of desperation. It's crazy that we're already at this point.

Coming into this game, Swift had 24 rushing attempts (48 yards), Roschon had 0 and Herbert had 4. That was criminal.

Then after all that ineptness, you still give Swift 13 carries (20 yards) and 4 targets (2 receptions), while Roschon gets 8 rushing attempts and 4 receptions and Herbert gets 4 carries. So Swift still had over 50% of the RB carries and half the targets while being the least efficient RB in the NFL. 

[adam]

On the last TD drive, Roschon got 3 touches for 6, 9, and 6 yards. He needs to be the starter. 

[BearFan PHX]

17 minutes ago, adam said:

On the last TD drive, Roschon got 3 touches for 6, 9, and 6 yards. He needs to be the starter. 

I have liked him best since his rookie year.

[ASHKUM BEAR]

1 hour ago, adam said:

Coming into this game, Swift had 24 rushing attempts (48 yards), Roschon had 0 and Herbert had 4. That was criminal.

Then after all that ineptness, you still give Swift 13 carries (20 yards) and 4 targets (2 receptions), while Roschon gets 8 rushing attempts and 4 receptions and Herbert gets 4 carries. So Swift still had over 50% of the RB carries and half the targets while being the least efficient RB in the NFL. 

Playing time by the salary.   They need to play it by the hot hand or foot.  3 games amd we see what we have with Swift.  If the bears were a true threat on offense, it would open more up for swift.

[DABEARSDABOMB]

Caleb had another game with continued progress. 360+ yards in his 3rd game. Did he make mistakes…yep, but he also had a number of really good throws and with anticipation. 
 

I’ll take this loss over the week 1 win any day of the week at this point in Caleb’s career. Swift and Waldron and oline better get stuff together. At least they are using Roschon and Kmet more and ROME had some solid plays. 

[Mongo3451]

What were your thoughts on the play where we got the turnover and the refs ruled forward progress halted in favor of the Colts.  Even Colts fans thought it was cheesy.  They didn't do the replay so I wonder what all thought...

[DABEARSDABOMB]

1 hour ago, Mongo3451 said:

What were your thoughts on the play where we got the turnover and the refs ruled forward progress halted in favor of the Colts.  Even Colts fans thought it was cheesy.  They didn't do the replay so I wonder what all thought...

A really bad call. 

[adam]

9 hours ago, Mongo3451 said:

What were your thoughts on the play where we got the turnover and the refs ruled forward progress halted in favor of the Colts.  Even Colts fans thought it was cheesy.  They didn't do the replay so I wonder what all thought...

The wrong call, they called forward progress there AFTER the fact, then didn't stop the play where Sermon was clearly stopped at the goalline and allowed that play to continue for multiple seconds where Colts players were able to gang up and push him in. That got both plays wrong and that was the difference in the game. It was literally a 10 pt swing.

[Stinger226]

A team needs to be good enough to not allow a bad ref call change the game for us and we're not there. As inconsistant as our offense was, we were one yard away from winning that game. 

I expected CW to be better because of the Stroud performance last yr. The truth is he is a rookie with great potenial that has a learning process. His TOs contributed to 2 losses and was a non factor in our win. 4 Ints and 2 fumbles. I expected us to be 7-2 out of the blocks but he isnt up to speed yet and this is what we get. If this yr was about winning, Fields should still be here, more in a transistion season than for a future QB. We would be 3-0 if he was here, CW what be doing a Mahomes type first yr. So this is about the future at the position of QB and not instant winning. We just have to be patient because this what a rookie QB first season looks like. 

Now play calling looks bad but with better exectution maybe we would have a different view. We went from a running team with an average QB to a future  star with a finese passing game. Our idenity is a strong defense with a rookie QB that just doesnt happen right away. Lots of mistakes are made but lets not forget we were 2 final drives away from being 3-0. This is what you get as you transistion to a rookie QB. 

[Mongo3451]

1 hour ago, Stinger226 said:

Fields should still be here, more in a transistion season than for a future QB. We would be 3-0 if he was here, CW what be doing a Mahomes type first yr.

Oh hell no!  If Fields were here, it would be a bloody nightmare.  I am on record with saying we would win 9 or 10 games if we traded the Caleb pick and invest for Fields.  That's where it ends.  If they ever planned on sitting Caleb, we have Bagent that fully embrace that role.  Fields, Caleb and the locker room would never survive it.  Poles got that item right.  

[adam]

2 hours ago, Stinger226 said:

A team needs to be good enough to not allow a bad ref call change the game for us and we're not there. As inconsistant as our offense was, we were one yard away from winning that game. 

I expected CW to be better because of the Stroud performance last yr. The truth is he is a rookie with great potenial that has a learning process. His TOs contributed to 2 losses and was a non factor in our win. 4 Ints and 2 fumbles. I expected us to be 7-2 out of the blocks but he isnt up to speed yet and this is what we get. If this yr was about winning, Fields should still be here, more in a transistion season than for a future QB. We would be 3-0 if he was here, CW what be doing a Mahomes type first yr. So this is about the future at the position of QB and not instant winning. We just have to be patient because this what a rookie QB first season looks like. 

Now play calling looks bad but with better exectution maybe we would have a different view. We went from a running team with an average QB to a future  star with a finese passing game. Our idenity is a strong defense with a rookie QB that just doesnt happen right away. Lots of mistakes are made but lets not forget we were 2 final drives away from being 3-0. This is what you get as you transistion to a rookie QB. 

Half the INTs have not been on Williams:

3rd and 16 - throw to Moore, Moore stumbles and gives DB easy path to the ball. - bad luck
2nd and 15 - almost sacked, scramble drill, DB drops off Odunze and jumps the ball to Kmet. - on Williams 
3rd and 4 - late throw to the outside to Carter - on Williams
1st and 10 - throw to Odunze, off his hands - on Odunze

The worst one was the late pass to Carter. That can't happen. I doubt he does that again. On the scramble drill one, Odunze and Kmet are too close allowing Odunze's defender to drop off to cover in front of Kmet. He probably should've just thrown that one away, so I will say that one is on him too. 

On the other two, it's hard to do anything when your receiver stumbles and loses leverage, and the last one is completely on Odunze as it hit him in both hands. That can't end up as an INT. 

 

Also, on the strip sack, Waldron thought using Kmet 1v1 on an Edge Rusher was a wise choice on a play action play that takes time to develop. Williams needs to be better ball control there, but that is more on Waldron/Kmet than Williams. 

[adam]

I know the Fields thing is still fresh, but he is doing nothing different in Pittsburgh than he did in Chicago. He is now more of a game manager and if not for elite defensive efforts the Steelers would not be 3-0. 

It is funny that people are comparing Fields this year (his 4th) to Williams as a rookie. Don't look at what Fields did in his first 3 games as a rookie. Williams hasn't even played that good yet, and he is lapping Fields' rookie year. 

Justin Fields, for his career, averages 167 yards per game passing. With Pittsburgh he is averaging 172. His career Y/A is 7.0, in 3 games it's 6.9. In his career he averaged less than 1 passing TD per game. In 3 games, he has 2 passing TDs. His QBR was 46.1 last year and is 46.9 this year. The biggest change in Fields is his INT rate is down, but due to low passing volume, one INT would basically bring his INT% back in line with his career numbers. The one saving grace for Fields with CHI was his running game. He averaged 55 yards with the Bears, that is down to 30 with the Steelers. So technically his offensive output is 20 yards less with PIT than it was with CHI.

The biggest difference that is visible is how the QBs look in the 4th quarter. Fields would always turtle in the 4th quarter. In his career Fields has 11 4th Quarter Passing TDs and 14 INTs. His 4Q Passer Rating is 63.8, the worst of any quarter. Williams has 2 TDs and 1 INT in the 4th quarter and an 81.0 Passer Rating in his first 3 games. This should be Williams' floor. 

How about trailing with under 4 mins to go? Williams has a 104.2 Passer Rating in those situations. Fields Passer Rating drops to 41.1 in those situations. Again, night and day. I really liked Fields, but his limited passing upside, especially late in games was too much of a handcuff.

The sentiment in Pittsburgh would be completely different if they were 1-2 and Fields had the same stats. 

 

[CrackerDog]

19 hours ago, DABEARSDABOMB said:

Caleb had another game with continued progress. 360+ yards in his 3rd game. Did he make mistakes…yep, but he also had a number of really good throws and with anticipation. 

He showed promise that was missing in the first two games, that’s for sure.  Rookie mistakes are to be expected.  
 

That said, I blame the coaches.  We continue to lose close, winnable games.  Pisses me off.  

[Stinger226]

No where did I blame CW for all our woes, he is a part of what is wrong but as a rookie that is to be expected. Never stated JF should be here instead of CW but I do think a dumbed down offense would get us more wins right now and that is what everyone is talkig about. When you lose, everyone picks a part every play to find answers. When you win , those never get the same mileage. 

Alex Smith was an above average QB when Mahomes was drafted. They never had any problems with Smith and Mahomes on the same team for that yr. JF is a more productive QB right now than CW as a rookie,  but CW has a much higher ceiling. This team is built to have big yrs in 2025-26, its not complete yet. I think people are projecting higher expections because of the better talent but the rebuild needs one more yr to hit. A couple more OL, edge, DT,  we will be ready to play with the big boys every week. 

I think we will be a real good team once CW is more comforable as a pro, he clearly isnt there yet. The whole season will be littered with this late one score games both wins and losses. We would have won the game if we had run for 150+, less pressure on CW but instead we got a  Hail Mary Pass that was one yard short. Throwing 360+ with  over50 throws means your playing from behind.