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Week 9 - Official Game Thread - Bears at Cardinals, Sun, Nov 3, 3:05 PM CST On CBS, Bears +1, O/U 44.5


adam

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The Bears were favorites for this game a few weeks ago, now 1 point underdogs. Arizona just beat Miami, Harrison Jr, McBride, and Conner all had huge games. This is looking like a pretty complete offense and the defense got a safety against MIA, and they only won by 1. 


At this point, it really is going to come down to which Bears team shows up. If it is the one that won 3 straight, the Bears should win this game handily. If it is the team that just played Washington, it is going to be tough because ARZ has some playmakers on offense. 

My initial thought is Bears in a squeaker, 24-20. Also, if the Bears lose this game, they really need to consider firing Flus. 4-4 with one of the easiest schedules in football is unacceptable. 

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35 minutes ago, adam said:

The Bears were favorites for this game a few weeks ago, now 1 point underdogs. Arizona just beat Miami, Harrison Jr, McBride, and Conner all had huge games. This is looking like a pretty complete offense and the defense got a safety against MIA, and they only won by 1. 


At this point, it really is going to come down to which Bears team shows up. If it is the one that won 3 straight, the Bears should win this game handily. If it is the team that just played Washington, it is going to be tough because ARZ has some playmakers on offense. 

My initial thought is Bears in a squeaker, 24-20. Also, if the Bears lose this game, they really need to consider firing Flus. 4-4 with one of the easiest schedules in football is unacceptable. 

I feel like you dont fire a coach for a single game no matter what. So I guess id say that the fact that that single game COULD be the final straw, means we already know we should fire him. And that's where I'm at with it.

And it wont be right now, but instead at or near the end of the year.

Ugh, we could have already had the new guy.

I could imagine some people saying that we should hire Kingsbury, so he and Caleb already speak the same language to make the least of any delays by starting over. Maybe that's a good idea. Maybe hiring Ben Johnson is a better move. I dunno.

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2 hours ago, BearFan PHX said:

I feel like you dont fire a coach for a single game no matter what. So I guess id say that the fact that that single game COULD be the final straw, means we already know we should fire him. And that's where I'm at with it.

And it wont be right now, but instead at or near the end of the year.

Ugh, we could have already had the new guy.

I could imagine some people saying that we should hire Kingsbury, so he and Caleb already speak the same language to make the least of any delays by starting over. Maybe that's a good idea. Maybe hiring Ben Johnson is a better move. I dunno.

Jaylon Johnson and Cole Kmet both called out the coaching decisions today with media. Flus no longer has the locker room.

How many "leadership" meetings do you need? That tells me there is no leadership with the coaching staff. Flus said he wanted "teachers" no, you need leaders that hold everyone accountable. Him and Waldron are too passive. 

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Saying they didnt like some play decisions doesnt mean he has lost the locker room. Flus has always had open dialouge with the team. This team lost all those games and hug together, a few bad play calls aint stating a mutiny. 

At 4-3 we can still have  a winning season but if we some way lose any of the next 2 games we may be headed that way. I was the only idiot on here that said we could win 12 games. If I remember most people were 9-10 wins, we are still on course for that. 

JJ and DJ both said they have regular captains meetings every week. This is not the Titantic, every time it hits something its not sinking. IF we win the next 2 games 6-3 is not a bad spot to be in. I get the impression people think we are SF and favored to go the SB at 3-4. The main function this year is to develop CW and we are doing that. CW played bad so every little thing that happened got blown up. I was impressed as bad as we played we were winning with 2 seconds left. 

Our defense is real , Wash was the second leading scoring team in the league until they played us.  At home 4 FGs is a real stat , then a miracle passing TD , and they still only scored only 18 points with that. AZ has a lot of weapons but I have no doubt they only score around 20 points. 

No matter what happens Flus aint being fired during the season, if he keeps making bad decisions, Poles will deal with it after the season is over.

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55 minutes ago, Stinger226 said:

Saying they didnt like some play decisions doesnt mean he has lost the locker room.

It kinda does when they say it to the media instead of privately.

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5 hours ago, adam said:

Jaylon Johnson and Cole Kmet both called out the coaching decisions today with media. Flus no longer has the locker room.

How many "leadership" meetings do you need? That tells me there is no leadership with the coaching staff. Flus said he wanted "teachers" no, you need leaders that hold everyone accountable. Him and Waldron are too passive. 

What did they say? I must have missed it? 

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4 hours ago, Stinger226 said:

Saying they didnt like some play decisions doesnt mean he has lost the locker room. Flus has always had open dialouge with the team. This team lost all those games and hug together, a few bad play calls aint stating a mutiny. 

At 4-3 we can still have  a winning season but if we some way lose any of the next 2 games we may be headed that way. I was the only idiot on here that said we could win 12 games. If I remember most people were 9-10 wins, we are still on course for that. 

JJ and DJ both said they have regular captains meetings every week. This is not the Titantic, every time it hits something its not sinking. IF we win the next 2 games 6-3 is not a bad spot to be in. I get the impression people think we are SF and favored to go the SB at 3-4. The main function this year is to develop CW and we are doing that. CW played bad so every little thing that happened got blown up. I was impressed as bad as we played we were winning with 2 seconds left. 

Our defense is real , Wash was the second leading scoring team in the league until they played us.  At home 4 FGs is a real stat , then a miracle passing TD , and they still only scored only 18 points with that. AZ has a lot of weapons but I have no doubt they only score around 20 points. 

No matter what happens Flus aint being fired during the season, if he keeps making bad decisions, Poles will deal with it after the season is over.

Last thing any of us should want is Flus gone during the season cause that would mean something real bad happened (ie Williams is a train wreck for rest of the year). 
 

I’ll continue to root for success and continued growth and progress and expect we will assess Flus at the end of the year and my guess is this will be an 8-10 win team. And a lot of that evaluation will likely be how did they finish the last hand full of games and is the arrow accelerating up for where is it? 

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5 hours ago, DABEARSDABOMB said:

What did they say? I must have missed it? 

The players questioned why Kramer got the ball on the 1 yard line. They basically said they practiced the play but never expected to use it in such a critical point in the game when points were so hard to come by. They thought they could've used a timeout to get straight on assignments before the Hail Mary. JJ also alluded to the fact that they were in Hail Mary defense on the play BEFORE the hail mary, so there was clearly confusion there too.

Also, you have the ball on the one yard line with 4 chances to score. They could've easily run the clock to under 20 seconds or less before scoring, giving the Commanders 1-2 less plays on offense. They had 3 timeouts.

Kmet also said they were being lazy during practice this week, he said no giving the game enough respect. Again, to me that is taking a shot at the coaches. No one is being held to any standard. They talk about standards, but they are not enforced. 

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What I comdemd Flus for is not calling off the Kramer play that Waldron called and not taking a TO before the last play.

People are getting on him for being in Hail Mary defense on the second to last play. There was only 6 seconds left when that play started, of course you play Hail Mary. I seen a video where he was on the sidelines on that play yelling at the corners to play up closer and CW had to pull him off the field to not get a penilty.

 If we won, none of this would be talked about. If the Kramer play got in the end zone, everyone would be praising Waldron. Every coach has some bad calls in every game. Y

The great coach Campbell lost a playoff game last year because he went for it on a 4th down and didnt get it. The great coach Dan Quinn lost the SB while in Atlanta because he passed twice at the end of the game instead of running the ball and taking time off the clock. Brady came back and won. 

 My point is its to early to fire coaches while we have a winning record. SF 4-4 and Rams  3-4 have 2 of the best coaches in the league. I think fans need to relax a litle bit.

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2 hours ago, adam said:

The players questioned why Kramer got the ball on the 1 yard line. They basically said they practiced the play but never expected to use it in such a critical point in the game when points were so hard to come by. They thought they could've used a timeout to get straight on assignments before the Hail Mary. JJ also alluded to the fact that they were in Hail Mary defense on the play BEFORE the hail mary, so there was clearly confusion there too.

Also, you have the ball on the one yard line with 4 chances to score. They could've easily run the clock to under 20 seconds or less before scoring, giving the Commanders 1-2 less plays on offense. They had 3 timeouts.

Kmet also said they were being lazy during practice this week, he said no giving the game enough respect. Again, to me that is taking a shot at the coaches. No one is being held to any standard. They talk about standards, but they are not enforced. 

Adam I tried to do a poll on what to do with Richardson. It wouldnt go thru. 

1 cut him

2 suspend him for 1 game

3 Start Smith instead and let him be available to play if needed

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2 hours ago, Stinger226 said:

Adam I tried to do a poll on what to do with Richardson. It wouldnt go thru. 

1 cut him

2 suspend him for 1 game

3 Start Smith instead and let him be available to play if needed

Richardson is the QB for the Colts?

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42 minutes ago, adam said:

Stevenson should be punished. Don't start him vs Arizona, but let him play if needed as a sub. Put him on ST and make him earn his spot back.

This is my vote - he needs to learn a lesson but one mistake doesn't define a career.  And I get it - some players play a certain way - having that swag is what allows them to play free and aggressive.  You take that out and you might end up get a worse player - you take the good and live with the bad - the key is - he's got to LEARN from this and use it to get better. Just as Flus does.  

Bears can't let this define them - however, I hope Flus recognizes his own mistakes inside that lockeroom (what he says to media doesn't matter) its how he handles lockeroom on being accountable to what the coaches could do better, what he could do better, just as much as what the players can do better. That shared accountability is big and they need to be all-in on it this week more than any other week.  

But yes - coming out of the bye - there were minimal screens and minimal use of Kmet...the 2 things that we did more of when the offense got rolling.  I also think we have a guy in Moore that has to just get targeted "Moore" :)

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Carmen and Yerko talked about that yesterday. They mentioned that the Packers swiftly sanction players, holding them accountable, while the Bears will let it slide. Yes, he should be punished, if not the Organization is not serious.

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Eberflus was so wishy washy on ESPN the other morning. Such corporate HR speak. I have a hard time believing he can hold the team accountable.

We have all sorts of discipline issues, not just Stevenson (although wtf was that?!) so it's clear that he isnt getting it done behind closed doors.

I dont care if the next coach is a yeller or not, but the players will have to respect him, and feel like they have to stay focused or it'll be another disaster.

Im 100% on firing Eberflus - I wanted to do it during the offseason too, which would have been much smarter.

But for the record, Im not saying to fire him right now, Im talking about at the end of the season, or the last couple games or something. The only move I'd make now is to add an offensive line quality control or something, because Morgan is not getting it done. Players dont know who to block. Kiran went to freakin Yale, I doubt its that hard to learn blocking assignments - beating an NFL player is something else, but just knowing who to block? Morgan must be an awful teacher.

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18 minutes ago, BearFan PHX said:

Eberflus was so wishy washy on ESPN the other morning. Such corporate HR speak. I have a hard time believing he can hold the team accountable.

We have all sorts of discipline issues, not just Stevenson (although wtf was that?!) so it's clear that he isnt getting it done behind closed doors.

I dont care if the next coach is a yeller or not, but the players will have to respect him, and feel like they have to stay focused or it'll be another disaster.

Im 100% on firing Eberflus - I wanted to do it during the offseason too, which would have been much smarter.

But for the record, Im not saying to fire him right now, Im talking about at the end of the season, or the last couple games or something. The only move I'd make now is to add an offensive line quality control or something, because Morgan is not getting it done. Players dont know who to block. Kiran went to freakin Yale, I doubt its that hard to learn blocking assignments - beating an NFL player is something else, but just knowing who to block? Morgan must be an awful teacher.

I get the critizism, so if we are 10-7 will they fire him? Im not sure about that. i heard all the interviews and T J Edwards said it best, they need him and he needs to play Sunday. It will hurt the team if he doesnt. They all made mistakes Sunday(players), and he said the players have his back. He said they all learned from all the mistkaes made. The SCORE hosts are making out like the players are calling him out. He said the captains met yesterday and that's not true. 

To be honest with some of the mistakes made on Sunday, its the first time I started thinking Flus may need to go. Last year I started doing that and they went 5-3 with 2 of those loses in the end of the game and changed my mind. 

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55 minutes ago, Stinger226 said:

To be honest with some of the mistakes made on Sunday, its the first time I started thinking Flus may need to go. Last year I started doing that and they went 5-3 with 2 of those loses in the end of the game and changed my mind. 

I'm there too.  

1) Kramer worked well as a lead blocker.  No need to get cute. 

2) three timeouts left and the defense was in the wrong protection, in a very bad way.  We give up a quick 13 yards, enabling the opponent to throw a hail Mary.  Flus said later that the 13 yards didn't matter. 

3) you see you starting corner clowning with the fans and you didn't have the brains to call a timeout to reset the players. 

4) coming out flat, after a bye, with no discernable game plan is a Flus trend.  Too nice.  Too lax.  Not enough intensity. 

Flus hasn't learned from his mistakes.  I would fire him immediately and hire Jon Gruden or Bill Belichick to finish the season.  I'm tired of being embarrassed from losing games through stupidity and lack of action.  That's five in two seasons.

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1 hour ago, Mongo3451 said:

I'm there too.  

1) Kramer worked well as a lead blocker.  No need to get cute. 

2) three timeouts left and the defense was in the wrong protection, in a very bad way.  We give up a quick 13 yards, enabling the opponent to throw a hail Mary.  Flus said later that the 13 yards didn't matter. 

3) you see you starting corner clowning with the fans and you didn't have the brains to call a timeout to reset the players. 

4) coming out flat, after a bye, with no discernable game plan is a Flus trend.  Too nice.  Too lax.  Not enough intensity. 

Flus hasn't learned from his mistakes.  I would fire him immediately and hire Jon Gruden or Bill Belichick to finish the season.  I'm tired of being embarrassed from losing games through stupidity and lack of action.  That's five in two seasons.

Roschon is 4/4 in rushing TDs on rushes inside the 5. Why get cute? Who were they tricking? There was zero misdirection, no defender moved, they all attacked the ball.

3 Timeouts and none used BEFORE our TD. Why not burn the clock? You don't know you are going to make the 2-pt conversion, so a FG for them could potentially win the game.

Yeah, this has been Flus' culture though, every time out of the bye a terrible game. No one looks ready to play. 

No offense to Flus but he sounds like an idiot. This stuff is not that complex. There is always an excuse, it gets old really quick. 

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and how about the three games he lost last year by mismanaging the endgame? It's a common theme with us, losing games we had a 95% chance to win in the last minute.

and he goes for it on 4th and 1 two weeks in a row (or was the first one three weeks ago?) on his own half of the field, in the 2nd quarter within a score of the lead. WHAT?! You have a great punter and a defense, why gamble there?

It's like gambling your house on a coin flip to win $100. Sure $100 is nice, but risking your house on a 50/50 for no real return commensurate with the risk is just dumb.

Plus, while I do think Waldron's Xs and Os have been interesting, and modern, he often doesn't think thru the personnel groupings, and ends up with the wrong guy, like a fade to Carter instead of Odunze, or handing to Kramer instead of Blasingame (who was the FB when this play originated in the playbook), not to mention just giving it to Roschon.

I've been on record that the nice guy style ends up with an undisciplined team without accountability. We see formation penalties, false starts, players acting foolish, unsportsmanlike conduct penalties, and they come out flat every week.

We hear the players begging the coaches to coach them harder, and for a 15 play script.

This is a joke. Get me an offensive coordinator head coach who instills discipline, and an offensive line coach that can get these guys working. Flus handling situational football, timeouts, chellenges, end game scenarios is just awful. Other than being some kind of D coordinator overlord, what part of the game is Flus GOOD at as a HEAD COACH?

And the culture thing I read about in some articles is silly. We do have a lot of high character guys thanks to Poles, but nothing indicates that we have a culture of discipline or accountability, and we start flat. So where exactly is any cultural benefit?

Can we please hire a head coach with some fire? This best friend crap does not work in tackle football.

 

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The good news for Sunday. The ARZ defense is closer to JAX and CAR than WAS was. ARZ is 29th in EPA/Play at +.09. JAX was +.10 and CAR was +.10. In comparison, WAS is actually in the positive side at -0.04 while the Bears defense is 4th at -0.16. 

JAX have the worst defense against the pass (based on EPA), CAR is 31st, and ARZ is 30th. This has to be a get right game for the offense. NE is 27th and that was with Uche who is now on the Chiefs.

ARZ is also bad against the run, 26th in EPA/P, which would be the worst rushing the defense has faced since LAR. 

On the flip side, the ARZ offense is comparable to the Colts offense.

 

So I am feeling a lot better about this game. On every metric the Cards are a mix between the Colts, Jags, and Panthers. The Bears should win these next two handily. 

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PFFs top 15 rookies this season: 1. Brock Bowers 2. Evan Williams 3. Jayden Daniels 4. Jared Verse 5. Zach Frazier 6. Bucky Irving 7. BTJ 8. Malik Nabers 9. MHJ 10. Andru Philips 11. Joe Alt 12. Dominick Puni 13. Ladd McConkey 14. Tyke Smith 15. Jarrian Jones

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5 hours ago, Mongo3451 said:

I'm there too.  

1) Kramer worked well as a lead blocker.  No need to get cute. 

2) three timeouts left and the defense was in the wrong protection, in a very bad way.  We give up a quick 13 yards, enabling the opponent to throw a hail Mary.  Flus said later that the 13 yards didn't matter. 

3) you see you starting corner clowning with the fans and you didn't have the brains to call a timeout to reset the players. 

4) coming out flat, after a bye, with no discernable game plan is a Flus trend.  Too nice.  Too lax.  Not enough intensity. 

Flus hasn't learned from his mistakes.  I would fire him immediately and hire Jon Gruden or Bill Belichick to finish the season.  I'm tired of being embarrassed from losing games through stupidity and lack of action.  That's five in two seasons.

I like your points,  I thing Gruden would do well this time around, smart guy.  Poles wont be hiring Bill , he wants all the control.

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52 minutes ago, BearFan PHX said:

My guess is Kliff Kingsbury or Ben Johnson

As much a Ben Johnson intrigues me, I am skeptical about staying on the same cycle we've been on. I don't know why they didn't just go all in on Harbaugh, but my inclination is he was out of our price range and too strong of an ego. 

The reason why I am skeptical of going with an OC is because they will have a learning curve like Eberflus, Nagy, Trestman..  I want a HC that knows the ins and outs for all aspects of the game and is not afraid to hold his coaches and players accountable. Knowing that establishing the run and sticking to it helps the whole team.   

Maybe Johnson or Klingsbury can learn fast, but I dont think the Bears can risk signing a new coach for 2 to 3 years to find out.  

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