Noots' Notes Game 16: 31-24 Loss at Houston

[Noots]

Noots’ Notes-Game 16: 31-24 Loss at Houston
By
Michael Nudo

The Bears (9-7) saw their playoff hopes go down the drain as the Houston Texans (8-8) exposed the weaknesses in the Bears’ defense 31-24. The pivotal sequence was a blown coverage by Danieal Manning for a touchdown followed by Manning’s fumble of the ensuing kickoff. The Bears were unable to cling to an early 10-0 lead.

The Texans wanted it more than the Bears (AP Photo/Dave Einsel).

OFFENSE

Quarterback
Kyle Orton (22-37-244, 2 TD, 2/2, TD) finished the season on a positive note. This wasn’t by any means a great performance but it was pretty good, and had few mistakes. Most importantly, he played turnover-free football. Orton led the Bears on an excellent touchdown drive on their opening possession, culminating with a patient pass to Greg Olsen cutting from right to left in the back of the end zone. He also connected with Devin Hester on a 37-yard pass over the middle to the one-yard line. His touch was excellent on a 4-yard touchdown fade to Brandon Lloyd. But Orton misfired to Lloyd on deep out on a third down conversion attempt. He also missed Hester on several deep passes. His touch there is still extremely poor. The Bears were only 2 of 10 converting third down. GRADE: B+

Running Backs
Matt Forte (13/50, 3-25) had a solid first half but wasn’t utilized as much in the second half, because Manning’s coverage gaffe and fumbled kickoff resulted in putting the Bears down 11 points with the defense showing few signs of stopping the Texans. He still managed highlights including breaking a tackle on a 13-yard run off left tackle and making a linebacker miss on a catch over the middle. Adrian Peterson (3/17, 2-28) spelled Forte for a series early and late. Peterson provided a spark with tough running and a reception to the goal line late. Jason Davis started at fullback but didn’t play much. The Bears often either used Greg Olsen at fullback or a single back. The running backs averaged over 4 yards per carry and were active receiving. They played well given their reduced opportunities. GRADE: B

Receivers
The wide receivers were rediscovered against the Texans. Devin Hester (6-85) made several big catches on the opening drive. However, he came up short on a deep pass up the left sideline. It appeared that Hester never fully extended for the pass that could have been caught. Hester also fumbled when he tried to stretch for the first down marker. Brandon Lloyd (4-34, TD) had his best game since the first month of the season. He was flagged for a questionable pass interference penalty and later received no call when he was interfered with on an incomplete pass. Rashied Davis (2-35) made a few key receptions at the end of the game to move the Bears into scoring range. Greg Olsen (4-30, TD) had two passes knocked out of his hands. Tight ends cannot allow defensive backs to do that. Desmond Clark (1-7) was not a factor. Marty Booker never got his head around on a quick pass up the right sideline. Earl Bennett played but wasn’t a factor. As a group, the receivers played better than they have throughout the second half of the season, but it still wasn’t quite enough to match the firepower of the Texans. GRADE: B-

Offensive Line
John Tait allowed Mario Williams to blow by him for a sack of Orton. The Bears also allowed another sack up the middle on an all out blitz. Apart from those two plays, Orton had the time he needed to survey the field and have his good day. The running attack is still not where it could be. Although the runners averaged 4.2 yards per carry, a good chunk of that was due to Forte making people miss. GRADE: C

DEFENSE

Defensive Line
The Texans only averaged 3.5 yards per carry but broke off a back-breaking 47-yard second half run by Steve Slaton. Slaton (20/92, TD, 5-36) ran to the bubble over left guard, and end Alex Brown (4 tackles, 2 TFL, PD, FR) over penetrated to the outside to widen the hole. Brown had a pressure that led to an intentional grounding penalty. Tommie Harris (5 tackles) nearly had a sack early in the game and later had a forced fumble that was reviewed and overturned. He made a few good plays against the run, as did Adewale Ogunleye (5 tackles, TFL). Anthony Adams (3 tackles) and Marcus Harrison (3 tackles) were also factors against the Texans’ ground attack. Mark Anderson continues to be exploited by opposing runners, getting completely blown out on one of the Texans’ rushing touchdowns. Israel Idonije played but was not a factor. There was little pass rush by the defensive line when it was needed. GRADE: C-

Linebackers
Nick Roach (6 tackles, PD) was much more active. He had some excellent stops against the run early on, including a well-diagnosed cutback for only a 1-yard gain. He also nearly had an interception. His blitz pressure forced an incomplete pass. But it was Roach who will be remembered for this game’s knuckle-headed mistake. After the Bears had stopped the Texans on third and 14, Roach was whistled for defensive holding. It was a questionable call. Brian Urlacher (5 tackles) spent much of the day playing too high, getting blocked and trying to run around blocks instead of taking them on. Oh, and he also showed that he’s no longer fast enough to play the deep middle in the cover two as several passes were completed over his coverage. He was also blown up at the goal line for a touchdown. These guys ran 36 times against the Bear defense, and all Urlacher and Lance Briggs could come up with was 5 tackles each? Urlacher and Briggs were erased on Slaton’s big run. The star linebackers were a major disappointment. GRADE: D

Secondary
With Mike Brown out, Danieal Manning was inserted at free safety and Kevin Payne was moved back to strong safety. That’s a lot of fiddling. Manning reminded Bear fans of the Super Bowl when he was caught napping instead of providing deep outside coverage beyond Charles Tillman. Andre Johnson (10-148, 2 TD) stood alone, behind the Bears’ scrambling coverage, waiting for Matt Schaub’s (27-36-328, 2 TD) pass to find him for a 43-yard touchdown. Manning was the only player fast enough to track down Slaton from behind on his 47-yard romp. Charles Tillman (10 tackles, TFL, PD, FF) lost a battle for the ball on a 3-yard touchdown pass to Johnson. Someone needs to explain to me how Tillman could have been so twisted around on a play that should have been in front of him to make. Tillman forced an early fumble to help stake the Bears to an early lead. Kevin Payne appeared to be playing hurt most of the game. It showed as he did poorly at wrapping up opposing ball carriers. Corey Graham (7 tackles) allowed Kevin Walter a 23-yard reception but kept him quiet for most of the game. Craig Steltz saw plenty of action, including a 33-yard completion allowed to Owen Daniels over the middle on third and one. The Texans continually found openings in the Bears’ coverage to exploit up and down the field. GRADE: D

Special Teams

Robbie Gould hit on his only field goal attempt, from 37 yards. Gould had good kickoff distance but his kicks were line drives. Gould made a poor onside kick attempt at the end of the game. The ball was kicked too fast for coverage to make a play. Brad Maynard had a strong game, putting 4 of his 6 punts down inside the 20 (two inside the 15 and two inside the 10). Danieal Manning had 6 kickoff returns for a 31.2-yard average. Unfortunately, his fumble was very costly. Devin Hester didn’t have any returnable punts, but chose to try one anyway for no gain. Coverage on punts and kicks was average, highlighted by Rashied Davis’ 3 tackles. One of those tackles was nearly a forced fumble. GRADE: C-

Coaching

Ron Turner had a better performance from his offense than he’s had in many weeks. Unfortunately, the fumbled return cost them a possession, and the defense’s inability to get off the field cost them in the end. Still, the simple execution of some plays was lacking, in both the running and passing elements to shorten drives. Defense was much worse. The Texans completed 75 percent of their passes! It was child’s play for them to continually connect either on the quick slants when the corners were playing soft or to find the holes in the middle of the zones. The situation at safety was an embarrassment. They should have left Payne and Manning in their existing roles and only put a burden on Steltz to perform. Instead, they disrupted the entire secondary, and it showed. The concept of this defense is bend but don’t break, force turnovers, and get pressure on the quarterback. In essence, don’t give up the big play. The Texans had more than a handful of big plays on offense to exploit the disappointing Bears’ defense. Any coach who insists on playing Mark Anderson with a goal-to-go situation should have his head examined. One of the touchdowns to Johnson looked like it could have been reviewed. He was juggling the ball as he went out of the end zone and may not have had complete possession of it. It was worth the challenge. Wasn’t it? I guess not. Sunday’s loss was a microcosm of the season. They played well enough to be in the fight, but didn’t have enough fight in them in the end to be worthy of moving on. Not many people felt the Bears would win 9 games. So they exceeded expectations. Let’s hope the Bears aren’t disillusioned enough to believe they’re that close to being a team that can make the playoffs and compete for a championship as currently constructed. GRADE: D

Noots’ Nut Crackers
Craig Steltz on Steve Slaton
Adrian Peterson on Eugene Wilson

Nudo’s Kudos
Alex Brown
Kyle Orton
Nick Roach

Horns
Defensive Coordinator Bob Babich
Danieal Manning
Brian Urlacher

[jason]

Good write up Noots...as always. A few thoughts...

 

1) The defensive coaching should be an F in my opinion. For this stat I keep seeing all over the place about the Bears blitzing more than any team in the league, their blitzes sure do get picked up regularly. Speaking of the blitzes...

 

2) The DL and LBs get nearly no pressure on a consistent basis. It sure would be nice to see something from the DL that actually tried to confuse the opposing offense instead of just saying, "Screw it! We're gonna run what we run BETTER!"

 

3) I wonder how well the secondary would cover if there was ever any sort of consistent pressure?

[Ed Hochuli 3:16]

Good job, again.

 

However, why is Forte not a positive? He had 52 total yards in the 1st quarter and got 1 or 2 touches since then. Now, whether that's because of an injury or just an idiotic coaching move (wouldn't doubt it), I don't know. But he played great when he was in there today.

[Pixote]

Noots,

 

I just want to take a minute to thank you for including us in the list of sites you share your write ups with. Your work on these articles I am sure takes up quite a bit of your time. I think I speak for everyone here when I say that your articles are without a doubt some of the best on the net and very insightful. Now if we can just talk JA into giving you the HC job we might just have us another shot at the Super Bowl.

[Noots]

LOL, thanks Pixote.

 

I hope everyone here has a Happy and Healthy New Year and Holiday Season,

 

Noots