Thoughts, Grades, and Game Balls

[Lake Shore Drive]

I know saying something cliched like this was a statement game is truly corny, especially with the battle for first in the Norris coming up next Sunday night against the Vikes. But this was nonetheless a statement game for our young Bears. Facing a divisional opponent who has taken 9 of the last 10 against us, who still has some veteran talent on their roster, the Bears came up big today in a game that was not as close as the score might otherwise indicate. Enough with the pontification, here are the grades.

QB: A+
Best game of Mitch's short career, and this includes his 6 TD performance against the Bucs. His passes were crisp and almost always on target or even when they missed, those misses were rather harmless. He was excellent both in and out of the pocket, picking timely moments to take off when needed. His only sorta gaffe was almost getting sacked for a safety. Aside from that, he was lights out in his performance today.

RB: B-
We didn't move the ball on the ground very well, but at least Cohen was able to take one in for a score and Howard laid a helluva block near the goal line, which helped clear the path for the running TD by Trubisky. I thought those two plays plus their pass receptions allowed for a bump up to the overall grade.

WR/TE: A
Welcome back Alan Robinson!! And NFL, please note that Anthony Miller is a player!! Between the two of them, they hauled in 11 passes for 255 yards and 3 TDs. TEs Burton and Braunecker chipped in for 5/60. Only Gabriel came away empty today.

OL: A-
Based on what appeared to be Nagy's gameplan today, the line's primary responsibility was protecting Trubs and for that I'd give them a solid A, maybe even borderline A+. They kept him safe or even when eventually breaking down, they always seemed to leave him a hole for running through. Their overall grade was dropped due to the less-than-stellar effort at run blocking today.



DL: A
Nice push & penetration for much of the game by our big three on the line. Eddie Goldman is a fucking stud! When the Lions only needed a half yard at most to convert a 3rd down to a 1st, it was Eddie who stuffed that run. Nichols got another sack, the dude is freaking good! Look for him to be a full time starter by next season.

LB: A
Mack is back!!! To me it's obvious that he's still not 100%, but even a 90% Mack is better than 95% of the rest of the league at his spot with 5 tackles, two of which were sacks. Roquan had another excellent game, including a sack. Floyd wasn't quite as impressive today as he was last week, yet he managed to snag his first sack of 2018.

Secondary: A
Note to Ryan Pace.....please please please sign Bryce Callahan to an extension ASAP. I thought it was a good overall performance from the rest of the secondary, especially Prince, who had a nice bounce-back game. A lot of passing yards surrendered by the secondary were pretty much in garbage time.

ST: D-
Parkey left 8, count 'em 8 points on the board today. O'Donnell's punts were pretty good and Cohen's nice little punt return kept this grade from being an F.


Coaching: A
I loved the gameplans by Nagy and Fangio and their play calling on either side of the ball was on point for much of the game.

 

[Lake Shore Drive]

Forgot to post my game balls:

On offense: Trubisky, Robinson, Miller
On Defense: Goldman, Mack, Callahan

 

[noonthirtyjoe]

I agree with everything but the coaching. C - for me. Yet another game we went flaccid in the second half. We lost 3 that way this year but still we need to learn it?????

 

[Lake Shore Drive]

I agree with everything but the coaching. C - for me. Yet another game we went flaccid in the second half. We lost 3 that way this year but still we need to learn it?????

Wow, a bit harsh, yes? Need to remember that we had a big lead into the 2nd half. Obviously it was the Lions who needed to make the most adjustments, which in part they did. I'm not crazy about playing prevent defense, but when you have a 34-10 lead, you can only take so many chances. I have no problems with how the 2nd half played out, Parkey's misses notwithstanding.

 

[noonthirtyjoe]

We all make mistakes but should not keep making the same mistakes. I think it's fair.

 

[richig07]

This game was actually more discouraging to me than it was a positive...

Watching us play slap dick after going up 26-0 was brutal. That was the same shit that gave us the GB and MIA losses. I'm tired of that immature ass football. The only difference here was that our lead was a bit more insurmountable.

Sunday Night is the biggest game we've played in years...

 

[beardown07]

This game was actually more discouraging to me than it was a positive...

Watching us play slap dick after going up 26-0 was brutal. That was the same shit that gave us the GB and MIA losses. I'm tired of that immature ass football. The only difference here was that our lead was a bit more insurmountable.

Sunday Night is the biggest game we've played in years...

The first TD of Detroit's should've never happened, as that was a fumble on the field that Bears should've recovered. I think that kind took away some of their momentum. Some real shitty calls to get Detroit anywhere close to it being a semblance of a good game.

 

[Nelly]

This game was actually more discouraging to me than it was a positive...

Watching us play slap dick after going up 26-0 was brutal. That was the same shit that gave us the GB and MIA losses. I'm tired of that immature ass football. The only difference here was that our lead was a bit more insurmountable.

Sunday Night is the biggest game we've played in years...

You can't say it's more discouraging than positive. We erupted offensively, so quickly and so effectively that we were in position to get complacent and lazy. It's definitely a good problem to have. I much prefer that to having a traditionally inept and outdated Bears offense that can't score and relies on the defense to be perfect to squeak out some wins.

The Vikings are a team we're not likely to jump on early like that. And if we do, then they're definitely the kind of team that can make a comeback if we get lazy. It is a huge game. Prime time, nationwide, legit opponent, and we're at home. If we win, it's pretty fair to say we're legit. If not, it's pretty fair to say we're more pretenders that might be able to make some big noise next season.

 

[beardown07]

This game was actually more discouraging to me than it was a positive...

Watching us play slap dick after going up 26-0 was brutal. That was the same shit that gave us the GB and MIA losses. I'm tired of that immature ass football. The only difference here was that our lead was a bit more insurmountable.

Sunday Night is the biggest game we've played in years...

Meh. I think if they get the fumble call right, there before the half, things end up much differently in that game. If they get the call right there, the Bears likely score again. Lions would've thrown in the towel at halftime. Ended up being a 10 point swing right there.

 

[BsGenius]

This game was actually more discouraging to me than it was a positive...

Watching us play slap dick after going up 26-0 was brutal. That was the same shit that gave us the GB and MIA losses. I'm tired of that immature ass football. The only difference here was that our lead was a bit more insurmountable.

Sunday Night is the biggest game we've played in years...

richi trying really hard to be compelling....but fails miserably.

 

[Lake Shore Drive]

Meh. I think if they get the fumble call right, there before the half, things end up much differently in that game. If they get the call right there, the Bears likely score again. Lions would've thrown in the towel at halftime. Ended up being a 10 point swing right there.

Guess they didn't get the replay up on the jumbotron soon enough, being that Nagy threw the red hankie too late. A shame too because the replay clearly showed that to be a fumble. Oh well, at least it wasn't game costly.

 

[Jiddy]

The only real thing that bothered me about this past game was Parkey. The fact coaching has no faith in at least trying a 58 yard FG with no time left at half...bothers the sh*t out of me. The missed Dolphins game winner bothered me, but I gave him a pass cuz it was a pretty poor snap even if recovered. But yesterday? WTF. The guy messed up and folded like an accordion. Mental midget at kicker is not what we want if we seriously want to be a winning playoff team.

 

[BsGenius]

The only real thing that bothered me about this past game was Parkey. The fact coaching has no faith in at least trying a 58 yard FG with no time left at half...bothers the sh*t out of me. The missed Dolphins game winner bothered me, but I gave him a pass cuz it was a pretty poor snap even if recovered. But yesterday? WTF. The guy messed up and folded like an accordion. Mental midget at kicker is not what we want if we seriously want to be a winning playoff team.

Since when is a 58 field goal a gimme for any kicker in the league?

All the Parkey misses were not under pressure situations. I'm going to give Parkey a mulligan on just a weird kicking day.

 

[Jiddy]

Since when is a 58 field goal a gimme for any kicker in the league?

All the Parkey misses were not under pressure situations. I'm going to give Parkey a mulligan on just a weird kicking day.

Nobody said it was a gimme. I guarantee at least half of the teams in the league (probably more) tries for that 3 at the end of half. There's no doubt in my mind. That's f*cking annoying as hell. You see these new FG measuring statistics they have? How many have said "Would have been good from 60." Most of these kickers can get the ball 60 yards...If he misses, he misses. But the fact that they didn't try either (a) shows that they have no faith in the kicker or (b) have no faith in our special teams to stop a return if it's short-which is nuts considering the odds.

Our special teams, for the most part, has been disappointing. Know how I know? We've paid far too much attention to them this year for all the wrong reasons. Telltale sign.

 

[Lake Shore Drive]

Here's what may be a bit more realistic set of grades than the ones I gave:

Bears grades: Trubisky shines, special teams sinks

 

[BsGenius]

Nobody said it was a gimme. I guarantee at least half of the teams in the league (probably more) tries for that 3 at the end of half. There's no doubt in my mind. That's f*cking annoying as hell. You see these new FG measuring statistics they have? How many have said "Would have been good from 60." Most of these kickers can get the ball 60 yards...If he misses, he misses. But the fact that they didn't try either (a) shows that they have no faith in the kicker or (b) have no faith in our special teams to stop a return if it's short-which is nuts considering the odds.

Our special teams, for the most part, has been disappointing. Know how I know? We've paid far too much attention to them this year for all the wrong reasons. Telltale sign.

Fair point. Nagy has a good understanding of Parkey's distance and 58 yards probably fell outside of that range.

 

[wood20ks]

This game was actually more discouraging to me than it was a positive...

Watching us play slap dick after going up 26-0 was brutal. That was the same shit that gave us the GB and MIA losses. I'm tired of that immature ass football. The only difference here was that our lead was a bit more insurmountable.

Sunday Night is the biggest game we've played in years...

we need to be like the Beliceks teams and keep the pedal down and just never let off..…….Let these teams know we are here till the end...……….Not just the first half.