Bears game 1: Sunday Sep. 12 vs DET on Fox

[Magnetic Curses]

Man. I don't know the exact definition of the rule, but that was brutal. Also, I don't know how anyone could say that he clearly didn't have possession through the ground. That was a bad call, be it because of a bad rule or not.

 

he had possession of the ball, but the ground caused it to come out, he didn't just drop it willfully. the call wasn't bad, the rule is bad.

[Magnetic Curses]

The worst way to win. I feel bad for CJ, I really do.

 

He's really special, and made a great play.

 

i don't feel bad for him or the lions in the slightest.

[Magnetic Curses]

If you have to analyze that much to give a reason why a play isn't a catch it's a catch. That's a bad rule.

It's a pretty straight-forward rule. If you don't have possession through the entire completion when you go to the ground, it's not a catch. It's not a new rule and wasn't a terribly difficult call for the refs.

 

The only question, as they said, was whether there was a second move. There clearly wasn't, so the call was upheld.

 

Give me a break. He caught the ball, hit the ground, and flipped it up. Saying anything else in blatant homerism.

I've seen that call many times in college and the NFL. It's not a new rule. This just happened to be an extreme instance of it.

 

Honestly, there's no way I'd interpret that he had control all the way through the ground.

 

Receivers do that all the time. He caught the ball, got both feet/knees down, and flipped the ball up. The play ended when he got the 2nd knee down.

 

no, because he went to the ground. if he didn't go to the ground it wouldn't have been an issue.

[BigSlick]

the bears got a break, but they deserved to win the game. they dominated the lions.

If Lovie doesn't make the incorrect decision literally every time there was a crucial turning point in the game, we probably win by 10 and its not a big deal at the end of the game

 

The Lions weren't doing ANYTHING on offense until we went into prevent mode. We kept moving it between the 30s, but we just kept stalling or turning it over.

 

I feel ok about the offense if we decide to stop running the ball and just let Cutler chuck it up. The defense, against a really bad team, also looked pretty good for most of the game.

 

This has an 7-9 to 8-8 season written on it with an easier schedule...as it is this might be a 6-10ish team

[Magnetic Curses]

A win is a win is a win?

 

No. That was pathetic.

 

I know. Just trying to be optimistic.

 

no, it's a win.

[Wilson A2000]

I just saw the play for the first time. What a terrible terrible rule. If the ground can't cause a fumble, how can it cause a person to not have possession?

[SpongeWorthy]

If the Eagles win we're in sole possession of 1st place in the North!

[Magnetic Curses]

the bears got a break, but they deserved to win the game. they dominated the lions.

If Lovie doesn't make the incorrect decision literally every time there was a crucial turning point in the game, we probably win by 10 and its not a big deal at the end of the game

 

The Lions weren't doing ANYTHING on offense until we went into prevent mode. We kept moving it between the 30s, but we just kept stalling or turning it over.

 

I feel ok about the offense if we decide to stop running the ball and just let Cutler chuck it up. The defense, against a really bad team, also looked pretty good for most of the game.

 

This has an 7-9 to 8-8 season written on it with an easier schedule...as it is this might be a 6-10ish team

 

i thought they looked good for the most part, the lions defense played with some fire and attitude, but cutler still threw for 372 yards and 2 tds. that is what we will need if we're going to be successful. we had some bad fumbles but that's not a product of the scheme.

 

i think the way we played today, if we hold onto the ball better, we beat a lot of teams.

[Magnetic Curses]

I just saw the play for the first time. What a terrible terrible rule. If the ground can't cause a fumble, how can it cause a person to not have possession?

 

because you don't have possession until you hold onto the ball once you hit the ground.

 

and the ground CAN cause a fumble, not that it has anything to do with the call here.

[Jon]

Receivers do that all the time. He caught the ball, got both feet/knees down, and flipped the ball up. The play ended when he got the 2nd knee down.

 

no, because he went to the ground. if he didn't go to the ground it wouldn't have been an issue.

And the refs ruled that he wasn't flipping the ball up, which I agreed with. The arm was coming forward as a result of his original motion. Plus, the play doesn't end when the 2nd knee is down. It ends when the receive shows that he established control through the original motion to and through the ground. Had he rolled over twice because of his momentum and then lost it, it still would have been incomplete.

 

 

Just think of it like it was at the 20 yard line instead of the end zone. Would anyone rule that a complete pass and fumble or just an incompletion? If it's a completed pass and fumble, where was the football move needed to establish possession?

[SpongeWorthy]

Detroit's defensive line is pretty damn good I have to say. I thought the pass protection was pretty bad in the 2nd half but OK for the most part. I just didn't like not having any apparent check down options on the deeper drops for Cutler.

 

Forte was great aside from the fumble.

[Guest]

If you have to analyze that much to give a reason why a play isn't a catch it's a catch. That's a bad rule.

It's a pretty straight-forward rule. If you don't have possession through the entire completion when you go to the ground, it's not a catch. It's not a new rule and wasn't a terribly difficult call for the refs.

 

The only question, as they said, was whether there was a second move. There clearly wasn't, so the call was upheld.

 

Give me a break. He caught the ball, hit the ground, and flipped it up. Saying anything else in blatant homerism.

I've seen that call many times in college and the NFL. It's not a new rule. This just happened to be an extreme instance of it.

 

Honestly, there's no way I'd interpret that he had control all the way through the ground.

 

Receivers do that all the time. He caught the ball, got both feet/knees down, and flipped the ball up. The play ended when he got the 2nd knee down.

In no way did he "flip the ball up". I agree that he had possession of the ball and that he made the catch...but not by the rules which state that any play that involves the receiver going to the ground possession has to be maintained until the play is completely dead. When Johnson reached down with the ball, it came out of his had at contact with the ground, whether it was the impact or whether he let go doesn't really matter. He did not maintain possession "through the entire process". By rule (and a very easy call) - not a catch.

 

It may be a lousy rule. It was definitely an extreme test of the rule. But it was a very clear and very easy call.

 

And the Bears got lucky as all get out.

 

I hate playing soft at the end.

[Sosa21MVP]

The refs called the CJ play 100% accurately given what the rule is. Is the rule flawed and should be tweaked? Sure, I won't argue with that. But until that process happens, the correct call was made and the Bears won. I'm not really proud of the win though because the Bears did everything possible to give that game away. And it sucks for Detroit if they lose Stafford for any amount of time.

[Soul]

I saw some good things today, but I'm a believer that you can't divorce a team from it's mistakes. They pull that moving forward, obviously it won't likely end well against most of our opponents.

 

Make everyone sleep with their footballs I guess.

[Magnetic Curses]

Detroit's defensive line is pretty damn good I have to say. I thought the pass protection was pretty bad in the 2nd half but OK for the most part. I just didn't like not having any apparent check down options on the deeper drops for Cutler.

 

Forte was great aside from the fumble.

 

detroit is going to give the NFL fits this year, they are a pretty gritty bunch. but i was saying that last year at the beginning of the year when larry foote looked like an all-pro.

[Jon]

I will say that I'm a little surprised they made that call on the field prior to a review. I turned away in disgust before it even happened, but had I seen the whole thing live, I wouldn't have thought a ref would make that call given the situation and just how late it was that he lost the ball.

[Magnetic Curses]

I saw some good things today, but I'm a believer that you can't divorce a team from it's mistakes. They pull that moving forward, obviously it won't likely end well against most of our opponents.

 

Make everyone sleep with their footballs I guess.

 

conversely, if cutler plays like he did today going forward, we'll win a lot of games.

[BigSlick]

the bears got a break, but they deserved to win the game. they dominated the lions.

If Lovie doesn't make the incorrect decision literally every time there was a crucial turning point in the game, we probably win by 10 and its not a big deal at the end of the game

 

The Lions weren't doing ANYTHING on offense until we went into prevent mode. We kept moving it between the 30s, but we just kept stalling or turning it over.

 

I feel ok about the offense if we decide to stop running the ball and just let Cutler chuck it up. The defense, against a really bad team, also looked pretty good for most of the game.

 

This has an 7-9 to 8-8 season written on it with an easier schedule...as it is this might be a 6-10ish team

 

i thought they looked good for the most part, the lions defense played with some fire and attitude, but cutler still threw for 372 yards and 2 tds. that is what we will need if we're going to be successful. we had some bad fumbles but that's not a product of the scheme.

 

i think the way we played today, if we hold onto the ball better, we beat a lot of teams.

Agreed. I still think Lovie should be fired as soon as possible, but Martz and Marinelli did a good job

[Productive Outs]

HATE that rule. it''s always bugged me. his ass was on the ground! that just seems like it should be a catch to me, but oh well.

 

cutler had a tim tebow game. oh hi matt forte

 

at least you won. the bengals sucked it up in NE

[Guest]

I saw a lot of good things from the Bears today. I don't think I'm ready to go crazy with optimism yet, but I'm pretty pleased with the overall performance. I thought Cutler played a very good game other than the one boneheaded decision on the interception.

 

The defense was outstanding until they went into prevent. Urlacher was flying across the field, Peppers didn't get consistent pressure, but obviously made a few key impact plays. Even the secondary looked okay out there.

 

The turnovers need to get addressed. And we'll get a much better feel for how good this team really is over the next few weeks as we play better teams. But if we can continue to move the ball and stop the other team, we'll do much better than I thought.

[Sosa21MVP]

When considering this call look at the Polamalu interception of Manning that got called incomplete in the 2006 playoffs. Pretty much the same rule was called. Troy cleanly picked the pass but tumbled to the ground and at some point let the ball go. Clearly not a new rule. Like I said, I don't think it is a good rule the way it is being called but I don't think it is fair or accurate to act like this was some huge blunder by the refs today. They are supposed to call the rules as they are written. This particular rule just needs to be revisited and written differently imo.

[SpongeWorthy]

There were also more effective halfback screen passes today than in the entire Ron Turner era.

[hawkeyecub]

The only positive thing to come out of that ending is that it should get a horrible rule changed. You can hold the ball over 1 inch of the end zone chalk and immediately lose it, but it's still a touchdown. Yet if you catch a ball, get both feet down, get touched, roll, get your butt completely down, all while having full possession it's not a touchdown if it comes out before you finish one of the many moves.

 

I can't wait to hear the term "process" applied to a [expletive] football catch 500 times this week.

[jersey cubs fan]

 

Receivers do that all the time. He caught the ball, got both feet/knees down, and flipped the ball up. The play ended when he got the 2nd knee down.

you don't know the rules. He didn't flip the ball up. It sucks but that is the rule.

[Butterscup1679666578]

There were also more effective halfback screen passes today than in the entire Ron Turner era.

 

well yeah, when Martz calls screens he actually pulls blockers.