Week 1: Bengals @ Bears 9/8 Noon CBS/780

[WrigleyField 22]

Apparently you can't throw and score lots of points in stadiums where the weather can be inclement. He also picked the Packers to run away with the division.

Haha, brilliant.

[Banedon]

Other grades:

 

Jordan Mills 3.4

James Anderson 3.1

Kyle Long -1.7

[Guest]

Nice. Hope it lasts (well, the really good part... the #1 isn't going to).

[Banedon]

ESPN makes mention of Tillman struggling with dehydration.

[UMFan83]

Other grades:

 

Jordan Mills 3.4

James Anderson 3.1

Kyle Long -1.7

 

Hmm, I feel good about Long improving as the season goes on. Didn't notice any glaring mistakes except on that first possession of the game, but I have no ability to evaluate o-lineman except to notice when they f-up.

[Banedon]

Other grades:

 

Jordan Mills 3.4

James Anderson 3.1

Kyle Long -1.7

 

Hmm, I feel good about Long improving as the season goes on. Didn't notice any glaring mistakes except on that first possession of the game, but I have no ability to evaluate o-lineman except to notice when they f-up.

 

Yeah, I think he got dinged for some early mistakes, and I think it's just tough to make up ground in the grading system as a lineman.

[Guest]

There was a clear replay that showed Cutler's interception was because a defender got hold of his jersey up around his neck just as he was letting go of the ball. That certainly made me feel better after watching him throw it right into Burrfict's numbers.

 

I was very disappointed in the pass rush today, but with someone pointing out that Peppers and Melton haven't seen much playing time this offseason, hopefully that resolves itself as the season progresses. I can't fault the secondary on the abuse they received given Dalton had so much time to throw. Green is going to have a big day anytime his QB gets time to throw.

 

I was very pleased with offensive playing calling, even the more conservative approach in the first half. You have two rookie linemen on the right side and a whole new offensive playbook and coaching staff and the best way to instill some confidence in these guys is to create quick plays that prevent penetration from the Dline. The recipe that Trestman's crew created was zero sacks and very good offense that seemed to get stronger and more confident in the second half.

 

The 4th down play was a tough one for me. I wanted the field goal, mostly because I didn't like the idea of pounding it up the middle with Atkins. A sweep seems so dangerous since it takes so long for that play to develop. They basically ran that same play on the next series and it lost yardage. A brave call by the Bears offense.

 

Listening to the game without sound, I missed a lot of little things. When I looked at the clock at 4:30 left in the 4th quarter, I thought there was some sort of error on tv, as it listed the Bengals with no time outs remaining and the Bears with only one. I was so excited with the flag on 3rd down to give the Bears the automatic first down, I never took the time to see who did what to whom in order to draw the flag in the first place. Can someone give me a quick recap on that play?

 

All in all, I'm not so sure we are a better team than Cincinnati, and I wasn't all that confident we would win that game. A tough opponent like this is not how you want to open the season, but the Bears stepped up big. I'm very excited about this team, and they showed me why yesterday.

[Banedon]

@PFF

 

Falcons OL got beat for pressure on 21 of 42 dropbacks. Worst in league. By comparison Bengals beaten 3 times on 34 passing plays.

 

@PFF

 

Of course it helps that Andy Dalton had an average time to throw of 2.04 seconds. Lowest in the league last year was 2.47 #signaturestats

[Banedon]

http://www.nfl.com/news/story/0ap1000000241303/article/jay-cutler-chicago-bears-look-comfortable-in-week-1-win

 

 

"Ballsy play-calling," Cutler said, per the Chicago Tribune. "That's what Trestman's about."

[jersey cubs fan]

The 4th down play was a tough one for me. I wanted the field goal, mostly because I didn't like the idea of pounding it up the middle with Atkins. A sweep seems so dangerous since it takes so long for that play to develop. They basically ran that same play on the next series and it lost yardage. A brave call by the Bears offense.

 

Listening to the game without sound, I missed a lot of little things.

 

One of those things was Simms discussing how they would have two plays called, and let the defensive alignment determine which one you run. Earlier the Bears left the middle wide open and allowed Dalton to sneak through for a first down. On this play Cincy was bunched in the middle and the announcer stated you run outside as they were going up to the line.

 

Also, not sure why you'd want to settle for a FG in that situation. Going from down 4 to down 1 at that point isn't helpful. Cincy would have the ball and the lead, and you have to think a very good chance to at least score a FG and put the Bears in a situation where they need a 2-minute drive for a TD.

[Guest]

Listening to the game without sound, I missed a lot of little things. When I looked at the clock at 4:30 left in the 4th quarter, I thought there was some sort of error on tv, as it listed the Bengals with no time outs remaining and the Bears with only one. I was so excited with the flag on 3rd down to give the Bears the automatic first down, I never took the time to see who did what to whom in order to draw the flag in the first place. Can someone give me a quick recap on that play?

 

Rey Malauga had a late hit on Jordan Mills following the 3rd down run.

[Banedon]

Listening to the game without sound, I missed a lot of little things. When I looked at the clock at 4:30 left in the 4th quarter, I thought there was some sort of error on tv, as it listed the Bengals with no time outs remaining and the Bears with only one. I was so excited with the flag on 3rd down to give the Bears the automatic first down, I never took the time to see who did what to whom in order to draw the flag in the first place. Can someone give me a quick recap on that play?

 

Rey Malauga had a late hit on Jordan Mills following the 3rd down run.

 

Yeah, Mills and Malauga were mixing it up...probably wouldn't have been anything except that Malauga grabbed Mills and threw him to the ground. After that, Cutler smartly came in and pushed Mills away to keep him getting a matching penalty, though it didn't look like Mills was gonna do anything other than talk.

[jersey cubs fan]

Listening to the game without sound, I missed a lot of little things. When I looked at the clock at 4:30 left in the 4th quarter, I thought there was some sort of error on tv, as it listed the Bengals with no time outs remaining and the Bears with only one. I was so excited with the flag on 3rd down to give the Bears the automatic first down, I never took the time to see who did what to whom in order to draw the flag in the first place. Can someone give me a quick recap on that play?

 

Rey Malauga had a late hit on Jordan Mills following the 3rd down run.

 

It was more of a late takedown, or tug.

[Guest]

If you saw Kirkpatrick's personal foul in the first half that led to the field goal, it was a very similar situation. A Bear aggressively blocks a guy past the point where he's involved in the play, almost to the point where it's a penalty itself, and the Bengal lashes out in response and draws the flag. The 4th quarter penalty was more extreme on both sides though, Mills was blocking Malauga about 20 yards away from the ball, and Malauga threw him down as opposed to Kirkpatrick just shoving Weems.

[UMFan83]

Listening to the game without sound, I missed a lot of little things. When I looked at the clock at 4:30 left in the 4th quarter, I thought there was some sort of error on tv, as it listed the Bengals with no time outs remaining and the Bears with only one.

 

Yeah the Bengals used TO's twice in a row pretty much, one right before the 4th and inches play because they only had 10 guys on the field, and I think one right after that because they almost had 12 guys in the huddle. Reflects poorly on their coaching because it pretty much cost them the game.

[Banedon]

Listening to the game without sound, I missed a lot of little things. When I looked at the clock at 4:30 left in the 4th quarter, I thought there was some sort of error on tv, as it listed the Bengals with no time outs remaining and the Bears with only one.

 

Yeah the Bengals used TO's twice in a row pretty much, one right before the 4th and inches play because they only had 10 guys on the field, and I think one right after that because they almost had 12 guys in the huddle. Reflects poorly on their coaching because it pretty much cost them the game.

 

BTW, Mac and Spiegs talking about that last timeout. That came on 1st and 10 at the Bengals 19. Would it have been better to just take the penalty rather than burn the last timeout?

[UMFan83]

Also, not sure why you'd want to settle for a FG in that situation. Going from down 4 to down 1 at that point isn't helpful. Cincy would have the ball and the lead, and you have to think a very good chance to at least score a FG and put the Bears in a situation where they need a 2-minute drive for a TD.

 

I can understand those that think this way, but with 9 minutes left my first thought was that we needed to get something there. Being down by 1 makes it so that no Bengals score makes it a 2 possession game, and if the defense stops them, you have most likely 2 possessions to get a FG to take the lead.

 

I'm probably in the wrong, but that was my gut reaction to the situation. Also the fact that the Bears have been stuffed a lot in goalline situations played into my thoughts, even though I have no idea if the Bears convert at a lower percentage than most teams. Also, even if I'm going for it, I never have the balls to call a sweep to Atkins side of the field with 2 rookies blocking him.

 

In short, I would be that annoyingly conservative coach who loses close games with my decisions.

[Guest]

The 4th down play was a tough one for me. I wanted the field goal, mostly because I didn't like the idea of pounding it up the middle with Atkins. A sweep seems so dangerous since it takes so long for that play to develop. They basically ran that same play on the next series and it lost yardage. A brave call by the Bears offense.

 

Listening to the game without sound, I missed a lot of little things.

 

One of those things was Simms discussing how they would have two plays called, and let the defensive alignment determine which one you run. Earlier the Bears left the middle wide open and allowed Dalton to sneak through for a first down. On this play Cincy was bunched in the middle and the announcer stated you run outside as they were going up to the line.

 

Also, not sure why you'd want to settle for a FG in that situation. Going from down 4 to down 1 at that point isn't helpful. Cincy would have the ball and the lead, and you have to think a very good chance to at least score a FG and put the Bears in a situation where they need a 2-minute drive for a TD.

 

It's not really that I preferred a field goal in that situation, I just wasn't comfortable with running it up the gut with Atkins being right there to jam it up. Of course, I also wanted to go for 2 earlier in the game, turning that into a potential game tying field goal. Glad it worked out the way it did.

[Guest]

If you saw Kirkpatrick's personal foul in the first half that led to the field goal, it was a very similar situation. A Bear aggressively blocks a guy past the point where he's involved in the play, almost to the point where it's a penalty itself, and the Bengal lashes out in response and draws the flag. The 4th quarter penalty was more extreme on both sides though, Mills was blocking Malauga about 20 yards away from the ball, and Malauga threw him down as opposed to Kirkpatrick just shoving Weems.

 

I thought Weems was equally at fault for that one and wouldn't have complained if they called offsetting penalties on Kirkpatrick and him.

[rawaction]

Other grades:

 

Jordan Mills 3.4

James Anderson 3.1

Kyle Long -1.7

Watched the game a second time, Dunlap did his damage on RBs and TEs trying to block hom. Mills was really good and aggressive. Strong game. I thought Long might have had a chance to get to positive, but he did miss a blitz, a run block early and allowed at least 2 tipped passes. Still, I thought he did well enough.

[UK1679666180]

I thought Mills did real well yesterday as did the O-Line as a group. To me, that was the storyline of the game and what separates them from last year. Had the Bears been down 21-10 in the middle of the 3rd last year, there would've been no chance for Cutler to go untouched the rest of the way.

 

My MVP's in order:

1 A)O-Line

1 B)Cutler

Marshall

Paea

Bennett

Anderson

 

(With that said, they will need to run block better).

 

Also, should be noted how quickly Cutler got rid of the ball which helped the line.

[Banedon]

Hub on The Score now.

[Guest]

I thought Mills did real well yesterday as did the O-Line as a group. To me, that was the storyline of the game and what separates them from last year. Had the Bears been down 21-10 in the middle of the 3rd last year, there would've been no chance for Cutler to go untouched the rest of the way.

 

My MVP's in order:

1 A)O-Line

1 B)Cutler

Marshall

Paea

Bennett

Anderson

 

(With that said, they will need to run block better).

 

Also, should be noted how quickly Cutler got rid of the ball which helped the line.

 

I agree with the order of your grades, but feel Jeffery should be listed with Bennett.

[Warpticon]

Other grades:

 

Jordan Mills 3.4

James Anderson 3.1

Kyle Long -1.7

 

Hmm, I feel good about Long improving as the season goes on. Didn't notice any glaring mistakes except on that first possession of the game, but I have no ability to evaluate o-lineman except to notice when they f-up.

 

Well, Geno Atkins is the best DT in the league and it's not particularly close, so -1.7 may as well be 10.0 for a rookie guard in his first NFL game.

[tfarks]

I don't know why Mills is so good already but damn is it nice to see.