Week 4: Bears vs Raiders Sunday at 3:25 on CBS

[Tryptamine]

Byard was huge today and he has probably been the best Bear defender this season. 2 INT today and stacking up Jeanty on that 3rd and 2 to force the FG attempt at the end. 

[gflore34]

16 minutes ago, Tryptamine said:

Trapilo was solid at RT, not great, but he didn't get brutalized by Crosby at least. The problem is if he can't play LT they pretty much have to address LT in the draft or in FA next year. On top of various other immediate needs like RB and Edge, 

Problem was no Wright at RT, had a ripple effect.  Him coming back at after the bye will settle and improve the line.

[Irrelevant Dude]

I recorded the game and am watching now.  Who at CBS thought it was a good idea to have the down and distance flash yellow on the score overlay every time it updates?  Every damn time that happens I think there is going to be a flag on the play.  Any color but yellow people.

[Irrelevant Dude]

2 hours ago, minnesotacubsfan said:

I spent the day running a new coaxial from my 1965 FM only antenna in my attic to my 1978 Kenwood

I have no idea if this is what you were actually doing, but that's my idea of a party.  There's something incredibly satisfying about completing a clean cable run.

[BigSlick]

Not a great game overall - taken together definitely a step or half step backwards from last game - but winning makes a huge difference. Let us hope this has the reverse effect the Fail Mary had on us last year: let winning become contagious, let it be part of “momentum”, fitting that they face Washington again (after a bye, no less!) right now.

The offense was a mess for much of the game, but came through at the end when it mattered. The defense was even worse - like last week they’ve been completely saved by some timely ball hawking, which is nice but not something that can be depended on week-in-week-out.

still - it’s all very good to stack wins when you can get them and continue to build Caleb’s confidence and ability to produce under adversity. Odunze continues his rise to stardom. Hopefully we can get Loveland soon because DAMN, Kmet had an awful game.

I’m still in search of a running back, Swift’s heroics at the end notwithstanding,

Clean it up. Luckily you have two weeks to try. 

 

[Geographyhater8888]

11 hours ago, gflore34 said:

Didn't watch the game was following on CBS, seemed, at some point, Crosby' name appeared less.  His impact on each play was lessened, did that coincide with Trapillo coming in?  

I shouldn’t say that. It coincided more with Brax getting benched. They moved Benedet over to LT and Ozzy moved over to RT to start the second half. 

[BigbadB]

11 hours ago, Irrelevant Dude said:

I recorded the game and am watching now.  Who at CBS thought it was a good idea to have the down and distance flash yellow on the score overlay every time it updates?  Every damn time that happens I think there is going to be a flag on the play.  Any color but yellow people.

The Ravens/Chiefs game didn't bother posting down/yardage graphics most of the game. I had the Bears sound on, but never had a clue what down it was in that game. Don't know if they were on CBS or Fox, but the graphics were ass. Oh wait, it was also CBS because that was the game of the week everywhere except Chicago and Las Vegas.

[Wilson A2000]

11 hours ago, Irrelevant Dude said:

I recorded the game and am watching now.  Who at CBS thought it was a good idea to have the down and distance flash yellow on the score overlay every time it updates?  Every damn time that happens I think there is going to be a flag on the play.  Any color but yellow people.

I thought the same thing and it made sense with Kmet in the game

[jb10194]

This felt like a Lovie-smith era game to me. Offense did just enough to win the game, but key plays from the defense and special teams were the difference. Caleb looked better than his stat line looked. Kmet had a terrible game. Swift had at least one drop that hit him right in the hands. The pick was an amazing defensive play (although it looked like it might have been picked off even if Crosby didn't get a hand on it). 

I was surprised to see that Caleb is on pace to be sacked significantly less this year since the line has not looked good. This is probably more of a reflection of the new offense and Caleb getting the ball out quicker. On pace for 30 sacks and 216 sack yards vs. 68 and 466 last year. Still not great, but at least that's trending in the right direction.

I'm not sure that I like the timing of the bye, but at least it gives them some time to figure out the O-Line and get the defense a bit healthier. 

[Old Style]

To my eyes the OL looked markedly better once Benedet slid over to LT and Trapilo came in at RT. Crosby was a lot less involved after that. Now that doesn’t mean I think those two are the answer. It simply shows how trash Braxton Jones is. 

[gflore34]

6 minutes ago, Old Style said:

To my eyes the OL looked markedly better once Benedet slid over to LT and Trapilo came in at RT. Crosby was a lot less involved after that. Now that doesn’t mean I think those two are the answer. It simply shows how trash Braxton Jones is. 

This and Wright being out, when he returns the line will improve.  Hopefully, Ben has seen enough of Jones and will go with Benedet or Trapilo from the bye on out.  I'm make a prediction - the best version of the Bears OL we'll see this year will not contain Braxton Jones.

[mul21]

I was just following along on Gamecast but that's absolutely a game they lose last year.

As for the OL, I have to wonder if there's anymore consideration to moving Wright over to LT and going with Trapilo at RT.  Seems like that was shelved quickly in the preseason so I doubt it happens but they have to try something else.

[Rex Buckingham]

I do wonder how much help they gave with TEs after Jones came out... I didn't get to watch the 2H at all, so I obviously didn't see

[gflore34]

22 minutes ago, mul21 said:

I was just following along on Gamecast but that's absolutely a game they lose last year.

As for the OL, I have to wonder if there's anymore consideration to moving Wright over to LT and going with Trapilo at RT.  Seems like that was shelved quickly in the preseason so I doubt it happens but they have to try something else.

Definitely, no way they would have won, we'd seen the usual combination of bad coaching, lack of adjustment, etc.

[BigbadB]

I thought Ben Johnson did a marvelous job of clock management in that final series. The Bears still had 33 seconds and 2 time outs at their disposal if that kick isn't blocked. That's more than enough time to get back in field goal range. I've seen teams get in field goal range with no time outs.

Caleb has been pretty good in two minute drills. Eberflus wouldn't have had any time outs left if he was coaching.

[NorthsideAvenger]

TIL that yesterday was the 800th regular season victory in franchise history. What a way to get it. 

[bukie]

Wasn't all sunshine and rainbows with Caleb yesterday, but this was a fantastic throw:

 

[gflore34]

15 minutes ago, bukie said:

Wasn't all sunshine and rainbows with Caleb yesterday, but this was a fantastic throw:

 

It's only a matter of time before Caleb and the offense are really humming.  If the defense can manage some moderate improvement we may see the Bears pull off a few upsets.

[champaignchris]

44 minutes ago, bukie said:

Wasn't all sunshine and rainbows with Caleb yesterday, but this was a fantastic throw:

 

Yeah. That was an absolute laser. 

[gflore34]

And Olin Kreutz will be happy that Caleb' teammates where helping him up.  As well as getting into it a little with Crosby, he was laying on Caleb and digging at the ball after a play was blown dead.  Don't know if any of this horsefeathers means anything but, it means something to Olin.

Just saw this, Caleb has the NFL's highest TD-INT and passer rating vs. the blitz  - 6TD, 0INT, 136.3 rating. 

Edited September 29, 2025 by gflore34

[jumbo]

So, did Braxton get benched instead of getting hurt?

He must have been incredibly bad for them to insert trapping and move benefit during the game. The announcing crew took a whole quarter to even notice 

[Brian707]

Yeah it sounds like it.

But at the end of the day he is a 5th round pick. Still a lot of holes all across this roster in year 4 of The Ryan Poles Experience.  

Edited September 30, 2025 by Brian707

[BigbadB]

1 hour ago, jumbo said:

So, did Braxton get benched instead of getting hurt?

He must have been incredibly bad for them to insert trapping and move benefit during the game. The announcing crew took a whole quarter to even notice 

I'm pretty sure I heard the announcers mention that Trapilo was in to replace Jones late in the 2nd quarter. 

[WrigleyField 22]

Yes. Sounds like a benching. I wouldn't discount the possibility of platooning vs full benching until they figure out the best LT solution. 

Via Nicholas Moreano on Twitter:

Quote

Here is what Ben Johnson said after the game on the decision to make a switch with the offensive tackles.

"Yeah, we knew going into the game that Ozzy [Trapilo] was likely to get some snaps for us. He's a guy that just keeps getting better each and every week, and so, we were just at the point where we weren't doing a whole lot on offense, and we felt like that might give us a little spark and ignite us a little bit on offense there."

 

Edited September 30, 2025 by WrigleyField 22

[Tryptamine]

Well considering Ben's endorsement for Braxton being the starting LT in week 1 was simply that he knew the playbook and that was it. It was only a matter of time until he was replaced.