Week 18: Bears vs Lions at 3:25 on FOX

[gflore34]

28 minutes ago, Wilson A2000 said:

 

I hope so and Ben obviously has this team way ahead of schedule, but these are pretty egregious errors. Ben said he played to win today before the game, but he must have been the only person in Soldier Field who trusted his defense more than his offense. It was a terrible decision and the bad decisions are becoming far too prevalent. 

I agree he's made some bad decisions and if you asked him, he'd probably agree.  But, bad decisions becoming prevalent?  That's a bit of an exaggeration, it's not like we're talking Matt Eberflus here. 

[Wilson A2000]

16 minutes ago, gflore34 said:

I agree he's made some bad decisions and if you asked him, he'd probably agree.  But, bad decisions becoming prevalent?  That's a bit of an exaggeration, it's not like we're talking Matt Eberflus here. 

I like almost all of his decisions until it gets late in the game. Then Ben tries the cute plays and falls into some rookie mistakes. 

[Wilson A2000]

2 hours ago, UMFan83 said:

My prediction based on nothing is the late afternoon Sunday game. It won’t be the MNF game (i think espn gets lower priority for the WC game), it won’t be Saturday afternoon (reserved for Texans/the crappiest matchup) and it probably won’t be Sunday at noon given the high profile matchup. So either Saturday night, Sunday late afternoon or Sunday night. 

 

[We Got The Whole 9]

They had literally gotten a stop on the previous drive and only allowed 4 scoring drives to that point. So I don't really blame him, even though the process in holding them to 16 points had been so, so painful to watch. 

 

The game was lost when they couldn't capitalize on the Byard pick. Caleb probably didn't need to throw a bullet at Burden, but that pass should have been caught. And Caleb has to understand grounding rules - inexcusable to have one there. 

 

Brady said the Bears seemed surprised the Lions played so much zone and we kept running crossing concepts where our receivers just kept running into coverage. Why it took an entire half to adjust is beyond me.

[We Got The Whole 9]

Why are teams so easily able to cut off Caleb's scrambling lanes lately? 

[SpongeWorthy]

1 hour ago, We Got The Whole 9 said:

Why are teams so easily able to cut off Caleb's scrambling lanes lately? 

idk but I'm hoping ben has some designed QBs runs that he's been holding back, we haven't really featured it at all (except some sneaks). i think they can be a chain mover for us.

[gflore34]

9 hours ago, Wilson A2000 said:

I like almost all of his decisions until it gets late in the game. Then Ben tries the cute plays and falls into some rookie mistakes. 

Most definitely, Ben has fallen into some rookie mistakes, I believe he'll learn and come out better.

[Soul]

The Bears lost TOP by almost 10 minutes.  The defense was bending and not breaking but it took so much time we didn’t get the ball much until the latter part of the game.  Combine that with the typical offense that doesn’t get going until late, and that was the game.

 

[We Got The Whole 9]

7 hours ago, SpongeWorthy said:

idk but I'm hoping ben has some designed QBs runs that he's been holding back, we haven't really featured it at all (except some sneaks). i think they can be a chain mover for us.

Same

[Banedon]

7 hours ago, SpongeWorthy said:

idk but I'm hoping ben has some designed QBs runs that he's been holding back, we haven't really featured it at all (except some sneaks). i think they can be a chain mover for us.

I've been kinda looking for that for a while, particularly in the red zone.

[Geographyhater8888]

13 hours ago, gflore34 said:

I agree he's made some bad decisions and if you asked him, he'd probably agree.  But, bad decisions becoming prevalent?  That's a bit of an exaggeration, it's not like we're talking Matt Eberflus here. 

 

Edited January 5 by Geographyhater8888

[Geographyhater8888]

2 hours ago, gflore34 said:

Most definitely, Ben has fallen into some rookie mistakes, I believe he'll learn and come out better.

His biggest mistake was not going for it on fourth down in the last possession. If you fail to convert the lions will score quickly and you’ll have another possession. Left the game in the hands of a defense that can’t make stops instead.

[UMFan83]

3 hours ago, Soul said:

The Bears lost TOP by almost 10 minutes.  The defense was bending and not breaking but it took so much time we didn’t get the ball much until the latter part of the game.  Combine that with the typical offense that doesn’t get going until late, and that was the game.

 

It's hard to score points and get into a rhythm on offense when you only get 3 possessions in the first half.  You are right that the TOP played a major factor in this loss, and near loss to the Packers a couple weeks ago.  Not absolving the offense for not producing points but it definitely has some effect when you are starting your second possession with like 9 minutes left in the half.

Edited January 5 by UMFan83

[UMFan83]

Just for fun, Divisional Round scenarios if the Bears win on Saturday:

If the Eagles beat the 49ers, the Bears will host Philadelphia

If the 49ers beat the Eagles, the Bears will host the Rams/Panthers winner.

Bears cannot see Seattle or San Francisco until the Conference championship game.

[Irrelevant Dude]

I would prefer not to face the Rams, but neither Philadelphia nor Carolina (especially) scares me.

[Soul]

1 hour ago, Geographyhater8888 said:

His biggest mistake was not going for it on fourth down in the last possession. If you fail to convert the lions will score quickly and you’ll have another possession. Left the game in the hands of a defense that can’t make stops instead.

I get that he makes some mistakes, but when the rest of game has been subpar it makes every single decision in the late game way more important than it should be.  The solution is to play 60 minutes of solid football, or at least wake the hell up before the 4th quarter.  Then a questionable decision on a 4th down isn't make-or-break.

[UMFan83]

24 minutes ago, Irrelevant Dude said:

I would prefer not to face the Rams, but neither Philadelphia nor Carolina (especially) scares me.

Same.  I doubt Carolina is going to win, so go Eagles.  There is some value to having a warm weather west coast team coming to Chicago in mid-January, and their fanbase is much less likely to travel to Chicago unless there are still St Louis Rams fans out there, but the Rams are just too good.  The Eagles are also very good (obviously, defending champs and all) and probably have a higher gear than they showed on Black Friday but they just seem more beatable.

[Geographyhater8888]

20 minutes ago, Soul said:

I get that he makes some mistakes, but when the rest of game has been subpar it makes every single decision in the late game way more important than it should be.  The solution is to play 60 minutes of solid football, or at least wake the hell up before the 4th quarter.  Then a questionable decision on a 4th down isn't make-or-break.

Yes. That was an important decision and he made the wrong one. 

[SpongeWorthy]

1 hour ago, UMFan83 said:

It's hard to score points and get into a rhythm on offense when you only get 3 possessions in the first half.  You are right that the TOP played a major factor in this loss, and near loss to the Packers a couple weeks ago.  Not absolving the offense for not producing points but it definitely has some effect when you are starting your second possession with like 9 minutes left in the half.

holding teams to field goals is the best we can hope for i think

we need to play a higher variance style in the playoffs

[Old Style]

Haven’t read this thread since before the game but I have to say I was extremely disappointed with the play calling after the INT. We had the 2 minute warning and all 3 timeouts so why weren’t we running the damn ball? We were laughing at Dan Campbell for calling multiple pass plays that led to us having that much time without have to take a TO and Ben just did the same idiotic thing right back. That was infuriating. 

[We Got The Whole 9]

24 minutes ago, Old Style said:

Haven’t read this thread since before the game but I have to say I was extremely disappointed with the play calling after the INT. We had the 2 minute warning and all 3 timeouts so why weren’t we running the damn ball? We were laughing at Dan Campbell for calling multiple pass plays that led to us having that much time without have to take a TO and Ben just did the same idiotic thing right back. That was infuriating. 

I think if Burden catches that pass, its a first down (or 2nd and very short) and maybe we have them on their heels a bit, might have been Ben's thinking. Then he'd call a run or two. 

 

But the run game was not that effective yesterday, either. 

[BigSlick]

You know, watching the game again after the fact today, I don't even really think the problems on D are a lack of effort... I think these guys are trying their damndest out there they just are slower and out of place a lot and they get no horsefeathers pass rush. Like, I don't think Jaylon is making "business decisions" out there - he's playing the run really hard but he just doesn't have the top end speed he has when he's healthy so he's getting burned. The coverage is getting burned because all too often Goff is sitting in a pristine pocket for 5 seconds and then hits a guy on a long crossing route. There are some issues tackling, and I'm a little concerned about the linebackers not having the same closing speed they used to (whether due to injury or whatever else). 

And the poor offense simply can't have 3 and outs or they don't get the ball for another 10 minutes. At this point, its unfortunate, but they have to be perfect. Caleb has to be money and the receivers are simply not allowed to drop balls. The running game needs to be better, and it wasn't even necessarily bad but it was simply pedestrian. They need to get 5, 6 yards a carry, not 3 or 4. It's a tall order but if we don't hit those marks, we fall behind, and we don't have a lot of possessions to squander. 

[gflore34]

6 minutes ago, BigSlick said:

You know, watching the game again after the fact today, I don't even really think the problems on D are a lack of effort... I think these guys are trying their damndest out there they just are slower and out of place a lot and they get no horsefeathers pass rush. Like, I don't think Jaylon is making "business decisions" out there - he's playing the run really hard but he just doesn't have the top end speed he has when he's healthy so he's getting burned. The coverage is getting burned because all too often Goff is sitting in a pristine pocket for 5 seconds and then hits a guy on a long crossing route. There are some issues tackling, and I'm a little concerned about the linebackers not having the same closing speed they used to (whether due to injury or whatever else). 

And the poor offense simply can't have 3 and outs or they don't get the ball for another 10 minutes. At this point, its unfortunate, but they have to be perfect. Caleb has to be money and the receivers are simply not allowed to drop balls. The running game needs to be better, and it wasn't even necessarily bad but it was simply pedestrian. They need to get 5, 6 yards a carry, not 3 or 4. It's a tall order but if we don't hit those marks, we fall behind, and we don't have a lot of possessions to squander. 

Edwards, Edmunds and Johnson did not come back 100%, they're doing what they can, Jarrett had his knee scoped in the summer, no way he started 100% and certainly isn't healthier now.  Read something about Sweat playing hurt for most of the season again.  The tackling issues are very apparent, on numerous occasions yesterday they Gibbs or Montgomery strung out with more defenders than blockers and still couldn't limit their gains. 

[mul21]

2 hours ago, Old Style said:

Haven’t read this thread since before the game but I have to say I was extremely disappointed with the play calling after the INT. We had the 2 minute warning and all 3 timeouts so why weren’t we running the damn ball? We were laughing at Dan Campbell for calling multiple pass plays that led to us having that much time without have to take a TO and Ben just did the same idiotic thing right back. That was infuriating. 

First down was a run play that Caleb checked out of based on what the defense did according to what Brady said on the broadcast and I tend to believe him on something like that.  I didn't love the decision with the clock where it was and that's a ball Caleb will learn to put a little more touch on in the future, but I take solace in the fact that he saw the right thing and made the right play even if it didn't work out.  That's likely a 10-12 yard gain and you're sitting at the 35 yard line with a first down at the 2 minute warning with all 3 TOs still in your pocket.

[We Got The Whole 9]

Burden went 15 weeks without dropping any and then had crushing drops in back to back weeks. Total bummer.