BigSlick

I didn't say it was a fluke they lost, they got outplayed all game and deserved to lose. It would have been a fluke if they won, frankly. But I also don't think this game is entirely indicative of the team's talent - just as the Panthers and Jaguars games weren't totally indicative of their strength. It's like, I saw how people responded after the first 3 games (everyone lost their minds and were furious) and then after the next 3 games (things are awesome and great) and its like, the truth is somewhere in the middle. I don't think the last game is a sure sign there is catastrophic, systemic failure on the team, but absolutely things to learn, develop, fix, and improve on. The reaction, I think, is just a bit apocalyptic. It need not be.

Wait you think 7-10 is MOST likely? 3-7 down the stretch?

Well, I definitely want Caleb looking at the film. I think I was speaking on a more emotional level like: get past this game, nothing is totally horsefeathered, the reaction from fans and the media is a tad overblown and reactive, there are two very winnable and important games coming up. The season is way too early and the team is still too promising to act like the sky is falling.

I've tried to stay away from Chicago sports media this week but I can see there's rumblings about players being unhappy about the coaching staff. I dunno. I hope it's not a real serious thing. Ultimately, if you zoom out, if they win the next two weeks, everything is basically where you want it to be and roughly where you hoped it would be at this point in the offseason. I hope the focus is there and not looking backwards. Burn the tape on the Wash game, tighten up things with the offense, tighten up things with the players who have been a little lax, and take care of business going forward.

The OLine is a real concern, but I also don’t think it was so disastrously bad on Sunday even with the injuries to fully explain how badly the offense functioned. Aside from a 3 play sequence with Amagadjie playing turnstile, the protection wasn’t horrific and the run blocking was downright good all day. I think it just unfortunately mostly came down to how rattled Caleb looked, from the very beginning. He wasn’t the guy we saw the previous two weeks. Hopefully they can clear it up this coming week. They are just not comfortable offensively on the road so far. I’m willing to forgive most things if Chicago can come out and take care of business against Arizona and New England before they hit the divisional schedule. If they can right that ship, I think Eberflus is fine and provided they don’t completely horsefeathers the bed down the stretch, he’s probably sticking around. And for Caleb’s sake, I hope so, I hope we don’t have to have more shake up for him. So we’ll see.

I'm not terribly worried about Caleb and the deep ball. I think its likely a chemistry thing and I think he's overthrowing them out of fear of throwing picks a little bit. I also think the quality of WR play across the board is a little lacking this year. Keenan Allen has looked slow and janky, Moore has been beaten up and I don't love the routes their designing for him, and Odunze has been OK but not awesome. There wasn't a lot of separation this last game, even though there were usually open guys for Caleb to find. Overall, they've been a huge advancement over the utter garbage we've been running out there for the last 5 or so years, but not the amazing security blanket we may have fantasized about over the offseason.

I honestly find the focus on Eberflus after this game a little misplaced. Was he bad at the things he could control? Absolutely, but I think it's a much smaller part of the story of why the Bears lost. I feel like fans are really searching for an acceptable scapegoat for this game and coaches are a very easy target. Like, 90% of the reason the Bears lost this game was because Caleb Williams had a really bad game for 3 quarters. The Bears defense kept them, improbably, in the game to the end, and Eberflus flubbed a few things and there were a couple curious playcalls, and then there's the play at the end which...crazy weird horsefeathers happens sometimes and it doesn't help that Stevenson really made an ass of himself - but none of that matters if there's even sub-average, replacement level offensive production for 3 quarters of the game. Caleb was really bad! He missed wide open people continuously! He took off running at times he really didn't need to! The Offensive Line wasn't very good and then got worse when they lost people to injury! These aren't really things a Head Coach can just magically make better. It just happens.

Oh there's absolutely a possibility of it - if they go under .500 I'd honestly be surprised if they don't fire him. But I'm also reasonably confident the team finishes above .500 (but likely out of the playoffs given the division)

Next Sunday can’t come soon enough. They may horsefeathers the bed again, and that will be a different question (and may seal Eberflus’s fate) but at least we can get past this one.

I do think the points stacked against Eberflus are really adding up. There are only so few things that are directly attributable to head coaching, but the ones that are - like challenges and usage of time outs (and coaching hires), he keeps bumbling. There was a pass that should have been challenged and overturned near the end of the game. He probably should have used his time outs to set things up better at the end of games. There are times when the team is utterly undisciplined and it keeps costing them. But, there are other times when fanbases just need to accept that there are players out there and sometimes they are not executing. I'm actually not furious at Shane Waldron today. The gameplan was totally fine, Caleb just had a poopy, nervous, rookie effort out there. The line also had to deal with multiple injuries on the offensive line and still managed to be O.K. despite it - there were some real glaring issues at times but that is to be expected with so much shuffling. They ran the ball shockingly well. There were open receivers to be had. Caleb just kept missing them, or freaking out and taking off and running in the pocket. Caleb had a bad game. You can't just put that on the offensive coordinator. If Caleb gave us 50% of what we got in the Jags or Panthers games, we win this in a blowout. He gave us 25% of what he had in those games and we nearly won. The back up center full back dive? I can't really get that mad at it. It's a natural iteration once you put on tape that you have this I formation play with the oversized fullback. I probably wouldn't have done it in a 1 score game with a ton on the line, but it's something they were going to do at some point. (I also think the hand off was pretty bad from Caleb, so. There's that). It feels pretty bad today, I was coping a little better yesterday. But it doesn't hold a candle to the 2018 playoffs to me. There's 10 more games to go, and I'm excited to see how they go.

I guess I just didn’t see this season as a make or break year and the predictions that we should expect 10+ wins as a bit too optimistic from the beginning. I have a well of patience for what this whole Caleb Williams project is going to take and as this game part of the story of his first season, I’m still pretty pleased about where we’re headed. The universe doesn’t work this way, of course, but I’d rather they get this kind of flukey loss out of their system this year than next, I guess lol

Caleb sucked and then he didn’t suck. And they lost the game on a really fluke play. It’s fine.

🤷‍♂️ we’re in the hardest division in football and we’re gonna have a very difficult path to the playoffs anyway. It’s ok! The team, and Caleb Williams, aren’t at the level where easily making the playoffs is a sure thing. It is what it is.

I’ve seen Aaron Rodgers knock the Bears out of the playoffs on a 4th and 15 play. I saw Tim Tebow beat us in a must win game to make the playoffs. I saw the 2010 NFC Championship game. Losing a mid season game that is far from a must win for a team that’s on an upwards trajectory isn’t the worst thing.

It’s the 7th game of the season, brother.

I guess I don’t feel bad on the whole. We probably deserved to lose, so, fine. And we got Caleb to have a couple redemption drives, so that’s good for him.

I honestly have no idea how to feel about this. We didn’t “deserve” to win but. ok. I guess whatever.

Uh ok.

Well it was super ugly but we do have Caleb in the position to win the game

It’s quite natural to iterate on the formation with Kramer on the goal line play, it’s actually somewhat necessary in order to not be too predictable, but I probably wouldn’t have done it there.

Oof that’s extremely unfortunate

Oof poor DJ. I hope he just has the wind knocked out of him and he’s ok. He’s taken a ton of hit this year, I feel bad for the poor guy

Signs of life!

I fear this game will be very similar to the Texans game: a heroic effort by the defense but unfortunately there is just way too much offensive dysfunction that it simply doesn’t matter the shocking thing is Caleb can still win it, but he has shown very few signs of life

Sigh