Morning after thoughts *Week 11...winning division games edition*

- I'd like to start by handing out a gameball to mongo. We've been thru a lot of games together now. 12th-13th season of message boards by my count. That was an all-time top5 level of drunkeness to start a game. You made absolutely no sense. Well done.


- I know some were a little down about how the game played out in the 2nd half, i really don't think they should be.

We know how good our board is. But if i could humbly offer a thought about us, its that i think sometimes we maybe analyze our own players in a vacuum a tad too much without factoring in enough of what our opponent is doing, which can lead to being a little hypercritical. I know i do that sometimes. Its a fine line.

The Vikings are a damn good team on both sides of the ball. They made some adjustments on O in the 2nd half that were effective, and while i feel they did get some help from our Offense, their D just flat out played better in the 2nd half than they did in the 1st. Harrison Smith balled out. Good teams will do that, you don't get everything your own way.

That is why to me this was still a statement win last night. This league is built on the foundation of winning, its all that matters in the end. Performances get forgotten, results endure. This is a very young team that is learning a lot on the fly. They're learning how to win big games. They're succeeding. That was a big big win last night. It wasn't about flashy plays it was about culture change. They're moving in the right direction, no doubt.


- Nagy went up against Zimmer and in that first half more than matched him. Zimmer even looked like he was running out of ideas at one point. Against a D-Man as good as him thats an achievement.


- Players-wise, gotta start with Hicks. That was a career game imo. He's playing at an all-pro level. If its true the Kicker was given the game ball instead of Hicks then someone should be shot.


- The DL was outstanding and utterly crushed the Vikings running game which was crucial. Trevathan was excellent. Besides one really poor play Smith was on it all game. But he's gotta cut out that shit. That mistake cost them 30yards, it should've been a routine tackle.


- It was nice to see Howard running hard. But what really impressed me was his blitz pickup all night was outstanding. Time after time Zimmer sent blitzers and whether it was a LB in the A/B Gap, or coming across the face of the QB for an edge blitzer, it seemed like everytime Howard met the guy and held his ground.


- I thought our running game was in trouble in this game but the OL, particularly the interior, did a heck of a job that first half opening lanes big enough to grind out yards. Whitehair and Daniels played really well.

That guy Witzmann had some good plays but plenty of bad. Missing a pretty simple block on a DB that blew up a screen. Losing at the POA. Missing his assignment on a blitz. He was the weak link on the OL. Long is being missed there make no mistake.


- Robinson's effort on that pick runback was just piss poor and i hope that gets flagged this week. I don't blame him for the pick, but his effort to make the tackle was pathetic. Maybe he thought about the knee for a second and didn't wanna get wiped out in a freak moment(players do that), maybe he was just being lazy. Im a fan of Robinson's for sure, but that was friggin weak.


- BUT, receivers caught everything last night. They've been catching pretty much everything all season. Such a change from previous years.


- How do you not love Miller. Guy is a warrior and takes no prisoners.

Totally. He made one very bad throw and one bad decision on the picks. They were unnecessary. But im not throwing Trubsky under the bus after this performance at all. I really like how his command is improving pre snap.

And they went to no huddle a few times last night. Its been a gradual process, but when they get that fully installed into this Offense, lookout.


Go Bears!!

 

The fumble happened when they went back to Cohen between the tackles.

Totally agree, on point 1 in particular.

They're just asking far too much of officials these days. Far too many very fine judgement calls are being asked of them. Its not humanly possible imo, at least not in real time.

When you think about the decisions officials had to make(or didn't have to make) 30years ago compared to what is asked of them now.....its just crazy.

 

I’ve been traumitized from the last 2 coaches and am a general pessimist by nature.

They just cannot finish strong. Yeah, the Queens are a good team, but if the Bears are in “win it all now” mode, which Pace obviously believes they are, then you need to rise to the occasion. When you dominate a team that thouroughly, it’s got to show up on the scoreboard. Good opponents find a way to overcome a terrible start if the game isn’t out of reach.

Has anyone looked up their 4th quarter off/def rankings? I’m gonna go out on a limb and say they rank bottom 3rd of the league in both.

Until they can finish strong, I’m still firmly a doubter. Yeah, at this point playoff chances are real, but going deep in the playoffs against quality opponents is still out of reach of this team, as it is today. I hope, in the next 6 weeks, they figure out what other teams are doing that give them so much trouble in the last 15 minutes of a game. Nagy and Mitch have shown an ability to improve quickly, so I have faith they can do it.

 

Started drinking at noon. I have no idea when I stopped....

 

Agreed. All of the above feels pretty simple, and effective. Not sure what the hold up is, but it's gotta get fixed. You're right that it's league-wide - just rampant.

 

We are dead last in 4th quarter points allowed: https://www.teamrankings.com/nfl/stat/opp-4th-quarter-points-per-game

Conversely we are 18th, middle of the pack, in points for in the 4th quarter.

 

I echo a lot of thoughts in this thread. What makes this game so important to me, I think, was the quality of opponent. We know that defense is good. We know that offense can hurt people. This is a team that was a step away from the Super Bowl last year, and while they've looked a little fluky this year, the team is still there. Like Ev said - context. In this case, context is that the team beat not just a division rival, and not just the biggest challenger for the division title, but arguably one of the better teams in the NFC.

Thursday is a quick turnaround. Bummer to see Shaheen go out - you could see the defender's knee catch him in the head on the way down, and he was slow getting up. Pretty easy to see it as it happened, and a serious bummer. I at least wanted to see what the kid had, this year...

 

I wanted to post this myself. Sometimes we get so down in the Xs and Os and demanding perfection that we lose sight of the fact that we are winning more than we have since Lovie's final season. We may even exceed that and last year we won a whopping 5 games. We've already won 2 more than that, with 6 MORE GAMES TO PLAY.

We have a high bar, but as BWW posted a week or two ago, enjoy this ride as well. This is a young team that is learning.

I posted that, but it's not really the game ball, it was whatever NBC does for their "players of the game" - they called it a game ball I think, I don't know, I possibly had something to drink. Point is, their players of the game were Mack and Parkey, which to me should have been Mack and Hicks, but maybe they wanted some balance rather than all defense so gave it to Parkey. Not a big deal.

Damn bro, see above. You're upset they aren't going to go DEEP in the playoffs? With a first year coach, new offensive system and a QB that hasn't yet played a full season? My bar is making the fucking playoffs for fucking once and making some noise. Step 1 was winning some games in the damn division, and they've finally broken through that barrier. I completely get the concern on the 4th Quarter, but by the same token, this team has been COMPLETELY DOMINATING the early part of these games.

I think in along a similar line of ev's and yours point here, is we get upset I think, because this team is 7-3 and UNDERACHIEVING to do it. It's not like this team is winning in crazy fashion, or winning games they have no business winning. Nor are they getting blown completely out of the water (the Patriots game comes to mind though). They dominated this shit out of the Vikes and deserved to win by multiple scores and didn't, it was closer than it should have been. That's the frustrating part.

Other thoughts:

- Trubs threw some bad picks as said, one bad decision, one a bad throw and decision, and one bad decision that could have been a pick 6. But you can see the growth too. He used his legs, and threw for a couple HUGE 1st downs. That wasn't happening earlier this season. I disagree with blang, I wasn't super concerned down the stretch and Trubs didn't look like a deer in headlights. I think he was bouncing back pretty well, and the Vikings were just that good.

- So glad to see the experts have to eat crow, but boy it didn't take them long to shit on this team again. Colin Cowherd said this morning that the Bears offense is all "smoke and mirrors" and there's nothing to it. I can't disagree more. I think their offense needs a lot of work, but I don't think it's all a mirage, it is what it is. Decent with potential.

- I really thought this team would take a lot longer to show this kind of progress, there have been some dark times these past years. The potential is very much there, but they need to start playing a complete 60 minutes, and they need to continue to improve.

- Watching Mack's post game there, how can you not love this man. He is already one of my favorite Bears of all time, and he hasn't even played a full season. Seems like Gruden was just righting a wrong with the universe that we didn't get to draft him here, where he belongs. He's a beast, and has the right attitude which is infectious to the whole team. A genuine LEADER.

- I don't think Nagy is utilizing Howard as well as he could. He did this game a bit more, but Howard is a good back. If they don't plan to use his talent, I'd actually be ok with a possible trade.

- I still don't believe in Barfey Cody Parker. One FG does not make me a believer. I do think Nagy was going for 2 because he was being aggressive, but you can't tell me his kicker didn't weigh into his decisions.

- Not only are we leading the division, if we lose that lead, we have the edge on the wildcard teams as well. I'm more worried about the Packers and the *easiest* schedule in the league the remaining way, than I am about the Vikings. I want to see the Vikings win next week as they still have harder games ahead. We've still got the Rams as an incredibly hard game ahead.

- I said this game was a must win, and we won it. Enjoy fellas.

 

I meant more that... Pace believes he has a team that is ready for a SB run. I disagree, as I’m a “believe it when I see it” guy. But, I’m at least hopeful, which is more than I’ve had for years.

Thanks, brother.

We have, I think, the #1 overall D now (?), while having the league’s worst 4th quarter D. THAT is how dominant the Bears are in the first half... wow.

But Yeah, that’s cause for some pessimism, as the Bears have had one of the easiest schedules in the league and still have trouble closing out even bad teams.

 

Is Pace supposed to publicly say that the Bears aren’t a SB ready team? Would you want the GM of the team to publicly say that during the middle of a season in which his team is in first place?

Seriously....chill the fuck out. And enjoy some football.

The Bears aren’t the Saints or the Rams. Not yet anyway. What they are is 7-3 and in first place in a year that a lot of fans thought 6-10 would be a reasonable finish. But they are currently ahead of schedule.

They are 2-1 in the division. That’s good. They just beat a pretty good team. All good stuff.

Can the pessimism for a little bit. It’s god damn annoying at this point.

 

This was the type of game that shows that Howard can add value to this offense. He was used exactly as he should have been yesterday and it was effective.

 

I think it's possible to be really happy about the current state of the team and also acknowledging some areas of much needed improvement. Maybe that's not coming across with his posts.

 

You’re just butthurt over getting pasted by the PIMP in the fantasy league

 

IMO at least part of that is because this team has defended two score+ leads in multiple 2nd half games this season and they have either gone into prevent D or taken their foot off the gas or both. Off the top of my head id say 5-6games with that kinda lead in the 4thQ. They've only played 10 friggin games! What more do people want from a team we all had pegged to win 6-7games this season??

Sorry, but this is just looking for something to be downbeat about. And as far as im concerned, fuck that noise.

 

#1 in Rush yds/game
#4 in points allowed/game
#3 in total yards allowed/game

 

Mongo I know you were pretty hammered and don't remember much, and did make a comment about it on the game thread. But it seemed as if it was as loud as its ever been at SF. This is great.

Nagy challenged the fans to be ready and loud and you guys delivered.

 

And:
#3 in 3rd Down % (Vikes are still #1)
#2 in Fumbles Force (#3 in recovered)
#1 in interceptions
#4 in sacks

The only one that's bad is in passing yards, #14. And a LOT of that has been garbage time/prevent.

Ev's on point above, part of the 4th Quarter woes are this team turtling when they are up big. They can't do that against good teams or when they're behind, which is where we'll see what they have. I don't think Nagy turtled the offense quite that much, he still took shots they just weren't connecting that often.

Again, this team has plenty of room for improvement no doubt. But man I am just enjoying the ride thus far, since they have already beaten my expectations. Winning a national, divisional game against a good opponent? The only thing better would be if it was the damned fudge.

 

Kerryon Johnson is out for the Thanksgiving game.

He was the only guy they had that did any real damage to us in the last game...

 

Trust me, I'm pumped about where we are.

 

Yeah, I noticed this, too. That crowd was awesome. It sure makes watching the game a whole lot more fun.