I grew up being told the key to a great offense was a great defense. And while there is some merit to the fact that great defenses (like the one we had last year) do help your offense (gave them the ball a lot), the truth is in today's NFL, a defense only helps the offense. It doesn't make the offense. And even a "generational" defense can't turn a shitty offense into a great one - or even a good one. We put up a pathetic 20 points today on a defense that has been allowing 27 PPG this year. More, we did this at home, And to be honest, when you really look at it, our offense really only looked "OK" for an 8 minute stretch between the the end of the first half and beginning of second. More? Honestly, the last 7 points came after a defensive take-away deep on the Lions side of the field. The Lions came into the game with the 30th ranked overall defense. I suspect that today, we helped improve that ranking. Our offense sucks! But why? Well, the answer should not be a debate as to what one thing is sucking? Because there are many. And anyone who watched today's game and changed their mind and became optimistic... ? Well, you just don't know football. After watching today's shit-show live, and going back to the beginning of the season, I think we have 3 major issues: 1) O-Line Sucks - this Online, which was actually one of the best Oline's in the NFL the last few years, is trash. We can't open holes in the run game, we're getting beat in pass protection, and we are constantly making bad (and bad timed) penalties. LEno got paid, and now isn't playing. Long is gone. Whitehair was middle tier at best at guard. And now that he's back at center, he is showing why he can't play center: he can't snap in the gun. James Daniels, to me, is slow, undersized and will be the answer to a trivia question we'll all get wrong in 5 years (Who played LG for the 2019 Bears?). The only Olineman who I actually think has been playing "decent" is Massie. Think about that, I'm saying Massie may be our best Olineman... And I don't have anything really negative to say about Larsen. He's a good back-up. I'm not impressed wit his run-blocking. But overall, I think he's played better than Long. 2) Our QB Sucks - Look, it is what it is. We did it again. WE wasted multiple first round picks to get our "franchise QB". For anyone who is still holding out hope that Mitch is that guy, just fucking stop it. He's not. He knows it. The team knows it. The NFL knows it. And any Bears fan with any bit of football brains knows it. Mitch will be a solid journey-man back-up. But he is not even middle tier. I remember how many argument I would get into with people when I would tell them Cutler was middle tier. And then I showed his stats that solidly put him in the middle tier. And they would argue stats mean nothing.... Well, Mitch is the 34th overall ranked QB in the NFL. Sadly, there are only 32 teams. So, yes, he is worse statistically than some back-ups. he is not middle tier, he isn't even lower tier. He is "Below Low Tier". That's our QB. 3) Play Calling Sucks - Look, I will be the first to tell you I actually like when we run some odd looks. And I will tell you I also like when we do a bunch of pre-snap shit that is intended to confuse the D. But, it's "when" I like it that matters. I don't like it on 4th and goal with 2 minutes left in the game when we're down by 7.... I also don't like it when the offense is getting smacked around due to #1, and #2 above. Today, on 3rd and 1 (less than a yard). we lined up our kick returner at RB, and put Trubisky under center. The crowd, I'm not kidding, started booing. The assumption was we were going to run Paterson up the gut. The fans thought it, and I assume so did the Lions. I said to my buddy, we better fucking QB sneak here. And we did. Credit is due. That was a solid play call. So I know Nagy can do it. I know he can make good play calls. I have no issues with him being creative. He just needs to do it right. There is one other area I am worried about (bonus): 4) Tight ends - When you have a shitty QB who panics in the pocket, you need a release valve. That is usually a solid T.E. Burton can go fuck himself. I am Ok with cutting his worthless overpaid ass. Shaheen is the new Shame. It's safe to say he is either a bust. And whoever our #3 is (I think he caught a TD today) needs to get more playing time due to the issues noted with the first two guys. Is his name brownnecker? Things that I am not worried about: 1) Receivers. Although we need a little more depth. 2) RB's, 3) Players buying into and running the system. The team is still on board with the coaches. They are still trying. There are still no leaks. This team still wants Nagy to be their coach.
Nice thread and nice to see you back SM. Nothing to disagree with too much outside of changing the ranking based on the play. One play the line looks like pure tissue paper because they suck. Another time it’s because the defense has completely sniffed out the play. Other times the line hold solid and Trubs holds on to the ball for two hours before taking a 20 yard sack. Each point is pretty equally bad. WRs, I am worried about Robinson hitting the market. As Trubs safety valve he has earned himself a big contract and I’m not sure the Bears can afford him next year.
The problem I'm having with the OLine is that they're all under contract. They've all gotten paid except for Daniels, in year 2 of a rookie deal. Leno is garbage, either that, or some DLine coach figured out his weak points and he just hasn't fixed it. Long is the only guy you can cut without eating big, dead money. If Harry Heistand is to be back next year, I need to see a tour-de-force performance from Alex Bars stepping in, or just getting some playing time. This is on Heistand. He was the elite tier OLine coach when we got him, which isn't shocking--him being overrated just like Notre Dame, the college we got him from. At this point, just make a decision with Whitehair and Daniels for their positions and stick with it. The bears need an OT, and thankfully--as the draft is shaping out now (subject to change) it will be OT top heavy. As for Mitch, we know. Pace better fucking know. Nagy knows, because he says all the time (kindly to not hurt feelings) that he has to scale back his complicated playbook for Mitch, often. Mitch needs a miracle to see wide open guys who aren't his first and only read. I'm confident the bears will bring in 1-2 new guys. I don't know if Teddy Bridgewater is one of them because of the salary he's going to command and that the bears walk into the offseason with 12 mil in cap space, would need 20+ for Teddy (probably mostly guaranteed $ like a lot of QB deals we're starting to see), then you need more for a draft class, and FA (both guys you gotta keep and acquire). I wouldn't be shocked if Matt Moore, given his brief success with the same playbook in KC is a target as well as a draft pick. I also think Mitch is here for at least year 4 of his rookie deal, or one more year at least (he has an option for year 5). Returning with Chase Daniel is fireable. Ben Braunecker sucks (nice TD catch though.) JP Holtz, the kid Pace got from the PS of the Redskins is a solid blocking TE, on the OL or as a FB. Burton, Shaheen (who was inactive yesterday?), Braunecker, Brown, and whoever the fuck else they have can go, which in my book means you have your 3rd string/blocking TE, now go get a playmaking one. This kid Hockenson the Loins had yesterday looks like he's a beast. The packers are getting something out of Jimmy Graham, and the VIkes have a 1st round rookie and Kyle Rudolph. There's a canyon of dogshit before you get to the bears TEs with regard to the NFC North. This position needs a monumental reset, because for an 'Andy Reid' style offense, you need a Zach Ertz/Travis Kelce. Hell even getting half the production of one of these guys would make such a difference, give us a guy who can be a temporary mismatch for defenses. Given that Mitch is atrocious, this position is flying under the radar with how bad it is. Sadly, Burton has one more year of guaranteed money, unless saving 1 mil and eating 7.5 is absolutely necessary, which Pace wont do.
Welcome back SM, enjoyable read. I do think you've undersold the coaching element a bit tho. Call out the playcalling, of course. But there's just too many position groups and units playing bad collective football and when its that widespread im pointing the finger at coaching, both positional and HC. Fuller & EJax, a shadow of themselves. TE's, DOA. Pass rush non-existent, Floyd aint coming back, Mack is starting to steal money. Even RRH is also making lessened impact. The OL has turned to crap and is still for me the biggest disappointment of the season which is saying something. Pat mentions contracts for that OL, absolutely. But what about the blocking schemes this team is running. Maybe its just execution but they look overly complicated and im not sure pulls and elaborate inside zone traps play to peoples strengths(Daniels in terms of mobility, Coward in terms of experience). I don't give a F about flashy, i just want production. I had them lined up in the I/offset I like 7 times out of 23 runs to RB's. Thats not enough, especially when the two longest runs of the game came out of the I. There were a few plays where the entire line just down blocked. Will it satisfy Nagy's trickery itch? No, but F the itch. They had some success with it, it gave Monty room to make some yards. Maybe these guys just find it easier to put hat on hat and if so, fine. Put them in position to succeed. Who draws up the blocking schemes in the run game? Surely its not Mr Pass Happy. Is it Helfrich? They may be part of the problem. Has he lost weight? Cos last season one of the things i liked about him was he anchored well in the face of a DT bullrush. But now he's getting walked back every week. The play near the end of the game where he got bitchslapped then flagged for holding... i think that was a bullrush from the blitzing SS! He's either lost power or he's losing his pad level more often which is technique. Either way, not good. That was a move made out of desperation. Personally i wouldn't have made that move, id be looking at blocking scheme first like said, plus i would prob just give it a bit more time to really know if Daniels isn't going to work at C. But in their defense, 3-5 they're thinking we're not mathmatically out of it, we have to do what we think is best for the next game. And they do have half a season of bad film on this combo now. Damned if you do, damned if you don't probably. For me it still would've been "don't" for now. I'm just waiting for Pace to go after friggin Mariota. Trubisky, Mariota, 6th round pick. Its the kind of horror QB room that has Bears written all over it. They should cut Chase and use the money elsewhere. Thats looking like a really bad contract. Given that Burton didn't have much proven numbers behind him when they signed him, with hindsight that needed to be a deal you can get out of after 2 years if it hasn't worked, which it hasn't. I think you're right, he'll be back. Pace can't afford to eat that money and won't want another FA miss to his name anyway.
Nice write up. Just one correction. Larsen isn’t playing. It’s been Coward in place of Long. I still feel that when your QB is playing as poorly as ours it magnifies the other issues. Very disappointed in the Whitehair/Daniels swap. Yea everyone is going to say there will be an adjustment time AGAIN. But for one game the only difference was bad snaps. This reeks of Nagy forcing his system instead of adjusting to fit the players. I mean he pulled the same shit two weeks in a row. First play of the game I formation run for good yardage. Second play shotgun run for nothing. If your committed to running twice in a row use the runs that fucking work. Nagy’s biggest issue is that he is all about the sauce and plate design instead of the quality of protein on the plate. Looking across the board at our skill position players, their contributions are way down from last season. Why is it Mitch’s fault for everyone except the TE’s. Shaheen is a bust but Burton has been underutilized. Just like every other skill player outside of Robinson.
There was a play yesterday wher Mitch locked on to Robinson on a slant, the safety (who was eye-balling Mitch), moved into position for the int. Mitch actually shifted to the left and hit another receiver. Why am I writing about this? Because it is an anomaly. This should not stick out. This should not be something I even notice. It should be the norm. When your primary is bracketed, you go to your second read. It's QB101. Our QB sucks. He decides before the snap who he's throwing to. And by golly, he either: 1) Throws it. 2) Realizes he's covered and tucks and runs, or 3) Holds the ball confused and gets sacked. Rob, for you to have been watching as long as you have and not see that he is a key issue, is scary. I honestly think Mitch has a learning disorder. He has the physical skills to be an NFL QB. His problem is he's too stupid to learn how to play in the NFL. Again, he's going to be a lower tier journey-man QB once Pace realizes that the only thing worse than wasting all those picks to draft a QB bust, is sticking with him after you realize he has busted... I like Mitch. He's a good kid. But, him being an NFL QB, is on par with Devin Hester being a WR. They both have the skills to do the job. Neither had the brains.
Yes. He loses pad level often. However, the rumor was the switch happened for 2 reasons (1) he could not hold the block on a-gap runs, and 2) he couldn't read a D. and this was hurting poor little Mitchie-poo. Who, for the record, should know how to read a fucking D by now. He was expected to take it up a notch from last year. He has regressed.
You took my post completely wrong. My point is that Trubisky is bad. Like you said there are back up QB’s and back up to backup QB’s who are playing better. I hold no hope for Trubisky anymore. I am done with him. I don’t think Burton is as bad as he has shown given the QB that is throwing to him. Is he worth the $ he signed for? Probably not but I think he can be a decent receiving TE with a QB that knows how to utilize one.
The O line coach said yesterday that a big part of switching back to Whitehair at center was to give more help to Coward who is a converted DT playing guard. I still think it was a mistake and will do more harm than good. Not sure if Larsen is injured or not but I think the smarter move would have been to plug him in instead of Coward if experience is that big of a factor.
Somewhere on the old, dead draft thread from when we had the #3 pick, just before taking Mitch I had posted game tape of Mitch, at North Carolina versus Virginia Tech in 2016 where we saw "bad Mitch" during his 1 years starting at NC. I opined about why I didn't like his performance, and this particular game made me want Watson that much more. But for sake of reminiscing....... I'll save you all time. You don't even have to watch all 12 minutes. You only need 2, because you'll see a LOT parallels with what we see this year. Overwhelmed, seeing pressure and flailing, holding the ball too long, single reads into questionable coverage. No "oh shit" clock. No urgency. As Mongo points out, you see that he 'realizes his guy's covered so he tucks and runs,' gets confused then sacked, or throws it against a defense that was just applying pressure. The 5:06 mark gave me PTSD. Announcer: Mitch missed a wide open receiver downfield. Mitch completed a solid 2 yard pass to the swing back. For what its worth, this was a defense where the best drafted player in 2016 was a 6th round edge on VT's defense who's now on his 6th team, and he's a back up in Denver. Tremaine Edmonds was a freshman and drafted by the Bills 2 years later. At this point, I don't want to be resucked back down into the "Mitch Sucks" rabbit hole, because I already know what I've seen and just cant expect anything higher than the ceiling for Mitch we've already seen. And I know what's he's not, and I'm annoyed that the bears in 2019 have no choice but to finish the season with him because this isn't another sport with a valid minor league system where you can get additional talents. We got Blake Bortles 2.0. Knows how to find Allen Robinson, misses wide open guys, isn't fast enough for this league. And a lot like Jax and Bortles, the bears will hold onto Mitch for his rookie contract. I only want to know what did Ryan Pace see that said 'this kid can figure it out?' I also want to know--because unless he gets fired (Pace wont) after this year, he's going to get another crack at the quarterback position on this roster. What has he learned from Mitch that he will apply/review in his scout process?
There was a play Sunday where the Bears were driving towards the North Endzone.They were probably at their own 40. I was watching Mitch as the play unfoldd and all of a sudden the North endzone erupted. Nothing had really happened, so I was confused as to why the crowd got loud. Then I turn and see Gabriel all by him self around the 10 yard line. Either his defender had fallen down, or there was a blown coverage. But what ever had happened, Mitch not only didn't see him. He never even looked there. And this is why he sucks. Even if the defender hadn't messed up, Gabriel was one-on-one with zero help over the top on post route. Mitch HAS to be able to read that and take the shot. Not our Mitch. HE probably threw to Robinson for a small gain. Or got sacked.... I don't remember what the result of the play was. But I do know that Mitch sucks.
Come on Pat. Too many people had Trubisky as the top QB to wave it off as Pace was the idiot who ignored an obvious choice. I don’t trust Pace but it’s not because Mitch is a bust. It’s because he has had 4 top 10 picks and none of them look like a sure thing. Roquan is coming around but Floyd, Trubisky and White just don’t cut it. And Mike Glennon. That’s a permanent scar. Because of this I don’t think Pace gets another crack at a QB. The next guy will be Nagy’s choice. It should be anyway. If whomever the next QB is, and it better not be fucking Mariota, doesn’t pan out then you clean house and start over.
Trubisky was only a 'top guy' because of the ridiculous hype prior to the draft. The same thing was true for White. Whenever a guy becomes a big name not because of their play, but because of some magical force surrounding them prior to the draft... That's a bad sign. Not for Pace, apparently - that's what he's looking for. Pace got an extension, and Nagy is the one coaching a bad team right now. This ownership will give Pace full reins to pick another guy, and chances are good that a new front office will have to come in and clean up that mess, too, soon enough.
I know this isn't necessarily a "Trubisky" thread (always damn good to see you and your thoughts, Mongo), but here's a snippet from the Tribune's article today (it's a good article, though some of it feels speculative): " Watson sensed early on the Bears’ interest in him was minimal and shrugged past it. People in his camp, however, were perplexed. Quincy Avery, one of Watson’s private quarterback coaches and a close confidant, scratched his head. “It just seemed like a big mistake on their part,” Avery said. If the Bears were truly on the hunt for a franchise-changing quarterback, Avery wondered, why wouldn’t they do the full gamut of homework on a two-time recipient of the Davey O’Brien Award, given to the top quarterback in college football? Why hadn’t the Bears held a private workout with Watson or taken him to dinner as they had with Trubisky and Patrick Mahomes? Instead, they met with Watson during the assembly-line interview process at the combine and for a bit after his pro-day workout. That was it. “Honestly,” Avery said, “I thought that either they had some kind of wild process where they were going to try to sneak under the radar and grab Deshaun because they had heard so many positive things about him. Or it was an organization with a bunch of dysfunction that wasn’t prepared to be successful or didn’t have the pieces in place to truly take the next steps.” " ... " “Honestly,” Avery said, “I thought they were trying to make something that wasn’t there. … Deshaun was a proven winner. The Bears were trying to make Mitch Trubisky into a winner. You’re trying to create something that hasn’t necessarily been seen.” "
From what I saw the switch did nothing for the A-Gap runs. What it did help with was they seemed to do a far better job picking up stunts with Whitehair at C. Defensive fronts have been killing our interior OL with twists this season. The first sack of the game was actually from a stunt but it was Massie's fail, not the interior. It looked better with Whitehair in the middle. As for reading a D, of course any QB worth his salt has to be able to do this and Trubisky is useless at it. Most Center's can do this too, and do. In Trubisky and Daniels the Bears have neither. In fairness this is another logical reason for making the switch. Er, no, Pace was an idiot who did ignore the obvious choice. The fact he mortgaged the house to make such a move only piles up the stupidity. Pace tied his wagon to the Trubisky pick, he should be fired for it.
Jesus H Christ. The AM670 afternoon guys speculating that Pace was that in love with Trubisky that his mind was made up. In fairness to Pace, is the only logical rationale. Pace is too good a scout to ignore him for any other reason. If that is indeed the case, Pace made up his mind during the 2016-17 NCAA season. And that's fucking scary, because Mitch looked like a lame duck game 1 against Georgia before rebounding to do some enormous bumslaying against the Illini then James Madison university. He shredded Pitt's outdated 4-3 (Nathan Peterman was the opposing quarterback) then beat a good Florida State who was ranked #8 at the time. He then gets t-bagged against VT as I posted above. Somewhere in 2 noteworthy wins out of 6 games, (I'll even concede 3 with the Illini even though Lovie led them to 3 wins that season,) Ryan Pace made the decision? Is that the defense? I agree with Rob and Ev, Pace should not get another draft spin. That's sheer negligence.
This is incredibly damning. Pace decided who he was drafting. He decided it early. I suspect he looked at Scrubisky and thought he looked like a young Drew Brees. With that said, Trubisky was on MY list of QB's. Mahomes was #1, Trubisky was #2, and Watson was #3. As a side note, the Bears are calling this Trubisky's best game of the year. Mahones? He came back from an injury this week and threw 2.5x the yards Trubisky did. They chalked his "uneven" performance up to being rusty. Not fucking kidding. Our QB throws for 170 yards, and THAT is a good game by our standards. Mahomes threw for 450 yards and his press is saying he had a sub par game.
It’s amazing what “fans” of this team will do to excuse piss poor play. He had a handful of good throws. That’s it. He also had a metric ton of bad, but against the hapless lions that was enough to start sucking him off. Inexcusable.
