Monday Morning Thoughts (I'll try to keep the cursing to a minimum)

It was your post on him drafting tackles that put me over the edge, combined with the fact that Nagy is looking more and more like a bust of a coaching hire. He's Jerry Angelo to a T, poor success in early rounds, finds late round gems, drafts defense well, inexplicably makes draft day trades that don't make the team better, even trading for a massive FA to try and get the team over the hump when there are still holes everywhere created by him. And can't draft a QB to save his life. Hell he even drafted a first round TE! Watch Kmet go the Greg Olsen route and light it up in Carolina.

The Circle of Bears says next up is a Phil Emery clone, focused on next gen stats and offense, and also, as always, needs to be the smartest man in the room.

 

Bobby Massie out for a month.

 

I like the rant but I have to strongly disagree with this point here. First there were 58 seconds left. 3rd and 13. You have the #1 3rd down defense in the league. And you think calling a time out to possibly get the ball back with over 40 seconds to go in the half knowing you get the 2nd half kickoff is dumb? That TD drive was 100% on Pagano and his shitty non aggressive play calling. Nagy has been shitting the bed but let’s not get crazy here.

 

Just in case you haven't blown your top enough already with this team, holy shit.

Good, Leno?? You think you're playing good??!! Jesus Mary & Joseph.

 

We don't disagree enough on here so thanks for this. I will agree Pagano's extra soft playcalling deserves some serious shit here. However, I'm not even close to letting Nagy off the hook.

1. The defense did their standard bit here of letting up *almost* enough, so it was 4th and 1. Technically the defense did get the stop. In fact, thanks to our timeout, there's more time on the clock for the Saints to decide what to do.
2. There was 34 seconds when the Saints snapped the ball on 4th down, with 14 on the playclock. Assume for a minute they didn't go for it. First, they would run the clock down to 20 seconds unless the Bears spent the final timeout. With the punt from midfield, we're talking about anywhere from the 2 yard line to the 25 yard line, assuming we don't have a good punt return (which given it hasn't happened all year, is a pretty safe bet). With no timeouts and 40 seconds, or 1 timeout and 20 seconds, you're telling me in this game, unlike every other game we've ever played with this coach, Nagy's going hard down the field to score points? That's delusion. We'd have seen some safe "run" hoping for the miracle breakaway that has a 1% chance of happening in this scheme. With the timeout, maybe they take a shot?
3. They were playing soft well before this, giving up at least one first down on this drive already. Nagy has eyes the same as you or I, so he can factor that into the decision.
4. Not related to this point, but rewatching this drive got me all riled up. Fucking squib kick to start it? You play scared with a squib kick, you play scared with prevent soft coverage, but you play "aggressive" with taking a timeout? I don't buy it. At all. It's easier to explain this with stupidity than some master "genius" plan.

 

Oh joy

 

We will have to disagree with each other here. But understand you can’t have it both ways. You can’t beat Nagy for not being aggressive enough at times and then beat him up for being aggressive at different times. Your Monday morning QBing. If the Bears would have gotten a good enough stop to avoid the 4th and short or even more got the stop on 4th he would have been murdered for not trying to save time with the Saints backed up.

 

I was listening to Waddle and Silvy when that news broke. Ifedi can play if he passes his tests. Because he is a close contact not a failed test. At least the Titans are horrible at pressuring the QB.

 

My pessimist sees a perfect day for Jadaveon Clowney to have his breakout game. I don't trust Leno. I got 2 minutes into Ev's clip of Leno before I turned it off. The man is a professional turnstile at this stage of his career. There was a time he could be an above average pass blocker most of a game--but those days are long gone. The only positive I can find is that he has a disposable contract this offseason.

Also, how can you stand Silvy?

 

I live in NY. I gotta take what I can get. On my drive home I can listen to the ESPN Chicago app or NY sports radio. Which sucks.

 

I hear you, but I will say this is not a Monday Morning QB if I was screaming it at the TV at the time he did it. And all of the things to ding him on, this matters pretty low since it ended up not mattering and the Saints scored without even using that TO. Being aggressive is one thing, being foolhardy is another. The Saints weren't backed up, we gave them the 30-something. They were at the 40 or something when he called the TO. I dunno, I feel like only homers would have been giving him shit for not leaving time on the clock there, in this specific situation.

I guess what gets me the most is Nagy is big on "high risk, low reward" type plays. At *best* we're probably talking about getting into FG range if everything goes right. Remember, the previous drive the Bears were on the 11 and had to settle for a FG. Instead, the Saints turn it into 7. The 4th and 5, we were up 3, it's not time to panic, it's time to be calm and collected. Not play like a pussy, but play SMART. Or maybe put another way, if he's making the right calls, percentage wise we should be seeing them pan out more than fail. But I don't see that happening, which to me says they're low percentage calls.

Silvy is a homer but he doesn't bother me that much and you balance that with Waddle, but I *much* prefer Hoge and Jahns, which you can also podcast for free. Less hot takes and more reasonable discussion. They only do two a week or so, and only an hour each so it's a lot less "content" but much tighter for it. Without a commute anymore I rarely get to listen to much these days.