This is still Mongo's fault. Feel free to add/augment anything I missed. 1) Matt Nagy versus himself. Sean McVay said in an interview yesterday it would be naive not to expect Fields in some capacity as they form their gameplan, whether it be at QB or as a decoy/gadget. Believe it or not, I think the Rams defense is vulnerable in the sense that they hired Raheem Morris, a Lovie 4-3 Tampa 2 devout to be the defensive coordinator. He when hired during Winter that he intends to keep the defense as is, or the 3-4, citing the ol' "if it ain't broke, don't fix it." He's obviously smarter than Mel Tucker in the 'fish out of water' sense where he's running the opposite scheme of what's successful--but perhaps we see some Chuckles-esqe situations where he won't attack the Bears' assumed weak OLine and just sends 4, albeit he has a good front 4 to send when you have Donald in there. Back to Nagy--I think short stuff will especially work and the Rams D is ripe for picking on when attacked correctly. But again, the ego: like Erin and Greg Jennings against Lovie with simple quick slants, I expect to see 1 uber-successful one before he ignores it/gets too cute. 2) Aaron Donald versus Mustipher/Daniels/Whitehair. We've talked since 2018 when the bears made Aaron Donald a non-factor because Daniels who was the RG and Whitehair who was the C at the time constantly pinched him and prevented him from blowing shit up in the backfield. Bill Belichick copied it in the superbowl (along with how the bears used Akiem Hicks to blow up the C/G with Malcolm Brown). 2019 and 2020 obviously different stories. And last I checked, Andy Dalton can't run fast. 3) Jason Peters vs Leonard Floyd. So I thought his first few plays of the preseason finale, Peters looked every bit of a 39 year old signed off the streets. But then he settled in. A positive for a preseason game, but one probably meant to be taken with a grain of salt. Nonetheless, a battle I'll be watching. Floyd is presently listed as questionable, but it is worth noting that Rams edge depth is injured. Terrell Lewis, Ogbonnia, and Chris Garrett are all on IR/doubtful. BIG if, but if the bears offense can stay on the field, gassing Floyd if he plays and Hollins makes life a lot easier. 4) Who does Matt Stafford pick on? No Kyle Fuller. No Buster Skrine (sorry Rob). A promising, yet growing pained 2020 season for Jaylon Johnson. Now Kindle Vildor is CB2 and Duke Shelly starting Nickel. The CB position especially is assumed weak, but this is where you see who has it and doesn't. 5) Goldman/Hicks/Mack/Quinn vs. Rams OLine. I know Robert Quinn immediately is a negative that will be blocked by a TE, but EG looked motivated in preseason at times. Him disrupting gives Hicks and/or Mack a 1 on 1. 6) Noquan and Ogletree versus Rams run game. So I pointed out in last year's Rams thread, and have no reason to think there'll be a change unless McVay completely revamped his offensive strategy--but 90% of the Rams run plays were single back-formation. McVay is known for never changing personnel on the field to confuse DCs, but now they upgraded the RB position when they traded for Sony Michel from New England. Mixed with Henderson, who has injury problems of his own--I'm thinking DT being on IR is a blessing. Great game for Noquan to have a game/Ogletree to have a revenge game. 7) Bears weapons vs Rams dbacks, specifically Robinson/Mooney versus Jaylen Ramsey. My inner meatball fan loved when AR and JR jawed at eachother and Mooney pantsed him on a pass Mitch couldn't locate. Ramsey is beatable and highly paid. Again, worth noting that the Rams CB2, Darious Williams is 5'9 and is questionable with an ankle injury. I know who the red-headed retard should target... I'd love to see Cole Kmet have a big breakout game, and think he can, given the Rams' SS Rapp is 5'11. 8) Referee Assignment - We get Brad Allen, who we haven't seen since regular season in the end of September 2019 against the Vikes. Called an even game (7 penalties apiece 50 yards for vikes 55 for bears). 9) Andy Dalton. Don't fuck it up, ginger... 10) Do the bears score in the 3rd quarter? 11) Does Monty get more than 10 carries? I won't answer. My blood pressure can't handle fathoming the enormous possibility that the answer is 'no.' I see a close game until the 4th when the rams pull away/bears defense gets gassed because they're on the field too long. Matt Stafford is himself, middling for 3 quarters with a lame duck pass of 4 before turning it on in the 4th. 30-13. If the bears can't stop the run, 45-9. I'll give them a chance if they win the turnover battle. We've all seen what Stafford can't do in critical game situations. But that would mean EJax needs to shut his fucking trap and not get called for a penalty when he gets a pick.
It would be soooo Nagy to call a play where Fields lines up at WR with Dalton in the shotgun. Smartest guy in the room putting the health of the franchise at risk on a gadgety joke of a play call. Wasn't Trubs hurt on this type of play last season during the stretch when Foles was starting? Good opening test for Desai to see if he can scheme against what you point out is a predictable offensive approach. As for Ogletree, I'm all about starting guys against their former teams, unless the guy's name is Trey Burton. I know it was only camp/preseason but Ogletree played with a chip on his shoulder and I imagine that chip will be even bigger on Sunday. So yes to the Ogletree revenge game narrative. I think Nagy tries to establish the run early on, it fails due to the o-line being shit, then abandons it for the final 3 quarters of the game. So I wouldn't be surprised if the answer to this is no. 27-10 Rams. They don't play great but control every aspect of the game and take advantage of our offensive blunderings and piss poor special teams to pull away in the second half.
Good write up. Rams have 5 new starters on defense and a new DC. Leonard Floyd won't repeat his 2020 performance. Donald is still Donald but Ramsey is slightly overrated. This defense is ripe for a regression. Not that I expect Andy F'n Dalton to be the guy that proves it. Bears defense has to get turnovers. It would be nice if they could score on one. Dalton can't turn the ball over. The running game absolutely has to click. I look for Kmet and anyone playing the slot to have big games. I fully expect to see Fields lined up in the backfield with Dalton at some point. Because Nagy. Fuck, he did that with Chase Daniel and Trubisky how does he resist the urge now? He's probably sitting in his office right this second giggling to himself about it. I actually think this is winnable game. Not that I expect them to win...but I think our defense is fresh and I like that we have Ogletree in and Goldman back. I expect Nichols and whoever else rotates in to make an impact. Make the Rams a one dimensional team and hope your coverage can hold up while your pass rush gets home just enough to make an impact. That's how you win. I expect the Rams to win by a touchdown. But wouldn't be shocked if the Bears win by 3.
Rumors flying today that Eddie Goldman has an undisclosed injury. Severe enough to force the Bears to bring in some NTs to try out and possibly sign. That would be a huge blow.
Signed to the practice squad. I imagine if Goldman is hurt, we see a roster move as early as today/by Friday that one of these guys is elevated to 53 man. Let's not also forget Mario Edwards is suspended the first 2 games for his PEDs thing, meaning Bilal Nichols, Hicks, and Blackson are only 5 techs on 53 man. Goldman and Tonga the NTs.
First injury report comes out this afternoon. Goldman being out would really throw a wet blanket on my already fragile and muted optimism.
Yeah, fuck that guy. I hope he chimes in so I can tell him how much we all hate him for it. I had anxiety about this all day. Hate that this is the news. Gonna be a tough night, Sunday... The thing I'm going to be looking for, and will all season until he convinces otherwise, is whether or not Eddie Jackson is ready to play football. He needs to make a material impact on the game, and not just by how much he talks. Given that Stafford likes to float some deep balls, and the familiarity they have with him, I would think this is a prime opportunity for Jackson to make plays. While this team has plenty of needs, what it can't have is another big contract player doing nothing for the team. So Jackson has to actually go play football.
That asshole should be here with us for the oncoming shitshow. Until I read this, I had completely blocked this game from my memory. My "Bears Fan Amnesia" is so goddamn strong sometimes, so I had to go look it up, I started the post game thread: Tuesday Morning Thoughts The best part of this, heh: "5. Foles sucks. Yes he was under pressure but throwing those ducks and ESPECIALLY the int in the end zone, Cutler-esque game killing mojo right there. I don’t really want Mitch back, but there’s a reason the choice was so hard for them. Could be worse I guess, we could’ve had Dalton." I spoke these words into existence. I apologize to everyone here, and Bears fans everywhere. Maybe the Ginger Rocket will prove me wrong. Re-reading that thread above, it reminded me how badly we were gashed in the rungame. And we might be without Goldman again, this is honestly a key matchup. Them running as well as they did opened up a lot for Goff, and Stafford, while he was a Lion, is much better than Goff. The fucking amnesia again. How could I forget the complete lifelessness coming out of the locker room every game? This is Nagy, I'm going to say no. This. But 10 is a super low number that even Nagy has only done a handful of times. I'd take the over if we were still doing that game, but I think a more interesting over/under for that would be about 15. I'd take the under there. Agreed. This shouldn't be a complete blowout like last year, assuming this team is at all improved from last year. But we will see. And it is Stafford in a new offense, and we've historically had success against him, so there's that. Goddamn it's great for the season to almost be here. BEAR DOWN.
Good write up Pat. 12) Bears Pass Rush vs Rams Passing Game They're gonna have to stop the run of course, but to me a lot of the Bears keeping the Rams off the scoreboard is gonna come down to how well they cope with their passing attack. We know the pass rush will have to get home consistently in order to give the secondary cover, but i think they will find that very hard. The Rams don't run a bombs away Offense, they were actually a bottom half team in YPA last year. There's a lot quick rhythm passing. Those quick PA's, little boots, i think McVey will be well aware that if he gets the ball out of Stafford's hand he's at an immediate advantage. The good thing as i see it, is that McVey's Offense is like a finely tuned sports car. When it all clicks its very very good, but there's a lot of moving parts under the hood, a lot of timing plays in that Offense and when things get out of alignment it can look like crap, see Dolphins & 9ers games last year. No question Goff was at the heart of a lot of those problems, but Padfford is new, the time to get him and this Rams O is early while they are maybe not in sync. That said i would still give the Rams the clear edge in this battle. We've seen many times opponents be able to nullify the Bears pass rush with a quick passing attack. Kupp v JJ is no better than a push for us. Woods vs whoever else is a straight up mismatch. Higbee is a very good pass catching TE. The approach we see from Dessai will be very interesting. If he plays a lot of zone then he's just inviting the Rams to dice us up. Man is riskier but it would force the Rams more towards big play attempts which isnt the staple of their Offense and may give our pass rush more time to play with. We really have very little idea how Dessai will play it, preseason told us nothing re this. This is something i've wondered about ever since the trade was made. How well will Padfford fit this offense? As you say, he's typically been a take his shot kind of QB. The Rams did sign Desean Jackson this offseason, dunno what he has left in the tank but he's been one of the great home run hitters the last 10-12 years. Im not sure he'll be on the field a lot but when he is, Bears take note!
I was bugged for a bit because it was only 1 guy reporting it, and while I've liked/trusted Adam Jahns as far as local beat guys go, he's been wrong before as they all have. Then the bears just shit out their injury report. If it were conditioning-related, I don't know why they react/overreact by signing a NT and a 5 tech off the streets (Hunt and Square), each with starters experience. One I expect temporary, as mentioned--Mario Edwards is suspended the first 2 games and he is 1 of 6 DLinemen the bears kept along with Blackson, Goldman, Tonga, Hicks, and Nichols. We'll know more today I'm sure.
I read yesterday Goldman has an ankle and knee problem. So that definitely could be conditioning and taking off a year.
