Seeing how we're just gonna have a single thread for rants thought we could have one for wins too which we just keep going thru the season(somehow i suspect the rants thread will get more use heh). So Bears 20 - 17 Bungals - This game really was a bungle bowl at times. Whoever can be less dumb wins. Flags everywhere. Although in fairness every game i've watched this season the officials have been making themselves the lead actors and no more so than with these stupid taunting flags everywhere. But hey, the NFL is at least ruining the product evenly so....yay? - Have to start with Fields don't I. I have 0 interest in his numbers from yesterday. They look shit on paper but completion % would've been around 65% without 3 drops and there was also a chunk play to Kmet called back for a totally BS OPI. Fields should also have had 2 TD passes. There's 2 things tho that stick out. I lost count how many times Trubisky and processing came up in posts and processing is still very much an issue for Fields. He needs to speed up the mental part which i hope he can. I think they're actually using him pretty well so far tbh. I want him to get some game time but not have it all on his shoulders. Doesn't look ready to be a full time starter yet and thats ok. The other thing i wanted to mention, and blang touched on this, the throwing motion. I dunno does it look like an overly long windup? @BearsWillWin whats your take on this? - OL was poor once again, particularly in the run game. DJ Reader is a stout NT but that DL is no great shakes and their secondary is terrible. We should've been moving the ball on them all day. Think it was pat or crazy who asked where are the off tackle/stretch runs? I agree, far too much A/B gap with no success. Monty's best run of the day was again, his vision to find the cutback lane and skill to hit it. That might be the worst game i saw Mustipher play. He was frequently overpowered. Power is something Mustipher lacks and i dont see that getting much better. Now you don't have to be a power C to make it in the NFL, plenty have. But if you don't have great power you need to be a master technician and he isnt that either. Having an answer at C would be so useful with the lack of picks etc, but im starting to wonder if Mustipher isnt it. - ARob has had a weird start to the season. Used poorly in week 1 then very up and down this week. A nice route for his TD grab and punked a DB on a 3rd down throw predictably short of the sticks. But i've got ARob down for what should've been 3 TDs yesterday. The deep pass from Fields is an open and shut case. That ball was right on the money you have to make that. Terrible drop. And tbh i think he should've had the one before that too on the jumpball fade. CB played it well but thats a jumpball with a height advantage and he barely elevated at all. Think he could've made that. - Truthfully only Monty stood out on Offense. Mooney's numbers of 6 for 66 look ok, but he also had a drop on that corner sideline route. That was a good throw by Fields, trying to run through it with the ball hitting one hand isnt good enough. - Front 7 had a great game. Hicks started to take over in the 2nd half. Nichols was consistently good all game. - Did Quinn just have his best game as a Bear? God it doesnt say much does it. - Duke Shelley got to play nickel and he was mostly bad. Which means he was better than #23 last week who was abysmal. Shelley prob keeps the job but that is an area where deep passing attacks will rip us a new one this season. - Health will play a key role obvs, but if he's healthy i see them starting Gingus Khan again next week. I suspect he could've played on in a pinch yesterday but they wanted to give Fields some game time, which with a big 2nd half lead made sense imo.
I honestly don't think it's a processing issue. I think Fields knows what he's looking at. Most the time anyway. Obviously there are errors in his game at times. He holds the ball a long time. He did so at Ohio State. He's always looking for the homerun. That's his mentality and he has to retrain his brain for the NFL. He will. Aaron Rodgers started off the same way. Always holding the ball...always looking for the biggest play possible on every down. Not comparing Fields to Rodgers but it's a similar style. The windup is odd because it doesn't show up on every throw. I noticed it in his college highlights as well. He can do the quick throw. But his natural motion seems to be the long windup. His mechanics in general seem good to me. I do worry about fumbles if he continues to hold the ball the way he does when he isn't throwing. I think his throwing motion came up during his pro day at Ohio State. Pretty sure it was something Chris Simms used as a knock on him. Overall it really looks like he needs to speed up his internal clock and also physically get the ball out quicker. That's gonna come with time. The Bears got speed at WR for Fields, not Dalton. Because when Fields buys time and holds the ball these speedy receivers should find space.
Forgot about the horrible OPI call. That was bad. I think he's a C version of Charles Leno. Leno came on and looked good for a guy that was drafted in the 7th round. We said at the time he was playing well for who he was but his ceiling was likely really low. I think the same could be said about Mustipher. We've probably already seen his best football or close to his best football because it's unlikely his ceiling is very high. Last week he got some really good help from James Daniels. This week Daniels was bad himself so Mustipher looked even worse.
Some awfully good Bears have worn that number. Devin Hester, Shaun Gayle, Dave Whitsell. Even Jerry Azumah and Marty Carter did enough wearing it to not embarrass the number. That fuck last week should have his number taken away.
I said this in the rant thread but there was a rumor last night from beat reporters that the Bears think Dalton could have torn his ACL and that's why they didn't want him back in the game despite Dalton saying he could go. I think Dalton was in fear of being Wally Pipped.
This morning I'm see it being called a bone bruise on Twitter. That leads me to think he will play next week.
Wally Pipp was a 1st baseman for the NY Yankees. Got injured during a game...Lou Gehrig took over and then went on to play in a record 2130 games. A record that stood for a long time until Cal Ripken broke it. Also Gehrig was pretty damn good at hitting baseballs. Gehrig was in fact so good he had a disease named after him.
Googled this and was surprised to learn bruises are common on knee and ankle twists and sprains. Had to answer my own question because you're all useless.
God. Graphics and everything. Thank you Bww. Man, Pipp must have been pissed off for being shown up like that. Kind of a smack in the face wasn't it?
That is crazy you mention that cos right after i hit send i thought how it would be just like Pace to give him a contract extension at the end of the season that the excuse makers will say didn't break the bank, but the point is you'd now be overpaying another crap player. Not to mention the fact that simply by virtue of him getting paid they're gonna then play him for 2+years despite being crap. Must be testicular based. Cos all Gehrig ever did was crush balls.
Oh meant to add. Pretty sure there's wasn't a single rollout called while Fields was in there. You have a guy a dangerous as Fields you don't once get him outside with the option to run or throw?? Go back to the visor, you'll still look like a dick but it makes it harder to see your ugly face when you're starting down at that chinese takeaway menu of a play sheet. Asshole.
Right. Imagine the shock and bewilderment of the doctors when a man dies from a disease with his name. Amazing coincidence.
