This. The line yesterday was I think 7.5 for the Browns, and that makes it tough. I think the Bears can keep it closer than that, but in order for this to be a game, the pass rush is going to have to be as good as it was against the Bengals and get home on Baker, or it's going to be a long day. I would feel a lot better if Goldman were back. It does seem like Fields is going to start after a week with the 1s, as it seems pretty likely Dalton is out with all the smoke and mirrors Nagy is throwing up. Not where I would have chosen to start him, against a great D, but it is what it is. He's going to have to shake off the rookie jitters and settle down, so we'll see how he responds. If nothing else, at least now I get to see Fields develop this year, heh.
Totally agree, mentioned rollouts myself somewhere. Fields did well. The pick was bad, the false starts were a little frustrating, but these are the things you're gonna get with a rookie playing. There has to be a learning curve.
Daniels/Whitehair/Mustipher have all been pedestrian with Mustipher looking the worst to date. Mustipher has to shape up quick, because while Daniels/Whitehair can play C in a pinch, neither has been especially good at it and I don't think Alex Bars at C is an experiment I want to see. It'd be great if Peters could hold up. 9th ranked OT through 2 weeks per PFF gives me some hope Leno never could going into week 3 against 2 of the league's premier edge rushers for the Browns. Apparently played the whole Cinci game with a dislocated finger or two. Just hate that you need a guy old enough to be on Medicare to protect the blindside. I've never been too much of a believer in "mentoring" because its the NFL--players are playing to be starters, not to be buddy-buddy for someone trying to take their job--but I hope Teven and Borom are learning something watching this very rotund man. At least he's better than Orlando Pace.
If you're a pass blocker and your fingers aren't dislocated you are doing something wrong. Peters has done well. I question if he can hold up. But his experience and intelligence shows up when he's out there. He definitely hasn't lost a step in terms of physicality. He's been punishing some guys.
The false starts were just him being impatient. When you're on the same page with your center those things don't happen.
Okay, so - Justin Fields. I remember saying a couple times in the game thread how he's just a touch late to everything. I think we all identified it. He's clearly a very talented passer, and can absolutely run, but he's a rookie and it showed. I was going to get into the All-22, but someone pointed out to me that JT O'Sullivan (of Bears QB fame) already did that for me, so I took a look. While he is long-winded and a couple plays can drag on for a few seconds too long, he breaks things down excellently with video. Link below. For those who don't have half an hour to watch all the way through, it boils down to this: Fields' footwork is sloppy and throws are coming out late, but whether that's because he's slow to recognize or the footwork is making him slow to throw, that's not always clear. It may well be a situation where one cleans up the other over time. Also, the playcalling is horrendous. On multiple plays there's just no one to throw to against basic man coverage, and that's putting him in a bad position. Either your HC / OC needs to set your QB up for success, or you need to have a QB that can see that and manipulate those plays before the snap. Since Fields is a rookie, I really expect it to be the former. The talent is clearly on display. But it's also his first real action of his rookie year, and it looked it. I'm still very optimistic, but maintain that he needs to survive the damage Nagy and Pace will do to him.
Didn't JT O'Sullivan play for the bears sometime in the early-mid 2000s? The only thing I want to know from this past game--is for the people now saying "Fields isn't ready/he needs more time to sit/adjust/learn game speed" or *insert reason for the continued playing of Dalton as a starter here.* Is the narrative still the same if ARob catches the TD and Mooney makes that big play where he doesn't drop the ball/had nothing but grass in front of him and all he had to do was win a foot race against the coverage DB he's faster than so he scores? Get that's wordy, but if Fields has 2 TD passes--is everybody as conservative or tight-assed about him playing? I don't think so. Sadly, this is the nature of the business of "reaction." I mean... For an evaluator who watches everybody in the league, and not exclusively the bears unless they have a young QB to merit said evaluation--that playcalling from Nagy being horrendous is standard at this point for us languishing bears fans. It's good more people around the league are saying it though. The bears, especially the past couple of years have adjusted approach with the spotlight on, going back to last year asking if Lazor would take over playcalling as well as making Ted Phillips front/center puppet at all pressers this offseason when asked by AM670 then most beat guys why he was at personnel/coaching meetings with GM every week last season. Agreed. Best play at LT since John Tait. And its fucking embarrassing that I'm saying that because there's a 13-year gap of bad/comically bad/J'Marcus Webb and Frank Omiyale bad/below average masquerading as acceptable at the position. Back to Peters, sounds like Fields is starting based on him at media day yesterday saying his gameplan for offense this week is adjusting to Fields' pocket presence as opposed to what he's been planning for with Dalton when he was asked how he handles knowing the ginger will be there versus Fields on special plays/coming in for injury. As long as Foles stays on the sidelines. Let the kid learn. You're giving up a top draft pick this year because you banked on this kid as your future. Cant baby him forever and while you can 'learn on the sidelines' as we assumed with Aaron Rodgers behind Farve and Mahomes behind Alex Smith--you still need reps to put it all together.
Larry Borom moved to IR to make room for Mario Edwards, coming back from suspension. Unsurprising. Nagy also throws a quick surprise presser and announces Fields as starter against the Browns. Worth noting that Browns DC Joe Woods seemingly under a lot of pressure for not blitzing enough weeks 1/2--at least Browns fans on 24/7Sports boards think so (haven't read much browns boards here but maybe Irish or the other dudes can confirm/enlighten without being a cu_nt like a certain Titans fan). Lot of them are also seemingly torn because when in Ohio--you root for the Buckeyes collegiately. Curious to see what Woods' game plan is. If chuckles could figure out that 1 week out of 16 to confuse/dominate Carolina/Teddy B and look like a real DC, no reason to think Woods can't smarten up for a game or two to confuse a rookie, no matter his mobility totality of package you have to plan against. If Peters/Ifedi can look competent 2 weeks in a row, Fields can attack a secondary that's gotten burned on big passes this year. Posted it somewhere, but the Texans had 4 guys with a 20+ yard catch Week 2 as opposed to week 1 where the Chefs had 1 guy with a 20+ yard catch.
That is a fantastic breakdown, I could watch that shit all day. Does anyone have any other channels for All-22 breakdowns like that? For the defense?
I know we normally wait until the next day, but I'll get the ball rolling. How many times have we seen this? A fantastic defensive performance completely blown by a ridiculous offensive outing. And this one was historically bad, even by the amazingly low bar the former Bears offenses have set. EVEN TRESTMAN got more than 1 net yard passing. Positives: * The D came to play. Quinn showed up. Desai seems to be settling in a little bit. It wasn't perfect by any means, but they did amazingly well given the stats in this game. * Fields still has potential, and is just a rookie so much of this can still be turned around. Negatives: * Everything else. Fuck this team. * Look at this box score (team stats, specifically): Bears vs. Browns - Team Statistics - September 26, 2021 - ESPN - half the TOP, half the 1st downs, half the plays, 1/4 the rushing yards, on 1/4 the attempts, 1 yard passing. ONE. 1/10th the total yardage. And man did it feel like it. To sum it up, the immortal Dennis Green: The good news is, we more or less knew how this year would play out, nothing has changed really, outside of the record setting, which is the only part that surprised me. Finding new ways to get incompetent, that's my Bears.
Started the game apathetic, got inevitably disinterested. Marc Trestman levels. Baker Mayfield wasn't good, but he didn't need to be. The Browns' run game is exceptional as shown--which is why you can't fall behind this team on the scoreboard. Enter incompetence. Y'all touched on this in the game thread. No RPO, no max protection, no moving pockets or moving at all, no half-field reads, and no screen passes against a team that was smothering in coverage and too good for your offensive line with only 4. An offensive line--which got exposed, to be kind. Sam Mustipher isn't good, but you have nobody else who can play center. Daniels in 3 games tells me he should walk more than get a pay raise. Cody Whitehair isn't dominating but also often isn't seen--which is good for OL play. Jason Peters wasn't great, but you cant have unreasonable expectations with a perpetually injured 39-year-old who was all but retired until Pace called him. Germaine Ifiedi was not good. Felt bad for Fields a lot. Don't like how he missed two busted coverages in the 1st half with Mooney and the other with Goodwin, but--he got no help from the guru in a visor. Let's get to it. What's the point in keeping Matt Nagy? What was I supposed to be watching today? Everybody sees how bad he is. Greg Olsen said what he's doing 'isn't making it easy to play quarterback.' Nagy doesn't understand the game as its unfolding in real-time or he does and he's actively, stupidly, and stubbornly not adjusting. People thought his plan was purposeful, and to be honest, on several plays it was easy to understand why local beat writers like Dan Durkin and big-channel pundits like Dan Orlovsky are saying it. Hopefully, the locker room starts saying it. I don't care if its Lazor or Tom Herman at this point, time for Pace/sweaty Teddy to sack up and stop the buffoon. Which sucks, because the defense gave a playoff team's effort today. Robert Quinn is beginning to look like the bears won't be saving cap space they thought they would for 2022. Mack showed up. Bush/DHC showed up, which as a rotation is better than Gipson. Jaylon Johnson keeps getting better and better. Roquan was great short of the busted RB coverage Mayfield sailed one on. Mario Edwards Jr. is a beast. Nichols and Blackson were active in a good way. I'm about out of patience with Alec Ogletree. Long out of patience with Eddie Jackson. Good job, megaleg.
Fewest Total Yards Of Total Offense By A Team In A Game | StatMuse - I like how in the game they said it was the lowest for the Bears since 1981, because apparently that was when we set the bar for the entire NFL.
"Be You" - a phrase Nagy got from his grade-school daughter. It's a phrase he uses to completely avoid any and all self-evaluation; a mantra he repeats to get himself to sleep at night, rather than dwelling on the fact that maybe he could actually be doing something wrong. Maybe try not being you, Nagy. Maybe try being someone else; someone successful; someone who hasn't been an abject failure for fucking years on end. We don't want you - we want someone better. Be a better you, that's a fucking start. That's what adults do. Maybe you should spend more time listening to fucking adults who know better than you, rather than your adolescent fucking daughter. Don't be you when you wake up tomorrow, Nagy. Be someone better. Because, fuck, we all hate you and your limpdick bullshit.
Like i said last night, when you're in the moment and the game's on, it can be tough to watch. But while i will always cheer for a Bears win when im watching them, i also know that they're gonna lose games this season, maybe lots of games, and when they do its better that they lose big and in embarrassing fashion like yesterday. This is what its going to take. This is the ownership so spineless that even after the outright humiliation of a 55-10 beating in GB didn't fire anyone right away. It has to be glaringly obvious. I wish it didn't but it does. As for the game itself, that may be the worst display of game planning and play calling ive ever seen. I've been on Nagy's ass for years and even i was amazed at just how utterly clueless that game was from Nagy. Imagine for a second what would've happened if the DL didn't put in an A+ performance? As it was the Browns still should've won this game by 30points, and would've if they didn't have a mediocre QB. The entire O-Line gets an F but the worst imo was Ifedi yesterday. His now customary FS and a failure at everything else he did. Even his sets just looked wrong at times and his play balance was all over the place. BWW & I touched on this stuff with Tim on the main board when Pace resigned Ifedi instead of Morgan Moses. The poor balance and technique is something Ifedi showed when he was at G. If it shows up there in a phonebox its def gonna show up when you're playing in space against an edge rusher. I gave Mack criticism after the Rams game but its been good to see him put together 2 good games in a row now. And he also went back in and played hurt in the 2nd half. Extra credit. JJ was credited with zero PDs yesterday and that is a criminal act. They need to look at how they make this stat. A PD seems to be when a player physically gets their hands on the ball and breaks it up etc. Gipson got a PD for the one he batted at the line. But JJ was a whisker away from another pick which he clearly got his hands on and stopped the pass so why no PD? He also made a great play pushing OBJ OB to force an incompletion. I guess he didn't get credited with a PD cos his hands never touched the ball? Dumb. He forced and incompletion, he "defensed" the pass. The way they count that stat is wrong. The ONE area the Bears do have some depth is DL and even without Goldman yesterday they were, to a man, outstanding. They'll keep the Bears in some games longer than they deserve. They may even win a couple against bad teams. But ultimately they're gonna be wasted again and that hurts. Like Mack, i ripped Desai after week 1, but wanna give credit to him after yesterday also. So you've got the DL playing well, any chance you could teach the DBs how to tackle now? If there was any justice in the world Nagy(and Pace) would already be fired. Nagy would at least have the play calling taken away. I think he'll cling on to it for 1 more week. But the Lions are coming to town and they are still in the honeymoon period with their meatball HC. They are gonna come in and play hard. If the Bears O doesn't really show up its gonna be another pitiful showing and that i predict could be the final nail in Nagy's play calling coffin.
The score was 42-0 at the half. And the game was absolutely as bad as the score would indicate. Yet Trestman got to coach the rest of the year. There is nothing, unless Nagy is arrested for felony charges, that will move the McCaskeys to take any in-season action. It's cuz they're classy, you know. And because the Mara's would never do that.
At the end of the season, i hope this is the game we point to as the reason Nagy got fired. You know, when we go back and try to figure out the whys.
The crazy thing is none of what happened yesterday surprised anyone who follows the Bears. We all knew given the state of the o-line, and the Nagy factor, what happened yesterday was bound to happen eventually and could happen again.
If you mean everything is downhill from here, I agree, because Beyouboi may have yet to call an even bigger whopper.
I live/work in DC and everyone I'm talking to this morning (mainly WFT fans but also Cowboys fans) are blown away that Nagy hasn't been fired yet. When fans of WFT are blown away by this incompetence and mismanagement... fuck.
