Month: September 2024

Defense

1. The Bears obviously, correctly, expected the Titans to be run heavy today. They played a lot of 7 man, base fronts. Unfortunately, they didn’t do a great job in the first half, allowing more than 7 yards per rush. It looked to me like the Titans started to attack the Bears around the edges and off tackle in the second quarter and they were off to the races. Kudos to the the Bears as they made some corrections and did better in the second half, shutting the Titans out.
2. The Bears were getting pressure from their front four without help. New pass rusher Darrell Taylor looks to be the real deal. His weakness, however, is reportedly stopping the run. See my first point. Nevertheless, Taylor looks like he can apply enough pressure opposite Montez Sweat to cause trouble for opposing offenses this year.
3. The Bears had a tough time covering Calvin Ridley out there. They weren’t doing anything special to stop him, probably thinking that Jaylon Johnson could handle him. Indeed, Johnson should have been able to handle him. He didn’t.
4. The Bears defense held the Titans to 4 for 16 on third and fourth down which is excellent.

Offense

1. The game plan for the Bears was to run the ball and protect Caleb Williams. The offensive line flat out let them down. The Bears ran for only 3.8 yards per carry and it looked a lot worse than that before the fourth quarter where they started having some success running around the edges.
2. There were several instances where the Bears had poor protection including one where Coleman Shelton let a defensive lineman through like he was a turn-style. They lost the battle at the line of scrimmage and that nearly lost them to war.
3. Williams had third down and short at least three times in the first half where, instead of taking the short throw, he went hunting big plays that didn’t connect. This is the NFL, baby. We’re begging you. Take the first down like a professional. Otherwise you’re just Justin Fields out there.
4. Williams had his share of troubles today with timing. He was frequently late with his throws. And the longer this game went on, the more inaccurate he got. I think the Titans might have been in his head a bit.
5. It’s worth noting that the Titans defense didn’t do anything fancy for the majority of this game. They were getting pressure with their front four and didn’t need to. It’s notable that they did start to do some more in the second half to perhaps keep Williams head spinning a bit and they thought they’d be going for the throat.
6. The number of tipped passes was notable today. Williams isn’t a very tall quarterback and you wonder if this is going to be a chronic problem.
7. Jeffrey Simmons was a monster in this game. The Bears interior linemen basically couldn’t block him. Guy is an all pro and looks it.
8. I kept hearing all week about how offensive coordinator Shane Waldron needs to be a better play caller than Luke Getsy was last year. I don’t think people understand that being an offensive coordinator isn’t just about calling plays. By far the most important job the offensive coordinator has is to “coordinate” the offense. The Bears offense didn’t look very coordinated today. It was partly having a rookie quarterback. But that wasn’t all of it.
9. Looking at Williams feet, they weren’t very calm in the pocket. He saw a lot of pressure and there’s a reason why that may have been the case. But I never thought he looked comfortable. The good news is that I did occasionally see him drop back and hit his back foot foot and fire to the correct receiver the way that you see the best quarterbacks in the league do. That was definitely when he was at his best.
10. It sounds like I’m picking on him but Williams also has to work on that body language. It was very evident that he got frustrated during the game and you really shouldn’t let that show. Not if you’re going to be a leader on the team.
11. The Bears were 4 for 15 on third and fourth down which isn’t great. I’d say they did OK in the red zone because they were rarely there. The swing pass to DeAndre Swift for the two point conversion on the last touchdown was a good play.

Miscellaneous

1. You never quite know what’s going to come out of the mouth of Mark Sanchez. He is a different kind of dude. Not necessarily bad. Just very different.
2. As far as special teams goes, Velus Jones muffed a kick return. Again. He barely saw the field after that and not at all on kickoff returns. DeAndre Carter has 66 yard kick return. He looks like a good pick up. The Bears had a number of penalties on special teams and they’re going to want to clean that up.
3. One of my favorite players from the preseason was Daniel Hardy. It was great to see you and get a blocked punt. Jonathan Owens picked up the ball and took it to the house. Nice play.
4. The Bears finished with 7 penalties for 55 yards. Nothing horrible.
5. Turnovers were, of course, the reason the Bears were in this game. The Will Levis fumble, the blocked punt for a touchdown, Jaylon Johnson’s interception with about 2 minutes left and Tyreek Stevenson’s pick 6 were basically the reason the Bears scored. They’ll need to keep that up unless they start playing better.
6. The win was nice and I know that the team is feeling pressure to do that. But as far as I’m concerned this season is 100% about Caleb Williams and how he progresses.

He had a rough day today at 14 of 29 for 93 yards passing with a 55.2 quarterback rating. He had some good streaks of play and he also missed some throws and did some things that I’m sure he’d want to have back. There were times during the game when he was very evidently frustrated. I think those kinds of ups and downs are what you get from a rookie quarterback. And despite the fact that many fans in Chicago seem to think that this guy was going to come out of the womb as an All Pro, he’s got a way to go.

So here we have the benchmark. This is where Williams begins the journey. Now we get to watch and see how he develops and gets better over the course of the season. If he’s significantly better halfway through the year and in the top half of the league by the end of the season, that’s going to be a hell of a good year for the Chicago Bears. Let’s all hope that’s the way it progresses and that the fans and media are smart enough to know that.

• Brad Biggs at the Chicago Tribune answers your questions:

“Are you surprised by any of the roster moves they made or players they kept? — @jtbcubs

I don’t think anything the Bears did in establishing an initial 53-man roster Tuesday was a surprise, and I’ll get into some specific questions folks submitted below. I had projected that **Velus Jones** would be waived, but the Bears kept the 2022 third-round draft pick. That probably signals they have plans for him beyond returning kickoffs and other areas on special teams.”

“Perhaps Jones can have more success than he did the previous two seasons. It’s difficult to give up on a Day 2 draft pick, especially one with Jones’ combination of speed and strength.”

I hope I have to eat these words, but if Jones had anything to give on the field, he would have shown it by now. His value is as a kick returner and he couldn’t even do that. The very first kickoff of the pre-season he bobbled it. Statistically he’s not bad in this capacity but can you think of a single kickoff return last year where you thought, “Wow. That guys is a difference maker.”?

He’ll probably be a better running back than he was a wide receiver but, even if he develops, he’ll be nothing more than what amounts to a gadget guy for a long time yet.

• Biggs continues:

“Will the Bears try to sign a veteran quarterback to help with development? — @dillonbirch__

“When the team did not re-sign **Brett Rypien** to the practice squad, my hunch was he was hunting an opportunity on a 53-man roster elsewhere. That happened when the Minnesota Vikings signed Rypien on Thursday. Plan B for the Bears was adding undrafted rookie **Austin Reed** to the practice squad. I’m not surprised the Bears opted for Reed instead of a player with more experience.

Nor am I. But when Reed and Rypien were both released my first thought was that the Bears would try to find a better option on the street for this spot.

Don’t get me wrong. I like Reed fine. But I don’t see the upside that I would like to in a developmental quarterback. But perhaps the Bears were impressed with how he played in the preseason games despite getting almost no snaps in practice.

• Biggs also has a thought about the status of fullback Khari Blasingame:

“Unless I missed one, the last fullback (at least a dedicated fullback for the full season) **Shane Waldron** worked with was **Heath Evans** in 2008 with the New England Patriots.

Waldron was an offensive quality control assistant that season — his first in the league — and was promoted to tight ends coach the next year.

It’s something I have been wondering about since **Matt Eberflus** hired him because Waldron didn’t have a fullback in his offense the past three seasons as the Seattle Seahawks coordinator. Before that, he worked for the Los Angeles Rams under **Sean McVay**, who went away from having a fullback on his roster. When McVay and Waldron were assistants for Washington in 2016 on **Jay Gruden**’s staff, there wasn’t a fullback (I’m not counting the time Waldron spent between stints when he was in the United Football League, at UMass and spent one season at the prep level.).

Sixteen years after Evans and Waldron were together in New England, will there be a fullback for the Bears offense?

That question will be answered as we move toward Tuesday’s roster cuts. I think there is a decent chance Khari Blasingame is on the team — a projected 53-man roster is below — but there are myriad factors to consider.”

I was glad to see that Blasingame was, indeed, signed to the practice squad with the evident idea of elevating him on game day this week.

One thing I’ll say for certain. Last year under Luke Getsy the running game always looked better when blasting game was in the game. I always thought Getsy was underrated when it came to designing run plays to begin with. And good things seemed to happen when he had a fullback on the field. I was often left to wish he had used Blasingame a bit more often.