- Phil Thompson at the Chicago Tribune on QB Tyson Bagent. He quotes head coach Ben Johnson after the win:
“Tyson’s earned the right to be our No. 2 quarterback. I have a lot of confidence in him, thought he played really well today. Efficient with the football. Obviously he had the one pick, left the ball a little bit behind where he’d like to go with it, but other than that, I thought he had a great job with the operation.”
It wasn’t the only ball he left behind a receiver. And he did have three interceptions that were called back by penalty, though one was an obvious free play where he just took his shot.
Overall, I’d agree, though. He had a good afternoon.
Agent was calm in the pocket. Kudos to the offensive line for giving him plenty of time most of the time but when the Jets turned up the heat in the second half and started blitzing, he hung tough in the pocket, avoided the sack and generally delivered good balls under the circumstances.
Bagent spread the ball around to his playmakers in a way that a quarterback without an elite arm or elite mobility needs to do. He worked through his progressions and used his most valuable asset – his head.
- Brad Biggs at the Chicago Tribune quotes head coach Ben Johnson on the fact that the back up running backs got so many runs on Sunday:
“It just so happened that we gave [Kyle Monangai] the ball 30 times apparently. I didn’t even know until I got in my office at the end. But he ran super, super hard. Roschon [Johnson] came in, ran super hard as well. We really like that room and where they’re at right now. And then, of course, you combine that with our bigs up front and the tight ends, the way that they block, it’s fun to watch them go to work.”
One thing that stuck out to me was the fact that Johnson looked quicker and more explosive than he did during the preseason.
I think that may be very good news for the Bears because I’m not sure that Monangai, who apparently broke his thumb on Sunday, is going to be ready to carry the ball against the Packers this week. They will likely want to give Johnson the ball in the same way that they usually mix it up to give it to Monangai behind Swift.
- Biggs on the stadium situation. Commissioner Roger Goodell and Gov. J.B. Pritzker along with select lawmakers met this week to discuss the situation:
I don’t know why Warren did not attend the meeting, but his absence along with that of Chairman George McCaskey was notable.
Getting Goodell and Pritzker in the same room was a significant step, and there’s reason to believe actual progress is being made. Crain’s reported there is momentum toward a deal with Arlington Heights in which the team would pay for the construction of the stadium but would then lease use of the stadium.
If that sounds somewhat like the arrangement they currently have at Soldier Field, it should. The Bears figure they can get friendlier terms in Arlington Heights, but they bought that land with the idea of owning their own stadium, right?
As to the first part, I’m not terribly surprised that Warren, at least, wasn’t there. The day that they hired Warren it seemed to me like he was the wrong guy to handle this. He was commissioner of the Big Ten when they decided not to play football during the pandemic. The Big Ten had to reverse the decision after losing hundreds of millions of dollars once the rest of college football proved that it could be safe to play.
The situation was poorly managed. It is likely that this one has been, too.
I can’t imagine the Bears would shell out billions of dollars to build their own stadium, only to give it to Arlington Heights and lease it from them. Could they arrange it so that the government owned a part of the stadium so that they get a portion of the profit on their investment? That I could see. But the Bears have to own their own stadium. Anything else would be ridiculous.
- Biggs also answers my question:
I’m thinking about the two touchdowns that were overturned in the Jets game. I was wondering if referees have a tendency to call the touchdown when they’re not sure because they know that scoring plays are automatically reviewed? — Tom S., Chicago
That might be a small factor. It’s probably a more conscious decision for officials on plays involving a fumble. Replay provides a safety net when they don’t want to blow a play dead that is happening bang-bang in real time. They can allow the action to play out, and with an automatic review of all turnovers, the replay can sort it out.
I don’t have a lot to add here except that on the second touchdown I thought the call came very late. It looked to me like the officials on both sidelines weren’t sure where the ball was. Finally, one of them raised his arms.
It was an odd sequence. I’m not sure there was enough evidence to overturn either one of those touchdowns. But, under the circumstances, we may be in a situation where the referees are indirectly calling for a review and the replay official, as a result, is taking his best guess rather than looking for indisputable evidence to overturn the call.
Interesting times.