Category: New England Patriots

Lovie Smith as Defensive Coordinator? No. Please, no.

Brad Biggs at the Chicago Tribune answers your questions:

“Any chance Lovie Smith is fired? If he is, and Vic Fangio leaves for a head coach job, is it at all conceivable for Lovie to return to the Bears and coach the defense? — Gregory M., South Side

“I’m not qualified to speculate on Smith’s job status at Illinois after a stunning 63-0 loss to Iowa, which tied the largest defeat in team history. I wrote this week that Fangio should be a candidate for head-coaching positions if the defense plays well in the final stretch of the season. But if Fangio were to leave, I think you can rule out Smith as a potential replacement. Both men have been very successful running defenses in the NFL, but their systems are quite different. If the Bears were to have to replace Fangio, I imagine they would seek someone who runs at least a similar scheme to what the team has been using. That would not lead them to Smith.”

Lovie Smith is almost certainly done as a defensive coordinator in the NFL.

If this season has shown us anything, its that predictable defenses, especially, predictable zone defenses, don’t do well in the NFL nowadays. The Bears own destruction of the Tampa Bay Buccaneers earlier this year should be ample evidence of that.

Even Smith started to realize this during his time with the Bears. After the Patriots destroyed the Bears 39-7 in 2010, the Bears started to vary things a bit more with more disguises to the defense in 2011. It was never enough, though, and I’d say the game has largely passed Smith by.

Quick Game Comments: Patriots at Bears 10/21/18

Defense

  1. The Patriots came out attacking the edges of the Chicago defense with a lot of success.
  2. They also came out with a lot of short passing, challenging the Bears to converge and make the tackle. There was still some bad tackling on the first touchdown drive but kudos to the Patriots for some good fundamental football. They did a nice job of blocking up the plays.
  3. The Pats were picking on Leonard Floyd in coverage, especially when they thought they had him matched up on Julian Edelman.
  4. Bilal Nichols had a real good game and it was nice to see someone step with with Khalil Mack apparently suffering while playing on the bad ankle. Nichols stood out in the preseason and was one of reason why there was some hope that the Bears had some more depth on defense than they had in the past.
  5. More missed tackles on a long pass to Josh Gordon 55 yards to the Bears 1 yard line that resulted in a touchdown. There was no pass rush to speak of. The Bears defense looked tired again without the excuse of being in the Miami sun. These long plays with bad tackling in the fourth quarter have to stop.
  6. Its now evident that Mack is really hampered by the bad ankle. He’s not rushing with any power at all. The other Bears have to pick it up without him because he’s not going to be the dominant pass rusher that he was until he recovers.

Offense

  1. The Bears came out running against the Patriots nickel look. Eventually they went to the air and struggled but it may have been enough to keep the Patriots honest as the Bears did a decent job of running it in the first half.
  2. Eventually the Patriots started bring a lot of blitzes and they were getting a lot of free guys. They obviously watched the Arizona film.
  3. The Bears tried a long pass to Allen Robinson and it occurs to me that they might be better off trying to throw to the back shoulder on those. Its very difficult to defend, especially when the defensive back is with him step for step.
  4. Similar to what the Dolphins did, whenever Tarik Cohen was in the game, the Patriots perked up and keyed on him. Whatever happened , they weren’t going to let him beat them.
  5. Mitch Trubisky got good protection early when the Patriots weren’t blitzing but he really looked uncomfortable and confused by the zone defense the Patriots were playing under those circumstances. Most of the Bears offense in the first quarter was Trubisky running the ball rather than throwing it. It seems one thing the Bears have to do better is getting Trubisky comfortable at the start of the game.
  6. Trubisky was especially effective avoiding the rush in the pocket. Its a good thing because the Patriots had them totally confused with the blitzes they were bringing. Trubisky made some really dangerous throws under pressure and once again he was erratic with his accuracy. Handling the blitz is something he has to get better at.
  7. The knock on Jordan Howard coming into the year was that he couldn’t catch the ball. But every time I see him go out for a pass it seems like he catches it and makes a good play. Seems like they could use him more this way.
  8. Good game by Trey Burton who turned in some big plays inclusding a touchdown catch lat in the game to get the Bears to 7 points down.

Miscellaneous

  1. Ian Eagle, Dan Fouts, Evan Washburn were your announcers.  I liked Fouts a lot.  He’s not a big Xs and Os guy but he peppered in good, sharp comments throughout the game that I really thought enhanced the viewing experience.  Eagle is a pro.
  2. Special Teams
    1. I was really surprised that they Bears went for it on 4th and 4 in the second quarter. The alternative was a 48 yard field goal and given that head coach Matt Nagy went with Cody Parkey for a 53 yard penalty last week at the end of the game, I thought going with him for the 48 yarder would be a no brainer. The Bears made the first down.
    2. Cordarrelle Patterson had a really nice 95 yard kickoff return for a touchdown. Looked like some bad tacking by the Bears on the play.
    3. Dont’a Hightower scored a touchdown on a blocked punt in the third quarter.
    4. Patterson had a big kick return after the Bears touchdown late in the fourth quarter to get the Pats to their own 40 yard line. They eventually punted to pin the Bears back at their own 20 yard line with 24 seconds left to play.  The game was basically over.
    5. As was the case last week, special teams made a huge difference in this game with the Bears coming out on the short end. I think that the third phase needs to come out of this game and take a good look at itself in the mirror.
  3. The Patriots had a number of bad drops, some of which took away some big gains. The Bears seemed to do better in this respect.
  4. Penalties
    1. A series of bad penalties by Patriots defensive backs kept the Bears second scoring drive alive after they recovered a fumble on the Patriots 35 yard line. Eventually they jammed the ball into the end zone. These sorts of penalties on their defensive backs plagued the Patriots all game.
    2. The Pats also had a dumb unsportsman like penalty on Keion Crossen when he failed to immediately come back in bounds as the gunner on a punt.
    3. Yet another illegal formation penalty took a touchdown off the board at the beginning of the second half. That’s becoming a bad habit.
    4. This wasn’t a great game for either teams in terms of penalties but it was particularly bad for the Patriots with 7 for 64 yards.
  5. Turnovers
    1. A bad fumble by Patterson on a kickoff return cause by his own man was recovered by DeAndre Houston-Carson gave the Bears the ball at about the Patriot 25 yard line. That eventually turned into a Mitch Trubisky run for a touchdown with some real good blocking by the Bears down field on the off schedule scramble.
    2. Sony Michelle had another bad fumble giving them the ball at the Patriot 35 yard line. The Bears turned it into a touchdown.
    3. Trubisky threw an interception to J.C. Jackson late in the third quarter at the New England 31 yard line. He then threw another one early in the fourth quarter to Jonathan Jones at the NE 4 yard line. Neither of these throws was really horrible. I thought they were both good plays by the defensive backs.
    4. Kyle Fuller had a nice interception late in the fourth quarter that the Bears needed if they were going to have any chance at coming back from 14 points down to win this game. The Bears got the ball at their own 37 yard line. They converted it into a touchdown on a pass to Trey Burton.
  6. What struck me about this game was how good the Patriots are at doing the little things. They didn’t play well coming off a tough game against Kansas City without Rob Gronkowski with a lot of penalties, turnovers and some dropped passes. But good blocking, good special teams and good fundamentals will go a long way.The Bears have a long, long way to go to compete with the elite of the NFL. Trubisky has to get better at handling the blitz and he has to get more accurate. The defense has to pick it up without an injured Khalil Mack.

I’m Baaack – Thoughts on the Matt Nagy Hire

So first of all, I’m back.

My course at the school where I work is wrapping up and I’ve got a bit more time to write than I have had for most of this season. I will probably have to go through the same thing in August and September next year when I am course director of another new course but then after that I hope more time will be available to have some fun during the year.

Since my last post, the Bears have fired John Fox and hired new head coach Matt Nagy. Here are some thoughts.

Why Not Someone with a Little Experience?

I wasn’t overly happy about this hire. I don’t have anything against it but at the same time I’m not too thrilled with it or the process by which it came about, either.

What I see here is manifestation of something that I see a lot around the league. When you have a change in leadership in a front office and/or in a coaching staff you go out and hire the exact opposite of what you had before. I don’t know if that was exactly called for here.

I don’t mind that they hired an offensive head coach (as opposed to the defensive Fox) and I think it is generally a really good idea to hire a head coach with a background in coaching quarterbacks. It’s quarterback-centric league. But I wouldn’t have hired yet another first time head coach who is super young just because the last guy was experienced and older. It has all the markings of an over-reaction to the problems of the previous situation.

John Fox was on his third head coaching job and he’d already gotten the simple mistakes out of the system before the Bears hired him. That’s not to say that all of the decisions that he made were good ones. It probably didn’t help that he was a conservative head coach and that was, debatably, hurting the development of rookie quarterback Mitch Trubisky.  But the decision that really hurt him the most was his choice of offense coordinator. Dowell Loggains, as Mike Mulligan at the Chicago Tribune put it, ran an offense with plays but little in the way of scheme. That, along with the lack of talent at wide receiver on that side of the ball, resulted in a fairly low offensive output.

So I’m not saying that experience is everything. But it certainly can help avoid a lot of the problems that Matt Nagy is likely to run into in his first head-coaching job.

So if it were me, I’d have preferred to go with someone with more experience like Josh McDaniels or Pat Shurmur. Whether McDaniels wanted to come Chicago and leave a plum job with the Patriots is debatable. But my gut is telling me that they could’ve persuaded Shurmur to come here if they tried and had been willing to wait a little bit (see below).

Are All the Wrong Things All the Right Things? We’ll Find Out.

As it is the Bears have got a 39 year old head coach to go with an inexperienced, 40 year old general manager who is frankly doing many of the things that over the years I have been told are all of the wrong things for general managers to do.

The first prime example of that is falling in love with Trubisky to the point where in the 2017 draft he arguably traded away picks to move from #3 overall to #2 overall when he actually didn’t have to. Pace fell for Trubisky so hard that he felt that he had to do that if there was even the smallest chance that he might not be able to get him.

Conventional wisdom says that you don’t fall in love with draft prospects. First rounders are a 50:50 proposition whether you have fallen in love with them or not. To some extent, you have to let the chips fall where they may and do the common sense thing.

So it was somewhat disconcerting to see Pace do the exact same thing again when hiring his head coach. Pace obviously felt that he had to rush to hire Matt Nagy in part because the Indianapolis Colts might have been interested. Colts general manager Chris Ballard has a history with Nagy through his Kansas City connections so this does make some sense but at the same time, conventional wisdom says that you take your time when you’re hunting for a head coach. You make your move only after you’re absolutely sure that you got the right guy. You don’t rush it.

My guess is that the Bears also hurried this hire in part they wanted to get first crack at the assistant coaches that they wanted. Again, conventional wisdom says not to do that. Whatever else you say about John Fox, he assembled a pretty good staff in Chicago. He was able to do it, not because he rushed the process, but because he’s been around the league a lot and knows a lot of people. He has a lot of connections.

Assembling a staff is probably the most important thing you’ll do as a head coach. If you hire the right guy, he’ll do it right. On the other hand, does a young guy like Nagy who has only been a coach since 2008 (and even then it was it as an intern) and who has only worked for one organization going to have the connections to hire the right people to to get onto the staff? We’ll find out when the boys hit the field.

The Good: Copying the Rams Model

On the generally positive side, there are a lot of similarities in this hiring to what the Rams did when they hired Sean McVay last year.

Part of the plan in Los Angeles was to get a really good, experienced defensive coordinator to pair with him. In the case of the Rams, that was Wade Phillips, arguably the best there is right now.

In the Bears case, that guy is Vic Fangio and that’s probably another reason for rushing this hire, perhaps the only legitimate one. Fangio was under contract with the Bears until Tuesday and getting Nagy hired quickly gave them a chance to get an offer to Fangio on the record before he started titling to other teams. The end result was that he was hired, presumably as head coach of the defense.

Could they have found a good offensive coordinator if Fangio had turned them down? Probably. And probably they shouldn’t have rushed this hire just to get him. But having said that, it will be nice for the players to have the continuity and presumably it keeps much of the defensive staff intact. If nothing else, its a proven group.

Finally, and most importantly, they got a good young quarterback-centric head coach. A guy who, presumably, will be Chicago’s McVay. Pace almost certainly had a picture in his mind of what he was looking for and that picture presumably looked allot like Sean Payton. Certainly their backgrounds are similar as each was a borderline professional quarterback, Payton as a replacement during the NFL strike in 1982, Nagy as an arena league quarterback. But the similarities end there as Payton was far more accomplished as an offensive coordinator when the Saints hired him as their head coach than Nagy is now. We shall see if Nagy has Payton’s “fire in the belly.”

Hiring Nagy could be as good for Trubisky as hiring McVay was for Jared Goff. Assuming that Nagy runs an offense similar to what Andy Reid does in Kansas City, we’re looking at a highly structured West Coast offense where a lot of the quarterback’s decisions will be mapped out. Its a quarterback friendly offense where Trubisky will always know what to do and will have options to get the team into the right play.

Trubisky came to the Bears with a reputation for being very accurate and we have seen flashes of that on occasion. The football cognoscente believe that if he develops consistent mechanics, he’ll be a good, accurate, precision passer that will hit many of the easy, short passes that the West Coast offense can provide consistently.

Nagy’s also got a reputation for being able to adapt to the characteristics of his quarterback. He should be able to do better job than Loggains did of taking advantage of Trubisky’s mobility. We’ll probably see a lot more will roll outs and boot legs that will allow slower developing pass plays to take place and Trubisky to take off and run if he needs to.

Nagy did a nice job with Alex Smith and, probably more to the point, Pat Mahommes in Kansas City. We can hope that he brings that same expertise here and that Trubisky becomes all that the current regime thinks he can be.

If he does, then the process of hiring Nagy will be characterized as “decisive” by future critics. But for now, it feels like the Bears are going to have to be a lot luckier than usual to have found the right guy in such a rushed manner.

Jimmy Garoppolo Won’t Be Moved. Maybe.

Albert Breer at the MMQB.com makes two points in his First and Ten section:

5. I’d expect the Browns to make a real run at Patriots QB Jimmy Garoppolo. I also know other teams have come away with the impression he’s not being moved.

6. One sign Garoppolo won’t be moved? There are coaches and front-office staff in Chicago who love Garoppolo. And the Bears moved on and signed Mike Glennon.

This is kind of true and kind of not.  Both Chicago and San Fransisco had to look at the realities of the Garoppolo situation.

New England didn’t want to move him.  I don’t doubt that’s true and that was a factor.  Having a good back up quarterback in the NFL isn’t an option.  It’s a must and for obvious reasons.    So Bill Belichick ends up asking himself one relevant question:  “How much is risking another Super Bowl run worth?”  Answer:  “Priceless”.

It’s entirely possible that the Browns won’t take “No” for an answer here where the Bears had to – the Browns could out bid them easily with an unprecedented collection of draft picks in the first three rounds of the next two drafts to offer.

Could the Patriots be bowled over with an offer for Garoppolo that’s so rich that they would actually risk having to play Jacoby Brissett as their back up in the middle of a Super Bowl window?  Well, it depends on how they feel about Brissett.  That was always going to be the primary factor determining Garoppolo’s status.  The question was never, “How good is Garoppolo?”  It was “How good is Brissett?”

In any case, they are almost certainly going to have to be overwhelmed with an offer and the Bears were in no position to respond competitively.

It’s not New England’s stated refusal to trade Garroppolo that caused the Bears to give up the ghost.  Garoppolo was a non-starter the minute they knew the Browns were seriously interested.  That’s why they moved on to Glennon.

Talent Vs. Attitude. The Debate Continues But Not for the Bears.

Steve Rosenbloom at the Chicago Tribune makes some good points and some not so good points:

This is so [head coach John] Fox: dumping talented players [Matt Forte, Brandon Marshall, Martellus Bennett and Alshon Jeffery] because he doesn’t like something about them, no matter how productive they are, but standing fiercely behind Dowell Loggains and his oft-inexplicable play-calling.

While some reasons for letting players leave are understandable, the Bears still have lost four offensive Pro Bowlers  and replaced them with a rookie Pro Bowler in Jordan Howard and, what, Josh Bellamy and a biology graduate from Harvard.

That, see, is the issue here and now: If you’re a coach who can’t coach or won’t coach players with personality or players who aren’t all-football all the time but still produce, then you’d better produce as a coach.

But the only thing Fox has produced is the lame consolation that his players tried hard, the sure sign of someone desperate to hold a job.
The Bears had better be good in free agency, I guess. Or Fox had better be good picking the players he thinks he can coach.

But then, maybe that’s part of Ryan Pace’s plan: Let Fox have his way with these player decisions so the general manager has solid reasons to fire the head coach when the Bears go 3-13 again and then hire a coach he wants instead of someone who appears passive-aggressively forced on him by a consultant and a Bears Senior Disorganizational Figure or two.

I certainly understand the argument about coaching talented but less than ideal players. But it’s worth noting that Fox was trying to institute a culture change in Chicago when he was hired. This was a team that was starting over and to this point, the project has been one of tearing down to the core, then building back up.  Bennett and Marshall just weren’t what he was looking for as a part of that core that was supposed to show young, often less talented players who actually need to maximize what they’ve got how its done.

With Jeffery, it’s probably got more to do with monetary value but I’d still claim that things would have been totally different had he trained in Chicago with the team last offseason.  The Bears were looking for him to show that kind of commitment to the team and you have to believe that they’re pretty sure there’s no PED suspension with them able to keep an eye on Jeffery in town.  As it is, there’s not nearly as much motivation to overpay a guy whose actions indicate that he may not be 100% on board no matter what hot air he blows about believing that the Bear swill win the Super Bowl next year.

In any case, the Bears situation puts Fox and Pace in a different position than the Patriots, who got a great deal out of Bennett because they have a solid locker room and a winning culture established. They didn’t need him to lead young, less talented undrafted free agents by example.  They had plenty of other guys for that and the Patriots could afford to absorb Bennett. The Bears, who have had to rebuild from scratch with a young locker room that still doesn’t know how to win, couldn’t.

I might add that, in my opinion, the odds that Bennett resigns with the Patriots are slim. Taking on his baggage for a year at a reasonable rate is one thing. Doing it now will be something else. It’s says here that the odds are good he ends up with a loser next year and plays his part, overly or covertly, in contributing to it with his attitude, just as Marshall did this year with the Jets.

The last part about Pace letting Fox fail so he can fire him after being forced to hire him in the first place is, of course, utter nonsense  based upon revisionist history. Pace interviewed Fox almost immediately after he separated with the Broncos, even following him to Denver immediately after talking to him in Chicago. Pace couldn’t wait to hire him and I’m still not convinced he wasn’t right to do so.

The Bears will have to show progress this season to convince the fans and the press that they’re doing the right things. But as far as I’m concerned, they’ve had no choice but to do what they’ve done to this point.

Talking the Doubters Off the Ledge. And Other Points of View.

The Bears have completed their second preseason game and are moving o to their third, and most important (if any of them are important_ contest.  Here are ten thoughts on the team as they enter the most crucial stage of their offseason.

“Hroniss Grasu’s season-ending injury — and the subpar play of the offensive line in the preseason opener — put the light back on Pace’s decision to release Slauson, who replaced Grasu and Will Montgomery at center on two occasions last season. They would have had the replacement for Grasu right there.

“Maybe they would and maybe they wouldn’t. Slauson was everything you’d want in a teammate with the Bears, a respected leader on and off the field. But Slauson didn’t grade out as well with the new regime as he did with the old. Even without Grasu, they Bears are confident they can grow better with [Cody] Whitehair at guard and Ted Larsen at center.”

It’s worth emphasizing that it wasn’t the the Bears didn’t think Slauson was good.  Anyone could see that he was.   It was that they were looking for more athleticism at the position because it better fit the blocking scheme that they want to run.  Last year the Bears mixed schemes in an effort to adjust to the players that they have.  You can’t, after all, do everything in one year.  This year, they wanted to get the players they needed to do what they want to ideally do.

It’s all part of the rebuilding process and though this may turn out to be a particularly trying step down that road, in the end the Bears believe that it will be worth it.

“I’ve already written off the season. Will they draft in the top 5 in 2017? — @jgboom23

“Don’t know that I am going to be able to talk you off the ledge here, but that’s putting a lot of stock in the preseason opener. I don’t think the Bears are ready to be playoff challengers this season, but stranger things have happened. You’ve got to keep in mind that teams that own the No. 5 pick in the draft are generally coming off really bad seasons. Since 2010, the team with the fifth pick has had either four or five wins and that’s a bad, bad season.”

Good grief, its a little early to be giving up completely.  I totally agree with Biggs that the defense should be improved, though there are significant concerns about the defensive backfield.  At minimum they could be fun to watch with a much improved front seven.

Let’s not forget that. Along with the rest of the NFC North, the Bears have one of the easiest schedules in the league based upon last year’s performances.  If they come out of this year with less than the 6 wins they had last year, I’ll be pretty surprised.

“Why did the offensive line look so terrible on Thursday? Is it the weakest position group on the team? — @KleinTime69

“I don’t think the offensive line is going to be the weakest position on the Bears. In fact, with some good health, I think the O-line could turn into one of the better units on the team by the end of the season.”

Could not agree more with this.  Assuming Ted Larsen gets his feet under him this could be a better than average offensive line, particularly compared to those around the rest of the NFC North.

However, I think the words “with some good health” need to be emphasized.  We haven’t seen Mike Adams or Amini Silatolu yet but what I’ve seen of the rest of the back up offensive linemen has not impressed me.  A rash of injuries at any position along the line could mean bad things for the offense this year.

  • Speaking of the offensive line, I was struck by a comment that  Kyle Long made about J’Marcus Webb when they were in training camp in Long’s rookie year, 2013.  Long was making mistakes and wasn’t correcting them and he hadn’t learned the playbook as well as he needed to.

“J’Marcus was just like, ‘You’re never going to be able to play if you don’t learn this,'” Kyle said. “He was laughing. J’Marcus and I are buddies. But he was telling a rookie, ‘Hey, you’re the first-round pick. If you don’t learn this, heads are going to roll.’ Whether that’s your quarterback or the head coach or the GM or the running back.”

Webb didn’t do much while he was here.  But this was probably the biggest contribution he could have possibly made to the team.

  • We heard plenty of questions from fans about the possibility that Daniel Braverman would replace Eddie Royal as the slot receiver this year as the hype around Braverman was built.  Braverman is an under-sized seventh round pick with speed that tends to light it up in non-contact practices and develop into “little engine who could”-type fan favorites.

But like so many of these types of players before him, Braverman disappeared once the lights came on and the contact began.  Despite Royal’s absence in the concussion protocol and having many chances to show what he could do in the first two pre-season games, Braverman has practically disappeared.

Eleven Bears have more receiving yards and the team has a glut at the slot receiver position.  Far from competing to start, it looks to me like Braverman may be in danger of not making the roster at all.  He will have one more pre-season game, the fourth, to show what he can do.  He’ll be worth watching closely.

  • Biggs had an interesting note about the Bears personnel groupings Thursday night.  The Bears ran nearly half of their plays out of a double tight end personnel grouping.  Biggs notes that the Bears ran only 198 plays total out of that grouping last year.

This grouping will undoubtedly help the running game and I’m sure that’s its primary purpose.  Biggs also notes that they had 4 snaps (15% of the total) with a fullback on the field.  But there’s a reason why Adam Gase rarely used it last year.  The Bears didn’t, and don’t now, have two good tight ends on the entire roster.  Zach Miller can catch a pass when healthy but he’s it.

There’s a new sheriff in town in Dowell Loggains.  But you have to wonder if this isn’t a sign that he’s going to do what he prefers over what the roster tells him to do.  The days of playing to the team’s strengths may be over.

It was unlike Bennett, who  always likes to entertain, and it was notable that former Bears linebacker Shea McClellin wasn’t available to the media all week either.  So, perhaps, it not too surprising that after Rich Campbell from the Chicago Tribune called Bennett’s refusal to meet with the media a “weak move” in this video, that Doug Kyed from NESN.com, who better knows how the Patriots do business, suggested that it might be a “team issue”.

Patriots head coach Bill Belichick hates distractions and one way to be absolutely sure nothing distracted the team and the players from football last week would be to refuse to allow the former Bears players to comment.  Chicago fans wouldn’t have been surprised if Bennett, in particular, would have created some complications had he been allowed.

“It wasn’t the offensive line. While Kyle Long played well and is clearly more comfortable back at right guard than he ever was at tackle, Charles Leno, Cody Whitehair, Ted Larsen and Bobby Massie all struggled at times, and Larsen in particular looks like he may be a bit over-matched at center.”

I always try to read Hub’s comments because I think he’s willing to say thing that other people won’t.  But having said that, sometimes I wonder if he’s watching the same game I am.

The offensive line was much better against the Patriots across the board, particularly at center where Larsen appears to be settling in.  I think sometimes people get the impression that an offensive line is struggling when they’re zone blocking because its not generally the kind of mauling style where you get lots of push off of the line of scrimmage.  But generally speaking, I thought the Bears got push when they needed it, especially in the first quarter.

I’m not saying there weren’t hiccups.  There were and I’m particularly keeping an eye on Massie in pass protection. I also don’t think that the line hasn’t gelled into a coherent unit that is working together effectively, yet.  But their performance in the first half, like that of the offense in general, was at least average overall.

To my eye, center Ted Larsen played much better in the game Thursday night against the Patriots.  Its evident to me that Larsen really does have a feel for zone blocking and he does seem to be able to use an opponent’s momentum against him to open up holes.

Similarly, I thought back up Cornelius Edison also played better.  He needs to.  The competition behind him is likely to be fierce with the addition of former Colts Khaled Holmes.  Holmes is a former fourth round pick and the Colts had high hopes for him as a starter before finally giving up and letting him go.

This is not a trivial dilemma for the Bears.  Whoever wins the job is going to be one injury away from starting.  And injuries always happen in the NFL.  With the edge in experience, the tie should go to Holmes.  So Edison needs to take advantage of every snap he can get to show his potential.

  • Next week’s opponent, the Kansas City Chiefs, is an interesting group.  The starters  took It to the Rams and their vaunted front seven on Saturday night on the first drive and though they struggled a bit more after that, they still managed to produce 17 point under quarterback Alex Smith before he ceded the ball to Nick Foles.   The Kansas City offensive line could provide an interesting test for the Bears front seven which the team believes has improved greatly.

Speaking of Foles, although his two possessions produced only 3 points, the team moved the ball while he was in the game.  Foles is in need of rehabilitation after a disastrous stint with the Rams and it should be interesting to find out if his old mentor with the Eagles, Andy Reid, can pull it off as the head coach of the Chiefs.

The Chiefs receivers, Jeremy Maclin and Chris Conley, should also present an interesting challenge for the young Bears defensive backs.  Maclin is no surprise but the 6’3” 205 lb Conley, drafted in the 3rd round in 2015, also flashed with 3 receptions for 66 yards.  Travis Kelce is also showing himself to be one of the best in the game and the Bears should find out fairly quickly if they’ve solved the issues they’ve had their first two preseason games covering the tight end.

Signs Pointing Towards Trying Season for the Bears Offense

Brad Biggs at the Chicago Tribune suggests in this article that the Bears might consider trading for Patriots quarterback Jimmy Garappolo next year.  Its widely believed that the first four games, which Garappolo will start in place of the suspended Tom Brady, will be a showcase for a trade in the offseason.

A couple thoughts on this matter.

First, I’m not entirely sure that the Patriots won’t want to hold on to Garapollo as long as possible.  Garappolo is signed through 2017 and Brady will be 40 when that season starts.  If you are going to trade Garappolo, you’d better have a plan in place to replace Brady at any point.  Father time is undefeated and he can win the battle rather quickly.  If Brady falls apart in 2017 you don’t want to be caught out.

Having said that, yes, if you are going to trade him, next season is the time to do it for Garappolo.  Keeping him would mean you’ve decided to let him test free agency and, absence a guarantee that he’d be starting for the Patriots, they’d almost certainly lose him.

Second, I’m somewhat disturbed by some of the subtle indications in this article that the Bears offense may be in serious trouble this year.  The sense of unease is almost palpable in this article and it confirms my own suspicion that there may be a lot of problems on the horizon.  The digs are subtle and no one is stating anything definitive.  But the suggestions that the Bears could be be deficient from the top down are undeniable.

“[A possible explanation for the poor offensive performance against the Broncos] could be that the offense, from top to bottom, wasn’t properly prepared in Bourbonnais under first-year coordinator Dowell Loggains. If that’s the case, the regular season will come in a hurry.”

“It would be hard to say that the Bears offense won the day Monday. Patriots linebacker Jamie Collins dropped [quarterback Jay] Cutler‘s second pass in 7-on-7 drills and mishandled another sure pick in 11-on-11 work, and cornerback Justin Coleman dropped a ball Cutler threw directly to him during the two-minute drill. Cutler seemed to double clutch at times, likely a result of solid coverage.”

“While watching practice, the greatest discrepancy between the two rosters was at quarterback. Yes, you could say that about the Patriots against a lot of organizations. In this case, former Tom Brady backup Brian Hoyer is the presumed No. 2 for the Bears. Eastern Illinois rookie Kamu Grugier-Hill picked off Hoyer on the first snap in a two-minute drill.”

There’s a long way to go yet until the regular season and I have a lot of confidence in veteran head coach John Fox to handle things.  But having said that the statements above are not the comments of someone who is seeing signs of a competitive offensive team.  You can talk about deficient protection all you want but no one is hitting the quarterbacks in practice.  And if your troubles are at offensive coordinator and quarterback, there isn’t much hope that Bears fans are going to see a lot of looked for improvement in the offense this year.

Tom Brady’s Legacy on Display Before Super Bowl 50

Jeff Howe at the Boston Globe describes the welcome that Patriots quarterback Tom Brady got when he was introduced as part of the Super Bowl MVP ceremony on Sunday:

“The Patriots quarterback was lustily booed by the crowd at Levi’s Stadium before the Denver Broncos beat the Carolina Panthers, 24-10, in Super Bowl 50. Of course, it probably didn’t help his cause that the crowd was dominated by Denver fans.”

Yeah, I really doubt that mattered much. The welcome that Brady got is an indication of what people think of the results of the “Deflate Gate” situation that dominated the offseason. Brady got off scott free after a court battle on what amounted to a technicality.

The irony of all of this is that Brady was fighting for his “legacy”. What he doesn’t realize is that fighting this investigation was the worst thing he could have possibly done for it. Had Brady simply explained that he instructed the New England equipment men to deflate the balls a little because he felt that the referees where over inflating them, breaking the rules without the actual intention of cheating, the whole thing would have blown over with minimal fuss. He may well have completely escaped suspension. As it is, his greeting in Santa Clara is an indication that fans aren’t likely to forgive or forget what happened any time soon.

Defensive Linemen on the Rise in 2016 NFL Draft. Offensive Linemen, Not So Much.

Reports from the Senior Bowl at nfl.com support previous indications that the defensive linemen are going to be a strength in this year’s NFL draft. Here’s a cross section of the comments from the first day of practice:

“Mike Mayock

“We knew going in the deepest positional group was defensive tackle, and boy did that hold true. I thought Matt Ioannidis from Temple had a great day. I thought the kid from Louisiana Tech, Vernon Butler, had a phenomenal day. But the topper was Adolphus Washington from Ohio State. He was all over the field in one-on-one drills; he was too quick, too stout. He was great in team drills. I thought he put on a show.”

“Lance Zierlein“

“[Clemson DT D.J.] Reader‘s 340-pound frame was often too much for many of the linemen he faced on Tuesday. Keep an eye on this late addition because Reader could make himself some money this week.

“Louisville DT Sheldon Rankins showed off his ‘karate’ hands by defeating blockers with astounding quickness at times. While Rankins is undersized, his compact frame, outstanding balance, and next-level hand usage should make him one of the most consistent performers on the South squad this week.”

All this is great news for teams like the Bears who need defensive line help. It looks like they’re going to have a great selection to choose from.

But much of the rest of the league might not be too pleased. This dominant performance by the defensive tackles in these practices can’t speak well for the offensive linemen that are getting beat on a consistent basis. Judging by what I saw during the regular season, I’d be very surprised if less than three-quarters of the league is in need of offensive line help. That includes most of the playoff teams, as was graphically demonstrated by the beating that New England quarterback Tom Brady took on Sunday. In the NFC North, Minnesota, Detroit, Green Bay and Chicago all need help in one form or another along the offensive front.

The Bears might be able to find multiple defensive linemen in this draft. But the indications are growing that offensive linemen are going be at a premium.

Bears Fans Appreciate What They See in Jay Cutler and Good Coaching. I Hope.

Brad Biggs at the Chicago Tribune writes on the problems the Bears face with their available receivers constantly changing week to week:

“‘The word trust comes in,’ [Eddie] Royal said. ‘Sometimes the timing is not going to be there but you still have to play. You have to trust that the guy is going to be in that spot when you throw the ball. Jay [Cutler] has done a great job doing that, knowing where the guy is supposed to be and trusting that he is going to be there because a lot of throws are timing throws.”

He certainly has. And its a very notable improvement.

I have claimed for years that Cutler’s major problem has been that he doesn’t trust anyone. This is particularly damaging when he doesn’t trust his receivers because it prevents him from throwing with anticipation, relying on the receiver to be in the right spot at the right time. It’s one of the major reasons Cutler has developed over time as a “see it, throw it” player who relies on his arm strength to get the ball to a receiver in the short window of time after he is open instead of throwing it before he is open.

But Cutler has been doing considerably better this year in that respect and its one of the major factors in what is turning out to be perhaps his best career year ever.

Biggs continues:

“The [rotating receiver] predicament has made it difficult for opposing defenses to predict how the Bears are going to attack them in the passing game on a weekly basis. It also has prepared the bottom of the roster to contribute, something that should pay off when the group is finally healthy. That’s what the Bears are trusting in.”

It cannot be said enough what a treat Bears fans are being served this year through the results of great coaching that they have been privileged to observe. Top to bottom the Bears are maximizing production at every position week to week, including those that have seen heavy injuries like the offensive line and the wide receiver position.

Coaches have done a wonderful job working around these deficiencies through good game planning.  For instance, an emphasis on quick throws has relieved the pressure on the offensive linemen and the Bears have relied on the tight ends and running backs Matt Forte and Jeremy Langford as receivers more than ever.

But at least as important, players like Marc Mariani who have previously been literally nobodies in the league have been emerging to help the team win games that their talent indicates they shouldn’t even be close in.

This must be what its like to be a Patriots fan every year. Only Bears fans are likely to appreciate it more since they see it so much less. Or at least I hope so.