The Packers Turn a Corner Behind Eddie Lacy

Posted on December 14, 2015 by Tom Shannon

Rob Demovsky at ESPN describes a change in the Packers play calling that may be a turning point in more than one way.

“Even those who wanted – begged, really – the Green Bay Packers coach to take back the offensive play-calling duties couldn’t have fathomed this: 44 runs and 230 yards on the ground.

“This is Mike McCarthy 2.0.

“The same coach who too often proved reluctant to stick with the running game during his first nine seasons as the head coach/offensive playcaller did an about-face – first in his decision to strip Tom Clements of the job he handed him this offseason, and then in his approach to his first game back in control of the offense. In Sunday’s 28-7 win over the Dallas Cowboys, McCarthy showed a previously unseen commitment to the run.”

It’s not a coincidence that the Packers were at their worst Sunday when they stopped running the ball. After a hot start behind Eddie Lacy where they went up 14-0 in the first half, their offense stalled as they seemed to forget about him. It picked up again when Lacy did in the second half. Most Bears fans will remember that the Packers did an uncommonly good job of running the ball on Thanksgiving with Lacy. Had they stuck to it, they probably would have won that game, too.

Something tells me that the Packers turned a corner yesterday. Lacy is a load and he’s tough to stop behind an under-rated run blocking offensive line in Green Bay. It’s a little early to tell but it’s entirely possible that with good, spirited defensive play, the Packers could finally be on their way to another Super Bowl run.

Posted in Green Bay Packers | Leave a comment

Bears a Bad Team. But We Knew That.

Posted on December 14, 2015 by Tom Shannon

Hub Arkush at chicagofootball.com lambasts the Bears as a bad football team:

“So what is left to play for in the final three weeks of the season?

“It is critical [head coach John] Fox gets this team a couple more wins to add confidence in his young players and retain the faith of his new fan base.

“Without a couple more wins, it will be difficult to continue to argue this team is better than last year’s, and a lost season is not something Bears Nation will take kindly to after the promise of just a few weeks ago.”

Though I agree with most (really all) of what Arkush said in this article, I’m going to mildly disagree with the final conclusion above.

The Bears don’t have to win any more games for the core of the fan base to be happy. What the fan base needs to see is the team play better and get back to maximizing its talent. A good indication that they are doing that is if they substantially reduce the very damaging fifteen penalties for 151 yards that they’ve had the last two weeks.  As John Mullin at CSN Chicago points out, more intensity, especially at the beginning of the game, would also be welcome.

“A lack of urgency was almost palpable in Soldier Field when a team that prided itself on being fighters and finishers was neither, twice now, with the season on the line. That perhaps was the most disturbing aspect of the Washington game, and really the San Francisco game as well. That the Bears weren’t “starters,” effectively spotting mediocre opponents advantages and then and only then deciding they’d better get going.

“’The bottom line is that we have to come out and match their intensity,’ said rookie nose tackle Eddie Goldman, one of the few Bears who played anything close to a consistently solid game. ‘Usually we do that. In practice we do that. I can’t pinpoint exactly what was wrong, but we’ve got to start fast and finish.’”

A better show of character would, indeed, be welcome at this point in the season.  Fans need to see what this coaching staff and the core talent on this team is capable of when it’s not shooting itself in the foot with dumb mistakes.

If the Bears do what they’re capable of, the wins will probably come. But fans don’t just live for wins. If they did, they wouldn’t be fans for long because only one team wins the Super Bowl every year. What fans live for is hope. And even if there are no more wins on the schedule, the end of this year is about hope for the future.

Posted in Chicago Bears | Leave a comment

Lots of Work to Do “Up Front” for the Bears

Posted on December 14, 2015 by Tom Shannon

Brad Biggs at the Chicago Tribune attributes a good part of the Bears mediocrity to problems in the offensive line:

“The Bears didn’t hit them often enough and started way too slow in falling behind 14-0. [Right tackle Kyle] Long joked he would set his alarm clock an hour earlier next Sunday. There are some key parts here and Long has been pretty steady in a new role most of the season. Left tackle Charles Leno might well be a keeper. In between, the Bears could stand to get better.

“Besides making their field goals, getting better up front is the best way to help them prevail in close games.”

Matt Slauson didn’t do much wrong Sunday and he’s a pretty solid starter up front, as well. Hroniss Grasu will get a year in the weight room before the Bears give up on him and I’m guessing Will Montgomery will still be around to pick up the slack as a less than ideal replacement if Grasu doesn’t develop. But right guard is a serious issue and none of the options since the season started have been palatable. That should be the Bears primary target.  With lots of teams around the league needed offensive line help, not to mention most of the NFC North, I’d expect there will be a lot of competition finding help in that area, especially in the draft.

I might add that though he didn’t concentrate on it, Biggs carefully said that the Bears need to get better “up front”. That includes the defensive line where the Bears have Eddie Goldman and Jarvis Jenkins appears to be serviceable. But they don’t have much else and five technique defensive end looks to also be a major target for an upgrade this offseason. More pass rush up the middle in the nickel formation would also be welcome.

Football games are won and lost at the line of scrimmage. It appears that the Bears have a lot of work to do.

Posted in Chicago Bears | Leave a comment

Next Fan Up 12/13/15

Posted on December 14, 2015 by Tom Shannon

It was my pleasure to share my football Sunday with Mark Sitko and Nick Clayton, representing the Eagles and the Chiefs, respectively. Enjoy the spirited conversation as we review this week’s games.

Posted in Chicago Bears | Leave a comment

Quick Game Comments: Redskins at Bears 12/13/15

Posted on December 13, 2015 by Tom Shannon

BearsBuzz_wk14_Redskins_121115--nfl_mezz_1280_1024Defense

  1. Washington came out running on first down as they worked their way down the field for their first touchdown. That was the game plan – run on the Bears and wear them down. They were up and down, of course, but generally the Redskins generally executed well.
  2. The Bears looked to me like they played a lot of zone on early downs. It’s possible that they were hoping the Redskins would shoot themselves in the foot if they just kept everything in front of them. It was occasionally effective but it made for a bad look when the redskins executed.
  3. Kirk Cousins generally looked sharp with over 300 yards passing but boy, he lives dangerously. He was accurate. He did a good job reading the blitz and the Redskins did a good job picking it up. But sometimes he loses his mind like on the stupid pass to Matt Jones under pressure late in the game when a turnover would have been a killer. I can see why people knock him. He’s a ticking time bomb waiting to explode.
  4. Tight end Jordan Reed (120 yards and 1 touchdown on 9 receptions) is a load. He was quite a match up problem being too big for the safties and way too quick for the linebackers.
  5. Kyle Fuller took a step back and was well on his way to a miserable game until an interception late in the third quarter deep in Washington territory. That led to a touchdown. Fuller fell down on a big third down conversion early in the first half and lost contain on a Kirk Cousins run for a touchdown.
  6. I thought the Bears did a reasonable job of generating pressure but it was mostly when good coverage forced Cousins to hold the ball.
  7. The Redskins had their share of stupid play. They eventually scored the touchdown but its inexcusable to take a delay of game coming out of a time out as the Redskins did with midway through the third quarter. Washington had to call another time out at the end of the third quarter after failing to get a play into Cousins in a timely manner. Although they moved the ball on the Bears effortlessly when they executed, these aren’t the kinds of mistakes that they can afford. Matt Jones literally threw the ball away before he was touched down on one critical play late in the game. He was lucky it bounced back to him.
  8. Eddie Goldman showed up again this week. So did Willie Young and Lamarr Houston with a sack each.

Offense

  1. The Bears came out and tried to run their usual ball control offensive game plan. They struggled, making mistakes and committing penalties, making that kind of game plan tough to execute. The Redskins also dod a good job of stopping the run, holding them to only 87 yards.
  2. The Bears found themselves in third and long far too often. Alshon Jeffery bailed them out on occasion but it was a bad situaiton that the Bears can’t afford to be in.
  3. Jeffery had a good game (107 yards and a touchdown on 6 receptions) after not performing well last week. Like the 49ers, the Redskins put their best corner, Brashaud Breeland, on him but otherwise didn’t do anything special to cover him. He needed a good performance and I thought he did.
  4. Terrance Knighton dominated the interior of the offensive line. Hroniss Grasu looked particularly bad and did not have a good game.
  5. Kyle Long also had a tough day as he gave up two sacks, one of which resulted in a fumble and a turnover. He saw a lot of Ryan Kerrigan, who had a pretty good day.
  6. Jay Cutler was once again, just a little bit erratic, especially deep. He still had 315 yards passing, though.
  7. I’m sure everyone is wondering if Zack Miller’s performance (85 yards on 5 receptions and a touchdown) makes Martellus Bennett is expendable. It doesn’t.

Miscellaneous

  1. Kenny Albert, Daryl Johnston and Laura Okmin did a good job. As I mentioned last week, I think Johnston does a particularly good job of noticing and immediately commenting on very relevant aspects of play.
  2. Robbie Gould. Again. Wow.
  3. Like last week against the 49ers, the Bears committed far, far, too many penalties. For example, there was a holding Matt Slauson to make it 2nd and 27 midway through the first quarter. Tracy Porter had a damaging pass interference penalty late in the first quarter. Khari Lee had a holding penalty on a kick off return early in the second quarter and I’m starting to wonder what good he’s doing the Bears after they traded a draft pick for him. A Charles Leno hold brought back a long Zack Miller catch and run in Washington territory late in the second quarter. An offensive pass interference on Marc Mariani followed and took them out of field goal range in the first half. Kyle Long had a false start to put the Bears in a hole as they tried to put a field goal on the board before half time.
  4. Both Jeremy Langford and Matt Forte had drops today. It’s now officially a habitual problem with Langford as this is the fourth game in a row he’s had one.
  5. Turnovers played a major role in this game. With the Bears driving in the first half, Kyle Long got clown suited by Tren Murphy who went on almost untouched to hit Jay Cutler, causing a fumble and a recovery. Kyle Fuller got a huge interception that led to a game tying Bears touchdown late in the third quarter.
  6. Similar to last week, this was a frustrating game to watch. This time, at least, I thought the Redskins were the better team but it was still a game that they hung in and it was winnable, But yet again, time after time they shot themselves in the foot with sloppy play, especially penalties.  I’m a bit disappointed that the team hasn’t played a clean game since beating Green Bay.  I thought the second half of this game was a little less sloppy than the first.  So maybe the Bears are on their way back to playing better football.  They’ll have to be if they want to finish on a high note heading into next year.
Posted in Chicago Bears, Game Comments, Washington Redskins | Leave a comment

Reason for Optimism on the Offseason Fate of Matt Forte

Posted on December 13, 2015 by Tom Shannon

Mark Potash at the Chicago Sun-Times on the possibility that running back running back Matt Forte will be re-signed by the Bears:

“At this point, not even the ever-confident Forte has a real handle on how many years he can play in the NFL. ‘I don’t know, probably 12, 13 years, I think,’ he said Thursday. ‘Coming out of college I said I want to play at least 10, so after [saying] that, 12 years is a long time for a running back — even 10 is. I think I’ll assess that after 10, but my goal is kind of like 10 or 12 years.’

“That would give Forte two or four more years in the NFL, which actually is an important distinction. If he’s looking for a four-year contract, he’s unlikely to get it from the Bears (or anybody, but all it takes is one). An affordable two-year deal is likely his only chance to stay in Chicago.”

Forte_Camp_2009I’m reasonably optimistic that Forte can be resigned in Chicago. But a lot is going to depend upon how realistic Forte and his agent, Adisa Bakari, are. They aren’t going to get four years from anyone. They aren’t going to get three.

The real question is what Forte could command on the open market. That market has not been kind to running backs. Most of those who signed free agent deals last year aren’t having good seasons. Top free agent running back DeMarco Murray was recently demoted to a back up. Of the other top players from that class, Justin Forsett, Mark Ingram, Ryan Mathews and C.J. Spiller are all having mediocre years with Ingram currently leading the way with 769 total yards rushing (11th in the league). Add in the fact that Forte is 30 years old and the prospects aren’t great.

The Bears undoubtedly recognize Forte’s value and no matter what his age, I’m sure they’re going to make an attempt to keep him. You don’t let good players walk away no matter what stage in the rebuilding process you are at. As Potash points out, the Bears will likely make a fair offer on what Forte will consider to be the low end of his value and let him hit the market. No one knows what that market will be but there’s a reasonable chance that the sold and versatile but not spectacular Forte will return.

Posted in Chicago Bears | Leave a comment

Tracy Porter to the Pro Bowl?

Posted on December 12, 2015 by Tom Shannon

Patrick Finley at the Chicago Sun-Times takes us through 10 Bears question marks:

“9. Who on the Bears can make the Pro Bowl?

“Tracy Porter, maybe? No Bears player leads their position group in fan voting, which runs through Tuesday on NFL.com. Only two NFC North players do: Vikings running back Adrian Peterson and Packers linebacker Clay Matthews.”

Porter is the 36th ranked cornerback in the league of 118 rated according to Pro Football Focus.  Kyle Long is also in the middle of the pack at tackle.  Not that that’s the definitive reference. But its all we’ve got.

Porter isn’t one of the top cornerbacks in the league. Indeed, as far as I can tell, the Bears have no Pro Bowlers at all. I consider this to be yet another demonstration of how effective the coaching staff has been at extracting the most out of what talent they have been given.

Posted in Chicago Bears, Green Bay Packers, Minnesota Vikings | Leave a comment

Another Challenge for Jay Cutler

Posted on December 12, 2015 by Tom Shannon

Dan Wiederer at the Chicago Tribune takes us through some of the numbers relevant to Sunday’s match up with the Redskins:

“46.6: Jay Cutler’s rating in two career starts against the Redskins, both losses. In 2013, Cutler left a 45-41 loss late in the first half after suffering a torn groin muscle. Cutler also threw a pick six in that game. Three years earlier, he threw four interceptions – all to Redskins cornerback DeAngelo Hall – in a 17-14 loss at Soldier Field. Cutler’s numbers against the Redskins: 29-for-48, 309 yards, one TD pass, five picks.”

This will be another watershed game for Cutler.

Two games ago on Thanksgiving Cutler took advantage of the opportunity to show critics like myself that he’s a different quarterback this year. Similar to that game, Cutler will be able to show that he can perform in situations this year that he has previously collapsed in. It doesn’t help that he’s coming off of his worst game of the year (18 completions of 31 attempts for 202 yards with a passer rating of 64.2). It was one in which he was more than usually erratic, especially on deeper throws.

Like all Bears fans, I wish him good luck in defeating the demons that have haunted him in days gone by.

Posted in Chicago Bears, Green Bay Packers, San Francisco 49ers, Washington Redskins | Leave a comment

For Heaven’s Sake, Jalen Saunders

Posted on December 12, 2015 by Tom Shannon

Brad Biggs at the Chicago Tribune relays that Bears practice squad wide receiver Jalen Saunders has been suspended for 10 games violating the league’s substance abuse policy:

“Ten-game suspensions come when a player has violated the policy for a fourth time.

“The Bears signed Saunders to the practice squad on Sept. 7 and transferred him to the practice squad/injured list on Oct. 6. The New York Jets drafted him in the fourth round out of Oklahoma last year and he was released just one month into the season. He then spent time with the Arizona Cardinals, Seattle Seahawks and New Orleans Saints before the season ended. “

He’s violated the policy four times in just two years? He’s either got a huge drug problem or he’s extremely stupid.  I can’t imagine the Bears keep this guy around.

Posted in Arizona Cardinals, Chicago Bears, New Orleans Saints, New York Jets, Seattle Seahawks | Leave a comment

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

Posted on December 11, 2015 by Tom Shannon

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.

Posted in Chicago Bears, New England Patriots | Leave a comment