Bear(ing) the News – A Chicago Bears Blog

Rich Campbell at the Chicago Tribune quotes defensive coordinator Vic Fangio as he defends the play of inside linebacker Shea McClellin:

“Fangio believes McClellin can learn the physicality and explosiveness required to win at the point of attack.

“‘It’s all keying and diagnosing and reaction and instincts and repetitions,’ Fangio said. ‘The more he plays, the more he’ll do better at that.’

That was good enough when the season began and the position was new to McClellin. But we’re in week 15 now and there has been no noticeable improvement in his play. Color commentators that have focused upon the Bears inside linebackers note that there’s far too much running sideline-to-sideline going on. The only player who has shown any ability to diagnose plays fast enough attack up field is undrafted rookie Jonathan Anderson, who has seen far less playing time and had far fewer repetitions than either McClellin or Christain Jones. Linebackers are allowing too much time for offensive linemen to get to the second level and block them out of the play.

I find Fangio’s arguments in McClellin’s favor lacking and I think the fact that we will be seeing John Timu against the Vikings is an indication that the other members of the organization aren’t buying it either.

Brad Biggs at the Chicago Tribune notes that Ka’Deem Carey saw fewer runs against the Redskins than he did the couple games previously.

“No carries this week for Ka’Deem Carey and I suspect the reasoning is two-fold. For starters, the Bears only handed the ball off 21 times and there were only 56 offensive plays. They got to him last week against the 49ers because they had 78 snaps.”

The knock on Carey is that he doesn’t play special teams, something most third running backs need to do to keep their jobs. But Carey did see 5 snaps on special teams this week where he had one returned kick.

The Bears might be coming around to the idea that Carey has a future with the team. His activity on special teams will be worth monitoring as the season wears down.

Brad Biggs at the Chicago Tribune comments upon the play of tight end Zach Miller:

“Miller was more or less a fullback for the first seven games of the season when he was targeted only five times in the passing game. In the last six games, he’s got 18 receptions for 278 yards and five touchdowns, including a 9-yard touchdown from Jay Cutler in the third quarter that brought the Bears within 21-14.”

“It will be interesting to see what shakes out for Miller. He’s produced in the passing game now that he’s been given an opportunity. He’s playing through a rib injury and he’s stayed on the field this season.”

The last sentence is significant. Bears fans know that Miller has had the potential to perform like this. At least those who have been paying attention. Miller performed well in the preseason of 2014 and coaches raved about how surprised they were about his athleticism and potential.

The problem with him is that he has been more often injured than on the field. The injury-riddled Miller was drafted in 2009 by the Jaguars but was released after sustaining a calf injury in the 2012 preseason after playing only four games for them in 2011. The Bears placed him on injured reserve in August of 2014 with a foot injury.

The Bears face an interesting decision on Miller. He’s clearly an asset and the Bears can’t afford to throw away good players. But they can’t give a lot of money to a player long-term if they can’t trust him to be on the field, either. With the Bears rebuilding, Miller is not someone that they can afford to invest in too heavily.

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.

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.

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.