Joe’s Bears Update
By: Joe Whitcomb
Tags: Chicago, Football, Chicago Bears

Week 16 Game Notes

Opening thoughts:

How on Earth did they win this? I wrote this as the game was happening, when it looked like a disgusting slop-fest we’d lose by 10. Some of the negativity here is erased by having won, but I stand by it all. Here we go:

(for the 8th time this year) So this is the one that gets him fired right?

Least disciplined team in football, and probably the least fun to watch when they’re w/o Justin and Khalil.

Texans, Jets, Jaguars, Lions have all looked better these last few weeks.

QB1: Nick Foles- Why is he still here? How could we not even milk a 7th out of him? He’s not even especially bad; certainly turns over the ball less than Justin. Probably a better arm than Andy. But there’s no reason to be doing this. Making me watch this should be illegal.

QB2: Ryan Willis- Who the fuck is this

RB1: David Montgomery- Let him run out of multiple sets instead of this obvious tell system we have. He looks great in terms of fighting for yards but we simply have wasted another good young running back. The Bears way. Still fun to watch

RB2: Khalil Herbert- If this season is effectively over and we are only looking to the future, why are we limiting his snaps? A second DMont contract is still up in the air. Damien Williams should only be an emergency option when we have a potentially ascendant guy that we instead make return kicks. Herbert’s had good burst all season and had a nice TD today. So why did he have as many carries as Darnell MOONEY?!

WR1: Darnell Mooney- Speaking of Mooney, fuck that guy. The least shifty 5'10 speed threat I’ve ever seen, and he’s our 1 right now. (Deleted line: I don’t think I’ve ever seen him intentionally break a tackle) Can produce but should never, ever be getting this volume share. Also the guy can’t catch. Small ass hands. Pathetic. Best play came late. This guy’s loved by Bears fans and even some national guys but I just can’t get behind it anymore. Catch. the ball.

Other WRs: Marquise Goodwin, Damiere Byrd- Why are you two here? Speed threats that can’t get open and can’t catch unless they’re standing still. Literally not worth your paltry contracts. Your stats are going to be needlessly inflated at the end of the year because you guys can break one combined 60 yard TD every four weeks. (Added later) Byrd did nothing all day until he made that great 2 point catch. Always liked him more anyway.

Dazz Newsome- Kind of impressive in that he’s the only Bears receiver I saw break a tackle today (no longer true). Same note as Herbert- he should be playing over everybody but Mooney to look ahead.

Allen Robinson- Probably never playing for the Bears again. Massive waste of the Franchise Tag. I’d never disrespect a guy chasing his bag but the Bears were fools to keep him this year- this wasn’t any better when he was healthy. Still think of him dropping what would’ve been Fields first TD.

Jakeem Grant- At least him having a concussion meant he did not get a few useless RB carries.

TEs: Cole Kmet- Had a couple good plays but what a waste of a second rounder. Pace shouldn’t be allowed to touch TEs- and why can’t Nagy coming from KC scheme any intermediate TE work?! Why does it all have to be catch and run or TD jump ball?

Jimmy Graham- I don’t care if he catches TDs. Jesper Horsted catches TDs (the same number coming into today, as a matter of fact). Why are we paying him 10 mil to not practice and get 1–2 catches a game? Kyle Fuller got benched by Denver but he would still start for us. I know my tight end and receiver complaints are at odds- all our receivers are too small to work effectively in the red zone so we need these otherwise useless jump ball tight ends. But that’s certainly not how I’d choose my roster to be built and it’s the #1 thing I’d want to fix this off season- get rid of Graham and bring in some red zone/possession WRs.

OTs: Larry Borom did not start. Why did Larry Borom not start you ask? Because Germain Ifedi used to play for the Seahawks, where he led the league in penalties and eventually got his fifth year declined. So the 4–10 Chicago Bears decided to start him, along with a fellow should-be backup Bruce Irvin, to force a revenge game with them as team captains. This would have been a tragedy if Borom was not then forced to come in at Left Tackle after the most adverse-outcome-prone man in America, Teven Jenkins, once again got injured. Can’t take a look at our young guys if they can’t stay on the field, and they can’t stop committing penalties when they’re on the field. Even if he played alright when the ball was live last week, it already feels like this pick is going sideways. Anyway, Germain Ifedi can’t pass block. And he constantly gets penalized too.

IOL: and neither can the Guards or Center. This is worst red zone offense in the league in part because it can not get any push when the defense knows the run is coming. And thanks to Matt Nagy and his amazing ticks, they always know when the run is coming.

IDL: They played alright but without Hicks there’s nothing remarkable. Bilal Nichols has gone completely stagnant. This unit, in particular Mario Edwards and Angelo Blackson, love to commit penalties. The whole defense does really. Late hits, hands to the face, taunting, unsportsmanlike. Who cares? They do it all.

EDGE: Quiet on the day. Quinn got his requisite sack of the game. No real #2 has emerged, and it appears Pace hasn’t drafted or signed guys with any ability. Where’s Cassius Marsh? He was fun. Rather see him than Khalil’s little brother or an extremely washed up Bruce Irvin.

LB: Alec Ogletree can join Mario Edwards and Teven Jenkins in penalty jail. Stop committing penalties. So demoralizing. Also, where are those picks from the preseason? I know performance does not track like that but to my understanding it was a big part of why he started for this team in Week 1 and ever since.

CB: Another mess without Jaylon Johnson. Artie Burns dropped an easy pick, thereby spoiling my Russel Wilson over .5 INT prop bet. Thomas Graham immediately got his newfound mojo spoiled by DK Metcalf. I know I’ve been advocating for getting every young guy out there, and I’m certainly a Thomas Graham truther, but putting our rookie/practice sqaud 5'11, 4.5 guy, who has one game of experience, on an island with the best size/speed threat in football is absolutely criminal. Even more criminal is that Desai went with a CB rotation, and Graham didn’t even start. Graham missed some tackles to boot, though he eventually got a PBU or two. He should start with Johnson next week.

S: Nothing much. Eddie’s been tackling better but got beat by Gerald Everett of all people. Teez Tabor late hit penalty. Undisciplined.

Nagy: Laundry list of problems again. Stop calling plays that require any of our <5'10 receivers to block. The next Bears coach should not be allowed to call curls. Would also be nice if we ran PA out of a heavy set from time to time- maybe even in the red zone! Playbook does not change from Andy to Justin to Nick. If we lose any yards early we are simply shit out of luck- these speedy receivers we have are not allowed to run 9 routes.

I can not believe we won. I am going to introduce a new tier system for these games. The system will put guys into five categories: Safe, Intriguing, Whatever, Should Be Gone, and Jail. Here we go

Safe:

Robert Quinn has been more consistent than even Mack ever was. Mack was, and likely is, still better, but this has been by far the brightest spot this year for this team.

Intriguing:

Sean Desai called an alright game with a still banged up defense, limiting the Seahawks explosiveness and getting that critical late game stop. He has these guys playing fiery, regardless of skill.

As I wrote about how Damiere Byrd was useless in the Red Zone, he proved me wrong. Liked him on the Pats and liked his signing more than Goodwin’s (one of them is redundant- it should be Goodwin).

Whatever

Bruce Irvin got the game saving pressure but I continue to be confused as to why he plays for this team.

Should Be Gone

Jimmy Graham but only if we can find someone else who can catch touchdowns. If he’s the only guy who can, put him in the whatever category.

Germain Ifedi as I said above. Bench him and let him go at the end of the year. Thought the Bears community overreacted to his shoving Jenkins after Jenkins cost them 15 yards but his on the field is inexcusable. Sam Mustipher needs to go too. No fault of his but he simply can not be an NFL starter. Move Whitehair over if you can’t fix the problem next year.

Ryan Pace has too many missteps to really justify keeping him. Too many flaws at key positions (OL, WR, CB) that are not fixing themselves through his selection of role players. I like him; I like some of his key pickups; I even like how well he builds depth- but this can not continue unless some gold starts sparkling out of the shit (the shit being those depth/role players who are now every snap starters)

Jail

Matt Nagy enters his second straight year in jail. When the Bears get rid of him, which knowing how stupid the McCaskeys are may be in the off season thanks to this win today, he should be barred from calling or designing plays at any level ever again. I feel bad for him at this point.