He has a beard now. A glorious, white beard. It terrifies young babies. So…
Why Do I Like the Chicago Bears this Week?
I.
Always.
Like.
THE.
Chicago.
Bears.
Lovie vs. Opposing Quarterbacks
In the first two weeks of the season, Lovie’s defense has faced Matt Ryan and Russell Wilson, both times as substantial underdogs. Their passer ratings?
Ryan: 83.1
Wilson: 66.5
That ranks the Texans seventh in the league in opposer passer rating, a pretty decent stat when evaluating a pass defense. For those thinking this is a “get healthy” week for Justin Fields, that just isn’t the case.
But Houston is allowing 163.5 on the ground so don’t be surprised if the game plan for the Bears in Week 3 is relatively similar to what we’ve seen so far in September.
Knowing Lovie, expect the Texans to sell out to stop the run and dare Fields to sit in the pocket and beat them. If Fields has a good afternoon, the Bears could have a big offensive output.
Other Early Stats that Could Matter
- Lovie’s teams always get off the bus running the ball but through two games the Bears have actually run it substantially more, to the tune of 64-46 total carries. (Fields runs a lot. Davis Mills runs less.) Bears are also averaging a yard more per carry.
- Keep an eye on third down defense. Texans are allowing conversions on exactly a 33.3% of attempts. The Bears are allowing conversions on 50%. Small sample size, sure, but those numbers projected out are devastating for the Bears.
- Both the Bears (28.6% conversion) and the Texans (25% conversion) are in the bottom six in the league in third down offense.
- Underrated stat: total plays per game. Houston is averaging 63.5 (T-15) and the Bears are averaging 48.5 (31). If the Bears want to improve their offensive performance, it would be helpful to run some offensive plays.
Additional Notes (Links) from the Houston Press
- Center Justin Britt is missing from the Texans for “personal reasons” and Lovie is not sure when or if he’ll return to the club. Tuesday the team put him on the non-football injury list.
- After a nice rookie campaign, Mills and the passing attack for Houston are becoming an issue. The Chronicle’s Brooks Kubena has a full breakdown of the issues.
- Brandin Cooks has sneakily been one of the best wide receivers of this generation and Sunday he went over the 8,000-yard mark for his career. From the piece on the Texans site: “Only nine other pass-catchers in league history have cracked the 8,000-yard mark before the age of 29.”
Tweet of the Week
The Bears called 19 passing plays vs GB
11 pass attempts
3 sacks
3 QB scrambles on passing plays
1 illegal forward pass penalty that caused a loss of downsThe run-pass playcall ratio was 24-19 by my count https://t.co/MwKDlu3pIt
— Lorin Cox (@CoxSports1) September 20, 2022
The myth of “11 pass attempts” is just that, a myth. The Bears called a balanced game on Sunday night, skewing to the rushing attack because the rushing attack was working. Fields was bad. It happens.
The Top Ten Smiths of All-Time
10. The Smiths. Not a band I ever really loved but I have a childhood friend who adored them, so they are thrown on this list for him. Have a listen.
9. Greg Smith (kid I grew up with). No idea if he’s still living in Kearny, NJ or if he’s QAnon or some shit now but I always thought highly of him.
8. Dan Smith (Will Teach You Guitar). These fliers were hung in NYC forever. I always wished I’d called him.
7. Ozzie Smith. When I was a kid, and still into baseball, Ozzie represented everything fun about the game. (I have felt some of that again over the last few weeks watching Aaron Judge chase “clean history.”)
6. The Mr. Smith that Went to Washington. Frank Capra’s 1939 classic now feels like it belongs on another earth, as our national politics have submerged below the depths of Metropolis. (That’s my Dennis Miller moment. Forgive me.)
5. Smithville, NJ. When I was a kid, for some bizarre reasons, my parents bought a condo in this town. There were polo fields. There were endless amounts of antiques. There was absolutely nothing for a kid to do. The place was terrible, but it’s lingered in my memory as a geographic symbol of disconnected family, so it makes the list.
4. Alan Smithee. When a filmmaker wants to take their name off a picture, they have turned to this pseudonym since the late 1960s. The Ringer did a video profile on the usage of the name.
3. Smith’s Bar (8th Avenue, NYC, Prior to 2015). This was a bar with a corned beef station by the door and drug deals happening in the open at 7:30 in the morning. It was cheap. It was cool. And it had no chance to make it in this era of midtown-as-shopping mall. (The location was going to close but it was saved by money from Hayden Panettiere’s father.) It sucks now.
2. Bessie Smith. A car crash killed our “Empress of the Blues” at just 43 years old. And the world lost one of the most soulful voices to ever set foot on its soil.
1. Samuel Smith’s Extra Stout. I got lousy drunk on this stuff repeatedly at Bloomsbury pubs when I lived in London in 2003. (So did a few other folks associated with this site that will remain nameless.) Not even sure it’s a great beer, or if I’ve had it since, but it delivered some great memories.
Tomorrow: Game Prediction!
