Dear fans, #NFL football is so much more than physical ability.

In 13 seconds, Nick Foles won the game for the #Bears last night & proved why he is the starting quarterback! 13 seconds…. 🤯@DickersonESPN @BradBiggs #BearDown pic.twitter.com/m3qwnXxTWh

— Emmanuel Acho (@EmmanuelAcho) October 9, 2020

Did something a bit different with this week’s recap. Took notes quarter-by-quarter. So don’t judge what you read in quarter one, follow the entire narrative.

Quarter One

• Troy Aikman in the pre-game commentary suggested that the Bears running game was built around Mitch Trubisky’s abilities and had to be rethought for Foles. I had never seen or heard that anywhere, but it should be assumed that came from the Bears.
• Roquan Smith missed a big TFL opportunity and I’m thinking, “Bears need their defensive stars to PLAY like defensive stars.” Smith has to make that play and all-but kill the drive. Khalil Mack has to make the interception last week. This defense has opportunities every single week. They have to take them,
• Where is Robert Quinn?
• Nick Foles absolutely can’t miss the easy third down conversion throw on the Bears’ first drive. That’s amateur hour.
• Does Ted Ginn ever catch punts on the fly? His ball awareness as a return seems severely lacking through a few games. (And boy it seems the Bears miss Tarik Cohen more than I expected they would.)
• Get the sense Tashaun Gipson more an old school strong safety, even though that position doesn’t actually exist anymore.
• Allen Robinson, perfect back shoulder throw, off both of his hands, intercepted. Does this guy ever win a contested ball? It seems weekly the answer is no. I know he’s a very good wide receiver but I’m not giving $80 million to a guy who does this every single week.
• The touchdown pass from Tom Brady to Evan was absolute perfection. He’s Tom Brady for a reason.

Quarter Two

• Deep ball to Darnell Mooney and third down pass to Robinson, Foles threw the ball to the wrong spot. Foles looks absolutely lost in the playbook right now.
• Bruce Arians going for it with a sneak on fourth and inches inside his own 20 is borderline insane. But it was the decision I did not want him to make. So that makes it he right one in that spot.
• Roquan Smith again exploding into the hole and not wrapping up the ball carrier. After Sunday’s game, he’s pitching a dud.
• Jaylon Johnson called for a pass interference on a deep ball. Terrible mistake on a pass that had no chance of being caught. He’s got to learn to trust his coverage skills. Because he has them.
• Is it bad that when a kickoff goes over Cordarrelle Patterson’s head my first thought is, “Get a first down before you punt”?
• Terrific drive orchestrated by Foles to get the Bears into the end zone. Made short, precise throws and gave his guys a chance to make plays.
• Khalil Mack knocking down Brady’s first down thrown on the Bucs’ final drive of the half was a crucial moment.

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Everyone who supports the Chicago Bears wants them to win tonight. Everyone wants the defense to shut down Tom Brady and for the offense to put together four consistent, productive quarters. But the most likely scenario is there will be some great and a bit of bad on defense, a tad bit of good but mostly bad on offense, and the Bears will lose because Brady plays for the other team.

And you know what? That’s okay.

I know preaching patience is not going to win DBB any awards in the clicks department. Patience and nuance are anathema to the whole of the sports media landscape. Anybody familiar with Mike Greenberg’s new radio show on ESPN can tell you that. Every single day he proclaims a new team “the best” in football. (After Week 2, I believe that was the Arizona Cardinals.) Every single day a new player “is the frontrunner for MVP”. (Kyler Murray, of course.) The trick to being successful in this climate is to make absurdly bold yet utterly forgettable proclamations as often as you possibly can. Five Things Ryan Pace Needs to Improve Upon columns are met with resounding indifference. Five Reasons the Bears Must Not Only Fire But Perhaps Murder Ryan Pace in His Sleep columns? Click click click click click click click.

Nick Foles had his first full practice with Bears starters a week ago. A week ago. He will have had about four serious practices with this offense as they head into tonight’s game, against the greatest quarterback in the history of the sport. If you expected Foles to take over the job midway through the third week and arrive in midseason form, I’d only ask one question: why? Why would you believe that?

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How much does a pirate pay for corn?

Buck an ear.

Why Do I Like the Chicago Bears This Week?

I always like the Chicago Bears.

And I think the offense will get better in the weeks to come. Do I think they’ll be at full stride tomorrow? No. But I think signs of progress will be evident, as they work towards getting the new quarterback up to speed.

On Brady’s Bucs…

As always, you can go look at the statistical rankings and draw your own conclusions on Tampa’s strengths and weaknesses. I watch the Short Cuts of all their games on Sunday Ticket and try to give you in-game insights.

• Tom Brady’s approach isn’t particularly different than it was in New England. Every once in a while he’ll take a deep shot (Scotty Miller is his guy down there) but his bread is still buttered by the quick toss, intermediate stuff to tight ends and small white receivers and a diverse collection of screens. When Brady’s in rhythm, he’s unstoppable. When he’s pressured out of that rhythm, he’s been giving the defense opportunities to make plays on the football.
  • It could be a product of age, but Brady’s arm strength seems to come and go over the course of a game. He had no zip on the football early against LA. He was flinging it in the third quarter.
  • Mike Evans has become a possession receiver. And a good one.
  • The injury report will have a massive say in what this offense looks like tomorrow night. Most of the skill guys in Tampa are on their report.
• Ronald Jones power runs are the tone-setters for this offense but Jones has been a real asset in the passing game lately. Will be an interesting test for Roquan Smith, coming off arguably his best game as a Bear.
• Defense can be attacked vertically, especially on early downs. If the Bears think they can take the same approach they took Sunday and try to bully the Bucs on first downs with the run game, they’ll find themselves behind the chains all day long. (The Chargers had zero success with early-down runs.) When the Bears find themselves chasing down and distance, they need to expect Todd Bowles to bring pressure and attack that pressure with the screen game.
• An element of the Bucs passing game that the Bears must be ready for is the tight end verticals. O.J. Howards is out for the season but don’t be surprised if that injury doesn’t increase Rob Gronkowski’s role in the game plan.

In Honor of the Buccaneers, My Five Favorite Big Screen Pirates

(5) Steve the Pirate, Dodgeball

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(4) Captain Hook, Hook

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(3) Pirate King, Pirates of Penzance 

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(2) Smee, Disney’s Peter Pan

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(1) Dread Pirate Roberts, The Princess Bride

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Here come the rapid fire reactions to a snooze of a ballgame. And a ballgame the Bears deserved to lose.

• The Colts were quite simply the better team. They played harder, hit harder, committed fewer penalties and won at the point of attack consistently.
• Rivers was bad in this game, as expected. But bad was good enough.
• Nick Foles played a terrible game, generally. But it was to be expected. The Bears have to figure out a way to get their QB up-to-speed before Thursday or they’ll be heading into a ten-day layoff at 3-2.
• Who do the players perform their celebrations for when the stadiums are empty? Do you think they feel as ridiculous as they look?
• Rich Gannon, who NEVER STOPS TALKING, referred to Khalil Mack as an “all day sucker”. That might be the most disgusting description of a player I’ve heard.
• Has there been a great return man who is also great at covering kicks? Cordarrelle Patterson is every bit that.
• Three pivotal moments in the first quarter:
  • Kyle Fuller called for a pass interference on the touchdown drive. Just didn’t feel like that call needed to be made. But here’s the bigger issue: do you know what PI is? Do the players know what PI is? It’s become a vague, undefined penalty.
  • Khalil Mack’s dropped interception. That’s leaving points on the board.
  • Bears allowing Alie-Cox to beat them for the touchdown. How is not the focal point for Chuck Pagano on that play? Rivers has been looking to him constantly for weeks in those exact situations.
• Guard play was terrible for the Bears early in the game. Daniels and Ifedi missed pivotal blocks that killed drives.
• Re-capping the first half:
  • About as undisciplined a half as the Bears can play. Penalties and mistakes everywhere. Strange coaching decisions.
  • Defense has to get off the field on third-and-long, especially when they’re getting pressure. The middle of the field is just wide open weekly. Why?
  • Bend-don’t-break is what this defensive identity is becoming. They’re not dominant. They’re solid, across the board. With this offense, currently, that’s not gonna be good enough.

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Our sponsor this week is the legendary Merz Apothecary and they’re doing a fantastic giveaway!

Because there isn’t any theatre for JQ to do, he’s been forced to actually watch all these Bears games live and his heart is struggling to take it. So the winner of this week’s contest will receive a package of goods designed for heart health and stress relief. We can’t have the Chicago Bears killing anyone!

You’ll get Himalaya HeartCare Capsules, Carlson Fish Oil Capsules and Urban Moonshine Joy Tonic. It’s a package worth $75. This is high-end stuff.

The Contest

In the comments section below, guess the total number of yards receiving for Bears WRs Sunday. No backs. No tight ends. Just Robinson, Miller, Mooney, Ginn, Wims…etc. First correct answer wins the package so don’t duplicate someone else’s guess. (If nobody guesses the number exactly, we’ll roll the prize over to Thursday’s Bucs preview.)

Good luck!

Why Do I Like the Chicago Bears This Week?

I always like the Chicago Bears.

And while I think there will be some growing pains for Nick Foles with these receivers, my confidence level in this team is significantly higher with him under center.

Thoughts on the Colts

• I have watched all three Colts games and I don’t really know what to make of them defensively. (I guess the same could be said about the Bears.) Kirk Cousins played one of the worst games I’ve ever seen a quarterback play two weeks ago. Then Sam Darnold topped him last week. If you think the Colts defense caused those performances you really need to look at the tape. Both guys missed wide open receivers all over the field. Both guys just seemed to casually throw interceptions. This is definitely the best defense the Bears have faced to this point but their number one ranking is inflated by these grotesque QB performances.
• When you watch them defensively, it’s their aggressiveness that jumps off the screen. They are a group that likes to hit people. It’s the reason Matt Eberflus was being considered for some head coaching gigs last off-season and why he’ll be a top contender once Eric Bieniemy is announced as the new coach of the Falcons.
• Mo Alie-Cox looks to be finally developing into a nice weapon for Phil Rivers at the tight end spot. He’s only got ten catches on this young season but you can see the confidence level growing each week. Bears need to be wary.
• Stopping the run is key every week but it’s absolutely essential Sunday. If the Bears have shown a vulnerability in the passing game it’s the deep middle, underneath the safeties. Those throws require arm strength and the first three QBs they have faced have had it in spades. Rivers does not. He can not pick them apart if he’s trying to fit the ball into tight windows, 10-12 yards down the field.
• Kicker Rodrigo Blankenship was one of my favorite players in the 2020 NFL Draft and he’s been fine kicking for the Colts. But…he’s doinked three kicks through three weeks. Imagine if the Bears had drafted him and he did this? It would have broken half the fan base.

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Bears are 3-0. They won’t win more than 8 games. And are stuck in draft pick purgatory from trades they’ve made. Rough spot to be in

— Jason La Canfora (@JasonLaCanfora) September 28, 2020

Jason La Canfora does this a lot.

And he’s not alone.

There are a good number of (mostly national) football writers who go out of their way to take shots at Ryan Pace’s Chicago Bears whenever they see the opportunity. The reason is not Ryan Pace. The reason is Chris Ballard, the current General Manager of the Indianapolis Colts.

Very few personnel men in the league were as, let’s just say, open with the media as Ballard. His press friends were many. Folks like Matt Miller and La Canfora trusted his scouting word as gospel and they promoted him for just about every GM opening that came around.

When the Bears interviewed Ballard for the gig that eventually went to Pace, the former was unsurprisingly vocal. He told people around the league the job was his to lose. He even said that to one of the other contenders for the gig! Ballard considered the interview process a foregone conclusion, believing that George and Ted would go with a known, comfortable commodity in the wake of the failed Phil Emery experiment.

He didn’t get the job. Not because he wasn’t a qualified candidate, mind you. The Bears quite liked Chris Ballard before and during the process. Ballard didn’t get hired because Pace blew the doors off the joint. He was smart, detailed and charismatic. And the endorsement given by Sean Payton was one of the more enthusiastic they’d experienced. The Bears didn’t just believe in Pace. They believed in his vision for what the Bears could and should be.

Ballard did not take this rejection well.

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Phil Rivers was paid a fortune to take over a franchise that saw their 2019 derailed by an early retirement and injuries at the sport’s most important position.

Tom Brady was paid a fortune to take over a franchise that saw their 2019 derailed by a quarterback who stubbornly refused to stop throwing the ball to the other team.

Neither is the player they once were. They both do everything in their power to avoid contact. They both lack the zip required to fit the football into tight, intermediate windows. They both lack precision on the deep ball, not uncommon for quarterbacks in the twilights of their careers.

But how the Chicago defense performs against these two wily veterans will greatly determine what kind of season this team is going to have. To this point, the defense has been far more bend-don’t-break than recent vintages. They have forced the three opposing QBs – Stafford, Jones and Ryan – to execute long drives to threaten to the end zone. (With the glaring exception being the Atlanta opening drive Sunday.) Being that the unit is ranked 9th in points allowed, it’s hard to argue that strategy hasn’t worked, to a point.

These next two games, that must change. The run defense must be better because both of these quarterbacks are at their best when they get ahead of the chains. The pass rush must dominate because neither of these quarterbacks can operate with players around them. The coverage must be tight because neither of these quarterbacks can make the kinds of throws Stafford make in Week One. If you allow Phil and Tom to dink and dunk you to death, it’s EXACTLY what they’ll do.

The Bears needed to come out of their first three games at 2-1, minimum. They exceeded that, in somewhat miraculous fashion, managing to also close the book on The Trubisky Affair. Now they need a split of these next two. 4-1 (or long shot 5-0) means they’ll have ten days before a a game in Carolina they’ll be expected to win. That is exactly the kind of start that means you’re playing meaningful games in late December, and hopefully beyond.

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