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Bye Week Blues, and Three Haikus

| October 17th, 2024


Mister Eberflus,

chills out in his jacuzzi.

Glass of red, in-hand.

Rookie of the year.

People say it is Jayden’s.

Caleb says, “Hold up.”

Hope in Chicago.

An uncommon emotion.

It ain’t leaving town.


Tomorrow: Predictions for the weekend’s bye week action.

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Bye Week Blues: Thoughts on the NFL, Generally Speaking

| October 16th, 2024


The Bears are good. But what else is happening around the NFL?

  • It is amazing how many big plays have been derailed this season by illegal shift and illegal formation calls. Every game seems to have one, and this was clearly a league focus. My only question is…why? Why is this a league focus? Do we really want big plays being negated because the right tackle is a foot or two off the line of scrimmage? Do we really care if two men motion at the same time for a brief moment? I’d love to see one NFL game played wherein the refs only throw flags for egregious, play-changing penalties. The viewing experience would be far greater.
  • I have not weighed in on Tom Brady’s work as an analyst because I hadn’t given him a full game. Sunday, I did. And two things stood out to me. (1) There is no discernible style. Brady doesn’t have a signature approach to the job; he just talks. (2) I still believe Brady’s best role is in the studio. FOX should clear out that antiquated studio and give the entire stage to Brady. Let him get deep into the Xs and Os and show off his football acumen.
  • Concussion protocol is certainly an improving, but the NFL needs to insist upon a mandatory two-game IR stint for any player receiving that official diagnosis.
  • All four NFC North teams are in the top nine when it comes to points allowed per game.

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Bye Week Thoughts: Fields Buying Nagy 2021, Kmet Progression, Bye Weeks Songs & More!

| November 11th, 2021


Nagy Should Get Rest of Season

Many had targeted this week, the bye week, as the optimal time for the Bears to move on from Matt Nagy as head coach. But Justin Fields’ performances against the San Francisco 49ers and Pittsburgh Steelers – two good defenses, two teams playing for everything – will likely guarantee that Nagy sees out the remainder of this campaign.

And that’s the right decision.

This season needed to be entirely about Justin Fields and his development. (It hasn’t been, of course.) Over the last two weeks, the club is actually seeing tangible evidence of that development. Why would they do anything to stunt that progress in-season? The wins and losses don’t matter. The defense doesn’t matter. The weird personnel usages and return men bringing the ball out from five yards deep and penalties all over the place, they don’t matter. All that matters is Fields and Fields is currently an overwhelming positive. The Bears can’t disrupt that.

Nagy should (and likely will) be fired the second the 2021 season concludes. And if Fields continues on his current path, the head coaching candidates will be circling this vacancy like one of those dirty crows that circles your golf cart when you’ve got an open protein bar on the seat. An argument could be made that the new two-week window to interview coaches at the end of the regular season should expedite the process, and that argument is valid, but this is going to be THE destination coaching spot of the off-season. It comes with a quarterback. And these jobs rarely do.


Cole Kmet Continues to Rise

Kmet’s last four games: 4/49, 5/43, 3/24, 6/87.

His 17-game projection: 53/546.

But more important than the numbers is the rapport now developed between the tight end and the quarterback. Fields has found his security blanket and Kmet is cementing his role as a pivotal part of The Justin Fields Project in 2022, joining David Montgomery and Darnell Mooney as charter members.

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ATM: Nagy Must Cure the “Bye Week Blues”

| September 10th, 2019


The more time the Chicago Bears have had to prepare for game day under Matt Nagy, the worse they’ve been.

Last Thursday’s loss dropped the Bears to 0-4 under Matt Nagy when they have had more than eight days to prepare for a game. That stretch dates back to last season’s opener when they fell to Packers 24-23. It also includes includes a post-bye week loss to a bad Miami team led by Brock Osweiler and a post-Thanksgiving loss to a bad New York Giants team.

The only real similarity in all of the losses was inconsistent and sloppy offensive play. While the defense let them down in all three losses last year — allowing more than 30 points twice — the offense wasn’t necessarily sharp either. “Not sharp” would be a generous assessment of last week’s performance.

Why the Bears tend to struggle in these situations is a bit of a mystery. It’s possible that Nagy over-thinks the games. That appeared to be the case Thursday when many of his scripted plays appeared to be designed to trick the defense. That worked a year ago when the Bears marched down the field on their first two possessions against the Packers. But this is a different Packers defense, with six new starters, and they didn’t fall for any of Nagy’s misdirection.

Could the Bears have benefited from preseason action? There is some evidence.. Of the five quarterbacks who didn’t throw a single pass in preseason, four struggled for at least a half. Trubisky and Rodgers were terrible. Jared Goff’s Rams got going offensively, but he struggled individually, finishing with a passer rating of just 69 in a 30-27 win over Carolina.

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Position-By-Position at the Bye: Offensive Line

| October 29th, 2014

kyle long

The following is part of a series of position-by-position breakdowns at the halftime point of the 2014 season.

Here is what we expected from the offensive line coming into the 2014 season: Bushrod, Slauson, Garza, Long, Mills. The sturdiness and dependability of these five men in 2013 was a key to the club’s offensive resurgence. Yes, Mills was a weaker link but Trestman and Kromer protected him brilliantly with a combination of actual tight ends and Even Britton lined up as a de facto tight end.

It is hard to judge this group on eight games of odd configurations. Bushrod missed time and was replaced by a player (Ola) with no business playing left tackle in the NFL. Slauson will have a lost season and is, in my opinion, the Bears best offensive lineman. Garza missed a ton and while the transition to de la Puente felt seamless, the Bears certainly missed his comfort and leadership along the line. Mills has continued to struggle but injury has not allowed the Bears to provide the protection of a year ago.

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