The Ugly Truth as Told by a Bills Fan.

[vabearsfan15]

I saw this posted in a post game thread on a Bills message board and thought it shared a good perspective.

What say you?

How much does preseason foreshadow the regular season? How concerned should Bear fans be? I tend to side more with this poster

I remember all the years of watching Bills preseason games where the Bills looked like the Bears looked tonight. Sloppy, uninspired, outmatched, no urgency.

I would always tell myself "It's just preseason! No need to worry!". Lo and behold, the season would come, and they'd look just like they looked in preseason. I came to realize over the years that to a large degree, preseason performance DOES matter. Sure, the playcalling is vanilla and there are backups scattered throughout the lineup, but the fundamental football questions remain: Are you getting in and out of the offensive huddle crisply and efficiently? Executing your blocking assignments? Tackling with sound fundamentals? Playing tight coverage? Running good routes? Protecting the football? Scoring points? Avoiding 3-and-outs?

I'm so glad that the Bills are finally on the other side of the equation. Despite resting all of the best players on our team, we soundly outplayed the Bears in all three phases. No sloppy penalties or confusion, no dumb, unforced errors (save for McKenzie's fumble), converting on 3rd and 4th down....just generally looking like a well assembled, well coached, relatively deep football team.

Coaching absolutely matters. Seeing McDermott's crew side-by-side with Nagy's crew....no contest. Hats off to coach McDermott. All the credit in the world to him, he's built an excellent program here in Buffalo.

PostGame Thread Bills @ Bears

www.twobillsdrive.com

 

[puckthefackers]

it seems true to me. Nagy and basic football fundamentals don't mix. Nagy teams are consistent in that they are always sloppy and unprepared

 

[Anytime23]

I agree with some of that, especially the tackling and getting in/out of the huddle stuff. But again, you have to realize who's out there.

But this guy is basing everything off what he has experienced as a Bills fan. There are teams that look like shit in the preseason who look better in the regular season and vice-versa.

I think the Bears offense will be shit again but im not 100% sold that the defense is down 28 points to Mitch Trubisky bad.

 

[greg23]

I bet McDermott couldn't run an egg toss contest or facilitate the purchase of a home.

 

[sevvy]

Even though it's preseason, there is no need to have sloppy fundamentals, and to forget how to tackle. And it's bad when you see bad habits from seasons past show up in the preseason. Amazing how Nagy teams always suck with pre-snap penalties. Huh...

All that being said, it is just preseason. You don't really know how much of an impact having x and y players out of the lineup totally change the dynamic of a game. I also kind of don't believe that players that have a cemented spot on a roster are going 100% in a preseason game. I don't know.

Regardless, the Bills appeared to be going hard. And the Bears appeared to be half assing it. Which I wouldn't care that much if the Bears were 13-3 and all but guaranteed to win our division and look to compete deep into the playoffs. Buuuuut we're kind of trash, and we have a hard schedule coming up.

In other words, Matt Nagy sucks.

 

[Hawkeye OG]

What he's saying makes sense. I would expect a lack luster, goofy offense, plain vanilla defensive performance from a new coaching staff. Nagy has been here long enough and has plenty of long tenured players and that does speak volumes. I only caught about 1 quarter of game play, but reading CCS, it wasn't good. Sure, it's preseason and teams are still trying to figure things out, but it shouldn't be a dumpster fire. Especially with a tenured coach.

We've seen this for a few years now. Nagy is routinely outmatched by other coaches. Anytime they lost the past 2 seasons, it was pretty obvious. Nagy is in over his head. We'll see how he pulls it together for regular season games, but my expectations are very low. He might end up being the biggest issue this year. There is talent on the Bears, a competent coach could make this team work.

 

[Midwaymonster75]

There are teams that look like shit in the preseason who look better in the regular season and vice-versa.

Like who?

 

[Anytime23]

Like who?

Ive seen the Steelers look like they dont belong in the league in the pre-season and then look like the Steelers when it matters.

An all time loser of a Lions team swept the preseason.

The Bears may look like the Bears we know but that doesnt mean the rest of the league is what they are showing in the preseason. Idk how anyone can take that seriously when there are this many starters sitting out.

 

[Visionman]

Ive seen the Steelers look like they dont belong in the league in the pre-season and then look like the Steelers when it matters.

An all time loser of a Lions team swept the preseason.

The Bears may look like the Bears we know but that doesnt mean the rest of the league is what they are showing in the preseason. Idk how anyone can take that seriously when there are this many starters sitting out.

Exactly. We may suck this year. But 2 meaningless preseason games do absolutely NOTHING to prove it will happen or not…

 

[JUSTFINGWIN]

Nagy’s be you have fun club dub BS philosophy is not working and will never work. This team needs discipline, focus and an identity particularly on offense....they need a real leader with a real football mind that can execute on a clear winning vision. Not this fraud.

 

[Anytime23]

Exactly. We may suck this year. But 2 meaningless preseason games do absolutely NOTHING to prove it will happen or not…

Right. I dont think this team beats the Dolphins if they play their starters for 4 quarters and aren't minimizing their game-plans. Some of these games have starting QBs playing 1-2 series and we're taking the results seriously?

 

[Midwaymonster75]

Ive seen the Steelers look like they dont belong in the league in the pre-season and then look like the Steelers when it matters.

An all time loser of a Lions team swept the preseason.

The Bears may look like the Bears we know but that doesnt mean the rest of the league is what they are showing in the preseason. Idk how anyone can take that seriously when there are this many starters sitting out.

Well said. Agree.

 

[SugarWalls]

I am very excited for Justin fields, I think he’s gonna be a good one.

that being said, this team is not a justin fields away from being a super bowl contender.

the offense is going to be trash. The o line is bottom 5 in the league and might actually compete for worst in the league. They have one offensive weapon in Allen robinson, and Darnell Mooney might be a great one but right now it’s pure potential.

they have a TE that’s worthless outside of red zone threat in Jimmy graham, and the touted kmet hasn’t shown anything yet (though hopefully he’s a good one)

the run game is meh because Montgomery is not explosive and the line sucks ass.

also, Matt Nagy.

this year is going to be about seeing what justin fields can make out of a shit line, decent WR play, and little to no help. Also Matt Nagy is dumb.

packers gonna win the division and bears may compete for 2nd with the vikes but this is not going to be a team to win a playoff game, let alone make an actual push.

the bills are a contender, and the bears clearly are not.

 

[gilder121]

I've seen enough bad translate from the preseason to the regular season over the years that I do think this means something. I'm not ready to call the season off, but my record guess has gone from 8-9 to 7-10. I don't think the defense has fallen quite as much as it looked (meaning, I don't think they are bottom 10). I do think the offense could be bottom 5 though.

I don't know what guarantees Nagy got when Fields was drafted, but he better be coaching for his job, because while I think McCaskey's would like to have a consistent regime specifically for Justin Fields.... that game was yikes and if that were the regular season, that is the kind of loss that loses a team. Good thing it wasn't.

 

[SlickWilly]

I've seen enough bad translate from the preseason to the regular season over the years that I do think this means something. I'm not ready to call the season off, but my record guess has gone from 8-9 to 7-10. I don't think the defense has fallen quite as much as it looked (meaning, I don't think they are bottom 10). I do think the offense could be bottom 5 though.

I don't know what guarantees Nagy got when Fields was drafted, but he better be coaching for his job, because while I think McCaskey's would like to have a consistent regime specifically for Justin Fields.... that game was yikes and if that were the regular season, that is the kind of loss that loses a team. Good thing it wasn't.

I believe it’ll be 7 or 8 wins as well.

 

[CHIBEAR]

Exactly. We may suck this year. But 2 meaningless preseason games do absolutely NOTHING to prove it will happen or not…

These games are not about proving they suck

Its about proving that that they don't because the already suck. That boat left the dock a while ago .

But we are not talking about highlight reels and midseason form we are talking about simple competence because its 4 years into the Nagy era and you still couldn't possibly say at this point what the team is good at .

You don't have to prove you are the best team in the league in preseason but year 4 of any coaches regime should show competence and vision and it all coming together with your 4 draft class and free agency and we have seen neither .

 

[SD Bears]

Nagy finished dead last in 3rd down conversion percentage last season. Worse than the Jets, worse than the Giants, and worse than the Bengals. Dead last. During yesterday's preseason scrimmage the Bears went 0-11 on 3rd down and it looked even worse than that.

Nagy is John Fox bad. Fields will be fighting against 2 opponents every game - the other team and Nagy's play calling. Out of necessity, it's almost a certainty Fields will lead the Bears in rushing yards this season.

 

[Myk]

"It's just preseason! No need to worry!" is the copium for fans of teams that suck.
They know they suck, they don't want to admit it for a few more weeks. Then it's only the 1st game. I like to break the season into quarters.

Good teams can go out and play bad in preseason and nobody cares because they know their team doesn't suck. If they have any doomsayers there's no reason to say "It's just preseason! No need to worry!" because everyone knows how they play in season.

Nagy has sucked for 4 years. We know Nagy sucks. The preseason proved Nagy still sucks. It's only preseason and Nagy still sucks. He has sucked. He will continue sucking.
"It's only Nagy's ego, maybe he'll wake up" would be a better excuse. But until he does he sucks.

The same goes for this specific preseason game because it was a QB that sucked often with Nagy, not sucking against Nagy. All the excuses are just that, excuses to deny reality. "Oh but they were all short crossing passes", so why didn't Nagy use them if his QB is unbeatable at them?
Nagy was a big reason Trubisky didn't work out and odds are it will be no different for Fields. You can't have this many QBs playing bad under Nagy and think a different QB is going to fix it. Everyone on this team is worse under Nagy.

 

[InsideTheLines]

I agree 100% with the Bills fan. I wish we had a good sound coach who preaches the fundamentals. Preseason does matter. It shows that training camp and practices are making good strides. It shows the coaching staff is starting to click with their respective sides of the ball. Hopefully they are just slowly getting into the season and what we are seeing isn’t the real Bears. I’d hate to be embarrassed at work again this season by my co-workers. Got a Packers, Rams, Dolphins, and Jets fan that I work next to every day.

 

[Bearly]

I agree 100% with the Bills fan. I wish we had a good sound coach who preaches the fundamentals. Preseason does matter. It shows that training camp and practices are making good strides. It shows the coaching staff is starting to click with their respective sides of the ball. Hopefully they are just slowly getting into the season and what we are seeing isn’t the real Bears. I’d hate to be embarrassed at work again this season by my co-workers. Got a Packers, Rams, Dolphins, and Jets fan that I work next to every day.

Sounds crowded but it doesn't sound like you'd be the guy getting the most crap here. We don't know if the coaches intentionally put guys in positions to evaluate their individual ability or not. Preseason matters but not for things like scores or even overall team appearance. Special teams seemed poorly coached but the rest, I haven't a clue about intent.

Like most debates it comes down to preseason results are srs bzns vs nothing in the preseason matters and the answer, like in most debates, lies somewhere in the middle and which way it leans has everything to do with what the coaches are actually trying to see and achieve.