Thoughts and Observations: Week 9 Lions

[WindyCity]

Offense


-There was some poetic justice in the fact that the week where Mitch is bombed by never ending hot takes that he comes out and plays the best game of his career. This was a sensational game from Trubisky and he dominated the Lions from the first snap. His passes were accurate and allowed his WRs to make big plays, his decisions were good, and he was audibling to plays that gouged the Lions. You could see the command of the offense, you could see the poise, and the tools were obvious. One of my favorite plays of the game was when he broke the pocket late in the game and converted a 3rd down running and broke whatever hope the Lions had. The **** Michael Lombardi game.


-The run blocking is not good. The OL, while stellar in pass pro, struggled with Harrison all game inside, but Jordan Howard just does not look decisive or powerful right now. It is pretty obvious he is a poor fit in the offense, the slow developing patient runs are not to his strength as he can not stop and restart himself, but they do need to figure out how to use him better.


-The run game was a mess all game. I am going to really focus in on the OL when I rewatch the game, but it was a total mess.


-I see no reason for Dion Sims to not be put on IR and totally removed from the equation. Not onlhy was Braunecker a much better blocker, hard to be worse, he had a great 20 yard catch and showed that he can be a weapon. With Shaheen coming back, Sims becomes exceptionally redundant.


-Trey Burton had a very quiet 4/40 game. This was even more obvious when on the Hoge and Jahns podcast they were talking about how the Bears have 4 players with over 400 yards receiving already [Gabriel, Cohen, Robinson, Burton] and another in Miller who is at 335 yards. The way this offense can spread the ball around and kill you with different guys is awesome and makes them hard to defend.


-The difficulty to defend the offense becomes even more difficult when Robinson is dominating, as we know he can. He murdered the Lions with his combination of size and route running. He undressed a couple DBs in the first 2-3 steps of his routes on his long catch and run across the middle and on the deep sideline TD. He made some incredible catches. The best part of it was the run after the catch and seeing him with his speed back.


-Miller had a great game, but he needs to dial it back from 11 to 9 in terms of the attitude and energy. I know the chippyness is part of his game and the "Memphis grind", but it was borderline yesterday and I am not even counting the dumbass penalty that was called on him. The connection between he and Trubisky is growing.


-I thought the OL had an exceptional day pass blocking and a horrendous day run blocking. The sack in the end zone was a jailbreak and 3 OLmen ended up getting spun around or on the ground and there was nothing Trubisky could have done. I will trade that level of pass protection for no run blocking every day, but man they need to not get pushed around quite that bad. More coming here when I get a chance to re-watch the game.


-Matt Nagy dominated Matt Patricia. He had no answer, his guys were confused and fighting, and it got to the point where Patricia was mismangaing the game as well. This is what a play calling advantage looks like. This is what having a coaching advantage looks like. This is what it feels like to be KC, NO, LAR, where your system makes the team hard to defend and what the players do in their 1 on 1 matchups is just bonus.

 

[WindyCity]

Defense


-Khalil Mack is an animal. In his first game back he has 2 sacks, both in dominant fashion, and a number of tackles behind the line. The sack where he knocks Decker on his ass and then jumps off of his corpse like Wolverine before swallowing Matt Stafford whole was one of my favorite plays of the season. That is complete and utter dominance and disrespect to a 1st round LT.


-Leonard Floyd had his best day rushing the passer and it is no surprise that it came with Mack on the field. It is pretty obvious at this point that he is a complimentary pass rusher, which is fine. His spin move sack was a good move and we need to see more of it, do not be afraid to sell out on the spin pre snap. The 3rd down disruption where he hit Stafford was another example of being athletic and moving towards the QB on the stunt. When he doesn't hesitate and dance he is a different player.


-Aaron Lynch continues to make solid contributions. His roughing the passer call was a tough one as Decker kind of dumped him into the QB late. He is a better run defender than I was anticipating.


-Bilal Nichols continues to show more pass rush than I think his tape from last season showed. His quick swim sack against the Lions 1st round pick was a thing of beauty. Powerful hands, quick feet, and a rush plan.


-RRH continues to be really good depth and I loved the rotation we saw from Fangio and Rogers. RRH-25, Nichols-25, Bullard-20.


-Hicks' snap count has gone down to about 75%, I would like to see it come down to around 60% as you still see plays where he is clearly tired. If he does not make the Pro Bowl there is something ridiculously wrong with the process.


-Goldman had another good game against the run. He is a guy who has hidden value as he gets double teamed the entire game.


-Roquan continues to grow. He misses a tackle a game, which is frustrating, but the rest of the time I am really loving what I am seeing. His ability to close is something special.


-Trevathan continues to be a steady presence for the defense. I think he may be nicked up because I do not see the second gear right now. Maybe the hip injury earlier in the season where he got bent back on a tackle is lingering.


-I thought the secondary as a whole was just okay. They gave up way too many long 3rd and 4th downs despite a solid pass rush. Callahan continues to be a straight baller and Fuller and Prince were solid, but a little sloppy late. Fuller got spun around on the TD and Prince was beat for 2-3 big conversions.


-Hard to say anything about the safeties as the Bears got up big and the safeties went deeper and deeper. Eddie Jackson had his 1 maddening missed tackle against Riddick.

 

[WindyCity]

Special Teams


-This unit in general needs to get it's collective head out of it's ass.


-Cody Parkey should be replaced, he will not be, but yesterday was unacceptable and when you add it to the fact that he hasn't been good before that and at some point he is going to cost the Bears a game they need to have.


-The onside kick is unacceptable. Idiotic penalty by Miller, and then a lame effort on the next one.


-Every kick to the endzone was brought out to the 30, that is unacceptable.

 

[Zion]

I'm worried about our Oline needs and our lack of draft picks to address those needs. It's looking like we might need to use one of our picks on a kicker too, which leaves us with less ability to address the Oline.

The inability of Jordan Howard to make chicken salad out of chicken shit is another concern, and you have to wonder what his future here is. It might be a smart idea at this point to trade him for a mid-late pick? I dunno. I'm torn on that.

 

[playthrough2001]

I'm worried about our Oline needs and our lack of draft picks to address those needs. It's looking like we might need to use one of our picks on a kicker too, which leaves us with less ability to address the Oline.

The inability of Jordan Howard to make chicken salad out of chicken shit is another concern, and you have to wonder what his future here is. It might be a smart idea at this point to trade him for a mid-late pick? I dunno. I'm torn on that.

You can find good offensive lineman in the later rounds. They are not drafting a kicker.

 

[Zion]

You can find good offensive lineman in the later rounds. They are not drafting a kicker.

So we're sticking with Parkey or do they think they can solve this problem in FA?

 

[The Boletarian]

Anthony Miller just keeps getting open with no one around him for 10 yards. He's getting better every day.

 

[Les Grossman]

I thought Eddie Jackson played great. I don’t recall his missed tackle but I do recall him screaming up on a couple of short dump off passes to stop at the point of the catch.

I also thought the Miller play on the onside kick was a good play ( and looked funny too), but it’s dumb that it’s a penalty. Should just spot it where it was batted.

 

[WindyCity]

I'm worried about our Oline needs and our lack of draft picks to address those needs. It's looking like we might need to use one of our picks on a kicker too, which leaves us with less ability to address the Oline.

The inability of Jordan Howard to make chicken salad out of chicken shit is another concern, and you have to wonder what his future here is. It might be a smart idea at this point to trade him for a mid-late pick? I dunno. I'm torn on that.

I think it is pretty obvious at this point that Jordan Howard is not a special RB.

He is going to get you what is there. If a play is blocked for 4 yards he will get you those 4 yards.

 

[playthrough2001]

So we're sticking with Parkey or do they think they can solve this problem in FA?

They will give Parkey a chance to clean up his mess but I think he'll be on a short leash.

 

[Zion]

I think it is pretty obvious at this point that Jordan Howard is not a special RB.

He is going to get you what is there. If a play is blocked for 4 yards he will get you those 4 yards.

If Howard is not a special RB then that only creates another need for us that we don't have the draft picks to fill.

 

[Les Grossman]

As for Parkey:

Matt Nagy didn’t pause one bit when asked whether the team will look at other kickers this week.

“Oh no,” the Bears coach responded. “There’s zero chance of that.”

 

[Aquineas]

Good reviews as usual Windy. Sucks about Parkey not getting the leash- not only has he already missed a game-winning field goal against the Dolphins, but what scares me is when that happens in more significant games.

 

[Chicago4Life]

If Howard is not a special RB then that only creates another need for us that we don't have the draft picks to fill.

howard is under control for 1 more season before he wants a big payday, the bears can't afford to pay him that kind of money not when cohen plays half the snaps or more currently. Pace needs to find a RB in this year's draft regardless of howard's fit, he also needs to find a RT to compete with coward unless he plans to resign massie.

 

[WindyCity]

If Howard is not a special RB then that only creates another need for us that we don't have the draft picks to fill.

I really do not think they need a special RB.

I am the biggest worrier on the board and I am not concerned about the "holes" they need to fill.

They need a RB with more speed and burst that can bounce runs.

 

[Urblock]

Good thread Windy

 

[Chicago4Life]

I thought Eddie Jackson played great. I don’t recall his missed tackle but I do recall him screaming up on a couple of short dump off passes to stop at the point of the catch.

I also thought the Miller play on the onside kick was a good play ( and looked funny too), but it’s dumb that it’s a penalty. Should just spot it where it was batted.

[video=youtube_share;8rCUDpLB1VA]https://youtu.be/8rCUDpLB1VA?t=434[/video]

7:14 mark

 

[gallagher]

If Howard is not a special RB then that only creates another need for us that we don't have the draft picks to fill.

A) no it doesn't, Howard isn't even starting at this point and Cohen gets the bulk of touches for our RB corps. If Cohen's backup was a "need" and Howard doesn't fit the bill, then we wouldn't be sitting on top of our division after week 10.

B) why does every problem need to be addressed in the draft? Role playing RBs are a dime a dozen in FA.

C) Howard is on this team next year unless he gets traded.

Really I hate this concept of "needs." It is being talked about all wrong - one does not need pro bowlers at every position. Most of your starters are going to land somewhere around average when ranked. Most of your role playing backups are only good at one thing. And they are all mostly cheap because they aren't stars

 

[ZOMBIE@CTESPN]

-Trey Burton had a very quiet 4/40 game. This was even more obvious when on the Hoge and Jahns podcast they were talking about how the Bears have 4 players with over 400 yards receiving already [Gabriel, Cohen, Robinson, Burton] and another in Miller who is at 335 yards. The way this offense can spread the ball around and kill you with different guys is awesome and makes them hard to defend.

Brought this up before. This is very philly like the way they were last year. People were using that to dog on Jeffrey but this is what the offense calls for that’s why people get open. When trubisky is on target with his throws it’s really fun to watch cause the receivers have been doing their job all season

 

[Zion]

A) no it doesn't, Howard isn't even starting at this point and Cohen gets the bulk of touches for our RB corps. If Cohen's backup was a "need" and Howard doesn't fit the bill, then we wouldn't be sitting on top of our division after week 10.

B) why does every problem need to be addressed in the draft? Role playing RBs are a dime a dozen in FA.

C) Howard is on this team next year unless he gets traded.

Really I hate this concept of "needs." It is being talked about all wrong - one does not need pro bowlers at every position. Most of your starters are going to land somewhere around average when ranked. Most of your role playing backups are only good at one thing. And they are all mostly cheap because they aren't stars

Well, even Nagy said in his press conference yesterday that the running game has to be better and it's important to get that phase going before the bad weather hits. I saw him call some inside runs for Cohen yesterday, those are the calls that usually go to Howard. Cohen didn't have any better success running between the tackles than Howard did.

So I don't know at this point, it seems like our running game is languishing due to the poor run blocking, as well as Howard's poor fit, on top of Nagy's unwillingness or inability to really use him correctly.