Darnell Mooney has the highest expectations of himself. He’s put in so much work to prepare for the 2022 season. Everything pointed to a possible breakout year. He cracked 1,000 yards last season and now didn’t have Allen Robinson around to eat up his targets. Nobody could’ve predicted his first three games would go as they have. Only four catches on 11 targets for 23 yards and no touchdowns. Things reached a bottoming out point when he dropped a catchable pass against Houston last Sunday.
He was so frustrated by his overall performance that he was spotted literally minutes after the game working on a JUGS machine. That painted a clear picture of where his mind is right now. Mooney spoke to the media on Wednesday and didn’t hold back his comments. He outright admitted disgust at how poorly he’s played thus far and frustration with the passing game in general. This team would be winless if not for the running game and the defense. He hates feeling so helpless.
“Just not happy about my performance at all. I had the opportunities, you know. Had the chances to make some type of play, and I just didn’t be me.
It was that, overall, and just not me being a big playmaker for the team. Offensively, I didn’t think I helped out as much as I planned to and without Eddie and defense and Roquan on the last one, what did we really do? Beside running it. Running it was amazing. Just passing game-wise I was just frustrated, not being a playmaker I plan to be.”
The game ended about an hour ago and #Bears Darnell Mooney is putting work on the jugs. Still in uniform and everything. pic.twitter.com/zgGi3Zlzp3
— Will DeWitt (@Wi11DeWitt) September 25, 2022
Darnell Mooney is at the mercy of his quarterback.
Justin Fields‘ struggles are obvious by now. He’s having a hard time stringing completions together, never mind drives. Teams have also noticed he is looking for Mooney a lot and have adjusted their coverages to keep him blanketed. That is part of what they can’t get going. The truth is their chemistry is off. They haven’t found a groove that messes with the entire execution of the passing game. Not dropping the few passes that find him would be an essential part of fixing that.
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The only thing Darnell Mooney can do is keep grinding. There are 14 games left to play. The Bears are 2-1. It is a great position to be in. There is no reason to panic. It doesn’t take much for everybody to get on the same page. A few more games should bring familiarity in the new offense. That might help smooth out the rough edges. It feels like Mooney is one good performance away from breaking out of his slump.
The Bears will work through this. The problem is much worse when a team can’t RUN the ball. Running like they are is fun and the passing game will catch up.
Center only calls the assignments for the O line and blitz packages etc. He doesn't do anything with the DBs. That's Justin's job to read those and then throw a good ball.
Mooney being “blanketed” is on Justin who can not hit the other receivers in order to take coverage off of Mooney. Justin is too robotic and has to read the defense and do too much. My hope is that Patrick comes in at the center this week to call out pre-snap calls so Justin can sling it.
Maybe Erik Lambert can write a good article one of these days and not change wording around to make it more than what was said.
Wait… Mooney is in a slump? 😅
No he is not. His QB is garbage who’s play can’t cash the checks his mouth wrote. This team is very easily 1-2. It took a last ditch pick and a FG as time expired to win.
At some point Fields is going to start losing the Bears games and instead of saying, “NOT BEING A PLAYMAKER I PLAN TO BE.” Mooney is going to call Fields out.