It was not too long ago that the Chicago Bears took on the Detroit Lions at Soldier Field. Coming off a loss in which their season went up in flames, the Bears aggressively welcomed their guests from Detroit with an early and surprising punch to the mouth. But eventually, Chicago ‘Out-Foxed’ the Lions and squandered their lead. See what I did there?
And with a chance to tie the game at the end of regulation, Mitch Trubisky’s late game heroics were washed away when Connor Barth’s legendary field goal attempt to tie it up missed the right upright by a country mile. “Holy Moses”, indeed.
Fast forward four weeks and the Bears took on the Lions today at Ford Field. Coming in, the Lions were 7-6 and very much alive in the NFC Wild Card hunt, whereas the Bears were 4-9 but coming off an encouraging 33-7 beatdown of the Cincinnati Bengals on the road.
Originally, this game was fascinating because it was the first time Trubisky played against a defense for the second time. Would John Fox allow Dowell Loggains to continue calling an aggressive yet balanced game? How would Trubisky attack Detroit differently than he had in their previous battle? What wrinkles would Teryl Austin throw at the rookie signal caller after studying the film of their previous meeting?
Well, those questions were answered early on in a shameful performance on national TV, as the Bears got blown out of the building, yet again, in a game that wasn’t as close as the score.
Here are my thoughts on the game:
1) Not a lot of positives in this one, folks. Sam Acho made a good play to force a fumble at the end of the first half, and takeaway machine Eddie Jackson recovered to set up the Bears’ first points of the game. Mike Nugent made that field goal attempt, his only one of the game. Tarik Cohen made a nice one-handed grab. Markus Wheaton made a couple plays (finally!). Josh Bellamy didn’t have an ugly drop, I guess. But that’s more or less it in terms of positives.
2) Penalties … dear God. The Bears have been one of the most undisciplined teams in the league in the John Fox era. Tarik Cohen was victimized yet again on another electrifying return. On the Bears’ only touchdown drive of the game, they committed five penalties on that drive, including three consecutive penalties inside their own 20, eventually facing 1st-and-17 from their own 1. It was just an awful display of preparedness and focus from the Bears.
3) The game plan was awful. A week after starting fast and stepping on the throats of what seems to be a worse Bengals team than we thought, John Fox and Dowell Loggains resorted to conservative and predictable play calling yet again. I’ve defended Loggains a fair amount this year, but I’m done. I want a fresh start for Mitch. He deserves better than this nonsense.
4) Foxy, why are you punting on 4th and short? Just why?
5) What the hell was Kendall Wright doing on Trubisky’s first interception? It wasn’t a great throw, but there was no effort to reach for the ball. It’s your job to at least try to help your quarterback.
6) Trubisky made a bad decision on his second INT when he aimed for Dontrelle Inman but found Quandre Diggs instead. That’s OK. He’ll learn from it. If there’s anything Trubisky has shown, it’s that he learns from his mistakes.
7) Speaking of Trubisky — no, he did not have a good game today. He made some great throws, but also missed a few and made a couple bad decisions. And that’s OK. Remember, he’s a rookie.
He got a chance to throw when the Bears were down late, and continued to make some plays despite his team’s best efforts to let him down. This is absolutely a learning experience against a desperate, better-coached NFC North foe in a hostile environment like Ford Field. He never hung his head — he went out after making mistakes and continued to push the ball as best he could. I can’t wait to see him under a real coach, a real offense, and some real help.
8) Tweet below was in response to Michael Lombardi, a national analyst who likely had not watched any other Bears games this year, who Tweeted, “Imagine if the Bears stayed at 3 picked Watson.”
With all due respect, Watson is on IR. But even then, please, continue to ignore environmental context. It’s tiring. It’s lazy. It’s annoying. It’s stupid. It’s tiring. It’s lazy. It’s annoying. It’s stupid. It’s tiring … you get the picture.
Point is, stop making comparisons. It’s not the same situation. At all. We won’t know which of these guys are true franchise quarterbacks for years. Let it play out.
9) Two more games of this nonsense before Fox is finally shown the door on January 1, 2018. Though, yet again, Fox proved today he should be fired again before the season ends.
10) Next week, the Bears take on the Browns on Christmas Eve at Soldier Field. Here’s a real question: what number will be higher: Number of fans in the stands? Or number of combined offensive yards between the Bears and Browns?
11) Early prediction for next week: Browns 12, Bears 9. Why not? A ceremonial bow, of sorts, as Fox coaches his last game at Soldier Field.
