Game Balls and Horns - Wk 14 vs Vikes

[spudbear]

[post this before looking at the stats]
This has to be one of the most aggravating games this year in spite of them being out of the playoff race. The Bears beat the Vikes in all three phases, but lost where it matters on takeaways and scoring. The success of the running game in the first half was lost in the second half when the Vikes stacked the line and Nagy couldn't figure it out. The defensive backfield probably had its best game of the year in spite of all the starters on the sideline. This turned out to be another em-Bear-assment in prime time, and I'm getting tired of seeing them and having to answer questions about them. Such is the life of a Bears fan ... for now.

GAMEBALL
Bears D: From the DL getting to Cousins and bottling up Cook, to the LB's playing all over the field, and the DB's who virtually neutralized Jefferson and quieted the rest of their receiver corps. Sucks that the offense couldn't score as they held them to 10 and a gift TD from the zebras.

HORNS
Refs: Took away some key plays from the Bears on questionable calls. Undisciplined Bears (looking at "BE YOU" Nagy) were easy targets for flags.

Red zone offense: They know it's a weakness but they look unprepared every time they get in the red zone. The worst team in the league scoring in the red zone got that stat padded tonight. And the one time they scored it was a meaningless pass to Horsted who should have been used MUCH more than the last play of the game. I could get mad about it but just think about the door hitting Nagy in the backside.

Bears head to Seattle for Sunday, playing another team struggling and out of the playoffs. Three more chances at a W although without a first round pick changing their draft order does not seem to matter much. Fields will still have a difficult time if the Bears trot out Mooney-Byrd-Newsome as their top 3.

[Otis Day]

Game ball - Bears D

Horns - Nagy. He can’t get out of his own way. His halftime adjustments led to 0 points (not counting meaningless TD).

[HisRoyalSweetness]

Game Balls

Quinn: Two more sacks and just gave an awesome press conference again, saying that closing in on the Bears sack record doesn't really matter given the team's record but Dent is good company to be in and calling out the officiating, all in his usual laid back fashion.

Hicks: Good to see the big man back out there and being a monster. 2 sacks and 2 other solo tackles, but his impact on that defensive front seemed even bigger.

Ogletree: A real surprise performance from him. Led the team in tackles, including one for a loss, and decent in coverage. He just seemed to be flying around out there in a way we haven't seen from him before.

Graham Jr: A terrific debut. 3 PDs, 7 total tackles as part of a secondary that held Cousins in check all night. Where has he been all season? Why has he been languishing on the practice squad while the Bears have trotted out player after player who has struggled? It's only one game, but he deserves to play out the season after that performance.

The secondary: The Bears starting secondary has been awful all year and here we were seeing the backups to the backups putting on a show for most of the game. I can't imagine any of us expected that.

Sean Desai: Dealing with Covid himself in recent days whilst watching his entire secondary going down with the virus and missing back ups like DHC, he somehow got his defense to perform the best they have all season. Shame it was wasted.

Horns

Nagy: Back calling plays and couldn't even get to double figures, with 6 of the 9 points coming in garbage time. At least he showed a bit of fire towards the officials and was unapologetic about it afterwards. His team's ball security, discipline and red zone haplessness though means it's long overdue for him to go.

Byrd: Muffed a punt. Dropped a 4th down catch. Why is he out there still?

Fields: I hate to say it, but he had another poor game. Two fumbles and several horrible sacks that were on him not the OL. He needs to learn to throw the ball away when he's under pressure and has nothing on. His receivers let him down on occasion by not making tough plays, but the balls weren't perfect either. He flashes talent, but has a long way to go. I hope with a new coach he'll get there and quickly.

The offense: Turnovers galore, failure to convert 3rd and 4th downs all day, atrocious in the red zone, and ultimately 3 points until the last play in garbage time against a team that had conceded 28+ the last 4 games and over 25ppg for the season. Absolutely pathetic. You can see there is some talent there, but the play calling and execution is woeful and that's on the coach.

The officials: Here we are again moaning about the officiating, but there were some lousy calls again tonight... and not just against the Bears. The Vikings got a couple of bad ones too. Apparently the one they called for a cut block when the DB (can't remember who) went low to beat the lineman and tackle the RB was in fact legitimate according to the current rules.

[Artbest]

Game balls:

Hicks
Quinn
Ogletree
Roquan
Graham Jr
Desai
Townsend

Horns:

Nagy
Byrd
Kmet
Jimmy Graham

Dishonorable Mention

Justin Fields. He’s making mistakes that, by now, he shouldn’t be making. It’s a shame, since he threw the ball well.

David Montgomery. He simply can’t fumble in the red zone.

Ryan Pace. The garbage wrs and the cloddish stone hands Kmet coupled with Matt Nagy are his accountability

George McCaskey - for the franchise destroying mistake of bringing Pace and Nagy back

The fans (me included) for buying tickets to watch this slop

[The Marshall Plan]

Balls
Fields: He goes out there and does his best with having nothing to work with besides Monty.
Nagy: While he needs to be a goner matter how we finish the season, I did appreciate his whole Rage Against The Dying Of The Light thing.
Teven Jenkins getting playing time.
Monty: As usual.
Graham: Where did he come from?
Quinn: He was everywhere tonight.


Horns
Mooney for not blocking on the Fields run that turned into a fumble.
The offense. Just weak.
The moron announcer who said that Ryan Pace spends "a lot of draft capital on the offensive line". He cited Daniels and Jenkins as examples of that.
The Wildcat. Make it stop.
Teven Jenkins. The penalties. C'mon noob. But at least he's playing.

[Z Bear]

Balls
Fields: He goes out there and does his best with having nothing to work with besides Monty.

No...he played terrible and deserves to be in the horns. His ball security is a big issue that needs to be coached out of him. His dancing backwards and taking bad sacks needs to be coached out of him. If only there were some offensive minds that would do the coaching on the staff.

[IE]

Balls:
- Monty who just has unbelievable guts and balance and try-hard.
- JF1 moving the team and ball all night long, despite 6 drops, with little help. He completed 66% of his passes and almost 300 yards with SIX drops including at least one other TD that should have been there if the play call went to a different guy. The mistakes will wane. The production won't.
- Jesper Horsted, for taking advantage of a meaningless TD catch to remind everyone that he's literally always open & that it's his ball when it's in the air. What a friggin criminal waste that kid isn't on the field all the time.
- T Graham ... who would have thought he could play? Literally all of the pundits evaluating the Bear draft. OK - he may have been rusty for a month or two. But he wouldn't have played if not for Covid. I don't think it is inability to evaluate players as much as some sort of antiquated mindset about defaulting to playing veterans. I've been pounding the table for "youth movement" on D for the last year or two. There's nothing that made the case for that as much as those hungry kids last night. Although a few old fogies in Hicks, Ogle and Quinn were certainly helping...so I'm not saying all youngsters. Just mostly, with a Hicks, Quinn and Roquan sprinkled in there for leadership.
- Team spirit. That was one of the more watchable Bear games this entire year. It reinforced to me that there are players on this team despite the lack of coaching and discipline.

Horns:
- Midget WRs. Being used in places where big bodies and vertical leap wins.
- Kmet. I'm sorry but he just looks so awkward out there. He looks like Kyle Rudolph's dorkier brother. He's OK - he's fine. He's fine! He's a long-term piece and he can block and he can catch. But he can't be the first receiving TE option he's just not natural. Especially in the end zone. I'm not sure he has any natural feel or understanding of using his body in the end zone to box out his man, or to keep a guy from jumping in front of him. He's not a safety blanket for the QB and that is is that lead TE role - he's got to be the sure thing.
- JF1. Ball security is a thing and fumbles need to stop. He knows. But it is the sacks for big losses that he needs to avoid. JF1 is mobile and with speed can beat a guy to the edge as an option option on rollouts or called runs. He has great accuracy on the run, and should be used on rollouts. But he is NOT an elusive runner. He needs to get rid of that dang ball quick. He's just trying to do too much...trying to lead the team and make things happen. There are positive aspects to that - but he needs to learn not to dig such big holes.'
- Desai. WTF was Graham doing on the PS? My current take is Desai is OK at scheme but may be weak on personnel usage and especially on coaching and team preparation. He doesn't get credit for those young guys being fired up - that was all them, taking advantage of chances HE didn't give them.
- Nagy (RIP). 3 turnover on downs in the 2nd half. Some genius. And WTF was that not calling a timeout when they were clearly not lined up right on a crucial 4th down attempt? Whose job is that, if it isn't the HC/OC and resident genius?

[IE]

Special mention: The announcer that said "Kildor" several times.

[Boris13c]

Game Balls :

Bears Defense - with a "who is that?" group starting in the secondary, they held the Vikings and bashed the Vikings and allowed Cousins to have his career worst day as a starter

Game Horns :

Bears Offense - provided many opportunities courtesy of the defensive effort and couldn't do jack shit ... Fields played like he was drunk ... did he get concussed early and no one know about it?

Nagy - so, the Vikings block a field goal before the half and that means they shouldn't try any more field goals? the offense was putrid in the red zone, and if that offense is incapable on third down, losing yardage at times, kick the damn field goal on 4th because the offense won't be doing any better than they showed on the previous 3 downs

Bears Defense - yeah, they get a game ball but they also get the horns for stupid penalties and not understanding basic situational football ... you stopped them to make it 4th down so get your asses off the field and let the punt happen ... all the after the play bullshit was totally uncalled for

[crueltyabc]

Special mention: The announcer that said "Kildor" several times.

Brian Griese knew none of the player's names. It was hilarious at times

[RichH55]

Balls
Fields: He goes out there and does his best with having nothing to work with besides Monty.

No...he played terrible and deserves to be in the horns. His ball security is a big issue that needs to be coached out of him. His dancing backwards and taking bad sacks needs to be coached out of him. If only there were some offensive minds that would do the coaching on the staff.

This.

Giving Fields a Game Ball is crazy talk. Participation Trophy BS

[RichH55]

People really bending over backwards to give Fields props.
Stuff like: - JF1 moving the team and ball all night long, despite 6 drops, with little help. He completed 66% of his passes and almost 300 yards with SIX drops including at least one other TD that should have been there if the play call went to a different guy. The mistakes will wane. The production won't.

Don't.

YOU CAN note: He's a Rookie. The big growth is supposed to occur from Year 1 to Year 2 and then hopefully again in Year 3.

But if this is the Dinner you are getting next year - You are allowed to acknowledge it's burnt and doesn't have all the ingredients. But right now we are still in Culinary School - so that is ok.

[Yogi da Bear]

The officials: Here we are again moaning about the officiating, but there were some lousy calls again tonight... and not just against the Bears. The Vikings got a couple of bad ones too. Apparently the one they called for a cut block when the DB (can't remember who) went low to beat the lineman and tackle the RB was in fact legitimate according to the current rules.

No, this is a bullshit call for a couple of reasons:

First, the play happened INSIDE the tackle box. Defenders can do that there.

Second, Tabor wasn't going to "BLOCK" the lineman. He was going for the tackle. He wasn't going for the knees of the lineman he was going beyond him for the tackle. This rule was designed for defenders specifically TARGETING the knees of the offensive lineman. If Tabor had done that, he could have easily taken out the lineman's knees here, possibly causing serious injury. Instead he went for the tackle and allowed the lineman to almost be able to jump over him.



This reminds me of the complete BULLSHIT call against Hasselbeck during the Steeler/Seahawk Super Bow, what I've always said was the worst call of all time. The league tried to justify that one too, but the ref a couple of years later admitted he completely blew it.

[Bears Whiskey Nut]

What a shit show.

Game Balls
- Young DB's
- Teven Jenkins first NFL start
- The defense in general

Horns
- The entire offense
- Matt Nagy's play calling
- The offense looking totally unprepared on a 4th & 1
- The whole fucking dumpster fire that is the Bears

[HisRoyalSweetness]

[Apparently the one they called for a cut block when the DB (can't remember who) went low to beat the lineman and tackle the RB was in fact legitimate according to the current rules.

No, this is a bullshit call for a couple of reasons

Hey, don't shoot the messenger. It was just what I heard someone say, quoting from the rule book about not being able to go low to a player's knees even when going through him to make a tackle.

The NFL also backed the officials on the Bush personal foul that got Nagy all riled up, saying that going for the ball does not negate 'forcible contact to the head' of a defenseless receiver.

Perhaps it isn't so much the officials that are the problem as all these little rules that keep being introduced every year, which as Quinn pointed out at his presser has resulted in penalties being called on plays that wouldn't have been flagged a couple of years ago and which leave too many big decisions to the judgement of the officials.

I see Tom Brady is now calling for hits to receivers' knees to be outlawed after his best WR just tore his ACL/MCL on just such a hit. Receivers get hit lower these days because hits anywhere near the head/neck area will draw a flag. You can understand wanting to make the game safer, but it's so hard to play defense within these rules when there is an ever diminishing target area for making contract with an opponent

[GSH]

are we not going to acknowledge when the tv announcer said that Akiem Hicks was the only NFL player to be drafted out of the University of Vagina?

[thunderspirit]

are we not going to acknowledge when the tv announcer said that Akiem Hicks was the only NFL player to be drafted out of the University of Vagina?

Dee Virgin was on the team, too.

[Boris13c]

are we not going to acknowledge when the tv announcer said that Akiem Hicks was the only NFL player to be drafted out of the University of Vagina?

Hicks attended the the University of Regina, which is what I believe he said ... or he could have completely muffed it and said vagina

[AZ_Bearfan]

This guy gets a game ball .....

[dplank]

This guy gets a game ball .....

Best moment of the game IMO...hahaha

[RichH55]

No, this is a bullshit call for a couple of reasons

Hey, don't shoot the messenger. It was just what I heard someone say, quoting from the rule book about not being able to go low to a player's knees even when going through him to make a tackle.

Yes - quoting the rule is going to be a problem:)

[HisRoyalSweetness]

No, this is a bullshit call for a couple of reasons:

First, the play happened INSIDE the tackle box. Defenders can do that there.

Second, Tabor wasn't going to "BLOCK" the lineman. He was going for the tackle. He wasn't going for the knees of the lineman he was going beyond him for the tackle. This rule was designed for defenders specifically TARGETING the knees of the offensive lineman. If Tabor had done that, he could have easily taken out the lineman's knees here, possibly causing serious injury. Instead he went for the tackle and allowed the lineman to almost be able to jump over him.

A new belated horn for the NFL who, probably just to annoy Yogi even more, have had the temerity to actually fine Teez Tabor $4,722 for that play where they penalised him for a low block. Even putting aside the highly dubious nature of the call, that's just unwarranted by any standards.

They also fined Jenkins $8,473 for punching Richardson, yet let Richardson off scot free for punching Jenkins first which elicited his response.

Kendricks was fined only $10,300 for his head shot on Fields which led to him being ejected. Less than $2k more than Jenkins for a much, much more egregious and dangerous act.

Do players have a right of appeal? These fines might be pocket change for them, but it's the principle that matters. Throwing punches and launching head shots on defenceless players is one thing, but being fined for inadvertently breaking a rule trying to make a play is just wrong, especially when it's highly debatable whether a rule was even broken.

[Arkansasbear]

No, this is a bullshit call for a couple of reasons:

First, the play happened INSIDE the tackle box. Defenders can do that there.

Second, Tabor wasn't going to "BLOCK" the lineman. He was going for the tackle. He wasn't going for the knees of the lineman he was going beyond him for the tackle. This rule was designed for defenders specifically TARGETING the knees of the offensive lineman. If Tabor had done that, he could have easily taken out the lineman's knees here, possibly causing serious injury. Instead he went for the tackle and allowed the lineman to almost be able to jump over him.

A new belated horn for the NFL who, probably just to annoy Yogi even more, have had the temerity to actually fine Teez Tabor $4,722 for that play where they penalised him for a low block. Even putting aside the highly dubious nature of the call, that's just unwarranted by any standards.

They also fined Jenkins $8,473 for punching Richardson, yet let Richardson off scot free for punching Jenkins first which elicited his response.

Kendricks was fined only $10,300 for his head shot on Fields which led to him being ejected. Less than $2k more than Jenkins for a much, much more egregious and dangerous act.

Do players have a right of appeal? These fines might be pocket change for them, but it's the principle that matters. Throwing punches and launching head shots on defenceless players is one thing, but being fined for inadvertently breaking a rule trying to make a play is just wrong, especially when it's highly debatable whether a rule was even broken.

It's as if the NFL must blindly defend every horrible call in an attempt to show the refs where correct.

[RichH55]

A new belated horn for the NFL who, probably just to annoy Yogi even more, have had the temerity to actually fine Teez Tabor $4,722 for that play where they penalised him for a low block. Even putting aside the highly dubious nature of the call, that's just unwarranted by any standards.

They also fined Jenkins $8,473 for punching Richardson, yet let Richardson off scot free for punching Jenkins first which elicited his response.

Kendricks was fined only $10,300 for his head shot on Fields which led to him being ejected. Less than $2k more than Jenkins for a much, much more egregious and dangerous act.

Do players have a right of appeal? These fines might be pocket change for them, but it's the principle that matters. Throwing punches and launching head shots on defenceless players is one thing, but being fined for inadvertently breaking a rule trying to make a play is just wrong, especially when it's highly debatable whether a rule was even broken.

It's as if the NFL must blindly defend every horrible call in an attempt to show the refs where correct.

Ark - it seems like a badly written rule

As a Judge when there is a bad statute on the books - You can't just ignore it, right?