Alaskan Grizzly

Got to thinking how could the Bears better help Fields? I realize that ultimately Getsy is responsible for the scheme of the overall offensive game and Fields is responsible for execution. But who is Justin’s position coach that has his ear after each offensive series? Right now that guy is Andrew Jonocko. Who? Yeah that’s what I thought. He apparently played ball at the University of Pittsburgh as a BACKUP QB his whole career. (Thats almost as illustrious as being an AFL QB for six years and playing for four different teams during that time - at least Nagy was the starter when he played for the ‘Fightin Blue Hens). Anyhow, I digress. Jonocko has been coaching for the last 11 years, seven of those while with the Vikings. During his time with Minnesota the team was most successful while he was an ass’t or co-OFFENSIVE LINE COACH. Not a QB coach. How is this the guy working with Justin on seeing the field and analyzing plays between series? For me I’d like a more seasoned position coach or at least one that has some legit playing time in the position. Surely there’s a former 1st round pick (except for Mark Sanchez) out there somewhere who’s available to do just that? Or better yet, maybe a former Big 10 QB who has been coaching that could work with Justin on ‘seeing the field’? Anyone on Harbaughs staff in Michigan? Anyone?

First, anymore than three wins is an improvement. ?? I’m still waiting to see how ‘legit’ Detroit is after their first week win. There’s no doubt they were prepared to play and took advantage of the opportunity they were presented. That’s how you do it. But knowing the Lions history, we’ll just have to see how this plays out. GB is still an apparition to me. I don’t think Love is as good as our team made him look last week. Their success still remains to be seen. And if anyone thought Minny was going to come in and re-take the NFC North title…definitely not looking good. They seem to be their own worst enemy. Point being, I think the NFC North will be there for the taking (it won’t be the BEST division for sure). But if the Bears can stay at or just above .500 this season, I think they’re in the mix .

And just like that the defending NFC North Champion Minnesota Vikings are 0-2. And this despite Kirk Cousins throwing 708 yards for 6 TDs and 1 INT over the course of two games. Tonight he lost to Jalen Hurts who is averaging 181 yards a game and has thrown 2 TDs and 1 INT in that same span (and his team is 2-0). Heck, Hurts’ overall total of 363 yards in two games is less that Kirk's 364 yards from tonight's single game. Crazy.

Official word on Gordon’s status. Off to IR. Stroman elevated to active roster. Question is who plays opposing CB and NB? I suspect Stephenson will stay outside and Blackwell (depending on his own hamstring issues) will be in for NB or some combination there in.

Some issues in the CB room with regards to depth. There is some speculation (elsewhere) that Stevenson could play NB. A position he was familiar with while playing at Georgia. (Who knew? I didn’t).

With regards to Claypool this week, and potentially having ESB starting instead of him? This article talks a little about it and has this quote (below) from Fields regarding the choice on using ESB: https://x.com/eriklambert1/status/1702054712151859310?s=46&t=KrpJmhSTc4DI1sACtjisOQ

Amen and all this!

Like Josh Allen and Joe Burrow?

Fields came out after the last game and apologized to the fans for how they played. Moore made a comment of how surprised he was to be booed as early as the second quarter. I remember two years ago when Justin was a rookie and it was announced he would be making his first start the following weekend. His parents wanted to take him out and celebrate. He told them he needed to prepare and wouldn’t be able to go out. Justin knows how to win and wants to. His collegiate career and work ethic both prove that. Has he been slow on the uptick to being ‘game prepared’? Yes. Is that because he can’t do it? I don’t think so. I’d agree that having the starters sit out more during the preseason wasn’t a great idea, especially with hindsight being 20/20. I know we’ve discussed in the past that it sometimes takes 3-4 weeks before teams start to gel. I don’t think our team has that luxury and I think Justin knows it. Week 2 will indeed be telling how things will go from here forward. I have faith Justin will show us why he’s our starter.

From what we saw in camp, it looked like Gordon was ready to make that jump (to be fair, our offense also looked like it was clicking and rarin to go). But of the CBs I still think Gordon would have at least been as good or even better than Johnson. Stevenson I think has potential but he’s still too raw and needs more playing time. Blackwell lacks a lot of height but he has tenacity and that may help him. How that all translates to game day performance remains to be seen.

Biggs also said the same thing on his own X-witter but this one confirms Blackwell will be getting some more playing time. Official injury report tomorrow will confirm or deny this report.

What are your thoughts on Feeney? I’m a fan personally and would like to see him in game action sooner than later.

The play where Wright and Johnson try to tackle Walker on the pick six was another great illustration of the hustle from the two rookies. And that was the second time Johnson had hands into him (the first being the very start of the turnover).

A little more Roschon exhibition. Dudes a keeper. And someone else noted how Wright stayed with his guy throughout this play. Another good performance by a rookie. https://x.com/imbearingdown/status/1701240464202989763?s=46&t=KrpJmhSTc4DI1sACtjisOQ

Exactly the same thing I was about to say.

This was a good find. Wonder if they had something like this for Moore? I'd imagine his would be more of seeing him throw up his hands in frustration because he wasn't getting thrown to. And i know this offense relies on the WRs to be able to block, I'm curious how invested he is in doing that. I know Mooney is as was evidenced in these clips and the fact he got injured one time while blocking a guy twice his size.

Anybody remember how we all felt after the season opener last year? I do. The Beloved had put up a pretty sweet come-from-behind win to ice the ‘9ers who had the year prior made it deep into the playoffs (almost to the Super Bowl). Little did we know at the time the Bears would only win 2 more games that season. But for one week we were feeling pretty confident and in a bit of nirvana. Fast forward to 2023 and we’re in a totally different place. Personally I don’t see this continuing. Much like last year how the winning didn’t come to us I think this year will play out a little better. We need our team to feel like this (below) each week and just have fun.

Although Jones did well in the “pressure” dept he committed 3 penalties on his own (according to the chart Adam shared elsewhere). And then there’s this…

Initial reports are that it could be a serious injury (mostly conjecture because Eberflus hasn’t said much about it). But either way, we’ll know more Wednesday.

Found this Xweet from yesterday too. Narrowed it down to an ‘offensive player’. Probably Claypool.

That's a tough one. I saw plenty of players that appeared to not 'want to be there'. Claypool was non-existent, unless you count the time Fields was hit on the sideline and he came into to help and nearly got penalized. Then later he literally (and pathetically) flopped when a lineman pushed by him later in the game. He dropped a relatively easy pass a little after that. All the wonderment of him during preseason wasn't on display yesterday. Jaylon Johnson held back on tackling a few times. Once as Aaron Jones was coming towards him he definitely wasn't interested in tackling him and was saved by Jones running out of bounds after another player deflected him that way. Moore looked really disinterested in playing after that small rally during the 2nd quarter. Probably, as Brandt pointed out, he asked the same question. 'You traded the 1st overall pick to get me and this is how you utilize me?' I suspect if he was talking about anyone it was probably Jackson. He was out of position pretty much all game. It wasn't until late in the game when he actually met Aaron Jones at the LOS that I thought maybe he has decided to play after all. Otherwise, he was just an apparition out there not doing a whole heck of a lot. Plenty of candidates to pick from. Not alot of leadership on display from senior members of the team.

To me this was the most frustrating. There was time where the commentators were talking about the general malaise on the Bears' sideline. Think it was shortly after the start of the 2nd half and just before Mooney's score. They looked lost and like they didn't care. Showed a shot of Moore slouching on the sideline with his newly acquired 'C' on his jersey. Couldn't help but think, where's the leadership your teammates are expecting from you? Why are you sulking on the sideline? Greg Olsen even commented late in the game of the lack of urgency. He conceded that they may not have been able to come back for the win but they sure weren't trying to do all they could. They certainly didn't leave it all on the field.

Despite all the ugliness of yesterday, I’m confident we found out we have a stud RB in Johnson. This by far was the highlight of the day. https://x.com/chris_estes1/status/1701044126953742345?s=46&t=KrpJmhSTc4DI1sACtjisOQ

I’m with DBDB on this one. I have a hard time believing the Bears will string together another performance like they did today. The Vikings beat themselves today and the Bucs did just enough to eke out a win. They didn’t really have any eye popping stats