Preseason Week 3 Game Thread - Bears at Chiefs, NFLN, FRI, 8-22, 7:20pm Central

[Alaskan Grizzly]

2 hours ago, Bears4Ever_34 said:

Defense got abused by KC on those drives with the starters. DL running in quicksand, Nashon Wright getting exposed at CB....  Officiating has been horrible though. KC got away with multiple holds and they were calling every ticky tack thing on the Bears.

Offense predictably came back down to earth against the Chiefs #1's. Caleb had a rough go until the final drive against their backups. Botched handoff, took a bad sack on 2nd and 3, and missed a wide open checkdown to Swift in the redzone that would have kept the drive alive that they ended up settling for 3. Good ball placement on the deep throw to Rome on the last drive. Rome has to start coming down with those.

I wasn’t able to see the game at all because for some odd reason it was blocked in my area. Anyhow seems the team has ALOT of growing to do.  Need to get their collective shit together before they play Minny in a few weeks. Will they win?  Maybe.  FWIW I’m not a fan at all of Dennis Allen and still convinced Goff made Johnson look good (not the other way around).  Hoping to be proven wrong . 

I did see some highlights with Bagent and he looked solid. Glad he’s been secured for a few years.  

[adam]

Hard to assess when the officiating was that bad.

Special Teams is an issue. Terrible coverage on kickoffs, bad returns, blocked PAT and a missed FG. Not good.

People forget that the Bears defense had 4 starters out and no Booker who has been a spark plug. No JJ, Gordon, Jarrett, or Edmunds. That's not nothing especially how KC attacked the Bears.

[ASHKUM BEAR]

1 minute ago, adam said:

Hard to assess when the officiating was that bad.

Special Teams is an issue. Terrible coverage on kickoffs, bad returns, blocked PAT and a missed FG. Not good.

People forget that the Bears defense had 4 starters out and no Booker who has been a spark plug. No JJ, Gordon, Jarrett, or Edmunds. That's not nothing especially how KC attacked the Bears.

Would BJ fire the ST coordinator?  That unit will cost some close games if they dont get it together. Then again the Bears were sloppy (penalties) and slow to start, so thats on the HC.  

[ChileBear]

2 minutes ago, Alaskan Grizzly said:

 Goff made Johnson look good (not the other way around).  Hoping to be proven wrong .  

Ha Ha. Goff couldn't make it in LA, was dumped and Johnson pulled his butt up the ladder in Detroit. Goff was crap and LA knew it and traded for the golden ticket to the Super Bowl in Stafford. Man Grizz,  why not just say it, you think our coaches suck and we have not played one real game. Oh wait, you pretty much said that. Comon, tis is a new direction and preseason is practice. As a well known BBall player once said, it's practice, man, practice. Give them 8 games in real time and let's see. 

[CrackerDog]

I know it’s a meaningless preseason game but I just think the team is one I expect to win compared to when Flus was here.  I expected him to mess up, I expect BJ to make the right decisions to get the W.  Haven’t felt this way in a long time.  
 

The guys were prepared for that last drive.  Nice to see.  

[Alaskan Grizzly]

3 hours ago, ChileBear said:

Man Grizz,  why not just say it, you think our coaches suck and we have not played one real game

I would but yes they have yet to play meaningful game under Johnson so only time will tell.  And yes I didn’t get to see nearly any often game but from what I read they came out flat . Oh and yes I greatly dislike Dennis Allen  

I’ve said it once I’ll say it again, Goffs stats for the last three years in LA were nearly identical to what they were under three years of Johnson. Maybe Johnson’s schemes  made all the rest of Detroit’s offense look good and not Goff.  Guess we’ll see.  
 

Edit: this post brought to you courtesy of Woodford Reserve.  🥃

[BearFan PHX]

Ugh. I know guys were out and we werent scheming, and maybe players didnt care enough about a game that doesnt matter, but our pass rush was atrocious.

Braxton looked scary to me at times too.

I'm glad Johnson left Caleb in until that last touchdown in the first half.

Also great time management at the very end of the game. Johnson knows his situational football. First guy we've had that did in a long time.

There is a lot to yell at the players about over the next couple weeks until Minnesota. That's when it matters, and everyone will be in and we will see for real.

But man tonight was anything but crisp, and Im telling you, if thats our pass rush, we are screwed this year. Dayo looks like a nose tackle out there. He isnt gonna get pressure.

[adam]

You know Spags pulled the Detroit preseason tape and had at least a general idea of what to expect. On a few plays early, the DBs were running the routes for the Bears WRs.

For the Bears defense, there is nothing you really can do if you are being held. On the Mahomes scramble and the play to JuJu where he rolled out, Bears were being held, yet no calls. The 30-yard penalty was also insane. Mahomes was targeting backup CBs and LBs, and it worked, shocker. Again, without JJ, Gordon, and Edmunds, that is a lot of downgrades in pass defense against the best QB in the NFL. Then no Jarrett or Booker in the rotation, and the line is going to be weaker.

Also, I still like the live reps and actually glad Caleb got sacked, took a hit, and had to scramble, because now they have something to really work from compared to the Bills game being against the 2s. Compare that to McCarthy, who didn't play. Caleb didn't throw an INT in the preseason and was only sacked once. If you project that out for a full season, that is only 25 sacks, so his rate is down. Again, it's preseason, but the signs are there. His Comp% was 73.3 against KC and really only had 2 incompletions, a drop by Odunze, then the play in the end zone where Odunze was held at the top of the route.

Burden got an unsportsmanlike penalty for spinning the ball, hopefully he learns from it and doesn't do something like that again.  Better to do that in the preseason when the games don't count. 

Johnson said Booker will be out a few weeks, so I expect Hardy to make the 53-man. I would not be surprised if they look for Edge, CB, and RB help with the injuries.

[Stinger226]

Clearly the noise disrupted the offense and they needed this experience to move forward with. Thuney didnt play and he would matter with the pressure from Jones in the middle.  BJ didnt scheme anything so hopefully he would have a better plan when you play such experienced offenses. As normal in KC games, they seem to got a lot of calls that went their way. As Adam said we were short handed on defense and it showed. We didnt have any pass rush but Mahomes was getting the ball out quick, always hard to affect with a pass rush. We are not ready for prime time yet but that makes this a lesson for both coaches and players. You cant be sloppy and expect to beat the Chiefs.

[ChileBear]

10 hours ago, Alaskan Grizzly said:

Edit: this post brought to you courtesy of Woodford Reserve.  🥃

Mine was Paso Robles Austin Hope!

[Bears4Ever_34]

In minor defense of the offense last night, I think it was fairly obvious Johnson was trying to focus more on the run game and under center formations. Caleb's just not as comfortable with that as he is in shotgun. All of the explosives in the game against the Bills came from Shotgun. I didn't see as much of that until the 2 minute drive in this game.

Frankly, if it were up to me, I'm running a mostly no-huddle, shotgun heavy system for Caleb to start the season, and will sprinkle in more of the Detroit stuff that Ben wants to run as the weeks go by. Just don't do the Luke Getsy/Shane Waldron thing and force your system on the QB right out of the gate and have to peel back after you start the season 0-1/0-2. I am worried that's what's going to happen.

[Mongo3451]

1 hour ago, Stinger226 said:

BJ didnt scheme anything so hopefully he would have a better plan when you play such experienced offenses.

Did he say he didn't scheme?

[Stinger226]

1 hour ago, Mongo3451 said:

Did he say he didn't scheme?

No but they had a short week ( one practice) and they don't normally scheme for preseason games.

[Mongo3451]

Just got done watching the game and came away with a list of hopes. 

I hope:  BJ didn't have scripted plays, the defense didn't pass rush on purpose, Adam acknowledges the screw job the refs provide the Chiefs, the secondary gets healthy, Braxton works the Frankenstein out of his pass pro set, Thuney is Thuney (because our LG play was pathetic), someone bitch slaps DJ Moore (on the first half TD play, he acted like he could care less.  His body language is shit) Stinger researches before he makes blanket statements or he'll be labeled CNN.

The Chiefs beat our ass in every possible way.

[Stinger226]

What research applies to no game plan in preseason? It did look like they wanted to try to run the ball more.

[Mongo3451]

47 minutes ago, Stinger226 said:

What research applies to no game plan in preseason? It did look like they wanted to try to run the ball more.

Because you worded it like was fact and then you answered me that it was your assumption.  That equals fake news...🤪

[AZ54]

I was able to rewatch the game with a lot of slo-mo on plays.  Dline just looked tired and got pushed around a lot, even Billings.   In fact the whole team looked tired with little burst to anything going on until maybe the third series on the field for both offense and defense.  Nonetheless there were some good things to note:

Oline:  Drew Dalman I thought played well, seems like a good addition, Jonah Jackson too.   Darnell Wright played poorly early then settled down a bit but never looked dominant.  Braxton Jones did ok, as usual had some missteps in protection but I don't recall the bad step where he gets beat early.  Newman missed a couple assignments and gave up immediate pressure on a couple plays otherwise he looks good for a late round pick.    Trapilo looks good enough to keep pressure on Darnell Wright. Theo Benedet got blown up a few times by Gillotte and then settled down a bit but he had a big wake up call when he first took the field.  I didn't pick up on who the backup LG/RG were but Bates was in at Center.  If we can fix the blown blocking assignments then overall  the pass protection was just ok.  Run blocking was just ok as well but this feels like the best depth we've had on Oline in a long time.  Given all the bad Oline history I can definitely see the Bears keeping 10 Oline on the 53, 9 for sure.   

RB:  Swift had two plays where I believe last year he'd have tried to get outside but instead he stuck his head down and dove forward.  One was for a first down, the other just for a 3yd gain.  The coaching impact there was good to see.   The rental RBs looked like dudes fighting for a job somewhere but showed no outstanding traits.  

WRs:  We're good here.  

QBs:  I still think Caleb has a problem with big games, maybe against big name QBs, where he wants to look good and make the big plays.  He was holding the ball too long early on but got going later.   Love the TD to Rome where he looks outside at first then sees Rome and fires fast.  Overall this was a mediocre showing from him but i still believe he'll settle in more with this offense and expectations as the season moves along.  If nothing else getting so many reps against KCs defense was a great way to prep for the MNF game.  I think there are some similarities to what both teams do with their front 7 although on the backend KC might use more man vs. zone by the Vikings.    Bagent is worth every penny.  

Dline:   Poor although Sweat looked like his old self early on.  Nobody else looked good. 

LBs:  Didn't even notice them other than Edwards getting beat easily by Kelce in the middle of the field.

DBs:  Here I felt we had sticky coverage all game long.  There were some bad penalties and a couple blown assignments late. Mahomes was often forced to hold the ball longer than he wanted.   If we could have mustered a pass rush to compliment things that game would have looked a lot different.    

 

[BearFan PHX]

2 minutes ago, AZ54 said:

I was able to rewatch the game with a lot of slo-mo on plays.  Dline just looked tired and got pushed around a lot, even Billings.   In fact the whole team looked tired with little burst to anything going on until maybe the third series on the field for both offense and defense.  Nonetheless there were some good things to note:

Oline:  Drew Dalman I thought played well, seems like a good addition, Jonah Jackson too.   Darnell Wright played poorly early then settled down a bit but never looked dominant.  Braxton Jones did ok, as usual had some missteps in protection but I don't recall the bad step where he gets beat early.  Newman missed a couple assignments and gave up immediate pressure on a couple plays otherwise he looks good for a late round pick.    Trapilo looks good enough to keep pressure on Darnell Wright. Theo Benedet got blown up a few times by Gillotte and then settled down a bit but he had a big wake up call when he first took the field.  I didn't pick up on who the backup LG/RG were but Bates was in at Center.  If we can fix the blown blocking assignments then overall  the pass protection was just ok.  Run blocking was just ok as well but this feels like the best depth we've had on Oline in a long time.  Given all the bad Oline history I can definitely see the Bears keeping 10 Oline on the 53, 9 for sure.   

RB:  Swift had two plays where I believe last year he'd have tried to get outside but instead he stuck his head down and dove forward.  One was for a first down, the other just for a 3yd gain.  The coaching impact there was good to see.   The rental RBs looked like dudes fighting for a job somewhere but showed no outstanding traits.  

WRs:  We're good here.  

QBs:  I still think Caleb has a problem with big games, maybe against big name QBs, where he wants to look good and make the big plays.  He was holding the ball too long early on but got going later.   Love the TD to Rome where he looks outside at first then sees Rome and fires fast.  Overall this was a mediocre showing from him but i still believe he'll settle in more with this offense and expectations as the season moves along.  If nothing else getting so many reps against KCs defense was a great way to prep for the MNF game.  I think there are some similarities to what both teams do with their front 7 although on the backend KC might use more man vs. zone by the Vikings.    Bagent is worth every penny.  

Dline:   Poor although Sweat looked like his old self early on.  Nobody else looked good. 

LBs:  Didn't even notice them other than Edwards getting beat easily by Kelce in the middle of the field.

DBs:  Here I felt we had sticky coverage all game long.  There were some bad penalties and a couple blown assignments late. Mahomes was often forced to hold the ball longer than he wanted.   If we could have mustered a pass rush to compliment things that game would have looked a lot different.    

 

 

Without having looked at each play multiple times, just by eye on a single viewing, this is what i saw too. Totally agree.

I am concerned about the pass rush. Without one, it's not easy to win games, especially against good QBs.

[Stinger226]

33 minutes ago, Mongo3451 said:

Because you worded it like was fact and then you answered me that it was your assumption.  That equals fake news...🤪

It's always an opinion, not sure why everyone thinks everything I say is set in stone. From a logical point of view, 1 practice usually means they don't have time to put in a game plan. 

[Stinger226]

I'm not for how long but I did see Newman at RG and think Bates had some snaps there. Kiran was in at LT late in the game. 

[AZ54]

3 hours ago, Mongo3451 said:

Did he say he didn't scheme?

5 days between games, one live padded practice on Wed, travel on Thur.  In his post game presser after the Bills game he said in pre-season he just uses the same old playbook he's been using for years.  I doubt he put in much more effort than that on a short week.  

[Mongo3451]

17 minutes ago, Stinger226 said:

It's always an opinion, not sure why everyone thinks everything I say is set in stone.

I'm not trying to pick on you.  When you word things the way you do sometimes it looks like an opinion and sometimes fact.

BJ didnt scheme anything. Is a statement of fact.

If you typed, I don't think BJ screened anything is an opinion.  That's what made me ask, because I didn't know the real answer until AZ provided one.

[adam]

I don't understand the concerns about Caleb. It is almost like people expect a perfect QB Robot to go out there and execute every play with perfection with zero incompletions, zero sacks, etc.  Mahomes played against 64% of the Bears starting Defense from a 5-win team and still went 8-13, and needed a 30-yard penalty and a whole bunch of no-calls on his O-Line to pass for 1 TD. If not for a busted coverage bomb, he would've had 90 yards passing.