Special Teams is a Problem

[adam]

So I think we can safely say that some of the preseason can be correlated to the regular season.

Special Teams was an issue in the preseason, and it was also in Week 1.

On punts, MIN's PR Price averaged 17.0 on his returns (which is crazy). Duvernay averaged 9.3. The Bears lost 31 net yards in punt coverage.

Wright was 7-333 on punts averaging 47.6. Taylor was 6-266 for only 44.3 per punt. So the Bears lost another 20 net yards in just punts. That is 51 lost yards without the offense or defense on the field, which basically equates to at least 3 pts. I don't know how a punter loses 10 yards off his punts from college to the pros.

Then our glorious Captain Kicker got to watch Reichard go 2/2 on FGs and hit a 59-yarder while Santos missed a 50-yarder going the same way and couldn't kick the ball out of the end zone to save his life. He also barely made his lone FG.

All in all, not good. At some point will Hightower ever be held accountable?

 

[Mongo3451]

Carmen and Jurko were blowing major crap to Johnson for not having Santos kick the ball the ball out of bounds due to him not being able to kick it out the back.

[adam]

17 minutes ago, Mongo3451 said:

Carmen and Jurko were blowing major crap to Johnson for not having Santos kick the ball the ball out of bounds due to him not being able to kick it out the back.

From what I have seen online, since it would be a penalty, MIN could just decline and make him rekick.

So the only other option was to go for an onside kick and try to tackle them within 3 seconds, which is not a guarantee.

[Mongo3451]

54 minutes ago, adam said:

From what I have seen online, since it would be a penalty, MIN could just decline and make him rekick.

I'm reading that it's automatically placed on the 40.

[adam]

1 hour ago, Mongo3451 said:

I'm reading that it's automatically placed on the 40.

Everything I am reading is that it is considered a penalty.

Here is a snippet from an article talking about it comparing it to a touchback:

"By contrast, a kick that goes out of bounds would be flagged as an illegal procedure penalty, and the ball would come out to the 40-yard line, a difference of five yards."

 

So if it was deemed a penalty, then it would've been pointless to do that as MIN could just decline and ask to rekick. The best option was probably the onside, but then with MIN's kicker they are almost already in FG range with a normal recovery.

[Stinger226]

4 hours ago, adam said:

So I think we can safely say that some of the preseason can be correlated to the regular season.

Special Teams was an issue in the preseason, and it was also in Week 1.

On punts, MIN's PR Price averaged 17.0 on his returns (which is crazy). Duvernay averaged 9.3. The Bears lost 31 net yards in punt coverage.

Wright was 7-333 on punts averaging 47.6. Taylor was 6-266 for only 44.3 per punt. So the Bears lost another 20 net yards in just punts. That is 51 lost yards without the offense or defense on the field, which basically equates to at least 3 pts. I don't know how a punter loses 10 yards off his punts from college to the pros.

Then our glorious Captain Kicker got to watch Reichard go 2/2 on FGs and hit a 59-yarder while Santos missed a 50-yarder going the same way and couldn't kick the ball out of the end zone to save his life. He also barely made his lone FG.

All in all, not good. At some point will Hightower ever be held accountable?

 

Yes , we also had a punt partial blocked. I read where Santos was told to kick the ball out of bounds. It would give them the ball at the 40 but would have given us another clock stop for the 2 minute warning. Now with several backups starting did that pull them off of the ST plays? We missed the tackling ability of TJ Edwards and Kyler Gordon. 

[DABEARSDABOMB]

1 minute ago, Stinger226 said:

Yes , we also had a punt partial blocked. I read where Santos was told to kick the ball out of bounds. It would give them the ball at the 40 but would have given us another clock stop for the 2 minute warning. Now with several backups starting did that pull them off of the ST plays? We missed the tackling ability of TJ Edwards and Kyler Gordon. 

The missed field goal also gave Vikings real good field position. 

[Stinger226]

Several things are fixable but If it continues , I dont think BJ keeps Hightower around. 

[adam]

8 minutes ago, DABEARSDABOMB said:

The missed field goal also gave Vikings real good field position. 

Good point, more hollow yards. 

[Mongo3451]

49 minutes ago, Stinger226 said:

I read where Santos was told to kick the ball out of bounds.

Nope.  He was directly told to kick it out the back of the end zone.  Straight from Ben Johnson's press conference.

[AZ54]

5 minutes ago, Mongo3451 said:

Nope.  He was directly told to kick it out the back of the end zone.  Straight from Ben Johnson's press conference.

That is correct.   

[Mongo3451]

1 hour ago, adam said:

So if it was deemed a penalty, then it would've been pointless to do that as MIN could just decline and ask to rekick.

That's not an option.  If we lock the ball out of bounds and they decline.  The ball would be spotted where it went out of bounds.

• Kicks Out of Bounds:If a kick goes out of bounds before being touched by a player, the penalty is 25 yards past the spot of the kick, or the ball is placed at the spot it left the field of play, whichever is more advantageous to the receiving team. 

[Connorbear]

54 minutes ago, Mongo3451 said:

That's not an option.  If we lock the ball out of bounds and they decline.  The ball would be spotted where it went out of bounds.

• Kicks Out of Bounds:If a kick goes out of bounds before being touched by a player, the penalty is 25 yards past the spot of the kick, or the ball is placed at the spot it left the field of play, whichever is more advantageous to the receiving team. 

Hightower should know the rules and relay them to Johnson. I think he's gone at the end of the season if we don't see serious improvement. 

Peace

[Stinger226]

The Bears signed Jake Moody/K to the practice squad. I think this move was to put pressure on Santos and replace if necessary. 

[AZ54]

39 minutes ago, Stinger226 said:

The Bears signed Jake Moody/K to the practice squad. I think this move was to put pressure on Santos and replace if necessary. 

I’m old enough to remember Jimmy Johnson doing this kind of stuff with his roster in Dallas.  This is nothing like last year and the message was sent to the entire team.  

[adam]

1 hour ago, AZ54 said:

I’m old enough to remember Jimmy Johnson doing this kind of stuff with his roster in Dallas.  This is nothing like last year and the message was sent to the entire team.  

Yep this is all Ben Johnson and I love it.

[adam]

It's November, and guess what? Special Teams is still a problem. When you get kicks blocked, continually hold on your own kick returns or don't even get to the 30, while allowing onside kicks and KR TDs, it is coaching. 

Hightower needs to go. Too many games decided by officials and Special Teams, and the Bears are not good enough to overcome them every week.

[AZ54]

6 minutes ago, adam said:

It's November, and guess what? Special Teams is still a problem. When you get kicks blocked, continually hold on your own kick returns or don't even get to the 30, while allowing onside kicks and KR TDs, it is coaching. 

Hightower needs to go. Too many games decided by officials and Special Teams, and the Bears are not good enough to overcome them every week.

Agreed.  His magical mystery tour has come to an end.  

[adam]

25 minutes ago, AZ54 said:

Agreed.  His magical mystery tour has come to an end.  

I don't know who he has pictures of, because he has never been a particularly good coach. It is clear that he does not understand how to scheme for the new kickoff rules and the Bears need someone that can put the players in a better position on kickoffs. 

[BearFan PHX]

I think Hightower and a LOT of the roster will get replaced this offseason. That's gonna help special teams a lot too.

We are playing to win now of course, and we are playing to develop Caleb too, but we are also evaluating everyone this year, and I dont think Ben Johnson will be shy about replacing players, and fixing the special teams. Looking at you Cairo too.

[adam]

Against CIN, they allowed 297 return yards, a KR for a TD, and allowed an onside kick that did not go 10 yards. That is a net -163 yards on Kickoffs, which is insane.

With the team always on the wrong side with the officials, they can't afford to lose on Special Teams in every game too.

[adam]

4 minutes ago, BearFan PHX said:

I think Hightower and a LOT of the roster will get replaced this offseason. That's gonna help special teams a lot too.

We are playing to win now of course, and we are playing to develop Caleb too, but we are also evaluating everyone this year, and I dont think Ben Johnson will be shy about replacing players, and fixing the special teams. Looking at you Cairo too.

The 10 players outside of the kicker are on the 40, with the ball regularly kicked inside the 5, yet somehow the returner can go 30 yards in the same amount of time that the Bears kickoff unit goes 5. The math is not mathing.  Also, with the returner and the kicker not counted, it is 10 vs 10, and in most cases 10 v 9 since teams have 2 guys back deep. There is no way a returner should be able to go the distance unless he breaks multiple tackles, but untouched?

The other teams do it to the Bears, and when the Bears do have a longer than average return, there is always a holding call, always. 

Sure you can get a few other bottom of the roster players that may be better on Special Teams, but I can't see them making that big of a difference. I believe it is how they are being used, which is on the ST coach.

[ASHKUM BEAR]

Is Devin Duvernay  worth the 1.3 million roster spot? Being a pro-bowler, I thought he would be a little better.  I'd be good letting Burden get some of that work.

I mentioned Santos could be cut before this season for his cap savings.

Jonathan Owen's won't be back, he plays one of the gunners and how often is he there. 

Hate to pile on the guy, but Hightower cannot be the ST coach next season. 

Id be okay drafting some S/LBs that can excel at STs. 

[BearFan PHX]

2 hours ago, ASHKUM BEAR said:

Is Devin Duvernay  worth the 1.3 million roster spot? Being a pro-bowler, I thought he would be a little better.  I'd be good letting Burden get some of that work.

I totally agree that Duvernay should be better, and I'd also like to see Burden get a try. So we agree on that.

But regarding the cap space, I think the league minimum is like $840,000 and only the top so many slots even count, so the least you could pay someone on the cap isnt much less than the $1.3M?

[AZ54]

19 minutes ago, BearFan PHX said:

I totally agree that Duvernay should be better, and I'd also like to see Burden get a try. So we agree on that.

But regarding the cap space, I think the league minimum is like $840,000 and only the top so many slots even count, so the least you could pay someone on the cap isnt much less than the $1.3M?

 Exactly. These days 1.3m is barely above a practice squad salary.