🏈 Week 14 Official Game Thread 🏈 CHI@GB, Dec 7th, 325PM CST, FOX, CHI +6.5

[jason]

I’d love for someone to analyze the all-22 of this one. I saw 3-4 times where Caleb just didn’t see or hit an open receiver. I just don’t understand why every throw has to be difficult. Other than the soft toss to Loveland, nearly all throws are rockets. Meanwhile, Love is just tossing rainbows into spots with deadly accuracy.

Caleb reminds me of the saying, “It is only when mosquito land on your balls that you realize there is a way to solve problems without using [force].”

[ChileBear]

3 minutes ago, AZ54 said:

Ben going for the winthe direction w, pretty sure if we scored we were going for 2.  I like that.  With no pass rush we're not going deep into the playoffs.  So just throw it all out there.   

This year is so different with clear changes for the better in the 2nd half on offense.     

We have definitely closed the gap with the playoff contenders.  Now we need the icing on top.  

 

Yes. Tough loss, but this team seems to learn from their mistakes. We had the puckers in our hand in the second half and it slipped away. We will see what happens the next four games.

 

[jason]

5 minutes ago, Bears4Ever_34 said:

I didn't hate the playcall, but Caleb was the one who screwed it up by not just running for the first down when he had the angle. There were at least 3 or 4 of those kinds of plays in the 2nd half where he constantly made the wrong decision on when to run and when to throw. He's just not very smart, situationally. 

100% agree. It’s like he can’t see the easy button. Just take the 4-5 yards and be happy. 

[adam]

Win in 2 weeks at home and they are back in 1st place. 

[Alaskan Grizzly]

4 hours ago, jason said:

I saw 3-4 times where Caleb just didn’t see or hit an open receiver. I just don’t understand why every throw has to be difficult. Other than the soft toss to Loveland, nearly all throws are rockets

What I noticed today was whether by design or by Caleb ad-libbing, he’s cutting the field in half each time he rolls out (which was a lot).  Early on there were a few plays where a lone receiver was one on one with a defender and relatively open for space on the opposite side.  Later on the defenders were cheating to the side Caleb would roll out to because they knew he’d never look that way.

Why they didn’t stick to the ‘game manager’ setting with the west coast offense is beyond me . 

[DABEARSDABOMB]

4 hours ago, Bears4Ever_34 said:

Kyler Gordon out because he injured himself in pre-game, lmao. You can't make this shit up.

Probably done for the season. I presume it was his hammy/another soft tissue injury? 

[ASHKUM BEAR]

6 minutes ago, DABEARSDABOMB said:

Probably done for the season. I presume it was his hammy/another soft tissue injury? 

Im done with him. I would not resign a drafted player anymore. New England them.  They get their money and are soft. 

[Alaskan Grizzly]

45 minutes ago, ASHKUM BEAR said:

Im done with him. I would not resign a drafted player anymore. New England them.  They get their money and are soft. 

Yeah from what I saw today he and Brisker can be cut loose.  Unfortunately JJ appears to be going backwards and getting into lazy mode.  Or he’s more injured more than we know.  

[Mongo3451]

He's coming off major surgery.  Being on a snap count can sometimes throw you off rhythm.  As he continues to get snaps, the expectations should grow.  Gordon is the one to worry about.  People who, supposedly, get injured in pregame warmups don't want to play.  CJ Gardner is not the answer.  I saw a tremendous amount of undisciplined play from him today.

[Bears4Ever_34]

1 hour ago, DABEARSDABOMB said:

Probably done for the season. I presume it was his hammy/another soft tissue injury? 

Groin. I suspect he's going to be out for the year.

 

1 hour ago, ASHKUM BEAR said:

Im done with him. I would not resign a drafted player anymore. New England them.  They get their money and are soft. 

Can't get rid of him with that contract, unfortunately. It is ironic how he all of a sudden misses the most games of his career after signing the extension.

If I remember correctly, he didn't show up for most of the voluntary OTA's in the off-season. Based on the injuries, I have my doubts as to how much hard work he put into his body to be ready for a long season.

[ASHKUM BEAR]

41 minutes ago, Bears4Ever_34 said:

Groin. I suspect he's going to be out for the year.

 

Can't get rid of him with that contract, unfortunately. It is ironic how he all of a sudden misses the most games of his career after signing the extension.

If I remember correctly, he didn't show up for most of the voluntary OTA's in the off-season. Based on the injuries, I have my doubts as to how much hard work he put into his body to be ready for a long season.

Thats why I say forget them when the contracts are up. Cole Kmet plays for his money, Gordon/Johnson dont. Im tired of soft tissue injuries being a drain on our season. Yes, ours as we invest in them.  Draft well and let them go. 

[Stinger226]

I had to watch the game at430 am because of my timezones so just now getting to comments. 

First, the second half we played well enough to have the last play determine our fate. Caleb is still not where he needs to be, but helped us back in the game in the second half. 

GB is a tough place to play and showed everyone, including me, one of the better teams in the NFC. They play Denver next week so we can see how they measure up to the whole league. 

Anyone that has injuries or had them just aren't up to speed yet. JJ and Edwards will play better, Gordon just isn't healthy enough yet to be able to help. Gardener -Johnson had a bad day. 

[Lucky Luciano]

12 hours ago, adam said:

Brisker needs to make a play, he has been terrible.

speaking of TERRIBLE, the fattie #97 is truly wasting a roster spot. nearly every play billings is getting turned sideways and blocked out of the hole on running plays, it's ridiculous. on passing plays they just stand him up at the LOS.

vs packers: 2 solo tackles and 1 assist.

he should at least be a solid rock in the middle to stop running plays.

brisker? wow, what a difference between this season and last. he has looked terrible. say adios.

the worst? absolutely NO pass rush. any qb, and i mean ANY qb will look like HOF quality if you can just stand behind your line and pick and choose who and when to throw it. with this bad of a pass rush no team can compete.

that said, we have to have set another record for bad in nfl history for length of field TD's in less than a minute. i have never seen a team consistently give up TD's that fast multiple times in a season.

one last note, if the defense puts williams in motion out of the pocket he looks bad. way to many happy feet instances. he needs to fix that problem along with having no touch on his passes.

[Mongo3451]

After rewatching the game, a few things stood out.  We don't have the personnel to effectively run DA's defense.  GB's OL is elite at pass pro, but damn we can't generate pressure.  Our defensive front seven is easily the slowest in the NFL.(Brisker, CJGJ, JJ and Dexter were terrible yesterday).  Despite some poor play, hats off to them for making some improvements and key stops in the second half.  Looking forward, the fat contracts of Sweat, Jarrett, Johnson, Dayo and Gordon are going to strongly hinder Poles ability to reshape next year.  Improvements should be made, the above will hinder and that hurts.

Offensively, Caleb was terrible and brilliant at the same time.  Does he hate DJ Moore?  I'm absolutely convinced he will be traded.  While Caleb's accuracy is killing them, his elusiveness is killing the opposing D.  Ben Johnson called his worst game yesterday.  Our OL was dominating the second half and he took their feet off their respective throats.  He blew it.

Enough of the complaining from me.  Our team did what it's done lately; fight hard and play opportunistic.  I expect something cleaner in two weeks.  We may lose, because I think GB is the more complete team.  The eye test tells me they are better, especially in pass pro and defensive front seven.

[adam]

1 hour ago, Mongo3451 said:

After rewatching the game, a few things stood out.  We don't have the personnel to effectively run DA's defense.  GB's OL is elite at pass pro, but damn we can't generate pressure.  Our defensive front seven is easily the slowest in the NFL.(Brisker, CJGJ, JJ and Dexter were terrible yesterday).  Despite some poor play, hats off to them for making some improvements and key stops in the second half.  Looking forward, the fat contracts of Sweat, Jarrett, Johnson, Dayo and Gordon are going to strongly hinder Poles ability to reshape next year.  Improvements should be made, the above will hinder and that hurts.

Offensively, Caleb was terrible and brilliant at the same time.  Does he hate DJ Moore?  I'm absolutely convinced he will be traded.  While Caleb's accuracy is killing them, his elusiveness is killing the opposing D.  Ben Johnson called his worst game yesterday.  Our OL was dominating the second half and he took their feet off their respective throats.  He blew it.

Enough of the complaining from me.  Our team did what it's done lately; fight hard and play opportunistic.  I expect something cleaner in two weeks.  We may lose, because I think GB is the more complete team.  The eye test tells me they are better, especially in pass pro and defensive front seven.

Just thinking about everything you said, and the Bears STILL had a chance to tie/win in the final seconds of the game.

The only thing I can think of for DJ is he is playing hurt, because nothing else makes sense.

[Alaskan Grizzly]

For what it’s worth, I may have mentioned before the ‘personal hell’ I live in surrounded by GB fans on either side of me.  My one neighbor recently put up some annoyingly bright LED holiday lights.  One thing he can do is change the colors of them remotely. It’s hard to see on the pic but the colors are green and yellow.  The guy could land helicopters on his roof. 

[adam]

The play got really mucked up, Trapilo falls down, Oz barely blocks, Kmet looks like he is running in place. Look at how much ground Kmet and the DB (who intercepted it) cover in the same amount of time. 

One of the lesser seen parts is the guy who intercepted it was actually covering DJ, but because he came across the LOS after the snap, the DB was actually tracking him first, then switched to Kmet when he crossed his path. If DJ runs a normal route right towards his defender, Kmet is wide open again. 

 

[BearFan PHX]

27 minutes ago, adam said:

The play got really mucked up, Trapilo falls down, Oz barely blocks, Kmet looks like he is running in place. Look at how much ground Kmet and the DB (who intercepted it) cover in the same amount of time. 

One of the lesser seen parts is the guy who intercepted it was actually covering DJ, but because he came across the LOS after the snap, the DB was actually tracking him first, then switched to Kmet when he crossed his path. If DJ runs a normal route right towards his defender, Kmet is wide open again. 

 

Kmet should have run laterally, instead of getting more depth. Its a fine point, and it was the difference in this game. If thats how close we played the Packers in their house, that isnt anything to be ashamed of.

Add a pass rush to this team, and we are contenders. Jordan Love isnt as good as he looked, he was just safe in a clean pocket all day.

[Bears4Ever_34]

32 minutes ago, BearFan PHX said:

Kmet should have run laterally, instead of getting more depth. Its a fine point, and it was the difference in this game. If thats how close we played the Packers in their house, that isnt anything to be ashamed of.

Add a pass rush to this team, and we are contenders. Jordan Love isnt as good as he looked, he was just safe in a clean pocket all day.

  Yeah. Watching that replay again, I really think you just have to tip your cap to the Packers for defending that really well. Kmet was open earlier in the progression, but assuming he's not the first read, I just don't see a feasible way Caleb could have gotten that out much earlier, and even if he did, it still would have been an incredibly difficult throw to make.

[DABEARSDABOMB]

1 hour ago, Bears4Ever_34 said:

  Yeah. Watching that replay again, I really think you just have to tip your cap to the Packers for defending that really well. Kmet was open earlier in the progression, but assuming he's not the first read, I just don't see a feasible way Caleb could have gotten that out much earlier, and even if he did, it still would have been an incredibly difficult throw to make.

To your point - I'm presuming the primary read was a shorter pass and/or him running for 1st down vs. Kmet or Moore...which means by time you get there its too late.  I think a good throw still works but that is not that easy when you are on the run in the cold with pressure.  

[jason]

3 hours ago, BearFan PHX said:

Kmet should have run laterally, instead of getting more depth. Its a fine point, and it was the difference in this game. If thats how close we played the Packers in their house, that isnt anything to be ashamed of.

Add a pass rush to this team, and we are contenders. Jordan Love isnt as good as he looked, he was just safe in a clean pocket all day.

Kmet COULD have run a slightly different angle, but that INT is 100% on Caleb’s slow read and poor throw. Kmet was open way early and all Williams had to do was lead him.

[BearFan PHX]

1 hour ago, jason said:

Kmet COULD have run a slightly different angle, but that INT is 100% on Caleb’s slow read and poor throw. Kmet was open way early and all Williams had to do was lead him.

I think Caleb didnt see the defender who picked it off because he wasnt on Kmet, he peeled off of another player, so he wasnt in Calebs vision when he tossed it so softly to Kmet.

Is that on Caleb? Sure, fine. But it's understandable, and Im not hating on him for it at all. I also think Kmet, who COULD see the defender peeling off in front of him should have run a more lateral route to mirror Caleb's rollout.

For me, if you want to criticize Caleb, the first half had more opportunities.

[Stinger226]

2 hours ago, jason said:

Kmet COULD have run a slightly different angle, but that INT is 100% on Caleb’s slow read and poor throw. Kmet was open way early and all Williams had to do was lead him.

Agree, Caleb didn't exicute the play properly. Kmet went up for the ball and Caleb didn't put enough zip on it. Had Caleb threw to the corner, Kmet would have kept going to the ball. 

If we got this TD, we still had to get a 2 point conversation, so I'm not sure if we would have won the game. BJ said he would have went for 2. It would have been a lot more interesting to see the call Ben makes for the 2 points.

[jason]

3 hours ago, BearFan PHX said:

I think Caleb didnt see the defender who picked it off because he wasnt on Kmet, he peeled off of another player, so he wasnt in Calebs vision when he tossed it so softly to Kmet.

Is that on Caleb? Sure, fine. But it's understandable, and Im not hating on him for it at all. I also think Kmet, who COULD see the defender peeling off in front of him should have run a more lateral route to mirror Caleb's rollout.

For me, if you want to criticize Caleb, the first half had more opportunities.

No doubt the first half had more opportunities to criticize Caleb. He was terrible in the first half and it’s almost as if they didn’t trust him to throw the ball. But if the first half was terrible, and the second half has obvious issues that largely cost the team the game, that’s not a good starting point.

[BearFan PHX]

I believe Caleb will be great for us. Not perfect, since no one ever is, but great, top 3 in the league. I think that's where this trajectory is headed.

People can disagree, but then when it happens, remember who wanted to keep him and who was thinking of dumping him.

The rest is up to time to tell. I could argue why I think this is true, what my evidence is, but it's a waste of time.

We will see.