LAR @ CHI, Divisional Round, SUN, JAN 18th Game Thread - CHI +3.5, O/U 51.5

[Bears4Ever_34]

53 minutes ago, Mongo3451 said:

Here's a breakdown.  Also, I'll show how Caleb missed a game winning shot on the same play.  Lessons learned the hard way...

https://www.instagram.com/reel/DTrXdQnDraW/?igsh=MWJkd243bmR3bzNrbA==

 

Yep. I'll keep saying it, but his insistence on every drop back needing to be a pass has cost his team so many yards throughout the season. It's also had a negative impact on his efficiency. Instead of an incompletion (or turnover), it would go down as a positive run. I often times wonder if internally he's having a battle with himself where he doesn't like running because he wants to prove to everyone he is a pocket passer.

When you're in a gotta have it situation, you don't want to introduce more variable into a play by passing when you can just use your legs and scramble for what feels like could be 10-20 yards anytime Caleb wants to, but that's the problem: he doesn't.

 

[DABEARSDABOMB]

Fun season and a nice foundation - could have won which is tough for how it ended but this was a fun year and I’m excited and confident for the future. 
 

I don’t think anyone is satisfied and I expect a lot of hard work this offseason getting better. Caleb and offense is just scratching the surface and Caleb in particular has made major growth but still has a ton of opportunities for growth (which is so exciting). 
 

Defensively I believe in the staff and they will get some key players back but I expect a lot of new faces - let’s see what staff and front office can do. 

[Mongo3451]

17 hours ago, jason said:

Absolutely can’t get rid of DJ.

Uh yeah, we can and should!  He's a serial quitter.  He showed his complete character last season when he walked off the field as Caleb was still scrambling for his life.  He's loafed his last route here, as far as I'm concerned.

[Alaskan Grizzly]

5 hours ago, Mongo3451 said:

Uh yeah, we can and should!  He's a serial quitter.  He showed his complete character last season when he walked off the field as Caleb was still scrambling for his life.  He's loafed his last route here, as far as I'm concerned.

I’ll borrow a quote from a social media post I saw earlier and I’ll paraphrase while doing so.  ‘This is an observation.  Had it occurred to anyone that Moore was injured in the game (after landing in his head a couple of times).   And that evidently Odunze was wide open (inside seam) on that last play?’  
 

(Now for “Skip’s take):  To some of this I would agree.   We know he was injured in this game - Went to the medical tent about halfway in the game, before landing on his head again later in the game.   And we can’t say without certainty he wasn’t even injured to begin with.  Many here speculated as much after the game against GB.  If for nothing else we saw how exhausted he was after catching that game winning TD against them.  Maybe his age alone is enough to move on from him, along with the fact Burden is essentially the same player in younger form.  
 

If Moore was so beat up and tuckered out, why design a play where he’s your primary receiver in a play so crucial, if that is in fact as Chase Daniel pointed out?  If you can see the field and see he’s lagging behind his coverage why throw it in front of him where the defender was headed to help with Burden(?). As it turns out there were three defenders in that immediate area anyhow (can be seen from the back view Daniel provided).  Sure they probably called the play in the huddle but everyone to a person said they didn’t appear to be on the same page .  How could that be?  And as others have mentioned here, why are we throwing so deep when shorter chunk passes would’ve and had worked?  You still had a pretty capable Kmet on the field for short underneath plays.  Heck if memory serves the RB was running a short route to the left that may have just as easily been converted.  

[BearFan PHX]

14 minutes ago, Alaskan Grizzly said:

If you can see the field and see he’s lagging behind his coverage why throw it in front of him where the defender was headed to help with Burden(?)

So he only threw it out in front of him, if you assume that where the ball landed was the targeted area. it was hands high five yards close to the line of scrimmage, and not as far out in front of him if you can visualize that triangle.

DJ ran the wrong route, and should have flattened his route - Caleb said as much in the press conference. Also some pretty damning tweets from Terrell Owens and Kurt Warner say the same.

DJ jogged his route when he saw the ball was out of reach, but he ran his route too deep before that, and the ball would have been caught further inside if DJ had run it correctly.

DJs a very talented player, but hes been taking plays off all season. I would keep him at $16M a year, but not at $24.5 - hes trade bait for sure.

[Stinger226]

6 hours ago, Mongo3451 said:

Uh yeah, we can and should!  He's a serial quitter.  He showed his complete character last season when he walked off the field as Caleb was still scrambling for his life.  He's loafed his last route here, as far as I'm concerned.

I remember one play last year and one play that was questioned this year. Caleb came out and said he miscommunicated a route and took responsible for that. DJ plays hurt so when he doesn't always look good, that may be a reason. Every receiver in that game had drops. I think Rome has more questions going forward, I think his catch rate for 2 yrs is around 50%. DJ has made some big plays this year, blocks, runs the ball. They will value DJ whether you do or not.

[Alaskan Grizzly]

2 hours ago, BearFan PHX said:

Caleb said as much in the press conference. Also some pretty damning tweets from Terrell Owens and Kurt Warner say the same.

Technically (to his credit) Caleb said there was a “miscommunication”.  He thought he was going to run underneath and DJ didn’t.  We could ask what DJ thought he was supposed to do but at this point I guess it doesn’t matter.  And no disrespect to either TO or Warner but neither of them was in the huddle.  🤷🏻‍♂️

Still, the same questions apply (especially with hindsight being 20/20).  Why call a play where your key receiver has been injured and not playing well late in the game?  And if Caleb had as much time in the backfield as he did, why not try another reciever? He had Odunze with single coverage -Curl had vacated the middle of the field to go right.   And with Curl on that side of the field there were three defenders within close proximity.  

[eback]

It looked like having Loveland out really hurt on that last OT Drive. 

[Mongo3451]

10 minutes ago, Alaskan Grizzly said:

 We could ask what DJ thought he was supposed to do but at this point I guess it doesn’t matter.  And no disrespect to either TO or Warner but neither of them was in the huddle.  🤷🏻‍♂️

You don't have to be in the huddle to know what the receiver was supposed to do.  The safety is over the top so you flatten the route.  It doesn't take HOF legends to know that.  Let alone the jogging.  C'mon Skip!  😁

[AZ54]

I think the writing has been on the wall since training camp when they took routes off DJ and started having him take handoffs.  

[Alaskan Grizzly]

11 minutes ago, AZ54 said:

I think the writing has been on the wall since training camp when they took routes off DJ and started having him take handoffs.  

You’re probably right.  I personally think the “writing on the wall” was when they drafted Burden and he pretty much did what DJ can do.  

[Alaskan Grizzly]

1 hour ago, eback said:

It looked like having Loveland out really hurt on that last OT Drive. 

You ain’t kidding.  I was thinking the same thing.  Understand he went out for a concussion(?).  
 

I had just asked my wife why they hadn’t been using Kmet minutes before he caught that last minute TD.  Think he had just caught a catch a little before that and converted(?).

His less involvement concerns me with his longevity on the team.