BoJack is Back, Teven’s Energy, Martz Pops Off Again, Wilson’s Homecoming Ruined, and Other Bears Bullets

Sep 13, 2022

I’m not sure there is a better autumn comfort food than a bowl of chili. But I’m willing to hear arguments to the contrary. If you need me, I’ll be keeping notes on your suggestions.

The 2022 season debut of Monday Night Football was a Hollywood screenwriter’s football fever dream. An old friend comes home and gets booed. So much for Russell Wilson being an old friend. Then there’s Wilson’s replacement, Geno Smith, playing the game of his life. Only for it to come down to Wilson getting an opportunity to write a storybook ending. But in a major plot twist, it was first-year coach Nathaniel Hackett taking the ball out of the quarterback’s hands and putting it on the kicker’s foot for a game-winning 64-yard try that was woefully off target. Imagine running down the clock to kick a 64-yard field goal on the road. Couldn’t be me.

That’s gotta be the dumbest coaching decision I’ve ever seen. And I cover the Bears for a living. In 2019, I watched Matt Nagy mismanage timeouts and the clock before an Eddy Piñeiro miss against the Chargers cost the Bears a win. Back in 2017, we saw John Fox make a challenge that was so dumb that the result of the review gave the Packers the ball. We really saw Fox mismanage a Bears-Packers game so badly that Brett Hundley was the winning QB. But Hackett’s fumbling of the bag takes the cake.

The postgame shade thrown in Wilson’s direction was absurd. And because I love petty, I had my popcorn ready:

THE SHADE pic.twitter.com/1SlxpLDHOo
— Gump Cathcart (@bubbagumpino) September 13, 2022

pic.twitter.com/qolD451XTU
— Doug Baldwin Jr 🌹 (@DougBaldwinJr) September 13, 2022

.@GenoSmith3 said it! #DENvsSEA

(via @ESPN) pic.twitter.com/Qx1rCHniOx
— NFL (@NFL) September 13, 2022

“They wrote me off, but I ain’t write back.” is going to be in soooo many Twitter bios in the Pacific Northwest today.

Maybe it’s just me, but it feels awkward to think about Seattle GM John Schneider preferring to trade with Denver because he was pining for Drew Lock — only to see Lock benched for Geno Smith, who delivered THAT performance yesterday. Only in America. And only in the NFL.

At least Lock will always have that time he aced Young Jeezy’s part in “Put On” to fall back on.

Tell me it’s time to re-calculate the algorithm, without saying it:

Our model had it as a clear go at the conclusion of 3rd down.

After the clock ticked down to 20 seconds *and* Denver burned a timeout, it shifted to a very narrow FG preference: 29.8% to 29.1%.— Seth Walder (@SethWalder) September 13, 2022

Let Peyton coach

Peyton was trying his HARDEST to call a TO for the Broncos 😬 pic.twitter.com/eZxNQdWpPH
— NFL on ESPN (@ESPNNFL) September 13, 2022

What it was like watching the Niners on Sunday:

pic.twitter.com/NuT0tXcakX
— Benjamin Allbright (@AllbrightNFL) September 13, 2022

#49ers penalties led to all Bears TDs …
3rd & 4: No gain. Greenlaw facemask extends drive, ending w/ TD to Pettis.
3rd & 9: Fields for 5 yards. Ward def. holding leads to Fields’ second TD pass.
2nd & 11: Gain of 5. Kinlaw def. holding, first down at 3. TD run two plays later.— Matt Maiocco (@MaioccoNBCS) September 13, 2022

I’ll say this – as we transition from MNF to Bears chatter – Matt Eberflus didn’t call any stupid timeouts. The time management was fine. There weren’t any silly penalties. Chicago’s football team played smart, disciplined football. The Bears looked like a team that was prepared, played with resiliency that we hadn’t seen in years, and were opportunistic against a team that – by all counts from analysts across the league – should’ve blown them out of the water. You just gotta love seeing the Bears give folks a big crudburger to eat as their fans pull all the receipts.

Speaking of receipts, I’m sure we’re keeping them as we’re tracking what the receivers of the 2022 NFL Draft did last weekend. Right? Because surely, we would’ve been inundated with “I told you so…” stories had they all gone off. Instead, Christian Watson dropped a sure TD pass in the Packers’ loss. Alec Pierce had a notable drop in the Colts’ tie against the Texans. George Pickens was targeted just three times and caught just one pass for three yards. To be clear, none of this is to say that the Bears absolutely won draft weekend by not drafting a receiver. Instead, we should probably use this as perspective to remember that the Bears weren’t picking one Day 2 receiver away from making this thing GO. And that there are other ways to help Justin Fields win football games other than drafting receivers. Just saying.

After a slow start in Week 1, I thought the Bears offensive line showed progress as the game went on. One player whose progress is worth closely monitoring is Teven Jenkins. It’s hard not to love this effort and energy:

👀 at Teven Jenkins at RG. He sets up, helps inside with the DT, then spies Nick Bosa trying to go under Borom’s block at RT, so he gives Bosa a pop before leading the way for his scrambling QB. #Bears pic.twitter.com/5qGtS94sHI— Lester A. Wiltfong Jr. (@wiltfongjr) September 12, 2022

My preference would be to play Jenkins a full share of the snaps. But I can talk myself into being OK with a Jenkins-Lucas Patrick rotation if it is part of a plan to best develop Jenkins as a right guard. Let it start with a 53-47 percentage split now, but let it grow until he is ready to get a full snap share. It would be awesome if the Bears can create a homegrown right guard from a situation that was looking to be unsalvageable as recently as a few months ago.

On the other side of the line, rookie pass-rusher Dominique Robinson is already showing he’s no dumb rookie:

#Bears rookie DE Dominique Robinson said he picked up a tendency from Trent Williams on tape. Saw that he would kick his left foot twice for a pass play.

He used it to his advantage.— Zack Pearson (@Zack_Pearson) September 11, 2022

Using tape study and leveraging it against a veteran All-Pro left tackle in your first game as a pro is next-level stuff. I’m not one to put too much on a rookie’s plate early, but Robinson could make me change my tune. Better yet, he might play his way into me changing my perspective. And if that’s what happens, then I’m here for it.

Here we go with the flip-flopping:

Former NFL QB Boomer Esiason said on @ParkinsSpiegel that the Chicago Bears "are hamstrung by Justin Fields' inexperience" and that "he can't see a blitz from a mile away."

Esiason: "I'm just telling you right now he is not ready to play. He is not ready to handle it."— Daniel Greenberg (@ChiSportUpdates) October 26, 2021

"Chicago Bears fans are going to like this kid. The future is bright in Chicago with Justin Fields. He's got a cannon for an arm, he can run, and you can also see he does have the poise."
– 14-year NFL veteran and four-time Pro Bowl quarterback Boomer Esiason

(Via CBS Sports)— Daniel Greenberg (@ChiSportUpdates) September 12, 2022

Mike Martz keeps his gums flapping:

He deflated their performance so much THAT THEY WON THE GAME https://t.co/t1gHyBvjKt
— Bleacher Nation Bears (@BN_Bears) September 13, 2022

But Kyle Brandt is keeping receipts, so maybe Martz should quit while he’s ahead:

“The Bears suck, the Bears are the worst team in the league, and the Bears are going 0-17”. I’m here for Kyle Brandt calling out Mike Martz 😂 #DaBears #BearDown pic.twitter.com/5Wf1zjrphr— Clay Harbor (@clayharbs82) September 12, 2022

A rough start by Eddie Jackson had me quietly looking at his future contractual status with the Bears. Maybe that is what inspired his rebound performance. Earning PFF’s 12th highest grade among safeties and sixth-best coverage grade is good stuff:

#DaBears Safety Eddie Jackson was PFFs 12th highest graded safety in Wk 1. He had the 6th best coverage grade among all safeties.

He managed to haul in an interception without being targeted on the day, while also adding 1 run stop, but his grade was knocked for 2 missed tackles— Quinten Krzysko – Butkus Stats On Tap (@ButkusStats) September 12, 2022

Jackson’s play was among the positive Jeff Hughes (Da Bears Blog) saw from the Bears on Sunday. From the article: “Not only did Jackson make the game-changing interception, but he was active and aggressive in run support, even making some noise on contact. This wasn’t EJ the finesse player. This was EJ the defensive leader and after one game it seems no Bears defender has been more significantly (read: positively) impacted by the implementation of Matt Eberflus’ program.”

Given that perspective, this handshake gains a little more significance:

pic.twitter.com/lwK62HytjI
— Funky Cold Luda (@lcm1986) September 13, 2022

The replies to this so far have been stellar:

What’s the title of this album? pic.twitter.com/JVw1KMrSzb
— Bleacher Nation Bears (@BN_Bears) September 13, 2022

Some people have too much money to know what to do with:

Somebody Seriously Just Bought Ty Cobb’s Dentures at Auctionhttps://t.co/g1fyqByZnQ pic.twitter.com/aRMgMuZPKP
— Baseball is Fun (@flippingbats) September 12, 2022

This isn’t a bad idea:

The Chicago #Blackhawks Should Create a Team Hall of Famehttps://t.co/Oxi4PjhTk6 pic.twitter.com/yHO9f4Dy7T
— Bleacher Nation Blackhawks (@BN_Blackhawks) September 10, 2022

This would’ve been a wild reunion:

Stephen Curry Reportedly Spoke to the Warriors About Trading for Kevin Duranthttps://t.co/YExxQZHfVn pic.twitter.com/PRgICWgpGB
— Bleacher Nation Bulls (@BN_Bulls) September 12, 2022

I’m 100 percent here for Mets slander:

Morning Petty: Hey Great Trade Deadline, Metshttps://t.co/CktsPaIu25 pic.twitter.com/kp6skcKje0
— Bleacher Nation (@BleacherNation) September 13, 2022

written by

Luis C. Medina

Luis C. Medina, who you can find on Twitter at lcm1986, has been covering the Chicago Bears at Bleacher Nation since 2017. Since then, he has written about 3 head coaches, 5 play-callers, and 11 starting quarterbacks. Previously, Luis wrote about the Cubs and MLB at BN (2015-16) and worked in the Chicago Tribune sports department (2011-16). He also co-hosted a Cubs postgame show, Outside the Ivy, in 2019.

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BoJack is Back, Teven’s Energy, Martz Pops Off Again, Wilson’s Homecoming Ruined, and Other Bears Bullets

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