NEWSLETTER
Am I upset that the Chicago Bears lost to the New York Giants? Uh … ya think? The Bears wasted a golden opportunity to pad their lead in the NFC North and further open a window into making a run at a first-round bye (almost certainly not happening now). It was an all-around clunker and nothing’s gonna change that.
HOWEVER, I think I’m most mad about burning some trick plays in a loss.
Colleen Kane of the Chicago Tribune has a fantastic read on “Oompa Loompa” – a.k.a. the Philly Special a.k.a. the Chi-Town Special a.k.a. That One Play Dowell Loggains Had Before Everyone Else, But Didn’t Give It A Clever Nickname So He’s S.O.L. – and you’ll definitely want to check it out.
It takes real stones to call that particular play in that particular moment, but by golly, Matt Nagy conjured up the gumption to make the call and this is how it looked:
https://twitter.com/thecheckdown/status/1069340240974729216
Yeah, that’s totally a winning play.
Pulling this off in crunch time says a lot about the players who didn’t flinch in a tight moment. The Bears didn’t let the pressure exceed the pleasure (I feel like I’ve heard that somewhere before) and executed the play perfectly. But it wasn’t even the only trick play of the afternoon.
Earlier, the Bears were faced with another tight spot as they needed a score from 1-yard out. So what else were you supposed to do other than pay homage to William Perry:
Matt Nagy tells us the play name for the Akiem Hicks handoff is “Freezer left.”
— Jeff Dickerson (@DickersonESPN) December 2, 2018
In case you missed it, here is what it looked like:
I hope you started Akiem Hicks at RB today! https://t.co/jioPmAad0Z
— Bleacher Nation Bears (@BN_Bears) December 2, 2018
I guess Akiem Hicks’ Achilles is OK. Funny how that works when you’re scheduled to get the ball.
Burning “Freezer Left” and “Oompa Loompa” in a loss against a team like the 2018 Giants is ridiculously annoying. But I suppose it’s better to use those plays in a game that was oh-so-close to being the team’s ninth win. I mean, they almost got the job done.
