One Week Does Not a Career Define and Other Bears Bullets

A food-related update: I was eventually able to frost my cake and share it with others. The early reviews are in … and overwhelmingly positive. I’m a happy camper.

Losing to the Packers hurts. Doing so on prime-time and in a one-score game cuts deep. But things could be worse. The defense still kicks butt, Allen Robinson is an ace wide receiver, and — as my friend Jeff pointed out in a Facebook post — Eddy Piñeiro is the best kicker in football. I mean, it’s hard to argue with a 100 percent accuracy rate.

A worthwhile perspective on Bears quarterback Mitch Trubisky:

Re: Trubisky – He wasn't as good as stats indicated last year. But not brutal. Last night was bad, but not career-defining. He's very talented, yet his lack of college experience is evident often when he's pressured. Didn't have to do that much at UNC. When he did, he struggled.

— Chris Trapasso (@ChrisTrapasso) September 6, 2019

“Last night was bad, but not career-defining” are the words that stick with me the most from that tweet. Extremes are outliers, and there is enough tape out there on Trubisky to objectively say he is not as bad as the quarterback who set foot on the Soldier Field turf on Thursday and delivered that performance. We also have evidence of Trubisky making game-to-game adjustments and improvements en route to bounce-back games. But the lack of consistency in his play-to-play and game-to-game showings simply hasn’t been there, which goes a long way toward explaining why opinions on the outside go extremely one way or another. The truth is always in the middle, it’s just that both sides have a long way to go before getting there.

At some point, the time will come when we don’t talk about Trubisky’s college inexperience as a factor for what is happening to him on the pro level … right? To be fair, Trubisky was always going to be a project. And while he had the measurables, looked the part, and said all the right things, for him to put it all together and be the guy worthy of moving up in the draft to take was going to take some work. Then again, that is why Matt Nagy was brought in to be the head coach. Not only did he have history with Trubisky from the pre-draft interviews and meetings while he was on the Chiefs, he also had a past as a quarterback developer with Andy Reid. Trubisky represents Nagy’s biggest challenge to date. As this season plays out, we’ll see how up for it he is.

It’s easy to go off the rails after watching Trubisky complete 57.8 percent of his passes and post a 62.1 passer rating, but Nagy has a message to pass along:

Nagy: "You can't panic. There's too much season left and I refuse to do that."

— Chicago Bears (@ChicagoBears) September 6, 2019

I’m less worried about how many games are left in the season and more concerned about the play-calling and offensive line play that was lacking. Not to mention the quarterback concerns.

At least the crowd brought its “A” game:

Chicago, you brought your A game last night, & we will too this season. 🐻⬇️ pic.twitter.com/q0tBKKoWIM

— Chicago Bears (@ChicagoBears) September 6, 2019

LaFleur praised not only Bears D, but also Soldier Field "hostile" crowd. Says he could tell intensity during national anthem, but no excuse: "Even if you're going against a good defense like that, our standards as an offense don't change. I think we all have higher standards."

— Ryan Wood (@ByRyanWood) September 6, 2019

Though, I’m not sure everyone would agree with the assessment of the crowd:

On @670TheScore, Eddie Jackson expressed his disappointment to hear boos inside Soldier Field: "The booing is unacceptable."

— Chris Emma (@CEmma670) September 6, 2019

This team has high expectations for itself and the fans have them, too. So I understand why some would boo.

Eddie Jackson called the booing at Soldier Field “unacceptable” and it leaves me with mixed emotions. On one hand, you can boo if you want. “Your dime, your time” as a famous former Chicago sports broadcaster once said. I feel as if fans have the right to voice their displeasure with what is happening on the field. The voice of the fan who wants their team to do better should never be silenced. And so long as the voiced disapproval doesn’t contain malicious language or cross the line, there isn’t anything wrong with showing your disappointment vocally. On the other hand, I can see why Jackson is upset because no player wants to hear their fans boo them on their home field.

The simple solution is to play better and win games. Play well and the boos will go away.

A lot of people watched a bad offense:

Last night’s Bears-Packers game averaged 22.7 million viewers, up 16% from last year per NBC Sports.

— Kevin Fishbain (@kfishbain) September 6, 2019

This was a bizarre distribution of playing time among the skill position players, and it leaves me with more questions than answers for the time being:

Bears skill player playing time percentages on offense:

Allen Robinson: 96%
Taylor Gabriel: 92%
Tarik Cohen: 70%
Mike Davis: 56%
Adam Shaheen: 47%
David Montgomery: 36%
Javon Wims: 29%
Cordarrelle Patterson: 27%
Anthony Miller: 22%
Ben Braunecker: 14%
Bradley Sowell: 10%

— Chris Emma (@CEmma670) September 6, 2019

David Montgomery should’ve received more offensive snaps, and therefore, more carries:

The @PFF_College record-holder for most missed tackles forced in a season.

Shocker.

pic.twitter.com/MFy3SxNtXC

— Cam Mellor (@PFF_Cam) September 6, 2019

The Adrian Amos revenge game was as cold-blooded as it gets:

https://twitter.com/NFL/status/1169812659253825536

Adrian Amos on his late INT coming against his former team: “I won’t lie to you. It feel good.” pic.twitter.com/JIVf52QIsv

— Matt Schneidman (@mattschneidman) September 6, 2019

#Packers safety Adrian Amos just exited the visiting locker room at Soldier Field, game ball tucked under his arm, huge smile. Yeah, he’ll remember this homecoming.

— Ryan Wood (@ByRyanWood) September 6, 2019

 

Every dark tunnel has a light of hope:

The one Mitch play I was happy about: He hit that intermediate crossing route throw to Gabriel! The one he always misses!

It was incomplete because Gabriel is tiny, and he had a dozen horrendous plays today. But he hit that one!

— Robert Mays (@robertmays) September 6, 2019

If you’re in the market for a Gazebo, they are among the Deals of the Day at Amazon today.

Let’s laugh for a moment:

This is by far the funniest coach in college football history.

Ladies and gentlemen, Montana Tech's Bob Green. pic.twitter.com/K52YWfhBUQ

— Nick Petraccione (@NickPetraccione) September 7, 2019

Bigger than football:

#DaBears TE Bradley Sowell joined #BearsHuddlefor100 at Humboldt Park today. pic.twitter.com/DXfxfdnoDu

— Chicago Bears (@BearsOutreach) September 7, 2019

Antonio Brown is now an ex-Raider:

https://twitter.com/BN_Bears/status/1170357885534187520?s=20

The wildest thing about this situation is that Brown didn’t even draw a paycheck from the Raiders:

Antonio Brown’s $1M signing bonus was actually two $500,000 workout bonuses that required he attend at least 85% of the offseason program. He didn’t, so he’s already lost $500k. If he’s released prior to Week 1, he’ll leave Oakland with $0 cash earned, & $0 dead cap.

— Spotrac (@spotrac) September 7, 2019

So I’ve gotta ask: Are you in or are you out on Antonio Brown? Voice your opinion in a poll:

Do you want Antonio Brown on the Bears?

— Bleacher Nation Bears (@BN_Bears) September 7, 2019

The Steelers’ new WR1 seems to be in a far better space than his predecessor:

Please help me and my teammates give back to Coach and his family for the lasting impact he made on all of our lives. Thank you! pic.twitter.com/FvsOUqxYXs

— JuJu Smith-Schuster (@TeamJuJu) September 7, 2019