The Bye Week Fixed Nothing and Other Bears Bullets

Oct 21, 2019

Snagging Molly’s Cupcakes on my walk from Soldier Field to the Red Line was the only victory taken home on Sunday. Because if your favorite football team can’t satisfy your hunger for a win, at least chocolate cupcakes can satisfy my sweet tooth.

There are so many concerns about the Bears, but to start anywhere but the top would be disingenuous: Matt Nagy’s teams have been bad when given an extended period to prepare. Nagy’s Bears are 0-2 coming off the bye, with losses coming against teams they were favored to beat. Much like Sunday’s loss to the Saints, last year’s disheartening loss against the Dolphins came after a bye. But at least last year’s team showed it can move the ball on offense and score touchdowns before garbage time kicked off. The Bears also lost when given 10 days to prepare for the Giants. And if you want to count back-to-back season-opening losses to the Packers, the Nagy-led Bears are 0-5 in games in which his team has 10+ days of preparation. That is a bad sign.

Last year, scripted plays at the outset helped the Bears put early points on the board and allowed them to establish themselves as the team on the attack from the get-go. A year later, teams have flipped the script on the Bears offense:

The Bears on the opening drive this season:
Week 1: 6 plays, 12 yards, punt
Week 2: 3 plays, 1 yard, punt
Week 3: 9 plays, 25 yards, punt
Week 4: 14 plays, 75 yards, TD (Daniel to Cohen)
Week 5: 7 plays, 31 yards, punt
Week 6: 3 plays, 7 yards, punt
— Kevin Fishbain (@kfishbain) October 21, 2019

The Bears had *TWO WEEKS* to game-plan for the Saints and that is what they came up with? Three plays that gained seven yards. That is inexcusable.

And to think, the return of Mitch Trubisky was supposed to help the offense get on track. Instead, Trubisky’s return from injury was a disappointment from the get-go. There were no signs of improvement – in fact, Trubisky looked worse on Sunday than he did when he faced the Saints as a rookie in 2017. That shouldn’t have even been a sentence I typed out. In a league begging for you to pass the ball to the point it has configured the rules for you to do so successfully, the Bears’ quarterback averaged 4.6 yards per pass attempt.

And to think, things only got worse from there, as a blocked punt with a rush that came from right up the gut threw salt in the wound and gave the Saints an early 2-0 lead. At least someone took advantage of prep week to draw up a successful scheme. Heck, rushing up the middle led to a tipped punt later in the game. Most teams don’t allow two blocked punts in a year. It happened against the Bears in one game.

The offense is bad, folks:

Bears are the only @NFL team yet to gain 300 yards of offense in a single game this season.

— Andrew Siciliano (@AndrewSiciliano) October 21, 2019

And while I agree that the Bears should run the ball more, Rex Ryan’s reasoning as to why they should do so is pure lunacy:

Rex Ryan on why the Bears need to run more: "Chicago is supposed to be a tough town. Your team needs to represent that. That means you need to pound the rock."
I'm unclear on why the reputation of a city is supposed to be represented in its football team's offensive strategy.
— Michael David Smith (@MichaelDavSmith) October 21, 2019

Meanwhile, my worst fears continue to come true as the Bears continue to waste Allen Robinson’s excellence:

.@AllenRobinson is worth the price of admission. I love his heart and passion for the game. #Bears #NOvsCHI pic.twitter.com/qKYWEtSiYZ

— Jarrett Payton (@paytonsun) October 20, 2019

And for the record, it wasn’t all bad on Sunday:

This was the greatest camera angle in the history of the NFL. pic.twitter.com/Vi9Xwf78lW

— Dan Hanzus (@DanHanzus) October 20, 2019

Is the cable cam Vince McMahon’s greatest contribution? I’m sure there is a great case to be made for the WWF Attitude Era, but McMahon’s innovations with camera work were so good in the XFL that they are still in use today by the NFL and college football. Salute, Mr. McMahon. Thanks for bringing a beacon of sunshine on what was otherwise a mucked up day.

Remember when the Bears’ biggest concern was finding someone who could kick the ball between the uprights instead of employing someone who nailed them? Fun times.

Question everything.
Except the kicker.
How times have changed.#Bears

— Silvy (@WaddleandSilvy) October 20, 2019

OH NO:

Cody Parkey DOINK pic.twitter.com/92DNh1eb1b

— Melissa Jacobs (@thefootballgirl) October 20, 2019

Sunday went sideways for one Bears-backer:

One bettor lost a total of $540,000 in ML bets on the Chicago Bears today at @CGTechnology_, as the New Orleans Saints win 36-25.

He would've won $227K.

— Ben Fawkes (@BFawkesESPN) October 21, 2019

No, I was not the bettor who placed this wager. But if you are and you happen to be reading this, I send out my sincerest condolences. To watch your team let you down and negatively impact your bottom line has to be frustrating as heck. And I suppose this is the last thing you want to read today, but it’s worth sharing that had you wagered against your interests, a Saints money line win at +155 (which is what it closed at in some places) would have netted a payout of $1.377 million. But instead of that, you’re probably mad about the Bears losing that game and being out more than $500,000. That’s not a good way to start your Monday.

At some point, it would be nice to hear from the Bears’ best player after a loss:

Again no word from Khalil Mack in post-game. Bolted after all three losses this season.

— Jason Lieser (@JasonLieser) October 21, 2019

I guess things could be worse:

Offensive snaps while trailing by 25+ points:

Dolphins – 70
Rest of NFL – 179

— Mike Clay (@MikeClayNFL) October 21, 2019

Finally, something worth celebrating today:

https://twitter.com/NFLFilms/status/1186304499285143554

Halloween candy and Halloween movies are among the Deals of the Day at Amazon today.

An advanced look at next week’s game:

My preview of next week's Chargers vs. Bears game. pic.twitter.com/K6PsZ8baTR

— Adam Rank (@adamrank) October 20, 2019

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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