Burrow at His Best, Lawrence Has a Flaw Revealed, Encouraging Lazor Nuggets, and Other Bears Bullets

Yours truly had quite the closing day at the ticket window thanks to the way events unfolded during last night’s college football national championship game. But because I was in the air while the game played out, and I didn’t get to see which tickets were winners until after I settled in at home, and I wasn’t able to cash out my winnings. I guess I’ll have to go back to Las Vegas to claim my prizes. Ain’t that a shame?

The most obvious takeaway from Monday’s game is that Joe Burrow can freaking spin it. Burrow completed 31 of 49 passes for 463 yards, and five touchdowns. If you were to punch those numbers into an NFL passer rating calculator, it would come out to a 128.2 rating. That’s not just good, that’s high-end elite stuff.

Here is how Burrow’s year wrapped up:

Joe Burrow records set tonight:
– Most Pass TD in a season in FBS history
– Most TD responsible for in a season in FBS history
– Most TD responsible for in a BCS/CFP title game
– Most pass yards in a BCS/CFP title gamepic.twitter.com/SQVg73MS3R

— SEC Network (@SECNetwork) January 14, 2020

Burrow got it done against the best of the best:

Joe Burrow vs AP top-5 teams this season:
– 4-0 record
– 424.5 Pass YPG
– 19 TD, 0 Int
– 72.1% comp pct
– 10.3 yds per att
– 97.6 Total QBR pic.twitter.com/h2knRNsqQ4

— ESPN Stats & Info (@ESPNStatsInfo) January 14, 2020

Check out these throws:

https://twitter.com/SidelineReport_/status/1216903053372207106?s=20

Clemson just got Moss'd.

Joe Burrow delivers his 3rd TD pass of the night, this one to Thaddeus Moss.

(via @ESPN)pic.twitter.com/Ws63zVqslx

— CBS Sports HQ (@CBSSportsHQ) January 14, 2020

Thaddeus Moss, son of Randy, scores his second TD of the night.

This one helps Joe Burrow break the NCAA pass TD record.

(via @ESPN)pic.twitter.com/LqQhro6Azs

— CBS Sports HQ (@CBSSportsHQ) January 14, 2020

Another look at Joe Burrow's fifth TD. Great play by Terrace Marshall to go up and get this one. pic.twitter.com/C74TWYyUn4

— Ben Baby (@Ben_Baby) January 14, 2020

Heck, even the plays that don’t count look awesome:

https://twitter.com/espn/status/1216895499158138880?s=20

Burrow throws darts in traffic, shows great touch and loft on deep passes, tosses dimes left, right, and center, and has the mobility to extend plays. He is the sure-fire top quarterback prospect in this draft class. And unless he orchestrates something like Eli Manning did to avoid going to the Chargers in 2004, the Cincinnati Bengals are going to get a good one.

The road Burrow took to get here is pretty remarkable:

The story of Joe Burrow going from backup QB to undefeated national champion is remarkable.@LSUfootball | @Joe_Burrow10 pic.twitter.com/DUVcOYlsY5

— CBS Sports (@CBSSports) January 14, 2020

And LSU ism’t going away, folks. This title-winning team was loaded. For example, true sophomore Ja’Marr Chase could be the first receiver off the board in the 2021 NFL Draft when he is eligible to go pro:

https://twitter.com/SECNetwork/status/1216905575445028865?s=20

And on the other side of the ball, freshman Derek Stingley Jr. isn’t draft-eligible until 2022:

Derek Stingley Jr. in coverage vs. Clemson

6 targets
1 reception
12 yards
0 TD pic.twitter.com/K30Mkqi3Pd

— PFF College (@PFF_College) January 14, 2020

Clemson’s Trevor Lawrence will enter the 2020 college football season as a Heisman Trophy favorite and a projected top overall pick in the 2021 NFL Draft. However, last night wasn’t a shining moment in his college career. Lawrence completed just 18 of 37 passes for 234 yards, and was held without a passing touchdown. Punch those numbers into the passer rating calculator, and it comes out to a less-than-desirable 68.9 passer rating. Ick.

And there was this:

Lawrence does this thing at times where he lifts off his feet a bit after stepping up in the pocket before firing one downfield. Throws have tendency to sail. Will need to clean that up pre-2021 Draft.

— Brad Crawford (@BCrawford247) January 14, 2020

So 13 of 19 incompletions were overthrows. That’s a troubling stat. But at least Lawrence knows he has something to work on in order to take his game to another level next year (and beyond).

Here’s hoping college football bands never go away:

This is why the Sounds Of The Game feed exists pic.twitter.com/AkhA88PZ0M

— Timothy Burke (@bubbaprog) January 14, 2020

I’m not sure if this is more about exposing a cold take or highlighting how word salad can often replace analysis, even though the two aren’t the same thing:

Who you got?@ColinCowherd lists 5 reasons why he likes Clemson over LSU to win tonight's National Championship game: pic.twitter.com/FOmtwLfjcF

— Herd w/Colin Cowherd (@TheHerd) January 13, 2020

Ridiculously early odds for next year’s championship:

Odds to win 2021 CFB

Clem +225
OSU +300
Bama +600
UGA +800
LSU +800
UF +1400
Okla +3000
Oregon +3000
ND +3000
PSU +3000
A&M +3000
Aub +3000
Texas +4000
Michigan +4000
Wisconsin +6000
Utah +10000
Minn +10000
Ia State +10000
Wash +10000
USC +10000
Tenn +10000

— Jeff Davis (@The_Junkyard___) January 14, 2020

For what it’s worth, I like Florida at 14/1.

If you need to buy your matcha in bulk, it’s one of the Deals of the Day at Amazon today. #ad

Buried between an epic weekend  of NFL Divisional Round games and college football’s championship title match was some noteworthy Bears news. They have reportedly hired Bill Lazor to be the team’s new offensive coordinator.

Here are some encouraging tweets regarding the reported new hire:

He actually wasn't bad. When the Bengals were healthy, we had no issue with the offense putting up points. They averaged 31 points and went 4-1 to start last year (threw for 330+ yards in each game).

Very spread-offense feel with heavy RPOs. https://t.co/57YLTgQ03S

— Jeaux GoodBurrow (@JoeGoodberry) January 13, 2020

Bears fans may enjoy this https://t.co/9XFRObXiHY

— Jeaux GoodBurrow (@JoeGoodberry) January 13, 2020

This is an interesting nugget:

As @RapSheet reported, Bears hiring Bill Lazor as new offensive coordinator. Matt Nagy had interest in Lazor as OC back in 2018 but Lazor stayed in Cincy. Lazor — out of the league in 2019 — also attended a couple Bears’ OTA workouts this past spring as a guest.

— Jeff Dickerson (@DickersonESPN) January 13, 2020

Once that becomes officially official, we’ll dive into what the hire means. But let’s let the ink dry on it before we go too deep. After all, we are 21 years and one day removed from the Dave McGinnis incident, in which McGinnis was announced as the Bears’ head coach before actually agreeing to terms. Instead of McGinnis being hired, he returned to Arizona, leading to Dick Jauron’s eventual hiring. It was a mess.

Let’s throw it back to 1999:

A random nugget about how awesome Wade Phillips’ defenses have been over the years for no particular reason other than I love Wade Phillips more than I probably should:

Thanks PFF pic.twitter.com/DNT9fKCBpI

— Wade Phillips (@sonofbum) January 13, 2020