NEWSLETTER
Good morning to everyone … but especially fans of a 5-1 Bears team that is maddeningly good and sitting atop the NFC North standings after the Packers got gizzlewhomped by the Buccaneers.
• Nick Foles was absolutely jacked up while talking about the win in his post-game press conference. One reason he was particularly juiced up is because the locker room played his jam:
. @NickFoles really gave @MeekMill a postgame shoutout. #ThatsMyQB pic.twitter.com/WIEVsQUBLm
— Bleacher Nation Bears (@BN_Bears) October 18, 2020
• Because it’s 2020, Foles shouting out Meek Mill after a Bears win makes sense. As for the rest of Foles’ press conference, you’re going to want to give it a full watch — especially if you’re looking for something to build the hope within you:
• Would you rather lose pretty or win ugly? I think that we’d rather win ugly. (That makes two of us, Nick!)
• Here’s a small request: Let’s listen to Dreams and Nightmares at halftime next week, eh? I realize the Bears scored their first third-quarter points of the year on Sunday, but watching them get to that point was as taxing as a taffy pull. And to watch their double-dip attempt of scoring on the last possession of the second quarter and first possession of the third result in just three points had me wondering why I watch football in the first place. Get it together, gang!
• For the record, the Bears’ offense wasn’t all bad on Sunday. For example, they went 7-for-14 on 3rd down conversions. And a 50 percent conversion rate is nothing to sneeze at. Here’s hoping that’s the first sign of progress.
• Chicago’s offense has plenty of issues, and we’ll get to them in due time. But for a moment, let’s nerd out over this defense:
Going through the CHI defensive tape…
Lot of Cover 6 (QTR-QTR-Half) + Cover 1/3 Robber — take away (or cut) the crossers/overs vs. Bridgewater.
Generated pressure up front (stunts) + created turnovers in critical game situations. @NFLMatchup pic.twitter.com/ipU7DbqBKk
— Matt Bowen (@MattBowen41) October 19, 2020
• This stat line is so pretty that I’d like to take it out for a socially distanced dinner for two: 4 sacks, 8.5 tackles for loss, 5 pass breakups, 6 quarterback hits, 3 turnovers. And as an added bonus, the Bears limits the Panthers to just 3 of 13 on third downs. That’ll play.
• Hang it in the Louvre:
https://www.instagram.com/p/CGfpuJusC3W/?utm_source=ig_web_copy_link
• The Bears are now 3-0 against the NFC South, which shouldn’t be taken for granted. Because, by virtue of their wins against the Buccaneers and Panthers the last two weeks, Chicago now has playoff tie-breakers against both of those teams. And to think, they could collect more tie-breakers in the coming weeks with matchups against the Rams, Saints, and Vikings coming up in three of the next four weeks. Sure, we have a while before we have to cross that bridge, stacking wins and collecting tie-breakers now will certainly help the cause later.
• The sooner the Bears learn to move the ball with consistency, the better. Let’s face it. The special teams is doing its job, especially the kicker:
Santos hit that one from Chapel Hill!pic.twitter.com/s1V23mfFD5
— Bleacher Nation Bears (@BN_Bears) October 18, 2020
• Santos’ field goal percentage is up to 83.3 percent, and has made 7 of 8 over his last four games. Kickers can be streaky. And I know better than to put too much stock in a small sample. But if this keeps up, it’s going to take a whale of an argument to take this job away from him. To this point, I’m not sure the argument exists.
• Another idea to increase scoring is to take more trips to the red zone and throw more to Cole Kmet. That plan seemed to work early:
https://www.instagram.com/p/CGfj5KgAOqI/
• Even though he played just 23 snaps, his percentage of offensive plays (35%) was a career high. More, please.
• For your listening pleasure:
https://twitter.com/TheAthleticCHI/status/1318180096491094017
https://twitter.com/NBCSBears/status/1318001645293359106
• I’ll dive into Matt Nagy’s clock management issues in a larger post. But in the meantime, take a moment to enjoy Mike Vrabel’s clock manipulation skills in Tennessee:
Mike Vrabel is outstanding
1. he rushes in 46 late (12th man on D)
2. 33 is WTF
3. penalty for 12men
4. Vrabel fakes upset & brings 46 offWHY?
-penalty stops clock
-time > yds
-knows HOU will scoreResult:
– w :04 left, TEN scores tying TD
– move saved 40 seconds & won game pic.twitter.com/wikWKtGuJD— Warren Sharp (@SharpFootball) October 19, 2020
Vrabel drew the SAME intentional 12th man penalty in the SAME situation in 2018:
running clock
still had 3 timeouts
opponent had 2nd & shortthe Titans:
-stopped the clock
-gave up the first down
-forced a punt
-drove the length of the field
-scored a touchdown
-won the game pic.twitter.com/deUohbbhot— Warren Sharp (@SharpFootball) October 19, 2020
• I enjoyed the heck out of watching the Packers lose on Sunday. But because the Vikings game was up against the Bears in the noon slot, I didn’t get an opportunity to throughly enjoy them getting dragged by the Falcons. Thankfully, highlights exist on the internet:
https://twitter.com/AtlantaFalcons/status/1317990094234476544
• The Lions won yesterday. Good for them. Moving to 2-3 puts them one step further from selecting Clemson quarterback Trevor Lawrence in the 2021 NFL Draft.
