Coordinator Collaboration, RB MVP (Taylor’s Version), Horseshoe Special, Meyer is Sorry, and Other Bears Bullets

Fantasy football playoffs are well underway, so make sure your lineups are set ahead of Sunday’s action. I’d hate to find out you forgot to set your lineups at the worst possible moment.

•   One of the hardest things to do in football is running it when everyone on the field, in the building, and watching at home knows you’re about to run it. And yet, Jonathan Taylor made it look so easy:

•   Here’s Taylor’s MVP moment, but in cool graphic form:

•   Taylor had 29 carries and 170 rushing yards, with the 67-yard scamper shown above being the back-breaker. The Wisconsin product is having an MVP caliber season. And while the award will almost certainly go to a quarterback, that we’re even discussing Taylor as a worthwhile candidate speaks volumes of the seasons he is having. Moreover, it says a lot about what Frank Reich has done in transforming that team. Reich should get some NFL Coach of the Year votes at year’s end for this bang-up job.

•   Speaking of coaches, I wonder if we should be adding Matt Eberflus to our Bears coaching candidate watch list. More on that later today. Just know that putting Mac Jones and that offense in a Snuggie® and out-scheming Lord Sidious Bill Belichick in a prime-time game was most impressive.

•   As for current Bears coaches, there is finally clarity regarding who will serve in coordinator roles if Bill Lazor, Sean Desai, and Chris Tabor are unable to coach on Monday Night Football because they can’t clear COVID protocols:

⇒   The team announced John DeFilippo will take Lazor’s place as offensive coordinator. And as far as I’m concerned, I hope DeFilippo gets lead play-caller duties. Remember when the Bears had DeFilippo in for a head-coaching interview in 2018? I know I do! Or when Gardner Minshew II posted a 91.2 passer rating, a 3-1 TD-INT ratio, and more than 3,200 passing yards as a rookie with the Jaguars in 2019? DeFilippo was calling the shots back then.

⇒   Mike Pettine takes over as the defensive coordinator. Pettine, who came on this season as a Senior Defensive Assistant after three years running the Packers defense, has extensive experience as a defensive play-caller. He also has head-coaching experience. That feels noteworthy, just in case Matt Nagy is unavailable for any reason down the stretch.

⇒   Brian Ginn is set to run the special teams unit. I suppose Ginn, who has prior experience coaching receivers, running backs, quarterbacks, and tight ends while at Delaware makes him uniquely qualified to handle players from all sorts of position groups if push comes to shove.

•   Wouldn’t it be something if this came to fruition?

•   If it wasn’t for Taylor’s magical run, we’d likely be spending a chunk of time discussing this:

•   Which was inspired by this:

•   And ultimately led to this:

•   Horseshoe Special? Yeah, I like the sound of that one…

•   Oh, so *THIS* is what blitz pick-up looks like?

 

•   No, I don’t have the energy to fight anyone on Bears captaincy rules. But if being a captain is a merit thing, who’s more worthy than Robert Quinn? He’ll get the “C” on his chest for MNF:

•   It just befuddles me to see folks up-in-arms over this. All this does is remind me of how winning cures all, because no one was caring about rotating captains in 2018. Play a good brand of football, no one says a word. Don’t? Then everything a team does will be critiqued as if it was the singular reason things aren’t going well.

•   Remember when the Bears were after Bashaud Breeland last offseason? Well, the Vikings – who signed Breeland to a one-year deal in free agency – put the starting corner on waivers after an incident at practice:

•   Considering the Bears’ need for healthy bodies at cornerback, I’d genuinely think about bringing Breeland into the mix. What’s the worst thing that could happen? Breeland getting into altercations with coaches on the hot seat? Well, actually, because I’m old enough to remember the Jay Ratliff situation in Chicago, maybe bringing in a hot-head into this environment isn’t the best idea. Moreover, I’d like to see some younger players get shots. Throw Kindle Vildor in the slot. Let rookie Thomas Graham Jr. elevate from the practice squad and get some trial-by-fire action. Is Dee Virgin a real cornerback or a computer-generated name spit out by an algorithm to generate clicks on transaction posts? These are real questions I’d like answers to on Monday.

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•   I eye-rolled mega-hard when I saw this:

•   Urban Meyer said he was sorry, apologizing for his failures and actions in Jacksonville. Sorry is one word I’d use to describe Meyer. Although, my usage of the word and his would be quite different. Frankly, Meyer has done enough to ruffle feathers throughout the football ranks to where he shouldn’t get the benefit of the doubt when it comes to an image rehabilitation tour. If Meyer truly is sorry and wants to make amends, he needs a grassroots campaign. And it needs to be sincere. Otherwise, he is just another power-hungry coach who is apologetic only when he gets caught up and things go south.

•   OPE:

•   On the changing landscape of college football:

•   What are we gonna do without college football on Saturdays this winter?

•   A walking bucket returns to the Bulls’ lineup today:

 

•   ‘Tis the damn season:

written by

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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