Broken Belichick, Immaculate Vibes, That’s So Ravens Playbook, and Other Bears Bullets

Oct 25, 2022

I’m riding high after Monday Night Football fun. And I hope you are, too.

GOT ‘EM:

pic.twitter.com/j3CryJy4by
— Freezing Cold Takes (@OldTakesExposed) October 25, 2022

Plenty of good reading to be had out there today. The Athletic (Kevin Fishbain), Sun-Times (Patrick Finley), NBC Sports Chicago (Josh Schrock), and Tribune (Colleen Kane) are among the places that came through with my favorite morning reads. And I’d recommend you let it all soak in, because wins like this don’t come around often. But I’m holding out hope that this is the first of many wins of this kind we’ll see in the weeks, months, and years to come.

THAT was a big one. The Bears beating the Patriots 33-14 … on the road … in New England … under the bright lights of Monday Night Football … against a Bill Belichick led team that was aiming to move the coach ahead of Papa Bear Halas on the all-time wins chart. It just doesn’t get much bigger than that for these Bears. And while I’m not ready to put too much stock into one win, I can see this being a building block to something better. The type of win that serves as a turning-point moment for players, coaches, front office staffers, and even fans. A team win from top to bottom. This is what Bears football is supposed to be about.

How good were things last night? Cam Ellis (670 The Score) gave the Bears offense an A+ grade. 12/10. No notes.

Using a skill position player as a decoy? I didn’t even know this was possible:

Rookie WR Velus Jones Jr. only played 13 snaps and didn't touch the ball last night, but he was an important part of the designed running package for Justin Fields. Luke Getsy used Jones as a decoy on multiple jets to open up holes for Fields to run through. #Bears— Adam Hoge (@AdamHoge) October 25, 2022

In recent weeks, we’ve seen (1) Justin Fields take advantage of a free play on a hard count and turn it into a touchdown, (2) the Bears use hurry up action to prevent an opposing coach from reviewing a close call, and (3) an offensive play-caller use a skill position player as a decoy to open things up elsewhere. Who are these Bears? Where did they come from? Is this how the other side has been living all these years?

Let Khalil Herbert cook:

Most runs of 10+ yards this season

1. Nick Chubb – 24
.
.
.
.
2. Josh Jacobs – 19
3. Saquon Barkley – 17
4. Breece Hall – 15
5t. Khalil Herbert – 14
5t. Derrick Henry – 14
— Nathan Jahnke (@PFF_NateJahnke) October 25, 2022

I had been worrying about how the Bears running back splits would go after the mini-bye. Head Coach Matt Eberflus said he’d like to ride the hot hand. However, David Montgomery had been out-snapping Herbert by a notable margin in the first six games. All while Herbert was putting up better numbers. On MNF, we saw a 15-12 split with Montgomery getting the slight advantage. Even still … that is as close as we’ve gotten to a fair share in quite some time.

One of the reasons I was excited about Luke Getsy’s offense was that I felt as if he could pull from what the Packers did last year in sharing carries between AJ Dillon and Aaron Jones. Perhaps this was a first step toward mimicking that action.

The best offenses take from other units. And the Pats took notice of the Bears digging into the Ravens’ bag of tricks in using designed runs to get Fields going:

DB Devin McCourty on Fields:
“He just made a lot of plays… Throwing, dropping back, scrambling, more designed runs than we saw on film. I think with the extended time they added some plays that I think we saw in the Baltimore game with Lamar Jackson.”— Michele Steele (@MicheleSteele) October 25, 2022

Hey, that sounds familiar!

The Bears Should Seek Inspiration from the Ravens in Order to Properly use Justin Fieldshttps://t.co/EA1UOSLHbN pic.twitter.com/wS0zqvQqMX
— Bleacher Nation Bears (@BN_Bears) October 7, 2022

And the numbers bear it out:

Against the Vikings in Week 5, the Bears sent Justin Fields on 1 designed rush. (The rest were classified as scrambles, per @ESPNStatsInfo.)

Last night vs. Patriots: 12 designed rushes (for 55 yards).

🤨— Kevin Seifert (@SeifertESPN) October 25, 2022

PFF’s Ian Hartitz has Fields as one of seven QBs on pace to have 100+ rush attempts this season. Through seven games, Fields is on pace for 165 rushes, 884 yards, and 5 touchdowns. But if you were to extrapolate the numbers from his last four games over a 17-game season, it comes out to 174 rushes, 1,143 yards, and 4 touchdowns. In other words, not only are we seeing an increase in work load, but also more effective and impactful runs. You just love to see it.

Hey, now! How about that defense?

#Bears are currently tied for 5th in takeaways with 12. Just two off the league lead.

Worth noting, they are just +1 in turnover differential though.
— Aaron Leming (@AaronLemingNFL) October 25, 2022

The Bears’ second-half touchdowns allowed in recent weeks have been back-breakers. But they didn’t allow one on Monday Night Football. This defense — with a young secondary and without the mountain movers up front — is ballin’.

I can’t write about a team win without noting the contributions of Cairo Santos. The Bears’ kicker was 4-for-4 on MNF and 3-for-3 on PATs. Since re-joining the Bears in 2020, Santos has made 91.8% of his field goals (67-for-73) and 94.7% of extra points. Stud.

Let’s give last night’s win some additional perspective:

Bears notched their…
– First win over the Patriots since 2000 (had lost 5 in a row)
– First win as a 7.5+ point road underdog since 2015 (had lost 13 in a row)
– First win as a primetime underdog since 2020 (had lost 9 in a row)
– First win since Sept. 25 (had lost 3 in a row)— Kevin Fishbain (@kfishbain) October 25, 2022

The Chicago Bears defeated the New England Patriots by 19 points.

It's the first time the Bears have defeated an opponent by at least two scores coming off 10+ days of rest since 2012 when they defeated the Rams 23-6 after they fell to the Packers on TNF.— Brendan Sugrue (@BrendanSugrue) October 25, 2022

On top of all the historical stuff the Bears accomplished in triumph, they also broke Bill Belichick:

“We were out coached and outplayed…in all three phases.”
Bill Belichick on Patriots loss to the Bears. This is the twilight zone. pic.twitter.com/MQKUCunH4e— Bret Buganski (@Bret_Buganski) October 25, 2022

Belichick AM press conference:

Reporter: If Mac Jones is healthy, is he the starter?

Belichick: "Uhhh, again, that's a hypothetical question. Let's see where that is and what that is."— Andrew Siciliano (@AndrewSiciliano) October 25, 2022

Belichick was out there sounding like what I imagine Emperor Palpatine had he been contractually obligated to address the media on Coruscant after Death Star I was blown up by Luke Skywalker.

I couldn’t sleep last night, so I was taking in all the post-game shenangans during the wee-hours of the morning. And I definitely came away feeling like Belichick was shell-shocked by the loss. He probably had this one chalked up in the win column after the Bears were taken down by the Commanders in Week 6. Instead, he was out-coached by Matt Eberflus and his team was out-played by a Bears much-maligned roster of imperfect parts that was intended to serve as a bridge from the past to the future.

Also? Justin Fields would have an orange lightsaber.

Out-played, out-coached, out-quarterbacked:

One team got good quarterback play. The other did not. pic.twitter.com/mcCYht6UoW
— Chad Graff (@ChadGraff) October 25, 2022

Things you don’t see every day: Patriots players puzzled by Belichick’s decision-making. And a disconnect between coaches and players? Seriously. When was the last time?

“At 11:48 p.m., one of the few offensive players remaining in the room went up to Jones and apologized for how the game played out, saying he didn’t know the quarterback was going to get pulled out of the game.” https://t.co/4vnS4YltcO— Khari Thompson (@kdthompson5) October 25, 2022

Jakobi Meyers sounded like he was bothered by Mac getting pulled: “It’s tough to see somebody who works so hard get that kind of treatment.”

I followed up later, he clarified: “Not even the coaches, just everybody. The crowd, all of it. It was an ugly situation, in my opinion.”— Andrew Callahan (@_AndrewCallahan) October 25, 2022

On the other side of the coin, the vibes were immaculate:

Best friend check 🕺 pic.twitter.com/244Uzlkw1q
— Chicago Bears (@ChicagoBears) October 24, 2022

How did y’all like the ManningCast?

Peyton still gets excited seeing Cover 0 on the Bears TD 😂

"They have the perfect play call!" pic.twitter.com/oaxw1Jpxct
— NFL on ESPN (@ESPNNFL) October 25, 2022

I was right there with ya, Peyton:

“I think if you have a chance to score 40 in Foxboro, you score 40 in Foxboro.”

I like that spirit, Peyton! Great win all the same. Manningcast is elite and the Bears held tough for Papa Bear.

Good night folks! Bear TF Down!@WCGridiron @EliManning 👏 pic.twitter.com/VzoMudaDkk— Jack M Silverstein (@readjack) October 25, 2022

C’mon man. This ain’t right:

Proof that NFL officials only call Roughing the Passer when they want to:
pic.twitter.com/L6bk3seMJP
— Michael Balko (@MichaelBalkoJr) October 25, 2022

We can cross this bridge when we get to it later:

Here are the projected Top 10 picks for the 2023 NFL draft, based on ESPN's Football Power Index:

1. Lions
2. Steelers
3. Texans
4. Seahawks (DEN)
5. Panthers
6. Eagles (NO)
7. Colts
8. Texans (CLE)
9. Bears
10. Jaguars

Full list coming later today.— Matt Miller (@nfldraftscout) October 25, 2022

Heads up! The NFL Trade Deadline is ONE WEEK FROM TODAY. My apologies for the all caps treatment in the sentence preceding this one, but it felt necessary. The surprising Jets swung a deal with the Jaguars for running back James Robinson. Jacksonville is getting a conditional sixth-round pick that could beocme a fifth-rounder depending on how things shake out with Robinson in New York. Robinson is a restricted free agent after this season. With that in mind, the compensation is worth tucking away just in case the Bears decide on shopping David Montgomery. And while I understand that is tough to think about after a statement win on MNF, it is something we should be cognizant of with the deadline to cut a deal coming at this time next week.

The upcoming forecast looks like it’ll call for a bunch of soup. And I think this Italian Wedding Soup with Italian Sausage from my friend Jim might be exactly what I need.

While the Bears were laying the smackdown on the Pats, Boston’s basketball team was getting beaten by the Bulls:

Did You See the Bulls’ Big Comeback win Over Boston Last Night?https://t.co/duZy9uVEGa pic.twitter.com/7skZ9L4bPF
— Bleacher Nation Bulls (@BN_Bulls) October 25, 2022

Hmmm … a Rizzo reunion could be awfully tempting:

If it's not going to be Willson Contreras, what exactly is the Cubs' plan at catcher: https://t.co/UGv9ECNenb pic.twitter.com/Gv8DoOZ606— Bleacher Nation (@BleacherNation) October 25, 2022

Power tools and yard tools are among the Deals of the Day at Amazon. #ad

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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