Each week I spend a considerable amount of time assembling a game preview. Last week, other than my top ten for The Office, that time was wasted because nothing that happened Sunday in Miami made much sense.
I simply didn’t see any of it coming. And you won’t see this coming! Rapid fire!
- Heat was the story of the game, on both sides. There were 7 points scored in the first half of this game and 49 scored in the second half. That wasn’t just adjustments. That was two defenses running on fumes.
- Frank Gore averaged 6.7 yards per carry against what was the league’s best rush defense. With that Miami OL the question is…how?
- Allowing an Adam Gase offense to gain huge chunks of yards and even score touchdowns on bubble screens is the equivalent of sending a cocaine addict to a rehab facility in the Pacific department of Nariño, Colombia. Stopping bubble screens is all about pursuit and tackling. Bears did neither.
Via @ESPNStatsInfo, #Dolphins receivers produced 274 yards after the catch today. Monster number. And that’s also a reflection of the #Bears poor tackling/open field angles on defense.
— Matt Bowen (@MattBowen41) October 14, 2018
- Howard fumble. Cohen fumble. Trubisky pick in the end zone. Any of those three plays don’t happen and the Bears win this game. Simple as that.
- Trubisky’s stats on the season UPDATED: 70.2% completion. 1,261 yards. 11 TDs. 4 INTS. 105.6 rating. Those project out to the bet season by a Bears quarterback in franchise history.
- Trubisky still throws 2-3 passes a game he can’t throw. He’s doing what many young QBs in the league do: trying to create something out of nothing when the prudent play is to either tuck the ball and get what you can on the ground or launch the football into the seventh row.
- But I love that he’s sliding. Trubisky is doing something few young QBs do at this level: avoiding contact at all times. Availability trumps all things.
- Cody Parkey sure looks like he’s going to be a problem moving forward. Did anyone think for a moment he was going to make the 53-yarder in overtime to win?
- Hate this post-game quote from Matt Nagy, re: his overtime play-calling: “We could do that all day. If we throw it, then you’re up here asking me why we took a sack.” He simply can’t be thinking that way. You have to trust the offense that was dominating in the second half. Settling for 53-yard field goals just doesn’t make sense. Go get 5-7 more yards. Let the quarterback play.
- Roquan Smith did not seem overly affected by the heat. He was all over the field.
- Kyle Fuller caught the ball! Twice!
- Taylor Gabriel and Tarik Cohen are proving to be match-up nightmares for opponents.
- Eagerly anticipating PFF’s grade for Adrian Amos this week. He was atrocious.
- Adam Gase did one thing the Bears had no way to prepare for and that’s utilize Nick O’Leary in the short passing game. It wasn’t on tape. (Full disclosure: I really, really, really wanted the Bears to draft O’Leary. Even wrote about it on this here website.)
- Khalil Mack was clearly injured early in this game and played like it throughout. He and the rest of the defensive line were being stood up on almost every play.
- Jordan Howard. 14 carries. It’s not enough, especially when he’s averaging 4.9 yards per carry. There is still a general incoherence to the play-calling.
- Is the Trey Burton shuffle pass the most unstoppable play in sports? The Bears have run it like 4 times this season and they’re 4-for-4.
The Bears defense lost this game and it’s a game the team had no business losing. They’re still going to be in first place when Tom Brady and the Patriots come to town. But this now becomes a huge week for the entire franchise.
