Here come the rapid fire reactions to a snooze of a ballgame. And a ballgame the Bears deserved to lose.
- The Colts were quite simply the better team. They played harder, hit harder, committed fewer penalties and won at the point of attack consistently.
- Rivers was bad in this game, as expected. But bad was good enough.
- Nick Foles played a terrible game, generally. But it was to be expected. The Bears have to figure out a way to get their QB up-to-speed before Thursday or they’ll be heading into a ten-day layoff at 3-2.
- Who do the players perform their celebrations for when the stadiums are empty? Do you think they feel as ridiculous as they look?
- Rich Gannon, who NEVER STOPS TALKING, referred to Khalil Mack as an “all day sucker”. That might be the most disgusting description of a player I’ve heard.
- Has there been a great return man who is also great at covering kicks? Cordarrelle Patterson is every bit that.
- Three pivotal moments in the first quarter:
- Kyle Fuller called for a pass interference on the touchdown drive. Just didn’t feel like that call needed to be made. But here’s the bigger issue: do you know what PI is? Do the players know what PI is? It’s become a vague, undefined penalty.
- Khalil Mack’s dropped interception. That’s leaving points on the board.
- Bears allowing Alie-Cox to beat them for the touchdown. How is not the focal point for Chuck Pagano on that play? Rivers has been looking to him constantly for weeks in those exact situations.
- Guard play was terrible for the Bears early in the game. Daniels and Ifedi missed pivotal blocks that killed drives.
- Re-capping the first half:
- About as undisciplined a half as the Bears can play. Penalties and mistakes everywhere. Strange coaching decisions.
- Defense has to get off the field on third-and-long, especially when they’re getting pressure. The middle of the field is just wide open weekly. Why?
- Bend-don’t-break is what this defensive identity is becoming. They’re not dominant. They’re solid, across the board. With this offense, currently, that’s not gonna be good enough.
- The offensive line for the Bears needs to win in the run game. When they don’t, as they didn’t today, they have a difficult time playing on their heels. When Bears don’t run it well, they’ll struggle mightily against any defense with a significant rush.
- Telling play in the third quarter: Quenton Nelson had no chance to block Roquan Smith in space. Smith played an absolutely brilliant game in coverage.
- The Bears lost jump balls to a weak-armed quarterback. That’s inexcusable. Safety play has not be good for the first month.
- Apparently Foles is a fan of Darnell Mooney. I wonder if they didn’t develop a connection this summer, when Mooney was working his way into the lineup.
- Juan Castillo has a difficult job this week. Make Charles Leno forget this game happened.
My Tweet.
Hard to get upset about this game. Complete, deserved, TEAM loss.
Manhandled at point of attack on offense.
Too many penalties/mistakes on defense/specials. (And they still held the opponent under 20.)
But big picture? 3-1 after 4 with a pivotal contest Thursday night.
— DaBearsBlog (@dabearsblog) October 4, 2020
Abbreviated week! Andrew tomorrow! Game preview on Wednesday!
