Hold Your Ground, Bills Fans [AUDIO]
There is little question that at least a couple of other teams in the NFC North are better than they were a year ago, but the Bears were so much better than the field it doesn’t seem likely the gap isn’t still significant. In addition to having four more wins than any other NFC North team last year, the Bears outscored their divisional opponents 153-109. That’s a differential of 44 points, meaning a +7.3 point average in divisional contests.
While the Lions and Packers made significant additions via free agency and, presumably, through the draft, they were so far behind the top two teams. The Lions were outscored by the other three teams 131-118, while the Packers were outscored 162-110. In fact, the Packers needed late field goals to avoid three double-digit losses and were handled by the Lions, twice.
Of course, the 2018 Bears were a great example of going worst-to-first, losing every divisional game in 2017, with most of them not being particularly close. But the Bears spent most of the 2017 season with a rookie quarterback and made more significant roster additions than any of the NFC North teams,
Here’s a quick look at the division.
Best Addition: Irv Smith Jr. The Vikings have some really good offensive players, but they reminded me of the 2014 Bears, who were basically playing 10-on-11 offensively without a decent second tight end or third receiver. Smith gives them another weapon, who should allow them to play big and run the ball.
Biggest Loss: Sheldon Richardson. Playing on a one-year deal, Richardson was second on the team with 20.5 combined quarterback hits and sacks last year.
The offseason is the perfect time to do a deep dive into what exactly we saw on the field last year, so today I want to look more closely at how Chicago’s QBs performed in 2018. To do so, I’m going to compile all of the information about individual targets from The Quant Edge and use it to see what we can learn about QB play as a whole.
Before we begin, I want to note two limitations.
With that said, let’s get started.
How effective were Chicago’s QBs targeting various routes?
That data can be seen in the table below, sorted from most to least targeted. I also highlighted routes that were particularly efficient in green, and routes that were particularly inefficient in red.
A few thoughts:
It’s truly the only period of off-season for the NFL. Other than the rare injury at an OTA, nothing of relevance takes place until teams report to training camp. Here are some links for you to enjoy.
[Side Note: When searching for links, I was amazed at just how many blogs there are now and how shitty most of them are.]
“I didn’t want to blow the opportunity,” the intensively private McCaskey told the Sun-Times last week in a rare sitdown interview commemorating the team’s upcoming 100th season. “I didn’t want them to think of me as some little old lady that’s just hanging around. And, ‘What’s she really doing here?’
“I wanted to let them know how much I cared about the team, and all of them.”
A little old lady?
“Well,” she said, smiling, “I am.” That’s an excerpt from Patrick Finley’s excellent sit down with Virgina McCaskey on the newly-designed (and wonderful) Sun-Times website.
Last week we reached the part of the offseason where various media members began releasing lists ranking random NFL players, executives and pretty much anything else they can think of with the hope that it will create conversation amongst the fan bases.
While the number of lists released are too numerous to count, there were three that I found particularly interesting.
I’m not sure anybody alive is actually qualified to rank the 100 best players in the history of the Chicago Bears, but Dan Pompei and Don Pierson are as close as it gets.
I have nothing to add to players who retired before I was born and very little to say about the 1980s greats of whom I saw very little. But it still seems odd to me that Brian Urlacher wasn’t higher on the list.
Urlacher was a first-ballot Hall of Fame selection, whereas Richard Dent was really more of an afterthought and Jimbo Covert isn’t in at all — and doesn’t seem likely to get in. Yet both Dent and Covert ranked higher than Urlacher.
I’m cool with Devin Hester being second among the 2000s Bears, but Charles Tillman should’ve been ahead of Lance Briggs. Briggs was more recognized because he was Urlacher’s battery mate, but Tillman was the better player.
The offseason is the perfect time to do a deep dive into what exactly we saw on the field last year, so today I want to look more closely at how Chicago used their WRs and TEs in 2018.
Let’s start by looking at where these players lined up, which can illustrate just how versatile they were (or were not). All data comes from The Quant Edge except for Tarik Cohen’s, which is from Pro Football Focus.
A few thoughts:
Now I want to look at what routes the main options – Robinson, Gabriel, Burton, and Miller – got their targets on. The table below has the percentage of targets each player received on various routes, with the routes arranged by descending order of total targets. Numbers that are low compared to peers are highlighted in red, while numbers that are high are highlighted in green. All data from The Quant Edge.
I don’t have much interest in the beverage but I admire this man’s procedural dedication.
And as always, PLEASE DO NOT DRINK AND DRIVE. There is always a cab. Always a LYFT. Hell, there’s almost always someone you can call to pick you up and take you home. Driving after even a few drinks simply isn’t worth it. So please please please don’t do it.
One of the great things about the partnership between Ted Phillips and George McCaskey has been their committment to charity. And never has that been more apparent that their new initiative. From Larry Mayer on Da Site:
In honor of their 100th season, the Bears will donate a total of $1 million, divided into increments of $100,000 to 10 different charities nominated by fans.
All charities located within the Bears’ market will be eligible to benefit from the Community All-Pros program. Applications can be submitted online at chicagobears.com/communityallpros from now through May 31.
“Part of the impetus for the Community All-Pros program is we didn’t want to just look back on the last 100 years, we wanted to look forward,” said Bears chairman George H. McCaskey. “We’re looking forward to it. We want the fans to be involved in the decision-making process and in the nomination process itself.”
All 10 charities will be nominated by fans across Illinois and the defined Bears home market. Nine charities will be selected by a Bears’ internal committee and announced in mid-July. The 10th charity will be narrowed down to three choices by the internal committee before it is opened to fan voting in October; the final charity will be announced the week prior to the last 2019 regular-season home game.
Each charity will be honored at a Bears’ 2019 home game. Fans are encouraged to share this information with charities they are invested in.
“We’re really excited about it,” McCaskey said. “We think it’s a great way to kick off the second century of the Chicago Bears.”
So fill out an application in the link above before the end of the month if you have a worth charity you want supported!
