It is often difficult to summarize a football game in one sentence.
Sunday’s game was not one of those.
The Bears had no chance to block the Cleveland Browns and subsequently no chance to run a professional offense.
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Offense.
- What do you say about an offensive line that can’t compete? They didn’t struggle at times. They didn’t fail in big moments. They were a noncompetitive group for the duration a football game. The play of the offensive today should confirm to every single Bears fan an unavoidable point: this is not a championship contender, by any means. Teams don’t win championships with lines like this. Hell, teams don’t win nine games with lines like this. This was their worst performances since the Giants beat up Jay Cutler in the Meadowlands many moons ago.
- Jason Peters trying to block Myles Garrett can’t be a serious approach to an NFL game.
- Germain Ifedi played his worst game as an NFL lineman.
- There will be a ton of criticism heaped onto the shoulders of Matt Nagy this week and rightfully so. Look no further than the other side of the field to see the improvement possible for a quarterback under the right head coach. Nagy has to prove to this organization that he’s the right guy to coach this quarterback moving forward. And with Exhibit A, the glove didn’t fit.
- A few thoughts on Justin Fields:
- His “mistake” in the game was not dumping the ball to Marquise Goodwin on the RPO when he rolled left. Could have been a big game. But one has to assume, at that point, he was in “run for my life” mode.
- Seeing the camera shot from behind Fields made it clear he was wise not to throw the football to his well-covered targets.
- It just doesn’t seem Nagy’s schemes produce many easy throws. How do you combat a pass rush? End arounds? Screens? Sprint outs? Anything? Don’t tell me those things had no possibility of working when none of them were even attempted.
- Top of the third quarter, Fields held on when he arm was throttled on a sack. No idea how he did that.
- Fields will learn which guys he can or can’t outrun but folks have to understand that Fields is a passer first. His eyes are always downfield. He’s not Lamar Jackson and the Bears don’t want him to be that.
- The play didn’t matter but fourth and ten late, Nagy and Castillo left Peters on an island with Garrett AGAIN. How is that even possible? How does any objective observer not look at that play – that play ALONE – and conclude the coaching staff is out of their depth?
- Hey Goodwin, come back for the football.
- 3rd and 2 pitch outs to David Montgomery when you can’t block the edge are insane calls.
- Naked boots with Fields in the red zone are too.
