There are 256 regular season NFL games each year. That means 256 wins – and 256 losses – to go around. On rare occasions both teams get a tie, but 99% of the time, 1 has to lose. And on Monday night, that was the Bears. But no matter how bad a loss is, it only counts as 1 loss. So I’m not sure why Bear fans are all flipping out? We were on the road facing a team that’s won 37 of their last 54 (.685), and played in the SB 20 months ago. So I’m not panicking just because we scored our fewest points all year (10) and allowed our 2nd most (24). We got licked by a better team. It happens. We’re still 5-2, a ½ game out of 1st place, and tied for the most wins in the NFC. That’s WAY better than anyone (other than our blog, of course) predicted. So quitcherbellyachin and enjoy it!
The Rams spent so much time in the Bear’s endzone
that ESPN let the cameramen just setup shop in there
The Low Down
In the 1st half, we punted twice, kicked a FG, and punted twice more. But we didn’t turn the ball over, so we only trailed by 7 at halftime. In the 2nd half, after 3-and-outing, we threw a pick, turned it over on downs twice, threw another pick, and turned it over on downs AGAIN. So, in the final 20 minutes (when we usually crush it), we turned it over twice, and the other 3 times we couldn’t even gain 10 yards with 4 attempts?! It was our D that put our only other points on the board, out-scoring our O, despite only having the ball once for literally just 2 seconds. And even though Foles had his worst Bear game, it’s clear the issue is our O-line, which is SO BAD (How bad is it?), you could replace them with the ’87 “Spare” Bears and no one would notice.
The O-line is the arm tied behind the Bear’s back
It didn’t help that “1 Pick” Nick broke his own “1 pick” rule. For the 1st time in 23 games, “Multiple Picks” Nick – or “Plural Picks” Nick, or “A Plethora Of Picks” Nick, or “Plenty O’ Picks” Nick – whichever name you prefer, that guy threw TWO picks. And despite 11 drives spanning 27+ minutes and 61 plays, he never reached the endzone. “Jolly Ol’ Stank” Nick’s stank was so overwhelming that the guys wearing masks were grateful for them. So not only do we have to find a new nickname for Nick “Fole Me Once, Shame On Me; Fole Me Twice, That’s Two” Foles, but the Bears have to re-think their starting QB. J/K. Multi-Pick Nicky Stankball will be fine. It’s our O-line that needs fixing!
Note all the Ram defenders pouncing on Foles;
also note all the Bear linemen standing around
Taking The Long Way Home
Field position (FP) was probably the biggest story of this game, and it was dominated by the Rams. I mean, they really yanked our leash. Their average start was at their 32, while ours was at our 16. Over the course of 12 drives each, that’s like the Rams having a 200-yard head-start, or the Bears having to go 200 EXTRA yards to score. The Rams had 5 drives that started beyond their 35, and twice they even started in Bear territory. The Bears only started beyond our 35 once (at our 38), and on 5 drives, we started inside our 10 – which is almost half our possessions! When you factor in how good the Ram’s D is, and how limited our O is, we never really stood a chance.
A snapshot of our day: starting in our own redzone,
getting swarmed immediately, and going nowhere fast
Forget our struggle to reach the endzone, the Bears had trouble just getting into Ram territory – which we only did 3 times! The 1st was our FG from their 24 in Q2. Our 2nd got us inside the Ram 10 after they committed a 26-yard PI penalty in Q3, but “1 Pick” Nick (he hadn’t thrown any picks yet) threw a pick 2 plays later. And our 3rd was our best – and worst. After we blocked a FG in Q4, which gave us our best starting FP, “1 Pick” Nick (he’d only thrown 1 at this point) hit a 42-yard bomb, which led to a 1st-and-goal at the Ram 8. But in a perfect sampling of how our day went, after completing a 4-yd pass down to the 4, we rushed for no gain, threw incomplete, and took a sack on 4th down. And the only way you get sacked on a desperation 4th down is if you’re O-line absolutely sucks. Which ours does.
It also doesn’t help when your O-linemen use you as a futon
To make things even worse, this FP thrashing was made possible by 1 guy: Ram punter Johnny “What The” Hekker, who put on a punting clinic! He averaged just 44.2 yards on 5 punts, but 3 were from Bear territory, and had to be short. His 2 boots from RAM territory went for a whopping 57 and 63 yards! And not only can he kick the Hekker out of the ball, he leads the NFL in punts left inside the 20 by 1 (with 16) because, incredibly, all 5 of his punts left the Bears there! In fact, Hekker stuck us on our 10, 7, 6, 5 and 1. By contrast, the Ram’s average start after our 5 punts was their 30. That’s a 120-yard FP difference just in the punting game, which actually earned him NFC Special Teams Player of the Week.
This was the only Hekker pic I could find, which says 2 things:
no one cares about punters, and I’m bad at finding punter pics
Outlook
If the season ended today, we’d be a Wild Card team – albeit behind the Rams, who’d be the other WC team. But we’re still 5-2 despite predictable play-calling, a question mark at QB, and absolutely no O-line. And on top of that, our D keeps getting insanely bad penalty calls, turnovers called back, and points taken off the board. Just imagine if we stop committing penalties, get a call or 2 that goes OUR way, or Nagy hands off play-calling duties to the adults. We still have a couple months to sort it out, so there’s still plenty of reasons to be optimistic about our season. If you’re not, then you must have Bears Derangement Syndrome.
Here’s a peak at the types of holes THEIR line produces
Quotes of Note
ESPN Announcer Steve Levy in Q3, right before “1 Pick” Nick’s 1st pick: “This Rams defense has allowed 3 points or less in the 2nd half of 5 of their 6 games.” ~ Make that 6 of their 7 games.
I know we’re supposed to be socially distancing,
but Jesus, Trump could hold a rally back there!
ESPN analyst (and former Bear QB) Brian Griese, on his pre-game interview with Foles: “[Nick] said, ‘You know, sometimes play calls come in and I know that I don’t have time to execute that play…I’m the one out here getting hit. Sometimes the guy calling the plays, Matt Nagy, he doesn’t know how much time there is back here.’” ~ He called out his O-line AND his coach – by name! DAAAAAAAMN!
Ram coach Sean McVay was so appreciative of our poor
play, he hand-wrote thank you cards to our entire O-line
Nagy’s response to the Griese/Foles quote: “Nick and I have a pretty good relationship, and he hasn’t said that [to me].” ~ That sounds a lot like, “I bet he won’t say that to my face!”
Nagy, grateful he doesn’t have to write any thank you cards
Foles’s response to the fallout from the Griese/Foles quote: “That was definitely a miscommunication with Brian and I.” ~ Yeah, the miscommunication was that Griese wasn’t supposed to repeat it.
After a hand-off in Q3, Foles removed his helmet
and knelt mid-play to protest Nagy’s play-calling
BEAR DOWN!
Supa Bow, Supa BEARS!
#The’87SpareBear’sO-LineWasBetter
#LinemenFuton
#BearsDerangementSyndrome
#5And2Quitcherbellyachin
© 2020
Bear Down Baffa 
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