I really wanted to calm down this week. I hosted the postgame show, and I really didn’t want to be Chicken Little. I tried to stay as objective as possible, but then I spent Monday watching the game again. I looked at analysis from those I trust, and after doing so, did I continue my zen approach to this loss?
Hell no!
What in the blue hell was that? Are the Chicago Bears even a serious NFL franchise? Are we, as Bears fans, in some sort of long, drawn-out episode of Punk’d, and Ashton Kutcher is about to appear and laugh at all of us? I told you all last week I was worried this would happen, and you know what the Bears did? They Bear’d it up!
Who’s to blame? Matt Eberflus? Yes. Luke Getsy? Hell yes. Alan Williams? Good grief, yes. The offensive line? You betcha. The defensive line? Absolutely. Justin Fields? You’re damn right.
What an epic collapse in every aspect of football. I gave the coaches a pass last year because the talent on the field was so inept, but there’s no reason at this point to think Matt Eberflus has any clue what he’s doing out there. I’m already out on Luke Getsy. Either he doesn’t trust Justin Fields, or he’s a dope (sounds like the arguments we had about Matt Nagy and Mitch Trubisky). Alan Williams? My goodness. Dial up some damn pressure, Alan!
We knew this defensive line wasn’t going to be able to stop the run, and it wasn’t going to be able to rush the passer, and you know what happened against the Packers? Aaron Jones ran free every time he touched the ball, and Jordan Love had time to eat an ice cream cone before he threw the football.
The Bears had six pressures the entire game. SIX. The Packers had 35. Thirty-five! When you can’t bring pressure, you better create some! Stunts, blitzes, anything! Just don’t rush four straight up, I mean come on, this is high school stuff here. You need to put pressure on young QBs; why? Because they screw up!
And when the offensive line basically collapses because Teven Jenkins is injured (which was always expected, unfortunately), perhaps that means you did a piss-poor job assembling an offensive line!
I thought Ryan Poles was a trenches guy! I thought that was going to be the foundation of this team. So far, I am unimpressed with what Poles has done on both sides of the ball at the line of scrimmage. The Green Bay Packers are so much better in that area, and it’s absolutely embarrassing.
And how about Luke Getsy!? How many screens can we run in one game? How much lack of creativity, lack of vertical concepts, lack of just plays where the job of Fields is to get the ball to DJ Moore? Poles gave up receiving an additional first round pick when he traded the number one pick for Moore and draft capital, which is fine, he’s an excellent receiver, but you need to throw him the damn ball!
Matt Eberflus, this is your team. This is your coaching staff. This is your HITS principles, and you were certainly okay with the entire team sitting out training camp with stubbed toes and hang nails, and here we are. Flat in all aspects of this game.
And unfortunately, Justin Fields, you’re next. Where’s the growth? Everyone said Justin had a nice first half, but all he did was complete one downfield pass and hit some screens and checkdowns. That’s part of the game, sure, but once the Packers realized that’s all Getsy was going to do, they destroyed it in the second half. Fields had the same issues he had last year. The issues we blamed because he didn’t trust his weapons, well, now it’s apparently that he doesn’t trust himself.
I love Justin. I want this kid to succeed so damn bad, but this had an eerie similarity to the Mitch Trubisky debacle in week one of 2019. The big year-three leap was expected from Mitch, and we all certainly expected it from Justin, and it just wasn’t there. Yes, the offensive line was bad, and I certainly didn’t like Getsy’s game plan, but at some point, if Justin is the guy, he has to overcome some of this on his own. It’s just how it is.
There’s still time for Justin to grow. I’m not out, but there need to be strides and they need to happen soon.
Chicago bears Humiliated by Green Bay Packers leaving More Questions
