NFC North / NFL Thread 2018-19

[Pakuni]

That was the kind of devastating loss that could send a team into a downward spiral and a 2-14 season.
That would be a real shame.
Did I mention I'm a Raiders fan?

[WarriorDad]

It was another one for the ages.  So very many in the last twenty years.  From Favre's heavily taped ankle to Cobb on the 4th down last play TD to Jordy down the middle on a last gasp to last night's one legged miracle.

The Bears are a much improved team and clearly threw the kitchen sink in those first 15.  The Packers looked asleep and Bulaga had a ton of rust.  And Mac asking for a Kizer screen on 3rd and a mile?  SMH.

But in the second half, the best player in football earned every penny of the biggest contract in history.  Game on.  Season on.

Nothing more than a choke job by an incompetent coach.  Rodgers is the best, but last night that was silver platter given to Green Bay.

Article captures it to perfection.  http://www.chicagotribune.com/sports/football/bears/ct-spt-bears-packers-matt-nagy-rosenbloom-20180910-story.html

[WarriorDad]

Patriots fans would totally argue tooth and nail it’s Joe Montana!

49ers fans know it is Brady, and they can still remain 49ers fans without anyone questioning their fandom. 

[MU82]

If Fuller intercepts the pass that hit him right in the hands, most of the talk about Nagy being bad and some of the talk about Rodgers being GOAT would not be going on today.

I'm not saying Nagy is good -- how the hell do we know yet?

And I certainly am not saying Rodgers isn't at least a GOAT candidate; I have said repeatedly (including just yesterday) that he is in the handful of greatest-ever.

But a lot goes into every game. There are always 3, 5, 10, 20 plays that make the difference.

Rodgers (through no fault of his own, because the ball was tipped slightly and the receiver fell) put the ball right into Fuller's hands. Fuller will never have an easier INT attempt. He makes the pick, the game is over.

As an objective observer who doesn't give a rat's rump about either the Packers or Bears, if I have to pick one thing, that is the one thing I keep going back to. Make an easy pick, game over.

[GGGG]

Nothing more than a choke job by an incompetent coach.  Rodgers is the best, but last night that was silver platter given to Green Bay.

Article captures it to perfection.  http://www.chicagotribune.com/sports/football/bears/ct-spt-bears-packers-matt-nagy-rosenbloom-20180910-story.html

That's an unnecessarily harsh article.

[Pakuni]

That's an unnecessarily harsh article.

It's Steve Rosenbloom.
The same idiot who suggested Roquan Smith had character issues because his car got broken into.

[MUBurrow]

I know it’s overreaction week, but I have real concerns about Nagy. Knock on him was his playcalling...great script to open games/lack of adjustments. I thought he got throughly outcoached, especially in the second half.

Either that, or he doesn’t trust Trubisky, which would obviously be a gigantic problem.

From an unbiased observer, I think the unevenness gets straightened out as the season wears on. The scripted portion of the game was fun to watch, but it was complicated. It wasn't gadget-y, per se, but a ton of presnap motion, etc. I think Nagy's right to doubt that Trubisky is ready to execute that type of offense as a matter of course.  But both Nagy and Trubisky showed a lot of promise together last night, and the Bears look like a team that gets better as the season goes on, not worse.

[jesmu84]

Nothing more than a choke job by an incompetent coach.  Rodgers is the best, but last night that was silver platter given to Green Bay.

Article captures it to perfection.  http://www.chicagotribune.com/sports/football/bears/ct-spt-bears-packers-matt-nagy-rosenbloom-20180910-story.html

Don't you need more than a 1 game sample size to evaluate a coach? Something in the range of 2-4 years for a professional coach, I would think.

Of course, if you've already written him off, that's fine too. I just wouldn't jump to conclusions quite so quickly.

[MU82]

It appeared Mack ran out of gas a little bit, which is understandable. Plus, refs let linemen get away with holding like mad at the end of close games.

But Mack was a real force for most of that game, totally disruptive. And the rookie LB showed pretty darn well, too. And Trubisky showed some growth based on what I had seen from him last season.

All in all, if I were a Bears fan, I'd be optimistic today.

I thought the Packers defense got stronger as the game went on, and if I were a Pack backer I'd also be pretty optimistic ... as long as Rodgers is OK.

[jsglow]

Nothing more than a choke job by an incompetent coach.  Rodgers is the best, but last night that was silver platter given to Green Bay.

Article captures it to perfection.  http://www.chicagotribune.com/sports/football/bears/ct-spt-bears-packers-matt-nagy-rosenbloom-20180910-story.html

Crybox article.  The Bears made one mistake in the second half, failing to secure the interception as Adams fell. Could they have run on the 3rd down? Sure. But they had a good play called and Gilbert simply defeated it. Claiming that the Bears 'lost' diminishes the greatness demonstrated because ARodg and the Packers 'won'.

[forgetful]

It appeared Mack ran out of gas a little bit, which is understandable. Plus, refs let linemen get away with holding like mad at the end of close games.

But Mack was a real force for most of that game, totally disruptive. And the rookie LB showed pretty darn well, too. And Trubisky showed some growth based on what I had seen from him last season.

All in all, if I were a Bears fan, I'd be optimistic today.

I thought the Packers defense got stronger as the game went on, and if I were a Pack backer I'd also be pretty optimistic ... as long as Rodgers is OK.

Definitely ran out of gas a good bit, but give Bulaga some credit.  He held up against him in the entire 2nd half. 

The other aspect, was the ball coming out quickly and on time.  GB QB's hold on to it too long often, waiting for something bigger to open...and then it doesn't and they get sacked. In the 2nd half, the ball came out quick and the lineman weren't left on an island trying to hold blocks for 5+ seconds.

[DegenerateDish]

The knock on Nagy as a play caller was great at scripting, bad at adjusting. The last game Nagy coached was that awful loss to the Titans in the wild card round last year when the Chiefs scored 21 early, and then did nothing in the second half.

My concerns about him certainly reared their ugly head last night. I don't understand going for it on 4th and 4 earlier in the game, when Trubisky butt fumbled, but then with the game on the line, passing it on 3rd and 1, and then kicking an absolutely useless FG and giving Green Bay the ball back. Nagy kept insisting he'd be aggressive and not be conservative. He was flat out bad from quarter two on, and certainly supported the knock against him coming into this season.

[Jockey]

I thought the Packers defense got stronger as the game went on, and if I were a Pack backer I'd also be pretty optimistic ... as long as Rodgers is OK.

1. The defense gave up only 3 yards a play after the first two drives. Capers is gone because he never made adjustments.

2. We’ll see you guys in the NFL Championdship game

[MU82]

1. The defense gave up only 3 yards a play after the first two drives. Capers is gone because he never made adjustments.

2. We’ll see you guys in the NFL Championdship game

If AR and Cam stay healthy, I certainly could see that happening.

Of course, the Eagles, Rams and a few other teams could have a thing or two to say about it!

[jsglow]

I think the useless field goal theory is crazy.  Assuming the Bears fail to make the 2 yards, which is never any easy redzone play, ARodg has about an 85% chance to drive the team 50 yards for the game tying field goal. Forcing him to absolutely need a TD was the only play.

[MU82]

I think the useless field goal theory is crazy.  Assuming the Bears fail to make the 2 yards, which is never any easy redzone play, ARodg has about an 85% chance to drive the team 50 yards for the game tying field goal. Forcing him to absolutely need a TD was the only play.

Agree completely.

The wheeler-dealer in me says, Go for the first down and clinch the game. But the pragmatist says, Make an obviously hobbled AR drive the length of the field.

[DegenerateDish]

I thought the Lions would be bad this year, but not this bad.

Bills and Cardinals are the two worst teams (we’ll see on the Raiders tonight) I’ve seen. Always feels easier to pick out the awful teams early.

[DegenerateDish]

If you told me right now that Matt Patricia was fired tomorrow morning, I don’t think I’d blink an eye.

[WarriorDad]

Crybox article.  The Bears made one mistake in the second half, failing to secure the interception as Adams fell. Could they have run on the 3rd down? Sure. But they had a good play called and Gilbert simply defeated it. Claiming that the Bears 'lost' diminishes the greatness demonstrated because ARodg and the Packers 'won'.

2:47 left, Packers have no timeouts, it is 3rd and 1.5.

The previous 5 running plays when the Packers knew the Bears were likely running the Bears got 2 or more yards on 4 of the 5 plays down the stretch.

If you run the ball and you are stopped, the next play happens with just more than 2 minutes to go.  Or you get the first down, and the game is over.

Say you don’t get it, you likely have 4th and 1.  The chances of two plays back to back not being able to get 1.5 yards with that big of a QB are very small.

Nagy reminds me of Crean, solid prep but as the game goes on he seizes up.  He has been bashed today for a reason.  That was awful coaching.

[WarriorDad]

Agree completely.

The wheeler-dealer in me says, Go for the first down and clinch the game. But the pragmatist says, Make an obviously hobbled AR drive the length of the field.

After he had just done it the series before and about 50 times in his career?  It was not like the Bears had to go 7 yards, they had 1.5 yards and the Pack with no timeouts.  There is nothing wheeling and dealing about it, the wheeler dealer play was passing on third down. 

[MU82]

After he had just done it the series before and about 50 times in his career?  It was not like the Bears had to go 7 yards, they had 1.5 yards and the Pack with no timeouts.  There is nothing wheeling and dealing about it, the wheeler dealer play was passing on third down.

I think we're on a slightly different subject here, or I misread something earlier.

All I was talking about was that there was nothing wrong with kicking the FG after failing on 3rd down.

But, yes, I would have run the ball on 3rd down. If I failed to make it, I would have kicked the FG.

With incredible minds like ours, c2, it's a wonder both of us aren't NFL coaches!

[GB Warrior]

The knock on Nagy as a play caller was great at scripting, bad at adjusting. The last game Nagy coached was that awful loss to the Titans in the wild card round last year when the Chiefs scored 21 early, and then did nothing in the second half.

My concerns about him certainly reared their ugly head last night. I don't understand going for it on 4th and 4 earlier in the game, when Trubisky butt fumbled, but then with the game on the line, passing it on 3rd and 1, and then kicking an absolutely useless FG and giving Green Bay the ball back. Nagy kept insisting he'd be aggressive and not be conservative. He was flat out bad from quarter two on, and certainly supported the knock against him coming into this season.

Saw a bit of rhat. He pulled out a lot of stops to start a game when every look was an unscouted one for the Packers defense. Then he settled in and never really pivoted.

That said, a lot of promising things for the Bears from this game. Smith and Mack will get up to speed and that defense has a chance to be really good. They have some great pieces at skill positions.

If there is one thing I worry about if I'm a Bears fan: I'm not convinced Trubisky is any semblance of the answer, and I have no draft capital left

[Herman Cain]

https://twitter.com/chosenJAUN/status/1038993562430578688

[tower912]

Same old Lions.

[GGGG]

Same old Lions.

Actually that even looked horrific by Lions' standards.