2021-2022 NFL Season

[MU82]

Week 3 and we already have our quote of the year.

Jalen Hurts takes blame in loss to Cowboys: "You take you a deuce, you don't sit there and look at it. You flush it and move on. We're going to flush it and move on."

Yessir, that is a great quote.

Could apply to many lost arguments on Scoop, too!

[4everwarriors]

Week 3 and we already have our quote of the year.

Jalen Hurts takes blame in loss to Cowboys: "You take you a deuce, you don't sit there and look at it. You flush it and move on. We're going to flush it and move on."

Solid advice four those hoo post heer, aina?

[MU82]

The Athletic's weekly look at the most recent NFL weekend handed out this dubious "award" ...

Most embarrassing performance: The Bears

Justin Fields completed six of 20 passes for 68 yards and was sacked nine times in his first NFL start. The Bears had 47 total yards and averaged 1.1 yards per play. Among the 608 offensive performances since the start of 2020, this one ranked 602nd in terms of EPA per play. It was as bad of an offensive performance as we’ll see from a team all year.

Matt Nagy’s plan seemed to be to get the ball out of Fields’ hands quickly. His average release time of 2.63 seconds was 10th-fastest among Week 3 starters. But that type of game plan is supposed to create layups and easy completions for the quarterback. Instead, 45 percent of Fields’ attempts were into tight windows. That’s the highest percentage for any quarterback in a game this season, and it’s not particularly close.

The Bears couldn’t protect Fields, and Nagy did nothing scheme-wise to help him do what he does best: Push the ball downfield. Fields had one attempt go more than 15 yards all afternoon, and none traveled more than 20 yards.

During his time in Chicago, Nagy has not shown a knack for making life easier for his quarterbacks or offensive players. But that performance on Sunday felt like a new low.

[Herman Cain]

Week 3 and we already have our quote of the year.

Jalen Hurts takes blame in loss to Cowboys: "You take you a deuce, you don't sit there and look at it. You flush it and move on. We're going to flush it and move on."

I think this quote needs to be on the masthead of Scoop after every loss.

[JWags85]

I saw an interesting take yesterday about Nagy and Eric Bieniemy.  Much has been made about him not getting a HC job and its continually framed in racism.  But maybe teams are taking pause after watching Nagy, and Pederson before him, largely be failures as HCs and pump the brakes on hiring Andy Reid OC/disciples.

[The Hippie Satan of Hyperbole]

I saw an interesting take yesterday about Nagy and Eric Bieniemy.  Much has been made about him not getting a HC job and its continually framed in racism.  But maybe teams are taking pause after watching Nagy, and Pederson before him, largely be failures as HCs and pump the brakes on hiring Andy Reid OC/disciples.

I think hiring offensive coordinators who don't call plays is an issue.  One of the reasons Matt LaFleur left the Niners for the Titans is so he could call the plays - and he got a head coaching gig a year later.

[MU82]

I think hiring offensive coordinators who don't call plays is an issue.  One of the reasons Matt LaFleur left the Niners for the Titans is so he could call the plays - and he got a head coaching gig a year later.

I'm not disputing this, but I will point out that two of the NFL's most highly regarded head coaches, John Harbaugh and Sean Payton, were not coordinators.

And neither was Ditka, my friend.

A head coach is the CEO, and aside from the very few who call offensive or defensive plays, their main job is to manage the entire operation, get the assistants to work well together, deal with players' egos, make the big in-game decisions, etc.

I am NOT saying that being a play-caller is unimportant. There are too many outstanding head coaches who were offensive or defensive play-callers earlier in their careers to make such a claim. I'm just saying that a lot goes into being a successful head coach other than having been a play-caller as an assistant.

[dgies9156]

Thousands of people will drive to the game alone?

Heck, I do most weeks. I meet people there.

[The Hippie Satan of Hyperbole]

I'm not disputing this, but I will point out that two of the NFL's most highly regarded head coaches, John Harbaugh and Sean Payton, were not coordinators.

And neither was Ditka, my friend.

A head coach is the CEO, and aside from the very few who call offensive or defensive plays, their main job is to manage the entire operation, get the assistants to work well together, deal with players' egos, make the big in-game decisions, etc.

I am NOT saying that being a play-caller is unimportant. There are too many outstanding head coaches who were offensive or defensive play-callers earlier in their careers to make such a claim. I'm just saying that a lot goes into being a successful head coach other than having been a play-caller as an assistant.

I think you are misunderstanding my point.  If a team has decided that they want to hire an offensive coach to implement a new offensive scheme that they think will fit their personnel, and they have a choice between two offensive coordinators, one who called plays and the other who didn't, the former is going to be seen as a coach with a greater body of work.

[Jockey]

I'm not disputing this, but I will point out that two of the NFL's most highly regarded head coaches, John Harbaugh and Sean Payton, were not coordinators.

And neither was Ditka, my friend.

A head coach is the CEO, and aside from the very few who call offensive or defensive plays, their main job is to manage the entire operation, get the assistants to work well together, deal with players' egos, make the big in-game decisions, etc.

I am NOT saying that being a play-caller is unimportant. There are too many outstanding head coaches who were offensive or defensive play-callers earlier in their careers to make such a claim. I'm just saying that a lot goes into being a successful head coach other than having been a play-caller as an assistant.

Ditka was highly regarded? That offense wasn’t what won him a SB.

[Pakuni]

Ditka was highly regarded? That offense wasn’t what won him a SB.

He did win Coach of the Year twice, something only 11 other coaches have done.
And while obviously those were defense-driven teams, he did have six top 10 offenses during his Bears tenure, and two others that ranked 11th.

[cheebs09]

This is nit picky, but Payton was an Offensive Coordinator that called plays for the Giants before going to Dallas as Assistant Head Coach.

Harbaugh was a Special Teams coordinator. Not sure how far below an Offensive/Defensive Coordinator, but he was a coordinator.

Also, they were hired over 13 years ago. I’m not sure we can point to them for future success with as much as the NFL us changed. Granted, there’s still so many coaches that are overmatched (Nagy) who knows what the best process for hiring an NFL coach is. Many thought Lafleur was a letdown of a hire.

[Jockey]

He did win Coach of the Year twice, something only 11 other coaches have done.
And while obviously those were defense-driven teams, he did have six top 10 offenses during his Bears tenure, and two others that ranked 11th.

#1 defense both times.

[Pakuni]

Heck, I do most weeks. I meet people there.

You'd be the exception. And you few exceptions pale in comparison to the people who go in party buses, charter buses, public transportation, etc.
My POV here may be shaded by experience, but when I go to a game, it's to tailgate. And in the tailgate lots, I never see anyone riding solo. Most cars arrive with 3+ people in them.

[MU82]

I think you are misunderstanding my point.  If a team has decided that they want to hire an offensive coach to implement a new offensive scheme that they think will fit their personnel, and they have a choice between two offensive coordinators, one who called plays and the other who didn't, the former is going to be seen as a coach with a greater body of work.

Reasonable.

Ditka was highly regarded? That offense wasn’t what won him a SB.

My reference to Ditka was supposed to be a joke. I guess I shoulda said “mini-Ditka.” But as others said, he did have a little success as a head coach for whatever reasons one wants to cite.

This is nit picky, but Payton was an Offensive Coordinator that called plays for the Giants before going to Dallas as Assistant Head Coach.

Harbaugh was a Special Teams coordinator. Not sure how far below an Offensive/Defensive Coordinator, but he was a coordinator.

Also, they were hired over 13 years ago. I’m not sure we can point to them for future success with as much as the NFL us changed. Granted, there’s still so many coaches that are overmatched (Nagy) who knows what the best process for hiring an NFL coach is. Many thought Lafleur was a letdown of a hire.

All good points.

There have been plenty of supposedly brilliant play-callers who failed spectacularly as head coaches.

All kinds of things go into being a successful head coach. I mean, the Ravens hired Brian Billick because he was supposed to be an offensive mastermind … but the Ravens won the Super Bowl because of their defense. Maybe he was good at the other stuff head coaches need to be good at, or maybe he was lucky. But him being the Vikings play-caller didn’t help him make the Ravens a great offensive team. But as to FBM’s point, it no doubt got him hired.

[Jockey]

My reference to Ditka was supposed to be a joke. I guess I shoulda said “mini-Ditka.” But as others said, he did have a little success as a head coach for whatever reasons one wants to cite.

Actually, Ditka was decent as a coach. A CEO type. But definitely not a genius x and o type coach.

[ChitownSpaceForRent]

Arlington Heights really isn’t a convenient spot for a lot of Northsiders as well.

If you’re not on the I-90 corridor, takes less time taking side streets up there than fighting to get to entrance ramps that back up at Ohare.

But like people said, it ain’t about convenience. It’s gonna happen.

[jesmu84]

Beyond Nagy, Bears coaching staff isn't exactly a who's-who of NFL success.

[jesmu84]

Description of Bears situation/fields from a newsletter I receive:

Of all the interesting tweets, this was my favorite. I hadn’t thought about max protection, but the Browns were collapsing the pocket every snap, and this tweet made me think of the Ravens’ offense, which consistently has among the most concentrated target trees because — and I have not looked this up, so count this as one of my educated guesses — I have to imagine they average the fewest players in a route per dropback of any team since Lamar Jackson took over the quarterback role. They love to use multiple TEs and keep in extra blockers, giving Lamar fewer than the possible five eligible receivers, because after his first or second read his playmaking ability is essentially part of the play design. You more or less have those extra blockers in there because the play can quickly become a run. Anyway, the Bears asked Fields to run a traditional offense without extra blockers, little motion, very few rollouts, etc. There were a few basic RPOs, and that was about it. It was awful, and the adjustment they seemed to make at halftime was to just ask Fields to get the ball out quicker, because they started the second half with three straight drops and quick passes to curl routes. That became a theme, which if you think from the defense’s point of view, is blood in the water. ‘They’ve given up trying to protect and we don’t have to worry about anything downfield, so we can just break on every route?’ Myles Garrett speaking to how bad the gameplan was is about all you need to know. How often do you see an opponent speak on these terms about the opposition?

I don’t know that I’ve seen a worse coaching job than this, given the situation (a rookie first-round pick’s first career start) and how far away the execution was from anything resembling helpful. The Bears tried to make everything extremely conservative, and in doing so made everything very predictable for the Browns, which didn’t simplify anything for Fields — it made his job that much tougher. I don’t think Fields was particularly good — Greg Olsen highlighted a play on a rollout where Darnell Mooney (4-1-9) was wide open deep and Fields didn’t see him, throwing instead to a single-covered Allen Robinson (6-2-27) on a pass that was knocked down — but the misses on the very few opportunities were hard to judge him on when he was otherwise just trying not to get killed or throw a bad interception on his 12th-straight first read curl route. It’s not a coincidence that the opportunity to Mooney was there downfield because it was one of, as the first tweet above says, only two rollouts. They actually could have started to attack downfield, because the Browns had basically given up on any route beyond 10 yards. And yet, the Bears couldn’t even recognize that and get some late points; they’d successfully shrunk the field on their own, helping the defense and hurting their quarterback, and they stayed committed to it, like a bad comic sticking with a joke that is clearly not landing. I’m not trying to absolve Fields of all blame here, but Matt Nagy is the Joker. And what was Fields supposed to do? Start calling audibles? Break the pocket when the play call was a straight drop and the instruction very much seemed to be to get the ball out quick?

[dgies9156]

Sunday's game underscores the fact that Nagy is an idiot and that the Bears really didn't have ANY intention of using Fields this year.

They stuck Fields into an offense designed for Andy Dalton's skill set and told him, "make the best of it." Fields goes out and gets killed because he is a rookie, makes rookie mistakes and is playing in an offense not designed for him. If Nagy was 1/10th coach of Matt LeFleur up in Green Bay, he would have built roll-outs, screen passes and a Fields-based set of plays into the offense in training camp so, just-in-case Dalton gets injured, the team is ready for Fields and part of the offense can work to Fields' strengths.

Some of you may say, "oh well, maybe Nagy did plan for Fields." If Nagy did, then he needs to be fired on the spot, as his plans didn't work. If eh didn't, he needs to be wacked unless the Bears play more effectively against the Lions this Sunday.

Where's Mitch Trubisky when you need him?

Final thought: Ditka was a CEO-style coach. So was Al McGuire! Hank was his Xs and Os guy!

[Dr. Blackheart]

Apparently half of Bears fans are loners with no family or friends. The other half have no friends but are dragging their spouses to a game. And no one has children or each child is driving separately. Busses, bikers and,  walkers are also not allowed

This is where fandom starts to break down the social fabric of real life.  It's been documented in "Psychology Today" as the "no QB syndrome".

[Pakuni]

Bears buying Arlington Park
#donedeal

[dgies9156]

Bears buying Arlington Park
#donedeal

Brother Pakuni:

Right on top of the story, as usual.

https://theathletic.com/news/bears-sign-purchase-agreement-for-arlington-park-property-exclusive/QTJyEXELsaMt

https://www.dailyherald.com/news/20210928/report-bears-sign-purchase-agreement-for-arlington-park

Lori Lightfoot and her band of fellow travelers are so busy worried about the name of Lake Shore Drive that they let a civic treasure walk out the door. There's no turning back now.

The 50 year flirtation between the Bears and Arlington Heights is coming to fruition.

The Arlington Heights Bears!  Wow!

[DegenerateDish]

Yup, the Sun Times articles this last week led me to believe this was officially #donedeal.

I’m still kinda shocked the Bears figured out a way to maneuver here. They are the least politically savvy sports organization I know of.

[dgies9156]

Yup, the Sun Times articles this last week led me to believe this was officially #donedeal.

I’m still kinda shocked the Bears figured out a way to maneuver here. They are the least politically savvy sports organization I know of.

Perhaps, but look at the doofuses on the other side. They are the least politically savvy politicians I can imagine, much less know of.