Bears at Lions - Week 1

[dll2000]

Lions started a game thread and I commented in it.  I wanted to put comment here and didn't have a place so I created a thread.

Sorry if it is too early for some.

Bears scouting report based off last year and camp rumors/news/highlights.

Offense:

QB is big question, but I think O Line and TEs were so bad last year that MT looked way worse than he actually is.  Not saying he is good, but he isn't 2019 bad, which is beyond awful.   So whether it is MT again or Foles, I think either will be provide better play than Bears saw last year.   

I think interior of our O line will be much improved over last year in which it was abysmal outside of Whitehair.  Long was washed and Daniels was lost at center and didn't come into year prepared to play.   Ifedi shores up RG and Daniels and Whitehair are settled into their positions.  

That being said  I think our OTs, especially RT Massie are weak.

By all reports our TEs are looking great in camp.   Graham was reportedly washed, but has looked very good and motivated.  Kmet is exceeding expectations.   Bears had zero TE production last year so it may have gone from weakest part of offense to a moderate strength.   I think they will be sub par in blocking, but will present a valid mid range receiving threat.  Harris is also supposedly looking very good.   

RB:  Montgomery is hurt.  Was looking great.  That is a catastrophic loss as Bears have no quality bell cow replacement.  Only niche players in Cohen and Patterson and low quality back ups.  Bears were planning to run O through him I believe.  

WRs:  Allen Robinson is a stud, but is nursing an ankle.  He should be fine.   Miller is reportedly having his best camp and is getting actual compliments rather than coach speak compliments.  Rookie Mooney is getting a lot of run with first team, but has dropped some deep balls.  He is lightening fast, but tiny.   I think Mooney and Ginn are going to split time at 3rd WR and provide the speed threat.

Defense:

DL:   Goldman opted out.  That hurts.   Nichols is reportedly much improved and is looking good.   Hicks has been nursing a quad, but is a stud if healthy.   Rest of guys can play and are not weak, but are nothing special either.   Any injury to Hicks or Nichols will be a disaster.  

Edge:  Mack and Quinn - if healthy could be best duo in league.   Good luck with that if they are 100%.  This is strength of the team.   Cavaet is Quinn doesn't play as well without hand in dirt and it isn't clear how Bears are going to use him as he has not practiced much and they have not disclosed it.

ILB:  Roquan Smith and Danny Trevathan - on paper they are great.  Potentially amongst best in league.  But Smith while amazing in flashes has not lived up to draft status to date.  We'll see how he does this year.  Depth is poor and untested.  

CB:  Fuller is having his best camp ever reportedly.   Nobody else has been doing much of note, but rookie Johnson just started practicing and has reportedly impressed early and is already moving straight to CB2.

SCB:  Skrine - probably a slightly below average player, but he doesn't kill you.

Overall depth seems to be really weak at CB, but starters should be okay.   

FS:  Jackson - looks unbelievable.  Should be amongst best in league this year again.   To lose him would be a disaster for Bears as safety depth is weak.  

SS:  Bush or Gipson - neither has been named starter and neither are great, but neither totally suck either.   

Special Teams:

Cohen and Patterson are probably the best returners in league as a duo at KR and PR.

Our kicker is hurt and he isn't that great.  So we got someone off street.   Kicking could be an issue again.  

Game:

I think it is team strength on strength.   Our relatively bad offense against your relatively bad defense and your good offense against our good defense.

Vegas has you as a 3 pt. favorite.  That is about right.  Close match up on paper.

It will come down to who has better game plan I think.   Bears are terrible in openers under Nagy and during long breaks.  But he has done very well against the Lions.

I think the Lions have large edge in big play or chunk play ability.  If they can capitalize on some of those plays and some Bears turnovers I think they win fairly easy.

On other hand, if Bears edge players can get to Stafford and create turnovers it could be a long day for Lions.  

I think Nagy will be loathe to run the ball without Montgomery or will rely too much on gimmick runs rather than trusting his base plays.  I think that will hurt.   I think Bears probably win this comfortably with a healthy Montgomery.  As it is I have to give edge to Lions just like Vegas.  

I think whoever is ahead at half is going to go on to win game barring a major injury.

 

[dll2000]

Its being widely reported that Okudah, the 3rd overall pick, may not start week 1.   He is not the current starter in camp.

Not because of injury, but because of performance.   Yikes.   

If this was happening in Chicago fans would apoplectic right now about it, especially coming off a season that saw you get 3rd overall pick.   

Heck if Johnson doesn’t start fans are going to be upset.  

That being said, I think it would still be surprising if this guy doesn’t turn out to be a good player in long run.

[beardown3231]

11 minutes ago, dll2000 said:

Its being widely reported that Okudah, the 3rd overall pick, may not start week 1.   He is not the current starter in camp.

Not because of injury, but because of performance.   Yikes.   

If this was happening in Chicago fans would apoplectic right now about it, especially coming off a season that saw you get 3rd overall pick.   

Heck if Johnson doesn’t start fans are going to be upset.  

That being said, I think it would still be surprising if this guy doesn’t turn out to be a good player in long run.

It also could be because Matt Patricia is a f***ing lunatic who's obsessed with HIS way thanks to what Brady and Belichick did for him.

[dll2000]

Detroit is going to be tempted to go after rookie or non-Jackson safety.  

If it is me I go after Skrine.  Skrine is the weakest link on Bears D IMO.

Also single block the DL away from Hicks/Mack side on runs and get hats on ILBs will create best run success.

 

 

[dll2000]

1 minute ago, dll2000 said:

Detroit is going to be tempted to go after rookie or non-Jackson safety.  

If it is me I go after Skrine.  Skrine is the weakest link on Bears D IMO.

Also single block the DL away from Hicks/Mack side on runs and get hats on ILBs will create best run success.

 

 

Quinn will most often swing wide and deep on his rushes.  It will often create a running lane.  Though when anchoring Quinn is surprisingly good against run.

He just needs to swing wide to set up his pass rush.  If he gets caught out on a run play it can create a lane like I said.  

 

[dll2000]

4 minutes ago, beardown3231 said:

It also could be because Matt Patricia is a f***ing lunatic who's obsessed with HIS way thanks to what Brady and Belichick did for him.

It appears Patricia can’t be Belichick without Belichick having his back. 

Reportedly Okudah is screwing up assignments and that is why he isn’t starting.  Patricia wants a culture first and foremost and he can’t have that or reward it.

Establishing a culture is harder than it looks he is finding out.  

[dll2000]

2 minutes ago, dll2000 said:

It appears Patricia can’t be Belichick without Belichick having his back. 

Reportedly Okudah is screwing up assignments and that is why he isn’t starting.  Patricia wants a culture first and foremost and he can’t have that or reward it.

Establishing a culture is harder than it looks he is finding out.  

I feel for him.  You need complimentary pieces in a staff or organization and ones that know how to adapt to the level -HS, college, pro.    

For example; I coached for years with a guy who was a former D1 college LB, very charismatic and loud and intense.  I am not that way.  I seldom yell.  I coach with logic and whys and concentrate on schemes.  I also don’t have great charisma.  IRL I have a dry sarcastic sense of humor.  I have little patience for parental complaints about position choices.  Not everyone’s cup of tea.  I get that.  

We paired very well together.  When I coached apart from him I found I missed that loud voice and presence.  It was needed to compliment me.  If I didn’t have guy like that with me the staff wasn’t as good.

Nor was he as good without me. 

I brought a guy in that was just like except smarter.  A near genius.  Maybe a genius.  But we didn’t compliment each other.  We over lapped in too many ways.  Not that I am anything close to a genius.  But our styles were the same.  

 

 

[dll2000]

1 minute ago, dll2000 said:

I feel for him.  You need complimentary pieces in a staff or organization and ones that know how to adapt to the level -HS, college, pro.    

For example; I coached for years with a guy who was a former D1 college LB, very charismatic and loud and intense.  I am not that way.  I seldom yell.  I coach with logic and whys and concentrate on schemes.  I also don’t have great charisma.  IRL I have a dry sarcastic sense of humor.  I have little patience for parental complaints about position choices.  Not everyone’s cup of tea.  I get that.  

We paired very well together.  When I coached apart from him I found I missed that loud voice and presence.  It was needed to compliment me.  If I didn’t have guy like that with me the staff wasn’t as good.

Nor was he as good without me. 

I brought a guy in that was just like except smarter.  A near genius.  Maybe a genius.  But we didn’t compliment each other.  We over lapped in too many ways.  Not that I am anything close to a genius.  But our styles were the same.  

 

 

And even if you had all Belichick’s talent and skill, you can’t be him.  You don’t come in with same cache and respect and control necessary to act and coach as he does. 

[SLCbear]

who hell is our starting RB  ?? cohen ??! I cannot believe Pace has not signed someone .... maybe we are in for a big surprise with Pierce  and Team has manages to keep him a secret  ... idk, shocking to me backup rb or 2headed rb has not been addressed  !

[beardown3231]

The Lions have signed Adrian Peterson

[Epyon]

21 hours ago, SLCbear said:

who hell is our starting RB  ?? cohen ??! I cannot believe Pace has not signed someone .... maybe we are in for a big surprise with Pierce  and Team has manages to keep him a secret  ... idk, shocking to me backup rb or 2headed rb has not been addressed  !

Pierce was cut, likely going to the practice squad. 

Right now it's Nall, Cohen, Monty, and Patterson. 

Though Kerrith Whyte was cut by the Steelers, and we could undo the mistake of letting him get poached the first time. He's actually shown something in actual NFL games as well as looking more impressive than Nall ever has to me (and seeing as how Nall still beat out Peirce)... Whyte also had a pretty serious speed factor that I think our rb depth could use. 

[Epyon]

1 hour ago, beardown3231 said:

The Lions have signed Adrian Peterson

This is actually a bit of a concern... The lack of a running game was always a major factor in the lions being the bottom of the north for most of the past 2 decades. 

[The_Romen]

20 minutes ago, Epyon said:

This is actually a bit of a concern... The lack of a running game was always a major factor in the lions being the bottom of the north for most of the past 2 decades. 

Emphasis on bit. It's extremely unlikely he goes for 100+ on this defense. He could get a couple tough goalline TDs though, just being so tough to bring down, even at 35 years old.

[dll2000]

it will be interesting to see what they come up with for running game in game 1.  Especially if Monty doesn’t play.  

I can guarantee Lions game plan will be focused on stopping run and mid range passing game.   

[SLCbear]

1 hour ago, Epyon said:

Pierce was cut, likely going to the practice squad. 

Right now it's Nall, Cohen, Monty, and Patterson. 

Though Kerrith Whyte was cut by the Steelers, and we could undo the mistake of letting him get poached the first time. He's actually shown something in actual NFL games as well as looking more impressive than Nall ever has to me (and seeing as how Nall still beat out Peirce)... Whyte also had a pretty serious speed factor that I think our rb depth could use. 

monty must be looking well enough to play ... and ya Nall  looks more or less fringe to me, I really do not get the plan at RB going into the season even if monty is fully healthy. Patterson is not an answer, I missed the Pierce release ... what are we doing  ??