Thoughts and Observations: Week 5 [Vikings]

[WindyCity]

-I am not sure what was going on with Tarik Cohen last night. The jumping around and not running hard is going to have to change and he has to start taking what NFL teams are giving him. It is important for him to learn that many NFL defenses can run and that he cannot run away from them. I also thought how Loggains was using him was terrible. He wasn't lined up in the slot that often and instead they were running these gimmick plays that lost yards consistently. Let the man run some routes and be a factor in the passing game without the gimmicky stuff.

- Jordan Howard l was good again and the holding call on the 42 yard TD was a joke and cost him a great game. He was also solid in blitz pick up for the most part. The fact that he had 9 carries in the 1st half of a close game cannot happen. The Bears were in way to many 3rd and longs because they didn't run the ball or shot themselves in the foot.

- Dion Sims l was brutal all night. Outside of 1 catch he had 2 drops that hit him right in the hands and he could not block traffic with a construction sign. For 10 million guaranteed I expect significantly more from him. Based on what I saw last night I am not sure why Adam Shaheen is buried on the bench? He can drop passes and wiff on blocks and he may improve as the season goes on.

- Zach Miller l was a decent safety net. I do not blame him for the interception as it never should have been thrown. Can the Bears please start threatening the seam vertically with him? This 10 yards and in offense is brutal to watch and sucks and I get that the WRs cannot get deep, but perhaps our TEs can threaten the seam a little.

-Play Adam Shaheen l more. The Bears have limited threats in the passing game, but continue to use Shaheen only as a blocker. Let him go out there and fail a little bit, every one is failing and they do not have his upside.

- Charles Leno l struggles with Everson Griffin, he does every year. Yesterday was not a good game for Chuck and for whatever reason Griffin continues to be his worst games of the year. The sack was a beautiful jump by Griffin, but you got to do more to get him on the ground, or tackle him.

- Bobbie Massie l was surprisingly okay against one of the better young pass rushers in the league in Danielle Hunter. He can still be upgrade over, but I do not think it is as pressing as many.

-The interior OL was not sharp last night between the penalties and the missed assignments.  Kyle Long l is starting to look like his dominant self, but they did not handle the Vikings interior very well and were being pushed back.

- Cody Whitehair l might be an OG next season and the Bears may need to invest in a center in free agency or in the draft. There are just way too many snap issues every game. I counted 3 yesterday where the ball was all over the map and the play was busted before the QB caught the ball. Take the ball out of his hand and allow him to move to OG and replace Josh Sitton.

- Markus Wheaton l has been a total bust as a free agent. He was god awful last night. I didn't think his holding call was warranted, but it still brought back a 42 yard TD run and he cannot catch the ball and he cannot beat anyone deep. Where is the advertised speed? Where is the ability to separate? Where is the guy with actual NFL catches and TDs? Where is the guy making 6 million a season? He has been beyond bad in his 2 games with Glennon and was trash last night while being covered by the Vikings #2 CB. You might as well get him off the field.

- Kendall Wright l continues to be the only WR with a pulse and who can make a contested catch at the NFL level. What I do not understand is why the Bears ever take him off the field. He was not playing when the Bears were in 2 WR sets. Idiotic coaching.

- Tre McBride l showed me a little something and the offensive PI was trash. He can catch the ball and showed a couple times he can at least get by press coverage. Worth continuing to watch him.

- Josh Bellamy l is useless at everything he does. When he let the ball bounce at the 2 and into the end zone while standing right there it was again clear he has no value other than being the adopted son of John Fox. On offense he is a hot mess.

- Trubisky had an up and down start against a good defense, which was to be expected. He looked good on the run and threw the ball accurately. If they did not have drops and penalties maybe they score earlier and the Howard TD stands and they get some momentum. In the 2nd half Loggains got pantsed by Zimmer and Trubisky made mistakes and got no help. Loggains refused to send anyone down field and the Vikings just sat on everything, contested and made the tackle. The Bears were in 2nd and long or 3rd and long a ton because of penalties, poor execution, and terrible play calling. I wanted Trubisky to do more, but based on what he was working with on the field and on the sideline a solid debut.

- Dowell Loggains l sucked. The gimmick plays that lost yards, the abandoning the run, the personnel decisions at TE and WR, and the fact that they continued to run a predictable progression of plays allowed Zimmer to put the clamps on in the 2nd half. What happened to the passes to the RBs? Cohen in the slot running through the seam? Anything down field?

[WindyCity]

-Akiem Hicks is just dominant. His ability to simply bully NFL OLmen back into the QB is incredible and he does it against double teams as well. He uses his long arms and power so well to collapse the pocket. It is so nice when you pay  a guy and he continues to dominate. Forget the Pro Bowl he should be on the All Pro team as of this moment. 4 sacks in 5 games from an interior DLmen is exceptional and that does not even take into account his play against the run and in big short yardage downs.

-Jonathan Bullard is starting to get more reps and made a couple of plays in the run game, but he hardly looks like the explosive penetrator we see in the pre season. My problem is he does a lot of grabbing and looking. Another disappointing start to the regular season.

-Eddie Goldman continues to generate shocking pressure for a man his size, but he needs to have more control and finish plays. He beat Elflin yesterday, but twice could not get Keenum down for the sack.

-The ILB play to start the game was not good, but when Timu got hurt and Jones started calling the plays it became horrendous. Jones could not get the lined up properly and took some horrendous angles on long run plays by McKinnon. They need Trevathan and Kwiatowski back as soon as possible.

-Adrian Amos is bad in coverage and he continues to miss plays that many safeties would make. He had some great tackles and run support, but he does nothing in the back end that makes him more than a LB masquerading as a S. Rudolph turned him around on a couple of occasions with moves that were not even that good.

-Eddie Jackson is something. His plays in coverage were really impressive and the breakup on the sideline of the pass to Rudolph was something we have not seen from a Bears safety in a long time. His tackles in run support were also awesome. No wasted motion as he took great angles and made the tackle. The 3rd down stop that was blown by penalty was breath taking.

-Prince Amukamara continues to be okay. He doesn't make many plays, but also doesn't get worked over by anyone.

-Kyle Fuller has to be the most improved player on the Bears and continues to be solid in coverage and a physical tackler. Losing Rudolph on the TD was a tough assignment and also looked like the truf monster got him. Fuller's physicality this season has been shocking to see. He is tackling like a SS.

-The Bryce Callahan star is fading quickly. He just gets beat most of the time.

-Pernell McPhee had some nice rushes that was good to see. He has no speed yet and is reduced to almost exclusively a power rusher, but he disrupted and made a couple plays on 3rd down. I am not sure why Fangio ever drops him. He is a pylon in coverage.

-Leonard Floyd had a good game. The first sack was a coverage sack, but he cleaned it up and all good rushers have those on their totals. The 2nd sack was finally what I have been waiting to see. Hicks and Floyd worked a stunt like Aldon Smith and Justin Smith use to. Hicks is to powerful and Floyd is too fast for any OL to try and pass that off cleanly. Floyd looped beautifully and closed with the rare speed. He had a number other good rushes that led to a holding call and another a throw away. We were finally seeing him work the hands to separate from the OT. His run defense continues to be really good.

-Sam Acho is the definition of just a guy.

[Nads786]

I could not agree more about the FA class for the Bears. Every single player has been marginal at best. I also thought Eddie Jackson played really well and is quietly making the backend a better unit than the last couple of seasons. Floyd had a great game but needs to be way more consistent to make this a true next level defense. Hicks and Goldman are total beasts.

 

I was very impressed by Mitch in the first half he had so many "wow" throws but the second half really fell apart. He needs more talent around him and someone who can take the top off the D. It's becoming very obvious that anyone can beat the bears by hanging between the LOS and 10 yards.

[AZBearsFan]

I had a big problem with the play calling last night. Far too predictable. Some of that comes from personnel problems but the bulk is just outsmarting ourselves. First quarter they set Mitch up for success. After that they really didn’t. 

[G08]

2 hours ago, AZBearsFan said:

I had a big problem with the play calling last night. Far too predictable. Some of that comes from personnel problems but the bulk is just outsmarting ourselves. First quarter they set Mitch up for success. After that they really didn’t. 

The toss to Cohen on the jet sweep was stupid, the screen to Cohen was stupid, and the blocking on the screen attempts to Cunningham were garbage (if we completed the pass, though, there was a ton of yardage to be had).

More and more bros this smells like the 2016 LA Rams. Let's get experience for the kid and just gut it next season.

[Uncle Buck]

I haven't had a chance to post on this since last week, but I just wanted to say that I was very impressed with your new quarterback's play in his first start against a very good defense.  It looks you guys have a good one in Trubisky.  You did the right thing in moving up to get him in the draft.  Good luck the rest of the sesaon!