Week 2 GDT: Bears at Buccaneers

[BEAR FACE DOWN ARROW]

How would you fix the Bears right now?  We can roll over and moan all the want as fans, but the players and coaches have to be working overdrive to figure out how to get right against the Bucs.  What do you think would work?  For me:

Defense:  Admit that being so rigidly locked on to the scheme that works on paper doesn't work if you have a weak DL.  Coaches can be stubborn and I worry that they're going to run the same pressure all the time because it's what they were brought here to do, and if/when it doesn't work they want you to understand that they just don't have their 3T. I'm hoping George doesn't actually know what a 3T is, and fans and the scoreboard don't actually care what excuses schemes not working.   Look across the field and realize you can absolutely rattle Baker Mayfield, but not by giving him all day to throw.  Maybe send last years leading sack artist from safety up front? A patient plan let Jordan Love look like Rodgers, you're going to have bring more pressure in creative uncomfortable ways that risk a big play down the field.  

Offense: It's a good goal to improve Justin Fields pocket passing, anticipatory throws and timing.  I think they spent a lot of training camp on that, but trying to mold him needs to be an offseason goal and not something to "try" in season. A hard turn towards things we know worked last year;  moving pockets, play action, and (ugh) designed QB runs judiciously added to the play sheet. I would force the issue and give half field reads where Moore is the primary a couple pass plays in a row.  Fields had great stretches last year where a little success bred more success so I think he needs to feel on top of things before he's going to put positive drives togehter,  so force it a bit by giving it to your best offensive weapon.   If nothing else, you can say it's a positive that you put all that offensive mud on tape last week so the Bucs won't really know what to prepare for. 

Personnel:  If you're ever going to set  a tone with players, I think you need to hold Claypool up in front of the team in way that puts him on the spot and not the coaches for letting it slide.  If not, you're committing to having the players keeping the players accountable, which can work but I see no reason to think there are leaders in the players who will do that, which is just a reality for some teams and not others.  This team isn't mature enough for that, and if I was playing with Claypool and saw the effort and (reported) tantrums and nothing happened, why would I bring my a game if the QB isn't feeding me, or if I'm not getting the blocking help?

I'm very dumb, so still think the Bears win this one, and if they do I think it's going to be by recalling what worked as a change-up last season, and what they have as strengths to cover weaknesses as opposed to hoping the players fit the plan. 

Watching this game in a very passive way without lots of people coming over, don't want that bad mood until the Bears prove otherwise.  If the winds up I might watch it on tape later. 

[TankWilliams]

38 minutes ago, BEAR FACE DOWN ARROW said:

Offense: It's a good goal to improve Justin Fields pocket passing, anticipatory throws and timing.  I think they spent a lot of training camp on that, but trying to mold him needs to be an offseason goal and not something to "try" in season. A hard turn towards things we know worked last year;  moving pockets, play action, and (ugh) designed QB runs judiciously added to the play sheet. I would force the issue and give half field reads where Moore is the primary a couple pass plays in a row.  Fields had great stretches last year where a little success bred more success so I think he needs to feel on top of things before he's going to put positive drives togehter,  so force it a bit by giving it to your best offensive weapon.   If nothing else, you can say it's a positive that you put all that offensive mud on tape last week so the Bucs won't really know what to prepare for.

It seemed to me last week the Bears tried way too much to be cute and overly creative with their play design before they even got the fundamentals even slightly in place.  JT O'Sullivan's video on the playcalling was pretty eye opening about how stupid they schemed the game and its like they are pushing so hard to force Fields to pass more that they didn't use his biggest strength which is clearly his running and evasiveness.  Last year was fun to watch most of the time even though they were bad, largely because there was excitement on the offense, and last Sunday was probably the most miserable game I've watched as a bears fan in a decade.  

Edited September 15, 2023 by TankWilliams

[SLCbear]

39 minutes ago, BEAR FACE DOWN ARROW said:

How would you fix the Bears right now?  We can roll over and moan all the want as fans, but the players and coaches have to be working overdrive to figure out how to get right against the Bucs.  What do you think would work?  For me:

Defense:  Admit that being so rigidly locked on to the scheme that works on paper doesn't work if you have a weak DL.  Coaches can be stubborn and I worry that they're going to run the same pressure all the time because it's what they were brought here to do, and if/when it doesn't work they want you to understand that they just don't have their 3T. I'm hoping George doesn't actually know what a 3T is, and fans and the scoreboard don't actually care what excuses schemes not working.   Look across the field and realize you can absolutely rattle Baker Mayfield, but not by giving him all day to throw.  Maybe send last years leading sack artist from safety up front? A patient plan let Jordan Love look like Rodgers, you're going to have bring more pressure in creative uncomfortable ways that risk a big play down the field.  

Offense: It's a good goal to improve Justin Fields pocket passing, anticipatory throws and timing.  I think they spent a lot of training camp on that, but trying to mold him needs to be an offseason goal and not something to "try" in season. A hard turn towards things we know worked last year;  moving pockets, play action, and (ugh) designed QB runs judiciously added to the play sheet. I would force the issue and give half field reads where Moore is the primary a couple pass plays in a row.  Fields had great stretches last year where a little success bred more success so I think he needs to feel on top of things before he's going to put positive drives togehter,  so force it a bit by giving it to your best offensive weapon.   If nothing else, you can say it's a positive that you put all that offensive mud on tape last week so the Bucs won't really know what to prepare for. 

Personnel:  If you're ever going to set  a tone with players, I think you need to hold Claypool up in front of the team in way that puts him on the spot and not the coaches for letting it slide.  If not, you're committing to having the players keeping the players accountable, which can work but I see no reason to think there are leaders in the players who will do that, which is just a reality for some teams and not others.  This team isn't mature enough for that, and if I was playing with Claypool and saw the effort and (reported) tantrums and nothing happened, why would I bring my a game if the QB isn't feeding me, or if I'm not getting the blocking help?

I'm very dumb, so still think the Bears win this one, and if they do I think it's going to be by recalling what worked as a change-up last season, and what they have as strengths to cover weaknesses as opposed to hoping the players fit the plan. 

Watching this game in a very passive way without lots of people coming over, don't want that bad mood until the Bears prove otherwise.  If the winds up I might watch it on tape later. 

DO WHAT WE SAID WE WERE GOING TO DO  ! Do what this particular group of talent does best  RUN THE BALL RUN THE BALL RUN THE BALL  

Look what the Eagles did on the ground last night  ! there were 2 scoring drives iirc that had like 15+ rushes each drive. And I saw big pass plays to Brown after running it 9x in a row. Fields has way more talent than Jalen fricking Hurts  but they are the Eagles and we are the stupid never learning Bears

 ...I get that we want to expand JFs overall presense, passing esp but we need a dominant OLine and to Establish the run first ! Pound the ball. JF imay be part of the running at  select times which gets him comfortable and flowing and THEN try to make plays with his arm to his weapons

 JF is not calm and relaxed and feeling things out. Every play seems to stack more and more pressure and we never find  consistent chemistry or rhythm 

 We know JF can throw, we know he has an exceptional deep ball. We know he can run and break tackles and score with his legs  at anytime.  Get all of this going at a very high level, establish identity, then work off of it. 

 JF is top 1 at rushing, can be top 15 at throwing and maybe top 20 at processing. We can win alot with this kind of QB 

Establish the trenches !  Its ALWAYS in the TRENCHES   

  Stevenson is looking okay but not draftingJMS, doing ALOT more to establish the Oline huge misstep. 

[BEAR FACE DOWN ARROW]

13 minutes ago, SLCbear said:

 

Look what the Eagles did on the ground last night  ! there were 2 scoring drives iirc that had like 15+ rushes each drive. And I saw big pass plays to Brown after running it 9x in a row. Fields has way more talent than Jalen fricking Hurts  but they are the Eagles and we are the stupid never learning Bears

 

You know, I was watching that game and what the Eagles did was really rude, not in the spirit of football at all.  They clearly had their game plan, which wasn't working very well, and then they ran the ball a bit, and when it seemed to work they started doing it over and over again until it didn't work and then they did something else.  How in the **** are the Vikings supposed to keep up if they are changing their plan as they go?

[SLCbear]

1 hour ago, BEAR FACE DOWN ARROW said:

How would you fix the Bears right now?  We can roll over and moan all the want as fans, but the players and coaches have to be working overdrive to figure out how to get right against the Bucs.  What do you think would work?  For me:

Defense:  Admit that being so rigidly locked on to the scheme that works on paper doesn't work if you have a weak DL.  Coaches can be stubborn and I worry that they're going to run the same pressure all the time because it's what they were brought here to do, and if/when it doesn't work they want you to understand that they just don't have their 3T. I'm hoping George doesn't actually know what a 3T is, and fans and the scoreboard don't actually care what excuses schemes not working.   Look across the field and realize you can absolutely rattle Baker Mayfield, but not by giving him all day to throw.  Maybe send last years leading sack artist from safety up front? A patient plan let Jordan Love look like Rodgers, you're going to have bring more pressure in creative uncomfortable ways that risk a big play down the field.  

Offense: It's a good goal to improve Justin Fields pocket passing, anticipatory throws and timing.  I think they spent a lot of training camp on that, but trying to mold him needs to be an offseason goal and not something to "try" in season. A hard turn towards things we know worked last year;  moving pockets, play action, and (ugh) designed QB runs judiciously added to the play sheet. I would force the issue and give half field reads where Moore is the primary a couple pass plays in a row.  Fields had great stretches last year where a little success bred more success so I think he needs to feel on top of things before he's going to put positive drives togehter,  so force it a bit by giving it to your best offensive weapon.   If nothing else, you can say it's a positive that you put all that offensive mud on tape last week so the Bucs won't really know what to prepare for. 

Personnel:  If you're ever going to set  a tone with players, I think you need to hold Claypool up in front of the team in way that puts him on the spot and not the coaches for letting it slide.  If not, you're committing to having the players keeping the players accountable, which can work but I see no reason to think there are leaders in the players who will do that, which is just a reality for some teams and not others.  This team isn't mature enough for that, and if I was playing with Claypool and saw the effort and (reported) tantrums and nothing happened, why would I bring my a game if the QB isn't feeding me, or if I'm not getting the blocking help?

I'm very dumb, so still think the Bears win this one, and if they do I think it's going to be by recalling what worked as a change-up last season, and what they have as strengths to cover weaknesses as opposed to hoping the players fit the plan. 

Watching this game in a very passive way without lots of people coming over, don't want that bad mood until the Bears prove otherwise.  If the winds up I might watch it on tape later. 

I think we win this one too. Way too much sleep walking, headscratch moments in Game 1. I have never seen anything like this on an opening day EVER  

  Game 1 way more outlier I think and not a sound reflection of overall roster talent and coaching capacity  

 ....BUT when such awful performances come vs GB in home opener after HYpeFilled offseason  it all feels soo much worse, toxic even 🤭

 

[SLCbear]

50 minutes ago, SLCbear said:

DO WHAT WE SAID WE WERE GOING TO DO  ! Do what this particular group of talent does best  RUN THE BALL RUN THE BALL RUN THE BALL  

Look what the Eagles did on the ground last night  ! there were 2 scoring drives iirc that had like 15+ rushes each drive. And I saw big pass plays to Brown after running it 9x in a row. Fields has way more talent than Jalen fricking Hurts  but they are the Eagles and we are the stupid never learning Bears

 ...I get that we want to expand JFs overall presense, passing esp but we need a dominant OLine and to Establish the run first ! Pound the ball. JF imay be part of the running at  select times which gets him comfortable and flowing and THEN try to make plays with his arm to his weapons

 JF is not calm and relaxed and feeling things out. Every play seems to stack more and more pressure and we never find  consistent chemistry or rhythm 

 We know JF can throw, we know he has an exceptional deep ball. We know he can run and break tackles and score with his legs  at anytime.  Get all of this going at a very high level, establish identity, then work off of it. 

 JF is top 1 at rushing, can be top 15 at throwing and maybe top 20 at processing. We can win alot with this kind of QB 

Establish the trenches !  Its ALWAYS in the TRENCHES   

  Stevenson is looking okay but not draftingJMS, doing ALOT more to establish the Oline huge misstep. 

My all caps RANTING is directed at Bears & Flus not your post@BEAR FACE DOWN ARROW

[SLCbear]

[Madmike90]

https://x.com/AdamHoge/status/1702750012621361322?s=20

Hope everything is okay with Williams but honestly Flus needs to take back play calling on defence all the time.

[Sugashane]

1 hour ago, BEAR FACE DOWN ARROW said:

How would you fix the Bears right now?  We can roll over and moan all the want as fans, but the players and coaches have to be working overdrive to figure out how to get right against the Bucs.  What do you think would work?  For me:

Defense:  Admit that being so rigidly locked on to the scheme that works on paper doesn't work if you have a weak DL.  Coaches can be stubborn and I worry that they're going to run the same pressure all the time because it's what they were brought here to do, and if/when it doesn't work they want you to understand that they just don't have their 3T. I'm hoping George doesn't actually know what a 3T is, and fans and the scoreboard don't actually care what excuses schemes not working.   Look across the field and realize you can absolutely rattle Baker Mayfield, but not by giving him all day to throw.  Maybe send last years leading sack artist from safety up front? A patient plan let Jordan Love look like Rodgers, you're going to have bring more pressure in creative uncomfortable ways that risk a big play down the field.  

Offense: It's a good goal to improve Justin Fields pocket passing, anticipatory throws and timing.  I think they spent a lot of training camp on that, but trying to mold him needs to be an offseason goal and not something to "try" in season. A hard turn towards things we know worked last year;  moving pockets, play action, and (ugh) designed QB runs judiciously added to the play sheet. I would force the issue and give half field reads where Moore is the primary a couple pass plays in a row.  Fields had great stretches last year where a little success bred more success so I think he needs to feel on top of things before he's going to put positive drives togehter,  so force it a bit by giving it to your best offensive weapon.   If nothing else, you can say it's a positive that you put all that offensive mud on tape last week so the Bucs won't really know what to prepare for. 

Personnel:  If you're ever going to set  a tone with players, I think you need to hold Claypool up in front of the team in way that puts him on the spot and not the coaches for letting it slide.  If not, you're committing to having the players keeping the players accountable, which can work but I see no reason to think there are leaders in the players who will do that, which is just a reality for some teams and not others.  This team isn't mature enough for that, and if I was playing with Claypool and saw the effort and (reported) tantrums and nothing happened, why would I bring my a game if the QB isn't feeding me, or if I'm not getting the blocking help?

I'm very dumb, so still think the Bears win this one, and if they do I think it's going to be by recalling what worked as a change-up last season, and what they have as strengths to cover weaknesses as opposed to hoping the players fit the plan. 

Watching this game in a very passive way without lots of people coming over, don't want that bad mood until the Bears prove otherwise.  If the winds up I might watch it on tape later. 

Here is my quick take:

Offense -
Fields needs to pass and pass a lot. I don't care much about the wins and losses this season, this season should be 100% about proving Fields can be a franchise cornerstone. Can he make reads? Can he see whether the defense is likely in Cover 2 or 3? Can he attack all levels? If I'm calling plays I am calling 75-80% pass plays and getting them to him fast. Fields has full control of motions, and if he feels there is an advantage or disadvantage then he has full ability to audible. Tom Moore called pass plays and each had a run that could be audibled to easily to the left and right. Manning could further adjust gaps and so on. Out Fields in that same role. Fields is suppose to be super intelligent, right? Let him use it then. 

Get the call in fast because you can still talk with him until like 15 seconds on the playclock. Feed him information. QB coach will be the one getting personnel together and called out to make quick changes while the OC is deciding what play to call. And yes I am switching personnel then finding a play for it. I want to move around and try to attack a mismatch.

Pockets will be moving a lot because you have a weak IOL with Patrick and a hobbled Whitehair (and Davis being so far out of his normal ability due to sitting out), and Kmet is a good blocking end. You also have Lewis who is an extra OL who can make the occasional catch and Tonyan who isn't a great but is a willing blocker. They should chip regularly. Help set the edge and let Fields/RBs get to the edge when possible. Also Fields is the best running QB in the league. Get him in space, make the defense concerned about his legs. If the EDGE are focused on maintaining contain first, they aren't able to pin their ears back fully. If LBs are stepping forward to help clog potential running lanes then that means there is a bigger gap between them and the safeties. If a ball gets dropped over the LB and Moore/Mooney/Jones/Scott are in space that is going to be a damn hard chase for them to catch these guys. The whole point of getting so much speed (I thought) was to allow Fields to get them the ball in stride for YAC and to pressure the defense at all levels - which creates bigger passing lanes/zones to sit in. 

While I am calling 80ish% pass plays I am not running a Leach offense. Fields knows the value of running and if the OC sees there is a lane that should be pushed to Fields immediately for the adjustment. But I absolutely want to see the end of season with 550ish attempts. I want 32-33 attempts, even if a lot of them are dump offs and quick hits too. Fields needs to BE the offense if he is going to be 15% of the total team's cap he needs to be able to produce really well when he is only accounting for like 3%. 

Spread the damn defense out. Pre and post snap. IDK what the hell is going on when there were two receivers so frequently being in the same area but even the option reads due to leverage (which are usually only 1 player per side I thought) shouldn't even have the alternative route go to the same sector of the field another route is going. Unless it is a pick play they need to spread the defense out. I personally like the idea of going 11 and moving pieces all around. Kmet can be an effective blocker whether his hand is in the dirt or if he is in a slot. Put him at the Z and bubble screen outside of him to try and get your slot a lane up the sideline. Hell put Lewis inline, Tonyan and Kmet split and whatever WR you think will put some effort into their blocking (Claypool SHOULD be perfect here if he gets his head out of his ***) and then play bully ball for a few plays. If they are in nickel then run it down their throat. Herbert/Johnson should be able to gash them and Fields is always a major risk to run. If they go heavy then Claypool/Moore (my personal pick) or the TEs should be able to make a few plays. The QB coach should have the switch and as soon as the communications go back on as the playclock resets relay the personnel to Fields so he can yell the adjustment to his teammates. If I see they change DL personnel I'm switching these every damn play from the "heavy 11 (which is actually 3 TEs)" to a speed package. The DL will get to run a play, run off the field, run back on the field, run another play, run off again, etc. Wash rinse repeat. Our OL gets to rest between plays, I don't want their DL to get to. If they don't switch then we look for mismatches and relay that to Fields. If I want to slow the passrush then spreading the defense out with 4 wide and a slot TE that can be moved and audibled to be a chip blocker can help a lot. 

Fields is either going to look like a stud or a bust, but the questions on whether he can do it or not will be almost completely resolved. 

 

 

Defense: 

The Bears don't have much in the terms of passrush but have a lot of size/strength. Honestly the only way to potentially create pressure with this group is to design it. Bears will have to blitz to create pressure. Sure, Yannick likely gets his 8-10 sacks but that is 8-10 plays, maybe 2 or 3 times that for pressures over the course of the year, so he affected at most 40 dropbacks though the year (clearly a flawed stat but just using it to be simple and make a point). That leaves a hell of a lot of passes to try and pressure from other spots and this team doesn't have a solid complimentary EDGE. Jones was always JAG, Dexter and Pickens are going to need time to adjust and develop. Walker is a lot better passrusher (from what I saw last year) as a 3T than an EDGE. So pressure has to be schemed. You have Edmunds, Sanborn, and Edwards as LBs. Edmunds is a freakish athlete and Sanborn is a dog, try to open gaps for them to shoot. If you have Billings in there he isn't getting much pressure so try to have him create a gap. I'm fine with him getting 4-5 defensive holdings per year if it means he helps get 8-10 QB hits too. Dexter, Pickens, Jones, and Walker are all at least solid athletes as far as DTs go. Stunt them. Try to just cause the OL to miss a block and open a lane for someone to come in. 

I'm rotating players every 2-3 plays. Not the whole line but I doubt I have anyone out there on the DL for 6 straight plays. You're rarely going to out-talent the OL with this group, so you MUST be relentless. I'm rotating someone every 2-3 plays. 

For EDGE there isn't much speed/athleticism out there except Yannick and Robinson. Honestly I might even go heavy inside on some plays then have them both go wide-9. If the OTs have to really stretch out for them then hopefully one of Edmunds/Edwards/Sanborn finds they have no one running a route and is able to rush through a lane. If Yannick is out and Robinson is in, he is doing a wide-9 almost exclusively like Irvin did for SEA years ago. 

For DBs, be physical. No soft outside leverage on 3rd and 4. Piss on that. I'm blitzing often so someone should be able to create some pressure, but that means a lot of the time they are on islands. Be tough, be physical, and accept that sometimes you're going  to give up a chunk play. Deal with it and keep moving on. This isn't going to be a DB-friendly system with the lack of talent in rushing the passer. But I'd rather have a QB getting hit regularly then long-developing routes that they can find zones in. You're going to give up yards and there will be more broken plays in total, but there is no way in hell there won't be more opportunities for INTs than in 2022. Just over 2 QB hits per game and a 4% sack percentage? **** that. Safeties will be over the top primarily, and if there is a single stud receiver then one will almost always stay over the top on that one.  Some teams with elite QBs or crazy talent will absolutely cook you, but in no way should a QB ever end the game as clean as he was when the game started. Love's was after week one and it was disgusting. 

 

[TankWilliams]

19 minutes ago, Madmike90 said:

https://x.com/AdamHoge/status/1702750012621361322?s=20

Hope everything is okay with Williams but honestly Flus needs to take back play calling on defence all the time.

"Personal Reasons" sure has been thrown around a lot this year

[Ty21]

I took this as Williams is quitting. Said he isn’t traveling with the team and flus isn’t sure if he’ll be back after. 

[Madmike90]

16 minutes ago, TankWilliams said:

"Personal Reasons" sure has been thrown around a lot this year

I think it really could be anything but if the foil hat is going on we made a huge push to try and get Chris Harris in the building in the offseason...Williams IMO seems like a good DB coach but pretty terrible DC...he seems to have very little feel for play calling and is far too conservative on big downs...Flus should bring about a big improvement this weekend.

[BEAR FACE DOWN ARROW]

Wow.  I guess if the Bears are going to stink, at least the drama might be entertaining? For a coaching staff that was supposed to be solid over innovative,  competent and steady etc etc these guys sure did throw out a haphazard team last week, and this week they don't exactly seem to have it all together.  What's the over/under on Eberflus having a face tattoo by week 6?  

[Madmike90]

1 hour ago, Ty21 said:

I took this as Williams is quitting. Said he isn’t traveling with the team and flus isn’t sure if he’ll be back after. 

When I read Williams wasn't traveling I took it that it could mean anything but having just watched Flus talk about it now I think there might be more behind this than something personal...

Flus says Kyler Gordon is going for hand surgery then says "we will keep him in our prayers" & "His team mates have been talking to him & he is in a good spot mentally"

Then moves on to say Williams and says he won't travel for personal reasons and he will be assuming his responsibilities...and then nothing...no we hope he is good we are thinking of him we hope he can return soon...nothing...just moves on...

Weird one.

[Ty21]

18 minutes ago, Madmike90 said:

Weird one.

Right, i instantly wondered if it was him quitting or actually getting (quietly) fired. But you don’t fire a scapegoat this early in the season unless he was behaving in a way that made letting him go right now appropriate.