Reviving The Bears (DDSPF23)

Reviving The Bears (DDSPF23)

Postby jksander » Tue Feb 07, 2023 5:38 am

Chicago’s Bears finally have themselves the GM of the future. Jonathan Sanders, 41, who has a dozen years in various front office roles with the Colts and the Bengals, will be taking the helm of Chicago at the start of the 2023 campaign, with all eyes in the windy city watching to see if he has what it takes to bring the Bears back to prominence. The team certainly has the cap space available (nearly $88.6 million) to make free agency moves and critical trades to build depth in a roster sorely needing some momentum. Almost every area of the team needs attention, and while Justin Fields is clearly the team’s focus as the program’s future in leadership, he’s not there yet. Whether Sanders can do some negotiating to find key pieces on both offense and defense in time for the start of the season remains a question mark.

Key Early Trades
- Bears send their 2024 2nd Round Pick, TE Cole Kmet and RB Trestan Ebner to the Chiefs for TE Travis Kelce.
- Bears send their 2024 1st Round Pick to the Colts for RB Nyheim Hines and WR Mike Strachan.
- Bears trade their 2024 3rd Round Pick and 2025 1st Round Pick, plus C Lucas Patrick to the Eagles for C Jason Kelce and DT Javon Hargrave.

Those moves help a great deal with offensive options, though we were unable to make any deals for a statement WR -- though having the Kelces in our offense at tight end and center will definitely be a boost. And Nyheim Hines gives us additional depth at running back so we can keep defenses guessing. I’d really love to find a move to make to get us a boost on special teams as well, but the well is fairly dry league-wide, and those with key performers aren’t interested in giving them up.

We open the season with preseason games against Pittsburgh on the road, the LA Rams here in Chicago, and a trip down to play the Titans. We’ll then get things going with home games against Detroit and Seattle before hitting a stretch of four of five road games (at San Francisco, at Washington, here against Atlanta, at Minnesota and at Denver) before our week eight bye. By that point we’ll have a good idea of how our season is looking from a competitive standpoint, particularly in the North Division. We get Green Bay on the road in Week 13 and here in Chicago in Week 15, with our season gauntlet easing quite a bit in November and December, concluding with five home games in a row.

Should be interesting to say the least!

[ … I’ve set the season up to involve no overtime option until the playoffs -- my theory is that more ties will add additional flavor to the playoff race down the stretch, and I’m interested to see how that plays out against the AI …]
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Re: Reviving The Bears (DDSPF23)

Postby jksander » Tue Feb 07, 2023 5:39 am

Preseason Week 1
Chicago Bears (0-0-0) @ Pittsburgh Steelers (0-0-0)

We were all over the place early in this game, with the Steelers scoring quickly to take an early lead while our team made error after error, turning the ball over twice in the first eight minutes. But we managed to block a punt midway through the quarter which I hoped would give us a touch of momentum. And that it did, our offense quickly getting into the red zone and then efficiently knotting things up with a three-yard TD pass from Fields to Kelce with three minutes left in the first quarter. From there we took control, as on the next posession (following a Steelers three and out) Fields threw two perfect passes, the second of which was a 53-yard completion to Mooney to give us a 14-7 lead before the first quarter had expired!

I don’t want to read too much into a preseason game that doesn’t count, but after those opening moment jitters we were firmly running our offense and our defenders were playing well above the level we’ve seen in the past. By halftime we led 21-10, and though the remainder wasn’t always great-looking football, it served its purpose for this team. Chicago 31, Pittsburgh 24.

Fields was 9 of 13 for 131 yards, two TDs and 2 interceptions, while Lenny Pearson was 6 of 16 for 69 yards. Nyheim Hines had a great day with 92 yards on 20 carries with 2 rushing TDs, while Khalil Herbert also got 20 carries for 86 yards of his own. Eight different receivers got into the mix today with Equanimeous St. Brown, Trevon Wesco and Travis Kelce each making three catches. St. Brown (60 yards) and Darnell Mooney (2 catches, 61 yards, 1 TD) led overall.
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Re: Reviving The Bears (DDSPF23)

Postby jksander » Tue Feb 07, 2023 6:25 am

Preseason Week 2
Los Angeles Rams (0-0-0) @ Chicago Bears (0-0-0)

David Montgomery got a four yard carry for a touchdown late in the first quarter to put us up on the Rams early, 7-3. Lenny Pearson came out in the second quarter, and he had a TD pass of his own, a 2-yarder to Wesco that put us up 14-10. He’s not as confident a passer as Fields, but I think if given time to develop he’s a high quality backup in the leadership position. LB Jack Sanborn got his time in the limelight early in the third quarter when he intercepted a pass in the Red Zone off QB Bryce Perkins, returning it for 23 yards and setting us up nicely to cement our lead, though we did nothing with it. Our third-string QB, Trevor Siemian, played pretty much the entire second half and he did nothing to bolster his reputation, but the rest of the team still looked sharp, especially on defense. CB Kyler Gordon got our second takeaway with under five to play in the third quarter and us still ahead 21-10. A field goal at the end of the third quarter put us up two touchdowns and the remainder of the game was giving our remaining backups some reps. Los Angeles 10, Chicago 27.

Fields only threw seven times today, connecting on just two passes but getting 58 yards. Lenny Pearson connected on seven of ten throws for 58 yards and a TD, while Trevor Siemian completed 8 of 14 attempts for 62 yards. Neither one of those two is ready to lead this offense during a real game, but looking at how teams like the Colts have had their QB battles, there’s no reason to tempt fate by not at least putting our backups out there.

Hines and Herbert look to be our leading rushers at this point -- Hines had eight rushes for 59 yards and Herbert ran 18 times for 76 yards and a TD. David Montgomery had four rushes for 17 yards, including his first quarter TD. Trevon Wesco had our only receiving touchdown, catching four passes for 22 yards. N’Keal Harry led the team in receiving yards with 70 yards on six receptions. Kelce only caught one pass, but it was for 17 yards.
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Re: Reviving The Bears (DDSPF23)

Postby jksander » Thu Feb 09, 2023 1:14 am

The preseason polls came out today, and if journalists chose who won games, we’d be favored to win the NL North Division over Green Bay by an 11-7 vote margin -- for whatever that’s worth.

We made a couple more trades this week in the lead-up to the start of the regular season, sending our 2025 2nd Round pick and LB Nicholas Morrow to the Jaguars for LB Foyesade Oluokun. We also sent DT Justin Jones CB Lamar Jackson and DE Al-Quadin Muhammad to Atlanta for CB A.J. Terrell Jr. Those two trades will definitely help us shore up our defenses. We currently have a full 53 player active roster with four players on the practice squad, along with $47 million still free in cap space.

Preseason Week 3
Chicago Bears (0-0-0) @ Tennessee Titans (0-0-0)

Tennessee was dominant early and we were having no luck offensively at all, as the Titans built a brutal 17-0 lead on us in the first quarter of this final preseason game. So now we’d get to see how the team could do when challenged. A solid mix of running and passing success on our fourth drive of the day finally saw us making progress, only to have Fields take a sack just outside the red zone, but Santos nailed one of the best field goals I’ve ever seen from 57 yards out to put us on the board. And with 3:22 to go in the half we got our first touchdown when Fields, trying to eke out a yard for a first down on 4th and inches, ran a QB draw play that got him 16 yards for the score! We’d go into the half trailing 17-10 but holding a great deal of momentum.

A ten play drive to open the second half saw us settling for the “safe” option with a FG despite being 4th and 9 from the 11 yard line, but our backup kicker Gill shanked it wide left. From there the game was a snooze to watch, as our backups and their backups struggled to make anything happen that was worth watching. A field goal early in the 4th quarter put us within four points and that was as good as it got. Chicago 13, Tennessee 17.

Fields had his best performance so far, going 16 of 22 for 147 yards through the air along with 20 yards on two rushes including the touchdown. In the second half, meanwhile, Trevor Siemien went 12 of 24 for 122 yards but failed to hold together any drives that could lead to more than a field goal. Nyheim Hines led our rushing attack with 76 yards on 23 carries. Darnell Mooney led our receivers with 83 yards on six receptions.

I’m looking forward to seeing what this team can do with the starters carrying the load for a full sixty.
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Re: Reviving The Bears (DDSPF23)

Postby jksander » Thu Feb 09, 2023 1:17 am

Regular Season Week 1
Detroit Lions (0-0-0) @ Chicago Bears (0-0-0)

We won the coin toss and chose to defer. On the third defensive play of the game we were able to recover a fumble and ran it to just outside the red zone! We wound up eventually settling for a field goal but that put us on the board five minutes in. Who’d have thought that would be all the scoring we’d see? Well into the second half, however, that was exactly where we were, up 3-0 on the Lions in what had been a fairly frustrating game of football to that point. But after a dozen small yardage plays to get us down the field, Justin Fields had his best pass of the game to N’Keal Harry, who took the ball 34 yards for the game’s first touchdown, putting us ahead 10-0 with just four minutes remaining in the half, a lead we would take into the break.

Fields threw an interception early in the third quarter, giving the ball to the Lions just outside the midfield marker, and it looked like the Lions were going to power their way into the red zone, before Jared Goff threw one of his own and we got the ball back at the 30 yard line. Fields drove us quickly into the red zone again and passed the ball over two defenders to hit Travis Kelce in the end zone … 17-0! But Detroit went the length of the field in just three minutes to get on the board with a one yard pass from Goff to T.J. Hockenson to pull the lions within 10 with a full quarter to play. And after a drive that went nowhere, Detroit took posession like a team on a mission, driving from their own eight yard line all the way deep into our territory. Goff got a first down on his own two feet to make it back into the red zone, and a 12-yard pass into the endzone made it a three point game with just over eight minutes to play.

And at that point Fields took a moment to throw his second pick of the game, giving the ball back to the Lions just outside their kicker’s range. Unbelievable! The wheels quickly came off as D’Andre Swift got the ball and ran it in the full 40, putting us in the hole 21-17.

Fields redeemed himself with a 30-yard pass to David Montgomery to get us across mid-field with six minutes to play, giving us some room to maneuver. But he then threw a THIRD F---ING INTERCEPTION, giving the ball back to Detroit with only four minutes left in the game and time running out. Thankfully we held them to a three and out, and their field goal attempt was a n0-go. Alas, so was our offense at this point, an epic meltdown that is sure to haunt us in the divisional race as the season progresses. Detroit 21, Chicago 17.

Fields finished at 23 of 40 with 241 yards to go with two touchdowns and three pick-sixes. Our running game led to over 100 yards but our leader, Montgomery, only managed 42 yards on 22 attempts. N’Keal Harry led our receivers with 82 yards on five receptions including a touchdown, while Travis Kelce caught four passes for 37 yards and a touchdown.

Other Week 1 results:

Seattle Seahawks 10, San Francisco 23
Miami Dolphins 17, Buffalo Bills 28
Kansas City Chiefs 31, Denver Broncos 7
Pittsburgh Steelers 13, Cleveland Browns 34
LA Rams 33, Arizona Cardinals 14
NY Giants 7, Dallas Cowboys 29
Washington Commanders 20, Philadelphia Eagles 28
Carolina Panthers 31, Atlanta Falcons 28
Tennessee Titans 17, Jacksonville Jaguars 27
Minnesota Vikings 26, Green Bay Packers 29
NY Jets 6, New England Patriots 34
LA Chargers 19, Las Vegas Raiders 9
Cincinnati Bengals 34, Baltimore Ravens 27
Tampa Bay Buccaneers 6, New Orleans 23
Indianapolis Colts 26, Houston Texans 6
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Re: Reviving The Bears (DDSPF23)

Postby jksander » Thu Feb 09, 2023 2:44 am

Regular Season Week 2
Seattle Seahawks (0-1-0) @ Chicago Bears (0-1-0)

We won the toss and chose to defer until the second half. Like last week we got the ball back quickly after a four and out from the Seahawks, but the best we could make of the short field was a 32-yard field goal by Santos, but it put us on the board up 3-0 with barely four minutes played. But Seattle went the length of the field on their next posession and were able to take the lead on a short pass from Drew Lock to running back DeeJay Dallas just a few minutes later. We countered with a second field goal, this one from 43 yards with two minutes left in the quarter to pull within a point. We were able to block a field goal on the other end a minute into the second quarter, but on our first play of the next drive Justin Fields got flustered in the pocket and threw an absolutely ghastly interception to Seahawks CB Tariq Woolen who took it 42 yards for a touchdown, putting us down 14-6 with 13 minutes to go in the half. We had nothing that worked on offense the remainder of the half, and Seattle’s Rashaad Perry ran in a four-yarder to end the half with Seattle up 21-6.

Fields looked absolutely flummoxed as he came out as flat as ever to start the third quarter, leading to a quick four and out, and defensively we were struggling just as badly, giving up another massive touchdown four minutes in (a 32-yard reception for Seattle’s Tyler Lockett) and suddenly we were in a three-score hole with no room for error if we were to have a chance of keeping things respectable.

We put together our first legitimate drive of the day from there, but were again stymied in the redzone by our own penalties and an inability to make anything happen when it counted. Settling for a third field goal (from 41 yards) by Santos after two holding penalties, we trailed 28-9 with four minutes to go in the third. But we got the ball back quickly and got ourselves our first touchdown on a one yard handoff to David Montgomery, and after the extra point we were only down a dozen points with 11:31 to play in the game.

The Seahawks had to punt after three bad passes in their next posession, giving us the ball deep in their territory with just under ten minutes to play, but Fields threw another interception and gave it right back and all but put this one to bed, especially when they got a field goal out of it, making this a 31-16 game with only six minutes left for two touchdown drives … and to win, we’d need conversions on both to avoid a tie game. And that sure as hell wasn’t happening with us forced to rely more on our running game, and Seattle knew the passing game was not working. When Fields threw ANOTHER interception with 2:30 to go and our fans already gone from the stadium, there was nothing to do but hang our heads. Seattle showed mercy by kneeling it out instead of going for an easy score, and that may have been the only good thing that happened. Seattle 31, Chicago 16.

Fields was an awful 20 of 40 for 182 yards and three interceptions for the second game in a row. He now has two touchdowns against six picks to go with 423 yards total. Unacceptable. David Montgomery had 77 yards on 28 attempts and our only touchdown. Darnell Mooney led our receivers with five catches for 54 yards, and to be honest, Cairo Santos was our true player of the game with three field goals, giving him four on the season without a miss.

Other Week 2 results:

Las Vegas Raiders 16, Cincinnati Bengals 27
Tennessee Titans 14, Buffalo Bills 35
Green Bay Packers 28, Arizona Cardinals 24
Baltimore Ravens 3, LA Chargers 16
Cleveland Browns 24, Kansas City Chiefs 28
Carolina Panthers 13, Dallas Cowboys 28
Tampa Bay Buccaneers 20, Philadelphia Eagles 27
Washington Commanders 37, Atlanta Falcons 17
New England Patriots 34, Jacksonville Jaguars 10
Indianapolis Colts 13, NY Jets 17
Detroit Lions 31, LA Rams 34
NY Giants 7, New Orleans Saints 36
Denver Broncos 7, Pittsburgh Steelers 28
Miami Dolphins 27, Houston Texans 17
San Francisco 49ers 24, Minnesota Vikings 9
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Re: Reviving The Bears (DDSPF23)

Postby jksander » Thu Feb 09, 2023 3:24 am

Regular Season Week 3
Chicago Bears (0-2-0) @ San Francisco 49ers (2-0-0)

This game started out looking like a recent nightmare I had, with Jimmy Garappolo going the length of the field and scoring on us mercilessly, but CB Jaylon Jones did us a favor by intercepting a Jimmy G pass in the redzone midway through the first quarter to keep us from falling behind early. A 20 yard run by David Montgomery got us out of the safety danger zone, and another 14-yard run by Montgomery (plus a facemask penalty against the 49ers) got us into their territory. Montgomery played brilliantly and got us deep into the redzone before we ground to a halt. A tough 4th and Goal from the one yard line decision ensued, and I made the choice to trust our players. We were ready to run a draw play, when unfortunately we had a false start, knocking us back to the five, and I had to go with the field goal. The 22-yarder by Santos was good and got us on the board first, with just over a minute left in the first quarter.

Unfortunately we got pinned down deep in our own territory and a poor punt set San Francisco up for what was an easy score, Garappolo to George Kittle for four yards and a touchdown, putting us down 6-3 (after their missed extra point) with ten minutes to go in the second quarter. After a pair of punts for each team, we were lucky enough to get the ball with enough time for Fields to get us just deep enough into 49ers territory for Santos to be able to do his magic, AGAIN, this time from 52 yards to knot it up 6-6 at the half! This one was setting up to be a real defensive corker.

We started the second half off perfectly on script for once, keeping San Francisco off balance and they had a critical unnecessary reoughness call against their defender that led to a punt. We took full advantage, alternating solid passing by Fields with continued strong running plays by Montgomery to get into their territory, but again we struggled to capitalize, having to punt instead. And they drove from the five yard line all the way to our five yard line before having to settle for a field goal themselves, making the score 9-6 in favor of San Francisco with just 35 seconds left in the third quarter. And after we were completely shut down on the next posession, they got the ball back with great field position. Our defense held again, forcing them to take ANOTHER field goal (making it 12-6 San Francisco with 11:45 to play) but it seemed like something either had to give in our favor or the dam was going to break and the 49ers were going to DESTROY us.

And that’s what happened … they got the ball back after another completely empty posession, and this time the 49ers scored on a 14-yard pass from Garoppolo to Deebo Samuel, and we trailed by two posessions with just eight minutes left, no passing game to speak of. Fields made it official by getting us just inside their territory only to cough up an interception with 4:42 to play and suddenly we’re in a situation where our season looks over before it starts. The 49ers ended the game with another field goal and with just a minute left and no chance to do anything meaningful, we let the clock just run down. Chicago 6, San Francisco 22.

Fields was 19 of 34 for 166 yards and an interception. Montgomery was a stud with 108 yards on 22 carries, but once our opponent knew we had no one else to turn to they were able to shut him down. Byron Pringle led our recievers with 71 yards on six catches, while Darnell Mooney added 46 yards via five catches. Santos, of course, remained perfect with two field goals. It would be nice to take some pressure off of him and actually score points in the endzone.

Other Week 3 results:

Houston Texans 21, Buffalo Bills 48
Las Vegas Raiders 31, Cleveland Browns 20
Washington Commanders 6, Tampa Bay Buccaneers 21
Pittsburgh Steelers 24, LA Chargers 12
Cincinnati Bengals 24, Kansas City Chiefs 34
New England Patriots 34, Indianapolis Colts 0
New Orleans Saints 16, Dallas Cowboys 10
Atlanta Falcons 14, Philadelphia Eagles 41
Jacksonville Jaguars 31, New York Jets 31 -- the first tie game of the new ‘no overtime’ era!
Arizona Cardinals 17, Detroit Lions 13
LA Rams 21, Green Bay Packers 41
NY Giants 17, Carolina Panthers 62
Denver Broncos 33, Baltimore Ravens 31
Minnesota Vikings 27, Seattle Seahawks 21
Miami Dolphins 29, Tennessee Titans 20
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Re: Reviving The Bears (DDSPF23)

Postby jksander » Thu Feb 09, 2023 4:38 am

Regular Season Week 4
Chicago Bears (0-3-0) @ Washington Commanders (1-2-0)

We’re only two weeks away from our week six matchup against Minnesota (on the road) and we’ve got three of the next four weeks before the bye to be played on the road, so if we don’t want this season to be completely dead in the water, we need to find ways to win games NOW. And we came out playing like we finally understood that, barrelling our way down the field and scoring on an 11-yard pass from Fields to Byron Pringle to put us up 7-0 with 11:42 to go in the first quarter! Five minutes later we recovered a fumble from the Commanders as they’d driven deep into our territory and we finally had things going our way until Fields threw an interception that led to a 37-yard return. Same ****, different day. Thankfully our defense came up with some big stops and an amazing sack that pushed them to the edge of their field goal range. The missed kick gave us the ball back and another shot at building on our lead.

After having to punt for the first time ourselves, we made an interception off a bad pass by Caron Wentz with just seconds remaining in the first quarter to get us thirty yards away from the endzone, but they shut us down hard and Santos missed his first field goal of the season from 42 yards. Our defense continued to hold, leading to another missed field goal for the Commanders, but we hadn’t yet found any breakout plays ourselves since that opening drive. And when we gave them the ball back with another chance to make fireworks happen, they did just that -- a 14-yard touchdown run by Brian Robinson to tie the game with 6:28 to go before halftime. Then we got our own fireworks from David Montgomery, who had a 20-yard carry followed immediately by a 44-yard carry, giving us only our second redzone opportunity of the game! But time and time again we got right to the goal line and couldn’t do anything with it, which has been the peril of our season thus far. With 4th and Goal from the 1 yard line with 2:34 to go in the half, I gambled on our ability to f---ing push it over that line -- and THIS TIME I got the results I had hoped for as David Montgomery ran the draw up the middle for that final yard and the 14-7 lead!

The Commanders got the ball to start the second half, and on their second play of the third quarter we sacked Wentz, who fumbled into the hands of Dominique Robinson, giving us the ball just outside the redzone! Moments later Justin Fields threw a perfect spiral to Trevon Wesco for a 2-yard touchdown, and suddenly we were in the lead by two scores with 11:55 to go in the third quarter! Literally three plays later we intercepted another of Wentz’s errant throws -- thanks, Foyesade Oluokun! -- and we had the ball back at the 30. But the Commanders’ defenders came at us hard and this time we were not able to capitalize, as Santos missed his second field goal attempt of the game, this time from 41 yards out. Wentz threw ANOTHER interception moments later, stolen by CB A.J. Terrell, and with 5:41 to go in the third quarter we went up 24-7 on a 41-yarder by Santos.

What a crazy nine-minute stretch -- three turnovers by the home team and 10 points scored by us! But now we had to prove we could play with the lead and not crumble ourselves. After drives ending in punts for both teams, Washington did manage to drive down the field and scored a touchdown with a 7-yard rush by Antonio Gibson that made it a 10-point game again as the third quarter was nearly ready to expire. And then we f---ed ourselves with a penalty that drove us back near the endzone and Fields became himself by hurrying the pass and throwing it straight to Commanders CB Kendall Fuller, who of course took it 19 yards into the endzone.

This is a NIGHTMARE … 0:20 left in the third quarter and suddenly our lead is just 24-21!

Chaos continued to reign … we were forced to punt early in the fourth quarter, and then Wentz threw ANOTHER errant pass straight into the hands of A.J. Terrell Jr (his second intercepted pass of the day!) … but they had our runners up against brick walls and we were in a position where I had to count on Santos to be on his A-game. Thankfully he hit a 48 yarder right through the uprights to make it a 27-21 game with 10:36 to play. Washington answered with a field goal of their own with 3:49 to go in the game, and I was praying we’d be able to get first downs enough to run out the clock. We got them to burn their timeouts, but our running game wasn’t able to get us the second first down we needed on the drive. With 2:29 left on the clock, and at 4th and 8 at our 31 yard line, all we could do was punt and pray.

Gill managed to get them pinned at their own eight yard line, with 2:22 to go. All we needed was a stop and we could ride this out. But on 4th and four they got away with an insane pass from Wentz to Terry McLaurin for 35 F---ING YARDS to set them up damned near field-goal range with 1:20 to go. Then we let them get a first down, and then Wentz stabbed us in the heart with a 22 yard pass to McLauren, who scored the touchdown and put us down by four with less than a minute to play.

With :38 to go and all our timeouts, we got a good return to the 36 yard line, but we’d need a touchdown to win. And it wasn’t to be. We threw a ten yard pass, but Fields got flagged for unsportsmanlike conduct and I thought about quitting on the spot. Four straight losses to start the season, but this one’s by far the most heart-breaking. Chicago 27, Washington 31.

Justin Fields was 18 of 30 for 150 yards with two touchdowns and two interceptions. At this point I’m about ready to put our backup in … all those trips to the redzone because of Wentz’s turnovers, and yet we lose by four. It boggles my mind. Montgomery was a bright spot with 119 yards on 28 carries (and a rushing touchdown). None of our receivers got over fifty yards, though Mooney (48 yds, 6 rec) and Pringle (47 yds, 5 rec, 1 TD) were the top receivers. Wesco had 26 yards on five carries plus a touchdown as well. Santos was perfect on three XP tries, and had two field goals, but it’s hard not to want the six points he left on the field from those two misses.

Other Week 4 Results:

Cincinnati Bengals 10, Buffalo Bills 16
LA Rams 3, Tampa Bay Buccaneers 16
Las Vegas Raiders 31, Indianapolis Colts 10
Green Bay Packers 7, Dallas Cowboys 24
Cleveland Browns 16, Miami Dolphins 13
San Fransisco 49ers 35, Atlanta Falcons 23
Detroit Lions 13, NY Giants 23
Denver Broncos 28, Jacksonville Jaguars 38
Baltimore Ravens 30, NY Jets 6
Seattle Seahawks 24, Carolina Panthers 27
Pittsburgh Steelers 10, New England Patriots 15
Arizona Cardinals 27, New Orleans Saints 24
LA Chargers 40, Houston Texans 23
Kansas City Chiefs 17, Tennessee Titans 17
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Re: Reviving The Bears (DDSPF23)

Postby jksander » Fri Feb 10, 2023 2:12 am

Regular Season Week 5
Atlanta Falcons (0-4-0) @ Chicago Bears (0-4-0)

Ah, the Toilet Bowl (sponsored by Charmin) came early this year! Eight losses between us and Vegas has us favored by a field goal. But even if we can use today’s game as motivation to turn our ship around, no NFL team has ever started 0-4 and made the playoffs. Though it would certainly be Chicago of us to try and become the first!

Atlanta won the toss and chose to defer to the second half. So our offense came out ready to exorcise its demons on the opening drive. We opened strong with a good mix of passes and running (especially from Fields who has been surprisingly averse to running so far this year) but just inside the redzone we had to settle for a field goal on our first drive, going up 3-0 with 10:48 to play in the first quarter. And after holding them to a punt fairly quickly, we drove all the way down the field from the five yard line to score a 48-yard touchdown from Fields to Byron Pringle, putting us up 10-0 on the Falcons with 2:54 to go in the quarter! Fields in particular looks like he’s put in the work this week -- he’s playing confidently, and he’s seeing down the field well. We pinned them down quickly with a sack on their own two yard line in a third-down situation, and their subsequent punt set us up with great field position, just outside their territory, but we weren’t able to get the first downs, and Santos’ attempt at a 48-yarder was no good. We’d end the first quarter ahead 10-0 on the Falcons.

The second half started out as a series of punts, as we jockeyed for field position. The Falcons then got on a real run, made it deep into our territory, all the way to first and goal from our four yard line. And on third down they managed to run it in, Cordarrelle Patterson getting the one yarder to put them on the board, down 10-7 with 9:16 to play in the half. And then Fields bumbled the hell out of an attempted pass to Mooney which was intercepted by free safety Richie Grant, who ran it in 31 yards for the Falcons’ second touchdown in thirty seconds. Suddenly we were in familiar territory, down 14-10 on our own field and seriously needing to shift the momentum. Unfortunately we went three and out on the next drive and they blocked our punt, putting our defense in a real tough spot with an eternity left to play. We got the stop, but then couldn’t put anything together of our own, leading to another punt situation.

We pinned them at the ten yard line with four minutes to play, needing a serious stop if we had any chance of regaining the lead before halftime. Forcing a punt again, we had the ball near the 40 just outside their territory with 2:25 left and all our timeouts. Fields sprinted 23 yards on an option play and got us to their 39, giving us some life! On third town we thought we’d gotten past the chains but Montgomery dropped the pass and suddenly it was 4th and 9 from the 38 with 1:38 to go. Go for it, or risk a 51 yarder failing? I chose to go for it, but the called play only got us four yards and we turned it over on downs with 1:30 to play in the half. We would go into the break trailing 10-14 and knowing the Falcons would be running their offense to start the third quarter. I’m really hoping the choice not to go for the field goal doesn’t haunt us, but I am fighting to build confidence in this team in whatever way I can.

On their opening drive of the second half Marcus Mariota threw an interception just inside our territory, and A.J. Terrell Jr. got yet another pick! He ran it for 10 yards to get us a first down right at the 50! Unfortunately we weren’t able to get anywhere and settled for a field goal that ended up missing … nothing seems to work for our offense, and the fans are clearly starting to tire of it. But there were still 10 minutes left in the third quarter, and we’re only down four so it’s still important to keep the team confident and ready to fight for any points we can get. Our defense held tough again and held them to three and out, so at the least we were staying in this one DEFENSIVELY. Our next drive was critical … facing a third and long due to a bad sack on Fields, we lucked into a pass interference call that got us into solid position. Fields then, on another 3rd and 9 play, threw a side-arm pass to Velus Jones, Jr. who ran it in for a 33-yard touchdown to give us back the lead, 17-14, with 4:09 to go in the third! Unfortunately we let them drive their way all the way into another goal-line stand, and with 14:10 to go in the 4th quarter we found ourselves knotted up 17-17 when their 19-yarder went through the uprights.

CRUNCH … TIME … BEARS!

We put a drive together of nearly a dozen running plays but got hung up at midfield and made nothing of it. Time trickled away as we parried for field position, praying we’d get a chance to put some more points on the board. But instead the Falcons were the ones to get on the board again, this time with another field goal from 49 yards out, putting them ahead 20-17 with just 4:28 left on the clock for us to make some magic happen. And we made nothing happen. Absolutely f---ing nothing. Under pressure time and time again, when we NEEDED a passing play to succeed Fields dropped the ball, and this loss just sticks the dagger in. Almost as badly as the Falcons did by intercepting a desperation 3rd and long attempt and running it in for a 26-yard touchdown.

Is he the quarterback of the future? He’s certainly not the quarterback of now. Atlanta 27, Chicago 17.

Fields finished the night 21 of 44 for 235 yards with two touchdowns and two interceptions, along with 59 yards rushing on 14 carries. But he now has six touchdowns against 11 interceptions on the season, and I’m not sure what we can do to get him past these yips and find his rhythm. It didn’t help that the rest of our running game was non-existent, with Montgomery held to 30 yards on 16 attempts, and one of those attempts was for 14 yards. Darnell Mooney led with 58 yards on six receptions, while Byron Pringle had 54 yards on two receptions including his 48-yard touchdown.

Other Week 5 results:

Washington Commanders 3, San Francisco 49ers 13
Tennessee Titans 6, Cincinnati Bengals 34
NY Jets 7, Denver Broncos 27
Philadelphia Eagles 17, Arizona Cardinals 21
Miami Dolphins 21, LA Chargers 47
Buffalo Bills 21, Kansas City Chiefs 27
Carolina Panthers 9, Detroit Lions 14
Dalllas Cowboys 38, LA Rams 14
Jacksonville Jaguars 16, Baltimore Ravens 27
NY Giants 28, Seattle Seahawks 45
Indianapolis Colts 13, Pittsburgh Steelers 41
New Orleans Saints 9, Minnesota Vikings 30
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jksander
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Re: Reviving The Bears (DDSPF23)

Postby jksander » Fri Feb 10, 2023 3:23 am

Regular Season Week 6
Chicago Bears (0-5-0) @ Minnesota Vikings (2-2-0)

We won the toss and chose to defer to the second half, and promptly held the Vikings to a three and out, so after their punt we started our first drive from pretty great position at the 41 yard line. And on our first play of the drive, Montgomery broke three tackles and ran for 56 yards and our first first-down of the game at the Minnesota two yard line! Justin Fields ran the reverse option and got the two yards, putting us on the board 7-0 with barely two minutes expired. Not bad, Bears! Not bad. The Vikings got on the board with 5:54 to play thanks to a 51-yard field goal, but the Vikings had no answer for our running game and we were quickly back near the goal line. Nyheim Hines took the handoff from the one yard line and got himself a touchdown with 2:21 to go in the quarter, making our lead 14-3! Of course we had little answer for theirs on the next drive, as they pushed it all the way down the field and then scored on a four yard rush by Adam Thielen to make it a 14-10 game with 14:53 to go in the half.

We were able to burn about eight minutes off the clock on a drive that slowly pushed us down the field into the redzone, but in the end we settled for a 30 yard field goal by Santos to make our lead 17-10 with 6:15 left before halftime. The Vikings had a real drive going in the final minutes, but we were able to intercept a pass from Kirk Cousins in the endzone with just 26 seconds remaining in the half and we were able to run the clock out to go into the break with our seven point lead still safe.

Our first drive and theirs each fizzled out, so we had the ball at around midfield when Justin Fields threw an errant pass that was caught mid-air by the Vikings and returned to near the 40. But our defenses held, and they were forced eventually to punt, held just outside their kicker’s range. We entered the fourth quarter with the score still 17-10, and the Vikings were doing everything in their power to keep us from prevailing. And they found their way to tie the score at 17-17 when Dalvin Cook ran a 33-yarder all the way into the end zone. With 11:53 to play, can we find a way to pull this one out? Not if the refs could do anything about it … a controversial offensive pass interference call put us way back in our own territory, and when forced to punt, we were blocked, which gave Minnesota the ball back with ridiculously good field position. Amazingly we got away from that with just a field goal, putting us in a 20-17 hole with 8:05 to play. But as has been our modus operandi all season, we couldn’t make anything happen when we needed to, and thus we choked away yet another game that could have, and should have, been a victory. I suppose it was a victory in itself that the goddamned Vikings didn’t score again down the stretch to compound our humiliation. Chicago 17, Minnesota 20.

Fields was miserable as a passer -- 14 of 27 for a measley 100 yards, no touchdowns and an interception. On the ground he managed to gain 71 yards on nine carries with a touchdown. David Montgomery did everything he could to put us in a position to win, gaining 142 yards on 23 carries, while Nyheim Hines added 33 yards on 12 carries and a touchdown. Our dearth of receivers is killing us -- only Darnell Mooney made it past three receptions, and he only gained 41 yards.

Four of our six losses this year have come in the fourth quarter. We have to find ways to stop completely collapsing defensively in the final quarter, if we’re going to have any chance to win games this year. If we can’t sustain a lead when we build one, it’s way too easy to fritter it away. We’d be nicely in the running for the number one pick in the draft, but Indianapolis owns our pick -- and they’re nicely in the running for the best pick as well, which means the Colts look to get significantly better next year. We are, however, going to have an uphill climb.

Other Week 6 results:

LA Rams 19, San Francisco 49ers 14
Cincinnati Bengals 17, Cleveland Browns 20
Atlanta Falcons 0, Tampa Bay Buccaneers 41
Denver Broncos 27, LA Chargers 14
Dallas Cowboys 16, Washington Commanders 17
NY Giants 20, Philadelphia Eagles 27
Indianapolis Colts 7, Jacksonville Jaguars 31
Detroit Lions 20, Green Bay Packers 23
Miami Dolphins 21, New England Patriots 0
Kansas City Chiefs 10, Las Vegas Raiders 27
Arizona Cardinals 41, Seattle Seahawks 13
Baltimore Ravens 21, Pittsburgh Steelers 21
Houston Texans 13, Tennessee Titans 27
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