Thread: what we learned

If he hadn't fallen asleep, I think he would have.

Originally Posted by short faced bear

Would have been a clean sweep if Lovie had challenged an extra point lol

I forgot to talk about the coaching. Wow, how arrogant on their end to think they could just go out and throw against that Pass Rush w/out establishing the run like SF did. SF GAVE YOU THE PLAYBOOK to beat GB, and you ignored it.

I have said this for the past year, you beat the Top QB's/O's not on D, but by keeping them off the field and limiting their chances via a run game. Then when you have that team forced to be 1 dimensional then you can pin your ears back and pass rush and harass them. That's how SF did it, it's how NYG's did it, and this arrogant ass coaching staff decided they were going to go toe to toe w/them w/this gawd awful OL.

While MArtz was too rigid, I think Tice went too far the other way. I think Cutler maybe has too much leeway now.

Originally Posted by XaosGorilla

2. Quarterback. I'm not sure if Jay was just in (sound byte) "You play.. To win.. the game!" mode and thereby not choosing to take what the defense was giving him, or if he just focused in on one player (Marshall), or if the pressure was getting there so fast that Jay didn't have time to get to his second read. But there were a number of times where Jay chose to "force" a play when there were easier options available.

JC took a page out of Rex's play book, he tried to unleash the dragon

Originally Posted by XaosGorilla

Problems... lots.

In no particular order.

1. Pass protection. While there is plenty of blame to go around on this subject, the o-line(sorry guys) didn't perform well. Jay was under constant pressure almost all night. Webb really does need to step up his play, Jay was right to chew him out, but personally, there was a lot of pressure coming from (through) the left side.

2. Quarterback. I'm not sure if Jay was just in (sound byte) "You play.. To win.. the game!" mode and thereby not choosing to take what the defense was giving him, or if he just focused in on one player (Marshall), or if the pressure was getting there so fast that Jay didn't have time to get to his second read. But there were a number of times where Jay chose to "force" a play when there were easier options available.

3. Coaching. Ow. While I don't see the Bears falling for a fake punt again, the play calling didn't seem to do much to help steer Jay towards the shorter, quicker routes that would have helped keep the Bears offense on the field. It took FAR too long for the heavy doses of running to be utilized. Also, I didn't see many plays with an outlet receiver ready and waiting.

4. Receiving. Not a lot of good to say here. Coming back to the quarterback would have saved 1 or maybe 2 of the INTs for sure, and may well have kept the Bears out of the situation in which another happened. While it looks like Tice is willing to use the TE as a receiver, whether he understands the best way to use the TEs that he HAS is (oddly, given Tices history as a TE himself) debatable. Seems to me if a TE is too much for a LB to handle, then said TE should be utilized at short to mid range, and allowed to run after catch. There should always be a short route/hot read... I'm not sure I saw one of those last night.

Good things.

1. The defense performed better than expected, with the questions about 'Lach's knee there was much cause for concern. It seems that may not be as big a problem as originally thought. Big Mac (Shea McClellan sp?) got at least one sack of Rodgers early, converged along with Mel (Henry Melton) for another, and ran Rodgers down from behind in very short order on another play (Rodgers may have gotten back to the Line of Scrimmage avoiding the sack).

I think you summed up the major problems there very well. All 4 of those were EPIC FAILS and they are obviously inter-related. Better play and decision-making by the latter 3 would have greatly mitigated the pass pro situation.

So, why didn't it happen?

Was it some kind of unknowable surprise to Tice, Bates, Cutler, and the WRs that GB was going to blitz the passer to cover their weak-link secondary??? Was it impossible to make adjustments when it was clear they were going to play Cover-2 and take away the deep ball as much as possible??? Were there not other options to utitlize when they made it clear that Marshall wasn't going to be allowed to beat them long or via single-coverage?

Amazingly, it looked like there wasn't. We all know that's BS. The Bears played that game, 1st half especially, as though the plan on O was Marshall, Marshall, Marshall with everything else being an afterthought only. The coaching tactics were terrible, the WRs sucked against a shit pass-D, and Cutler somehow forgot how to audible to and execute the rush plays and short throws underneath that would have combatted the blitz. Jay was really BAD last night, even allowing for the pressure he had. He forced deeper throws when he should have hit underneath stuff <10 yards. He held the ball too long and easily half those sacks could have been avoided. Notice how Rodgers made due with what the D gave him (even w/o Jennings) and moved the ball. Rodgers=elite and Cutler=can't handle the pressure. Sorry, but this was way more than Webb and Spencer sucking on the left side. It was an inept performance and that goes right to the top...which means Jay and the coaching staff shoulder a lot of responsibility.

I wouldn't have been pissed if we had played well and come up a little short, say a 27-23 or 31-28 type of game. Disappointed but not disgusted. This was disgusting. I expected "the intangibles" to favor GB. They were home and they desperately had to win. Going 0-2 at home and behind 2+ games in the division to start the season wouldn't have ended their playoff hopes but it sure would have put them into a deep, deep hole. They played, especially on D and STs, like a team with their back to the wall and the intensity gap was obvious. The Bears displayed no "killer instinct" at all. Could have "made a statement" on national TV and more importantly delivered a near-knockout blow to one of teams in the way of winning the division. Had a rare golden opportunity to put a dagger into a key rival's gut and utterly choked. Getting spanked like that so definitively on both O and STs was a squandered chance-on-a-silver-platter to say the least.

The good things were the defense in general and Jennings, Shea, Melton, Pep, and Peanut in particular. Held them to 16 offensive points with 5 sacks and 3 takeaways if damn Briggs had caught the ball when it hit his hands (Briggs drops a lot of picks!). What more could you ask for? If any of us had been offered in advance the option of the Pack only getting 16 points, or even 23, we all would have taken that deal in a heartbeat. Against this secondary and with our RB duo, surely we could get 3 TDs + a FG, right???

Ridiculous