Thread: what we learned

What did we learn? We learned that Tice still doesn't know how to run his offense against an NFCN opponent. This was as bad offensively as the Packer game and if we'd been playing the Packers we would have lost.

Peanut saved a sure TD with his pass defense on Megatron and they coughed the ball up on the next play so Tice should give the offensive game ball to Tillman and Urlacher for saving his bacon. We dominated that game defensively and got dominated offensively.

I'm callin' Tice out big time for his bullshit about not running enough and then watch him do his best imitation of Mike Martz come game time. Bush takes them down the field with some nice power runs and we get the ball on the four and what does he call? Three high risk pass plays. Slants that if they were picked would have resulted in a very long TD the other way.

Not one run or low risk fade yet he has a 6'4" WR and two 6'7" TEs that he could use. That was pathetic. The Lions should never have even been in the game by the 4th Q yet they even had a chance to win it at the end if they recover the onside kick.

You get another defensive performance like that and let your offense stink up the field. If I'm Lovie I have a little sit down with Tice and suggest that he spend his time getting his lineman playing better ball and leave the play calling to Bates from now on. That was a sad display of offensive know how on Tice's part once again. Very predictable stuff that Marshall and Cutler bailed him out of early and Bush and Forte did just enough on the ground to eat up clock time and keep the ball away from Stafford.

Disappointing win but a win just the same. Whatever writer said the Bears might be the best team in the NFL needs to watch this video on this one. Not with that offense we're not. Not even close.

Yeah, it was very Martz like at times. Hell, spin a wheel, throw darts, anything would be better than that playcalling. A contender puts up 30, a good O puts up 24. No idea on Tice's thought process plus the advantage of a bye week.

I have to disagree with both of you. Our Offense and Tice played a good game. Tice had to throw out his game plan, because Cutler was hurt and because of that Cutler couldn't throw the ball like he wanted to.The whole idea in the second half was game management and let the D on what they do best. Had we fallen behind we would have been in real trouble with Cutler not being able to play even 75% of how likes to play. Cutler stated he was hurting alot especially when he tried to throw the ball.

Here's what I learned from this game:

1) The offensive playcalling was horrible, the worst it's been since the Packers game about a month ago. I don't think this is any secret. Tice ran when he should have passed, and passed when he should have run. My biggest gripe of the night was when we had the ball inside five yard line and Tice instructed Cutler to sling it all three downs rather than run Michael Bush in from about three yards out. As big as Bush is, I don't think he would have had any trouble making it in one of those trys. Instead of scoring a touchdown, we were forced to risk a field goal opportunity after the previous one in, I think, the second quarter was blocked. So my hats off to the "brilliant" Mike Tice, genius that he is. Maybe some of his opponents are correct in their beliefs that he should get Jeremy Bates more involved in the playcalling and gradually phase out Tice. He keeps getting outcoached anyway.

2) The offensive line was atrocious tonight, the worst since the Packers game. What did we give up, four or five sacks? Garza and Carimi were God awful with their penalties as Carimi was flagged twice for holding and Garza was flagged two times for false starts. Almost all of our penalties came from the offensive line. And Cutler damn near got killed by that crazy-dirty son of a bitch Ndamukong Suh. Suh is the dirtiest player in the NFL and he went unblock on at least two occasions. It seems like the best player on our offensive line was Webb, and that is scary. We really have some issues if we're going to give up this kind of pressure on a regular basis. Tice can only do so much "magic" with this line. Without the right players, it just isn't going to strike awe from opposing defensive front sevens. This is me officially calling for Emery to go after a LT this offseason and to draft one somewhere in the first two rounds in this coming year's draft.

3) Is Devin Hester in decline? I know this is going to rub some people the wrong way, but he's been very vanilla on punt and kick returns this whole season thus far. In the past, I know when the coaching staff has decided to use Hester more extensively in the offense, his kick returns suffer. Maybe he's being run ragged by running routes and trying to catch passes. What do you all think?

4) We have arguably the best defense in the entire NFL this year along with San Francisco and Minnesota. This game should have been a shutout and it wasn't only because the offense couldn't run out the remaining 2:35 off the clock. We gave up 44 more yards against the Lions (the Lions had 340 total net yards) than our offense put up (we put up 296 yards). That is unacceptable, even in victory, and I put the whole blame on Tice for not calling the right plays at the right time. When will the Bears ever have that explosive diarrhea of an offensive that Tice keeps saying we're going to have? So far, I've not seen it.

What I learned:

Coaching Staff:

The Bears staff had the team ready to play and game-planned effectively on defense and special teams. We played all the way through the game and never let up the pressure. I think the staff did a great job with the exception of Tice.

Tice I give a C on the standard A through F scale. I say this because we left at least 7 points on the board when we threw 3 and out on the 4 yard line. 3 passes to Marshal in a row? Come on! Tice has to be better, no excuses, my bullshit-filter is full. USE BUSH!

Overall its a typically well coached Lovie Smith game.

Defense:

21 takeaways, leading the NFL. Nothing more to say really except that there will come a day when we don't get 3 red-zone turnovers and our opponents will have 21 points and not 3 turnovers. Need to be better offensively :/

Awesome job here. Very dominant. Pass rush is amazing and Tillman, wow.

Offense:

I liked the offense in this game more than any other game this season. We started strong, which is something we haven't been able to do this year. We scored when the game was 0-0 and the pressure was on to make the first move. I like that. Lovie Smith coached teams don't lose when they have the lead. Jay getting injured hurt us bad, we should all be thankful its just some bruising.

The line did a decent job against a dominant pass rush. 5 sacks isn't great but most plays Cutler had ample time to get the ball out.

The running game was solid as usual, Bush and Forte are the best duo in the league right now hands down. How did Oakland let Bush go? What a blunder. Kind of like us letting Greg Olsen go. Man Kellen Davis sucks, if we still had Olsen we would be all set.

(I hate talking junk about KD because he just put on a huge fund raiser to raise money for that fan who got killed in Jacksonville, class act I say. But that doesn't mean he gets to drop wide open passes!)

Brandon Marshal continues to impress, I love the way he goes for YAC... so hard to take down. Earl Bennett made some critical first down plays and is another receiver who fights hard for YAC. We are going to be dangerous with Marshal, Jeffery, and Bennett once they are all healthy and in the lineup again. Not surprisingly Hester was a non-factor on special teams and at WR, when are people going to stop expecting him to be good? I know I stopped years ago.

Special Teams:

Great recovery on the muffed punt. Just goes to show you that anything can happen on any play and in any phase. On the other side of the token, blocked field goals make me want to throw up. Overall solid job here, nothing spectacular though.


Essentially I agree with many points the OP made. Great game, always fun to thrash the Lions.

I don't know how anyone can say that this offense played well tonight. Up until the fourth quarter, we dominated time of possession, were gaining yards on the ground on the ground, were completing passes with some degree of frequency in third down situations. However, we didn't score a touchdown after our opening drive of the game, and that's what disappoints me the most. Granted, most teams have an off night occasionally and still win, and Detroit is neither as bad nor as good as their record indicates, but missing that field goals was uncalled for, and that series in the third quarter where we got down inside the five yard line AND FIRED THREE STRAIGHT PASSES THAT WERE INCOMPLETE AND COULD HAVE EASILY BEEN INTERCEPTED were ridiculous. You know, that's why we got someone like Michael Bush to run up the gut into the end zone, so we would have to rely on throwing slants into the end zone with the hope of scoring a touchdown.

Overall, I haven't been this unhappy with a Bears victory since probably the 2006, in games against the Vikings both times, against the Cardinals, the Jets, and the Buccaneers. I just thank God that we have the Carolina Panthers at home next week. Maybe our offense will regroup and play better. And maybe, just maybe, Lovie Smith will do as soulman suggested and have a heart to heart talk with Tice and Bates and revamp how that whole situation works.