Week 13: BEARS (8-3) vs SEAHAWKS (6-5)

[Cub_StuckinSTL]

Picking up a 4th and inches is part of being a good offense. Catching a wide open TD pass is part of being a good offense. Having good play calling is part of being a good offense. The coordination is a huge part of the offensive side of the game obviously.

They didn't do any of those things, thus they were not good enough yesterday.

Up 7 in control of the game while your run game has been **** is a bad call. Also earl was concussed when he dropped the ball

[Str1fe5]

Less than a yard - sneak, it's as close to automatic as they come.

I'm ok with the loss. Both teams are rather good and closely matched.

But, the one criticism I have of tice, is in the 4th quarter, 3rd and long with what was in regulation the last bear possession in the game. Bears had the ball around mid field. We have one of the best kickers ever. And they run the ball, trying to play the field position game, knowing they will punt and hope the D wins the game. I get that in other situations, but not in a one score game giving the other team the option to win it with a drive. Esp when you have gould as your kicker. Coaching staff deserves criticism for that imo.

Ugh. People need to stop blasting Lovie and Tice here. Going for it on 4th down was absolutely the right call, because the percentages are so far in favor of the offense, particularly *this offense*, which has been very solid in short yardage situations all year. There were any number of plays that could have been called that would have a very good chance of succeeding besides a QB sneak. With Cutler's concussion history, it's quite easy to defend the decision to call another play, and that overloaded off tackle play has been the Bears money play all year. Teams have known it's coming and haven't been able to stop it, and that includes some good defenses the Bears have played this year.

Also, Urlacher was taken out of the game because of his hamstring, not because he was gassed, although it was clear the whole defense was. I must admit, I was a little confused that the Bears didn't rotate the d line more on that drive in OT, since they weren't going hurry up, and I too would have considered calling a timeout at least once once Seattle got past mid field, just to give my team a breadth and maybe try to rally the troops a little.

If anything, I think we can criticize Marinelli for his decisions on those last two drives. Not managing the substitutions better to at least rotate the d line, not having Peppers out even once in OT, keeping Melton in for 95% of both drives. And I'm sorry but McClellin was pathetically ineffective at spying an athletic but not blazing QB in Wilson. He got burned as a pure spy once but Wilson also completed two passes that went right by McClellin for first downs as well. They've dropped him into coverage at various times all year and he's basically been a statue in coverage in other games too.

That's all nit picking. The one thing that I'm curious about is that it looked like Wilson was able to break contain so frequently on those last two drives because it looked like the d ends were getting pinned inside by the tackles. On the one hand, it could have been the ends just being gassed and being lazy about disengaging from their blocks, but it looked like they repeatedly were trying to take an inside angle, suggesting a twist of some kind, which is a staple of the Bears' defense. The problem was the Seattle o line was out leveraging the Bears and sort of keeping them mucked up inside. It worked great at stuffing the give on the read option, but it left easy run lanes and site lines for Wilson to maneuver with on the outside. It happened frequently, if Marinelli kept calling the same twists and stunts after we were getting gashed repeatedly, that's on him too. I'm not 100% positive that's what happened though.

[hoggin88]

Up 7 in control of the game while your run game has been **** is a bad call. Also earl was concussed when he dropped the ball

Come on now, you're seriously going to give Earl a pass on that?

[Cub_StuckinSTL]

Come on now, you're seriously going to give Earl a pass on that?

What other play did he get concussed on than his touchdown dive do you think? He should have caught it but he also shouldn't have been in the game.

[Jordan Rules]

The D line call their own stunts which hurt them in the last 2 drives. We need to change sum things as the season concludes and the playoffs starts for us. Because Urlacher isn't what he once was and he is not stuffing the run as much, we need a deeper rotation at DT and DE. Having 4 DT playing strong rushing teams would help us from being gassed. Having 4 DE playing 90% of their snaps as an edge rusher instead of as a spy or DT, they could stay fresh. Truth is we have 2 DEs who are over 30 and this is week 13 of a long season.

Having some sort of rotation would help our defense when our offense isn't sustaining drives. The age is now showing with our defense before this game, giving up 4 straight games of a hundred yard rusher and not giving up any previously all year.

[Jordan Rules]

What other play did he get concussed on than his touchdown dive do you think? He should have caught it but he also shouldn't have been in the game.

Watching the replay of the TD, Bennett head was never hit from what I could see.

[Cub_StuckinSTL]

Watching the replay of the TD, Bennett head was never hit from what I could see.

You don't have to be hit in the head by someone else. A lot of the time it happens when your body hits the ground hard and your head snaps back

[Doogolas]

Problem is, Doog, it seems like he's only effective as the spy. Or the occasional break into the backfield. But he's got a long way to go.

Yes, he has a long way to go. No he is not only effective in that situation. He's been rated quite well in pass rushing.

[debo]

You don't have to be hit in the head by someone else. A lot of the time it happens when your body hits the ground hard and your head snaps back

That's how I got my first concussion in HS. My QB took out my legs trying to tackle the kid I was about to wrap up, fell on my shoulder, and my head hit the ground immediately after.


Concussions often happen from a rapid acceleration or deceleration of the head (and really, I don't know if they'd happen otherwise). Any kind of impact that leads to that could lead to a concussion.

[WOwolfOL]

So are the Bears gonna face any discipline for once again sending a concussed player back out onto the field then?

[WOwolfOL]

Ugh. People need to stop blasting Lovie and Tice here. Going for it on 4th down was absolutely the right call, because the percentages are so far in favor of the offense, particularly *this offense*, which has been very solid in short yardage situations all year. There were any number of plays that could have been called that would have a very good chance of succeeding besides a QB sneak. With Cutler's concussion history, it's quite easy to defend the decision to call another play, and that overloaded off tackle play has been the Bears money play all year. Teams have known it's coming and haven't been able to stop it, and that includes some good defenses the Bears have played this year.

Also, Urlacher was taken out of the game because of his hamstring, not because he was gassed, although it was clear the whole defense was. I must admit, I was a little confused that the Bears didn't rotate the d line more on that drive in OT, since they weren't going hurry up, and I too would have considered calling a timeout at least once once Seattle got past mid field, just to give my team a breadth and maybe try to rally the troops a little.

If anything, I think we can criticize Marinelli for his decisions on those last two drives. Not managing the substitutions better to at least rotate the d line, not having Peppers out even once in OT, keeping Melton in for 95% of both drives. And I'm sorry but McClellin was pathetically ineffective at spying an athletic but not blazing QB in Wilson. He got burned as a pure spy once but Wilson also completed two passes that went right by McClellin for first downs as well. They've dropped him into coverage at various times all year and he's basically been a statue in coverage in other games too.

That's all nit picking. The one thing that I'm curious about is that it looked like Wilson was able to break contain so frequently on those last two drives because it looked like the d ends were getting pinned inside by the tackles. On the one hand, it could have been the ends just being gassed and being lazy about disengaging from their blocks, but it looked like they repeatedly were trying to take an inside angle, suggesting a twist of some kind, which is a staple of the Bears' defense. The problem was the Seattle o line was out leveraging the Bears and sort of keeping them mucked up inside. It worked great at stuffing the give on the read option, but it left easy run lanes and site lines for Wilson to maneuver with on the outside. It happened frequently, if Marinelli kept calling the same twists and stunts after we were getting gashed repeatedly, that's on him too. I'm not 100% positive that's what happened though.

I haven't bashed Lovie or Tice. All I said is I wish we had called a sneak. Hell, I'm upset that a sneak is now out of the question for us, due to Cutler's concussion(s).

[Doogolas]

So are the Bears gonna face any discipline for once again sending a concussed player back out onto the field then?

No, for the same reason they didn't last time. You can't always IMMEDIATELY tell with everyone. And if the player doesn't do anything there's not much they can do.

[Jordan Rules]

You don't have to be hit in the head by someone else. A lot of the time it happens when your body hits the ground hard and your head snaps back

On the TD play, I didn't see him hit his head on the ground either. However I saw the play only 4 times and wasn't paying attention all the way through.

I did notice on the dropped bomb that Bennett's head hit the ground very hard and was aided by through Seahawks CB.