[ad_1]
what Kyle shanahan see in Trey Lance that he has not seen in Justin Champs?
It was a good question when the general manager of the Bears Ryan pace made the bold decision to drop from 20th to 11th in the first round of the draft to get Fields. Not only was Fields picked as the fourth quarterback, but Shanahan – the 49ers head coach and quarterback whisperer of some reputation – picked the relatively untested North Dakota State Lance. rather than Fields, who was considered in a class with Clemson. Trevor Laurent and Brigham Young Zach Wilson as an NFL prospect. The 49ers, in fact, traded three first-round picks to the Dolphins to go from No.12 to No.3 to get Lance.
It was almost the opposite of the 2017 storyline, where the Bears bypassed Deshaun Watson with the general choice n ° 2 to take Mitch trubisky, who had only started 13 college games. This time the 49ers moved to take the unproven quarterback – Lance threw even fewer college passes than Trubisky and against less competition – on battle-tested Fields, who was 20-2 at Ohio. State with a signing victory over Lawrence and Clemson in the college football playoffs.
Seven weeks into the season, it’s not a decision as the Bears prepare to face the 49ers on Sunday at Soldier Field.
Both teams had planned for their rookie quarterback to do an apprenticeship – Lance behind Jimmy Garoppolo; Fields behind Andy Dalton. But all four quarters have struggled this season – Garoppolo (90.2), Lance (88.4), Fields (61.8) and Dalton (90.0) have a combined rating of 79.2 passers (12 TDs) , 12 interceptions), well below the league average of 94.9. And their team followed suit: the 49ers are 2-4, ranked 18th in the NFL in all-out offense. The Bears are 3-4, ranked 32nd and last in all-out offense.
The 49ers are completely in quarterback limbo with Garoppolo having a poor game – three turnovers in a 30-18 loss to the Colts at home – and Lance returning to practice after recovering from knee injury. Shanahan has said he will evaluate both quarterbacks this week before naming a starter against the Bears.
Fields, meanwhile, will make his sixth start for the Bears – facing another challenge against the 49ers’ sixth-ranked defense. Bear fans always feel the burn of Patrick muhammad counting to 10 with both hands after a 26-3 Chiefs victory at Soldier Field in 2019 – mocking the Bears for rounding him in the 2017 draft. An outstanding performance from Fields against the team that the snubbed – with or without taunting – might alleviate some of that pain.
2. Should Pace and Bears Coach Matt Nagy be nervous after back-to-back losses to the Packers (24-14) and Buccaneers (38-3)?
When the bears faced Tom brady and Aaron Rodgers In back-to-back games in 2014, the Hall of Fame-linked duo combined for 11 touchdowns and no interceptions as the Bears lost to the Patriots 55-14 and Packers 51-23 in 2014 – an embarrassing episode that led to a household at Halas Hall, with both the managing director Phil emery and coach Marc Trestman fired.
This time, Brady and Rodgers combined for just six touchdowns with no interceptions. But a horrendous loss for the Buccaneers from any loss for the Packers reverberates at Halas Hall. And just righting the ship doesn’t seem like enough to prevent an upheaval similar to 2014. George mccaskey always reads his mail.
3a. Red Flag Dept. : The Bears are the only team in the NFL with more rushing yards (917) than net passing yards (871) – a questionable distinction at this time. The Bears’ rush accounts for 51.3% of their total offense (1,788 yards). The NFL average this season is 31.3%.
A productive racing game, especially in the Andy reid offense, is supposed to make the passing game easier, but that is not the case with the Bears. They are sixth in the NFL in running, but 32nd in assists. In fact, of the top seven ground running teams in the NFL, six are in the top 11 in all-out offense. The Bears are the outlier – 32nd and last in all-out offense.
3b. The Ravens had more rushing yards than net passing yards over the past two seasons. But it’s because Lamar jackson is the best quarterback in NFL history. (Before Jackson and the Ravens in 2019, the last team with more rushing yards than net passing yards was that of John Fox Broncos 2011 with Tim Tebow.)
The Bears have that Jackson potential with Fields, one of the NFL’s fastest quarterbacks. But Fields continues to struggle to find a rhythm as a runner. He has run for 140 yards (4.1 yards per carry) with a touchdown this season. But he rarely has clean runs – either going out of bounds or slipping – and continues to take a higher risk of injury as a runner than he should.
4a. Wide receiver Allen Robinson said on Tuesday that his lack of reps with Fields at training camp delayed his chemistry with the rookie quarterback rekindled criticism over Nagy’s handling of the quarterback’s situation during the offseason. If only Nagy had named Fields as a starter on draft night …
But this is yet another case where Nagy and the Bears were more the victims of bad timing than guilty of bad judgment. Once again: The Bears weren’t going to renege on their promise – tacit or not – to Andy Dalton that he would be their starter. That’s almost certainly the only reason Dalton signed with the Bears. They didn’t think they would get a prospect like Fields in the project.
From the outside, it’s easy to tell the Bears should have pulled the rug out from under Dalton’s foot. But it’s a little harder if you’ve been in the room and made a deal. Just like with quarterback receiver chemistry, timing is everything.
4b. Looking back, it would have been better If the Bears quarterback’s plan for 2021 were to let stand Nick foles compete with the best quarterback the Bears could get in the draft for the starting position. In that scenario, Foles would have rivaled Fields in training camp and preseason – and Fields would likely have won the job and started Week 1. A much easier call for Nagy.
But just think about how that plan would have played out with Bears fans in March, before anyone knew the Bears had a chance at Fields. Narrator: Not very well.
5. Veteran Jason Peters provided updates on beginner tackles Teven Jenkins and Larry Borom that Nagy refrained from doing – and it looked promising. Borom, absent since Week 1 with a high ankle sprain, returns this week, Peters said. And Jenkins, also on the injured list after having back surgery in August, is expected to return this season.
Borom believes he’ll end up landing on the right tackle, where the Bears have used four other players this season. But Jenkins might be a tougher call. The Bears would surely like him to gain some experience as a left tackle before next season. But Peters has been their best offensive lineman this season – ranked eighth in the NFL among tackles. Still, unless the Bears are in a playoff race, the rookie must play.
6. Sign of Life: Rookie running back Khalil Herbert 100 rushing yards (on 18 carries, an average of 5.6) have been the best against the Buccaneers’ rushing defense this season. The rams are coming back Sony Michel had the previous best with 67 yards on 20 carries, averaging 3.4 yards.
It wasn’t all the garbage time footage, either. Herbert’s 29-yard run in the Bears’ fourth scrum game, as they trailed 7-0, was the longest run allowed by the Bucs defense all season. Herbert, in fact, had three carries 10 yards or more in the first half. The Bucs had allowed just one run over 10 yards in the first half in their first six games – Cordarrelle Patterson A 10-yard touchdown for the Falcons.
Herbert ran 91 yards on 13 carries in the first half – almost as many yards as the Buccaneers allowed in the first half in their previous six games combined (44 rushes, 94 yards, 2.1 average).
7. For what it’s worth In his fifth career start, the Bengals rookie Joe terrier had similar numbers to Justin Fields – 19 of 30 for 183 yards, no touchdowns and an interception for a 66.4 rating in a 27-3 loss to the Ravens on the road last season.
In Sunday’s rematch against the Ravens, Burrow was a different quarterback – 23 of 38 for 416 yards, three touchdowns, one interception for a 113.5 rating in a 41-17 Ravens rout.
8. The Bears’ loss to the Buccaneers was yet another illustration of how far the Bears had traveled relative to the top teams in the NFL. Three years ago, they beat the Bucs 48-10 in 2018 at Soldier Field. It’s a 73-point swing in three seasons.
And while Tom brady obviously makes a difference, what explains the drop of 45 points in attack? Mitch trubisky threw for 354 yards and six touchdowns against the Buccaneers in 2018. Justin Fields threw for 184 yards and no touchdowns with three interceptions on Sunday.
For the record, the Bears had two players on Sunday who played in the 2018 game – Robinson and the Guard Cody Whitehair. The Buccaneers had three defensive players who made it into the 2018 game – linebacker Jason Pierre-Paul, nose plate Vita Vea and defensive end William Gholston.
9. Josh McCown Ex-Bears Player of the Week: Congratulations to the wide receiver of the Saints Kevin Blanc for persevering and coming back to an NFL game.
The star wide receiver – a 2015 first-round pick by Pace – was promoted to the Saints’ practice squad for Sunday night’s game against the Seahawks and punted at the 1-yard line. White, 29, had only played three games since the Bears let him go in free agency after the 2018 season.
Honorable mention: Saints kicker Brian Johnson, who kicked off for the Bears in the preseason and was claimed by the Saints off the Bears practice squad, was 2 for 2 on field goals, including a 33 yards with 1:56 to play which gave the Saints a 13-10 victory.
10. Bear counter: 8-9 – against 49ers (F); at Steelers (W); against the Ravens (G); at Lions (W); against the cardinals (G); to Packers (L); against the Vikings (W); to Seahawks (L); against the giants (F); at Vikings (L).
[ad_2]
Source link
