Da Dos

Tag: Victory

  • Victory Monday! Bears 26, Saints 14

    Victory Monday! Bears 26, Saints 14

    Lots of thoughts, but here’s a condensed version.

    The Defense came out on fire [most of] that first half. That was a championship D akin to the famous ’18 and ’06 predecessors.

    We heard about ‘bend don’t break’, but the Allen D was more like ‘break but force a turnover’. In that first half, they were not even bending; in fact, fuck you, we’re stuffing the run, sacking your QB, then taking that ball. Absolute dominance.

    Tez Effect seems to be back, and he was SORELY needed.

    Talked about it last week, but TJ Edwards back seems to line up everyone properly, thusly making them play faster and more downhill. Minimized are the wide open lanes, bad angles, missed tackles and total blown coverages.

    Tremaine Edmunds [3 INTs] is now free to use his speed; Brisker and Gordon sniffing the LOS is making QBs shit-bricks while Kevin Byard suddenly patrols the back end like Ed Reed.

    I also wonder how much Shemar Turner at DE has helped stabilize that line, especially vs run. If Austin Booker returns full-force, watch out.

    NGL, this offense, specifically Caleb Williams, sputtered for much of the game. It was just funky from the start, from taking the snap, penalties, dropped passes, scramble drills that had little chance to questionable play-calling [like those WR screens]. Did Caleb even complete 5 passes from inside the pocket?

    Caleb Williams completed 15-of-26 passes for 172 yards and an interception.

    It wasn’t pretty, and Caleb admitted as much. TBH, it’s a bit concerning particularly when one sees what Drake Maye is cooking in NE.

    Luckily for the Bears’ O, their run game continued to steamroll.

    Trivia Time:

    D’Andre Swift had 124 rushing yards and Kyle Monangai had 81, marking the first time the Bears had two running backs rush for more than 80 yards since??? ANSWER

    I loved Ben Johnson’s attacks. Yes, it was meat-n-potatoes traps, stretches, and combo blocks; however, he also mixed in some misdirection that perhaps didn’t pop, but at least helped to keep the Saints’ D honest and somewhat freeze them from just busting in.

    More importantly, BJ made great halftime tweaks. He finally began using more playaction [boot] to get easy passes for a struggling O. This was enough to milk the clock, scratch some points together, and close it out; other wise, it could’ve been a one score game had the refs not bailed out BJ on that 4rth and goal disaster.

    The specials didn’t shit the bed, and the rest was sorta just Judo – letting a bad team defeat itself, and here we are with the Bears at 4-2 riding momentum.

    Chicago relying on turnovers and a strong run game?

    “History doesn’t repeat but it rhymes”

  • Victory Tues!

    Victory Tues!

    I’m a bit exhausted right now, so I’ll keep it short.

    Hell motherfucking ya!

    Rapid fire reactions:

    1. This team is finally turning the corner

    I said when Matt Eberflus was hired that the team needed to learn how to win. They never did. In fact, they found new innovative ball-kicking ways to lose that would even make the Chargers proud.

    This team faced a lot of adversity in this game. For starters, given the whole ‘fail mary’ last season added pressure. MNF – pressure. Away game. Pressure. Underdogs. Pressure. Not ideal conditions. Pressure. Washington Refs. Pressure. Dropped passes, questionable play-calling, busted coverages, shoddy specials’ gunning, blocked FG. Pressure, pressure, pressure.

    Yet, Bears never cracked. They kept slugging it out, REFUSING to quit. They kept tugging, punching, clawing…returning all that pressure right back to WASH ’til they cracked on a hand-off. A Flusian critical mistake.

    Then Bears did what they rarely did under Flus.

    FINISH.

    The game boiled down to what I wanted – the ball in BJ/Caleb’s court to win or lose; they proceeded to march down field sans mistakes, executing, making WASH use TOs, RUNNING it [successfully] ’til they basically made the final FG a PAT attempt.

    Fade to black…

    2. Ben Johnson countered the blitz.

    I shared in the game-day thread that WASH uses a lot of zone [3rd most], but they zigged on Monday. They blitzed more than usual, no doubt trying to throw off the plan.

    However, Ben Johnson was ready. He used draws, screens and bombs to make WASH think twice. Here’s a creative screen which neither Trub or Fields could consistently pull off.

    Despite that awesome throw to Rome being called back on an absolute BS call, the rationale was right. Attack the blitz. If they’re going to single your best weapon, go balls-deep. Make them pay.

    It’s smart and aggressive – like Ben Johnson.

    3. Tip-o-hat to run O/D.

    My #1 MUST was to stop the run. They did – sorta. Or at least, they didn’t get completely run over, even forcing a Merritt fumble.

    On paper, doesn’t seem like that much of a differential.

    Bears total rushing yds: 145
    Comm total rushing yds: 124

    However, how they got there differed. D’Andre Swift was mostly responsible for the Bears, especially late to seal the deal.

    While Jayden Daniels had to pull some Houdini escapes, getting crunched along the way.

    Besides, let’s face it – we were all expecting WASH to steam-roll Bears’ D, so Bears limiting the #1 running attack to 4.0 ypc shocked me TBH, as did Swift averaging 7.7 per.

    Holy shit, who had that on their bingo card?

    Misc:

    Can’t discuss the game without mentioning the total dogshit officiating. Dr. Rev Huge Bears’ Penis warned us this crew threw a lot of flags, but Moses Krishna Christ, at least PRETEND to do it fairly. Refs tried everything possible to give the game to the Commies, yet the Bears still prevailed.

    Apparently, DJ Moore was hospitalized after the game. Let’s hope it’s merely precautionary.

    Troy Aikman also seemed to be hating on Caleb Williams. People noticed, Troy. Was it the UCLA-USC rivalry or have his concussions finally creeped in?

    Despite all that, it was a FANTASTIC Bears’ victory. It felt more emotionally draining than usual for some reason. Maybe it was just me, but the whole game felt tense with all the ups-n-downs and refs making Bears play with one arm tied behind their backs.

    Making the win that much sweeter.

    “Whatever does not kill us, only makes us stronger.” – Nietzsche

    Good Better Best!
    Never let it rest!
    Until your good gets better!
    And your better gets best!

    Bear Down.

  • Victory Monday! Bears Save Season

    Victory Monday! Bears Save Season

    What an ass-whooping! For some reason, Bears always lay points on Cowboys since 2010:

    2010. Bears W. 27 points
    2012. Bears W. 34 points
    2013. Bears W. 45 points
    2014. Bears L. 28 points
    2016. Bears L. 17 points
    2019. Bears W. 31 points
    2022. Bears L. 29 points
    2025. Bears W. 31 points

    That means Bears avg 30 points/g vs Cowboys in last 8 clashes; wish Bears could play them whenever they need to kick-start sputtering offense.

    Few quick observations.

    1. The oline held up vs rush. This is the first game Caleb hasn’t been sacked. That’s both a testament to this oline’s strength as well as Caleb’s mobility, pocket awareness, and frankly, piss poor Dallas pass rush.

    On the flip side, the pure run game struggled once more. It wasn’t really ’til late that it began gaining traction.

    This was a strange game in the sense that Dallas was avg 6yds/rush at one point, yet somehow failed to score more.

    2. Caleb stats were fantastic

    But to quote the Wolf from Pulp Fiction, ‘Let’s not start sucking each other’s d*cks quite yet.’ Two things I noticed.

    1. It seems Caleb sails when his release point looks premature and high. Is this related to height? He does it even when he has a clean pocket, so it’s a matter of consistency. Dunks are great, but gotta make the free-throws as well.

    2. Maybe because of #1, Caleb continues missing. In this game, Caleb did hit most of the wide open receivers, yet struggled more with the contested throws. I would love to see his comp% with contested plays vs when the receivers are 2YDs open. At one point the broadcast counted 4 ‘off’ throws. Granted, this happens to all QBs. I watched Mahomes miss Kelce badly vs Gmen, and that’s about as solid a duo as you’re going to find; nevertheless, an issue to track going forward because Ben Johnson specifically addressed improving Caleb’s accuracy during preseason.

    Speaking of Ben Johnson, his O has scored 30+ points on Eberflus 5 out of last 7 games.

    Reality check:

    We’ve been through “turning the corner”, “finally arrived” “at last we got a franchise QB!” with Cutler, Trubisky and Fields: all turned out to be fugazi.

    This could be Caleb’s “Tampa Bay Christening.” Dallas’ D could simply be that dreadful.

    That being said, if you’re given a gift, you take it. Caleb is trending in the right direction, and that’s priority numero uno.

    On D, well, raise your hand if you predicted the Bears’ D to hold Dallas to 14 points!

    The start of the game continued to look like a horror show. Cowboys were just shredding the D, then, the unthinkable occurred.

    Arguably the worst starting CB in the league, Tyrique Stevenson, made a play that completely reversed momentum.

    FINALLY, somebody on the Bears’ D made a play like a blue-chipper. Apparently, a player’s only meeting was called that I missed.

    Whatever was said WORKED. I frankly wasn’t expecting a win. I only wanted Bears to play with some pride. They did, and then some. Defensive game-ball went to Tremaine Edmunds who made not one but TWO plays when badly needed. Don’t think we’ve seen that from a MLB since Lach.

    Also, tip-o-the-hat to Dennis Allen who called a great game. Look at that 2nd pick. Allen had Sweat peel off into flats to essentially bracket TE Ferguson [who I think was 10/10 at that point] PLUS prevent Dak from booting.

    Dak was trying to look-off coverage by feigning the middle, turned right to his true target in Ferguson, spotted a 6’7 monster staring right at him with secondary over the top, quickly shifted left with Dexter right in his face, finally chucking an INT in desperation.

    Truly a team effort. Scheme, execution, and playmaking.

    HOWEVER, this D still concerns me bigly. Those DTs were on skates; defenders taking bad angles, and seemingly confused [look at how late they were lining-up on several snaps]. CB Nathon Wright specifically played nightmarishly. I feel like a major part of their opportunism was pure Dallas incompetence. No doubt CeeDee Lamb getting INJed helped Bears’ D, but how the heck do you lose a game when you’re basically getting first downs at will and AVGing like 6-7 per rush while the D was ailing giving up 52 previously, with a 2nd string LB, 4rth string CB, and little to no pressure/sacks ’til late?

    But hey, that’s a COWGIRL problem. For once it feels fantastic playing a team that chokes more than…[fill in the blank].

    A wins a win.

    Let’s celebrate Ben Johnson’s first victory. May it be the first of countless. Every journey starts with a step. Let’s go!