Ten Thoughts on the NFL and the Bears

I normally wait until number 10 to get around to my Chicago Bears thought, but this week I wanted it up on top.

1) It would appear I was wrong about Mitchell Trubisky taking a leap in performance in 2019. He is not ready to be be The Man in his third season as a pro, and at this point I don’t think he ever will be. That growth I saw from him a year ago must have been an illusion, because the quarterback I watched play in 2018 is not this guy I’m watching now. This guy has regressed.

It would also appear I was wrong about head coach/play caller Matt Nagy. The league adjusted to him and he either can’t adjust back, or he flat out is refusing to adjust. The Bears don’t have an offense that can impose it’s will on defenses, but Nagy is calling games as if he did. The Bears have an offense that should be slowly and methodically attacking a defense’s weakness, even if that specifically doesn’t play to the Bears’ offensive strengths (which at this point there are none of). They need to control the tempo, slow things down, and keep it simple.

I can’t believe I just described Fox-Ball...

The Bears do have time to figure things out, but in order for that to happen we’ll need to see two things we’ve yet to see in 2019. Nagy will need to change how he calls a game and Trubisky will need to get more comfortable with what he’s seeing both pre and post snap.

Even with the troubles surrounding the offense, there’s no way I see them sitting Trubisky. Mitch is the quarterback for the rest of this season unless he has an epic meltdown, and the same goes for the head coach. But if things don’t improve this year there will be some competition brought in at QB during the offseason.

I really hope they can get things figured out, but at this point I doubt it happens.

2) The Baltimore Ravens winning in Seattle was a big statement game for them. Up until knocking off the Seahawks 30-16 they feasted on beating some bad teams, but handing Seattle their second loss and holding MVP candidate Russell Wilson in check tells me this team is for real.

3) The Arizona Cardinals got four sacks from Chandler Jones and three rushing TDs from Chase Edmonds in their 27 to 21 win against the New York Giants. In the battle between first round rookie quarterbacks, I give the Cardinals’ Kyler Murray the edge over Daniel Jones because the former didn’t turn the ball over while the latter did three times.

4) There were a lot of nervous survivor pool betters watching the Miami Dolphins take a 14-9 lead over the Buffalo Bills into the fourth quarter, but the Bills got it together with 22 points in the final quarter. It was two Josh Allen TD passes and this acrobatic kickoff return from Micah Hyde.

5) It wasn’t pretty, but the San Francisco 49ers won in Washington to remain undefeated behind three Robbie Gould field goals. He went three for four on the afternoon in poor weather conditions, but on the season he’s only 12 of 19, which is a career worst 63.2%.

6) The Philadelphia Eagles lost to the Dallas Cowboys 37-10, and Eagle fans (and if you believe the rumors, Eagle players) are turning on quarterback Carson Wentz.

7) If he wasn’t already, Green Bay quarterback Aaron Rodgers is back in the mix for league MVP for the 6-1 Packers. All the talk of friction between he and head coach Matt LaFleur is going away as their offense has been picking up the pace.

8) The Minnesota Vikings are a different team after getting smacked around by the Chicago Bears on September 29. They’ve won three straight and Kirk Cousins has thrown 976 yards, 10 TDs and only 1 interception during that time.

9) Tom Brady leaving New England? #wut

9a) And coming to the Bears? #wtf

10) Then again, if he does leave and Bill Belichick sticks around he’ll just reload with another QB and keep on rolling.

For those wondering at home, Jarrett Stidham is the Pats QB2 right now.

10a) And speaking of Belichick...