Chicago Bears Week 13: Takeaways

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6.) A few inches here or there could have won the game for the Bears

They say football is a game of inches and that was evident on Thursday with three or four plays that could have swung the game in the Bears favor had they turned out a little differently. There was CB Demontre Hurst breaking on a short route and having a pick-6 slip through his fingers. A deep ball to Jeffrey that was about a foot two far from being a game tying 60-yard TD pass in the 3rd quarter. A forced fumble by punt coverage ace Senorise Perry that bounced back into the returners hands. A sideline route to Marcus Wilson that would have given the Bears the ball deep in Lions territory, but his foot was less than an inch from being in bounds. Jared Allen missing a pick-6 on a screen pass by about an inch. Hurst just missing another interception by about a finger length. If half of those plays go the Bears way, maybe we are celebrating a victory today.

7.) The Special Teams unit had it’s best game of the season

How about a golf clap for the Bears special teams unit who made it through their first game all season without any awful plays! Robbie Gould made his first field goal in 5 weeks, new returner Marc Mariani made the right decisions on kick returns and even got the ball past the 20 when he decided to bring one out. Mariani’s 12.5 punt return average was a high for the season. Coverage gunner Senorise Perry is becoming the Bears best coverage guy and had two tackles and a force fumble. Another rookie, Christian Jones, had a big hit on punt coverage and along with Perry has become a strong special teams player. Last, but certainly not least, rookie punter Pat O’Donnell has his best game of the season. When the Bears needed a long kick, O’Donnell boomed two 60+ yarders. When they needed a directional kick, O’Donnell pinned 3 inside the 20 and two of them inside the 10. After last week’s game which had me questioning O’Donnell’s roster spot in 2015, he played his best game of the season and showed he could be a special teams weapon next season. My apologies, Mr. O’Donnell.

8.) Does Marc Trestman know that Matt Forte is one of the 5 best RBs in the NFL?

Matt Forte had 5 carries on Thursday. 5 carries the whole game! Forte did get 6 catches, but that is still just 11 touches total. Forte is one of the best players in football and the Bears only got him the ball 11 times in a must win game? I understand that the interior of the Lions D-line is almost impossible to run on, so why not split Forte out wide and throw him a few of the WR screens that Trestman loves so much? It’s not like the Bears were fooling anyone by leaving Forte next to Cutler. By the 2nd quarter it was obvious that Forte wasn’t getting the ball on a handoff, so why not spread your best player out and get him the ball in space? Would you rather have Martellus Bennett and Brandon Marshall running after the catch or Matt Forte, one of the best RBs in football?!? It was just one of many perplexing moves from Trestman in a day full of them.

9.) Remember when the Lions were the poorly coached team that you could always count on for dumb penalties?

Now that’s the Bears.

10.) Somebody tell Marc Trestman and his staff that halftime adjustments are part of his job description

I’ve already touched on this a few times, but it was clear to everyone from the announcers to the fans that the Lions had figured out the Bears screen game by the 2nd quarter. So the Bears came out at the start of the 3rd quarter and ran 15 consecutive short passes which resulted in 3 points. I think it caught the Lions off guard. Like they expected the Bears to make some adjustments and were so surprised that they didn’t, that it allowed the Bears to get into field goal range. The Lions adjusted quickly after that and it was the last points that the Bears scored on the day.

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11.) Shea McClellin doesn’t belong on the field

There were plenty of plays that proved McClellin doesn’t belong on the field but two stood out predominantly. First was on RB Joique Bell’s first TD. The Bears D-line got a good push and Bell was forced to attempt an old-school over-the-pile leap. Bell just barely made it and the replay showed 10 Bears giving it their all to stop Bell and then the 11th, Shea McClellin, just standing there watching Bell reach the ball over the goal-line. WTF? Everyone in the stadium knew Bell was going up the middle but McClellin couldn’t get there in time? Can he not jump high enough to meet Bell at the goal line? What was he doing out there? The second play was another Bell run on a late 3rd down and 6. The Bears were losing, but with a stop they were still only two scores down with enough time to at least have a chance. Bell ran right at McClellin, but he was locked up by the fullback and by the time he shed the block Bell was long gone for a first down. McClellin doesn’t have the instincts to play LB and even when he is in the right place doesn’t have the ability to shed blocks fast enough to make plays. He’s a liability out there. I know Emery doesn’t want to give up on his first 1st round pick with the Bears, but it was clearly a mistake and Emery is compounding it by wasting snaps on McClellin that could be used to develop talented young players like Christian Jones or even Khaseem Greene, who can’t be any worse.

12.) I never thought I would say this, but Brock Vereen is worse than Chris Conte

I’ve been pushing for the Bears to give Vereen some time on the field to see what he can do. Now I understand why they have been reluctant. Vereen filled in at free safety for Chris Conte due to an eye injury and really struggled in coverage. With the Bears playing a soft coverage zone, Vereen was tentative and too slow helping corners on inside routes. On Calvin Johnson’s first TD, Stafford threw a bullet between Fuller and Vereen and Vereen didn’t even attempt to make a play on the ball or Johnson. That was his most glaring mistake, but there were multiple completions that Vereen was a step or two too slow to break up. Whether it’s an instinct issue or he’s just playing tentatively, Vereen was a liability on the field Thursday and for the first time in my life I missed Chris Conte.

13.) Kyle Long played Ndamukong Suh to a draw 

In Long’s rookie season he got off to a strong start until he ran into Ndamukong Suh and the Lions and Long was abused. He played better in their second match-up, but on Thursday there were three plays that I saw where Long neutralized Suh’s pass rush. Suh might be the best DT in the NFL and was giving both Roberto Garza and Michael Ola more than they could handle, but not Long. I can’t remember the last time I saw someone knock Suh backwards, but Long did it twice on Sunday. He’s been solid all season at RG, but I think he has the talent to potentially move to tackle on either side next season.

14.) Demontre Hurst is the slot corner the rest of the year.

Hurst missed a potentially game changing pick-6 INT, missed a tackle on Golden Tate on a key 3rd down, and dropped another potential pick in the 2nd half, but overall Hurst played another solid game and has been the Bears best player at slot corner over the last two seasons. Hurst is ultra-aggressive and is always around the ball. HIs aggressiveness is going to lead to some mistakes and missed tackles, but he is a potential play-maker who came inches away from making two game-changing plays on Thursday. ProFootballFocus has Hurst graded as the Bears best DB on Thursday (.8) and he deserves to finish out the season as the 3rd CB and see what he can do.

15..) Jon Bostic played one of his best games as a Bear

Before Joique Bell ran for 48 yards on the Lions last drive of the game, the Bears had held Bell to just 43 rushing yards on the game. The D-line deserves plenty of credit for that, but so does 2nd-year LB Jon Bostic who had a career high 11 tackles and was all over Bell if he made it through the Bears first line of defense. Bostic gave up a 24 yard catch to Golden Tate and another 13 yarder to Theo Riddick, but those are tough covers for the 6’1, 250 pound Bostic. Overall Bostic played one of his best games as a Bear and had the highest run stopping grade (2.0) from PFF.