How does another week of field goal discourse sound?
Kicking strategy was the only topic of conversation in Chicago this week. After the Packers blocked the Bears' would-be game-winning kick in Week 11, a lot of Green Bay's special teams players talked about how predictable the block was because of hints they saw on tape. As the story goes, the Packers' special teams coordinator was so confident in what they knew that he told the team the night before that they were going to block a kick at some point during the game.
RELATED: Bears FG nightmares continue with embarrassing blunder against Vikings
What followed was six days of (sometimes very dopey) coverage throughout Chicago sports media about the kick. There were podcast segments, newspaper columns, and Robbie Gould even went on TV – shocking, I know – to explain how it happened. I imagine it was a pretty unpleasant week for special teams coordinator Richard Hightower, and one that he wasn't planning on running back a second straight time.
And yet, here we are, talking about a lack of execution on a blocked field goal. After Sunday's loss to the Vikings, quotes from the visiting locker room once again made the Bears' special teams unit look inept.
The Vikings' quotes about Bears' kicking operation sure do sound familiar
Just talked to several Vikings about the FG block. Santo's low kicks came up again. Vikings emphasized getting an inside push bc they knew they could get a block if they did.
— Kalyn Kahler (@kalynkahler) November 24, 2024
S Theo Jackson: "We don't really cover too many kickers that have this type of low trajectory..."
"Other weeks you are trying to figure out, like, at what point is he better at like, Is he better on left hash or right hash? but I feel like this week was, we were chomping at the bit to get that."
— Kalyn Kahler (@kalynkahler) November 24, 2024
Who knows how much day-to-day influence Matt Eberflus has on the Bears' special teams, but woof this is such a bad look. At this point, any coaching flaw or mistake is going to find its way back to Eberflus, even if it's not totally fair or rational. But that's life as an NFL head coach, and the fact that teams are knowingly teeing off on *the same* Bears' special teams mistake they found on tape for the second straight week is borderline unacceptable. (And honestly I'd argue it's not even that borderline.)
This is now officially A Thing, right? The Bears' field goal attempts are going to be kinda nervy from now on, aren't they? All of this just because they can't, apparently, figure out how to block the left side of the line. This won't be the thing that gets the Bears to fire their head coach in the middle of the season for the first time in franchise history, but this is just the latest data point in the argument for his eventual dismissal. But look on the bright side: maybe Robbie Gould can do another demonstration this week!