Bears @ Commanders - Day After Thread

[Voice_of_Reason]

I said I would start this thread, so here it is.

However, I have very little content for it. Here goes:

1. You don't win games when you turn the ball over 3 times, and lose the turnover margin 0-3
2. Back to back turnovers on the first 2 drives were really bad.
3. JD5 took complete responsibility for the second fumble on the exchange at the end of the game. He said he didn't have the ball and didn't give Bill a chance. That said, it's 2 fumbles for Bill in 2 weeks. I don't care how good you are, you can't do that and keep playing.
4. The run game, which should have been a strength on both sides, offense and defense, was not.
5. The defense generated no takeaways. Quinn couldn't stop talking about it at the presser. It's clearly bothering him. What being bothered by it results in, who's to say. But pointed out at least one, if not two particular plays where he said they could have had INTs but didn't.
6. The slow starts, man. It's really hard winning games when you're down 0-10 + every single game.

This is a super frustrating loss. They probably deserved to lose, but worked their way into a position to win, and then lost anyway.

The reason we're 3-3 has nothing to do with a harder schedule. We played a crappy game against Green Bay, who's good but not great (they lost to the Browns and tied with the Cowboys), a REALLY crappy game against the Falcons, who after getting blown out by the Panthers, just turned around and beat us and then the Bills on Sunday Night, and probably are the best team we've played at the moment, but we still played like poop, and then a SUPER crappy game against the Bears, who we are better than but decided to turn the ball over 3 times and lost because of it.

We've played 3 good games and 3 bad games. The best game we played was against a really beat up Chargers team. The other 2 wins were against a bad Giants team with Russell Wilson and a really bad Raiders team.

The next 2 games will determine if we have a legitimate shot at the division or playoffs. We have to go 1-1 against Dallas and the Chiefs. That should be possible. But if not, this will be a very average and disappointing season. And not because of schedule. Because this year just hasn't had the same juju as last year, there were injuries, and I really think the McLaurin holdout broke the team in multiple ways.

I listed to Dan Quinn's post-game presser, and he used "space" and "to go" more than he has the entire season. Maybe that's an indicator of how badly the team plays, how often he says "space" and "to go."

The season is far from over. The Commanders are one game out of first place in the division, no team is running away with anything in the NFC East at the moment. But man, this isn't the same team as last year which was super clutch.

So have at it. And I'm not going to defense Whitt anymore. I think they need to consider a change there. What he's putting down is not being picked up. Though I think I'd also look at some of the defensive position coaches as well...

 

[burgold]

This doesn't help with content but after watching a season and a half of him calling defense, I'm beginning to understand why his name is Whitt versus Wit. Our DC doesn't have a Whitt of sense.

 

[Voice_of_Reason]

This doesn't help with content but after watching a season and a half of him calling defense, I'm beginning to understand why his name is Whitt versus Wit. Our DC doesn't have a Whitt of sense.

That's a good one.

 

[CuredFromBatteredFanSyndrome]

The season is far from over. The Commanders are one game out of first place in the division, no team is running away with anything in the NFC East at the moment.

Obviously true.

But I’d be lying to myself if I saw them any better than 1-3 in the next 4, potentially even 0-4. Guys will be looking for that Dolphins game like a port in a storm.

 

[burgold]

Offensively, something was off much of the game. I did expect the Bears to be focused, but as imaginative and potent as our run game was much of the year, it stank yestererday. The Bears were prepared for everything. We were also just sloppy. JD5 dropped the ball without contact twice. Once when he began a scramble and once on the botched handoff. Those two plays were significant and weird. The pass pro was pretty good much of the day, but it crumpled in almost every big moment down the stretch. Were they overmatached, overconfident, less focused? I don't know.

Defensively, we were abismal. Just absolutely horrendous. We held them out of the endzone a few times, but they marched into scoring territory at will against us and their pathetic run game looked excellent against our formerly stout run defense. In other words, the plan sucked. If Bobby's speed is being taken advantage of that's still on the coaches. Use Wagner as a pass rusher or bench him. Stop leaving him out where he harms the team.

On the plus side, we were playing with one hand tied behind our back considering we were lacking two of our top three receivers. On the minus side, if we can't figure out how to improve the defense then we'll be lucky to have a .500 season. We aren't even good enough to be called a bad defense. We're awful. And that's been true almost every game this year.

 

[Captain James]

I just can't believe we were driving to ice the game, only to have that bar of soap slip out of our hands, leading to a game-winning FG. Such a disappointing ending.

 

[Darrell Green Fan]

We lost the turnover battle 0-3 and that was the game. You can't survive 3 turnovers and your defense is not doing it's job if they do not take the ball away and this defense simply does not do this for whatever reason. I questioned the Joe Whitt hire at the time and I feel more strongly about that now. He just never gets the most out of his players.

 

[mcdonaldrw]

I think our biggest problem on D is we have noone that appears to want to lead. Last year we had Luvu, who was constantly directing traffic before the snap. This year Luvu is a ghost of himself, and no one else seems to want to just take charge. Sad part with that is that it's not something that can be fixed with a coaching change. The players need to stand up and go out to win. Getting constantly gashed last night for big runs is inexcusable. Why is it that no matter what 9 times out of 10 the D gets burned on screen after screen.

 

[Professor_Nutter_Butter]

I went into this season cautiously optimistic that this team turned a corner. They're going nowhere with this poor defense and potentially wasting Jayden's rookie contract years.

 

[Single-Bar Facemask]

The defense is an issue. Not forcing takeaways is trouble, and the lack of tackling effort on Swift's TD pass was really frustrating. It was our weakness last year, and our weakness this year. It has SEEMED a little better at times, but at others? Not so much. DeAndre Swift loves playing against us, lol.

We're last in the league in FG%. Last. For a team that went to the NFC Championship game last year, and has high hopes for this year as well. Unacceptable.

I'm going to give Jayden a break here. That was his first lost fumble in 24 career games, and it was in crummy conditions. He should have secured the ball first, even if it meant taking a loss. But he's a smart kid and a heckuva competitor, and he'll learn from that. There's still NO ONE I would rather have under center than #5.

Everyone is worried that we're looking at an 0-4 stretch coming up, and I just don't see it. Dallas might be a shootout, Kansas City aren't the Chiefs of 2-3 years ago, and I like our chances with Seattle and Detroit at home. I think 2-2 is very realistic, and 3-1 is possible. Learn from last night and move on.

 

[mistertim]

Offensively, the turnovers were killers, especially the last one. However, JD looked very good outside of the bad early INT and the botched handoff (though it seems he and Bill are both somewhat to blame, even though JD took responsibility). Our defense was just piss poor. Absolutely couldn't stop the run to save our lives. Guys running wide open in the middle of the field. The game plan was atrocious and there were clearly zero adjustments made at halftime.

This is simply not a super bowl team right now. It's starting to look like last year was a bit of a fluke, though JD is still certainly legit. Bill is looking to be that way, too...but he has to hold on to the ball. Terry is looking like a dud this season. We paid him a bunch and he did almost nothing for 3 games before getting hurt. Ertz has clearly lost a step from last season. Lane mostly been a nonfactor. Deebo is the only bright spot.

And our defense has no A level players. A couple of B level, but that's about it. Luvu and Sainristil looked to be on their way, but both have regressed this season. Luvu especially seems invisible now. Our pass rush is basically "hope by committee" and rarely gets pressure with just 4.

 

[Single-Bar Facemask]

I went into this season cautiously optimistic that this team turned a corner. They're going nowhere with this poor defense and potentially wasting Jayden's rookie contract years.

I think this is a bit of an over-reaction, "potentially wasting Jayden's rookie contract years"...

They went 12-5 and made it to the NFCCG last year.
They are 3-3 this year, and easily could be 4-2, or even 5-1. There is a lot of football left, and the Eagles aren't going to run away with the division this year, IMO. They weren't eliminated from playoff contention last night, like many of you seem to be acting.

I think a lot of people figured they would take a step back, record-wise, but still make the playoffs. 11-6 or 10-7 (or better) are still very much in play. Don't panic.

 

[Dah-Dee]

Commanders have dug a pretty good sized playoff hole, with 3 losses against conference opponents it currently looks like they'll be competing with for a wild card. H2H and conference record are the first two wild card tiebreakers for teams from different divisions.

 

[Professor_Nutter_Butter]

I think this is a bit of an over-reaction, "potentially wasting Jayden's rookie contract years"...

They went 12-5 and made it to the NFCCG last year.
They are 3-3 this year, and easily could be 4-2, or even 5-1. There is a lot of football left, and the Eagles aren't going to run away with the division this year, IMO. They weren't eliminated from playoff contention last night, like many of you seem to be acting.

I think a lot of people figured they would take a step back, record-wise, but still make the playoffs. 11-6 or 10-7 (or better) are still very much in play. Don't panic.

Regarding the first part of your response -- Sure, maybe. But last year's success largely fell on Jayden to play near perfect for the team to win. Really no room for error.

I don't think the season is done whatsoever. I just mean that it is concerning the defense is so bad 70%-80% of the time and they don't seem to have an answer.

 

[burgold]

Quinn likes to talk about "winning moments." In thinking back on yesterday, I think that was the problem. The team folded every time that moment arrived. For example, we were one 3rd and one conversion from winning the game. We were one red zone pick away from winning the game. We were one broken tackle away from winning the game.

The time came. We fumbled it away.

 

[IdahoFan]

No run game and the turnovers. Pretty simple but make no mistake our Defense as bad as they were at times were incredibly lucky to be in it at all at the end. That was a bad call that prevented the Odunze TD. If Zacchaeus hadn’t dropped the ball he scores. They made Swift look like Walter Payton all night.

I’m always disappointed after a loss but this one pisses me off more. 3rd and 1. Get the first and continue to run out the clock. Couldn’t manage a simple handoff. Incredibly frustrating to watch.

Haven’t strung two wins together yet after 6 games. Was this team smelling itself after last season? Has Terry’s hold out and subsequent injury cost us a chance to win these close games? Have injuries in general?

Dallas week. Team better get ready. That Dallas offense is going to put up some points. It’s a must win if the post season is still a goal.

 

[Commander Wraith]

Re-posting here as it’s the better spot for it…

I think both of our coordinators were affected by personnel issues, but they also both got out-coached.

Bears defense didn’t worry about respecting our receivers (understandably… although I assume they put added emphasis on containing Deebo) and focused on loading the box and bringing pressure. If Terry were out there, I question whether Chicago rolls with the same scheme. Almost everything looked difficult. Daniels faced a lot of quick pressure. I was waiting on max pro, double move calls and we finally got it with Lane. McCaffrey did a good job showing as a blocker to get wide open on his td. Ertz had a great fake outside before cutting inside for a nice gain. Maybe those latter two aren’t considered “double moves”, but they have the same effect. We had the one RPO pass that got called back… I think we could have called more of those, but as pure PA (or PA with Daniels taking off if the look wasn’t open). I think Kliff needed to do a lot more (and earlier) to get the defense to back off the LOS.

Pains me to say it, but Ben Johnson just had his way with our defense. We got “lucky” on D with the Bears making some mistakes (and that bogus illegal formation call on their td). Williams isn’t even a good qb. Mariota might have put up 40 against our D. In Whitt’s defense, they have a lot of quality weapons, but I think he probably needed to put numbers in the box - try to stuff their run game and fluster Williams with pressure. Instead, seems like he picked a middle ground and got beat both ways, on the ground and in the air. Again, personnel’s a factor. Another quality cover corner, a stud DE opposite Armstrong, a better coverage LB or a better safety duo… any of those could help Whitt in terms of scheming.

Both coaches seemed to lean into what the stats said - Chicago couldn’t run the ball and couldn’t stop the run - and didn’t do nearly enough to scrap the plans they accordingly came in with. But I don’t really know, that’s just my impression.

 

[DieselPwr44]

Matt Gay makes a fg, that a lot kickers in the league seem to be capable of, they probably win the game.
How long do they keep whistling past the graveyard at that position?
Said before the season they still needed at kicker and here we are.

No ball security. Joe Gibbs used to have his teams practice with a wet ball when he knew weather is coming. Does this staff even think of these things?

Doesn’t seem like they have no thoughts of getting someone like Sinnot involved in the passing game and getting him and Ertz attacking out of two TEs sets when they are hurting for passing targets.

Had the urge to make S’mores last night with the way this defense was getting burned to the ground last night. Part of the problem is lack of talent because Peters never has had a lot of picks to stock the shelf. The other is poor coaching. When guys are confused and players are out of place, that’s on the coach.

This is not a playoff team as currently constructed. So let’s have no more pregame talk about how they’re gonna “dominate “ the upcoming opponent.
We should all be from Missouri: Show me.

 

[Wrttn21]

I'm always curious how the fan base would react had the "ball bounced the other way" so to speak. If they iced that game last night, would everyone be celebrating how great Jayden played and how the team "overcame adversity" to pull out the tough win? Face it, a number of timely penalties short-circuited Los Angeles' attempt to get back into the game last week. This week, a number of timely turnovers cost the team a much needed win. The team is average, at best. When Jayden plays lights out, they can win. When he doesn't play lights out (or doesn't play at all) they are well below average. I think the honeymoon period is over. Jayden can't mask all of the deficiencies on this team. Hopefully he continues on to Lamar 2.0 as opposed to Stroud 2.0.

 

[DWinzit]

1. The run game, which should have been a strength on both sides, offense and defense, was not.

It looked like they went into this game assuming this and not being strategic on how to adjust to what the Bears might throw at them.

1. The defense generated no takeaways. Quinn couldn't stop talking about it at the presser. It's clearly bothering him. What being bothered by it results in, who's to say. But pointed out at least one, if not two particular plays where he said they could have had INTs but didn't.

I think they need to tackle better than be so overly concerned with takeaways at this point.

The slow starts, man. It's really hard winning games when you're down 0-10 + every single game

This team doesn't seem to be prepared to start with a lead. It wins with JDs heroics later on improvisation.

This is a super frustrating loss. They probably deserved to lose, but worked their way into a position to win, and then lost anyway.

Yes, it felt worse than a blow out game. Even with all the turnovers, mistakes, missed tackles and poor coaching we could have won and lost with no time left.

I listed to Dan Quinn's post-game presser, and he used "space" and "to go" more than he has the entire season. Maybe that's an indicator of how badly the team plays, how often he says "space" and "to go."

It sounds like defensively the aren't fast enough or able to get to get where they need to be in time whether in coverage or getting at the QB. Speedier LBs and better Edge play.

Offensively the receivers can't separate. It was evident Deebo wasn't 100%. Why didn't they make an effort to get Lane more involved, he needs more touches? And honestly I expected Sinnott would be involved in the pass game at least a little instead of Ekler, Bates too.