Today’s showdown between the 3-5 Chicago Bears and 4-4, Aaron Rodgers-less Green Bay Packers coming in was arguably the most important game of the season, especially for head coach John Fox.
Win, and the Bears are 4-5 with a chance to get to .500 for the first time ever under Fox next week at home against the Detroit Lions. Lose, and … yikes.
Fox, who has been on the hot seat since forever, simply could not afford to lose today’s game. To be at home and lose, against Brett Hundley and an otherwise awful Packers roster, after showing tons of promise in the first half of the year, would have been inexcusable.
Alas, the Bears shot themselves in the foot and killed their season with one of the most unacceptable losses in franchise history. Here are my thoughts and observations from today’s debacle that likely sealed John Fox’s firing:
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1. For a team with two weeks to prepare for this game, the Bears started awfully. On offense, with a shuffled offensive line, the Packers stacked the box as expected, and the Bears ran three times regardless for negative yardage each play, putting them behind the chains. On defense, with the Packers backed up inside their own 10, they missed tackles all over the field, leading to a march down the field. And Kyle Fuller compounded that with a dropped interception. Just like that, Green Bay was gifted a 3-0 lead.
2. Story of John Fox’s tenure: Dumb mistakes. On the second offensive possession, Bears start with a beautifully called and executed play-action pass to Adam Shaheen for a big gain. Then? Consecutive false start penalties. AT HOME! THERE IS NO NOISE, HOW THE HELL DOES THAT HAPPEN?
Good job by the Bears to make up for it and eventually get the first down, but these things CAN’T happen, ESPECIALLY at home. They are drive killers. If you’re tallying at home, the Bears had six flags thrown against them in the first quarter. Six!
#Bears looking bad on offense and not up to par on defense to start the game. Out of a bye week. John Fox, at his finest!
— Dhruv Koul (@DhruvKoul) November 12, 2017
3. Mitch Trubisky continues to be a work in progress. He made some very good, pinpoint throws, such as his first completion to Dontrelle Inman. And there were times where he held the ball too long and took an unnecessary sack or missed an open receiver. It was clear he wasn’t comfortable with the protection at times today, but some of those were inexcusable. He has to play better. But the reality is he played well overall considering the poor situations his coaching staff continued to put him in. In the first half, the Bears were 4/10 on third down, but had an average of 10.7 yards to gain. That is AWFUL.
4. Chicago missed Danny Trevathan badly in this game. Ty Montgomery went untouched for a 37-yard touchdown run where the Bears failed to maintain gap integrity. Yes, that drive was boosted on a nonsensical pass interference call on Prince Amukamara. But still, that’s poor defense. It can’t happen.
5. Congratulations to Jordan Howard on reaching 2,000 yards rushing in just his 24th game. Chicago’s offensive MVP the last two years. Man, is Chicago lucky to have plucked him from the fifth round.
6. An all-timer for John Fox: A beautifully-executed screen pass to Benny Cunningham resulted in a first and goal at the one. Fox challenged, thinking Cunningham reached the end zone. Unfortunately for him, the ball did … without Cunningham. The result: A touchback, and Packers ball. Yup, that happened.
John Fox challenges, results in a touchback. An all-timer for Fox. #Bears
— Dhruv Koul (@DhruvKoul) November 12, 2017
7. I have no idea what the Bears are doing personnel wise either. Those have arguably been worse than the play-calling. I don’t understand why Josh Bellamy was playing over Tre McBride – who got open against the Saints two weeks ago. Bellamy barely played before the Inman trade anyway — why is he playing now? Confounding stuff from a confounding team.
8. The Bears had no answer for the Packers running game today, surprisingly. Green Bay was down to their third running back in Jamaal Williams, and continued to gain 3-5 yards on every carry. The offensive line, beaten up and missing Bryan Bulaga, out-muscled the Bears’ defensive front routinely, even on a 4th-and-1 from midfield at the end of the third quarter. Not acceptable.
The #Bears are down 10 in the fourth quarter to a team that has its second-string QB, third-string RB, and beat up offensive line out-muscling Chicago's defensive front in the running game. Embarrassing.
— Dhruv Koul (@DhruvKoul) November 12, 2017
9. Dontrelle Inman showed why the Bears traded a conditional pick for him. He got open often against the Packers and gave Trubisky somebody to throw to. Finally. If he and Trubisky can continue to build chemistry and Inman can be a viable option for next year, that conditional pick won’t be missed.
10. Beautiful throw by Trubisky on the TD pass to Josh Bellamy. He looked off the safety and Bellamy did well to stack on top of the defender and actually catch the ball. Because that’s been a problem for him.
Was anybody else betting on one of the following on that Bellamy TD catch? #Bears
1. Bellamy drops it.
2. They come up with some bullshit "Process" reason to disallow it.
3. Bellamy drops it.— Dhruv Koul (@DhruvKoul) November 12, 2017
11. I said it before, the fact that the Bears got pummeled by Jamaal Williams when they needed a stop and everybody knew the Packers would be running it behind a banged up offensive line to kill the clock is unacceptable. The defensive front is supposed to be this team’s strongest unit. It can’t get beat like that.
12. Oh my god. With 3rd-and-10 and a stop needed for one final chance, Kyle Fuller inexplicably let Davante Adams get behind him for a 42-yard gain to seal the game. Fuller had an awful game, missing tackles and dropping an interception. But that was his worst play of the season. A back-breaking, season-ending, and Fox-firing play.
I don’t know how the Bears lost to Brett Hundley. This is the equivalent of the Blaine Gabbert game against San Francisco two years ago. An awful letdown — one that killed the season.
13. This is it — John Fox will not return as head coach next year. He lost an inexcusable game against the Packers of all teams. If Ryan Pace doesn’t do it, ownership will mandate it. You cannot lose to the Packers at home like this. Fox will find out the hard way.
