Dhruv Koul shares his in-game reactions, thoughts and observations from the Saints-Bears game at Soldier Field. Follow him on Twitter @DhruvKoul to continue the conversation.
CHICAGO — The Chicago Bears had an opportunity to take control of the NFC last Monday night in Los Angeles, and instead got embarrassed in a 24-10 abomination that wasn’t as close as the score. Since then, Matt Nagy and his coaching staff have been under fire for their broken offense, and even the defense has received its share of blame for a shoddy showing at SoFi Stadium.
At 5-2 and three tough games between the Bears and their bye week (yes, Minnesota is a divisional game and still tough!), the goodwill of their surprising 5-1 start could evaporate quickly. That’s why today’s game against the New Orleans Saints at home was so important. Here was my pre-game thoughts thread:
Thread: Thoughts on the upcoming Saints-Bears game…
1. The Saints demolished the Bears at Soldier Field in 2019, and have Alvin Kamara for this game. Looks like Michael Thomas will play. The Bears will be down multiple offensive starters. Can it get uglier than 2019?
— Dhruv Koul (@DhruvKoul) October 30, 2020
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Last year’s 36-25 defeat to the Saints at Soldier Field was certainly fresh in the Bears’ minds. That loss was without Drew Brees or Alvin Kamara. Could this week’s game be worse?
In the end, the Bears had a nice lead, completely imploded, came back, and lost in overtime. Just heartbreaking. Absolutely heartbreaking.
I shared my in-game reactions, thoughts and observations from the game below. Follow me on Twitter @DhruvKoul to continue the conversation.
Thoughts and Observations
1. (PRE-GAME) The Vikings went into Green Bay and upset the Packers. The Rams went down to Hard Rock Stadium to take on an upstart Dolphins team and imploded. The Bears, with a win today, can take over first place in the NFC North again. The NFL is a strange league.
Ted Ginn is officially inactive following his nonsensical punt “return” performance on Monday night. Dwayne Harris, just signed this week, will take his spot. In a game where field position will matter, catching punts is important.
Inactives for #NOvsCHI: pic.twitter.com/hK05XwNTXt
— Chicago Bears (@ChicagoBears) November 1, 2020
2. This has been some start to the game. The Saints’ offense is clearly doing exactly what we thought they’d do — feeding Alvin Kamara, and they’ve shown no issues getting past the cold weather and wind chills. They’ve had two drives and driven down the field with ease, but the Bears have escaped with just one made field goal against them.
Bears hold the Saints to another FG try after some ugly defense.
Lutz doinks it. Bears escape.
— Dhruv Koul (@DhruvKoul) November 1, 2020
Meanwhile, the Bears’ one offensive drive showed plenty of promise. They got Nick Foles on the move, Anthony Miller had a couple of big catches, and David Montgomery picked up a huge first down with a great run. Unfortunately, Bobby Massie may be lost for the game with a left knee injury… Jason Spriggs took over and looked back for a few snaps against Cam Jordan. Luckily, the game is tied at 3.
Encouraging drive overall there on offense — some nice calls by Matt Nagy and good execution overall.
Cairo Santos is automatic. We're tied at 3.
— Dhruv Koul (@DhruvKoul) November 1, 2020
One interesting wrinkle — we saw Mitch Trubisky return to the field! The Bears used him on a read-option play and he kept the ball for a gain of two. An interesting homage to the Saints’ usage of Taysom Hill (Trubisky isn’t Hill), but that was still fun. I’m interested to see if Matt Nagy is willing to build on that play and install a limited, controlled package for Trubisky moving forward.
3. Bears’ second offensive possession — a whole bunch of WOW! Nick Foles used play-action to hit Darnell Mooney deep downfield (finally!) for 50 yards. Two plays later, Foles fired deep again to Allen Robinson for a touchdown on a corner route. The Bears moved 80 yards in four plays after Lutz’s miss. That was impressive. And low-key, the Bears’ offensive line held up nicely twice. Bears lead 10-3. This is refreshing to watch.
Foles hits Mooney deep!
— Dhruv Koul (@DhruvKoul) November 1, 2020
Holy hell… what a catch by A-Rob for the TD.
— Dhruv Koul (@DhruvKoul) November 1, 2020
4. After the Bears kicked a field goal to go up 13-3 with a minute left in the half, the Bears inexplicably allowed the Saints to march 69 yards for a touchdown with three seconds left before the half. Contributing to that was ridiculously soft coverage the entire drive, especially down in the red zone. First, came a fair illegal contact penalty on Kyle Fuller that was somehow turned into DPI (it wasn’t).
That was PI? I understand we all want the Saints to win, but come on.
— Dhruv Koul (@DhruvKoul) November 1, 2020
And then, on two straight plays, the Bears allowed the end zone to be free to Jared Cook. Brees fired behind Cook on the first play (wide open in the end zone), but with eight seconds left, they lined Cook up on the left side and ran the exact same play. Jaylon Johnson was in coverage in another zip code and Cook pranced in the end zone with no one around him. Just unacceptable.
Chuck Pagano is going to get lit up by Matt Nagy at halftime. Unless Jaylon Johnson missed a call, that is inexcusable. https://t.co/RcTBAbMuEb
— Dhruv Koul (@DhruvKoul) November 1, 2020
The Bears get the ball after halftime, so the opportunity to hold New Orleans to a field goal and remain up 13-6 SHOULD have been a worst case scenario. But that changes the entire game. It’s 13-10 at halftime.
5. I’m very disappointed by Chuck Pagano so far today. He’s had no answers for Sean Payton (but has also done some very dumb things on his own).
Chuck Pagano has no answers for Sean Payton again.
— Dhruv Koul (@DhruvKoul) November 1, 2020
6. The second half has been all sorts of disaster so far. The Bears failed miserably on their opening possession and allowed a 42 yard punt return to set up a game-tying FG by the Saints at 13. On the next Bears’ offensive series, Javon Wims picked a fight with a New Orleans DB and was ejected from the game — it was all sorts of ugly.
Whew, Javon Wims… it'll be Riley Ridley time next week.
— Dhruv Koul (@DhruvKoul) November 1, 2020
The next play, Foles was intercepted.
And Foles is picked. Holy meltdown.
— Dhruv Koul (@DhruvKoul) November 1, 2020
I’m genuinely worried about Nagy’s grip on this Bears team right now. This is turning into the 2019 Saints game…
Bears' defense holds… kinda.
Lutz hits another FG and the Saints now lead this game 16-13. Just an ugly series of events for the Bears. https://t.co/kxE40pIPOF
— Dhruv Koul (@DhruvKoul) November 1, 2020
The Bears’ offense really, really needs a long possession here to rest the defense and at least tie this up. This third quarter has been a disaster for them.
7. Bears stopped the Saints in plus territory on fourth down — it was a chance for some momentum. After a nice conversion for a first down to Anthony Miller, the Bears blew up their drive with a bad run, a false start between quarter breaks, and an incomplete pass on fourth down that was a dropped pick…
It's a special type of failure when a dropped INT is hurtful to the offense. https://t.co/z27y5FkNJV
— Dhruv Koul (@DhruvKoul) November 1, 2020
8. Drew Brees threw a 20 yard touchdown to Taysom Hill. Ballgame, perhaps.
9. The Bears took the ensuing possession down the field for a touchdown, bailed out by a DPI in the end zone on third and long after some horrific play calling ruined legitimate rhythm. After a couple of terrible goal line plays, the Bears finally found the end zone on third and goal on a pass to Darnell Mooney. This team just makes things so hard for themselves.
God that was so ugly. But I'll take a TD.
— Dhruv Koul (@DhruvKoul) November 2, 2020
Saints lead 23-20 and will get the ball with under 4 minutes left. The Bears’ defense needs to force a stop in the worst way. Maybe the touchdown right there will fire them up.
10. Wow, what a play by Danny Trevathan on third down to save the game. He diagnosed a pass to Alvin Kamara right away and was on his tail as the ball floated to him in the flat. Great tackle to lose yards and force a punt…
Danny Trevathan with a game saving play. Wow.
— Dhruv Koul (@DhruvKoul) November 2, 2020
11. Uh oh…
Well, great response here in the final minutes. The Bears are going to have a chance to tie or win it with their — *gulp* — offense. https://t.co/aghUPIP3Z3
— Dhruv Koul (@DhruvKoul) November 2, 2020
12. That was the ugliest two-minute drive I’ve ever seen. Just horrendous from a play calling and time management perspective.
But of course, we’re tied and headed to overtime.
Cairo Santos hit his practice try from 51 after the Saints called timeout.
The FG try that counts? He hits anyway. What a beast.
— Dhruv Koul (@DhruvKoul) November 2, 2020
This is a brand new ballgame. The Bears need to attack this with renewed vigor in overtime. If they can somehow overcome all their mistakes to win, that would be huge.
13a. After the Bears got a stop on the Saints’ opening possession, Nick Foles really ruined the Bears’ drive. Just pathetic awareness there by Foles getting sacked… The Saints take over with 3:48 left in overtime and a FG wins it.
WHAT THE HELL FOLES.
— Dhruv Koul (@DhruvKoul) November 2, 2020
13b. The FG won it.
After a backbreaking run by Alvin Kamara (surprise!), the Saints nail the FG to win it in overtime.
Just ugly, yet heartbreaking, for the Bears. They are 5-3.
— Dhruv Koul (@DhruvKoul) November 2, 2020
14. The Titans lost to the Bengals (!) today in Cincinnati — a surprising result, to say the least. They’re sure to be angry about it and looking to rebound next week at home in Nashville against a — *checks notes* — Bears team that is — *checks notes* — imploding on all fronts. The ugly continues.
Early prediction: Titans 33, Bears 13.
