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10 thoughts after the Bears won their fifth straight game, beating Lions 23-16 Thursday, at Ford Field.
1. The history of the Bears could have better security than Mike Brown. But you would have a hard time finding a security that allows more big parts than Brown, which more often than not seemed to be in the right place at the right time. We may need to rethink that while Eddie Jackson continues to make very remarkable pieces on a regular basis. Jackson achieves remarkable feats at a frightening speed: his interception return to 41 yards from a touchdown that made the difference in the last season of the NFC North Lions and Bears victory in 12 days.
Jackson has read the play since Kalamazoo and because of this, the Bears have conquered an ambitious part of their schedule with 85 hours separating the end of their victory on the Vikings Sunday night and the coup of sending the annual match Thursday Thanksgiving Day. Motor City.
First, let's put things in place. The Lions had created equality at age 16 and Detroit was finally starting to make noise. The Lions earned 153 yards in 17 games in their previous two series, getting a 4-yard touchdown by LeGarrette Blount at the end of the third quarter, then a 20-yard goal by Matt Prater after defender Akiem Hicks was able to stop. on Blount and a tight pass Michael Roberts in the end zone was incomplete.
Thus, the Lions finally got an offensive result by forcing the Bears to beat after three games. They started with a good position on the field on their own 41-yard line with 6:09 to go. Detroit had played well to hold the Panthers four days earlier and win the win at home, and it was here that the Lions beat the Patriots earlier this season. Coach Matt Nagy announced to his players that they would meet a different Lions team than they had defeated Soldier Field 12 days ago and he was right. Even though the Lions did not have two essential offensive players – wide receiver, Marvin Jones, and offensive midfielder Kerryon Johnson – they were delivering the kind of fight expected by the Bears.
Suddenly, Detroit was in a position to take control of the match with his attack and Stafford, who had 32 winning records in his draw or tie in the fourth quarter or overtime. Twenty of these victories have occurred since the start of the 2014 season, the highest number in the NFL.
Perhaps looking to break Stafford's momentum, defensive coordinator Vic Fangio organized a blitz on the play. Linebacker Roquan Smith, who had a bag earlier in the game, was coming. His second, linebacker Danny Trevathan, was watching over Blount. When he was not released immediately, Trevathan started playing at the back of the room.
The Bears debuted in a Jackson high shell with a 11-yard depth at 48 yards from the Jackson. He was crawling forward and was 49 of the Lions when the ball was slammed. With the blitz coming, Stafford locked Roberts off the shot. By the time Jackson reached the 47 Lions, he was running at full speed with Roberts, instinctively knowing that the ball would arrive and that the narrowest part would be helpless when he arrived. Jackson ran in front of Roberts and caught the ball at 41 and, with such a lead in the lead, he managed to take a step forward and turn around and return to the end zone.
READ MORE: Eddie Jackson delivers again with a selection of six clutch to save the Bears
"It was just a good read," Jackson said. "Me and (Adrian Adrian) Amos, we disguise ourselves very well and I was above the corner nickel half) Bryce (Callahan) and we conduct a lot of nickel blitz. We just disguised ourselves and saw that he had rushed to the apartment and I kept his eyes on him. "
Jackson is far from being the fastest player on the field, but he broke that pitch before Stafford drops the ball because his instinct is very strong and he trusts that ;he see. It was the same thing last Sunday when he read cornerback Vikings Kirk Cousins and scored a pass for Laquan Treadwell, against a touchdown.
Jackson has made three interception returns for touchdowns this season, which is half of the team's defensive scores. Jackson scored five touchdowns in his first two seasons (one interception, one comeback in 2017), which is remarkable. Brown held the Bears record with seven touchdowns after his last season in 2008. Cornerback Charles Tillman made nine assists. Jackson is more than halfway through the game and has played 26 games since his fourth round pick in Alabama.
"Winning this touchdown with Eddie, he has had an incredible season so far," Nagy said. "One that I do not know if I've ever seen it."
Jackson's four interception returns for touchdowns since the start of last season represent more than 25 teams. His five touchdowns since the start of the 2017 season are more than any other NFL player and the top five scores were the highest for a player in his first two seasons, which is the number of touchdowns that the cornerback Jets, Erik McMillan, had in 1988-1989.
It's remarkable the pace with which Jackson plays huge games that will change the game.
"It's still improving," Fangio said on Tuesday. "He knows it. He is a guy who has a very good instinct and a very good IQ at football. It does not panic when it is on the ground and when you can combine all that, you get good results. "
Always improving. These are words that will stay with you for a little while.
2. Matt Nagy, bear coach, said the the confidence that he had in Chase Daniel's backup quarter was something that the veteran had begun to develop with him throughout his career in 2013, when they had first worked with the Chiefs. Defensive end Akiem Hicks had a deeper faith. They were in New Orleans together in 2012 when Hicks was a rookie and Daniel was in his third season as a replacement for Drew Brees.
"I'm kind of a Chase guy," said Hicks. "I was with Chase in New Orleans, so I'm a believer. He came here and even proved me wrong. All week long, I was telling the guys in the telecare room, "We're going to be good. I love how he plays. "
Daniel was not sensational, but he was stable and it was more than enough and would probably match what the team would like if he needed to play another game. Daniel finished 27 of 37 out of 37 for 230 yards with two touchdown passes and no turnover. He took four bags and probably should have avoided three, but you can tell just about every Sunday. He was not outclassed and the moment on the road was not too big for him.
Considering it was a short week and adding that the Bears had no practice – they had procedures – that was exactly what the Bears were looking for.
"Put yourself in his place," says Nagy. "There are not many people who have an idea, really. We can all think we do, but you have no idea how this kid is getting ready. Every week, how he prepares himself. And since the day I met him in 2013, these days do not change. He is very coherent. He takes this very seriously. Every game, he gets ready like a starter. Thus, every time he receives the call he will start, he is never shocked and nothing changes. And I've seen this before, where you have guys who suddenly change routine and deal with the week. You do not want that. And with Chase, you do not understand that. You get the same thing every week. And he deserves a lot of credit because he played a big role in this victory today.
"He was very comfortable. He sees the field very well because he knows where to go with football with blankets. We call him "Mike Physician" for creating MIKE-protected credentials because he sees things well. And then, he now has the chance to go sit on the bench and say why he did what he did. "
Daniel is mostly connected on short things. He beat Allen Robinson for a 29-yard gain on the third and 13th in the second quarter, taking advantage of the man-to-man coverage against cornerback Darius Slay. Later in the quarter, Anthony Miller raised 26 yards on a crossover road. The second longest attempt was to knock Tarik Cohen off the field on an optional route. It was a touchdown.
And it took a while for the Bears to start. But again, Daniel was ready, he knew where to go with the ball and the ball went out. It is not unusual for a quarterback to appear and nothing has done.
"At first we were a little behind," said Daniel. "Whether it's timing or nervousness for me or what you have. You know the first quarter, until after two or three minutes, we just did not play well. And everything starts with me, right? It starts with the quarterback and the offensive, so I think it's gotten rid of a bit of rust, taking a deep breath in the pocket. You know that there were guys who were open all day. I thought our offensive line was playing really well. Statistics will say four bags. Well, three or four of them are all my fault, and it's just because they have not played for a long time. You just have to keep driving. I think once we settled in, we were able to do things about RPOs, make quick wins in assists, take shots and I thought the plan was great. "
3. When will Mitch Trubisky be allowed to return? The Bears do not shed much light on this, but coach Matt Nagy still talks about "day after day". He still has some time before the December 2 game against the Giants.
"We have to find the best way to get it back on track," said Nagy. "I do not know when, but I know he'll do everything possible to get ready as quickly as possible. He just needs to continue to stay with these coaches and do everything he needs to do to get ready as soon as possible.
"When we said," Hey, listen, that's the way we're going to go, "and then he was disappointed. Because he really wants to (play). But we must be smart with him. He must understand that – and he understands. Once he passed this part, then he was good. "
Nagy said earlier this week that the Bears will be cautious and that's what they did when outside linebacker Khalil Mack (sprained ankle) and wide receiver Allen Robinson (groin) been sounded earlier this season. Nagy alluded to what the team did with these two players – and these two players missed two games. That does not mean that Trubisky will not be in the game to play against the Giants. He was eager to play here in week 12 and I have to think he will make good progress before the team resumes training next week. When he's ready, he'll be back at the game and what the Bears play next – a mediocre team of Giants – should not influence the idea of his departure or not. It's just a medical decision and maybe then a pain tolerance problem.
4. The current game remains confused, it really does. The Lions entered the NFL 24th in the race defense and were ranked the same when the teams met 12 days ago. The Bears did not run well against the Lions in that first game – 22 scored for 54 yards – and they could not get back to the ground here – 15 scored 38 yards. At the end of the game, Chase Daniel puts his knees down and they are 14 to 39. If you consider the set, you get 36 runs for 93 yards. Remove the quarterback runs full of both games and that's a total of 30 runs for 74 yards. It would be one thing if Detroit had a top 10 defense, but the Lions did not play well and the Bears still could not get it going, which would have been a big plus for the quarterback No. 2., right?
The Bears are averaging 115.2 yards per game, which means they're racking up 1,843 rushing yards, which would be more than they had in four of the last five years. The totals, of course, were increased by Mitch Trubisky, second in the team with 363 yards. You think coach Matt Nagy will want to recall some of Trubisky's free-field adventures after his right shoulder injury?
Jordan Howard and Tarik Cohen totaled 821 yards, averaging only 3.60 yards per race. This is where the offense begins to fail. The longest race of this victory was that of Cohen on 10 yards that preceded the fall of Daniel. The Bears had three tight ends: Trey Burton, Ben Braunecker and Daniel Brown, offensive offensive lineman Bradley Sowell and Cohen. They executed a power play and Cohen managed to bounce her around the corner and corner to move the strings in third and ninth and stop the Bears from having to push the ball back, which would have given the Lions a desperate chance to score. they were running out of timeouts. The cool game designer and left guard James Daniels made sure that it worked while he was carrying Cohen down the line to win.
"Go to the center, try to get the defense to the center, then bounce off the outside," Cohen said. "Coach told me to stay within limits."
As you expect next week, the Giants are currently ranked 25th in the league against the race, allowing 125.4 yards per game.
"It will be a really good time for me to come back here in the next few days and understand:" Let's get this game started, "said coach Matt Nagy.
Let's be clear: this is not a fatal situation for the Bears. Every week, I get a lot of questions about the running game and I think the main thing most people miss is the Bears who have made tremendous progress with the passing game this season. That's the thing they had the most trouble repairing and that's what you need to have in the NFL these days. There are many, many problems that go into running and if that was an easy solution, we would not ask ourselves what was specifically wrong at the end of November.
5. Here's an interesting nugget: With five regular season games, 15 different Bears have at least one full bag, the highest total in the NFL. The Packers have 14 players with a bag, the Ravens 13 and the Cardinals and Cowboys 12 each.
This becomes more interesting when you go back to 1982, when the bag became an official statistic, and find out that 15 is the maximum that the Bears have ever had, even more so than in the mid-1980s, when they began to terrorize their opposite quarters under the coordination My friend Ryan.
Thirteen players had at least one bag last season when the defense finished with 37 goals. In 2005 and 2001, 14 players were credited with at least one bag. That's all.
Deon Bush has become the 15th player, and perhaps the least likely, to get one because he is a safe player. He took part in the game with a total of 29 defensive shots, including 15 in Buffalo's November 4 loss. But Bush was inserted into a heavy DB package for the last game of the first half when the Lions had the ball on their own 45-yard line in the hope that Matthew Stafford sent Hail Mary into the end zone.
There are two ways to defend that – put eight or nine players in the blanket and keep several deeper than the deepest – or go after the quarterback. The coordinator, Vic Fangio, chose the latter and Bush arrived without blocking.
"It feels good," said Bush, a special teamer who recorded five sacks during his college career in Miami. "It feels really good."
Which defensive players could potentially win a bag in the next five games? I would say that defensive back Jonathan Bullard probably has the best chance of getting out without a sack. Starting cornerbacks Kyle Fuller and Prince Amukamara could get one, but Fangio blitz more than half-corner nickel Bryce Callahan. Second-timer Kylie Fitts does not have a second goal, but he does not have a lot of playing time. Linebacker Nick Kwiatkoski and the safety of the DeAndre Houston-Carson reserve could receive one. This is a credit for the ploy and the players.
6. The Bears missed quarterback Mitch Trubisky and linebackers Aaron Lynch and Adam Shaheen did not make the trip to Detroit because they were left out of the commotions they suffered last week., But the Bears are staying healthy at this time of the season and there is no doubt that this is part of the team's success.
According to the website mangameslost.com, the Bears have recorded the second smallest number of games missed by players due to injuries in the NFL this week with 34 players. The only team with less was the Bills with 28 points. The Lions and Cardinals tied for third place. The Ravens (98), Eagles (95) and Redskins (93) recorded the top three scores at the start of the week.
This is extremely important for general manager Ryan Pace and first year coach Matt Nagy, while the Bears have fought so hard for the last three years. It was a sensitive topic around Halas Hall and rightly so. There were long queues in the training room, too many players in the reserve of the wounded and it was a general problem.
Trubisky should be back in the near future and we will have to see what will happen with Shaheen, who was hoping to play in this game, and Lynch. The Bears are hoping to call on right-back goalkeeper Kyle Long to return from the injured pool before the end of the season. They come together very well when looking around the league and this certainly played a role in their good fortune.
7. The player defeated Benny Cunningham, injured ankle, injured his right ankle in the first period. It will be necessary to see what will happen with him, but a player who seems to take a little time and who belonged to Cunningham is Taquan Mizzell, promoted from the training team three weeks ago to give a small boost in the second leg. . He scored his first career touchdown on a 10-yard pass at the end of the second quarter on a narrow road of choice. He finished with two catches for 21 yards and one for 7 yards.
"It feels good," said Mizzell. "It shows a guy who has just been brought up on the practice team that coaches really believe in me and really give me a chance. I'm just grateful for that.
"(The hit) was a play we staged late this week and they chose me to do it. It was my favorite piece of the week and they have me an opportunity. As soon as they called that, I knew I might have a chance to score.
Coach Matt Nagy said they thought Mizzell could create imbalances compared to other teams in the passing game. So we will have to see what they will prepare for him in the weeks to come, especially if Cunningham is running out of time. Cunningham did not do much in attack this season, but he entered the game in fourth position in the special team snaps with 180.
8. Is there anybody who did not you watch Monday's exciting Chiefs / Rams match, the Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum fireworks show? The Rams have won 54-51 wins to start their break week and the Bears, of course, will welcome them to Soldier Field on December 9 in what will be another prime time match.
"I love it because they throw the ball, but as a defensive player, I would not feel good about attending meetings while we have 50," said the corner midfielder , Prince Amukamara. "I think it would be bad. We are delighted with this challenge. It's a team that likes to score points and we are a team that likes to limit that. But at the end of the day, we are not worried about them yet. Two weeks later, we will enjoy this victory and prepare for New York. "
Eddie Jackson said, "These are two big crimes. I did not really watch them too much because we are not playing against the Rams yet. We were just focused on Detroit. That's where I thought. Big mistakes, good quarterbacks, a lot of guys on these fouls can play. It was exciting to see two excellent quarterbacks and two excellent fouls going like that. "
9. I mentioned the possibility that Vic Fangio, the defense coordinator, would become a candidate for the leadership of training by the end of December, especially if the defense plays well for the rest of the season. Bruce Arians, who was 60 when the Cardinals hired him in 2013 after the Bears passed for Marc Trestman, is a big supporter of Fangio. They clashed in NFC West when Fangio was the 49ers' defensive coordinator.
"It's very cyclical, but when people ask me questions about Vic, I simply answer them:" Look at Mike Zimmer and the work he's done, "said Arians, two-time winner of the NFL coach of the year. analyst for CBS this season. "Vic is a great coach, a great coach of players. I think that he would be a sacred head coach. As you said just now, everyone is looking for the next young offensive genius. But if you watch the Bears, the defense wins the games.
"As a fan of the game, I look at what Vic did, especially since he had Khalil Mack and Roquan Smith. He has always been one of the best defensive coordinators, but dude, they are really making a difference. "
Arians said that a complete history should be a more important consideration for a candidate in the lead training than a background of one side or the other of the ball .
"For me, you go with an experienced guy, a guy who has fought in a lot of places, in different systems, so that he knows what he would like to do, especially when you do it. connected with a very good general manager, "he said," I think that's the way to go and then engage this offensive young man (as a coordinator). "Everyone wants to hire these young offensive players (as a head coach), but also they call to play It is very difficult to become a coach for the first time and calling for the first time.
10. Do you know what good teams have a way of doing things? Many of them are able to create a "We are against the world" mindset and this is something the team can feed on. When the Bears were good under Lovie Smith, players in the locker room often had that feeling. This group uses a similar approach.
"One thing I think this team feeds on is that we have been the underdogs for so long. We have been criticized for so long. So we say, "We are all we have" free security Eddie Jackson said. "We are just focusing on that. Believe it or not, we do not take part in the conversation, we intervene every day and we are only ourselves. "
the outsider the thing is only going so far. The Bears have been favored in nine of their 11 games. The only games in which they scored points were the opener in Green Bay (+7) and the match of 21 October with the Patriots (+2). Other than that, the opponent was oppressed each time.
10a. The Senior Bowl started sending game invitations to Mobile, Alabama, in January, and three Illinois school players were invited. Northwest quarterback Clayton Thorson (Wheaton North), Northern Illinois offensive tackle Max Scharping and defensive lineman Khalen Saunders of Western Illinois. Four players from Notre Dame received invitations: linebackers Drue Tranquill and Te'von Coney, defensive lineman Jerry Tillery and tight winger Alize Mack. Bowl Executive Director Jim Nagy said the process of filling alignments was half completed, so it was possible that more potential prospects would receive invitations.
10b. The Pro Bowl vote has just begun and two Bears lead the fan vote to their respective positions in the NFC. Linebacker Khalil Mack won 178,678 votes and Return Specialist Tarik Cohen won 54,362 votes. Fan voting accounts for one-third of the process, with players and coaches also counting for one-third each in the final count.
10c. Overall, the Bears have done a good job defending Lions receiver Kenny Golladay. He had a 43-yard catch, but for the most part he was under control and his five catches for 90 yards did not put the defense in a bad position.
10d. The next time the Bears start their quarterback, it probably should not be on the call sheet, right? It is a way of exposing the quarterback to the wounded and getting the third quarter on the field.
10th. Green Bay (4-5-1) will travel to Minnesota (5-4-1) for Sunday night's game on NBC this weekend. The winner will be in second place behind the bears. If the Vikings win, the Bears will have a game and a half in front of Minnesota with five weeks to play. If the Packers win, they will overtake the Vikings on the basis of a better record in the NFC North, but both teams will have two and a half games behind the Bears. Suffice to say that this is a situation where Bears fans are committed to the Packers.
Twitter @BradBiggs
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