Bears still suck Studs n Duds

[milani]

to be fair, Favre and Rodgers were both different guys at age 27 as well.

Would guess that if Love is still here in 8 years, he’ll have much more of the “this is my team and my offense” attitude than he has right now.

That is expected. Favre played for 4 HCs in GB. Rodgers played most of his for 2. Jordan only knows MLF.

 

[Magooch]

Will try for full studs n duds later but wanted to make a little note - I’m surrounded by bears fans (Illinois). And the general sentiment I hear amongst them is pretty much the opposite of what I hear from packers fans - they’re talking about how LaFleur got the better of Johnson, how Allen’s defense couldn’t stop Matt’s offense, how Hafley stumped Johnson in the first half, etc.

They don’t like any of them for sure, but in general it seems like Bears fans rate the Packers’ coaches higher than Packers fans do lol

 

[milani]

Will try for full studs n duds later but wanted to make a little note - I’m surrounded by bears fans (Illinois). And the general sentiment I hear amongst them is pretty much the opposite of what I hear from packers fans - they’re talking about how LaFleur got the better of Johnson, how Allen’s defense couldn’t stop Matt’s offense, how Hafley stumped Johnson in the first half, etc.

They don’t like any of them for sure, but in general it seems like Bears fans rate the Packers’ coaches higher than Packers fans do lol

They have been like that for ages. I used to listen to their old talk radio. They have roasted every coach they ever had including Ditka. The Bears won all of these kind of games except the opener. This one went the other way.

 

[chemist]

They have been like that for ages. I used to listen to their old talk radio. They have roasted every coach they ever had including Ditka. The Bears won all of these kind of games except the opener. This one went the other way.

STUDS
Watson:, the speed of an antelope and staying focused on each play, recognizing the hand signal from Love when he saw cover 1 and changed the play to watson.
Engabare: just for that one play of knocking the hard running monangai sideways before he reached the LOS.
Offense: got us enough points to win.
MLF: I put him here because he kept up the use of motion, play action , roll outs etc along with the run. Thats how our offense works best, but he had some bad calls too. Cant have 3 and outs . Need to sustain drives so going for a low % long pass down the sidelines on 3rd and something is ridiculous. Just keep the chains moving. Keeping a drive going which also gives our D time to rest.

LOVE: Cant call it a great performance, more of a solid performance. He got us home when we needed it. That INT in the 1st qtr when we had a good drive going hurt. For that pass to have any chance it needed to be more of a looping pass instead of a line drive.

NEUTRAL
Nixon: made some bad plays, got involved in a stupid penalty but in the end made the show stopper so I cant put him in the duds.

 

[AmishMafia]

My observations from Section 118:

The team had a lot of energy, even on the sidelines. Where they moving just to keep warm? No, they could have sat on the warm benches. Instead the team mostly were standing so they could watch the game.

Micah Parsons - when he wasn't playing, he didnt put on a jacket. There went any concerns about his abilities in cold weather.

Love looks better and better.

The game seemed to be slanted towards da Bears by the Refs. I saw a bear punch a Packer on the play we got the penalty for unsportsmanlike conduct. Thought for sure the Bears got the penalty and an ejection. I wasn't the only one who saw it, others were yelling it.

Thought the play that was reviewed and said to not be a catch but was ruled reception fumble recovery on the field was BS. Thought there was no fumble and packer pulled the ball away and was then down. Making it a pick. There was no evidence that it wasn't a reception that I could see. Maybe tv angle was different, I dont know.

The Bears still suck, but they are going to be a force in the NFCN for a long time.

 

[Guacamole]

I cannot see how the Bears only had 2 penalties called.

4 and Pack had 6

 

[OldSchool101]

You could literally pull a knife and stab him and they wouldn’t call it…

DUD: NFL Officiating both internal game all the way through the Administrative level in NY.

The NFL now allows throat Choking. GB was literally flagged for their player simply defending himself from a dangerous choke hold attack. Egregious level and one could argue bordering on criminal level behavior is allowed and rewarded.

 

[Pugger]

STUDS
Watson:, the speed of an antelope and staying focused on each play, recognizing the hand signal from Love when he saw cover 1 and changed the play to watson.
Engabare: just for that one play of knocking the hard running monangai sideways before he reached the LOS.
Offense: got us enough points to win.
MLF: I put him here because he kept up the use of motion, play action , roll outs etc along with the run. Thats how our offense works best, but he had some bad calls too. Cant have 3 and outs . Need to sustain drives so going for a low % long pass down the sidelines on 3rd and something is ridiculous. Just keep the chains moving. Keeping a drive going which also gives our D time to rest.

LOVE: Cant call it a great performance, more of a solid performance. He got us home when we needed it. That INT in the 1st qtr when we had a good drive going hurt. For that pass to have any chance it needed to be more of a looping pass instead of a line drive.

NEUTRAL
Nixon: made some bad plays, got involved in a stupid penalty but in the end made the show stopper so I cant put him in the duds.

I'm not going to rag on Nixon for that personal foul. He didn't instigate it but refs often don't see it and only see the reaction. I suspect the bares will try to pull this crap again in 2 weeks so our guys will have to keep their cool and not take the bait.

 

[OldSchool101]

I will offer this. The Bears have exceeded my early season expectation of around 9.5 Wins. and they are similar to the Packers in some respects. Both teams have aspects of their game that can be improved, but also other aspects that are near top of the league. On a good day either team can go toe to toe with with the top teams in the league. On a bad day they can get nipped by a sub .500 level team.

Stud: The Packers as a whole reaching #1 in the North with just 4 games remaining.

We’re getting a pretty good feel for this Packers team. The 2025 team absolutely has flaws. We still can’t seem to elevate our OL to the next plateau and Josh Jacobs is clearly a
True “5-5.5 yards per” RB but behind a very mediocre OL blocking unit. We are showing a slight regression in our Run Defense and one factor is likely Wyatt missing. Although 4.3 yards per carry allowed with a long of 9 yards is not nearly as bad as some fans claim. Chicago averages around 5.0 per carry across large sample. While it was substandard for us, it wasn’t anywhere close to horrific either. We allowed a pair of 1st downs on D penalties also which didn’t help.

On a good note the Packers seem to make modest improvements over time. It took a minute to respond to losing Kraft, but we’re seeing glimpses of our TE group coming to life. Actually with some moderate+ quality balance across the room. It’s an area to improve though.

There are several players coming off IR this week or next. Each have assets that “could” be helpful to our stretch run. Lukas Van Ness is a good Run Defender with moderate Pass Rush ability which without Wyatt is sorely needed. I know some don’t want to hear it but Lloyd was a collegiate nightmare in YAC, this aligns really well when blocking isn’t ideal. He’s very similar to a young Jacobs in many ways and will make chicken salad from chicken poo. Brenton Cox Jr is being eased back in. I have him at Enagbare+ level. He’s even shown periods of being a better rusher than Lukas.

Having Wicks, Reed, Watson, Golden, Doubs healthy with backups Melton or Heath have shown fruitful. It’s a deep WR room without much dropoff past maybe Watson being at the Top end. Finally let’s all give Jordan props. That kid is a Godsend. He might not be Pat Mahommes but hes easily top 10 and inching into top 5 QB discussion.

 

[RicFlairoftheNFL]

Duds

O-Line: Whether it's management or coaching this continues to be a problem. We're at a point where we now have to draft at least one starter on the interior O-Line, instead of just depth in 2026.

Musgrave: I want to keep giving this kid chances cause I'd hate to have him get it the day AFTER we gave up on him but damn catch ANYTHING.

Tackling: Why do we need to gang tackle with 8 or 9 dudes on a running play? Why can't 1 or 2 dudes just nail somebody and have him stay down?

Studs

Nixon: Redemption for the 1st half, love to see it

Running game: Pass protection was bad but in the running games JJ and the boys up front got it done when it absolutely HAD to be done.

Passing game: We hit on 2 deep shots right before half, usually we don't even try it, let alone hit on it, great job.

 

[Catamount1971]

Studs
Love- Was the difference in the game.
Jacobs- dude broke a lot of tackles
Watson- he's upped his game and is now a real weapon.

Duds
Gary and Enagbar- They repeatedly bit on fakes and let Williams get outside the pocket too easily.
IDL- In the second half the Bears attacked the middle of the D line whenever they needed a first down.

I don't think they let Williams bite on fakes when they were being held and couldn't tackle him. You could see the defensive players getting pulled one way and then they let them go. It was so bad.

 

[Pokerbrat2000]

Studs:

- Flyover: Was a nice one yesterday! Although I think one more jet would have completed the formation.

- 1st Half Defense: They were playing with a ton of energy and really swarming. They looked gassed in the 2nd half.

- Love, Reed, Watson, Melton, Jacobs, TE's, Bullard


Duds:

- Refs: I wanted to watch the game before I commented on this, because from the stands, you sometimes don't get the entire story. However, I watched the game when I got home last night and WOW, the refs REALLY sucked. I mean that was one of the most one sided refereeing job that I have seen in awhile. I also think FOX really dropped the ball on commenting on the bad calls or showing replays of reversals. Also, something I noticed from the stands and less on TV, Micah Parsons was being held and tackled ALL game. One one play he was not only held around his neck, but when he escaped, the Bear lineman stuck his leg out to try and trip him, 2 penalties, neither called. MLF was irate over the no calls most of the day, something FOX didn't show. Can someone tell me why the reviewed catch by a Bear that Williams ripped out of his hands and had possession was reversed to a "no catch"? The ball never hit the ground and it went from the Bear WR to Evan Williams as they were going down. I could go on about the Musgrave "no catch", the picked up flag for "no PI on the Bears", the PF on Nixon, etc. but all in all ......"The Refs Still Suck!" Terrible crew, I hope we never see them again.

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[El Guapo]

Can someone tell me why the reviewed catch by a Bear that Evans ripped out of his hands and had possession was reversed to a "no catch"? The ball never hit the ground and it went from the Bear WR to Evans as they were going down.

Great pics and nice seats!

When I saw the play on the first replay, I said loudly to my group that it would either be Packers ball or incomplete. Evans had clear possession, was down, and touched by the Bears receiver. However, the receiver did not get two feet down and make a football move before Evans got the ball out.

Evans was too good and too fast!

 

[chemist]

Studs:

- Flyover: Was a nice one yesterday! Although I think one more jet would have completed the formation.

- 1st Half Defense: They were playing with a ton of energy and really swarming. They looked gassed in the 2nd half.

- Love, Reed, Watson, Melton, Jacobs, TE's, Bullard


Duds:

- Refs: I wanted to watch the game before I commented on this, because from the stands, you sometimes don't get the entire story. However, I watched the game when I got home last night and WOW, the refs REALLY sucked. I mean that was one of the most one sided refereeing job that I have seen in awhile. I also think FOX really dropped the ball on commenting on the bad calls or showing replays of reversals. Also, something I noticed from the stands and less on TV, Micah Parsons was being held and tackled ALL game. One one play he was not only held around his neck, but when he escaped, the Bear lineman stuck his leg out to try and trip him, 2 penalties, neither called. MLF was irate over the no calls most of the day, something FOX didn't show. Can someone tell me why the reviewed catch by a Bear that Evans ripped out of his hands and had possession was reversed to a "no catch"? The ball never hit the ground and it went from the Bear WR to Evans as they were going down. I could go on about the Musgrave "no catch", the picked up flag for "no PI on the Bears", the PF on Nixon, etc. but all in all ......"The Refs Still Suck!" Terrible crew, I hope we never see them again.

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Great pics and nice seats!

When I saw the play on the first replay, I said loudly to my group that it would either be Packers ball or incomplete. Evans had clear possession, was down, and touched by the Bears receiver. However, the receiver did not get two feet down and make a football move before Evans got the ball out.

Evans was too good and too fast!

I agree with many other on refs slanting the game toward the bears yet we won anyway which tells me that talent wise we are far superior to the bears. If officiating was an even playing field we blow them out of the water.
Its frustrating watching such a miscarriage of justice, much like running for congress and having your opponent flood, tv, radio and all social media with outrageous lies about you. Not much you can do about it.

 

[El Guapo]

Its frustrating watching such a miscarriage of justice, much like running for congress and having your opponent flood, tv, radio and all social media with outrageous lies about you. Not much you can do about it.

Play the right way and win the game. That anyone can do.

 

[El Guapo]

My main stud for the game was Jayden Reed, or maybe the medical staff. We've had two WRs come back from significant injuries this season, and both looked prepared and ready to play. Reed was electric for the offense in the first quarter and again showed up when needed in the 4th. Impressive coming off of IR.

 

[chemist]

Play the right way and win the game. That anyone can do.

Not sure what you mean. Please elaborate.

 

[mradtke66]

Micah Parsons was being held and tackled ALL game. One one play he was not only held around his neck,

While I think he did get held, please remember that if a defender does a rip move and then ends up in a position that would otherwise be holding (ie, around the neck) this is NOT holding. The rules explicitly call this out at NOT holding.

 

[Pokerbrat2000]

Great pics and nice seats!

When I saw the play on the first replay, I said loudly to my group that it would either be Packers ball or incomplete. Evans had clear possession, was down, and touched by the Bears receiver. However, the receiver did not get two feet down and make a football move before Evans got the ball out.

Evans was too good and too fast!

But that is the thing. If the receiver didn't make the catch, Evans still did (make the interception)! No different then a WR juggle the ball into a defenders hands for an interception or a simultaneous catch but as they are going down, the defender gains possession of the ball. Unless I missed something, the ball never touched the ground and Evans had clear possession of it, when the play ended, interception, Packers ball.

 

[Pokerbrat2000]

While I think he did get held, please remember that if a defender does a rip move and then ends up in a position that would otherwise be holding (ie, around the neck) this is NOT holding. The rules explicitly call this out at NOT holding.

Thanks for the clarification, but I think in the situation I was referring to, Darnell Wright wrapped his arm around Micah's neck and held him. The rule you are referring to doesn't pertain to that (I believe). Throw in the move after that, Wright throwing out his leg in an attempt to trip Parsons, and the ref, who was standing there watching it, was blind.

Matt LaFleur on Packers Holding Micah Parsons: ‘I Don’t Even Know What Holding Is'

The Bears got away with a few holds on Micah Parsons on Sunday.

www.si.com

 

[Pokerbrat2000]

Great pics and nice seats!

When I saw the play on the first replay, I said loudly to my group that it would either be Packers ball or incomplete. Evans had clear possession, was down, and touched by the Bears receiver. However, the receiver did not get two feet down and make a football move before Evans got the ball out.

Evans was too good and too fast!

Yeah I am lucky that I have a friend with great seats and his wife doesn't like late games or cold weather.

I keep calling Evan Williams "Evans".....my bad. He made a great play on that ball and I still think it was an interception.

 

[milani]

STUDS
Watson:, the speed of an antelope and staying focused on each play, recognizing the hand signal from Love when he saw cover 1 and changed the play to watson.
Engabare: just for that one play of knocking the hard running monangai sideways before he reached the LOS.
Offense: got us enough points to win.
MLF: I put him here because he kept up the use of motion, play action , roll outs etc along with the run. Thats how our offense works best, but he had some bad calls too. Cant have 3 and outs . Need to sustain drives so going for a low % long pass down the sidelines on 3rd and something is ridiculous. Just keep the chains moving. Keeping a drive going which also gives our D time to rest.

LOVE: Cant call it a great performance, more of a solid performance. He got us home when we needed it. That INT in the 1st qtr when we had a good drive going hurt. For that pass to have any chance it needed to be more of a looping pass instead of a line drive.

NEUTRAL
Nixon: made some bad plays, got involved in a stupid penalty but in the end made the show stopper so I cant put him in the duds.

The Love INT was predicated by the huge sack. We were 2nd and 4 and it became 3rd and 17. Just cannot get a sack in that circumstance. Probably the time to pound it and then throw on 3rd and short.

 

[chemist]

The Love INT was predicated by the huge sack. We were 2nd and 4 and it became 3rd and 17. Just cannot get a sack in that circumstance. Probably the time to pound it and then throw on 3rd and short.

I'm for keeping a drive going for as long as possivle. Eventually it takes a toll on the opponents D. Much like the bears did to us with that 17 play drive. Our D was worn out.
3rd and 17 put us in a bad position but a,pass into an area where there were I believe 3 defenders, the pass would have to be perfect. I would have favored a crossing route with a possible catch near the sidelines with the ball placed where only the receiver has a chance to get it. If we dont get it so be it.

 

[Magooch]

Will try for full studs n duds later but wanted to make a little note - I’m surrounded by bears fans (Illinois). And the general sentiment I hear amongst them is pretty much the opposite of what I hear from packers fans - they’re talking about how LaFleur got the better of Johnson, how Allen’s defense couldn’t stop Matt’s offense, how Hafley stumped Johnson in the first half, etc.

They don’t like any of them for sure, but in general it seems like Bears fans rate the Packers’ coaches higher than Packers fans do lol

Alright, back with the rest.

STUDS:
Christian Watson: I've said for years now that we need a proper "#1" target and that having an assortment of #2's isn't going to cut it. Well, here he is. He's our #1. His role and the way he's deployed *looks* like you'd expect from a #1, you watch the tape and he plays like a #1, and his stats are that of a #1.
With LaFleur's offense you're never going to see Love force-feeding him 7, 8, 10+ targets per game like you might see from other teams' #1s but he's that dude. Through 7 games he's on career bests for yards per game, catch percentage, and has 5 rec TD (he had 7 rec TD rookie year). This guy is a weapon for sure, and he opens up so much for us all around. As soon as the ball hit his hands on that slant, I immediately said out loud, "He's gone" and lo and behold...he was It's great to have guys who can be steady and consistent players, but like I said...having a bunch of #2s is probably not going to take you very far at the end of the season. You need big-play players and Watson is that guy. And he's still blocking great, too!

Josh Jacobs: I've had some reservations with Jacobs this year, he's often not looked quite himself or less-than-100%. I was talking with a buddy during the game yesterday who remarked that "it seems like Jacobs is only ever getting you 3-4 yards per carry," which honestly DOES feel true at times...BUT I told him the big thing is that he's such a hard runner that he will rarely get LESS than that 3-4 yards for you, too. He's not a huge home run threat but he's steady as they come. All well and good.... which is why it makes perfect sense then that with the game arguably on the line, with what looks like we're about to get stuffed for a loss on 3rd down and probably having to settle for a field goal, HE PUT DA TEAM ON HIS BACK, FOR MADDEN, and popped off with his second-longest rush of the season. Naturally. This guy is a real bell cow back for me.

Jordan Love: I don't know what more he needs to do to convince folks he's legit. He's #1 in the league in EPA per play and adjusted EPA per play. He's #3 in CPOE. He's #2 in EPA+CPOE composite. He's #6 in pass success rate and completion percentage. He's in the top 10 in passing yards, passing TDs, yards per attempt, and net yards per attempt. He's top 5 in adjusted yards per attempt and ANY/A. He's #5 in passer rating, and #2 in QBR. He is 32nd in the league in total INTs (there are more than 32 qualified passers here), and among regular starters he is 3rd in INT percentage. And this is all in spite of being just #14 in passing attempts. In fact don't look now but he has moved into #3 for league MVP odds. He's our guy.

DUDS:
Hard for me to come up with a ton of duds honestly, at least not in an individual sense...

Rush defense, I guess? A tale of two halves. They were very solid in the first half, but couldn't get us off the field in the second half. So it's a mixed bag. I can't be too harsh...the Bears have a great rushing game and in theory we DID do enough at the end of the game, even if it was really a bend bend beeeeend BEND BEND but don't break type of thing...You could probably say that Ben Johnson lost that game for the Bears as much as we stopped them too. Yes Enagbare had a big stop there but I had next to zero confidence we'd do it again on 4th and 1. By extension we need more out of our LB play. Our LBs had over 20 combined tackles, but I believe zero TFL. We know our DL is what it is, with Wyatt done we will need those guys to step up more.

Special teams continues to be a dud. You can probably pencil this in most weeks. Kick coverage was generally good but that's more or less the only bright spot. KO out of bounds by McManus (he has not been very good on KO, has he?), penalty on Orzech, penalty on Melton. At this point I must conclude that either A.) Bisaccia is a great coach and our roster is so truly atrocious that it's a testament to his coaching acumen that our ST units are even able to play at this level or B.) Bisaccia is one of the most wildly overpaid coordinators in the league

Finally, I hate to be a ref-blamer, but officiating yesterday was a sham. Honestly, it feels "better" to complain about in a win. If we lose and we're over here complaining about refs, it just feels like sour grapes or sore losers. When it's after a win, idk, that feels more credible to me.

• For the Bears to get out of that game with one single holding call is absolutely outrageous.
• Nixon gets choked and flagged (I once again must point out that the old maxim of "they're gonna flag the one who retaliates not the one who instigates" is one of the stupidest principles in all of sport).
• The league seems to have once again forgotten what constitutes a catch; Musgrave's was called as a catch on the field, yet somehow was deemed to clear the threshold of "irrefutable video evidence" or "clear and obvious mistake" to have it overturned. Where??
• On the fumble/not fumble/catch/incompletion...did that ball ever even hit the ground??? (Never mind that the initial call of catch - fumble - recovery by Chicago was completely INSANE to begin with lol)
• Doubs mugged and no PI call
• As I mentioned in the game thread, the league seems to treat forward progress as just a vague concept of a rule at this point. I lost count of how many times Monangai was stood up and stopped before a few OL would barrel into the scrum and drive it forward for an extra 3, 4, 5 yards. In fact here is this exact quote taken from the Bears.com recap of the game, for example "Monangai was stopped short of the goal line on the two-point conversion, but he was pushed into the end zone by center Drew Dalman and left guard Joe Thuney."

I try not to be much of a conspiracy theorist but when the league's in bed with the betting houses and the spread hits on a bears win or narrow GB win, it's hard for me to not get feeling awfully suspicious....

 

[mradtke66]

Thanks for the clarification, but I think in the situation I was referring to, Darnell Wright wrapped his arm around Micah's neck and held him. The rule you are referring to doesn't pertain to that (I believe).

It's always hard. To be certain, you'd have to see the entire play leading up to it.

Throw in the move after that, Wright throwing out his leg in an attempt to trip Parsons, and the ref, who was standing there watching it, was blind.

Not disagreeing there. Pretty sure I know this play and yeah, Ref missed something.

Matt LaFleur on Packers Holding Micah Parsons: ‘I Don’t Even Know What Holding Is'

The Bears got away with a few holds on Micah Parsons on Sunday.

www.si.com

I more or less never listen to coach speak pressers. There is 0 advantage or incentive for the coach to tell the truth. It becomes just another tool for them to motivate their players or accept (or deflect) blame for the players and assistant coaches.