Our boys gather round again to try and pick through the rubble:
Not sure if it’s better to ask where they go from here or how we got here, so why don’t you guys just go ahead and rant…
Brian Schmitz: I’ve said it since camp, Eddie Pineiro cannot be trusted. His mechanics are not tight enough for him to be consistent. Too many moving parts; which will break down when the timing isn’t perfect. If he makes that kick, the season takes on an entirely different feel. Yes, Pace sucks at his job, Nagy is overmatched, and Mitch isn’t very good right now, but if that kick goes in, the noise from the outside (which does effect the inside) is substantially muted for at lease the next six days.
Tony Martin: David Montgomery is the real fucking deal y’all, and if I’m being honest I loved the offensive gameplan. Not a big fan of Nagy turning full red-ass Jon Gruden in the post-game conference, however. What happened to this defense that thrived on creating pressure? Pagano isn’t bringing extra heat like I thought he would, especially given the struggles of the front-four to get consistent pressure.
This team is lost. Both the defense and special teams have longer touchdown plays this year than the offense, with Patterson’s 102 yard kickoff return and Haha Clinton-Dix’s 37-yard pick six both being longer scoring plays than Taylor Gabriel’s 36-yard touchdown catch.
As for Eddy, yeah that was a disappointing game, but a team attempting five field goals with three possessions inside the 10 resulting in nine total points is not the recipe for winning. Running Tarik Cohen on 3rd-and-goal from the 9 in the first half yesterday was the most limp, shitty, John Fox playcall that I’ve seen from the Bears all season. I’m not sure who is feeling the pressure more, Mitch or Matt.
So where do they go from here? Is it just evaluation time? Something to salvage?
Tony: From here? There’s still nine more of these trainwrecks to go? Shit. There’s no point in tanking since the Bears don’t have a first round pick next year, so I guess it’s time to see what works. I’m not thinking evaluating too many players since I think they know what they have on the roster from a talent standpoint, but maybe Matt Nagy starts looking for more personnel groups/formations/scheme ideas that may or may not work. The next nine games should absolutely be used to see if Mitch is worth developing or if it’s time to look in another direction. It’s been three years, if he still doesn’t look like someone who can take the Bears to the promised land in the next two seasons, let him go.
Brian: Above anything, Matt Nagy needs to figure out who he is in these last nine games. He won’t be fired after this season, but next year is a make or break year. I don’t think Nagy will purposely try to put Mitch Trubisky in a position to fail, but look for Nagy to look out for his own best interests and stop the kids gloves treatment Mitch is getting. It’s time to open this thing up and see if next years starting QB is on this team or not.
What would you guys do with Mitch to try and salvage anything from these last nine games? If at all possible.
Brian: You have to throw the entire playbook at him and say “go.” He is best suited as a scrambling, decisions on the move type of QB, not a dropback, read, throw type of guy. Mitch needs to play with his hair on fire. He’s stuck right now; too worried about making a mistake and because of that, is scared to take chances. It’s like trying to hit a golf ball after a lesson with 100 swing thoughts in your head – sometimes you just have to show up, swing hard, and see what the fuck happens.
