One of the higher Christmas presents that Chicago Bears huge receiver Dante Pettis obtained final weekend got here within the type of protection confusion from the Buffalo Bills. It occurred on the eighth play of the opening drive Saturday when Pettis motioned from the appropriate, settled subsequent to tight finish Cole Kmet within the left slot, then sneaked uncovered into the nook of Soldier Field’s north finish zone.
Fellow receiver Byron Pringle carried exterior cornerback Dane Jackson with him on a thin submit route. Slot cornerback Taron Johnson did not account for Pettis and had his eyes fixated on quarterback Justin Fields. Safety Jordan Poyer had little probability of constructing up floor on Pettis.
Wide open. Pitch. Catch. Six-yard landing.
“I kind of stuttered a little bit,” Pettis mentioned. “And BP did a great job of taking the corner and getting him out of there. I don’t know if they were supposed to pass that off or what, but when BP got right up on that corner’s toes, he had no choice but to go with him. And their nickel dropped me and it left me open. Easy touchdown.”
Pettis then paid that present ahead, sprinting east behind the tip zone to seek out his household within the entrance row. With the correct quantity of vacation cheer, he delivered the soccer to his older brother Kyler, then headed again to the sideline to have fun the Bears’ 7-0 lead and assessment a well-designed, well-executed scoring play.
Alas, that was about the one factor the Bears offense needed to have fun in a 35-13 loss, their solely journey into the tip zone of their eighth consecutive defeat. Short-handed but once more, the Bears wandered exterior their skinny margin for error and completed with solely 209 whole yards, their lowest whole in a Fields begin for the reason that Week 1 monsoon win over the San Francisco 49ers.
It was a day filled with missed alternatives and shaky execution amid frigid, windy situations. And it closed out the 2022 portion of the Bears schedule with one other dose of disappointment.
Two division video games stay. With no matter gamers the Bears have left, their offense must grind towards ending the season on an encouraging notice.
Here’s your Week 16 QB rewind.
Defining second
Saturday’s recreation was nonetheless effectively inside attain when linebacker Nick Morrow picked off Bills quarterback Josh Allen within the fourth quarter and returned it to the Buffalo 18-yard line.
Down 21-10 with possession contained in the purple zone, the Bears had a golden alternative to grab momentum. But their subsequent drive netted only one yard and left them to accept a 35-yard subject objective from Cairo Santos.
On first down, a swing go to Khalil Herbert was stopped for a 2-yard loss.
On second down, David Montgomery’s inside run was stuffed for no achieve.
On third-and-long, Fields’ try to show a passing play right into a chain-moving scramble was thwarted when a quartet of Bills defenders saved him from stepping into open area and stopped him for a 3-yard achieve.
“We have to find a way to finish better,” guard Michael Schofield mentioned. “And that’s been the story of our season, right?”
For the second consecutive week, the Bears protection got here up with three takeaways. But the offense transformed these into solely three factors.
The Bears additionally had a first-half drive that started contained in the Bills 40 after a profitable punt-and-pin scenario and a strong punt return by Pettis. But that possession additionally ended with a Santos subject objective when the offense may muster solely 19 internet yards and one first down.
Over the final two video games, the Bears have scored solely 10 factors off six turnovers.
“It’s tough on our part, seeing (the defense) play such a good game and take the ball away as many times as they did and us not capitalize,” Fields mentioned. “We have to do a better job capitalizing on those opportunities.”
Over a four-game stretch from Weeks 7 by 10, the Bears skilled an offensive explosion, averaging 31 factors and enlivening a fan base that believed this was the brand new regular, {that a} high-scoring offense had arrived in Chicago and was right here to remain.
But in Fields’ final 4 begins, the Bears have averaged simply 19 factors with 9 touchdowns and 5 subject targets in 43 true possessions, excluding end-of-half kneel-down conditions.
The lack of key gamers to accidents has been a big issue, in fact. But this offense nonetheless has a protracted, lengthy strategy to go to grow to be a constantly explosive unit that wins video games by itself.
The Bears want higher safety, extra staff pace, an addition of game-changing playmakers to the huddle and continued growth by Fields to make that occur.
Uh-oh
Fields enters Week 17 because the NFL’s No. 7 rusher with 1,011 yards and an opportunity to run down Lamar Jackson’s single-season dashing document for quarterbacks of 1,207. But Saturday’s seven-carry, 11-yard output was the most recent trace that till the Bears discover extra offensive steadiness, defenses will scheme to restrict Fields as a runner and dare the Bears to beat them different methods.
In Week 11, the Atlanta Falcons used a mesh-charge method to defending the Bears within the read-option recreation, primarily forcing Fields handy the ball off as usually as potential and difficult the Bears working backs to hold the load as a substitute. Fields nonetheless racked up 85 dashing yards on 18 carries in that recreation. But he took a beating, battled cramping and wound up injuring his left shoulder on his penultimate dashing try.
The Bills had an identical mindset and challenged their defensive ends to remain huge, aiming to influence Fields handy the ball off or maintain him from attending to the sting. Defensive coordinator Leslie Frazier additionally selected to regularly spy Fields, including a stage of insurance coverage.
“It was a great display of disciplined football,” Bills coach Sean McDermott mentioned.
Fields’ longest rush was a 7-yard scramble on the primary play. After that he had solely two different scrambles for 4 yards and three designed runs that netted 0 yards. (Fields additionally was credited with a rush for no achieve on an aborted play when he recovered a fumble on an errant shotgun snap from Sam Mustipher that resulted in a 7-yard loss.)
Yes, climate was an element with the chilly and wind considerably limiting each passing assaults. But there proceed to be indicators that the Bears should evolve as an offense whereas prioritizing Fields’ development within the passing recreation to take the mandatory steps to compete in 2023 and past.
“The reality of it is I’m not going to be running for 100 yards every game,” Fields mentioned. “When a defense does a good job of taking my legs away, then my job is to take a defender with me or maybe take two with me and allow the running backs to work.”
On the brilliant facet
The Bears’ longest play was a 44-yard completion from Fields to rookie Velus Jones, a deep shot down the appropriate facet of the sphere that Fields minimize free with little hesitance and all kinds of zip. The go whistled by the wind — and drifted a bit — however dropped proper into Jones’ fingers in entrance of the Bears bench.
The Bears used play motion out of a three-tight-end set to provide Jones that big-play alternative.
“Velus is fast,” Fields mentioned. “And I’m glad he finally got to use his speed.”
On a day when gusts as much as 35 mph usually brought on the soccer to flutter in unconventional methods, Fields was requested if he felt like he had management on that go.
“I had control,” he mentioned. “Like right before the play, I threw some grass up to see which way the wind was blowing and adjusted to the wind.”
He was kidding. But it was a formidable throw underneath any situations and gave Fields his fifteenth completion of at the least 30 yards this season.
“The way that ball cut across the field, I knew I was going to have to chase it down instead of it coming to me,” Jones mentioned. “And I did a pretty good job with it. … Great throw by Justin. Just a great throw. He put it away from everybody (on the defense) so I could go grab it.”
That completion pushed Fields previous 4,000 passing yards for his profession and was the most recent proof that he has an enormous arm and big-play starvation as a passer.
It was additionally an enormous second for Jones, who has had ball-security points and problem greedy assignments and ideas effectively sufficient to carve out a much bigger function in an offense thirsting for playmakers.
The catch was simply Jones’ sixth of the season however offered a surge of power.
“I always had confidence in myself,” Jones mentioned. “But when the opportunity comes your way, make a play. Hopefully we can keep that going.”
Odds and ends
- The Bears’ game-opening landing drive — eight performs, 64 yards — included two of the offense’s three longest performs. The first was a 20-yard Fields completion to Pringle that was the most recent instance of Fields sustaining endurance and maintaining his eyes up as he rolled to the appropriate exterior the pocket. Those are the moments the teaching workers will have fun because it continues to foster Fields’ development. Montgomery adopted with a 28-yard run on the subsequent snap. And even after Montgomery’s 1-yard landing run was negated by a Larry Borom holding infraction, Fields and the offense confirmed resilience to complete off that possession with the scoring strike to Pettis.
- Fields had his proper foot stepped on by linebacker Matt Milano whereas making his closing go of the afternoon, an out-of-the-pocket desperation heave that ought to have been intercepted by both cornerback Tre’Davious White or security Damar Hamlin. Fields needed to go instantly to the medical tent, was held out of the Bears’ closing possession and mentioned afterward he was having problem placing a lot weight on the foot. “I’ll be good to go,” he mentioned. Fields additionally acknowledged that he aggravated the left shoulder he separated in November in opposition to the Falcons. “They told me it was going to be a nagging injury all year,” he mentioned. “So you have to fight through it the best you can.”
- As for the thought of the Bears taking the ultracautious route of sidelining Fields for the ultimate two video games to take him out of hurt’s approach, coach Matt Eberflus gave that an “Absolutely not” stamp Monday. “Because we’ve got to get better,” Eberflus mentioned. “We want to improve. We want to see where we are. These last two games matter. They’re division opponents and to us it’s very important to see the competition and to see guys compete against our division. It’s important for each man, it’s important for each unit and it’s important for our whole football team.”
- Through 15 video games, the Bears passing manufacturing stays regarding. Assigning accountability for the persistent struggles is sophisticated, however listed here are the statistical information: The Bears rank thirty second within the league in passing yards per recreation (136.5) and have topped 150 internet passing yards in solely 5 video games. They additionally rank final in interception fee (3.7%), thirtieth in sacks allowed (50), tied for twentieth in landing passes (17) and twenty third in passer score (85.6). It’s potential to embrace the spectacular development Fields has made as a quarterback all through this season whereas acknowledging that the offense has a protracted strategy to go to be in place to win video games regularly.
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Source: www.bostonherald.com