Positive vibes are pulsating by means of Halas Hall this week with the Chicago Bears having gained three of their final 4 video games and, extra importantly, taking part in a way more aggressive model of soccer.
Last week’s 28-13 romp over the Detroit Lions added momentum and confidence to the tank because the Bears put together to return on the street for Sunday’s recreation towards the Cleveland Browns.
They have justifiable motive to imagine they’ll maintain their late-season surge going. But in addition they perceive the problem that awaits, notably from a stingy — albeit beat-up — Browns protection that has the efficiency to offer a actuality examine.
As Sunday’s recreation approaches, right here’s the within slant on three notable storylines.
Right place — proper time?
It was lower than an hour after his greatest victory as an NFL starter, lower than an hour after the locker-room dance social gathering started to have a good time the Bears’ 28-13 trouncing of the first-place Lions, and nonetheless Justin Fields was searching for enchancment.
Mentally, Fields ran again by means of his Sunday afternoon, and whereas glad with the Bears’ six scoring drives and nil turnovers, he was sure the offense had left factors on the desk.
“We probably could have put up 40 if we could have executed better,” he mentioned.
Specifically, Fields rewound to a fourth-quarter, third-and-2 play contained in the pink zone. With lower than 10 minutes remaining, the Bears had an opportunity to slam the door on the Lions. Yet they wound up settling for a area aim after Fields’ cross to Darnell Mooney in the precise flat sailed excessive and large.
“That was a great play call,” Fields mentioned. “Got exactly what we thought we were going to get.”
Yet the Bears didn’t get the completion or the primary down or an ensuing kill-shot landing.
Fields additionally singled out a possible 25- or 30-yard acquire to DJ Moore on a dagger route that didn’t join after he airmailed his greatest receiver.
“Still sick about that one,” Fields mentioned.
And so it goes for a third-year quarterback nonetheless grinding by means of his developmental climb. Even on the optimistic days that embrace extra good contributions than unhealthy, the room for enchancment stays evident.
“In the end, we won the game,” Fields mentioned. “And there’s still room to get better. So that’s just hope for the future.”
Ah, sure. That feel-good intersection of progress and optimism, an always-sunny place with energizing vibes. That’s why successful issues — and at all times will — particularly for a younger quarterback reminiscent of Fields, who can acknowledge the blemishes inside final week’s efficiency whereas additionally having fun with the encouraging momentum the victory offered.
In this case, Fields put his fingerprints on the victory with well timed scrambles and 5 completions of at the very least 15 yards, together with a free-play, 38-yard landing bomb to Moore late within the third quarter. The win additionally propelled the Bears — at 5-8 and immediately stalking into the playoff image — towards their large Week 15 take a look at towards the NFL’s high protection.
In Cleveland.
Oh, proper, Cleveland. Cue the compulsory point out.
Cleveland was the location of Fields’ first profession begin in 2021, a 26-6 Bears loss.
“(I remember) just being back in Ohio. First start. Everybody excited,” Fields mentioned. “And then, of course, getting sacked too.”
Nine instances, when you forgot. The Bears managed 1 internet passing yard in that brutal offensive efficiency. While that may be a notable nugget — one the Fox broadcast workforce of Kevin Kugler and Mark Sanchez is definite to light up Sunday — it’s additionally the distant previous. And the Browns protection of the current, nonetheless led by Myles Garrett, could also be simply as scary for Fields to observe.
He spent a minute Wednesday working by means of all the things that caught his eye in his research of the Browns this week.
“Of course their D-line is a talented group,” Fields mentioned. “Shoot, their linebackers are very athletic and really quick. They have superb instincts in zone protection. On the again finish, their safeties and corners in fact are on the high of the league.
“It’ll be a great test for us.”
No workforce within the league has been higher defending the cross than the Browns, who’re permitting 159.7 passing yards per recreation and simply 105.1 in seven house video games. They lead the league in third-down protection (29%) and rank fourth in interception charge (3.2%).
Garrett and Za’Darius Smith present loads of firepower up entrance. And whereas the Browns are considerably dinged up — with Week 1 beginning safeties Grant Delpit (groin) and Rodney McLeod Jr. (biceps) on injured reserve, defensive finish Ogbo Okoronkwo (pectoral) doubtlessly out for the season and Pro Bowl cornerback Denzel Ward (shoulder) making an attempt to return from a three-game absence — the Bears shouldn’t exhale too closely.
Coach Matt Eberflus sees a protection that has superb cohesion inside its cross rush and back-end protection. Eberflus particularly lauded the Browns’ capability to disguise coverages.
“That creates some indecision on the quarterback’s part,” he mentioned.
But Eberflus additionally sees the expansion Fields has made since early within the season and particularly highlighted his improved pocket presence and skill to maintain his eyes downfield when extending performs.
Oh, and ball safety. That’s getting higher too. Fields hasn’t thrown an interception since returning in Week 11 from a dislocated proper thumb.
“A perfect game for a quarterback, like I’ve said, is zero turnovers,” Eberflus mentioned. “That gives us a chance to win the game.”
Fields has thrown 93 passes since his final interception, a career-best streak. Asked about that Wednesday, he alertly knocked on the wood lectern he was standing behind.
“I’m just trying to make the best decisions I can,” he mentioned.
Added Eberflus: “It’s just him being mindful of it. And us visiting about it before the game. We visit on Saturdays when the game plan is all in and we talk about that. He knows how important it is to the success of the football team.”
Offensive coordinator Luke Getsy weighed on this week on the continued enchancment in Fields’ pocket presence.
“The biggest thing behind all that is just the awareness of what’s going on around you,” Getsy mentioned. “When you already know what you’re doing and you already know what the individuals round you might be doing, that provides you consolation to go play a little bit extra free. The extra he performs, the extra that’s going to proceed to develop.
“Pocket presence is one of the hardest things that position has to (handle). You’ve got these crazy beasts all over, running around all over the place. So how do you avoid (pressure)? When is it time to escape? When is it time to slide (through the pocket) and throw? Justin and I will both stand here and say we’re not where we want to be with that. But the improvement continues to grow each and every week.”
Fields now will get an opportunity to additional validate all of the enhancements he has made, to stamp legitimacy on the emergence Chicago has been anticipating all the best way again to his first begin.
In Cleveland.
This subsequent take a look at is not any joke: on the street, towards a nasty protection, needing a win to maintain the Bears’ slim playoff hopes from disintegrating.
It looks as if a really perfect setup, well-timed to check Fields’ progress.
Fun and video games
As Justin Fields commanded the huddle and introduced the 2 most vital phrases of his name — “Slim Shady” — Braxton Jones’ ears perked up.
Perfect play, Jones thought. “I knew right away we were going to score. Honestly. I knew how we had practiced that play. I knew why we had put it in. And it was just like, ‘Oh. This is literally the vision.’ All of a sudden you just get that energy. Here we go.”
The Bears had been contained in the pink zone on their opening drive Sunday — second-and-7 on the Detroit Lions 16-yard line. And a gadget play the offense had put in solely 5 days earlier was prepared to return to life.
Fields was as excited as Jones in that second however for barely completely different causes. On the earlier two snaps, Fields had turned a zone-read keeper into an 11-yard run, then taken successful as he scrambled for two extra yards.
“I was tired,” Fields mentioned. “That’s the only reason I was excited.”
So right here it got here. “Slim Shady.”
From an empty backfield in shotgun formation, Fields motioned himself out to the left of the formation whereas signaling Moore to slip in from the precise behind middle Lucas Patrick.
Ideal alternative for the Bears. With the Lions nonetheless needing to account for Fields, Moore had a golden alternative to showcase his playmaking capability.
Direct snap. Fake give to Fields and a decisive flip up the left sideline.
Sixteen yards later, Moore was ultimately zone, then leaping into the primary row of Sec. 120 at Soldier Field because the Bears celebrated an opening-drive landing, a 6-0 lead and a detonation of pleasure at their house stadium.
“It’s what we have been talking about for the past four or five weeks,” receiver Trent Taylor mentioned. “Making these performs that matter. It’s one thing we’ve harped on and targeted on through the week. And it feels wonderful when you’ll be able to end your first drive off like that.
“Right after that, the energy was up. And you just try to ride that energy the rest of the game.”
That was the return of enjoyable to Soldier Field, a wedding of creativeness and execution that helped the Bears get off to a quick and thrilling begin on their solution to a convincing 28-13 upset of the first-place Lions.
Credit the innovation of the teaching employees with Getsy noting that the overall design of “Slim Shady” was lifted from one other NFL recreation this season, pitched in a brainstorming assembly by one of many different coaches and modified to suit the Bears offense.
Every week, the teaching employees is trying to sprinkle a little bit creativity into the sport plan with some tips and devices that may energize gamers.
“I promise you,” Getsy mentioned, “we practice a lot of those types of things each week. Those are the plays that get everybody in the room excited. Then when you’re able to go out and execute those, it’s fun to see the guys respond.”
Respond the Bears did. None of the Lions’ 11 defenders laid a finger on Moore.
“The first time he was touched,” receivers coach Tyke Tolbert mentioned, “was when Lucas Patrick grabbed him off the wall behind the end zone.”
Five Lions defenders appeared quickly frozen towards the center of the sector as Moore and Fields handed one another within the backfield proper after the snap with the quarterback faking that he had the ball.
The blocking within the open area, in the meantime, was textbook. Jones, for instance, fired off the snap and noticed each lineman’s dream forward — 8 yards of runway and a 203-pound defensive again (Jerry Jacobs).
“I’ve handled those types of plays quite a bit the past two years,” Jones mentioned. “It’s just about speed and gaining ground and taking up as much ground as I can so the ball carrier can make his decision off my block. I just wanted that pathway to look as clear as possible for DJ.”
Jones plowed Jacobs throughout the sideline and opened a lane. Easy sufficient.
From the left slot, Taylor, all 181 kilos of him, had the accountability of sealing linebacker Alex Anzalone. Done and carried out.
“I had to convince the coaches I am capable of blocking like that,” Taylor cracked. “I annoyed them long enough to finally put me in there.”
Near the road of scrimmage, rookie working again Roschon Johnson had a short however important wrestling match towards Aidan Hutchinson. “It was just a matter of getting good leverage and sustaining my block long enough for DJ to get by,” Johnson mentioned. “I strained as long as I could for him to get around the edge.”
With a full head of steam, Patrick had cleanup responsibility and wanted just one final nudge on Anzalone on the 5-yard line to complete the play.
Moore cashed in with the primary speeding landing of his profession and a welcome adrenaline rush.
“I was tunnel vision on it,” he mentioned. “I saw everybody hit their right blocks. I was like, ‘This is an automatic touchdown right here.’ ”
That’s what offensive line coach Chris Morgan had been predicting all week too.
“Every time we ran it (in practice), he’d call that out,” Jones mentioned. “He did say that DJ would score. And he did.”
Added Morgan: “Any time the ball is in DJ’s hands, good things happen. We were fired up about that play. Everybody executed it well and we ripped it. … DJ made it come to life.”
The hope, in fact, is that the Bears offense is coming to life, extra able to being constantly productive after which mixing within the enjoyable when the scenario permits.
“Any time you see the guys score and you see them doing their job and doing it well and doing it together, you get really excited as a coach,” Morgan mentioned. “There has just been more and more of that. And there’s going to be more in the future. It’s an exciting time.”
Hunting season
With their first successful streak since late within the 2021 season, the Bears discover themselves in line — albeit towards the again — for the NFC playoffs, having joined the “In the hunt” part of virtually each postseason graphic for Week 15.
At 5-8, the Bears sit only one recreation behind the present proprietor of the convention’s No. 7 seed, the 6-7 Green Bay Packers.
For the needs of this train, we’re entertaining the likelihood that the identical Bears who misplaced 14 consecutive video games between Week 8 of final season and Week 4 of this yr might run off a six-game successful streak to finish the common season.
If they end 9-8, possibly, maybe, doubtlessly the Bears might steal a wild-card berth and write the last word twist ending to their wild season.
It stays an extended shot even for the Bears to care for what they’ll management. They’re 3.5-point underdogs Sunday towards the Browns. The look-ahead traces have them favored in Christmas Eve and New Year’s Eve house video games towards the Arizona Cardinals and Atlanta Falcons. And they’re two-point underdogs for the Week 18 journey to Lambeau Field.
Put all of that collectively and the Bears face 13-1 odds towards staying sizzling and successful out.
Likely? No. But that door stays ajar.
Of course, the “In the hunt” queue is at all times crowded this time of yr. Playoff potentialities are also being mentioned by followers of the Minnesota Vikings (7-6), Packers, Los Angeles Rams (6-7), Tampa Bay Buccaneers (6-7), Falcons (6-7), New Orleans Saints (6-7), Seattle Seahawks (6-7) and New York Giants (5-8).
With the San Francisco 49ers, Philadelphia Eagles, Dallas Cowboys and Detroit Lions close to locks for the postseason, solely three of these different 9 groups will make the playoffs: the NFC South champ plus two wild-card entries.
So how would tiebreaking procedures unfold if “the hunt” stays crowded?
In the case of two-team ties, head-to-head competitors is taken into account first, with successful share in convention video games the second tiebreaker. The third is successful share towards widespread opponents, adopted by power of victory after which power of schedule.
The components is analogous, whereas barely extra complicated, for ties amongst three or extra groups.
The Bears have crushed just one workforce at the moment “in the hunt,” and that was the Vikings, with whom they cut up. They have misplaced to the Packers, Buccaneers and Saints, they usually’re 4-5 in NFC video games.
Their power of victory — the entire victories by the opponents they’ve crushed — is 26, which ranks behind the Vikings (39), Packers (39), Rams (33), Falcons (31), Buccaneers (30) and Seahawks (30) and forward of the Saints (22) and Giants (20). And the Bears’ power of schedule is tied for sixth among the many nine-team pack.
All of these calculations are a headache-causing train at this stage, with a lot nonetheless so fluid within the last month of the season. Wait a number of weeks and the image ought to be clearer.
It’s as much as the Bears to remain inside that image so long as they’ll. And that requires a win Sunday over a top quality however injury-riddled Browns workforce. So who is aware of? Dare to dream. And the Bears ought to make no apologies for chasing that carrot, notably after rising from an abysmal 0-4 begin.
Believe. Focus. Hunt.
It’s additionally vital to differentiate the aim of stealing a playoff berth from the extra significant accomplishments the group hopes to compete for in future seasons. Division championships. Extended playoff runs. A prolonged stretch of success that produces a sequence of playoff appearances.
In 2020, when the Bears overcame a six-game skid to sneak by means of the again door of the NFC playoffs because the convention’s first No. 7 seed, we illuminated the risks of “the seventh-seed seduction,” particularly the misleading feeling of accomplishment that may come up from clearing a lowered bar. That nonetheless applies.
It’s additionally price noting that for the reason that NFL expanded the playoffs to 14 groups in 2020, the No. 7 seeds within the AFC and NFC have gone winless in six postseason video games with a mean lack of 33-21.
The Bears’ 2020 playoff look went about as anticipated. They misplaced 21-9 in New Orleans in a recreation that was way more one-sided than the ultimate rating.
And for these curious what this yr’s No. 7 seed would get them? It probably would produce a visit to play the 49ers, Cowboys or Eagles on wild-card weekend.
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Source: www.bostonherald.com