The bears are only winning because they are healthy, other teams aren’t, and the opposing coaches don’t have a clue. The bears would have lost the majority of the games they won had the other teams not been decimated by injuries the week before. And I think we can now all agree that what I’ve said about passing against the bears is and always has been true. The Jets came into the game with ONE offensive touchdown in the last 30 QUARTERS and a QB with a hurt throwing shoulder. On the first possession, they threw twice on first downs, getting first downs, and ran on three first downs, resulting in two fumbles (one recovered) and a holding penalty. They then threw and moved at will. Sanchez was 9-9 at one point and 13-15 for the half. Had they not run on so many plays stalling drives, including when they were trying to tie the score at 38 at the beginning of the fourth quarter and ran on second down after having a first down at the bear 20, the Jets score a lot more points. Here’s an offense that went nowhere for over 7 games and had a hurt QB who has done nothing for a long time, and they passed at will the first three quarters. The problem, as usual, was that they gave up a lot of points by not continuing to pass, letting the bears stay in the game. Of course we know the idiocy of Ryan faking the punt while leaving Sanchez and others in the game cost the Jets the game, as well as the brilliance of kicking to Hester a few minutes later, resulting in a 38-yard return and subsequent TD. The fake was so obvious, the bears were yelling fake on the sidelines! Ryan cost them the game by basically announcing they’d fake the punt, punting to Hester when they were successful earlier not kicking to him, and running and thus stalling drives. And, not to be prepared for the bears going for it all after a big turnover like the fake punt? Has Ryan ever watched a bear gamefilm? The bears have won 3-4 games because teams kicked to Hester, which isn’t even worth talking much about anymore since it’s obvious NFL coaches will never get this. I don’t know what the guy has to do before teams learn. I said it was idiotic to kick to him prior to his FIRST game. This is 5 years later, and they still do it!!!
The Patriots would have scored a lot more points on the bears if they didn’t stall drives relatively deep in bear territory by running on first down. They showed, too, that the bears can’t stop the pass, but teams will continue to run on them even though they are great against the run, especially on first down.
In the Packer-Giant game, McCarthy again showed he doesn’t get it. Despite the fact that the Giants couldn’t stop the pass, he ran Brandon Jackson 18 times for 39 yards. And, how stupid is this? With a 14-0 lead and control of the game at that point, they had Woodson in press coverage on the receiver split right with no safety help. As they lined up, I said out loud so people could hear, “What is Woodson doing?” This was BEFORE the snap. Manning saw this, and threw a TD pass to the receiver. This changed the momentum, and it was soon 14-14. Did McCarthy not learn from the NFC championship game? All Woodson had to do was back off a yard of two, knowing he didn’t have safety help, and the TD doesn’t happen and momentum doesn’t change. This could have cost them the playoffs.
Favre made another amazing recovery, and wanted to play against the bears on Monday Night Football. It just happened that all of a sudden he could throw a few hours before the game. Why wouldn’t you play the guy who gives you the best chance to win? The Vikings has no chance with Webb. The real idiocy was Leslie Frazier. If I’m coaching the Vikings that game, I say to myself, the only chance we have to beat the bears is if Favre plays. If we have to go to our third-stringer, we lose. I also know that his hurt shoulder and somewhat-numb hand won’t allow him to throw deep, and that his shoulder and hand might not hold up the entire game, and he could get hurt since he’s not as mobile with the fractured heel and ankle and the very-hard turf, so I have to maximize the time he is in there, score as much as possible, and try to hold on. What does Frazier do? He lets him throw a little on the first drive, and they take a 7-0 lead. He then keeps running the ball, going nowhere and not trying to score, and then Favre gets hurt. Terrible strategy. He should have had Favre throwing 8- to 15-yard passes as long as possible to score as many points as possible. Then, of course, he kicks to Hester twice early in the second half, effectively ending the game.