Jeff Fisher, who is a good coach, failed to understand some basic things that make me question whether he, like other coaches, really watches gamefilm. Prior to today’s Titan-bear game, I said the bears would play a 7- or 8-man front to stop the run and dare Kerry Collins to beat them. I also said a horrible QB could beat the bears if he threw on first down. So, what does Fisher do? He runs on most first downs for nothing or losses. The few first-down passes he threw were wide open, as were passes on other downs. It got so bad that the TV announcer said midway or late in the second quarter that if he was the offensive coordinator, he’d stop running on first down and start throwing. He then pointed out that the first down runs that gained NOTHING were the best plays, as most were losing yardage. The Titans had -5 yards rushing in the first half. Yes, they finally did start throwing on first down when the second half started and marched downfield for two TDs, but that’s still no excuse. The gameplan Tampa Bay, Atlanta, and Carolina had of not throwing on first down in the first half let the bears hang around and almost win. When those teams finally did throw, they marched. Why would Jeff Fisher throw away an entire half as these other teams did, instead of building up a 3- to 4-touchdown lead? The bears almost did come back in this game. It’s not only mystifying why coaches don’t learn from gamefilms, but I will state two other reasons. One, even if a coach didn’t watch previous games, he can obviously see that every first-down run failed, and every first-down pass succeeded. What is he waiting for? Two, you’d have to have no clue not to know the bears would come out with 7-8 men in the box. If you knew that, why would you keep running against it, let alone the fact that every run failed?!!! The Titans ran 29 times for 20 yards! This means they ran on over 40% of their plays, and did this despite knowing they would gain nothing or lose yardage. Even if they for some reason didn’t know the bears would come out with 7-8 men in the box and/or even if they thought they could run the ball, it very quickly became apparent they couldn’t. So, why did they keep doing it?
The fumble at the goal line was typical of the bears’ luck, as in the Viking game where the punter dropped the snap for a bear TD, a coverage guy let the punt hit him for a TD, etc. The Titans had a first down at the bear 6″-line and fumbled without being hit! Then, they want to kick a FG at the end of the half to take the lead, and have 2 false starts so the kick is short!