bears-BUFFALO
After Buffalo dropped a pass that would have given them a first down on their opening drive, they played press coverage with no safety help on Jeffery. Cutler saw it, and I imagine he audibled to a bomb to Jeffery, which was good for 44 yards to the Buffalo 12, resulting in a TD and a 7-0 lead. Why do defenders continue to play press coverage with no safety help, especially on good receivers? Any watching of gamefilms of the bears last year would make this obvious.
In the third quarter with the score 17-10 Buffalo, the Bills played press coverage with no safety help on Marshall, resulting in a TD pass to him and a 17-17 score.
bears–49ERS
I have always said teams should be aggressive and try to put their opponents away early, as turnovers, fluke plays, injuries, etc. can turn a game. Letting an opponent hang around when those things can happen makes no sense. Here is a quote from the Chicago Sun-Times regarding this game:
“The 49ers should have had a much bigger halftime lead than the 17-7 advantage they took into their locker room. They seemed to think they could toy with the bears. But when the big plays started piling up against the Niners, it became apparent they had made a massive error in judgment.”
The statement above is true. The 49ers could have put this game away early, and not allowed a bad call to turn the game and give it to the bears. Hines Ward, one of the announcers, also talked about how the 49ers should have had a bigger lead.
The 49ers led 17-0 in the first half, and it could have been worse had they passed more. With 1:03 left in the half, the bears would have had a second-and-15 at the 49er 40, when a pass rusher blatantly roughed Cutler, going headfirst into his chest after he threw. In addition to the danger of the hit, which should be cause for suspension, the 15-yard penalty and first down resulted in the bears scoring a TD before the end of the half and getting some momentum. In addition, I believe Cutler was 8 of 18 for 38 yards before the hit, and went 15 of 16 for 138 yards after it. There were defensive holding and illegal contact penalties on this drive prior to the roughing-the-passer penalty, and the 49ers had 16 penalties for 118 yards for the game. Al Michaels said the 49ers “were shooting themselves in the foot all night long.”
The score was 17-7 at half, S.F. The 49ers had a chance to basically put the game away with the opening drive of the second half and regain momentum after giving the bears a TD at the end of the half. They had first-and-5 from the bear 6. I stated at the time that if the 49ers passed, the game would be over, but if they ran, the bears could win. The 49ers ran 3 times for no yards and kicked a FG. Terrible coaching.
The 49ers still had a chance to keep momentum, and had the bears third-and-9 from the bear 21. A defensive lineman grabbed a bear lineman’s facemask, and instead of letting go, held it for a few seconds, guaranteeing a penalty and a continuation of the drive. The 49ers held the bears on that play and the bears would have had to punt had the lineman let go. I’ve seen this many times, and immediately said the bears would march the length of the field to get a TD and momentum, and that is exactly what happened. That made the score 20-14 S.F.
It was critical for S.F. to get momentum back. On the first play of the next drive, Fuller intercepted for the bears and returned it to the 6, making it first-and-goal from the 3 after a penalty. This gave the bears a TD, giving them the lead, and the momentum change of now being down and losing in a game they had complete control of caused Kaepernick to throw an interception on the next drive, stopping a drive and resulting in a bear TD that gave the bears a 28-20 lead. The problem with all of this is that Fuller interfered with Crabtree on the first interception, and the early bumping of Crabtree directly resulted in the ball going to Fuller. Had the correct call been made, the 49ers get a first down and continue their drive, still leading 20-14. This call gave the bears 14 points and the game.
The announcers and a former bear player who is now a sportsradio host talked about the bears loading the box to stop the run, and the 49ers didn’t take advantage of this. The 49ers had open receivers and the bears are vulnerable to the pass, but the 49ers didn’t take advantage of this.
Had the bears lost this game, their record would be 0-2, and they would be reeling after a bad loss at home and losing game 2. As a result of the bad call, the bears are 1-1 and have the confidence of a big upset win, impacting the rest of the season.
bears-JETS
Here is an excerpt from Dan Hanzus on nfl.com:
Suspect officiating haunted the Jets in the first half. A bad pass interference call on Darrin Walls set up the bears’ second touchdown of the game. Late in the second quarter, officials prematurely blew the whistle on a Demario Davis touchdown return of a Jay Cutler fumble. The Jets were rewarded the ball — but not the touchdown — upon review, and went three-and-out in their next possession. Marty Mornhinweg did not have a great night. The Jets’ offensive coordinator — already a beleaguered figure in Gotham after his doomed time out call in Green Bay last week — got too cute in his playcalling, putting the Jets in bad situations. Mornhinweg’s nadir was a QB draw call on 3rd-and-goal late in the third quarter, a play that fooled no one and lost two yards. Said ESPN’s Jon Gruden: “For the life of me, I don’t understand that call.”
The radio sports-talkshow hosts said before the game that the Jets could not settle for field goals if they wanted to win–they had to go for TDs. The Jets weren’t aggressive when in the red zone, and settled for FGs, costing them the game. They were inside the bear 25 seven times, and were in the red zone 6 times. I think they had one TD from this.
Here is what happened:
On the second offensive play, Geno Smith threw a pass right to a bear defender, for an interception return for a TD. The Jets then muffed a punt, resulting in another bear TD and a 14-0 lead after about 5 minutes. This TD was the result of a horrible pass-interference call on a long pass that gave the bears a first down at the Jet 7. Two absolute gift TDs. First-down runs then stalled redzone drives, resulting in Jet field goals. With 1:34 left in the half, Cutler fumbled and the Jets returned it for a TD that would have given them a 20-17 lead, momentum from scoring at the end of the half, and momentum from overcoming an early 14-0 deficit. However, the refs mistakenly blew the whistle, stopping the play. The officials not only gave the bears their second TD, but stole this TD from the Jets.
The bears scored a TD on their first drive of the second half, helped by a 42-yard pass to Jeffery who got the gift of press coverage. With 5:00 left in the third quarter, down 24-13, the Jets had a first down at the bear 18, and Smith threw a pass while up in the air, which was intercepted in the endzone. Later in the third quarter, still down 24-13, the Jets had a first down on the bear 10. They ran on first down for no gain and kicked a field goal. Down 27-19 (a TD and 2-point conversion), the Jets had fourth-and-5 from the bear 9 with 1:04 left in the fourth quarter. On the pass in the endzone, the receiver was blatantly interfered with, which should have given the Jets a first down at the bear 1. Instead, the game was over. Another TD taken from the Jets.
Had the bears been 0-3, which they would have been if not for the refs, their season would be over. Instead, they are 2-1 and have some momentum and confidence.