When Monday night's game ended quarterback Justin Fields said he felt really comfortable with offensive plays in no-huddle or up-tempo, and when plays got him on move.
Anyone who sat through Fields' 10 starts could see this much is true, except on the occasional straight rollout pass that blows up like one did on fourth down in the 17-9 loss to Minnesota.
On Tuesday, Bears coach Matt Nagy had this response to the wishes of his quarterback:
"I think it really can be done," Nagy said. "It's good stuff. You see where you get a defense on their heels and that's some stuff that he's done, obviously in college.
"I think for a lot of these college quarterbacks right now, this all kind of stems from the high school, it goes to college and the college trickles into the NFL with some of the stuff they do. I for sure think that you can see yesterday at certain times in the game that the tempo helps. You can't necessarily live in it every play for certain reasons. But we can definitely do more of it. I think our players would agree with that."
Sure they would. So would any Tom, Dick or Harry who watched the games on television. The question is, if it was evident Fields was at his best moving around more when he was at Ohio State, why now 10 starts into this season, are they coming to this realization?
It's just one more frustration in a season of frustration for Bears fans, but there are three games left until judgment day for coaches.
Here is the judgment on Monday's game in the form of a report card for the last 60 minutes that carried meaning in terms of Bears postseason pursuit.
Running Game: C-
It was very inconsistent against one of the league's worst run defenses. The Vikings were giving up over 4.7 yards a carry, ranking next to last in the league. Yet the Bears would gain 8 or 9 on a David Montgomery run, then lose 2 yards the next time. Montgomery had only 60 yards on 18 carries. Only Fields' running (35 yards) and 20 yards from wide receivers pushed the Bears up to 115 yards. Montgomery averaged only 3.3 yards a carry. They also lost a fumble on an end around
Passing Game D+
Too much sloppy footwork by Fields and throwing the ball too late hurt. Poor pass protection led to hurried throws. Fields' passing yards looked good on a stat sheet but came in catch-up fashion with the Vikings leaving underneath yardage while protecting a lead. Field was off the mark more often in this game than in some others and was doing it against one of the league's worst secondaries.
Run Defense: B
No one can complain about holding Dalvin Cook to 3.2 yards per carry with a long run of 10 yards. It wasn't good when they let Kene Nwangwu gain 33 yards on three carries, including a 19-yard run, though. Putting Akiem Hicks and Eddie Goldman together again up front and healthy allowed Roquan Smith and Alec Ogletree to go all out after tackles. They were able to be far more physical. Smith had 10 tackles and Ogletree eight to lead the team. For a cornerback, Thomas Graham made some good tackles in the run as well.
Pass Defense: A+
We have the real root of the Bears offensive problems now. Facing Deon Bush, Thomas Graham Jr., Teez Tabor and Kindle Vildor, the Vikings passing game couldn't move it. This explains now why the Bears passing game is so bad because the first-team offense has to face that bunch every day in practice with the look team. The backup secondary was outstanding. Getting pass rush pressure from Hicks inside and from Robert Quinn outside proved a real problem for Cousins. He foolishly threw an interception up to Deon Bush when no one was even in a pass route in the area. Graham showed maybe they misjudged him. He not only defended three passes but was a solid tackler in the secondary against pass and run with seven tackles, the third-highest total for the Bears.. The lowest passing yardage total allowed all year and it was an effort by subs. Maybe defensive coordinator Sean Desai should keep that secondary intact and put the COVID players on the bench when they return.
Special Teams: C-
This had the potential to be a tremendous special teams game as a punt deflected by Damien Williams set the Bears up in scoring position at a time in the game when they still had plenty of opportunity to rally, but they squandered this with their offense. Punter Pat O'Donnell had his second-longest punt ever at 72 yards to flip the field. A deflected field goal try by Cairo Santos cost them three points. Byrd's muffed punt didn't cost them points but did hurt chances of rallying early in the fourth quarter.
Coaching: C-
It's difficult to give out marks too low considering the COVID-19 handicap the coaching staff faced, but not really playing enough to Fields' strong suit hurts. Whatever Desai did to get the secondary working with scrubs playing across the board showed real planning. Desai hadn't been available all week in person and then had to implement that game plan using subs when he suddenly passed the protocol. Nagy's other great flaw as a coach was evident in this one. He never has recovered from the Cody Parkey miss because he has complete disdain for the kicking game. He constantly goes for it on fourth down when it's not necessary .The Bears could have easily kicked three more field goals from in close instead of gambling and would have won the game. Instead they turned it over on downs inside the red zone as they got greedy. This was a game they could have relied on their defense to win it, but Nagy didn't give them the chance.
Overall: C-
This was a win there for the taking against a team in the playoff hunt, but the Bears let all of their old problems ooze up to the top and make a mess of everything.
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