Post by jamaisvu on Sept 11, 2017 10:46:41 GMT -6
The Good
With the ink Bearly (typo intended) dry on a new contract...Akiem Hicks has become my favorite player on this team. Hicks put on a clinic at Solider Field to show why 12 million a year is a freaking bargain for what he brings to this defense. Two sacks and 3 QB hits from a 3-4 End is the stuff Pro Bowl Nominations are born from. He was also stellar against the run...taking away the most dynamic RB Duo in the League last season. Seriously, this is a strong Man Crush that was birthed last season and has become True Love. Ryan Pace has been spotty in Free Agency, but this was a World Series winning Grand Slam. Glad he will be playing his best years of football in Chicago.
The rest of the DL looked nice as well. Goldman won't show up on the Stat Sheets, but looked like a Brick Wall most of the afternoon. I keep worrying that Fangio is running the kid into the ground, but for someone his size...he has the endurance of the Energizer Bunny. I liked the little I saw out of Roy Robertson-Harris as well as Johnathan Bullard starting to build on a strong offseason. The Defense is far from a finished product, but the DL looks like it could be one of the best out there already.
The OLBs were not quite as awe inspiring, but Sam Acho keeps proving himself to me and Floyd is another one building on that strong offseason. He looks Night and Day better in run support and settting an Edge than the skinny rookie that just wanted to out run anybody. Willie Young is not bad, but looked slower than years past and I heard McPhee saw four snaps, but I never noticed.
Then there is Tarik Cohen. Don't know what to say that everyone else in Chicago has been saying since yesterday afternoon. The Darren Sproles comparisons look very apt now. He kind of stole the entire show away from our Pro Bowl running back, but that was probably a great game plan for Week One. Atlanta has some quick linebackers and Loggains fought Fire with Fire. I also think Loggains called a good game. He still has those head-scratcher moments I that I still fail to see whatever the hell he was trying to do, but I like the way he custom game plans and is not afraid to throw in some wrinkles like a Wildcat call at the Goal Line.
The Bad
Speaking of things I fail to see, where is this upgrade at safety again? Eddie Jackson looked every part fourth round rookie is his NFL debut at FS. And welcome to Chicago Quetin Demps...where safeties come to be on the wrong end of every 50 plus yard Highlight TD Pass. I really think he was jumping on the grenade for the rookie, but that stiff arm is going to be ingrained in the mind of every football fan in Chicago for the next fifteen games...so good luck shaking that one, Q!
Cooper had a good game, but the rest of the secondary was inconsistent at best. I could have done a Good Bad Ugly write up just on Kyle Fuller because he was all over the place. From wanting to stand up and applaud the kid...to wanting him to slap him in the face...to wanting to apologizing for slapping him in the face...to cutting him from the team while the offense was on the field. Still...that was the story for the entire secondary.
And the story continues for the entire defense. For as much as they did right, there was nothing on the field that even closely resembled a turnover. The Chicago Bears will never be in the Great Defense Conversation until they can take that ball away from opposing offenses or better yet, score points on opposing offenses. It is the crippling weakness of Vic Fangio's career in Chicago. His defense is very much like what Lovie Smith did here. No really fancy looks or blitz packages...just a lot of four men rush and cover 2 shells, but those Lovie Defenses feasted on turnovers. Maybe Vic needs to dial up some stuff from Lovie's final year in Chicago for inspiration.
The Ugly
I really wanted to put Mike Glennon in “The Good”...I really did. But it was an ugly kind of good...so here we are. The Game Plan for three quarters asked him to do next to nothing...so that is what he did. That Fourth Quarter showed maybe he should be asked to do a little more. Glennon will never make me forget that we have a very promising young talent wasting away on a bench, but I think he can do more that it seems the entire universe is going to give him credit for. That Atlanta Defense is no slouch...so the Small Ball approach may have been wise, but it left the Bears 0-1.
It does not help that these receivers are pretty terrible. Am I really already seeing game winning pass attempts to Josh Bellamy? Where are these fifty some odd receivers they signed this off season???
That's right...hurt. They lose Cam to a Fake Game and then Kevin White refused to be outshined in the season ending IR spotlight by breaking another bone during another terrible game. Marcus Wheaton in a Bear Uniform has only seemed like a rumor since June and Kendall Wright is carrying on his fine Tennessee tradition of being overwhelmingly “meh”. Every reason why the Bears just should have thrown a ton of money at Alshon Jeffery despite the injuries and PED suspensions...they literally have nothing at the position anymore. Maybe activating Gentry is not a bad idea. He can at least distract the fanbase from being only four years removed from two Pro Bowl wide receivers.
Without one decent receiver, this is going to be an ugly year on offense. Fortunately, the Bears paid Mike Glennon 18 million dollars to take all that heat. Can Virginia McCaskey be dragged to court for animal cruelty by making a giraffe Chicago's whipping boy??? Bear Nation has another fifteen fun filled weeks to find out!