Bears Drop 8th Straight

The Chicago Bears are just thawing out after their frigid showing in equally frigid temperatures against the Buffalo Bills on Sunday. Despite being bereft of talent, the Bears fought the Bills toe to toe for 3.5 quarters until 2 late touchdowns by the Bills put the game out of reach. The Bears’ defense forced 3 turnovers and had opportunities to put the Bills on their heels but could only get 3 points off of those turnovers. When you have opportunities to force turnovers you have to make the opponent pay. The Bears didn’t and it led to their downfall. Also adding to the loss was the Bills’ rushing attack. The Bills ripped off 254 rushing yards as Devin Singletary(12 car, 106 yards) and James Cook(11 car, 99 yards) led the way. QB Josh Allen even got in on the act with 6 carries for 41 yards and a TD. With the rushing attack on overdrive, Josh Allen’s arm wasn’t needed as much.

For the Bears, they could only muster 209 yards in offense all day. Nearly one-third of those yards(64) came on the Bears’ first drive for their only TD. The Bills locked in on Justin Fields as it was clear the game plan for the Bills was to take away any potential running lanes for Fields. He rushed for a season low 11 yards a week after becoming just the 3rd QB to rush for 1,000 yards in a season. Fields offered his thoughts:

“The reality of it is I’m not going to be running for like 100 yards a game,” Fields said. “When a defense does a good job of taking my legs away, take a defender with me, maybe take two with me and allow (the running backs’) legs to work.”

Bears QB Justin Fields, via ESPN.com

The Grades:

Offense: The Bears had chances to really make the Bills sweat but they could only muster 3.5 yards per play. The inability to capitalize off of Bills’ turnovers is a death knell to a team that has to play nearly perfect to have a chance. Grade: D

Defense: The defense did all they could to stay with Buffalo. Forcing 3 turnovers despite having little push up front is a testament to how hard the Bears’ back 7 played. The defense eventually gassed out as the Bills, a team not known for running the ball, ran for 254 yards. Grade: C

Special Teams: Velus Jones had his best day as a kick returner. Cairo Santos didn’t miss any FGs or extra points. That’s a plus. Grade: B

Coaching: Some questions could be made about wanting to keep Justin Fields in the pocket but also the coaching staff needs to see more film of Fields in the pocket. These next 2 games will be about the coaching staff trying to see which of these young players can play. Grade: C

Up Next: The 3-12 Bears head to Motown for a New Year’s Day battle with the Detroit Lions. The Lions are in the hunt for the final playoff spot so this will be a must win for them.

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1 Step Forward, 2 Steps Back for the Bulls

A month ago I wrote about the Bulls being the very definition of Dr. Jekyll & Mr. Hyde. Nothing that has happened over the last month has led Bulls fans to believe any different. In the course of the past month, the Bulls earned wins over the Jazz, Hawks, Heat and Mavs. They also had Devin Booker hang 50 points on them in 3 quarters in a blowout loss, a last second layup loss in Atlanta, back to back home losses to the Knicks and a blowout loss to the Timberwolves who were missing their two best players. That blowout loss to Minnesota saw the young Wolves put up 150 points on the Bulls. That’s right – 150 points. So pathetic was the Bulls’ performance there was a heated discussion in the Bulls’ locker room at halftime:

DeMar DeRozan on Sunday’s halftime: “It’d be a problem if we didn’t have any type of aggressive confrontation someway. It ain’t like nobody throwing blows or throwing chairs or anything like that.”

Originally tweeted by Darnell Mayberry (@DarnellMayberry) on December 21, 2022.

The Bulls’ lack of focus and intensity to start games has been their undoing all year long. Too many times they’ve come out at the start of games with no aggression and their defense has been trash.

The loss to Minnesota represented their low point of the season so far. The Bulls had no choice but to respond to such an embarrassing loss. The next 3 games for the Bulls saw them play with a sense of urgency. They put forth the effort on both ends of the floor with wins in Miami, Atlanta and New York. Then Monday night happened. The Bulls had Houston in town and how did the Bulls repay their fans for renewing interest in the team – by allowing the Rockers to open the game on a 23-5 run and run their way to a 133-118 win over the Bulls. The Bulls gave up 60 points in the paint to Houston, were out-rebounded by 10 and allowed the Rockets to shoot 56% from the floor.

The Bulls took the Rockets for granted and overlooked them. No team that is 14-19 should ever be arrogant enough to look past any team. The Bulls, who had losses to the Spurs, Magic, Thunder and Kings, thought they were too good to put forth any effort against a professional basketball team. They really have some nerve.

Heading into tonight’s game against the Bucks, the Bulls are 5 games under .500. They take the least amount of 3-pointers in the league, 26th in offensive rebounding, 26th in overall rebounding, dead last in 3-pt made differential and 29th in clutch winning percentage. Questions need to be asked about everything at this point and it should start with Arturas Karnisovas and Marc Eversely.

Update: Despite 42 points, 22 rebounds & 7 assists from Giannis Antetokounmpo, the Bulls overcame an 11 point, 4th quarter deficit to knock off the Milwaukee Bucks 119-113 in OT tonight. DeMar DeRozan matched Giannis with 42 points, 10 rebounds & 5 assists. That said… the Bulls are 7-1 against BOS, MIA, BKN and MIL. Against the rest of the league: they’re 8-18.

Yep – Dr. Jekyll & Mr. Hyde still lives…

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