UA-59049186-1 Colts 29, Bears 23 - Recap - Good if it Goes
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Colts 29, Bears 23 – Recap

Box Score

Grading Primer (I wrote this about Michigan, but the grading procedures are still relevant.)

The Bears gained over 500 yards on offense and lost. Let that sink in. That’s the first time that’s happened. The team moved the ball well on a bad Colts defense and put points on the board, but their own defense let them down. I’ve extolled the defense to this point in the year, but man, that was a pretty lousy performance by the unit and poor game planning by Vic Fangio. Connor Barth missed another kick, a 54-yarder, but that was negated by a running into the kicker penalty that should have been roughing. Barth got a shot from 49 and missed that, too. Yet he remains the Bears’ kicker. Before we really dig into what happened, let’s look at the

Player Grades

(Disclaimer: The video I had wasn’t very good and the Colts had their roof and windows open, so that produced some shadows and glares that occasionally made it hard to see exactly what was going on. The former may end up being a recurring issue – we’ll see. In any case, sometimes, educated guesses had to be made. This was more of an issue on defense; on offense, it’s easier to figure out who’s who.)

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How’d they do?

Ratings are out of 100 and should be read similar to Madden ratings. Overall ratings for the season and the change in that number from the previous week are in parentheses.

QB: 79 (Season: 78, Change: 0)

Hoyer made the simple throws, but not much beyond that. He missed a wide-open Alshon Jeffery for a potential game-winning TD. More on him later.

RB: 97 (Season: 90, Change: +4)

It’s official: Jordan Howard should 100% remain the starter when Jeremy Langford returns. The speedier Langford can be a nice complement for the hard-running Howard.

WR: 93 (Season: 91, Change: 0)

Cameron Meredith had a great game save for the fumble that really put the Bears behind the 8-ball. Jeffery didn’t get targeted as much as he should have, but made the most of his opportunities.

TE: 92 (Season: 88, Change: +1)

Zach Miller has really established himself in the offense. He’s become a very nice asset as a receiver and his blocking has been solid. Logan Paulsen was okay in the run game.

OL: 92 (Season: 81, Change: +2)

This was the second-consecutive favorable match-up for the group, but they did quite well with it. The grades understate how good the line was since the Bears threw so much. Leno and Sitton (thank you, Ted Thompson) did a great job giving Jordan Howard room to run.

DL: 80 (Season: 80, Change: 0)

The group didn’t get as much push as I would have hoped. Akiem Hicks was fine. Cornelius Washington was okay when he was on the field. Jonathan Bullard’s performance was pretty encouraging after an awfully rough outing the las time we saw him against Dallas. Mitch Unrein stunk again. I’m tired of watching Mitch Unrein stink. He graded out at +3 against Houston and has graded out positively once since: a +1 outing against Dallas. +1 is a relative minus day for a lineman.

OLB: 86 (Season: 86, Change: -1)

Willie Young had an awfully good game, dropping Andrew Luck three times. The only other full-time OLB to play, Sam Acho was nothing special.

ILB: 86 (Season: 88, Change: 0)

Welcome back, Danny Trevathan. Trevathan played awfully well in his return to the lineup. Former Colt Jerrell Freeman played well in his return to Indianapolis, though not as good as he’s been so far this year. I’m treating this as an aberration right now. Nick Kwiatkowski wasn’t really a factor in a smattering of snaps.

CB: 67 (Season: 77, Change: -4)

Real bad. Bryce Callahan graded out positively, barely. PFF liked Porter and LeBlanc. -0.5 isn’t good for anybody, but for a corner, it’s not horrible. I still think they overrated Porter, but I’m mostly “eh, whatever” towards that one. LeBlanc, I thought, stunk.

S: 71 (Season: 78, Change: -2)

Amos was okay, Prosinski had a really rough day.

So…

I talked about this last week and apparently I have to do so again. Let this be the end of the “Hoyer should start over Jay” talk. Brian Hoyer threw for 397 yards and only graded out as +9.5. Given the natures of my grading system and the QB position, a +9.5 grade on 43 passes is barely above relative zero. More than once, he got minused on a completion because the throw wasn’t where it needed to be. He had a chance to win the game for the Bears and laid an egg. I asked this in last week’s recap blog:

What if they needed some big plays? Would Hoyer have been able to provide them?

We got the answer this week: a resounding no. Adam Jahns said in the Times that Cutler beats the Colts and he’s right. Anyone still pounding the Brian Hoyer drum is bad at opinions and should be completely disregarded. Hoyer is not doing anything that Jay couldn’t do if put in the same situation and probably do even better. Loggains has simplified the offense for Hoyer to the point that the strategy appears to be:

  1. Read the defense and determine who your first read is pre-snap
  2. After the snap, look to your primary read, if that’s not there, check it down.

That’s fine for much of the game as long as you can do it consistently and keep the ball moving. If you find yourself in a 3rd-and-long, though, good luck. And if you find yourself needing big plays late, you’re really in trouble. Even if you are able to do that consistently, it’s not anything to put a QB on a pedestal over. Now factor in that the Bears’ two top receivers (when everyone’s healthy) are guys whose strengths are deep passes. Hoyer’s strength is precisely not that.

On the other side of the ball, there were plenty more missed opportunities. The Colts’ offensive line is really not good and for Luck to have as much time has he did as often as he did is rather irritating. The Bears were able to force him from the pocket more than a few times, but they weren’t able to get home after that. Why Fangio didn’t send more than four more often is beyond me, especially since the Colts were completing passes like they were. What do you have to lose by sending a fifth rusher? The coverage already wasn’t working. Why not try something that might work.

And on special teams, they’re still not good. As stated earlier, Barth remains the kicker after yet another miss. Bringing him in was a good idea, but it hasn’t worked out and it’s time to admit that it hasn’t worked out. Instead, special teams coordinator Jeff Rodgers says things can be worked out because Barth’s ball flight is good. While it may not be spinning horribly one way or the other, I would have to disagree with Rodgers that the ball flight is good, as too often, the ball flies outside of the uprights.

Yet To Be Named Gimmicky Award Meant To Show Who The Best Overall Performers Were

If you have an idea of what I should call this, let me know. Twitter handle and e-mail address are at the end of the blog.

Anyway, up to 3 may be awarded per player. Not necessarily the highest-graded players since different grades mean different things to different players (refer to the primer).

Offense

3: Jordan Howard, Charles Leno, Jr., Josh Sitton

2: Cody Whitehair, Alshon Jeffery, Zach Miller, Cameron Meredith

1: Eddie Royal

Defense

3: Willie Young, Danny Trevathan

1: Akiem Hicks, Jonathan Bullard, Jerrell Freeman

Yet To Be Named Gimmicky Award Meant To Show Who The Best Overall Performers Were Count

awards-5

Bear Down!

Twitter: @KSchroeder_312

E-mail: schroeder.giig@gmail.com

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