UA-59049186-1 Film Review: Chicago Bears vs. Philadelphia Eagles - Wild Card Round - Good if it Goes

Film Review: Chicago Bears vs. Philadelphia Eagles – Wild Card Round

This post is a special feature while BearsBarroom.com undergoes site maintenance. Recaps of the regular season games, as well as the 2017 season, draft scouting, and general Bears news can be found there.

Performance Grades

The grading scale goes from -3 to +3 for each play. Screens are graded as runs. Penalties are counted in whatever phase they were committed. Pre- and post-snap penalties are in the “Misc.” column. “Short” throws are 10 yards or less, “Medium” is 10-20, “Deep” is over 20. Everything else (scrambles, throwaways, etc.) is under “Miscellaneous.” Parentheses in a column denote grades/snaps from the opposite side of the ball and are not included in grades/snaps from the player’s usual side. Snap counts are from Pro Football Reference. Box score and other relevant info can be found at that link as well.

(a noble click embiggens these charts)

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What does this mean?

If Parkey makes that kick, the narrative of the game is how Trubisky stepped up down the stretch and Nagy made the necessary adjustments. Doink the Clown did what he does best, though, so everyone started second-guessing everything. The touchdown late in the game was disappointing, but looking at the game as a whole, it was a strong outing for the defense. The defense didn’t get a ton of pressure on Foles because the Eagles made a point of getting the ball out quickly. They did pick him off twice, though. Also, they clobbered the Philadelphia rushing attack, holding the Eagles’ running backs to 43 yards on 22 attempts.

The other complaint that came up a bunch was about Nagy’s play calling. The Eagles’ D-line did a good job against the Bears’ run game and as we’ve seen Nagy do when the run game isn’t going as well as he’d hoped, he moved away from it. Does he have a tendency to move away from the run a bit too soon? Ehh, maybe. But after seeing the other extreme last year with the ?Dowell Loggains bang your head against a brick wall” offense, I’m kind of okay with it. YMMV. As for the lack of touches for Tarik Cohen, Cohen is at his best when you get him into space. The Eagles were determined to not let anyone get into space. He probably should have tried a couple more times, though, and certainly should have looked to feature Cohen more in the passing game. My biggest complaint with the game plan was the lack of deep shots early. The Eagles had to piece together a secondary and the Bears took too long to really take advantage of it.

What does this mean going forward?

Nothing. Season over.

What does this mean for 2019?

Justin Yoon finally graduated, right? Is it just me or did it seem like he was at Notre Dame for about 12 years? Robbie Gould‘s going to be a free agent and seemingly can’t miss anymore, but if you’ve been on Twitter at all lately, you likely already knew that. There are a couple dudes in Canada that are worth looking at. Point is, Parkey’s outta here. He was probably gone before that brick stupid “Today” appearance and he’s surely gone afterward. During the end-of-season press conference, Nagy called the appearance more of a “me” thing than a “we” thing, which is a thing you don’t say if you have any intention of bringing back the person you’re talking about.

The other noteworthy bit from the presser was that Nagy  reached out to Kareem Hunt to see how he’s doing. Nagy and Pace said they weren’t close to discussing football with Hunt; nevertheless, your author predicts that Hunt will be a Chicago Bear in 2019. This space’s official position on Hunt is that he’s an incredibly talented football player who did an incredibly stupid and disgusting thing. Your author, like Coach Nagy, believes in second chances and trusts Nagy and Ryan Pace’s judgment as to whether or not Hunt deserves one. Your author will only comment on a potential signing from a football standpoint and from that standpoint, it’s a no-brainer. Obviously, though, that is not the only factor in play.

Vic Fangio left to become the head coach of the Broncos and was replaced by Chuck Pagano. I’ll go into more detail about the hire in a separate post likely next week, but the short version is that this should be fine. The corners will have to adjust to playing more man coverage. Otherwise, the transition should be pretty smooth. The defense may not be as great next year because what they did this year is hard to replicate. The Bears were not only #1 in defensive DVOA, the gap between them and the 2nd– ranked Bills was as big as the gap between the Bills and the #10 Colts. That said, in Pagano’s lone season as DC of the Ravens, the Ravens lead the league in defensive DVOA and Pagano inherits a group of guys that looks pretty similar to what he had in Baltimore.

Monsters

Goldman, Hicks, Mack, and Smith were all strong against the run. Floyd was solid all-around and had the Bears’ only sack. Danny Trevathan was solid. Trubisky got better as the game went on. Allen Robinson having his best game as a Bear certainly helped that.

Chipmunks

Nobody. Well, nobody in the charts, anyway.

4 Stars of the Game

4*: Allen Robinson

3*: Roquan Smith

2*: Eddie Goldman

1*: Khalil Mack, Mitchell Trubisky, Akiem Hicks, Leonard Floyd (tie, everybody gets one. Good effort, guys.)

WCstars

Alshon Jeffery schadenfreude

I was going to do a whole bit here, but I decided to just drop it.

My Final Thought

A year ago in this space, I talked about the possibilities of better days ahead. Well, they’re here now. It didn’t take a year to get ready to compete; the Bears showed all year they could hang with anybody. Even when they lost, they were never truly out of any game. It was a fun ride and it’s awfully unfortunate that it has to end on a field goal attempt, especially one that hit not just one, but two posts. But now we turn to the off-season; I’ll be here to break down Chuck Pagano’s defense, look at draft picks and free agent signings, celebrate when Cody Parkey is given the boot, and to talk about anything else that comes up. Thank you for following along with me these past 18 weeks. While this wasn’t the ending to the season we wanted, it’s important to remember that the future is very bright. The Bears are still young and have the NFL Coach of the Year, the first real franchise quarterback they’ve had since the days of leather helmets, and a defense for whom a step back still results in the #1 unit in the league. While this one will sting for a while, it’s important to look at the season as a whole and what the team accomplished: a 12-4 record, a division championship, multiple rookies looking like future stars. This was just the first step. Next year, we go for the big one. Till next time, take care of yourself, and each other.

Twitter: @KSchroeder_312

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