UA-59049186-1 Packers 26, Bears 10 - Recap - Good if it Goes

Packers 26, Bears 10 – Recap

Box Score

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

The Bears gave them a game for a while. They even led briefly. But the offense couldn’t do anything. They did nothing with Brian Hoyer and then Hoyer got hurt and Matt Barkley came in and the Bears did a little more than nothing but not nearly enough to give the team a chance or even keep the defense off the field enough to keep them rested and let them give the team a chance. But at least they showed something. So they’re not a dumpster fire, they’re just a bad football team. And I’ve said this before, but it bears repeating now: bad football teams can become good football teams with good coaching and good leadership. I’m confident in Ryan Pace. The moves he’s made have put the Bears in position to build something great. The coaching I was less bullish on prior to this week, but the staff really put forth a good effort here – more on that later. For now, let’s look at the

Player Grades

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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: 58 (Season: 70, Change: -5)

Hoyer stunk, then he broke his arm. Barkley made a couple nice throws – he looked kinda good passing the ball – but he just looked like a deer in the headlights back there. Barkley threw two picks – one was kinda fluky and not really his fault, the other looked like a complete brain fart. Jay Cutler will be back for Monday’s game against the Vikings, so there’s a reason for some optimism here.

RB: 84 (Season: 88, Change: -1)

Ka’Deem Carey got a lot of the carries. I was less upset about him being used in place of Howard so much this week because he was making the most of those carries. Jordan Howard played well when he was used. I still think he needs to be the #1 back, but I’m glad Carey’s come on as strong as he has to take some of the load off of Howard. Langford’s return, which seems close, should make his load even lighter.

WR: 85 (Season: 90, Change: -1)

Look, there’s only so much a receiver can do when they don’t have anyone getting them the ball. A positive note: the group had only one minus. The group should be much more productive with Cutler back, Alshon Jeffery in particular looks to benefit – he’s great at playing the deep ball, but hasn’t had anyone to throw it in a good while.

TE: 79 (Season: 85, Change: -2)

Zach Miller had another fine game. Logan Paulsen and Ben Braunecker were kinda rough in the ground game.

OL: 66 (Season: 74, Change: -3)

Whole lot of minuses there. Eric Kush actually had double-digit pluses, but also tied for the team lead in minuses. Still, for a 6th O-lineman, you could do worse. Bobby Massie was the guy tied with Kush for the team minus lead and he did not have enough pluses to make up for it – he just stunk. Kyle Long had a rough game before exiting with a with a triceps injury, Ted Larsen came in for him and was worse. Charles Leno, Jr. had his third minus day of the year. The Bears would be wise to look for at least one tackle in the draft. Cody Whitehair had an encouraging performance and was the only lineman I wasn’t mad at after this. Get well soon, Josh Sitton.

DL: 80 (Season: 79, Change: 0)

Mitch Unrein graded out negatively for the fourth-straight week. Cornelius Washington was meh. Everyone else was solid-to-good.

OLB: 93 (Season: 89, Change: +2)

Willie Young had another excellent outing. Leonard Floyd had a great game of his own, including a strip sack where he recovered the fumble for the team’s only touchdown. Pernell McPhee looked okay in his first game back from injury.

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

Jerrell Freeman was awesome. Danny Trevathan was just okay. Hopefully, they can start having good weeks together.

CB: 41 (Season: 64, Change: -7)

Where do you want to start? These guys made Davante Adams look like Jerry Rice. Holy cow, were they bad. Bryce Callahan was solid – the only CB to grade out positively. Cre’Von LeBlanc had 8.5 pluses and still managed to grade out negatively. As a corner! Just…wow. PFF thought Tracy Porter was pretty good. I disagree, though he was far from the corner I was most mad at. What is irritating there is that he hasn’t graded out positively since week 2. Now, that said, a couple of those were barely negative, which is less bad for a corner, than, say, a lineman. Also, he’s a nice veteran presence and if he wasn’t being asked to be the team’s top corner, I wouldn’t be all that upset with him and his standing on the depth chart isn’t his doing. So, still not furious with Porter. Jacoby Glenn, on the other hand, I really wasn’t pleased with. He’s since been let go – I thought that was a good decision. Demontre Hurst has been called up from the practice squad in his place. I don’t have words for how bad Devante Bausby was. I’m legitimately surprised he wasn’t let go as well. To finish -10 anywhere is atrocious beyond belief, to do it as a corner is incomprehensible. That was a problem I had with the coaching staff – when he’s laying an egg like that, put someone else in. Anyone else.

S: 68 (Season: 76, Change: -3)

Bad. PFF thought Harold Jones-Quartey was okay. Again, I must disagree. Adrian Amos wasn’t terrible, nor was he good.

Takeaways

Vic Fangio called a great game. He stuck to regularly rushing four, but employed enough stunts to keep Aaron Rodgers on his toes. The secondary obviously needs to be upgraded, but Fangio did awfully well with what he had. John Fox did a good job as well. Obviously, this season has been a disappointment so far and the ceiling for the remainder of it doesn’t appear to be awfully high, but I think Fox deserves another year. Adam Jahns said in the Times that it’s hard to truly evaluate Fox with all the injuries the Bears have faced. I agree with that sentiment. What is encouraging is that even with all the injuries, the Bears have remained competitive. The injury to Cutler has been a whole lot bigger than people realize. I truly believe that if Jay had been healthy all year, this team’s 4-3 and the narrative going into Monday night is “the red-hot Bears riding a four-game winning streak versus the Vikings coming off of their first loss of the year.”

*sigh* Okay, fine, let’s talk about Alshon. It was reported earlier in the week that the Eagles could be interested in trading for Alshon Jeffery. Ryan Pace didn’t flat-out deny that he’s available, because duh, so there are some thoughts that it could really happen, with the Bears likely receiving a 3rd-or-so-round pick. For those jumping off a cliff about this, understand that Ryan Pace is in a tough spot here. If he says “there’s no way we’re trading Alshon,” that gives his agent more leverage in contract negotiations. If he says “yeah, he’s on the market,” that tells the other 31 GMs “we don’t think we’re going to be able to re-sign him.” It’s an open invitation for teams to low-ball them. Will the Bears actually trade Alshon? Dunno. There’s certainly a possibility the trade rumors could be overblown. I’m sure the Eagles are interested in trading for him. I’m sure the Bears would be interested in trading for Tom Brady, but the thing about trades is that both sides have to be interested, you know? That said, it wouldn’t totally surprise me if Alshon decided that he wanted to move on – he’s seemed awfully frustrated with things thus far. If the two sides aren’t going to be able to come together, the Bears might as well get something for him. I obviously hope it doesn’t come to that.

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

2: Cody Whitehair, Ka’Deem Carey, Zach Miller

1: Cameron Meredith, Jordan Howard

Defense

3: Willie Young, Leonard Floyd, Jerrell Freeman

2: Akiem Hicks

1: Danny Trevathan, Jonathan Bullard

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

awards-7

Bear Down!

Twitter: @KSchroeder_312

E-mail: schroeder.giig@gmail.com

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