Titans 27, Bears 21

By Kevin Schroeder
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Updated: December 3, 2016

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

The Bears scored the first seven, the Titans scored the next 27. The Bears made a nice comeback, but couldn’t complete it. If you want more detail, the box score is linked above. If you’re looking for a more descriptive account, here’s Patrick Finley’s article from the Times. This season is going nowhere. It’s been going nowhere for a while, but is all but totally done now. As such, from here on out, this space will focus on evaluating the team for next year. In that spirit, let’s look at the

Player Grades

Takeaways

Matt Barkley made a couple mistakes, but overall, had a great game. He throws a very nice ball; his problems come from mental errors with the ball. Is he the long-term answer at the position? No. Could he be a serviceable backup? We’ll have to see what he does the rest of the year, but seems like it.

Jordan Howard needs to get better at catching the ball out of the backfield. As a runner, another nice outing.

The receivers had better have spent extra time on the JUGS machine this week. Ten drops. Ten. That can’t happen. Marquess Wilson had one of them, but more than made up for it. Deonte Thompson also had a very good game. Daniel Braverman has been called up from the practice squad; he’s the type of guy Tom Brady turns into All-Pros. Maybe this number 12 can do likewise.

I’d like to see more of Ben Braunecker. That Daniel Brown had the role he had after just being picked up seems telling, but why not see what you have at this point. I thought Braunecker was an intriguing prospect coming out of Harvard.

The offensive linemen’s grades, are all a bit understated. The Bears threw a lot and pass pro was generally good. Pass pro doesn’t show up particularly well in grading, though. That’s one thing I want to look at with my grading system this off-season. Anyway, Charles Leno, Jr.’s grade in particular was understated. Bobby Massie‘s less so. Cody Whitehair had a bit of a rough day. Eleven games into his rookie season at a position he’s never played prior to this season, one which has the responsibility of making the line calls, he’s had one real clunker and three meh games. That is not bad.

Akiem Hicks had a clunker. Jonathan Bullard wasn’t particularly good. I’m not worried about either long-term. Eddie Goldman had a rather impressive outing. He’s looking like he’s going to be a star.

Willie Young played well. Nick Kwiatkowski started in Jerrell Freeman‘s spot. He played pretty well. Danny Trevathan was pretty good before leaving the game with a torn patella tendon that will end his season.

Tracy Porter made it nine straight games grading out negatively. I’m done talking about him unless something drastically changes. He’s a nice veteran presence and would be fine in a lesser role, but he can’t be your #1 corner. Period. Cre’Von LeBlanc actually had a good game. Bryce Callahan was meh, though I’m still somewhat high on him going forward. Adrian Amos struggled in coverage again. He remains the Bears best safety. That is a problem.

#FireJohnFox Status: Lean to fire.

I’ve said before that there are valid arguments to be made for both firing and not firing Fox. This off-season, the Bears need to find the QB of the future* and determine how the offense is going to look. You have a great DC in Vic Fangio and just need to build up the secondary. I like the idea of hiring an offensive-minded coach and letting him mold the unit.

“So we’re gonna get Jim Harbaugh?”

Harbaugh’s not going anywhere.

“You’re just saying that because you’re a Michigan fan.”

No, I’m saying that because I have a brain. I’m happy about it because I’m a Michigan fan.

“But Fangio’s here.”

Doesn’t matter.

“But the NFL is a bigger deal than college football.”

The University of Michigan is a huge deal to Jim Harbaugh. He bought a house in Ann Arbor near where Bo Schembechler lived, his wife’s pregnant again, he moved his dad in down the street. He’s not going anywhere anytime soon. Plus, he would want more control than the McCaskeys would give him. And you’d have to get Jay Cutler outta there first. Harbaugh’s mantra is “attack the day with an enthusiasm unknown to mankind.” Cutler’s is “meh.” Harbaugh says he models his behavior after SpongeBob SquarePants, whereas Jay is more of a Squidward.

Anyway, if you’re going to fire Fox, that should be the plan. I’m not saying they definitely should, but that’s the way I’m leaning.

*Unless you can get Tony Romo. He buys you a year. I’ll watch more of the QBs in this class after the season officially ends, but right now, I don’t see a sure-fire lock of a franchise QB. Right now, the closest I see is Deshaun Watson I wouldn’t use a top-5 pick on him. The highest I’d go is late 1st/early 2nd round. The ideal situation to me is to sign Romo and then take a chance on a QB in the middle rounds. If that QB pans out, great. If not, next year’s QB class looks better than this one. This, of course, hinges on being able to sign Romo. Word is that Denver would be interested in picking him up, because why wouldn’t they be? And if Denver’s an option, why is Romo coming here?

Fire anyone else status: I’m quite a bit less high on Dowell Loggains. I’m for firing him at this point.

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: Matt Barkley, Marquess Wilson, Deonte Thompson

2: Jordan Howard, Ted Larsen

1: Paul Lasike

Defense

3: Eddie Goldman

2: Willie Young

1: Cre’Von LeBlanc

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