Thoughts and Observations: Lions 1 [Offense]

[WindyCity]

Offense

-Nagy deserves credit. He changed the offense. Mitch was under centre way more, more 12 and 13 personnel, way more play action, and more commitment to the run. This is an offense that can work with this talent level.

-Mitch was better. Was he night and day different, no, but he was better. He was better in the pocket, his air yards per attempt was 5th highest in the NFL, he made some dumb plays, but he made more big plays and his misses weren't brutal they were on the WRs. If this is the extend of the improvement then it is not good enough, but if this is the first week of more improvement from this level than we may be working with something.

-Allen Robinson is really good and we should probably pay him.

-Anthony Miller only playing 50% of snaps is weird and he barely plays in run downs. I am not sure what is going on with him because when he is on he can cook, but he is held back so often by other things.

-Color me intrigued by Darnell Mooney. The speed was obvious, even for a rookie he was getting a ton of respect from DBs.

-Cole Kmet was not part of the passing game, but he was solid in his blocking assignments and I am very interested to see what he looks like when he becomes more a part of the passing game.

-Jimmy Graham needs to catch those passes and while I know his athletic ability has faded, he needs to be more dynamic. His blocking was fine for what he was asked to do, which was the Trey Burton get in the way blocks. Not a complete TE but better than what we have had.

-Demetrius Harris is a monster as a blocker, the effort alone is fun to watch as he flat out attacks people. Missing him on the TD sucks as he earned that TD catch.

-I thought Nagy used Patterson really well. He was given the ball in a couple of different looks and about 50% of the time he was on the field. The 4th down stretch run with him was a nice call as at 240 he is a load for a DB to TFL and he has the speed to get the edge.

-I felt Cohen was also used well. He got a couple power carries, he was on the field about 50/50 run and pass.

-Leno was very meh and spent too much time on the ground in the run game.
-Daniels, looked very good.
-Whitehair was back to the second level quickly which was awesome to see.
-Ifedi, better than I was expecting. The physicality in the run game is obvious and the pass game misses weren't that bad.
-Massie, he was solid. Not being matched up against a real pass rusher helped.

 

[hebs]

It sure would be nice to see Miller put it all together this year. I've had high hopes for this kid ever since I wanted the Bears to draft him in 2018.

 

[modo]

Part of my keys to winning this game was play action passing and the Bears delivered.

Nagy said he was going to run more play action and he did.

Trubisky did not miss any reads that I saw.

If Bears manage to put up 24 to 28 points a game they will win games in chunks.

It would be nice if they could do more early so they can limit what teams do offensively and do I don’t have to see as much bitching on CCS.

 

[HearshotKDS]

-Anthony Miller only playing 50% of snaps is weird and he barely plays in run downs. I am not sure what is going on with him because when he is on he can cook, but he is held back so often by other things.

I wonder if this is being done to help reduce the chance of injury. While he's not slim, he's also not a big WR and with a potentially weak shoulder maybe blocking on run plays is something the team would prefer to not roll the dice with him on.

 

[WindyCity]

Part of my keys to winning this game was play action passing and the Bears delivered.

Nagy said he was going to run more play action and he did.

Trubisky did not miss any reads that I saw.

If Bears manage to put up 24 to 28 points a game they will win games in chunks.

It would be nice if they could do more early so they can limit what teams do offensively and do I don’t have to see as much bitching on CCS.

I think a lot of it was rust and being just off.

Graham should have had a TD.
Robinson should have had a TD or a PI call in the end zone.

2 plays changed the 1st half narrative.

 

[PFTCB]

Offense

-Cole Kmet was not part of the passing game, but he was solid in his blocking assignments and I am very interested to see what he looks like when he becomes more a part of the passing game.

Good post. On this particular point I wonder if we'd think exactly the same thing if Mitch hadn't flubbed the play that was obviously intended for Kmet to score...I think it was near goal line in the 1st or 2nd? I'm sure someone else can point out the exact second but I can't reference the game right now.

 

[dennehy]

Please let me know if I am wrong (haven't rewatched), but it seemed like they totally scrapped RPO and ran lots more play action, something that many people were saying should happen last year.

The improvement at guard, with Daniels looking like a beast and Ifedi being competent, might be the most important personnel improvement this year.

 

[WindyCity]

Please let me know if I am wrong (haven't rewatched), but it seemed like they totally scrapped RPO and ran lots more play action, something that many people were saying should happen last year.

The improvement at guard, with Daniels looking like a beast and Ifedi being competent, might be the most important personnel improvement this year.

Tons of play action
Tons of under centre

Mitch was under center more than he was in gun in the 1st half.

 

[modo]

I think a lot of it was rust and being just off.

Graham should have had a TD.
Robinson should have had a TD or a PI call in the end zone.

2 plays changed the 1st half narrative.

That could be.

But the fundamental way the Bears ran the O was much different from last year. That was the encouraging part....

I see a much different offense from last year so far. One that I think they should have started working in last year. I don't think it would have been that hard to do in between weeks.

Last year I was screaming at the TV to keep running play action because it worked and Trubisky responded well to it.

 

[remydat]

So sounds like if Kmet fails at TE he can bulk up and replace Leno at LT?

 

[Chicago4Life]

it was a good start for mitch, i know everyone is talking about how poorly he played in the first 3 quarters but he did improve from last season...the 4th and 7 pass to ginn was supposedly tipped by a defender according to nagy, the two throws to jimmy could have been better but jimmy could also have timed his jumps better too..

The interior of the line played well, ifedi looked good and castillo really worked some magic

 

[Mdbearz]

Tons of play action
Tons of under centre

Mitch was under center more than he was in gun in the 1st half.

I honestly think that dropping back to pass helps Trubisky with his footwork. I am not able to rewatch games this year, but I started to notice last year that out of the shotgun he hopped around trying to get his feet set before he threw.

With that being said, I'm sure he was in shot gun a lot in the 4th Qtr, so that theory is total dung.

 

[modo]

I honestly think that dropping back to pass helps Trubisky with his footwork. I am not able to rewatch games this year, but I started to notice last year that out of the shotgun he hopped around trying to get his feet set before he threw.

With that being said, I'm sure he was in shot gun a lot in the 4th Qtr, so that theory is total dung.

There were several plays were Trubisky dropped back and went thru his progressions just fine.

When Trubisky missed he didn't miss by much. There were three plays that I saw he misjudged the pass. The one to Kmet (which could have been a miscommunication on where he was supposed to be) and the one to Ginn. The one to Ginn seemed to get away from him as he threw. The one to Harris was a timing play that was disrupted when Harris got off the line and was held up by a linebacker off the line...

That was about it from an egregious pass misses.....everything else was just inches away from completions...

Considering he threw for over 225 yards and had 3 perfect TD passes, I'm ok with it.

 

[BearDown1]

it was a good start for mitch, i know everyone is talking about how poorly he played in the first 3 quarters but he did improve from last season...the 4th and 7 pass to ginn was supposedly tipped by a defender according to nagy, the two throws to jimmy could have been better but jimmy could also have timed his jumps better too..

The interior of the line played well, ifedi looked good and castillo really worked some magic

The one to Ginn was not tipped. I saw it from a few different angles yesterday. He just missed and missed bad.

 

[WestCoastBearsFan]

Please let me know if I am wrong (haven't rewatched), but it seemed like they totally scrapped RPO and ran lots more play action, something that many people were saying should happen last year.

The improvement at guard, with Daniels looking like a beast and Ifedi being competent, might be the most important personnel improvement this year.

Now that I think of it, I don’t recall any RPOs either. I think that’s for the best though. Simplify the offense and keep feeding the backs. If the OL keeps playing the way it did sunday the bears have a chance to have a really good run game.

 

[modo]

Now that I think of it, I don’t recall any RPOs either. I think that’s for the best though. Simplify the offense and keep feeding the backs. If the OL keeps playing the way it did sunday the bears have a chance to have a really good run game.

There were no RPOs....only glorious play action passes........

 

[WestCoastBearsFan]

So sounds like if Kmet fails at TE he can bulk up and replace Leno at LT?

It’s week 1 in a shortened off season. Rookie TEs take time. I wasn’t a fan of the pick either but he needs a longer leash and a chance to prove himself. Look at how good Hockenson and Fant looked in week 1.

 

[WestCoastBearsFan]

There were no RPOs....only glorious play action passes........

It’ll be interesting how this works out Sunday. Dexter Lawrence and the rest of that Giants DL is a very solid unit. If the OL can keep opening holes and allowing Montgomery and Patterson to do what they do I’m going to feel a lot better about this offense. Not that I wasn’t happy with what I saw Sunday I just want it consistently and against better opponents lol.

 

[remydat]

It’s week 1 in a shortened off season. Rookie TEs take time. I wasn’t a fan of the pick either but he needs a longer leash and a chance to prove himself. Look at how good Hockenson and Fant looked in week 1.

I was more making fun of all the hype about how great he was in training camp and then he caught zero passes.

 

[remydat]

It’ll be interesting how this works out Sunday. Dexter Lawrence and the rest of that Giants DL is a very solid unit. If the OL can keep opening holes and allowing Montgomery and Patterson to do what they do I’m going to feel a lot better about this offense. Not that I wasn’t happy with what I saw Sunday I just want it consistently and against better opponents lol.

Are they? They gave up almost 6YPC to Benney Snell. The reality is the Bears won't really be tested until Tampa Bay. Lions, Giants, Falcons and Colts are not close to being good defensive teams judging on recent history.