+- Cincinnati Bengals Message Board / Forums - Home of Jungle Noise (https://thebengalsboard.com)
+-- Forum: Cincinnati Bengals / NFL (https://thebengalsboard.com/forum-3.html)
+--- Forum: Bengals GameDay! (https://thebengalsboard.com/forum-33.html)
+--- Thread: My takeaways from the Bears game (/thread-28429.html)
Pages:
1
2
My takeaways from the Bears game - CJD - 09-19-2021
1. Zac Taylor and Brian Callahan must be fired soon.
Their offensive play calling and lack of adjustments were the worst part of the game. The Bears CBs were squatting on come backs and curl routes all game because the Bengals absolutely refused to call any deep shots until the last 10 minutes of the game (where we, magically, started scoring some points). The 5 WR plays did nothing all game and they didn't abuse the defense's aggressiveness with screens at all the entire game. A sound coach would notice what was happening and start calling double moves, but those calls never happened. These two are not fit to call games in low level college games, let alone the NFL. They need to be replaced immediately.
2. Joe Burrow is still suffering from his injury in some way; either physically or mentally.
He didn't move in the pocket at all, he didn't try to escape any sacks like he usually does and he took the check down way too quickly, even when he wasn't immediately pressured. He was staring down his receivers and kept throwing the short passes even when it was clear the Bears were squatting on everything short, as you could see with his second interception intended for Tee Higgins. I think he will recover as the season goes on and I think Zac's shit play calling also had something to do with this, as the 5 WR sets obviously made Burrow uncomfortable holding onto the ball, but he did not play well today.
3. The play calling was awful.
This is a bit of a re-hash, but I think it deserves it's own observation. The problem with running on first down and second down is it makes your only passing attempt a "must convert" play. So, you run for 3 on first, run for 3 on second, you have a manageable 3rd down (3rd and 5), but the defense also knows that you need 5 yards or they win the drive. This means they can sit on short routes, relying on their pass rush to force Joe to throw short. This worked wonders for the Bears all game. If they were to pass on first or second down, they could call some deep shots or even intermediate routes and, if they are incomplete, no big deal. You have 1 to 2 more chances to get the first down. When you run on both 1st and 2nd down, you are telling the defense what your 3rd down play will be, and that is WAY too easy to predict and stop.
4. This Oline is not good.
I know that we already knew this, but I think our game against Minnesota gave us some hope that is not merited. We need a new RG, a new RT and our average center and LG could probably be replaced as well. Pressure was getting to Joe way too quickly and the play calling was not doing us any favors either (5 WR sets, very little protection assistance from TEs and RBs).
5. This defense is solid.
It isn't a lockdown defense by any means. Dalton really exploited the defense on that first drive and our CBs need to work on tackling (and not committing pass interference 30 yards down the field, Eli...) but overall they're not going to be the reason this team loses games most of the time. Our secondary is good, our LBs are ascending and our Dline has some good players who flash real potential. I'd prefer we get better at containment on 3rd down because the QBs ran a bit too easily on us (even Dalton who is not a great runner), but overall I can't complain too much about what they brought to this game. They did what they needed to do to win the game. We held Dalvin Cook to 3.05 yards per carry in week 1 and we held David Montgomery to the exact same stat line in week 2 (20 carries, 61 yards). If they keep that up, we'll be fine. We just need to get this offense right, which I think means we need to fire our play callers. But, of course, I don't expect this to happen.
This game was insanely frustrating to watch. From the short passes all game to the run run pass scheme that never ever works, it was actually painful watching this offense for most of the day. But even with how bad this offense was, we still had a chance to win at the end because of our defense.
I have hope that this team can put together a full game at some point this season and I'm looking forward to that day. But, for the time being, we're the definition of a work in progress.
RE: My takeaways from the Bears game - HarleyDog - 09-19-2021
(09-19-2021, 05:21 PM)Crazyjdawg Wrote: 5. This defense is solid.Nope. No they're not. Maybe last week they looked good but not today.
RE: My takeaways from the Bears game - CJD - 09-19-2021
(09-19-2021, 05:24 PM)HarleyDog Wrote: Nope. No they're not. Maybe last week they looked good but not today.206 total yards, 6 of 15 on 3rd down, 3 sacks and 2 turnovers is a good defense. I agree that the 3rd and 9 missed tackle was brutal but on the day they were very good. Denying that is denying reality.
Sent from my SM-G986U using Tapatalk
RE: My takeaways from the Bears game - Memphis_Bengal - 09-19-2021
(09-19-2021, 05:24 PM)HarleyDog Wrote: Nope. No they're not. Maybe last week they looked good but not today.
3 sacks, two turnovers and held Bears to 204 yards total offense...that's pretty good. We held montgomery to less than half of his ypc (3.1) as he got last week vs Rams. We had one bad drive with one bad penalty. Honestly if we have Waynes we probably win the game.
RE: My takeaways from the Bears game - Sled21 - 09-19-2021
(09-19-2021, 05:24 PM)HarleyDog Wrote: Nope. No they're not. Maybe last week they looked good but not today.
Defense was solid today. Most of the points Chicago got were gifted to them by turnovers.
RE: My takeaways from the Bears game - thompson19osu - 09-19-2021
(09-19-2021, 05:24 PM)HarleyDog Wrote: Nope. No they're not. Maybe last week they looked good but not today.
They gave up 20 in a game we had 4 turnovers. Yes. They are good.
Agree with OP 100%. Callahan and ZT need to go. Offensive calls are completely handcuffing this team.
RE: My takeaways from the Bears game - HarleyDog - 09-19-2021
(09-19-2021, 05:29 PM)Crazyjdawg Wrote: 206 total yards, 6 of 15 on 3rd down, 3 sacks and 2 turnovers is a good defense. I agree that the 3rd and 9 missed tackle was brutal but on the day they were very good. Denying that is denying reality.
Sent from my SM-G986U using Tapatalk
Penalties and giving up big plays. Undisciplined. But I get where your coming from. Offense sucked and Burrow and the WR's looked hungover. Yet the defense really doesn't deserve any love from the game. Their job was to make the other team score less points than our team. They failed.
RE: My takeaways from the Bears game - thompson19osu - 09-19-2021
Also just realized they gave up only 13 points since the Bears had a pick 6.
RE: My takeaways from the Bears game - thompson19osu - 09-19-2021
(09-19-2021, 05:34 PM)HarleyDog Wrote: Penalties and giving up big plays. Undisciplined. But I get where your coming from. Offense sucked and Burrow and the WR's looked hungover. Yet the defense really doesn't deserve any love from the game. Their job was to make the other team score less points than our team. They failed.
The defense gave up 13. We scored 17. The defense did do their job.
RE: My takeaways from the Bears game - Bengalpool - 09-19-2021
The defense is the least of my worries and I say that proudly. The problem is Zac who said the defense needs to find ways to create more turnovers. Quick to blame anyone other than himself when the defense kept the score closer than it should have been. Offense is a joke with Zac calling plays
RE: My takeaways from the Bears game - Nately120 - 09-19-2021
(09-19-2021, 05:35 PM)thompson19osu Wrote: The defense gave up 13. We scored 17. The defense did do their job.
Tell that to our HC....ouch.
RE: My takeaways from the Bears game - Nicomo Cosca - 09-19-2021
(09-19-2021, 05:38 PM)Nately120 Wrote: Tell that to our HC....ouch.
I’d rather tell him good luck at your next job.
RE: My takeaways from the Bears game - Joelist - 09-19-2021
The D is partly to blame. It does not matter how well you play all day if you blow it on the play that counts. All they had to do was stop a running QB on 3rd and 9 - in other words STAY IN YOUR LANES.
Most of the blame however sits with Zac Taylor's bird brained game plan and Joe Burrow's mountain of unforced mental errors today.
RE: My takeaways from the Bears game - CardCounterChris - 09-19-2021
Zac Taylor confuses the hell out of me. He wants to go for it on questionable 4th downs last week. He says he wants to be aggressive. He drafts a great weapon for Joe with Chase. And what do we do with it all? Run Run Pass. This offensive is playing caged. I don't get it. This is the sign of a crap coach. I think this is a solid to above average team if they just let the offense open up.
RE: My takeaways from the Bears game - HarleyDog - 09-19-2021
(09-19-2021, 05:35 PM)thompson19osu Wrote: The defense gave up 13. We scored 17. The defense did do their job.
On to Pittsburgh.
RE: My takeaways from the Bears game - Bengalstripes9 - 09-19-2021
I think a better head coach leads this team to a blowout win in week 1, and a close victory in week 2. Imagine if we had Andy Reid as a head coach… They need to actually attack the opposing defense’s weaknesses with a balanced game plan.
Reposting my thoughts from the game day thread:
I thought they should have blitzed on that 3rd down where fields scrambled for the 1st. Defense wasn’t bad though. I do think if Dalton didn’t get hurt, they could have blown us out though.
Offensive game plan was terrible. The offensive line didn’t help matters. I totally expected this result. But as I said in my prediction, this was an opportunity to prove that this years Bengals are better (by winning a winnable game I expected them to lose).
The bears played well as I expected. Better coaching would have got us the win. I just never have had a moment with Zac where I thought, “wow, that was an amazing/innovative play call”. He’s nothing special and was lucky to win last week. His coaching last week should have resulted in a loss, but his players bailed him out. Now this week they just didn’t know how to attack a good defense. Zac is not off to a good start in terms of impressing me this year. A win against the Steelers is the only thing that could prove something to me. I’m expecting a loss, so it’s on Zac to prove us all wrong and prove he can outcoach Tomlin.
RE: My takeaways from the Bears game - Bengalstripes9 - 09-19-2021
On a side note: are there any good coaches available? I don’t think we’ll fire ZT anytime soon, but it’s a nice thought…
That said, I’ll give Zac a chance to prove he can outcoach Tomlin next week. If he can, I won’t hesitate to give him props.
RE: My takeaways from the Bears game - MileHighGrowler - 09-20-2021
(09-19-2021, 05:56 PM)Bengalstripes9 Wrote: On a side note: are there any good coaches available? I don’t think we’ll fire ZT anytime soon, but it’s a nice thought…
That said, I’ll give Zac a chance to prove he can outcoach Tomlin next week. If he can, I won’t hesitate to give him props.
There won't be good coaches available 3 weeks into the season. Which is why the interim coach concept is mostly a joke, except to show to the fans the management won't accept someone any longer. But after this season is over? There will undoubtedly be some guys worth a look, in the pro and college ranks.
RE: My takeaways from the Bears game - XenoMorph - 09-20-2021
(09-19-2021, 05:56 PM)Bengalstripes9 Wrote: On a side note: are there any good coaches available? I don’t think we’ll fire ZT anytime soon, but it’s a nice thought…
That said, I’ll give Zac a chance to prove he can outcoach Tomlin next week. If he can, I won’t hesitate to give him props.
If we dont win week 3 pull play calling from ZT
Whos our Assistant HC right now?
RE: My takeaways from the Bears game - Timanky12 - 09-20-2021
(09-20-2021, 10:01 AM)XenoMorph Wrote: If we dont win week 3 pull play calling from ZT
Whos our Assistant HC right now?