Week Thirteen: Chicago Bears (4-7) @ Detroit Lions (10-1)

[Sports_Freak]

10 minutes ago, MichiganCardinal said:

I probably am overreacting to the last two weeks. I didn't watch the 49ers game, but I expected closer than 38-10. This Dolphins team is trash. Mike McDaniel is probably on a hot seat (though he might be okay with that in the Lambeau weather).

They beat this Bears team by 1 and should have lost, we beat them by 3 and should have won by more than 10. They beat the Jaguars by 3 (though with Lawrence), we beat the Jags so badly they're still icing their bottoms.

The point remains that they'll be playing for their divisional life next week. They can't drop to 9-4 with a 12-1 leader and four games left and expect to host a playoff game.

 

The Lions are a better team than Green Bay, when healthy. We'll see how many key players will be out.

[Motown Bombers]

18 minutes ago, MichiganCardinal said:

I probably am overreacting to the last two weeks. I didn't watch the 49ers game, but I expected closer than 38-10. This Dolphins team is trash. Mike McDaniel is probably on a hot seat (though he might be okay with that in the Lambeau weather).

They beat this Bears team by 1 and should have lost, we beat them by 3 and should have won by more than 10. They beat the Jaguars by 3 (though with Lawrence), we beat the Jags so badly they're still icing their bottoms.

The point remains that they'll be playing for their divisional life next week. They can't drop to 9-4 with a 12-1 leader and four games left and expect to host a playoff game.

 

That 49ers team was not good. They were without Purdy, Trent Williams, Bosa, and others. Even when they had those guys, they weren't great. 

[lordstanley]

Imagine a drinking game in which everyone took a shot or downed a beer every time Jim Nantz said today “a Lions player is down on the field, appears to be shaken up”. A lot of people would have been blotto. 

[MichiganCardinal]

25 minutes ago, Motown Bombers said:

That 49ers team was not good. They were without Purdy, Trent Williams, Bosa, and others. Even when they had those guys, they weren't great. 

This Dolphins team is like the antithesis of everything Dan Campbell stands for. Soft like Charmin.

[TP_Fan]

Like always. We will just have to take care of it. Teams cannot beat the north.  Embarrassing effort from the dolphins. 

[sagnam]

2 hours ago, Motown Bombers said:

 

This is exactly it. He’s a complete moron. The coaches had a plan and this idiot said, F-that I have a really really stupid idea. The coaches plan was a super long FG, but given their position on 3rd down it was all they really had. Who would have guessed that the right tackle was going to take 2nd down off?

 

This is on Caleb 97%, right tackle 1%, Eberflus 1%, and the side judge 1% for that truly ridiculous pass interference call.

[sagnam]

1 hour ago, MichiganCardinal said:

This Dolphins team is like the antithesis of everything Dan Campbell stands for. Soft like Charmin.

This is probably because their coach cares more about fashion than football.

 

 

[Mr.TaterSalad]

If Vildor was this bad today and they saw more in him than giving the start to Mosley, then how bad must Mosley look in practice? What does this coaching staff see in Vildor that none of us can? I get they're the experts and we're not. But man, Vildor is awful. 

[Mr.TaterSalad]

I think what Eberflus allowed to happen their at the end might be one of the worst coaching blunders and worst clock management situations I've ever personally seen. It was Chris Webber calling timeout when you have none left levels of ineptitude.

For him not to jump in and rescue his rookie QB, as the clock was ticking away, is inexcusable. He should have jumped in their and used his timeout to save Williams in that moment. Yes, Williams gets some blame as he had a clear momentary mental lapse in that moment. If that wasn't momentary and that's reflexive of his overall football IQ then he's not going to be a successful NFL starting QB. But Eberflus is just as responsible for keeping an eye on the clock and failed he failed to do so. He failed his rookie QB in the process of it all. 

Edited November 29, 2024 by Mr.TaterSalad

[MichiganCardinal]

14 minutes ago, Mr.TaterSalad said:

If Vildor was this bad today and they saw more in him than giving the start to Mosley, then how bad must Mosley look in practice? What does this coaching staff see in Vildor that none of us can? I get they're the experts and we're not. But man, Vildor is awful. 

It sounded like Moseley got hurt in warmups. There was nowhere to go but up after Indy, but Vildor had a better day today.

[MichiganCardinal]

4 minutes ago, Mr.TaterSalad said:

I think what Eberflus allowed to happen their at the end might be one of the worst coaching blunders and worst clock management situations I've ever personally seen. It was Chris Webber calling timeout when you have none left levels of ineptitude.

For him not to jump in and rescue his rookie QB, as the clock was ticking away, is inexcusable. He should have jumped in their and used his timeout to save Williams in that moment. Yes, Williams gets some blame as he had a clear momentary mental lapse in that moment. If that wasn't momentary and that's reflexive of his overall football IQ then he's not going to be a successful NFL starting QB. But Eberflus is just as responsible for keeping an eye on the clock and failed he failed to do so. He failed his rookie QB in the process of it all. 

I watched the TV feed of the end of the game and it could not be more obvious that there is absolutely no trust between coach and QB.

Williams got mad when the Bears called their second timeout to save him from a delay of game penalty.... So then he just let him drown to end the game? Eberflus is lost, but Williams is acting like he knows better than his coaching staff, which won't serve him well if he ever gets a competent staff in place.

I understand the thought process Eberflus described after the game. Quick pass, timeout, field goal. But the sack happened with over 30 seconds left. The calculus changes every second, and at some point that plan needs to be abandoned. Instead, Eberflus was stuck like a deer in the headlights as 30 became 20 became 10 became a snap at 6 and the clock running out.

No one would have questioned him if he called his last timeout right away, drew up a play with 30 seconds left for a quick out to the sideline, then kicked it. With that much time, even if you're accidentally tackled in bounds, your field goal unit has plenty of time to fire drill it out there for the kick while the clock runs. You don't want to do it, especially with Chicago's kicking woes, but you can. Unless you royally botch it like they did.

[Mr.TaterSalad]

I was racking my brain to see if I could remember a case of clock management at the end of a game that was a bad as this was today. I came up with a few moments, but one bout with stupidity stood out in particular. Years ago, Wisconsin was playing Northwestern at home. Wisconsin had the ball with :30 something seconds left in the game. It was 2nd down and Northwestern had no timeouts left to stop the clock. Instead of taking a knee, Barry Alvarez and his OC chose to run the ball. On that very play Ron Dayne fumbled the ball and Northwestern recovered it. They drove down the field, scored, and won the game. Why Wisconsin would have chose to run the ball there was negligent and stupid. 

Edited November 29, 2024 by Mr.TaterSalad

[sagnam]

11 minutes ago, MichiganCardinal said:

I watched the TV feed of the end of the game and it could not be more obvious that there is absolutely no trust between coach and QB.

Williams got mad when the Bears called their second timeout to save him from a delay of game penalty.... So then he just let him drown to end the game? Eberflus is lost, but Williams is acting like he knows better than his coaching staff, which won't serve him well if he ever gets a competent staff in place.

I understand the thought process Eberflus described after the game. Quick pass, timeout, field goal. But the sack happened with over 30 seconds left. The calculus changes every second, and at some point that plan needs to be abandoned. Instead, Eberflus was stuck like a deer in the headlights as 30 became 20 became 10 became a snap at 6 and the clock running out.

No one would have questioned him if he called his last timeout right away, drew up a play with 30 seconds left for a quick out to the sideline, then kicked it. With that much time, even if you're accidentally tackled in bounds, your field goal unit has plenty of time to fire drill it out there for the kick while the clock runs. You don't want to do it, especially with Chicago's kicking woes, but you can. Unless you royally botch it like they did.

Everything looked fine though until about 10 seconds left, then everyone watching started to get a wtf vibe. There is no way Eferblus knew his QB was going to screw him over like that at 30 seconds, at 20 seconds, or even at 15 seconds. He figured it out at about the same time the rest of the world did. I just don’t see any way calling the last timeout makes any sense in the moment with 30 seconds left, or later like under 10 seconds when it dawned on him his QB was going rogue, With hindsight, sure. We all now know Caleb Williams was planning on screwing his head coach over completely. But at the time even when the idiot finally snapped the ball there was still time to pull off the plan.

 

Eferblus is a terrible coach and has a million reasons to be fired. Today isn’t really one of them.

[sagnam]

Campbell is such a great coach

 

“Campbell was asked about how tough it is to deal with so many injuries to one unit.”

…

“Does it really matter? Like who cares,” Campbell said. “I go back to, man, it doesn’t matter. If it is or it isn’t or we get a guy back or we don’t get a guy back. Worrying about it and moaning about it and (expletive) about it, it’s like calls, right? It’s like the call. It’s like Vildor (defensive pass interference). I could sit there and throw a fit about it. But what does it matter? It’s called. It’s done.

“I know this. Whoever we have available, we’re going to get them ready to play. And we expect them to hold the line. Period. You got to do your job. And everybody around you is looking for you to do your job.”

https://www.mlive.com/lions/2024/11/lions-dealing-with-handful-of-defensive-injuries-most-concern-for-lbs-ankle.html

[sagnam]

“Williams said that once he got the call and everyone was lined up, he made an adjustment as he watched the clock wind down. In his view, if a catch was completed inbounds, the team wouldn’t have had enough time to set up for a potential game-tying field goal.”

https://www.mlive.com/lions/2024/11/bears-coach-qb-defend-clock-management-in-loss-to-lions.html

He’s out of his mind. There was plenty of time.

[lordstanley]

5 hours ago, Mr.TaterSalad said:

I was racking my brain to see if I could remember a case of clock management at the end of a game that was a bad as this was today. I came up with a few moments, but one bout with stupidity stood out in particular. Years ago, Wisconsin was playing Northwestern at home. Wisconsin had the ball with :30 something seconds left in the game. It was 2nd down and Northwestern had no timeouts left to stop the clock. Instead of taking a knee, Barry Alvarez and his OC chose to run the ball. On that very play Ron Dayne fumbled the ball and Northwestern recovered it. They drove down the field, scored, and won the game. Why Wisconsin would have chose to run the ball there was negligent and stupid. 

Miami blew a game last year to Georgia Tech in similar. Miami coach Christobal ahead a history of running plays late instead of taking a knee and this time it bit him. 
 

I’m trying to remember specifics of another situation about 5 years ago, maybe Dallas (?), where a team in FG position with a chance to tie squeezed in one more shot at the end zone starting with about 8 seconds to go, instead of kicking on that down, but time ran out during the play. 

[Motor City Sonics]

6 hours ago, Mr.TaterSalad said:

If Vildor was this bad today and they saw more in him than giving the start to Mosley, then how bad must Mosley look in practice? What does this coaching staff see in Vildor that none of us can? I get they're the experts and we're not. But man, Vildor is awful. 

It might be because Mosley is just slightly off, that he just needs a little more time.    

When is Iffy coming back?   

The Lions are so physical that playing a game on only 3 days rest takes it's toll.     But that's how they play and it works

And don't get too deflated over 1 game either.   Nobody is undefeated.   Good teams lose all the time to lesser teams. 

This was a classic NFC Central/North slugfest.      

Still 11-1 and with a virtual 2-game lead over the Vikings and 3-game lead over the Packers as of right now.  

This could be the good scare that every good team needs.  

[Jason_R]

Moseley was injured in warmups. 😬

[KnoxP]

6 hours ago, sagnam said:

Everything looked fine though until about 10 seconds left, then everyone watching started to get a wtf vibe. There is no way Eferblus knew his QB was going to screw him over like that at 30 seconds, at 20 seconds, or even at 15 seconds. He figured it out at about the same time the rest of the world did. I just don’t see any way calling the last timeout makes any sense in the moment with 30 seconds left, or later like under 10 seconds when it dawned on him his QB was going rogue, With hindsight, sure. We all now know Caleb Williams was planning on screwing his head coach over completely. But at the time even when the idiot finally snapped the ball there was still time to pull off the plan.

 

Eferblus is a terrible coach and has a million reasons to be fired. Today isn’t really one of them.

Wasn’t Williams demanding a share in ownership of the team that drafted him? Did that ever happen? Was it just a rumor? Regardless, if he changed the play…he really is “that guy”. 🤡 move.

[romad1]

Best DB and maybe 2nd best OL out of the game and playing on short rest.   A lot of the injuries we saw were guys dealing with lack of rest.   Lets hope we get Decker and DavisiII back soon.

20 minutes ago, Jason_R said:

Moseley was injured in warmups. 😬

 

[KnoxP]

15 hours ago, Motown Bombers said:

They couldn’t clock it. That would be 4th down. I get what they were trying to do, but when they aren’t executing, have to call a timeout. 

Yea, I goofed that one! 😬

[RedRamage]

8 hours ago, MichiganCardinal said:

Williams got mad when the Bears called their second timeout to save him from a delay of game penalty.... So then he just let him drown to end the game? Eberflus is lost, but Williams is acting like he knows better than his coaching staff, which won't serve him well if he ever gets a competent staff in place.

 

I noticed that too, and the thing is that they probably get the play off honestly. It would have been close, but the the refs have been allowing pretty late snaps all game long so I think they would have let it ride.

How much different would that ending be if they had two TOs?

[Motown Bombers]

7 hours ago, sagnam said:

“Williams said that once he got the call and everyone was lined up, he made an adjustment as he watched the clock wind down. In his view, if a catch was completed inbounds, the team wouldn’t have had enough time to set up for a potential game-tying field goal.”

https://www.mlive.com/lions/2024/11/bears-coach-qb-defend-clock-management-in-loss-to-lions.html

He’s out of his mind. There was plenty of time.

This sounds like a guy who didn’t know he had a timeout left. 

[romad1]

Is it true that Williams was sent into the blue tent at one point?  Was that concussion protocol?  Is it possible the pass rush was getting to him and he was having cognitive issues?

[Motown Bombers]

4 minutes ago, romad1 said:

Is it true that Williams was sent into the blue tent at one point?  Was that concussion protocol?  Is it possible the pass rush was getting to him and he was having cognitive issues?

I think he went into the tent to check on his leg after the Campbell hit.