Alright time for my thoughts on yesterday, and not just some brief rant at the end of the first half.
Way better overall in the second half, but they still found a way to collapse at the end. Honestly, the first half was so tough to watch. They were awful in all phases of the game and basically lucked themselves into a close game. Everything seemed to be better in the second half though, which is kind of promising, I guess.
Ponder... I actually don't think he was that bad today. Yeah, he had horrible statistics and was even less accurate that usual, but he stepped up in key situations a number of times. He made some really nice throws on third downs, and he was really smart at picking up first downs and yardage with his legs. He put them in a position to win, so I can't really fault him on much.
I was impressed with Jennings. He made some really nice catches and seems to be a legitimate intermediate threat for Ponder to utilize. Whether Ponder utilizes him or not is still to be seen.
Patterson looked great. How about we use him on more than 2 plays a game, maybe? The screen he caught seemed to be one of our best plays of the game, not to mention that kick return. I don't want another Harvin situation where we don't utilize him enough until it's too late.
Offensive line shored up a bit in the second half, but looked really bad in the first.
Peterson looked pretty bad. It seemed like he got half of his yards on that last drive in the first half, and the only reason he was getting yards there was because the Bears were selling out to stop the pass. They ran a couple of nice draws and AP took advantage of the open space. Otherwise, he's just getting stuffed play after play. Part of that has to do with the O-line and the playcalling (they should run him to the outside more), but we're used to seeing him create something out of nothing and he just hasn't done that this year yet. And some of those big mistakes are creeping back into his game. He's already lost a couple fumbles this year, and that one play where he lost like 15 yards was inexcusable. I didn't get to see the first game but that's how it looked like it went as well.
Our D-line isn't getting enough pressure on the QB. I like the personnel there (Allen is great, Williams is still pretty good, Robinson is a nice player, and Guion is OK) but the parts don't add up. I guess it might be the schemes they're running or the linebackers not getting enough pressure.
You're right, Sparky. The linebacker core looks bad. Greenway has been our most efficient and consistent defensive player for years now, but definitely looked off yesterday. I'm willing to give him a pass for this week though. The rest of them don't look very good though, and I especially don't like the looks of Henderson in pass coverage.
We seem to be getting exposed by tight ends again. Smith looked good and Rhodes had that one great play late, but I didn't really notice him otherwise. It wasn't a great job done on Marshall but it could have been worse I guess.
Special teams was atrocious. I don't care if it's Hester, you should not be having records broken against you by a guy that has some incredible return records.
Coaching is pissing me off again. Tice, then Childress, now this guy... It almost seems to be getting worse. I already mentioned running AP up the middle too much, but how about those plays designed to have Ponder roll out to his off-side? How about the horrible decision to run it up the middle on 3rd and goal from the 5? And how do you not go for a TD at the end there? Worst case scenario is that the Bears somehow come back up the field from their own 5 yard line and kick a field goal to send it to OT. Being up by 6 how shoddy the defense looked was a disaster waiting to happen. The opportunity was there to take two safe shots into the endzone from the 5. Surely they could have connected on one of those.
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