Illiniaaron
- Geneseo, IL
One thing you couldn’t do was take a sack. Up to Taylor to pin them deep.
Chicago Bears 2026-2027
Illiniaaron
- Geneseo, IL
I guess he does. Good for him.
Quite the call by Ben Johnson to go for the field goal there.
Guess your thinking a 1 in 5 chance of icing game plus you need your kicker to get his confidence back for a playoff run. ....still so risky.
Illiniaaron
- Geneseo, IL
That was a hard-fought win.
Illiniaaron
- Geneseo, IL
Nice to be going to Seattle in two Mondays 5-2 instead of 4-3.
When Jaylon Johnson sees people running at him with the ball and he looks the other way.
But nice win.
But nice win.
The return of the Cardiac Bears
What a win
What a win
40 more rushing yards is pretty significant. Though your point still stands.
ChiefGritty
- Chicago, IL
I was at the game last night and was arguing with people in the stands. You CANNOT punt there, "pin them deep" is a stone-age philosophy. There was 1:39 left, that's barely going to change the play-calling of a modern NFL offense needing a touchdown.
None of the 60,000 present had any confidence in Santos, but that was the only choice.
Agree that he had to try the FG. However, after his kicker just missed from 55, giving up that field position was an awful mistake.
Run it, get what you can, and kick a 47 yarder was the right play, imho.
Percentage wise based on previous outcomes if you take punt out as an optuon you have
Williams maybe a 20% chance of converting on 4th down and long vs Santos to his point in entire decade plus career a 0% chance of converting.
It worked out but unless he kicks the game winning fg in the superbowl at the same distance I won't be convinced it was the right play.
The play call before wasn't much better
lstewart53x3
- Scottsdale, Arizona
Yeah, the field goal I get. With the way the Bears D was playing, what’s the difference between 50 yards and 80. High probability of a loss either way.
The truly bizarre call was the one before. You’re on the 30 yard line. A run up the gut forces NE to use their last timeout and you kick a 47 yarder. Santos is 80% in his career at that range. When you’re in field goal range and a field goal makes it a two possession game under 2 minutes, you run the ball.
ChiefGritty
- Chicago, IL
100%
And the irony of course is that playing to win the game on one play there was a vote of no-confidence in the kicker you would have to rely upon if it failed.
Very weird choice.
Well, it sure wasn't 0%!
It was a career long. But it was a (rare, and lovely to attend) dead still night at Soldier Field. It's a coin-flip, roughly, maybe slightly worse than that. But way above 20% as someone suggested earlier.
Curbelo Fanboy
BERTBALL IS LIFE
That was a bit of an odd game. Very sloppy at times from both sides. Chalk that up to the normal Thursday nfl product. As a general rule the Thursday games suck cause neither team is physically or mentally ready to play a game. But it lines the coffers so away we go.
At times I watch this team & think they could make &/or win a Super Bowl this year. Then 2 minutes later they commit 3 dumb penalties in a row or the defense goes to sleep & I think they will be lucky to go 9-8.
Lots of that I'm sure is due to youth. Most of the key skill guys on offense are still young. Lots & lots of potential there but they need to grow in the details. Cut down on penalties, better game awareness, etc. Thats a Super Bowl caliber offense in the next couple years.
Defense is going to have to invest in the d line to push them over the top. Allen is doing a great job with blitz packages, disguises, etc but that is just a bandaid needed due to the lack of a legit pass rush up front. Good offenses will expose it. Once the blitz is neutralized they get picked apart as New England did at times last night. We got something to work with but it's gonna be up to the front office to push the thing over the top.
At times I watch this team & think they could make &/or win a Super Bowl this year. Then 2 minutes later they commit 3 dumb penalties in a row or the defense goes to sleep & I think they will be lucky to go 9-8.
Lots of that I'm sure is due to youth. Most of the key skill guys on offense are still young. Lots & lots of potential there but they need to grow in the details. Cut down on penalties, better game awareness, etc. Thats a Super Bowl caliber offense in the next couple years.
Defense is going to have to invest in the d line to push them over the top. Allen is doing a great job with blitz packages, disguises, etc but that is just a bandaid needed due to the lack of a legit pass rush up front. Good offenses will expose it. Once the blitz is neutralized they get picked apart as New England did at times last night. We got something to work with but it's gonna be up to the front office to push the thing over the top.
Unfortunate, but not a surprise considering how he reacted when it happened.
With the way NFL contracts work, we may have just seen Cole’s last game with the Bears. Can’t imagine they’ll have enough info on his knee by the time they need to decide on paying him the rostering bonus.
Illiniaaron
- Geneseo, IL
Sure you can punt. Santos is only 65.5% over 50 yards in his career. That was three yards longer than his career best. Your punter is very good at directional kicking. Fortunately Santos made it, he's getting more distance than in past years but he's still not very accurate from deep. In the end it was a great call because it worked, but punting was still an option there.
ChiefGritty
- Chicago, IL
The sack made a very favorable situation suddenly much worse (not least of which because running again on 3rd down opens up going for 4th down to win the game as an appealing possibility).
But within that crummy position, a 40% chance at 3 more points and basically ending the game is just so, so much more valuable than 30 yards of field position.
Maybe that's disrespectful to Taylor's banana punt skills, but I don't think it is (he had an absolute missile last night that reminded me of watching Steve Weatherford in person back in the day. A perfect spiral that would make John Elway jealous)
Illiniaaron
- Geneseo, IL
Based on his career stats, it was less than a 40% shot, he was 2-9 in attempts 55 yards or more in his career going into last night. But obviously Johnson sees him every day or most days and made the right call. I don't think many would have been upset with a punt there. But I agree the Bears D was getting gashed also.
5-10 years ago , punting was the call as field position was oh so important.
but with today’s wide open style of play , it’s not
BJ was clear that it was right at the magic line determinined from pregame warmups . Santos was consulted & was adamant in wanting the chance to kick . BJ aquiesed . Ballsy , no doubt , but not a decision made in a vacuum