JJ: Ginn has about three yards of separation from Dennard and about two from Hawkins. Boom, 29 yards just like that on fourth and six. Foles’ throw from the far hashmark to beyond the near numbers traveled easily over 30 yards in the air, and he put it right on the money.
“That’s clinic tape for a Cover 2 play,” Nagy said. “We had our chip blocks down below, our protection was good, our timing was good, the route was perfect, the throw was perfect.”
Hoge: From this point on, everything Foles does well is going to sound like an indictment on Trubisky, but this is another great example of Foles executing against the same coverage Trubisky failed to identify earlier in the game. Nagy called this “the best play in the game” and he’s right, the Bears’ comeback doesn’t start without Foles making this 29-yard completion happen on 4th-and-6 with 8:23 left in the game.
JJ: I asked DeFilippo how difficult that throw was, on a scale of 1-10, and he said it was a 7 because he needed to freeze Dennard with his eyes - and, as you explained above, Trubisky didn’t use his eyes well on the interception he threw. So there’s another aspect of it that feels like an indictment of Trubisky.
And you’re absolutely right, Adam, the Bears don’t win without this throw. Atlanta would’ve taken over possession at the Bears’ 42-yard line with a little more than eight minutes left. If that drive results in a field goal, the Bears are chasing 19 with probably less than six or seven minutes left in the game. That’s not happening.
Also: Can we get some love for Ginn on this route? This wasn’t *all* about Foles’ throw.
Hoge: Ginn has been an afterthought and was even inactive last week. It’s obvious the Bears feel like Darnell Mooney is a better option this point. But Ginn is still a savvy veteran and it’s almost like the Falcons’ poor secondary forgot about him. I know I did. I had to do a double-take when I saw No. 19 caught the ball.
JJ: I asked Allen Robinson about the play (he wasn’t on the field for it) and he broke it down like this, which is where we’ll end:
“It being fourth-and-six you don’t know what kind of coverage you’re going to get,” Robinson said. “Even for like Atlanta, fourth-and-six was little bit of a mix of man and zone for them. So, with both the quarterback and receiver being able to read that it was cover 2, as far as Ted’s angle of departure from the kind of vertical part of his route was perfect.
“Again, he gave the quarterback a great angle to throw the ball and the ball was threw there and placed perfectly for us to get a nice chunk play on fourth-and-six."