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  4. title => "The Bears need more than just a win vs. Browns this week"
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  6. article_body => "<p>NBCS colleague JJ Stankevitz and I do a quick \u201ckey to the game\u201d before each Bears outing but this week did more than just look at two tipping points we see in the Bears-Browns game. More important at this point of the season has become more than simply winning the game, the point of it all until they stop using scoreboards, is the \u201chow\u201d that happens, looking at more than just the Browns.<\/p>\n<p>First, some context:<\/p>\n<p>The Bears are 0-6 in games when they fail to attempt at least 20 rushes. Those losses include the true embarrassments vs. Green Bay, vs. San Francisco and at Detroit. They also include vs. Atlanta.<\/p>\n<p>Why I cite these four out of the nine total is that the Bears rarely have been so far behind so late in a game that they were forced to pass. And those four in particular are all games decided by a touchdown or less (I\u2019m including Detroit II because that was an opponent against whom the Bears had rushed for 222 yards month earlier, and because it deserves to be in this cluster of aberrant performances for reasons to follow).<\/p>\n<p>O-coordinator Dowell Loggains has been savaged for stating a simple football fact, that defenses can dictate what an offense does, like it or not. The reality is that if you are willing to sacrifice enough in other areas, you can take something away from an opponent.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cAs a defense, they really do get to control how they decide to play us,\" Loggains said.&nbsp;\"And [at Detroit], if we were going to throw for 500 yards, they were going to let us throw for 500 yards and say, \u2018Hey, can you guys beat us? Can you guys win outside one-one? We\u2019ve got Slay and these other guys. We\u2019ll take out chances.\u2019 They\u2019re going to play an eight-man box, put the safety in the box and they\u2019re going to take it away. You can beat your head in the wall or you can be pragmatic and throw the football.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>The Browns are among the NFL\u2019s best at limiting the run \u2013 3.3 yards per carry \u2013 and they stack the box. \u201cWe\u2019ve seen more of that of late,\u201d Fox said. \u201cWe\u2019ve got to execute better in the passing game to counteract that.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Which is absolutely true. But what the Bears have too often failed to do is to impose their will on a game or opponent, with both personnel and scheme, and that right now is the key to watch in this game. If the Browns are willing to sell out to stop the run, and the run is axiomatic in the Bears identity, then what do the Bears do to impose their will on a woeful opponent? Are Loggains and Trubisky capable of using the pass, formations and personnel to loosen a defense packed to take away exactly what the Bears need to be?<\/p>\n<p>*&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; *&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; *<\/p>\n<p>It is a throwaway game in the greater NFL universe but the best hope is that this Bears-Browns tilt avoids becoming another theater of the absurd as some prior ones have been, particularly involving the quarterback position.<\/p>\n<p>The last time quarterback Mitch Trubisky saw the Browns, they were landing on him in the form of a sack on the final play of a 25-0 blowout to wrap up the preseason \u2013 a game that began with Trubisky handing off nine straight times on three straight three-and-outs, then finished with coaches calling two pass plays in the final 11 seconds for Trubisky, who was forced back into the game when Connor Shaw was injured scrambling on a \u2013 yep \u2013 pass play. And the defensive lineman who sacked Trubisky \u2013 defensive tackle Larry Ogunjobi \u2013&nbsp;who was not a throwaway Browns scrub, making the final 53.<\/p>\n<p>John Fox and staff may have done a spectrum of positives in the course of developing Trubisky, which will stand as a positive in their post-season evaluations. If the decision is made that not enough positives unfolded for Fox to keep his job, the bizarre handling and unnecessary exposure to risk of the franchise quarterback vs. Cleveland may head the column of negatives in a pivotal year for Fox.<\/p>\n<p>Trubisky is not the first Bears quarterback involved in a head-scratching Cleveland situation.<\/p>\n<p>Then-GM Phil Emery cited the comeback engineered by Jay Cutler in the 2013 Bears-Browns game as the tipping point for giving Cutler a seven-year contract that impaled the organization (and Fox ultimately) on a deal with $54 million guaranteed.<\/p>\n<p>This was a comeback against a Browns team that would finish 4-12 and came the week before Cutler gagged away a chance to clinch the playoffs against the Philadelphia Eagles. The latter was not enough for Emery, who mentioned, \u201cI was really fascinated by his press conference [after] the Cleveland game.\u201d Not sure how many GM\u2019s use press conferences as any benchmarking standard for quarterback evaluations, but hey\u2026.<\/p>\n<p>*&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; *&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; *<\/p>\n<p>Looking beyond 2017 at positions that the Bears might address in the offseason, this probably won\u2019t happen, and maybe shouldn\u2019t happen (some thought is that his snakebitten injury run followed his last switch involving this position), but\u2026<\/p>\n<p>\u2026should Kyle Long stay at right or left guard? Or would he and the Bears be better served with him at tackle? Either tackle.<\/p>\n<p>People close to Long say no, and Long himself has said flatly, \u201cI\u2019m a guard.\u201d But by way of context: Back in 2012 when Kyle Long was headed for Oregon, father Howie Long told the Oregonian that he\u2019d always seen Kyle as a true offensive tackle, telling the Oregonian, \u201cI\u2019ve always found it to be more of a natural for him.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>As Kyle recovers<a href=\"http:\/\/www.nbcsports.com\/chicago\/bears\/kyle-long-channels-terminator-he-runs-down-crazy-injury-history\" target=\"_blank\"> from neck surgery this week<\/a>, the latest procedure to address a succession of significant injuries since he returned to guard from his one-year (2015) stint at right tackle, the Bears (and Long) might be served considering getting Long out of the interior and to an edge spot with an offseason (when he\u2019s not in rehab) to settle into the job. The injury litany has exploded since his return to guard. Perhaps there\u2019s a message lying there amid the braces and tape.<\/p>\n<p>After just seven days of orientation at tackle and then playing the entire 2015 season there, Long, by consensus already one of the NFL\u2019s best guards, went to the Pro Bowl as a replacement for Philadelphia tackle Jason Peters. This was after a Bears linemate and Long booster confided that Long wasn\u2019t yet temperamentally suited for tackle \u2013 reason being, pass blocking in particular was a different enterprise in space, requiring the ability to regroup mid-play and stay under control when you start to get beaten by a speed rusher. Long\u2019s instinct, his teammate said, was to just react and try to hammer the guy.<\/p>\n<p>Again, probably not something that\u2019ll happen, under this staff or any presumed next one. But Long\u2019s physiology has taken a beating both on the field and in the medical arena, and he has missed 15 games since going back to guard. So maybe\u2026<\/p>\n"
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Bears

Bears

NBCS colleague JJ Stankevitz and I do a quick “key to the game” before each Bears outing but this week did more than just look at two tipping points we see in the Bears-Browns game. More important at this point of the season has become more than simply winning the game, the point of it all until they stop using scoreboards, is the “how” that happens, looking at more than just the Browns.

First, some context:

The Bears are 0-6 in games when they fail to attempt at least 20 rushes. Those losses include the true embarrassments vs. Green Bay, vs. San Francisco and at Detroit. They also include vs. Atlanta.

Why I cite these four out of the nine total is that the Bears rarely have been so far behind so late in a game that they were forced to pass. And those four in particular are all games decided by a touchdown or less (I’m including Detroit II because that was an opponent against whom the Bears had rushed for 222 yards month earlier, and because it deserves to be in this cluster of aberrant performances for reasons to follow).

O-coordinator Dowell Loggains has been savaged for stating a simple football fact, that defenses can dictate what an offense does, like it or not. The reality is that if you are willing to sacrifice enough in other areas, you can take something away from an opponent.

“As a defense, they really do get to control how they decide to play us," Loggains said. "And [at Detroit], if we were going to throw for 500 yards, they were going to let us throw for 500 yards and say, ‘Hey, can you guys beat us? Can you guys win outside one-one? We’ve got Slay and these other guys. We’ll take out chances.’ They’re going to play an eight-man box, put the safety in the box and they’re going to take it away. You can beat your head in the wall or you can be pragmatic and throw the football.”

 

The Browns are among the NFL’s best at limiting the run – 3.3 yards per carry – and they stack the box. “We’ve seen more of that of late,” Fox said. “We’ve got to execute better in the passing game to counteract that.”

Which is absolutely true. But what the Bears have too often failed to do is to impose their will on a game or opponent, with both personnel and scheme, and that right now is the key to watch in this game. If the Browns are willing to sell out to stop the run, and the run is axiomatic in the Bears identity, then what do the Bears do to impose their will on a woeful opponent? Are Loggains and Trubisky capable of using the pass, formations and personnel to loosen a defense packed to take away exactly what the Bears need to be?

*                          *                          *

It is a throwaway game in the greater NFL universe but the best hope is that this Bears-Browns tilt avoids becoming another theater of the absurd as some prior ones have been, particularly involving the quarterback position.

The last time quarterback Mitch Trubisky saw the Browns, they were landing on him in the form of a sack on the final play of a 25-0 blowout to wrap up the preseason – a game that began with Trubisky handing off nine straight times on three straight three-and-outs, then finished with coaches calling two pass plays in the final 11 seconds for Trubisky, who was forced back into the game when Connor Shaw was injured scrambling on a – yep – pass play. And the defensive lineman who sacked Trubisky – defensive tackle Larry Ogunjobi – who was not a throwaway Browns scrub, making the final 53.

John Fox and staff may have done a spectrum of positives in the course of developing Trubisky, which will stand as a positive in their post-season evaluations. If the decision is made that not enough positives unfolded for Fox to keep his job, the bizarre handling and unnecessary exposure to risk of the franchise quarterback vs. Cleveland may head the column of negatives in a pivotal year for Fox.

Trubisky is not the first Bears quarterback involved in a head-scratching Cleveland situation.

 

Then-GM Phil Emery cited the comeback engineered by Jay Cutler in the 2013 Bears-Browns game as the tipping point for giving Cutler a seven-year contract that impaled the organization (and Fox ultimately) on a deal with $54 million guaranteed.

This was a comeback against a Browns team that would finish 4-12 and came the week before Cutler gagged away a chance to clinch the playoffs against the Philadelphia Eagles. The latter was not enough for Emery, who mentioned, “I was really fascinated by his press conference [after] the Cleveland game.” Not sure how many GM’s use press conferences as any benchmarking standard for quarterback evaluations, but hey….

*                          *                          *

Looking beyond 2017 at positions that the Bears might address in the offseason, this probably won’t happen, and maybe shouldn’t happen (some thought is that his snakebitten injury run followed his last switch involving this position), but…

…should Kyle Long stay at right or left guard? Or would he and the Bears be better served with him at tackle? Either tackle.

People close to Long say no, and Long himself has said flatly, “I’m a guard.” But by way of context: Back in 2012 when Kyle Long was headed for Oregon, father Howie Long told the Oregonian that he’d always seen Kyle as a true offensive tackle, telling the Oregonian, “I’ve always found it to be more of a natural for him.”

As Kyle recovers from neck surgery this week, the latest procedure to address a succession of significant injuries since he returned to guard from his one-year (2015) stint at right tackle, the Bears (and Long) might be served considering getting Long out of the interior and to an edge spot with an offseason (when he’s not in rehab) to settle into the job. The injury litany has exploded since his return to guard. Perhaps there’s a message lying there amid the braces and tape.

After just seven days of orientation at tackle and then playing the entire 2015 season there, Long, by consensus already one of the NFL’s best guards, went to the Pro Bowl as a replacement for Philadelphia tackle Jason Peters. This was after a Bears linemate and Long booster confided that Long wasn’t yet temperamentally suited for tackle – reason being, pass blocking in particular was a different enterprise in space, requiring the ability to regroup mid-play and stay under control when you start to get beaten by a speed rusher. Long’s instinct, his teammate said, was to just react and try to hammer the guy.

Again, probably not something that’ll happen, under this staff or any presumed next one. But Long’s physiology has taken a beating both on the field and in the medical arena, and he has missed 15 games since going back to guard. So maybe…