Tried To Give Game Away; Cleveland Didn’t Bite
“There might be a very different feel about Trubisky [and the Bears] today if Carl Nassib had taken one step back before the first snap of the second half,” Dan Pompeii writes.
This was the play. Nassib lines up correctly, and the score would’ve been 10-6 Browns, presuming they kick the PAT. Turning point!
Trubisky throws a pick six but the browns were offsides and instead the bears gain 5 yards
— Windy City Sports (@ThreeGuySports) December 24, 2017
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“Fox will pay the price for GM Ryan Pace’s failures, and it remains to be seen whether Pace will keep his job. Assuming he does, it will be entertaining to watch Pace spin his three-year record, which improved to an impressive 14-33 Sunday as the Bears defeated the winless Browns before a half-empty Soldier Field,” Barry Rozner writes for the Daily Herald.
It’s difficult to remember a time when the Bears were less relevant or interesting, and the fans have stayed away in droves during the second half of this season.
Pace has won six games, three games and five games in his three seasons and ought to go the way of Fox.
Any explanation to the contrary will be met with screams – and not screams of joy.
But if he stays, McCaskey, Phillips and Pace will stand before you and pretend the Bears won 10 games and made the playoffs this season.
Go read the rest – it’s the day’s best take.
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The worst take? We return to Pompeii:
“I wonder what the Bears’ record would have been if they would have had a normal year for injuries.”
Did last year not happen? Is this not the new normal under this crew? Did they really have more – and more consequential – injuries than other teams? Ask the Packers about that!
My God.
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This list of teams hit hardest by injuries was through Week 12, the most recent I could find: The Bears don’t make it.
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“All of the stories you’ve heard about the Browns are true. Wow, Cleveland is bad,” Jeff Dickerson writes for ESPN.
“The Bears aren’t a whole lot better,” he adds.
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More Dickerson:
“Truth be told, the Browns had opportunities to make it a game. But each time, almost on cue, Cleveland would mess it up.”
In other words, the Browns are so bad the Bears couldn’t even give away the game, hard as they tried.
“[T]he Bears led only 6-3 at halftime, and the Browns had a near pick-six called back because of an offside penalty. The Browns also fumbled close to the goal line. It’s not like the Bears played exceptionally well. Cleveland’s defense had way too many free shots on Trubisky, and the Bears really struggled to identify pressure when the Browns hit them with stunts off the edge. Fox also lost another challenge. But what else is new?”
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No-shows announced as 17,539. Many in attendance dressed as seats with snow on them. #bears
— Barry Rozner (@BarryRozner) December 24, 2017
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Celebration in the stands. #bears pic.twitter.com/mzkqvHyyTs
— Barry Rozner (@BarryRozner) December 24, 2017
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#Vikings open as 12.5 point favorites at home vs the #Bears.
— bk (@skolszn) December 25, 2017
Posted on December 25, 2017