The Bears feel good season came to an abrupt end, losing to the Philadelphia Eagles by one point, it was a devastating loss for any Bears fan, it didn't hit immediately for me, it kind of crawled from my stomach all the way to my brain, numbness before returning to reality that this season was over.
Every part of the team got its chance to potentially give the Bears a win, both defenses played great and eliminated each others running game but ultimately hurt the Bears more, they just couldn't run the ball effectively, Jordan Howard got a chance to take one for a long gain but lost balance and fell forward just enough for the first down, a decent hole was made by the O-line and there was only one visible deep threat to stop him from a potential touchdown but instead got tackled by first contact, it was a very poor performance against a dificult defense. Tarik Cohen was shut down as part of the Eagles game plan, so the Bears turned to Mitchell Trubisky to move the ball against a solid pass rush, he couldn't do much and almost turned the ball over three times, but at the final stretch of the game when trailing he displayed poise and put his team in front, then when trailing again he moved the ball to field goal range with a great deep throw. The last throw that when incomplete was because he decided to be smart instead of being the hero, if that ball is caught outside the end zone by Anthony Miller there was a chance he gets tackled for a game ending play, that ball was thrown to the end zone where it had to be thrown, but he didnt lob it enough for Miller to have a chance to get there or keep the ball for one more second before throwing it, the pressure was on and he had to get rid of it, a sack would have ended it as well.
Before the Bears final drive, the defense had its shot to win the game but couldn't stop them from scoring the winning touchdown, 4th and goal from the 1 and Sherick McManis just couldn't stick to Golden Tate enough to stop him from scoring, it was a difficult play but it just makes you wonder if Bryce Callahan could have done better or even worse if Crevon LeBlanc could have done it if he was still on the team instead of having the best game of his career with the Eagles on this precise game.
Pat O'Donnell played great, until his last kick of course, which gave the Eagles offense great field position for that final score. Cohen gave the Bears life again, putting the offense on the 40 yard line on the ensuing kick off for their final drive where Trubisky threw his best ball of the game and gave the team a chance to win it with a 43 yard field goal. So here we were, watching Cody Parkey attempt his second 43 yard field goal try because the first was negated because of the Eagles final time out, that one went trough the middle no problem, even better than the previous 3 he already made on this game form a shorter distance. So Parkey only had to do the same once more, but he couldn't. Instead the ball hit the left post AND the cross bar, bounced back into the field for a missed field goal that statistically went as a blocked kick viewed with the help of the fines high technology in camera zooming where one could watch how Treyvon Hester's I don't know which finger seemed to get a piece of the ball just enough to deflect it and hit the FRIGGIN GOAL POST! REALLY!? I mean COME ON! It hit the goal post just enough to ricochet on to the crossbar! so you mean to tell me that a scratch moved the ball one inch enough to do that instead of maybe just grasp the goal post and get in? So yeah maybe the news that it was deflected protects Parkey from getting hate mail for the rest of his life (which is stupid, you don't try to spoil, ruin or threaten a mans life based of stuff like game performance) but how does that help me? a finger prevented the Bears to go to the next round? well that's just grate isn't it?
It was sad to watch them lose like this and I don't say it just because they lost in their first playoff game but because I compare it to when the 2010 Bears made it all the way to the conference finals, I didn't feel as pumped as I did with this team. Maybe its because I'm more invested in the team than before, maybe its because I'm more informed about them than before now with news spreading from everywhere at every minute. But the fact that this team showed more unity and hunger than the last team that made it this far, really made me feel they had a shot of going all the way. There is very good talent in this team and I could be bold and say that I think they have better talent than the 2006 Bears and I also believe that they have a brighter future because of Trubisky, right now I believe he is better than 2006 Rex Grossman, Trubisky could have had 2 or 3 picks on this game but he didn't, had a shot to come back and win this game and he almost did, but at least he gave them that shot.
The first hurdle for next year is moving forward without Vic Fangio and almost (as of now) his whole defensive staff. Chuck Pagano is brought in for the DC coordinator, a veteran coach that has almost every piece in place to work with, needs to bring his staff tho. A positive is that maybe this team wont miss the picks given for Mack as much, they have play makers in every area and good depth in most of them, Pace can focus on getting better depth with promising talent and strenghten the special teams unit which is the one area that needs more help aside from what to do with Parkey. Pace cant do the same mistake he did with Robbie Gould and kick his kicker to the curve without insurance, replaces him with someone that can be better. I say challenge Parkey to keep the job and bring new and old talent to compete against him in the preseason, then decide. The big names who hit free agency are Bryce Callahan, Adrian Amos, Aaron Lynch, Roy Robertson-Harris, Bobby Massie, Daniel Brown and Ben Brauneker. If I can only sign one it would be Callahan, they need to keep him based on how he played this year. Amos, Lynch and RRH are good players and I would love for them to stay but Amos is the one I see easier to replace with Deon Bush, there is depth with Jonathan Bullard and Bilail Nichols at DT so RRH could be expendable, while at OLB there isn't much depth which would maybe place Lynch second in the priority list. Massie is average, his value comes in his experience with the rest of the O-line players but I don't think he will come cheap so maybe T will be a priority in the draft. Brown and Brauneker are good depth players, I would go with Brown tho if one is picked up, would maybe even consider cutting Dion Sims to make space for both. Kevin White is someone I would want to see on the team but he would get buried in the depth chart, he needs to play to reach his ceiling and see how good he can be, free agency should be a better option for him.
So this is it, one week away from the Super Bowl which I believe the Patriots will win, the Rams to have a shot will have to get to Brady quickly with the help of Ndamukong Suh and Aaron Donald leading the charge but I don't trust in Jared Goff to do enough to win this one, that's why I preferred the Saints to be the NFC representative because I believe they have the better offense with a better QB that can go toe to toe on the scoreboard. But whatever, I don't care who wins this one, I will be waiting for next seasons events to start, its looking promising at least and this team gave me what I wanted, a competitive team that could beat anyone, Pace looks to have most of his pieces set, here's hoping they can take it a step further.
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