👋 Good morning!
What a thoroughly unenjoyable day of sports. Sometimes you just have one of those days.
Bears, Blackhawks, Fire — Chicago couldn’t buy a win on Sunday.
By the end of the night, watching the Packers win on national television felt like a targeted attack.
Quoth the Raven, “Nevermore.”
Well, that went about as poorly as possible. For the entire first quarter, it felt like the Bears were a big play from blowing things open in Baltimore. Instead, backup quarterback Tyler Huntley flipped the script and led the Ravens to a two-score win.
What the heck happened?
Same Old Shortcomings: On three trips to the red zone, the Bears mustered just one touchdown and 10 points total. After Week 8, the Bears rank 26th in the NFL in red zone touchdown rate (47.83%).
The Bears were also penalized 11 times for a total of 79 yards. It was the third time this season that the Bears finished a game with double-digit penalties.
Ben Johnson on what went wrong on Sunday: “It’s our first game in a while, really all season, that we didn’t have a takeaway. When that happens, you really have to play a clean game, and we didn’t. We were double digits in penalties, once again. We are not scoring in the red zone.”
Caleb Williams highlighted the same issues: “Penalties and being able to score in the red zone. … We could have been up 14 [points] in those first two drives that we had. That would have created a bunch of momentum for us. That's how it’s been a good amount of the year, especially in these past two games.”
We Just Disag-INT: Down three nearing the midway point of the fourth quarter, nothing was as back-breaking on Sunday as Williams’ fourth interception of the season. Throwing from his own end zone, Williams misfired a bullet intended for Rome Odunze into tight coverage.
After the game, Williams and his head coach seemingly had differing opinions on the play.
Williams’ take: “It was a good read. Rome [Odunze] was man-to-man with the guy who caught the pick. I just didn't give a good ball to Rome.”
Johnson said: “I didn’t quite see it. I will have to check it out on film just one more time. In my mind, there might have been another option that we could have gotten to.
Obviously, Johnson could change his tune after watching the tape. Just something worth noting and keeping an eye on this week.
Boom or Bust: I mentioned in Friday’s newsletter that the Bears’ defense felt very “boom or bust” recently, forcing only ten punts since Week 2. However, they’d made up for it in recent games, forcing 15 takeaways over a four-game win streak.
Against a ball-conscious game manager like Tyler Huntley, who wasn’t putting the ball in harm’s way, it exposed the Bears’ trouble getting off the field, especially without corners Kyler Gordon and Tyrique Stevenson.
The Ravens went 4-for-10 on third down and 1-for-1 on fourth. Their failed third-down conversions resulted in three field goals and just two punts.
Just not good enough. But none of it was exactly surprising either. The offense has struggled. For as much as the Bears were hoping to use Sunday as a “get-right” opportunity against a bad Ravens defense, the Ravens were likely looking at it the same way.
There are two sides to every coin. And, at 1-5 with their backs against the wall, the Ravens just wanted it more.
Lots to clean up and fix before a pivotal road match against Joe Flacco and the Cincinnati Bengals next Sunday that suddenly feels like a must-win.
Ravens 30, Bears 16
Kings 3, Blackhawks 1: After last night’s loss, Connor Bedard called the Los Angeles Kings’ style of play “boring.” He’s absolutely right.
The Blackhawks had a lot of positive momentum in the first period and cashed in on a Bedard tip-in to take a 1-0 lead. But that was pretty much it. The Kings put the clamps on the Blackhawks’ offensive attack from that point forward and really made it challenging to get anything moving.
Can’t win ‘em all.
Last night’s loss also marked the first time this season the Blackhawks lost by more than one goal. The Kings scored on an empty net with 1:08 left in the game.
Union 2 (4), Fire 2 (2): So close. So close to a miraculous comeback with a chance to steal one on the road against the top-seeded Philadelphia Union. Instead, the Fire will fight for their playoff lives next Saturday in Bridgeview.
After a quiet first half on Sunday night, the Union finally opened the scoring with a pair of goals in the 70th and 75th minutes. The Fire responded, as Jonathan Bamba cut it to 2-1 in the 84th minute. Team captain Jack Elliott tied things in the 93rd minute.
But it was all for naught. Fire goalkeeper Chris Brady had no answer for the Union in a penalty shootout, allowing four goals on five shots.
🐻 Hoge & Jahns
9:00 on YouTube
📺 CHGO Bears
1:00 on YouTube
📺 CHGO Cubs
2:00 on YouTube
📺 CHGO Blackhawks
2:30 on YouTube
📺 CHGO Fire
4:00 on YouTube
📺 CHGO Bulls
Pregame at 6:30 on YouTube
📺 CHGO Bears After Dark
7:00 on YouTube
🏀 Bulls vs. Hawks
7:00 on CHSN
📺 CHGO Bulls
Postgame on YouTube
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