With both teams displaying a dominating defense, which one has the better offense to claim the W?
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Battle of the two defenses: It doesn’t matter if you win the battle, you must win the war. During the U.S. Civil War, the North was not necessarily winning every battle. The South was more or less holding their own, but in the last year of the war is when the North started to gain ground, and as they say, the “rest is history”.
So are the Bears. Their offense put up only 10 point in three quarters, but the defense intercepted the Browns three times, and sacked the QB 4.5 times. The defense was handling their own. But in the final quarter, they give up 212 yards to a 38-year-old QB and 4th QB to play for the Browns this season. Not only did the defense face one original offensive lineman that started the season, they missed two more interceptions, and had a 6’3” 309 lbs. defensive lineman cover a 6’4” 246 lbs Tight End.
Usually, if you have three interceptions, one pick six , and the opposing team has only 162 yards going into the fourth quarter, you have a high chance to WIN THE GAME! For example, the Bears had a 91% chance to win going into the fourth quarter. The same story seems to repeat itself. The question you have to ask yourself is why does this happen?
The answer is not as simple as it may appear, and we might never truly know the answers. However, some can be assumed. When your offense goes three and out multiple times, the defense has no time to rest. You see in almost every game there are dropped interceptions, so they are part of the game. Every team tries trick plays or cute and fancy plays, mostly on offense, which the Bears did do as well. Coaches don’t always make the best play calls, not normally when the games are close. The Bears cannot play off the defenders when they are trying to protect their lead. When the defense needs to make plays, they are not able to do so.
Huh, seems like we know the answers. There also seem to be so many questions and not an easy solution. The one solution that can change multiple answers is to send Eberflus and his staff packing. Some might say “Since Eberflus has taken over the defensive coaching calls the Bears Defense has played better.” That is true, and correct. The fact of the matter is the defense has played better, but what many people fail to leave out is the last part of that sentence and it goes like this “… for 3 quarters.”
Regardless of the offense, the Bears will not get to the playoffs nor win in the playoffs, if your defense cannot play four quarters and the coach makes bone-headed calls, and is not aggressive in the final quarter. Something must change. The only question to that answer is who is the right coach that won’t make those same mistakes? That is something we don’t know… yet!
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