If The Chicago Bears FIX These 3 Things They Can Be REALLY GOOD!

If The Chicago Bears FIX These 3 Things They Can Be REALLY GOOD!

On today’s show, three things are holding the Chicago Bears back. Can they fix them? I think they can. And if they do, this thing could look a whole lot better. We talk about it here on today’s show. The Chicago Bears need to fix the little things and the details, which is something Ben Johnson has harped on since he has been here. We’re going to talk about three areas that the Bears continue to come up short in. And uh if they can clean those up, then you know, I think they can win some games here and continue to uh build this thing moving forward. My name is Harrison Graham. Let’s get to the first one. The obvious one that we can all see that someone with a low football IQ could understand is this team has way too many penalties. And listen, Scott Bear put out the stat on Twitter. I’ll give him credit that the Bears are the second most penalized team per game and their opponents are the second least penalized team. I do think they have been on the bad end of some ref luck, but I think we can also understand by watching these these games as they are second in the NFL in penalties per game. There’s way too many self-inflicted wounds. Yes, there’s a few BS penalties per game that the Bears get clipped for. I watched games around the league. There’s bad officiating everywhere. I do think the Bears have been on the wrong end of it. I’m I’m not trying to say they haven’t, but to to just sit here and say that they are not responsible for a lot of these penalties, pre- snap stuff, not lining up right, silly holds, you know, uh shot blocking on a kickoff or, you know, a low illegal low block. These are just tech technique things. These are things that like you’re just taught in practice to not do and they’re doing them. And if they clean those up, which again self-inflicted, then you know, you cut these penalties down even just by 20%. Like you’re going to be at a much better position. And especially offensively where these these penalties are just killing a lot of these drives, uh it’s hurting you in the red zone, which we’ll get to here in a minute. Uh Ben Johnson said on Monday regarding the penalty issues, he says, “We here as coaches, we’re going to help support these guys and be along with them, but it would go a long way if we had just a little bit more ownership in that locker room to take the bull by the horns so we get this cleaned up.” Number one, very refreshing. That accountability is a two-way street. Matt Everloose never understood that, so that’s good. But number two, the players got to own this, too. Everyone has a hand in these issues. coaches, assistant coaches, players. Are they putting too much on the play of players at times like there’s there’s blame to be had around? But I like that Ben’s challenging these guys. Hey, vets on this team, guys who have been there. Let’s let’s grab this thing. Let’s take ownership of it and let’s fix it. Like Joe Tuni is not a super vocal guy, but this is where he’s got to step up in that offensive line room and say, “Guys, we got to stop false starting.” like you know false starts pre- snap stuff a lot of it can be connected to the quarterback who know who you know who doesn’t have pre- snap penalties Joe Tony he got clipped for one against the Ravens he didn’t move it was a bad call zero penalties on the year outside of that every other offensive lineman has had pre- snap issues so I’m not saying it’s not on the quarterback in some of the cadence stuff but the other guys got to take ownership too Caleb certainly does Ben does everyone does guys on defense special teams penalties left and right too many penalties look per game. I mean, week one, okay, first game in a new offense, somewhat understandable. 12 for 127 yards, okay, big improvement. Week two, eight for 50, not nearly as bad. Certainly Dallas, big improvement. If you were in that Dallas Detroit range, it’s still too many, but compared to what you’ve been in the other four games, 8 for 60 against the uh the Raiders. Uh 9 for 84. I mean, the alarming thing to me is coming out of the by-week, 9 for 84, 10 for 92, 11 for 79. You’re averaging 10 penalties per game since the buy for about 85 yards. It’s way too many. The Bears literally lined up wrong on a punt. Illegal formation on a punt, which by the way was a perfect punt down to the one yardd line. What happens? They the Ravens take the penalty. They rekick out of bounds at the 22. It’s a 21 yardd penalty. It can’t happen. It gave them two first downs. two first downs because you didn’t line up properly on a punt. Like that that’s inexcusable. Like sometimes you’re gonna have a defensive pass interference. Sometimes you’re going to get a tough roughing the passer call. There’s certain things that you can live with. Lining up improperly on special teams is unacceptable. If you’re on special teams, you’re on the team because of special teams, not because you contribute heavily on offense or defense. That can’t happen. multiple false starts week after week. It’s got to end. Of course, you’re not going to be perfect, but you don’t want to league the league in these type of categories. And the Bears have been getting away with it for a few weeks now, and it bit him in the ass against Baltimore. It was too much to overcome when other things weren’t going your way. Subscribe to the channel. We got coverage all year long here on Chicago Bears Now, the latest news, rumors, injury updates, trade buzz, and a whole lot more. If you want to join the movement here, hit that subscribe button. All right, two more key areas that I want to dive into when it comes to the Chicago Bears and what needs to be fixed. But first, we got to show some love to our awesome sponsor, Prize Picks. Today’s show is brought to you by Prize Pix. The hard-hitting football action is even better with Prize Picks. The weather may be changing, but the feeling of being right never gets old. So, keep the season rolling on Prize Picks by getting $50 instantly in lineups when you play your first $5. It’s very userfriendly the prize picks app. Uh you can toggle by sports and then you start selecting individual players and their stat projections. The way to set lineups. You pick two or more players up to six players, choose more or less on their stat projections and if you hit, you win money. A really cool feature on prize picks. Uh and this is because they have your back is injury reboots. If one of your players leaves the game in the first half of a game and doesn’t return, prize picks will not hold that against you. They will not count that as a loss. So, for example, I got a three-player uh lineup for this upcoming week. Caleb Williams more than 230 and a half passing yards. I took less on Chase Brown’s rushing yards. He’s been better recently, but the Bears have been pretty solid against the run. Uh and then I took more on DeAndre Swift’s uh rushing yards. If one of these players were to get hurt in the first half of the game and not return, that three player lineup turns into a two-player lineup. So, pretty cool feature with Prize Pix. They’ve got your back. Download the Prize Pix app today. Use our code CLNS to get $50 in lineups after you play your first $5 lineup. That is code CLNS to get $50 in lineups after you play your first $5 lineup. Prize picks, it’s good to be right. All right, from penalties to red zone woes and some of that ties together. By the way, a lot of these uh drives getting stalled short is because you’re having those self-inflicted penalties once you get into the red zone. Uh since week three, so post week three, the Bears have been brutal in the red zone. And it’s kind of crazy to think about it, but I remember it at the time. In the first three weeks, the Bears were excellent in the red zone. Look at the red zone effectiveness by game. And this is touchdown rate. So, you know, if you kick a field goal in the red zone, um that’s that that doesn’t count in this stat. Like against the Raiders, one for four, uh they kicked uh I think two field goals and had a turnover in there. So that’s why it’s one for four. But uh Vikings week one two for two. Lions week two two for two. Dallas two for three. Really good. Six for seven. Uh on seven trips in the red zone the first three weeks six touchdowns. 67. You know what I’m saying? Let’s get back to that six for seven range. Uh Raiders week four one for four. Too many field goals. Uh week six against Washington for three too many field goals. Week seven against the Saints two for six had to kick four field goals. Week eight against Baltimore 1 43. I think some of this conversation around Caleb Williams right now that’s starting to get a little loud, fair or not. If you’re just better in the red zone like you were earlier in the year, I think the conversation shifts significantly. You’re scoring more touchdowns. His overall stats look better. You feel better about where things are going. And you know, that’s why I’m not fully panicking on him right now because we’ve seen them do well in the red zone. And what does that tell you? They’re getting into the red zone. They just have to finish 11 for 23. That’s just abysmal. And in the last four four games, five for 16. They’re down to 24th, 25th overall. 31.3% right there. If that was their seasonl long number, that’s easily worse in the NFL. So for the past month, they have been the worst red zone offense in the league in terms of converting into touchdowns. You have to score touchdowns in this league, especially on the road. Especially on the road. Perfect example in Baltimore. You dominate the first quarter. You go straight down the field. The opening drive. You get down to the three yard line. Weird stretch play to Kyle Manungi. Theo Benedict beat on third down. Take a sack. Got to kick a field goal. Okay. Drive down again. I think technically that second possession didn’t quite reach the end zone, but you stall out the 21. If you score even just one touchdown there and it’s 10 nothing instead of 6 nothing, the pressure really ramps up on Tyler Huntley. really ramps up, but down six nothing. You’re like, “Man, we’ve played like shit.” Talking about Baltimore here and we put together one drive, we take the lead. Now the now the momentum and the pressure shifts and that’s exactly what happened. You have to take advantage when you get into the red zone and punch it in. You’re not going to bat a thousand. 31% though, this isn’t baseball. 315, you’re not getting into the Hall of Fame in the NFL. Like, you got to be better in converting those uh into touchdowns. I’m not asking for six for seven, although that would be nice. Uh, but can we get back to middle of the pack? Can we get to, you know, how about 55%, 60%. Let’s be better than what they’ve been the last few weeks. If they’re just 50% during the stretch, I think the conversation around the quarterback’s a lot different. And that’s just a few plays here and there. It’s the little details that make a big difference in the NFL. And then lastly, special teams. There’s been good moments, and I thought last week against the Saints was one of the better special teams games of the year for Richard High Totower’s unit. But for a large portion of this season, not the whole unit necessarily, but kickoff returns and kickoff coverage in particular, they’ve been really bad. They don’t get splash returns off. And Duivere had that one on Sunday and you crap that opportunity away. So, I’ll give them that. But every other return was short of the 30, I believe, and you had multiple penalties on special teams. Josh Blackwell fumbled the ball once, was lucky to recover. um they’re just not winning in this area of the game and field position is huge in the NFL, especially off kickoffs. Every that’s why they moved the touchback from the 30 to the 35 because the data tells you even those just five yards make a a substantial difference. That’s why teams aren’t kicking it out of the end zone anymore. And yet the Bears seemingly are giving up kickoffs past the 30 consistently and a lot past the 35. But on the flip side, they’re not getting to the 30 often. So, they’re losing that battle. I’d have to check the exact yardage week by week. I’d have to calculate every kickoff, but I would say safely they’re losing that bet at least by at least five yards per game on average. Per k per kickoff on average. That’s a big that’s half a first down. I mean, that adds up over the course of a game and the course of a season. And Devin Duet, God bless him. He catches the ball. That’s an upgrade over Jones. He did have the nice 48 yard return on Sunday, but he’s averaging less than 26 yards per return, and that’s with the 49 yard in there. And on punt, listen, he catches it, he’ll he’ll give you anywhere from seven to 10 yards. It’s just there’s no splash. There’s no splash plays whatsoever. And look, teams are kicking away from Luther Burton. I would too, but um long term, I I think you got to find something better back there. But what you really can control and be better at is the coverage part of it. stop giving up 35 yard returns consistently. You just have to get be better with your lane integrity and obviously tackling. Several missed tackles in the last game against Baltimore. Uh and they’ve had a lot of penalties on special teams blocks in the back. They had a illegal low block on a rare good return. I think Duivere got to the 334. That drive starts at the 17 because of a personal foul. I mean in today’s NFL if you’re starting inside your own 20 on a kickoff, one of two things happen. one, it was an atrociously blocked return or the returner did something reckless, or two, you had a penalty. And yet, I feel like the Bears somewhat frequently are inside their own 20 and certainly inside their own 30 when they’re starting these drives. And that adds up after a while, especially when your opponent is starting on the plus uh or at least the 30 or better pretty consistently. And then on top of that, while you haven’t missed a lot of kicks this year, the two you have missed this year or the two Cairo has missed has been uh from 50 plus. One he doked in week one. It was from 50. He’s in range there. He can make that kick. Okay, whatever. The one at the end of the half though, I get it. 58 on a fire drill kick is not a gimme even for a big-legged kicker. But to kick it short and I actually thought he struck it fairly well for him, I don’t know, man. Like I I’ve defended this guy. I’ve even said, listen, he’s better than a lot of alternatives because with when and I still believe this when he’s in range, he’s pretty damn accurate. He is. The numbers show that. But there are kicks that he can’t make or can’t even attempt that you see being made consistently. You guys watch Chris Boswell Sunday Night Football? I think he had like three 56 yarders. Like it just boom boom boom. Like you’re like sweating out a 56 yard. That’s like right on the edge of his range. We saw him come up short on a 58 yard. This kicker debate, it didn’t really get brought up on Monday, but big picture like I don’t know. Do you just give Jake Moody the keys and see what happens? I get it’s a risk, but it’s less of a risk knowing that Cairo is a 33y old weak-legged kicker. It’d be one thing if he was 27, be like, “Well, he doesn’t have the strongest leg, but he’s reliable.” How long is he going to kick in this league? His leg’s not going to get stronger as he gets older. Jake Moody has flaws. He struggled in San Francisco, but he’s been good here. You would just hate to lose that guy, and he’d be really good somewhere else as a young potentially assisting ascending talented kicker, and then at the end of the season, you’re like, “Oh crap, we need a kicker.” like that would really suck. So, keep an eye on this. Uh I’m more concerned in the short term on the return stuff. You you got to start winning that battle more frequently. Uh but big picture, this kicker situation’s uh starting to get pretty interesting. All right. What is the biggest thing on this team that must be cleaned up? Notice I’m not really pointing to specific individuals. Obviously, a lot of players are intertwined with all this. the kickers, Devin Duivere, Caleb Williams with the red zone uh stuff and the penalties, other players. So, just biggest thing, and if you want to just say a player in his play, that’s fine. But what do you think is the biggest thing that must get cleaned up? I think if you cut down on the penalties and improve in the red zone, it would make a big difference. A big difference. And those are things that you can get better at. And yes, the defense has paid to make money or they’re making money, too. But five for 16 in the red zone, that’s that’s atrocious. Even eight for 16 is below average. But that’s three more touchdowns. That’s 12 more points. Four points extra per drive instead of kicking field goals. That that adds up. That absolutely adds up. All right, that’s going to do it for Chicago Bears. Now, three areas that the Bears need to clean up if they want to go from being this average, above averageish team to a good team, which I think is achievable. Hopefully they can do it. Bear down.

The Chicago Bears need to fix multiple areas if they are looking to compete for the rest of the 2025 NFL season. Visit https://prizepicks.onelink.me/LME0/CLNS and use code CLNS and get $50 in lineups when you play your first $5 lineup! How bad has Chicago’s red zone offense been this season? What’s the source of the Bears penalty woes? Is there a fix for Richard Hightower’s special teams unit? Chat Sports host Harrison Graham gives his take on this episode of Bears Now.

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Bears Red Zone stats by game (TD-Rate):
– Week 1 vs. MIN: 2/2
– Week 2 at DET: 2/2
– Week 3 vs. DAL: 2/3
– Week 4 at LV: 1/4
– Week 5: Bye
– Week 6 at WAS: 1/3
– Week 7 vs. NO: 2/6
– Week 8 at BAL: 1/3

Most NFL penalized teams:
#1: Jaguars (9.3 per game)
#2: Bears (9.1 per game)
#3: Broncos (8.5 per game)
#4: Cowboys (8.4 per game)
#5: Patriots (8.1 per game)

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Bears head coach Ben Johnson on the penalty issues:
“We’re here as coaches, we’re gonna help support these guys & be along with them…but it would go a long way if we just had a little bit more ownership in that locker room to take the bull by the horns so we do get this cleaned up.”

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Chicago Bears Offensive Starters:
– QB: Caleb Williams
– RB: D’Andre Swift
– WR: DJ Moore
– WR: Rome Odunze
– WR: Olamide Zaccheaus
– TE: Cole Kmet
– TE: Colston Loveland
– LT: Theo Benedet
– LG: Joe Thuney
– C: Drew Dalman
– RG: Jonah Jackson
– RT: Darnell Wright

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– What’s the biggest thing that must be cleaned up?

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