Bears/Vikings Coaches Tape

[S197]

Sorry, want to post this now before I forget. There's a few plays I'd like to see (or get some opinions) when the coaches tape comes out next week. Anyone else feel free to add.

1) In the first half, Ponder ran a play action. Billick said he missed a wide open Wright. I believe the play was after Toby's only carry and catch. You couldn't see Wright from the game tape.

2) Later in the same drive I believe, the Vikings were in the endzone and Ponder threw an incompletion to Carlson. Billick again said he missed Jennings in the back of the endzone. Looked to me like their might have been a safety back there but it was difficult to tell from the TV angle.

3) Rudolph's TD catch if available. Announcers made it sound like it was a better catch than throw but none of us could see it.

4) On the last drive, Bennett's catch on the long 1st down. The Vikings only brought 4 and Bennett caught the football with probably 15 yards of space around him. Curious how the heck he got THAT wide open.

Thanks guys.

[Laserman]

Why do we always get these #### Play not to lose Head Coaches? Anybody else notice this always goes along with the dink and Dunk philosophy ?

[VikingLord]

Sorry, want to post this now before I forget. There's a few plays I'd like to see (or get some opinions) when the coaches tape comes out next week. Anyone else feel free to add.

1) In the first half, Ponder ran a play action. Billick said he missed a wide open Wright. I believe the play was after Toby's only carry and catch. You couldn't see Wright from the game tape.

2) Later in the same drive I believe, the Vikings were in the endzone and Ponder threw an incompletion to Carlson. Billick again said he missed Jennings in the back of the endzone. Looked to me like their might have been a safety back there but it was difficult to tell from the TV angle.

3) Rudolph's TD catch if available. Announcers made it sound like it was a better catch than throw but none of us could see it.

4) On the last drive, Bennett's catch on the long 1st down. The Vikings only brought 4 and Bennett caught the football with probably 15 yards of space around him. Curious how the heck he got THAT wide open.

Thanks guys.

1) Ponder was locking onto targets in the 1st half. On the play you mentioned, he never attempted a different read than his primary. Nobody could see Wright on the play, but I'd have to take Billick's word for that. Maybe Jim will be able to add to this when he has a chance since he was at the game.

2) Billick has reviewed a lot of tape. If he says Jennings was open, I'd have to take his word for it. Maybe not open by layman standards, but open by NFL starting QB standards. It looked like there was a brief window there.

3) I saw the replay. It probably should have been picked, but it was a heck of a play by Rudolph to reel it in.

4) Bennett owned the Viking defense all day, covered or not. Have no idea how he got that wide open, but Cutler to his credit found him and Bennett to his credit made it count.

[VikingLord]

Why do we always get these #### Play not to lose Head Coaches? Anybody else notice this always goes along with the dink and Dunk philosophy ?

Frazier went for it twice on 4th down, including once on his side of the 50, so the conservative play near the endzone late is puzzling. If you're going to be aggressive, stay aggressive.

[mondry]

1) Ponder was locking onto targets in the 1st half. On the play you mentioned, he never attempted a different read than his primary. Nobody could see Wright on the play, but I'd have to take Billick's word for that. Maybe Jim will be able to add to this when he has a chance since he was at the game.

2) Billick has reviewed a lot of tape. If he says Jennings was open, I'd have to take his word for it. Maybe not open by layman standards, but open by NFL starting QB standards. It looked like there was a brief window there.

3) I saw the replay. It probably should have been picked, but it was a heck of a play by Rudolph to reel it in.

4) Bennett owned the Viking defense all day, covered or not. Have no idea how he got that wide open, but Cutler to his credit found him and Bennett to his credit made it count.

The coaches film from the game rewind combo will tell us about #1.

#2 you're exactly right, they showed the replay for a second, Jennings was open as in Rodgers hits him for a TD every time kind of open.

#4 it looked to me like they dropped letroy guion into coverage and pass rushed with whatever LB that was on that side of the field. Guion looked lost (not a surprise) and Bennet got really open (it's a mismatch) I mentioned it in the game thread but things can fly off the page when the game thread gets going.

[VikingLord]

I'd like to see tape on all the decent kickoff returns for the Bears. It looked like a ton of holding on each one!

I agree. The Bears seemed to get away with a lot of fouls on Hester's returns. Of course, the answer if you're not getting those calls is to not kick it to him anymore. Squib it and be done with it. Worst-case, the Bears start on their own 35.

[S197]

#4 it looked to me like they dropped letroy guion into coverage and pass rushed with whatever LB that was on that side of the field. Guion looked lost (not a surprise) and Bennet got really open (it's a mismatch) I mentioned it in the game thread but things can fly off the page when the game thread gets going.

With 7 guys dropping into coverage he still shouldn't have been that open even if Guion got mixed up on the play. I'm wondering if a defender may have slipped.

[mondry]

With 7 guys dropping into coverage he still shouldn't have been that open even if Guion got mixed up on the play. I'm wondering if a defender may have slipped.

Okay I was way off on this play, it's a typical rush 4 down linemen. Henderson literally just passes Bennet off to no one and then stands there doing nothing the entire play. We need Bishop in there oh my god

[The Breeze]

Yeah, the Bennett play was all on Erin.

The pass to Rudlph was not a bad one IMO. It was closer to being incomplete thhan picked off. It was a typical type of play for Rudolph.

I noticed lots of our coverage guys slipping and falling on Hester's returns.

[Reignman]

On the Jennings INT it looked like Carlson was open streaking down the field. Since he was in the same general direction as Simpson, I don't know how Ponder could have missed him.

[The Breeze]

On the Jennings INT it looked like Carlson was open streaking down the field. Since he was in the same general direction as Simpson, I don't know how Ponder could have missed him.

Me and a guy I was sitting next to saw the same thing. Can't say for sure if he got open before or after the ball was in the air, but we both thought he was open for a TD.....wide open.

And how Ponder missed him, IMO, was due to him being locked on to JS from the snap. One of the many replays of that play was from a camera angle that followed Ponder throughout the play, and it appeared he stared down JS the whole way.

Easily his worst throw of the game.

[Mothman]

Me and a guy I was sitting next to saw the same thing. Can't say for sure if he got open before or after the ball was in the air, but we both thought he was open for a TD.....wide open.

And how Ponder missed him, IMO, was due to him being locked on to GJ from the snap. One of the many replays of that play was from a camera angle that followed Ponder throughout the play, and it appeared he stared down GJ the whole way.

Easily his worst throw of the game.

I agree but wasn't Simpson the intended WR on the INT play?

Anyway, whoever it was, Ponder was definitely locked onto him. I could see it from the stands and even said "don't do it" before the throw because I could see what was going to happen. That play was covered all the way and I can't imagine what Ponder thought he saw. It was "bad Ponder" at his worst.

On the other hand, he made some really nice passes in the second half, especially a great throw to Jennings deep in Bears territory. I wish he'd play like that more consistently.

[The Breeze]

@Jim:

Yeah it was Simpson, thanks.

I'll fix that~

[Mothman]

Coaches film comes out Wed I believe.

That's correct.

Hopefully, we can both take a look at the plays mentioned above. there are some others I want to see too, including a few that were just great plays for the Vikes that I want to "soak" in some more.

Jim

[Mothman]

Sorry, want to post this now before I forget. There's a few plays I'd like to see (or get some opinions) when the coaches tape comes out next week. Anyone else feel free to add.

1) In the first half, Ponder ran a play action. Billick said he missed a wide open Wright. I believe the play was after Toby's only carry and catch. You couldn't see Wright from the game tape.

Here's the play. It's ugly so I'm going to ask everybody to please, keep it in perspective. It represents what's frustrating about Ponder and shows how far he has to go (or perhaps that he'll never get there, depending on your point of view). However, keep in mind, he made some excellent plays in this game as well. The guy is maddeningly inconsistent.

The play actually occurs at the 4:10 mark in the 3rd quarter. Each photo is numbered at the lower left.

1.) This is the opening set. Carlson is just beginning to go in motion.
2.) Carlson in motion, lining up on the left.
3.) Ponder has just completed his dropback and is beginning to step up in the pocket. Wright is at the lower right, near the 45 yard line.
4.) Ponder is looking directly down the middle at Carlson, who is wide open. Wright is turning to look back for the ball.
5.) Ponder is inexplicably looking to check down to Peterson, which he does in shot #6.
6.) The checkdown, which ends up being incomplete.
7.) Ponder, just before the checkdown, clearly looking right down the middle of the field at Carlson.

For those looking for a WTF play, this may be it. I have no idea why Ponder didn't throw to Carlson or even look to Wright.

By the way, it's Brennaman, not Billick, who says Wright is wide open. I don't know if I agree with that but Ponder never looks his way anyway. It looks to me like the ball should have gone to Carlson on this play and like that was the intent from the start. Musgrave designed a winner here and Ponder didn't pull the trigger.