The phantom holding on Wright where the Minnesota player just slipped started all of it. The Bears got a first down on that play and would have been on the 10 while actually running the ball well.
So many things went wrong besides that though.
We spent $50 million on 3 interior linemen and we still can't run the ball effectively. Jonah Jackson is trash. The Rams were going to cut him and Poles decided to actually trade draft compensation for him and then extended him. Caleb, while holding onto the ball too long, still had pressure up the middle too many times.
Caleb still can't play within structure. I'm sure the all 22 will tell it better, but there were so many times where he'd just bail after standing 3 seconds in the pocket. You can't blame Waldron for drawing up s%*# plays, because Johnson got guys open. Caleb missed them too, way too many times. The inaccuracy issues weren't just on deep balls today, they happened on short and intermediate throws. Not being able to hit Rome on a WR screen. Missing a wide open DJ Moore on 4th and 2 up the middle. Missing a wide open Kmet up the middle. Not to mention the wide open TD to Moore that he missed right before the 2 minute warning. His accuracy was poor. Then the WTF plays from last year showed up. The 3rd and long throw where he threw it near Rome, but it was really to grass. His ability to improvise is nice and we saw that in the first drive, but he needs to do it cause he seemingly can't read the defense.
It's really disappointing because the struggles last year really seemed like it was a coaching staff issue. But you bring in a guy who ran the best offense in the NFL last year in Detroit and the same problems persist. The most glaring one is the inaccuracy. I can understand not being acclimated to a new offense immediately, but when you're missing the open throws, that's not excusable. I'm willing to give him more time because like it or not, we're stuck with Caleb for another 2 years. You gotta make it work and it takes time, but a lot of the issues he has don't seem like they're easily fixable.
Johnson was also disappointing. The decision to not kick on 4th and 2 in comfortable field goal range in the first half while up 4. It's the first half dude, you don't need to play for 7 all the time. Take the points. This offense isn't the 2024 Detroit Lions. The challenge on the non-fumble was just head scratching. Who's telling him to challenge that? You can see he was down in real-time. Who on the staff saw the replay and said, "yeah let's waste a time out on that"? In the end, that timeout ended up mattering. I don't think they would have won if they had it, but I sure would have liked to see 50 seconds on that last drive instead of 10. Lastly, you should know Cairo Santos has no leg strength. If he can't kick the ball out of the end zone, tell him to kick it out of bounds. 35 yard line vs. 40 yard line, who cares? It's 5 yards. I'd take the 40 seconds every time. Santos is a whole other issue, but it just goes to show that Poles doesn't have his priorities straight when our kicker can't make it from 50 on a consistent basis. Meanwhile Reichard kicked a 59 yarder like it was nothing. That matters in close games.
