The Kevin Sheehan Show - Bears Post-Game: They Got What They Deserved

Episode Date: October 14, 2025

Kevin in with his post-game following the 25-24 loss to the Bears. His "Game-Take" includes pinning the loss on Jayden Daniels' turnovers and a defense that was alarmingly awful against the run. For ...all your football betting needs: DCRELOAD at MyBookie for a 50% Deposit Match Want to spruce up your lawn? FastGrowingTrees.com Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

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Starting point is 00:00:02 You don't want it. You don't need it, but you're going to get it anyway. The Kevin Cheehan Show. Here's Kevin. Now the bid high. King is good. And the Bears win it. Jake Moody, a hero tonight.
Starting point is 00:00:19 Joe Buck with the final call on a night that started badly and ended the same way. They deserved to lose last night, and they did. I'm in for a post-game show, now several hours. following the 25-24 loss to the Bears on what was a wet raw night in Landover. Truth about this one, both teams made enough bad plays to lose the game. Washington just made more of them. Window Nation, as always, the presenting sponsor of this show. If you need new Windows, 86690 Nation, Windonation.com.
Starting point is 00:00:58 This is one they're going to need to move on from quickly, very quickly. short preparation week heading into Dallas on Sunday and then following the Cowboys, a road Monday night game at Arrowhead against the Chiefs. In a loaded NFC right now, after last night, they better find a way to at least get a split or they're going to be chasing the back half of their schedule to try to get back into the mix. This was one of those games where if you'd like, you could point to the other team and say, job well done, but not as much as you point it yourself and say job poorly done. Ken Beatrice, long-time sports talk host in this town for many years in the 70s, 80s, 90s, early
Starting point is 00:01:48 2000s even. He used to say all the time, something that we all have quoted many times over the years about NFL games. He said, maw games are lost, then won. And last night's game was a perfect example of that. Washington lost the game more than Chicago won the game. And that is illustrated most of all by looking at one number more than any other. Turnover margin.
Starting point is 00:02:18 Turnover margin, if you never even watch a game, more often than not, will tell you a lot about the outcome of a game, especially when the turnover margin is minus three. That big of a differential is almost always a death sentence. Rarely do you overcome minus three. Even great teams don't overcome minus three. And right now this team is far from great. Jaden Daniels for really the first time in his brief career,
Starting point is 00:02:52 he needs to shoulder a big part of the blame for this loss. He did a lot of really good things to give him a chance to win the game. but not protecting the football because of what he said after the game was, quote, a lack of focus, closed quote, on the botched handoff fumble with just over three minutes left. That play more than any other cost them the game. The first quarter interception was on him for sure, and it cost them points. But they had over three quarters to recover from that. And for the most part, they did.
Starting point is 00:03:28 The lack of focus, he called it. it with a wet football with the game on the line on a third and one was an absolute killer. Sure, the defense could have stepped up and bailed him out, but the defense was the other major problem. Turnovers and defense were the problems last night, and the defense is a much bigger season-long concern. Jaden's going to bounce back from, you know, a game and a play, you know, in particular that cost them a football game. But the defense, it had a ton of issues coming into the game. It's got even more leaving last night's game. It was an atrocious night overall for the defense. First of all, the worst night of the season against the run. It looked very much like a
Starting point is 00:04:20 game from last year. The Bears couldn't run the football coming into this game. That changed for them. DeAndre Swift looked like a pro bowler, 108 yards on 14 carries. That's 7.7 yards per carry. And at the end, they barely touched him on that final drive as he just ran the bears into chip shot field goal range, much more on that disgusting final drive coming up in my game take. His 55-yard touchdown on the catch and the run right by Kwan Martin, who could have easily pushed him out of bounds. It would have appeared. That was another on a long list now of explosive plays against this defense this season. The run defense stunk, the tackling wasn't good enough, no takeaways again.
Starting point is 00:05:16 They now have three total takeaways on the season after six games. that is pretty much the bottom of the barrel. Only two teams have fewer, and one of those two teams has played one less game. Coverage continues to be a major problem. I mean, Caleb Williams threw for 252 yards in a touchdown on a night where he was hardly sharp. If he had been accurate, there was a 350-yard day available to him.
Starting point is 00:05:47 If Olamedi Zakias catches a pass wide open over the middle of the field, late fourth quarter, from their own three-yard line, he might still be running. That was an opportunity legitimately for a 97-yard touchdown, a house call from their own three-yard line. He was so wide open. I'll look at the all-22 later today, but there were people wide-open. all night. Romadunze had a touchdown overturned by what I thought was a very questionable illegal formation call. I mean, the Bears had 381 yards of offense and really didn't play great. The quarterback was inaccurate a lot of the night. They had dropped balls. They should
Starting point is 00:06:36 have been at 481 with, you know, at least another 7 to 10 points. Look, the defense against any team this season so far that isn't, you know, Russell Wilson's giants or Gino Smith's Raiders, it's just not good enough. There have been areas that seem better than last year. One of those areas I thought coming into last night was run defense, but it took a major step back. The pass rush has been good at times. Even tonight, there were moments, but without a consistent, quick pass rush. With a guy that you legitimately have to game plan for, I don't think the coverage is going to hold up behind it.
Starting point is 00:07:22 There's lots of season to go. There is. I still think this team is good enough on offense to have a good season, but not if they're going to turn the ball over like they did against the Bears. Remember that Philly game last December at home? They turned it over five times. They were minus three in the turn. turnover margin and somehow won that game.
Starting point is 00:07:45 Tonight they were on the precipice of winning a game with a minus two turnover margin, but they couldn't overcome minus three, not last night anyway. The offense will hopefully get a boost with the return of Terry McCorn next week. They could use another weapon on offense, but him not being there last night wasn't the reason for the loss. You know, a late throw interception in the first quarter, and he was late on that throw, cost the team three points at least. Another fumble by Bill second consecutive week led to a Chicago touchdown on a short field. And the botched handoff, you know, with just over three minutes to go, cost them the game. There was some good from this game. You know, if there wasn't any good from this game,
Starting point is 00:08:40 the score would have been lopsided. Let's not forget, after the slow start and after falling behind 13 to nothing, they rallied to a 24 to 16 lead with just over 11 minutes to go in the game. This one felt very much like one they gave away. What they did last year was pile up wins while still figuring things out. You know, you don't have to be good in early october. but you have to win enough games so that if you become good, you've got something to play for. You know, the old harvesting your nuts. Thank you, Eddie Jordan.
Starting point is 00:09:21 And last night was a nut to be harvested, but they couldn't. And three and three is not a great place to be in in the NFC at this point, especially since of their three wins, just one is against an NFC team. That was the opener against the Giants. The other two are against AFC teams. That won't help them out, you know, down the road if they get into, you know, playoff scenario tiebreakers. There's a lot of season left.
Starting point is 00:09:54 They'll have many chances to stay in this thing, get back into this thing, and it starts this coming weekend in Dallas where both teams are coming off stinging losses, setting up a game now that, you know, may be too early to say must win for both teams, but it feels like a major need to have. All right, I'll get to my game take next after these words from a few of our sponsors. Guys, I introduced you to Goldbelly about a year ago. It's an amazing site that I order from now all the time.
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Starting point is 00:13:03 prize picks. It's good to be right. They're down in one. Balls on the ground. And it's recovered by Nishon Wright. And that is takeaway number three for the Chicago defense. That was the play of the game, no doubt. Third and one, just over three minutes to go. If they get that first down, they're roughly one more first down away from icing.
Starting point is 00:13:36 the game. It didn't work out that way. Chicago took over, went down, and kicked a walk-off game-winning field goal to win the game 25 to 24. My game take coming up, but first, this segment of the show is brought to you by Window Nation. If you're thinking about new windows, call Wind Donation before the end of the month. They're offering two free windows for every two purchased, with no money down, no payments, and no interest charged for two full years. So you'll get windows at basically half the cost because you're getting too free with every two purchased, and you don't have to pay anything for them until the year 2027. 86690 Nation, windownation.com.
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Starting point is 00:14:54 All right. The Game Take includes things that I like, didn't like, and a few other observations. Let's get to it. There were some things from the game that were good. I'll start with Luke McCaffrey on kickoff returns, four opportunities, 31.8 yards per return. He's really good at kickoff returns. He was second in the league coming into last night's game of guys with at least five returns on the season,
Starting point is 00:15:24 and he will remain right there at number two in the league on kickoff. kickoff returns. I mean, Debo was good at it too, but with Terry out and Noah Brown out, they're not risking Debo on kickoff returns or not overworking him by having him return kicks. Luke McCaffrey's really good at returning kickoffs. Number two on the list of things that I liked from the game. Holding the Bears to field goal attempts. The Bears were held to field goal attempts four times after long drives, not counting the fifth and final drive where they were playing for the field goal, but on four long drives, Washington held them to four field goal attempts. Another long drive ended in a fourth and one stop when Frankie Louvo got a pass breakup on a ball intended for Romodunze.
Starting point is 00:16:18 Now, a few of those stops were because of penalties that were, I think, highly questionable. There was a tic-it-tack offensive pass interference penalty on the tight end Loveland on an 11-yard catch. That backed them up to a second and 20, and that ultimately derailed a drive that had started well, and that led to a field goal. Adunze caught a back-shoulder touchdown on a play where they called the left tackle for an illegal formation that the, you know, ref expert on ABC said was a bad call. So in some of the cases where they stopped the bears on long drives and held them to field goal attempts, they got a few breaks with some questionable referee calls. But Louvoo's play on the fourth down was huge.
Starting point is 00:17:04 They also blocked one of those field goal attempts on the first play of the fourth quarter. Duran Payne got credited for the block. I thought Kinlaw may have gotten a piece of it as well. It was a very low kick. It came out very low. overall the bears were three for ten on third downs. Now one of those stops was a bad snap back to Caleb before the blocked field goal. Remember, it was a third and one and he took a bad snap and, you know, fumbled it around
Starting point is 00:17:36 and ended up taking a five-yard loss on a sack. But three for ten on third downs, O for one on fourth down, a blocked field goal. You know, keep in mind the bears had ten drives in the game. and they moved the ball into Washington territory and had a chance for points on eight of the 10 drives. Eight of the 10 drives. They took from their own territory into Washington's territory and had chances for points. But, yes, holding them to field goal attempts was a good thing, but letting them get to those field goal attempts and in range for them wasn't necessarily. a good thing. That was sort of a backhanded, I think, compliment on the list of things that I liked
Starting point is 00:18:27 that they held the Bears to field goal attempts. Next on the list of good, Jeremy McNichols. You know what? He's a good player. When he first came into the league, everybody was like, is he even going to make, or when he first came to Washington, is he even going to make the team? He's just a guy. No, he's a good player. He did have a dropped pass on a third and 16 checkdown that actually may have had a shot, especially with him as an after-catch runner to get a first down had he caught it. But other than that, he had that third and 13 checkdown catch and run for 15 yards. You know, last week he had a third and 10 for 11 on a checkdown. Man, he is a good checkdown option for Jaden Daniels, even in long yardage situations.
Starting point is 00:19:14 But that 15-yarder moved the sticks in a huge spot late in the fourth quarter. It was a few plays actually before the botched handoff. Three catches, 30 yards overall. He had a four-yard run for a first down in the first half. He picked up the blitz at least once that I noticed in pass protection, allowing Jaden extra time to throw the ball. I like McNichols. And I think McNichols was good last night.
Starting point is 00:19:45 Zach Ertz, Chris Moore, Jalen Lane all had moments. Lane's double move on his 37-yard catch was a beauty. Ertz caught six balls on six targets, had a touchdown. More with that very good back shoulder catch that gave them their first points of the night. Good job hauling it in, getting the knee down in the end zone. By the way, that was the play. that touchdown throw, where McNichols had a really good pass protection pickup on the Blitz, because they sent six after Jaden on that first touchdown throw to Chris Moore.
Starting point is 00:20:24 But I guess Ertz Moore Lane, I could put on this list. Frankie Louvre, I think I can put on the list. He made the fourth down play in coverage. He had a sack. Overall, hard to pick many performances defensively other than a few plays here and there. Newton had a play or two, Kenlaw the same. Pain, Amos, Armstrong got a sack or a half sack after he left the game with a reported hamstring injury. But that sack was really more about Caleb holding on to the ball too long, I thought. Good kickoff coverage on Duverne, who's a pretty dangerous returner. So, yeah, that's it. McAfrey on kickoff returns, holding the bears to, you know, Field goal attempts on four of their drives into Washington Territory. I didn't count that last field goal.
Starting point is 00:21:16 Obviously, they're playing for the field goal. Jeremy McNichols, Ertz, Moore, and Lane all had moments on offense. Frankie Louvo, and good kickoff coverage. There's your list of things that I liked. A list of things I did not like. You start with the number one reason they lost the game, and that was three turnovers. That's the ball game, really. The first interception by Jaden was the throw that he's made before, but he was late.
Starting point is 00:21:45 And the Bears who had nine takeaways coming into the game last night got their first in this game early. You know, it took away points from Washington. It was their first drive of the game. They were on a march. They had gone eight plays, 44 yards. They were at the Chicago 21. You know, they're going to get points if they don't turn it over. And Jaden was late with the throw.
Starting point is 00:22:08 and it was an easy pick for Brisker. You know, second drive of the game, down 6-0, still first quarter, first and 10, own 35, Bill fumbles for the second time in two games. Montez Sweat knocked the ball out, but if Bill is going to be the guy, he can't have a fumbling problem. I think we all understand that.
Starting point is 00:22:31 He's got two in two games. That is not the best sign. We'll continue to, monitor for sure. But that turnover gave the Bears great field position, and they were in the end zone five plays later for a 13 to nothing lead. That last turnover, of course, was on Jaden, period. He said lack of focus. Whatever it was, you have to be better in the elements. You've got to be protective of the football. You have to know that there is a better chance with a wet ball of something going wrong, and so handle it accordingly. The ball never got into Kroski-Merrit's gut.
Starting point is 00:23:12 That one is totally on Jaden Daniels. Three turnovers without getting any back. So minus three, almost impossible to overcome. It's the number one reason they lost this game. Jaden had two of the three turnovers, so while he did play good enough in a lot of ways and gave them a chance to win the game, his two turnovers and the last one in particular really cost them the game. Number two on this list of things I didn't like. Run defense. Alarmingly awful in this loss. Chicago was a bad rush offense coming into this game,
Starting point is 00:23:54 and they had absolutely no problem at all running it against Washington's defense. The holes were gaping on some of these plays. The edge wasn't held. Swift had the biggest night, but his backup number 25 had some good runs, as did Caleb, as did DJ Moore, 27 for the team for 145 yards, 5.4 yards per carry, 7.7 for Swift. I honestly thought that they should have run it more. And what Swift did on the final drive of the game was emasculating. They're trying to run the clock, get Washington to use all of its timeouts. You know they are running the football, and Swift carries it five times for 34 yards.
Starting point is 00:24:45 Ouch. Game on the line, you need to, at the very least, make this a long field goal for a guy who, by the way, was on the street earlier in the week because of a disastrous run with the 49ers. he's already had his longest attempt blocked because he kicked it so low. And Swift goes for a 10-yard run, a 15-yard run on that final drive, and they go from a 50-plus-yard field goal attempt to win the game to a chip shot 38-yarder. Pathetic. The rush defense, wow, a flashback to last year, a major step back against a team that literally could not run the football,
Starting point is 00:25:30 coming into the game. Number three, past defense. Look, they can't cover. You know, people were open all night. I don't know how much of it was busted coverages versus just bad coverages, but they were lucky that the O'Doonese touchdown didn't count. They were lucky that Zakias dropped what could have been, you know, anywhere from maybe a 50 to a 97-yard play. We'll have to look at the All-22 for that one. He beat Wagner like a drum on that play. and just dropped it. Lucky, I think last night that Caleb is inconsistent with his accuracy. Sanra still had a chance at a pick, but he couldn't pull it in.
Starting point is 00:26:12 And most of the night, you know, he seemed to get beat more than he stuck in coverage. Trey Amos had some moments, but once again, I thought there was another kind of busted-looking coverage with Lattimore. Actually, it was Lattimore and Kwan Martin. famous in Kwan Martin on the Bears' first drive of the third quarter, a play that went for 21 yards. I don't know. I felt all night that the only way Chicago was getting stopped was if they stopped themselves, which they did with penalties, a few drops, a few, you know, bad throws by Caleb. The pass rush, I mean, had moments, but nearly, not nearly, excuse me, not nearly what it was last week. Chicago's offensive line flat out is better than
Starting point is 00:27:00 the Chargers offensive line. Their right tackle, Darnell Wright played after being on the injury report all week, and he was really good, I thought, for the Bears. Washington has a problem in their secondary. I wonder if it's fixable. I don't know. Pass rush can mask it like it did last week, but on the nights and the days where you're not getting heavy pass rush pressure and you're not stopping the run, it's going to be a long,
Starting point is 00:27:29 long day or night on defense. We had many of those last year, and those same type of, you know, those same types of performances are not only in play this year. We've now seen them in three losses. Number four on the list of things I didn't like. They didn't run the ball well against a team that was horrific stopping the run. We talked about this, you know, pretty much all week. Number one rush offense against the 31st ranked run defense and the team that was giving up 6.2 yards per carry. Kroski Merritt, 17 for 61, 3.6 yards per carry. Jaden was 10 for 52, a couple of big time scrambles. Jalen Lane had that tricky, you know, multi-fake jet sweep for seven.
Starting point is 00:28:22 They were 31 for 124 total. That's four yards per carry. They were allowing Chicago was 6.2 yards per carry coming in. Not a great night overall running the football on a night where it was expected that they would have a big night running the football. I mean, they were basically 32 yards, I guess, below their season average. Now, look, Chicago loaded the box a lot more, and I contemplated on the show yesterday, the possibility that Chicago wouldn't do the same things that it had done defensively in their first four games off of a bye week. They had to know that they were not a very good run-stopping team.
Starting point is 00:29:07 And they loaded the box. There were eight in the box multiple times when I was watching last night. I also thought that they blitzed more than they had over the first four games. But still, not a good enough night running the football. Next on the list of things that were not good from this. game. I want to go back to the Bears' final drive before the walk-off field goal. Embarrassing for the defense. Embarrassing. You know, Jaden botches the handoff, doesn't protect the football. It puts the team into a major bind and at huge risk. The defense did nothing to put up a stand. Easy third
Starting point is 00:29:50 and five pitch and catch to Loveland. You know, that could have forced a fourth and five if they had been, you know, more stout there, just way too easy. And then come on, D'Andre Swift, five carries, 34 yards, a 10-yard run, a 15-yard run. He ran Jake Moody's kick from 50-plus yards into chipshot range. That was really hard to watch. Very little resistance put up. offensively throughout the night and then certainly on that final drive. Also on the list,
Starting point is 00:30:27 there was another drive that really hurt in this game. Up 2422, they start at their own 40 following the McCaffrey kickoff return after the swift catch and run for a touchdown and the missed two point conversion. So they're starting at their own 40 and they punted on that drive after getting a roughing the passer penalty call when Brisker went low on Jaden. So they had first and 10 at the Chicago 39 yard line, and they didn't gain a yard after that, and they punted. You've got to get some yardage to get a field goal to push that lead to at least five, or have a chance to do it.
Starting point is 00:31:10 That was a disappointing offensive drive, a real opportunity to perhaps put the game away, after that roughing the passer. That was a big call. And they get nothing at the Chicago 39. You know, nothing. Fourth and 10 when they punted. What else is on this list? You know, the offensive line, I don't think, did a good job against the blitz pressure.
Starting point is 00:31:35 Maybe they weren't expecting it because I don't think the bears had done it enough. There were a lot of four-man rushes in their first four games, but I thought they had an increased number of blitzes. and I don't think they did a great job picking some of those up. There were a lot of bodies in Jaden's, you know, lap and right in his face quickly where he escaped a lot of them. No takeaways. Matt Gay missed a field goal from 50 hit the upright.
Starting point is 00:32:05 And, you know, another slow start in their losses. So, you know, they were down 14-0 at Green Bay. They were down 10-0 against Atlanta. down 10-0 against the Chargers and they were down 13-0 last night. You know, you can't be in a bind and in a hole in every game and hope that your quarterback's going to bail you out of it, you know, week in and week out like he did last year. And he wasn't able to do it last night because of turnovers more than anything else. All right, I've got other observations, including grading Jaden out after these words from a few of our sponsors.
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Starting point is 00:35:11 DC Reload. D-C. R-E-L-O-A-D. If you're an existing customer or returning customer, use that promo code for your next deposit. You'll get a 50% cash bonus. If you're a new customer, sign up when you get to the promo code section, DC Reload, and you'll get a 50% cash bonus when you sign up. My bookie's got everything you need for the baseball playoffs this week. And obviously all of the football all C-E-Row. long. The Kevin Sheeenshow.com slash my bookie, use my promo code, DC reload for a 50% cash bonus. All right. Let me get to the other category, other observations. I'm just going to start with Jaden's night. He didn't make the list of bad because he wasn't all bad without him last night. They wouldn't have had a chance to win the game. But the two critical turn are the story of his night. They were super costly and the last one, of course, deadly. Other than that, he had a pretty good night. He made a ton of good throws, a couple of really good escapes with quick pressure that he got out of and scrambled. He rushed for 52 yards. He was
Starting point is 00:36:31 19 of 26 for 2.11 and three touchdowns. Two of the three were really good throws. The other was just a really good play. The back shoulder touchdown to Chris Moore against the Blitz was an excellent throw. Good read, really good throw to Ertz for another touchdown. And then the TD pass to McCaffrey is just, you know, we see this play all the time. It's well executed. It's the fake bubble screen. And then one guy just bites badly. And then you get, you know, one of the receivers to kind of slip out and he's wide open. It seems like we see that play in football. every week and teams keep falling for it. Easy pitch and catch 33 yards to Luke McCaffrey. Luke McCaffrey certainly has been a participant and an effective, a very effective participant
Starting point is 00:37:25 for this team since Terry McClorn and Noah Brown's absence. And, you know, I mentioned earlier, his kickoff returns outstanding. Jaden had a really good throw on a third and eight to Ertz for 10 yards in the second quarter. That was on the drive where Matt Gay missed the field goal. He had a 15-yard escape on a play where it looked like he was going to get sacked, scrambled for 15 on a second and 10. That was the opening drive of the third quarter. Next drive in the third quarter had another 18-yard run on a scramble where it looked
Starting point is 00:38:02 like he was potentially going to get sacked. He did a good job protecting himself on some of those long. longer runs, got out of bounds, didn't take an unnecessary hit. The fourth and two, when they went for it, the throw to McNichols was, you know, the right play, the right read, maybe not the best of throws, but you just want to move the sticks. I loved the RPO throw to McAfrey that got called back for a legal man downfield on Wiley. Man, that was an awfully quick flag. It's almost impossible, it seems like to run RPO's in the NFL anymore because of the one-yard, you know, a legal man down field penalty and the emphasis to call it.
Starting point is 00:38:47 I mean, that was quick fake, quick throw. I mean, Wiley must have just taken off going down field. By the way, that play, there was offsetting penalties because the bears were off sides. loved the quick second and six throw to Ertz for 11. That was early in the fourth quarter. The 37-yarder on the double move to Lane. He avoided a sack on the drive when they punted up 24, 22, and somehow, you know, gained two yards.
Starting point is 00:39:21 He had another second and 10 scramble for like eight. The third and 13, when someone was in his face, and then he was able to get it out to McNichols. for the checkdown and the 15-yard gain for a first down. That was a really good play. A lot of really good plays in the game for Jaden Daniels. He looked and played like Jaden Daniels for much of the game. I mean, the ball barely hit the ground in the first three quarters. Now, one of the balls that didn't hit the ground was intercepted. But, you know, there was major, major costly bad in the game.
Starting point is 00:40:02 The turnovers, of course. I didn't think he was very effective in read options. I think Chicago played them very well. They were crowding the box, man. Maybe he should have checked to whatever the other play was on some of those zone reads because it didn't look like he made a mistake on give versus pull. It just looked like they were played well by Chicago with a lot of players at the line of scrimmage. You know, that may have been on him to check out of those plays.
Starting point is 00:40:33 You know, remember, in addition to the fumble at the end, he also fumbled in the open field on a second quarter scrambled, but the ball bounced back up into his arms. So he had a problem handling, you know, a wet ball for, you know, moments during the game, including the most crucial moment. He had a bad intentional grounding penalty on the opening drive of the third quarter. He tried to act like he was throwing to lane, but that was a clear throwaway. He was high on a throw to Chris Moore on a third and two before they went for the fourth and two and got it on the throw to McNichols. What else here? One of his sacks, I'm pretty sure I'll go back and look at it again. I thought he had Ertz open and should have delivered it and should have unloaded it instead of taking a sack.
Starting point is 00:41:26 That was a few plays before the, you know, game altering, game changing botched handoff fumble. Yeah, I mean overall, the two turnovers, the last one in particular, makes it hard to win the game. And it was on him. It carried so much. he carried so much of the weight of this game in his hands, and he fumbled it, he botched it. He was a C in this game. You know, how can you, I mean, look, if take away that last turnover,
Starting point is 00:42:01 if he just has the one turnover, the interception, that's a B plus game from him. It's certainly no worse than a B, B plus in that general area, but he costs them in a major way. We haven't said that much about him in a negative way where he's cost them games. I don't think we've ever said it really. But last night, he played a large role in the team losing the game. I'm giving him a C.
Starting point is 00:42:32 They're not in that game, probably without him. Well, they're not. And they lost the game because of his crucial giveaways, especially the last one. What else is on this list? You know, the Bears had a ton of negative plays in the game. You know, I said at the beginning of this, both teams made enough bad plays to deserve to lose the game. Washington just made more.
Starting point is 00:42:56 I mean, Chicago had nine penalties for 84 yards. Not all of them were good calls. The Adunze touchdown being, you know, called back, I thought was a really bad call. They also had some stupid penalties. DJ more lined up off sides. on a play in which Cole Commet carried Sanra still for like 10 yards. They had big drops.
Starting point is 00:43:19 Zakias is still running on that one from their own three-yard line. The Bears, you know, kind of hurt themselves all night long. Could have taken advantage of a plus three turnover margin a lot more than they did. Another observation, you know, the swift 55-yard, you know, touchdown, which Juan Martin didn't get them out of bounds or didn't get them on the ground, man, that was close to a delay of game penalty. That clock hit zero. Now, sometimes they'll allow that extra quick beat, and they did it there.
Starting point is 00:43:53 You see teams allowed that extra, but you know, you've also seen teams whistled and flagged for delay a game. That was really, really close. How about that play in the second quarter? I kind of already mentioned it, where they went fake to McCaffrey, fake to Bill and then gave it to Lane for seven yards. That's a lot of misdirection, a lot of faking before giving. How about this as an observation?
Starting point is 00:44:21 You know, I don't have the snap counts yet. Preston Smith and Darnell Savage, who just got here, they're playing a lot for this team. I'm going to guess that they played by far and away the most snaps they've played. And, you know, Preston Smith had a very good pressure, which really forced Caleb to go off schedule on the two-point play following the swift touchdown, the two-point conversion to try to tie the game. That was a good play by Preston Smith, a good pressure by him.
Starting point is 00:44:53 Oh, the challenge that Dan Quinn won on the swift catch that gained a yard that was ruled not a catch, I didn't think that challenge was worth it. Don't waste a challenge on, first of all, a play that was close and call the catch on the field for one yard. That's just not a good use of a challenge, in my opinion. What else did I have? By the way, you know who I noticed on the sideline, and we did not talk about this gentleman being a part of the staff,
Starting point is 00:45:35 of Ben Johnson in Chicago, Eric Bienemy, saw him on the sideline. Oh, I forgot. He's the running backs coach in Chicago. Be enemy since leaving Washington as, you know, offensive coordinator and I think he had the assistant head coach title. He went to UCLA for a disastrous 2024 last year as assistant head coach in O.C., I think he had that title too.
Starting point is 00:46:02 And then he basically came back into the NFL Ben. Johnson hired him to be a running backs coach. Oh, one last thing. You know, Jake Moody replaced Santos, the kicker who got hurt and was out last night. Wasn't Jake Moody the guy in San Francisco? He was in San Francisco. He had a disastrous run in San Francisco. They wanted to cut him a lot sooner than they actually did.
Starting point is 00:46:26 But he was the guy, I'm pretty sure, that got into it with Debo Samuel on the sideline in a game last. year. Debo basically went after the kicker. I'll look that up. I was remembering this as I was getting ready for the show and I didn't really go look it up. But I'm pretty sure Debo and Jake Moody got into it on the sideline last year in San Francisco, his own teammate. Well, Jake Moody, four for five, including the game winner to beat Washington 25 to 24. By the way, 25 to 24, Chicago, second straight week or second straight game, they have won by the same score 25-24. I would imagine that is like a scoreagami
Starting point is 00:47:12 if you follow that Twitter account. All right, disappointing, really disappointing loss, puts them in a bind here six games into the season at 3 and 3. I mean, you look at the standings and in the NFC, man, you've got, you know, first of all, Philadelphia is still after losing two in a row a game ahead. head. Dallas and the Giants are right there with Washington. Dallas 2, 3, and 1 can move ahead of Washington with a win. The Giants have new life at 2 and 4, but the rest of the NFC is the problem,
Starting point is 00:47:44 right? In the NFC North, everybody's above 500, including Chicago now. In the NFC South, you've got Tampa and Atlanta. Atlanta beat Buffalo last night, 2414, the final smell test winner of the weekend. So 11, 4, and 1 on the weekend. And then in the NFC West, you've got three teams who are four and two. I didn't even mention Carolina, who's now at three and three for whatever that's worth. So, you know, you got a part of the schedule here approaching the midway point of the season, two road games. And then, by the way, you come home for Seattle and Detroit before going to Madrid to face the dolphins. This is a brutal part of the schedule.
Starting point is 00:48:33 a very good offensive football team that can throw the football against your bad defense, then the chiefs at Arrowhead, then Seattle on a Sunday night, and Detroit on a Sunday afternoon. These next four games, they could literally play well in areas of the team that they played well last year, but because the schedule is more difficult in this stretch, maybe they don't come out on top. And if they lose three or four, they're in a heap of trouble down the stretch. They got to find a way over these next two to split and over these next four to get two or three of them. Before they enter a closing stretch that, let's not forget, includes Denver, includes a road game at Minnesota, probably an improved and different giant team on the road, two against Philly and one against Dallas on Christmas Day.
Starting point is 00:49:26 long road it's not about who you play it's when you play them but they're playing Dallas coming off a loss and a Dallas team that can put up a lot of offense Washington still remains a two and a half point favorite in Sunday's game at Dallas I actually feel right now like this will be a bounce back win but more on that as we go through the week all right that's it I will have a show out later today, early this evening, with Logan Paulson as my guest.

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