A few gameday observations from the Chicago game
Joined May 2013
5,336 posts
Rep: 4
Joined May 2013
5,336 posts
Rep: 4
A road win in the division to kick off the season, sweet.....one at a time.
[list]
[*]Watching Caleb Williams for 1.5 quarters to start and I was like 'holy shit'. He looked good. Super quick and elusive, like he was by far the best athlete on the field. I get why some GMs could get intoxicated with that, I really do. He was decisive. I was blown away in a way like 'shit, Johnson turned on the light bulb for him'. Vikings' defenders had him and then he was like magic in eluding them. Not good things to think when you hate the Bears. But we saw what happened eventually and he's what he was and will be. JMO, but he'll prove to be a bust. I think he's already down that path, ChicagoNation is gutted.
[*]Shout out to Will the Thrill, what a great kick on that 59 yarder and this was outside. Its different outside (especially Soldier Field on Lake Michigan) and having that 59 yarder tie for longest in Soldier Field history says it all. It changed my mood heading into halftime. JJ hitting Nailor and then Reichard nailing it felt like a momentum shift to me. The team got a lift.
[*]Bad toss on the Pick 6. That bothered me more than anything he had done in the first half. I felt it squashed a possible momentum swing and an 11 point lead felt huge at that point. The first half stuff didn't bother me, he looked poised and confident through the whole thing. But that throw did.
[*]Back couldn't have been further against the wall. The haters were out in full force. The announcers sounded sorry for him. But I kept watching his face. Nothing but stoic determination and he didn't change one bit with his interaction with the team. Same guy. Focused. I didn't see any crisis of confidence at all, to the contrary actually. And the rest is history. He will make mistakes and then he will learn from them in the same game, almost real time. I mentioned this very fact in a thread 3 weeks ago and we all saw it.
[*]Thank you Myles Price....no more worries on punt returns.
[*]Some drops from AT, Jefferson, etc. Odd.
[*]Very encouraged by the interiors of both lines. Both should incrementally improve each game.
[*]Jordan Mason is a beast.
Alec Lewis
@alec_lewis 17h
"Jordan Mason averaged 3.86 yards after contact last night, per @TruMediaSports. That's the highest a RB has posted in a game for the Vikings since head coach Kevin O'Connell got the job."
[*]Very interesting how KOC is going to use Aaron Jones, basically as a deep WRer sometimes. I love it. Mismatches galore for defenses.
[*]Donovan Jackson, that's the stuff.
[*]We need Darrisaw back ASAP. Saying Skule is the weak link is an understatement.
[/list]
As Colin Cowherd said, and he's been one of the few vocal detractors: 'He looked horrible for 3 quarters and then he looked like Joe Montana'. Reps, reps and more reps. This was an 11 point game at that point, it wasn't like this was a 24 point lead. These weren't garbage time drives, in fact they cut the lead to 5 very quickly.
[list]
[*]Watching Caleb Williams for 1.5 quarters to start and I was like 'holy shit'. He looked good. Super quick and elusive, like he was by far the best athlete on the field. I get why some GMs could get intoxicated with that, I really do. He was decisive. I was blown away in a way like 'shit, Johnson turned on the light bulb for him'. Vikings' defenders had him and then he was like magic in eluding them. Not good things to think when you hate the Bears. But we saw what happened eventually and he's what he was and will be. JMO, but he'll prove to be a bust. I think he's already down that path, ChicagoNation is gutted.
[*]Shout out to Will the Thrill, what a great kick on that 59 yarder and this was outside. Its different outside (especially Soldier Field on Lake Michigan) and having that 59 yarder tie for longest in Soldier Field history says it all. It changed my mood heading into halftime. JJ hitting Nailor and then Reichard nailing it felt like a momentum shift to me. The team got a lift.
[*]Bad toss on the Pick 6. That bothered me more than anything he had done in the first half. I felt it squashed a possible momentum swing and an 11 point lead felt huge at that point. The first half stuff didn't bother me, he looked poised and confident through the whole thing. But that throw did.
[*]Back couldn't have been further against the wall. The haters were out in full force. The announcers sounded sorry for him. But I kept watching his face. Nothing but stoic determination and he didn't change one bit with his interaction with the team. Same guy. Focused. I didn't see any crisis of confidence at all, to the contrary actually. And the rest is history. He will make mistakes and then he will learn from them in the same game, almost real time. I mentioned this very fact in a thread 3 weeks ago and we all saw it.
[*]Thank you Myles Price....no more worries on punt returns.
[*]Some drops from AT, Jefferson, etc. Odd.
[*]Very encouraged by the interiors of both lines. Both should incrementally improve each game.
[*]Jordan Mason is a beast.
Alec Lewis
@alec_lewis 17h
"Jordan Mason averaged 3.86 yards after contact last night, per @TruMediaSports. That's the highest a RB has posted in a game for the Vikings since head coach Kevin O'Connell got the job."
[*]Very interesting how KOC is going to use Aaron Jones, basically as a deep WRer sometimes. I love it. Mismatches galore for defenses.
[*]Donovan Jackson, that's the stuff.
[*]We need Darrisaw back ASAP. Saying Skule is the weak link is an understatement.
[/list]
As Colin Cowherd said, and he's been one of the few vocal detractors: 'He looked horrible for 3 quarters and then he looked like Joe Montana'. Reps, reps and more reps. This was an 11 point game at that point, it wasn't like this was a 24 point lead. These weren't garbage time drives, in fact they cut the lead to 5 very quickly.
#1
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Sep 10, 5:55 AM
Sep 10, 2025 5:55 AM
Joined May 2013
5,336 posts
Rep: 4
Joined May 2013
5,336 posts
Rep: 4
JR44 wrote:Yeah, I think a decent amount of people that took on a real 2nd look realized it wasn't as bad as the emotional part of seeing it live the first half. He was under pressure a bunch early, they were loading his left side to take advantage of the weak link of Skule and try and overwhelm the rookie Jackson. Its going to be a lot better when The Saw gets back, no line weak links. And the stadium was LOUD. Bear fans were stoked with the bright lights of MNF. Seriously, I defy any guy playing his first real game in the NFL to thrive in that environment.
I re-watched the game (love the NFL+ 30 minute replays) and watching in a more rational state, the first 3 quarters for JJ were really not as awful as they seemed watching it live. As opposed to the 4th quarter when he was getting great protection, he was getting instant pressure on him most plays. He had two huge drops by Jefferson and Thielen on 3rd down which would have kept drives going and helped him build some momentum. I didn't think the passes were thrown too hard, they seemed just right and where they needed to be, Jefferson was coming back for the ball just didn't create a basket for the ball and Thielen didn't focus on the catch all the way through. In addition, he missed out on another potential 3rd down 1st down when Jefferson inexplicably ran the route 1 yard short of the first. That is 3 drives that he could stayed on the field and built on a big 1st down conversion. The defense keeping it close was huge and then I think Mason helped picked the offense up, not just in the yardage he was getting, but the powerful way he was running, think it gave the team some swagger back.
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