Daddyleagues

Beardown review

by Longvillian65 | 2 years ago | 0 Comments

Beardown?

By: Kirk Herbsreit

After the second complete season handling the Bears franchise, Coach Quinn is slowly building up the franchise after some questionable decisions. One thing that cannot be argued was the improvement of the squad from year one. Going from four wins to seven is a good start. However, how much better did the players perform compared to the previous season? How much of an impact did new acquisitions have on those results?

Starting this off we can look at the most important part of any team and that is the QB. Justin Fields took a step in the right direction under a new offensive coordinator traded from the Cardinals. The run-first philosophy does not align well when it comes to flashy passing numbers like most the league, but just being a manager is what we need.

		comp	att	comp %	yards	avg	td	sack	int	rating
Fields	2023	247	384	64.3	2719	7.2	12	51	10	84.3
	2022	212	335	63.3	2682	8	9	55	17	76.9
		16.51%	14.63%	1.58%	1.38%	-10.00%	33.33%	-7.27%	-41.18%	9.62%

The chart shows a jump in every statistical category over the course of the season. Minus the average dropping .8 yards improvement across the board. With this we can predict next season to be even better!

The focal point of the team will always be running the ball. Controlling the clock and a sound defense will be how this team wins their games.

		attempts	yards	avg	td
Zeke	2023	227	1020	4.5	9
	2022	187	695	3.7	6
		21.39%	46.76%	21.62%	50.00%
Ebner	2023	78	327	4.2	0
	2022	133	670	5	3
		-41.35%	-51.19%	-16.00%	-100.00%
Fields	2023	85	558	6.6	5
	2022	74	521	7	5
		14.86%	7.10%	-5.71%	0.00%

Injuries did not derail Zeke this year and the carry split shows. Minus the drop off from Ebner due to Zeke being healthy there was greater production from the run game this season. Fields even showed more willingness to take off when the pocket started to deteriorate. The second year under the current OC will show a better result overall.

To finish off this comparison we take a look at the defense that ranked #2 overall. In terms of stats this group finished better than the previous season boasting the #2 ranked passing defense, #2 in total yards, and #3 in points allowed. However, there were a few things that stood out to us that left us scratching our heads

	sacks	int	ff	td
2023	23	14	6	1
2022	33	24	9	6
	-30.30%	-41.67%	-33.33%	-83.33%

The defense in 2023 had less everything. Better in every category yardage wise, but not in the stats that we tracked. Less pressure means less arrant throws and interceptions and possible defensive TDs. Hopefully this defense gets back to forcing turnovers and getting sacks to make it even harder for the offense to get those first downs.

Overall, the team got better after the first season. This is a step in the right direction and hopefully coach Quinn can fill in the holes that are on this team. Offensive line, wide receiver, and defensive line are the target areas after evaluating this roster. I am excited to see how this turns out in 2024 and to see if they can crack the 10 win mark in a tough NFC North. Till next time thanks for reading and let me know if you would like to see a small breakdown like this on any other teams!