Game Day Blog Week 4 | Colts 19, Bears 11 FINAL

Fourth Quarter

Game over. Colts win holding Bears to 269 yards and 28 rushing yards.

Poor onside kick, goes right at the Colts and is recovered. Bears have only one timeout so that effectively ends the game barring a miracle fumble. Trey Burton recovered the onside kick.

Bears finally get in the end zone on a 16-yard TD pass to Allen Robinson. They went eight plays and 90 yards in 2:12 and David Montgomery's two-point run made it 19-11. The onside kick coming.

Colts get another 30-yard field goal and Foles is getting in some cheap underneath yardage against soft coverage as Bears move to Indy 38.

Colts laying back in deep zone and get the deep zone deflection on the overthrow for Miller for an interception by Julian Blackmon. This one looks to be over.
Foles could have scrambled for 5 yards but threw it away on first down, then got knocked to the ground. Deep pass goes out of the end zone on second down.
Draw play and it gets only a yard or 2. The Colts linebackers all have great speed and plays like that just don't work. Montgomery takes a third-down run for 6 yards and a first down. Surprise play.

Charles Leno jumps and gets away with it as they decide Justin Houston jumped offsides. First-and-5 at the 35.

Foles lobs it deep to Montgomery and Willis got a pass interference call. First down at Colts 40.

Foles throws incomplete for Miller and Bears face fourth-and-2 at the 28. Nagy going for it with 12:32 left.

Foles hit while throwing and appears incomplete. Discussion about grounding but it's decided there was none.

Exchange of punts, Bears take over at the 20. The Bears have lost Deon Bush to a hamstring injury. He is out for the game.

Bears lose 1 on run by Patterson and must punt. Another good Colts return of 20 yards and they start at their own 37.

Third Quarter

Bears at 17 after short return with good coverage. Foles to Graham for 5, then to Mooney for 4. Quarter ends. Colts 16, Bears 3

Blankenship 44-yard field goal with 55 seconds left in the third quarter. 10 plays, 54 yards, 5:11. Colts 16, Bears 3.
Third-and-14 for Colts at 26 after two short passes lose yardage. Incomplete slant to Pascal.

Colts are being methodical and trying not to make a mistake and are efficient enough to keep the clock moving. The Bears have done nothing all day on offense.

Colts convert third-and-2 by throwing against Trevathan, always a sure bet. Aat the Bears 22.

Colts face third-and-3 and Buster Skrine is beat by Marcus Johnson for a first down at the Bears 46, a 27-yard completion

Roquan Smith does on a screen what he did to screens all training camp, gets there immediately for a 6-yard loss.

Miller makes a 4-yard catch over the middle and it's third-and-4 at the 38. Mooney gets open on sideline but Foles is not a QB who can roll and throw and he overthrows Miller. Bears punt and it's a touchback. A 62-yard punt by O'Donnell

Short pass to Mooney over the middle brings up third-and-7 and Foles gets time to find Anthony Miller for a first down at the 32 for 12 yards. Bears go no huddle and still only get 2 yards on run.

Colts are playing that old scheme the Bears used to use before they went 3-4 to perfection.

Allen Robinson fumbles on catch and Colts recover but replay appears to show he never had possession to make a football move. Incomplete. Bears ball still, 8:48 remaining in quarter.

Montgomery scraps for a yard in the middle, and Bears are behind the chains again.

After the 42-yard punt and 14-yard return the Colts start at Bears 49. Three and out forced, including a weak Rivers pass to the sidelines on third-down play. Colts punt and penalty on return leaves Bears backed up to the 5.

Leonard now ruled out of the game.

Wow. On the punt, Patterson was held and thrown to the ground in front of the ref, no call. Patterson appeals to him but they ignore him

Sack of Foles by Houston on first play for 8-yard loss. They were blitzing and not buying the play-action fake. Foles overthrows Mooney deep and actually had him open but it appeared one thought the play was going outside and not in. Third-down pass to Ginn only goes for 5 and forces a punt.

Bears start at 24. Darius Leonard, Colts LB, is questionable to return with groin injury.
Ted Ginn handles a low punt and returns it to the 24.

Danny Trevathan stops Taylor after 3 in the middle. Then Wilkins breaks two tackles and turns a loss into a 6-yard gain for third-and-1. But Hicks and Eddie Jackson stop third-down play for a loss and force punt.

Halftime

Bears are 1 of 6 on third down and Colts are 5 of 9, which tells the story of this game. Along with 17 rushing yards for the Bears.

Bears are really missing Tarik Cohen's speed out of the backfield.

Second Quarter

The Bears kill off the clock and go into locker room down 13-3

Sack by Brent Urban. Colts settle for field goal try of 30 yards by Blankenship with :06 left. Colts 13, Bears 3

Rivers throws to Wilkins for 3 and Roquan Smith pushes him OB. Third-and-goal at the 8

Second-and-9 and Rivers throws deep to Hilton, gets Kyle Fuller at the 10 for pass interference. He stepped on Hilton's foot but it was a pass that never would have been completed without it. Well beyond receiver. Hicks a TFL on first down and Colts call timeout with 1:03 left.

False start on Colts' Braden Smith makes it second-and-13. Two passes, including an 8-yarder to Burton for his first Colts catch makes it first down at the Bears 38

The Bears have 18 yards rushing, which explains much of their problems on offense. This style of attack will never go anywhere if they have no threat from the run.
Wilkins nets 2 and now two-minute warning.
Penalties killing the Bears so far. Dumb ones, like last week.
Dopey penalty on Bears after the punt return was stopped at the 30 by Patterson. A 15-yard penalty puts it at the Colts 45.
Foles hit low by DeForest Buckner on long pass that Patterson nearly gets, but officials pick up the flag. Was blocked into Foles.
3-yard gain up the middle from Montgomery and Bers try runnnig an end around to Mooney. That's never going to work against a defense this quick. It's a loss of 3. Third-and-10
Bears start at the 25.

Overthrow to Pascal with Tashaun Gipson in coverage. Blankenship kicks a 21-yard field goal with 3:47 left in half. It was a 14-play, 67-yard drive with two defensive penalties. Both Colts scoring drives aided greatly by Bears penalties. Colts 10, Bears 3

Taylor gets 1 yard in middle. Roquan Smith intercepts Rivers on deflection of pass by DeAndre Houston-Carson but replay conclusively shows Smith was out of bounds after catching it. DHC out there in the short-yardage defense. Colts face third-and-goal at the 3.

Johnson breaks up throw to Pascal. Pascal more or less shoved him and Johnson had his hands all over Pascal. Good no call. Third down, Rivers finds Doyle for a first down at the 4.
Taylor bounces outside for 9 and only Johnson hitting him OB prevents TD. On Wilkins is stuffed for no gain.

Bears get a TFL from Trevathan and Roquan but then Taylor gets loose off left guard for a big gain and a horse collar puts it at the Bears' 28. Twelve on the run, plus 15.

Completed pass to T.Y. Hilton for first down and Eddie Jackson is beaten in jump ball but he interferes anyway for 13-yard gain.

Receivers covered or ran different route than Rivers thought, then Danny Trevathan blitzed. Incomplete. Third and seven

Well-blocked return puts Colts at own 30 and Taylor goes for 3 off right tackle

Play calling and pass blocking appeared to catch up that drive but Foles still was off a bit on his third-down pass from the 9. Doubtful Harris picks up that first down with the coverage on his back.

Cairo Santos 27-yard field goal 9:24 left in half. 9 plays, 84 yards, 4:55. Colts 7, Bears 3

Not sure what they were doing, but Foles is no runner and he had no one to hand the ball to so he ran forward for a half yard. Third-and-5. Throws behind Demetrius Harris who was 2 yards short of first down anyway.

More sideline confusion and second Bears timeout with 10:11 left still in the half. Maybe the quarterback switch is not as simple as it seemed against poor Falcons defense.

Another to Montgomery nets 5 and they're at the 9, second down.

Foles finds the short target he should throw for, to David Montgomery for 17 with a nice open-field move. Bears at 14.

Colts stop Miller for no gain on great open-field tackle by Kenny Miller.

Play-action on skinny post to Allen Robinson for 27 yards at Colts 31
Mooney beats coverage on deep ball for 33 yards. It's Mooney's longest catch of his career.

Horrible low punt lets Ginn return it but holding on Bears leaves them back at 7.

From the 32 on third-and-12, Rivers dumps it to Taylor and he breaks a tackle but gets just 11. Colts going for it on fourth-and-1. They try to draw Bears offsides but take the delay-of-game and try to punt.

First Quarter

TFL for Mack as quarter ends. He breaks in and gets Hines just after handoff for loss of 2. Third-and-12 now. Quarter. Colts 7, Bears 0

Colts keep trying to force it to Trey Burton. For the third time he doesn't get open and it's incomplete deep.

Roquan Smith has Hines cornered at sideline and misses tackle for a 15-yard pass play.

Nyheim Hines gashes Bears right up the middle for 12.
Bears needed to have more pure shotgun in the offense for Foles. The offensive line so far is doing a poor job keeping the rush off Foles and he is dumping it out too fast.

Colts ball at 7 after another good, high Pat O'Donnell punt. There is 1:37 left in quarter.

Matt Nagy said this would be the same offense with Foles as with Trubisky. He wasn't kidding. They're still running bootlegs and play-action, which really isn't necessarily Foles' game. Foles jumpy with rush and overthrows on third-and-7 to Mooney, who was open. Bears punting from Colts 40

Best offensive line push of the game and Montgomery drives ahead for 3. Bears at the Colts 43. They give him 2 officially but it was all O-line on that play.

Colts play 8 men at the line and dare Bears to go downfield. Foles has no one open and leads Demetrius Harris too far but there is holding on Khari Willis. Montgomery picks up 3 and Bears face third-and-1

We have the answer to who is the Bears punt returner. Ted Ginn Jr. with a 10-yard return and Bears are at their own 40 with 4:54 left in quarter. The 10-yard return of a punt is the longest by the Bears this year.
Third-and-five, Rivers gets impatient and has no heat on him but dumps it too far for Burton.

Jordan Wilkins nets 5 off left guard. Ball tipped and Khalil Mack drops an interception.

Colts coverage reminds me of the way the Bears secondary covered passes two years ago. They're in the receiver's grill, not giving up an inch..

Great punt coverage by Deon Bush and Patterson, and good, height on punt leaves Colts backed up on 13.

Rock Ya-Sin deflects pass to Mooney away. Colts DBs are all over the Bears receivers. Nothing is open.

Justin Houston blitzes and no one picks it up, namely Charles Leno Jr. So Foles throws it away. Third-and-6. Bears have to call timeout. Offense looks more sluggish than it has at any time this season but Colts defense has much to do with this.

Still short passing. Nice hard run off left guard by Patterson for 4 with second effort.

Foles for 6 on slant to Ginn Jr. then for a first down on a tipped pass to Allen Robinson, a 5-yarder.

Big play on the drive was the play when Johnson got beat by Pascal. First time Johnson has looked bad against anyone. Giving up a third-and-9 for 36 yards there is no excuse.

Scoreboard tribute to Gale Sayers for no one to see.

Two runs net 5 yards and on third-and-5 Rivers find Mo Alie-Cox for a 13-yard touchdown. No pass rush pressure on Rivers at all. Scoring drive went 53 yards in 3:35 on six plays. Rodrigo Blankenship extra point is good. Colts 7, Bears 0
Zach Pascar beats Jaylon Johnson on third-and-9 for a 36-yard gain

Colts face second-and-9 after first-down completion. At own 46, Rivers hits Trey Burton in the hands and he can't catch it. No fans to jeer him here.

Colts first down at own 45, jail break on run by Jonathan Taylor but obvious holding on the Colts on TE Jack Doyle. Maybe the refs have been told this week to finally cally holding.
Roy Robertson-Harris with the sack, beats Quenton Nelson but for some reason the Bears take the holding penalty against Nelson on the play instead. Then the next play Kyle Fuller gets penalized for pass interference.

Bears first drive awfully conservative. They only threw within 8-10 yards twice and nothing longer than that. Running plays didn't develop against tough Colts defense. The deflected punt only went 19 yards downfield.

Jordan Glasgow deflects the punt and it rolls dead at Colts 47.

Denico Autry jumps offsides. Bears face third-and-3. Xavier Rhodes tips ball away to Robinison and Bears must punt

Throwback screen to Patterson goes nowhere and Bears face third-and-8.

Patterson gets 2 as the penetration on blocking is too disruptive.

Montgomery gets 2 off right guard cutting back when nothing develops. Then Foles boot pass to Mooney for 8 and first down

Bears start at 18 after poor Cordarrelle Patterson decision

Bears to receive

The big mystery and concern on social media about Tyler Bray being brought up to the 53-man roster apparently was for no reason because Bray is inactive anyway. There was speculation on Saturday after the announcement of everything from Bray being called up to protect him from another team taking him to secret injuries to both Mitchell Trubisky and Nick Foles. Then there were the COVID-19 guesses. So none of that is true.

So much for all the conspiracy theories.

The Bears will be carrying just two active quarterbacks for Sunday's game, with Tyler Bray inactive. https://t.co/7u9J7jELBx via @CEmma670 pic.twitter.com/YUmdAs38xV
— 670 The Score (@670TheScore) October 4, 2020

The Colts have Trey Burton active for the game and he will get to face his old team, which cut him in the spring. Burton, though, will likely be a third tight end option because Jack Doyle as a blocker and Mo Alie-Cox are better tight ends. Look for plenty of 12 personnel and 13 personnel from the Colts, especially since they no longer have wide receiver Michael Pittman. They could use Burton even as an extra wide receiver. Losing cornerback T.J. Carrie is a blow to the Colts, but they do get Rock Ya-Sin back from injury this week and he can more than make up for that loss.

Inactives

Bears

QB Tyler Bray

DB Sherrick McManis

RB Artavis Pierce

OL Arlington Hambright

DL Daniel McCullers

WR Riley Ridley

Colts

CB T.J. Carrie

QB Jacob Eason

WR Dezmon Patmon

DT Eli Ankou

DE Ron’Dell Carter

TE Noah Togiai

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