Giants-Bears Week 17: By the Numbers
In preparing to write this week’s By the Numbers analysis, it seemed like the New York Giants had all the daunting numbers necessary to proceed by the end of the first half. At the same time, however, their latest embarrassing performance in Chicago Sunday left legitimate concerns for there being any valuable numbers to talk about at all.
Returning to the Windy City for the first time since Week 2 of the 2020 season, the Giants were blown out of Soldier Field by the Justin Fields-less Bears, 29-3, dropping their fifth straight game and falling to 4-12 overall.
With the regular season approaching its melancholy finish next weekend, all signs likely point to things ending on the bitterest of notes for a Giants team that’s been severely banged up, bereft of playmakers, and struggling to put any semblance of points on the scoreboard all year.
The latest display of ineptitude began when the Giants offense took the field for their opening possession, as quarterback Mike Glennon fumbled the ball on a sack on the first play from scrimmage, which was recovered by the Bears and turned into a 7-0 advantage the following play.
On New York’s next possession, Glennon turned the ball over again on his first pass of the day to receiver Kenny Golladay, and before one could blink, it was 14-0 Chicago, and the sound of the fat lady singing was ringing down on another miserable Giants’ defeat.
Conversely, the Bears, led by Andy Dalton, took everything the lackluster and weary Giants defense gave them. Energized from the early turnovers forced by their defense, Dalton completed 18 of 35 passes for 173 yards, one touchdown, and one interception to help the Bears tally just under 250 yards of total net offense and halt their five-game losing skid.
After gaining the early advantage, the Bears offense never looked back, scoring on five of their first seven possessions to put the Giants out of their misery before they had any chance of finding a groove and making a comeback.
With his team not giving the fans a reason to believe they could put forth a solid collective effort to win a football game, head coach Joe Judge had to resort to facing the intensifying heat and dishing out his own 11-minute emotional diatribe on why the Giants faithful should believe in the direction the organization is heading despite and remain engaged.
Unfortunately for Joe Judge, while he may have earned himself a record for the longest postgame press conference response with his plea, it likely accomplished nothing other than making him sound like a guy desperate to retain his job.
That said, here is the penultimate set of numbers and statistics that contributed to the Giants’ latest loss.
The Giants Passing Game: -10 Net Yards
Having to deal with the windy and bone-chilling conditions that normally engulf Chicago this late in the season, it wasn’t unreasonable to see the Giants offense establish more of a ground-and-pound running approach to keep the ball protected throughout the game.
Still, nobody should have expected them to shy away from the passing game nor finish in the negatives with the few times they decided to let it rip through the air either.
That is what happened Sunday, as out of their 151 yards of total offense, the Giants finished with a net total of -10 passing yards. The horrible feat marks the lowest passing yards total by any team since the 1998 San Diego Chargers, whose quarterback, Ryan Leaf, went 1-of-15 for 4 yards while losing 23 yards to sacks in one game that season.
Glennon, back in the starting spot after coming in relief of Jake Fromm in Week 16’s loss to the Eagles, finished the new record-setting debacle with four completions for 24 yards. However, the 32-year-old quarterback was sacked four times for a loss of 34 yards to account for the overall negative stat, along with averaging an unforeseen -0.7 yards per pass attempt.
A significant factor in the Giants' lack of success in the passing front was the repetitive turnovers by Glennon, who finished with four total, the most he’s had in a game this season.
Along with the fumble and interception on the first possessions of the game, Glennon fumbled the ball a second time in the third quarter in Bears territory to thwart a rare Giants drive that gained any sort of decent ground.
Then late in the fourth quarter, Glennon was picked off on third down after moving the ball six yards on the Giants second to last possession.
No passes flying through the stadium for the Giants meant virtually barren production for the Giants receiving corps. Tight end Evan Engram and receiver David Sills V led all receivers with 12 yards, but no player finished with more than three targets (Devontae Booker).
Five players left with zero yards receiving Sunday, the most notable being wide receiver Kenny Golladay whose miserable first season with the Giants after signing a $72 million deal continues.
The Giants were also horrendous in converting third downs to help themselves gain any sort of offensive production. Big Blue went 1-11 on third down efficiency putting a big dent in their ability to extend drives (the Giants had only two go for more than 20 yards. Out of their 12 possessions and 55 total plays, the Giants only secured two first downs via the passing game (13 total first downs converted).
The Giants admitted that their game plan would be to pound the pigskin against the Bears, but that didn't make the passing numbers only less disgraceful.
New York Giants Week 17 Game Coverage
Saquon Barkley’s 100-Yard Return to Chicago
If you are desperately searching for at least one silver lining to come out of the Giants loss, running back Saquon Barkley returned to Chicago and had the best game of what has been an excruciatingly challenging 2021 campaign.
The contest against the Bears was significant for the Giants’ draft positioning in the upcoming year’s festivities. It was also important for Barkley in the fourth-year player’s journey back from an intensive rehab process he began over 15 months earlier.
In Week 2 of the 2020 season, Barkley suffered a torn ACL trying to outrace defenders to the sidelines on a play in what was ultimately a 17-13 Giants loss at Soldier Field.
Being carried off the field that day, the Barkley Giants fans knew from his 2018 rookie season seemed painfully lost, but the Penn State product wouldn’t let anything stop him from returning next season and making the case he can still shine in this league.
A year and two months since that fateful day, while it hasn’t been such an amazing comeback story for Barkley, he sure as hell found his much-needed closure from the memories that may have been secretly haunting from the inside.
Taking advantage of the emphasis on the run game, Barkley led all Giants rushers with 21 carries for a season-high 102 yards and an average of 4.9 yards per carry. It was the first time all season the running back broke 100 yards rushing in a game, a feat previously surpassed only by fellow running back Devontae Booker, who did it in the Giants’ Week 9 win over the Las Vegas Raiders.
“Coming here and being able to have a 100-yard game and kind of come to the place where the injury happened and kind of made my career go backwards a little bit, it does feel good,” said Barkley. “It feels like a monkey came off my back to come to the spot where everything felt like it went downhill.”
Reaching that production level again following extensive ACL rehab has been the constant struggle for Barkley upon returning to the team at the start of the season. Behind a feeble offensive line that fails to open up holes for the backfield and other frustrating injuries like a sprained ankle that made him miss four games earlier this year, Barkley hasn’t been able to find his old burst and couple that with his strong legs to churn up respectable chunks of yardage and provide the offense with an additional playmaker that can extend drives.
As a result, it has limited his production to an average of 32.6 yards rushing per game and 3.5 yards per attempt while scoring only two rushing touchdowns in eleven previous games this season (both in Week 4).
However, on Sunday, Barkley, who was able to gain meaningful yardage and had a long run of 10 yards at one point, said none of that was an issue while praising the effort of his offensive linemen for their part in getting things going.
“Personally, to be able to get a run game going and especially with the help of the offensive line, who did a great job today, I’m appreciative of those guys up front for continuing to believe in me.”
It hasn’t been an ideal season by any stretch for Barkley and the Giants, yet the running back refuses to let anyone convince him to sit out the remaining games on the schedule to look ahead to next season. After having an outing as he did in Chicago and getting back to where he is now, Barkley feels he’s missed enough time, and nothing will change his competitive mindset.
“It’s kind of insulting me when people say that or ask me that question,” he said. “It’s like, at the end of the day I know it’s the league, but I still love this game, so me sitting out and not going out there and trying to compete for my brothers, it’s nonsense to me.”
Robert Quinn Hits 18.5 Sacks and Bears’ Record
This is a Giants channel, but we have to pay tribute to Bears defender Robert Quinn on a record-setting day.
Getting to Glennon in the fourth quarter of a blowout affair to earn his lone tackle of the game, Quinn smothered the quarterback for eight yards and one of the Bears’ four total sacks to add to an afternoon full of misery for the Giants paltry offensive line.
In the process of doing so, he raised his season tally to 18 sacks and stamped his name in the franchise record books among other Chicago defensive greats of his caliber.
With the latest sack, Quinn officially broke former Super Bowl MVP Richard Dent’s record for most sacks by a Bears player in a single season of 17.5 set in 1984.
The one caveat sports record junkies could argue is that Dent set his mark in a 16-game season, compared to Quinn, who now plays in a 17-game schedule. However, the latter defensive player set the record in the 16th game of the year, making it a fair accomplishment.
"If it took 17 games, he would have called me and made sure I knew what the heck was going on," Quinn said. "It was quite funny. [Dent] said he had 17.5 and only started 10 games. He let me know the company I was in."
Quinn began this season stuck on 5.5 sacks through the Bears’ first seven games but then went on a tear leading into Sunday’s game. Finally able to get past left tackle Andrew Thomas for the strip-sack, he’s now the Bears most ferocious weapon on the front line.
“It’s an honor,” Quinn added after the game. “At the end of the day, I’m just doing my job.
The best sack total game for the 2011 first-round pick of the then-St. Louis Rams came in late November when Quinn recorded 3.5 sacks against the Baltimore Ravens.
Three Games without Scoring Six
The scoring woes continue to worsen with each game the Giants play without Daniel Jones leading the offensive pack.
Since Jones went down to a neck strain in Week 12 that ultimately ended his season with the team placing him on injured reserve, the Giants have averaged just 9.8 points per game (16.5 per this season) and haven't come close to sniffing the endzone on many possible scoring occasions.
The Giants marked their third game in the last five on Sunday without scoring at least one touchdown on offense.
While Chicago scored three touchdowns, two on the coattails of Giants’ turnovers, all New York managed to convert was a 38-yard field goal attempt by Graham Gano in the second quarter to at least get them on the scoreboard.
The team’s leading scorer with 103 points, if it wasn’t for Gano’s reliable leg saving them, the team would have secured three shutouts in the previous three games, including Sunday, and who knows how bad their scoring averages would be.
Outside of converting when inside the red zone, the next most significant issue for the Giants offense with this problematic stat has been the ability to move the ball and produce consistent drives.
The Giants could not move the ball more than ten plays on almost every possession, except for one drive in the second quarter that spanned ten plays and resulted in Gano’s kick. In their remaining drives, the best number of plays the Giants managed was nine, and a total of ten drives languished at 20 yards or below when stalled (two combined for a total of -16 yards).
In the two games that the Giants were able to put a six-point score on the board, those numbers came in garbage time with the opponent up several scores and easing up coverage towards the end of the game.
In Week 14 against the Chargers, the Giants rallied two touchdowns in the final frame to cut a 37-7 deficit to a 37-21 final score. Last Sunday in Philadelphia, Glennon came in for the struggling Fromm and found Evan Engram on a crossing route in the final minutes to give the Giants a late touchdown and lose 34-10.
While Judge may come to his post game pressers and point out the touchdown opportunities as moments of foundational improvement, banking on garbage time scores to soften the losing load and make your team appear competitive is a very unwise tactic for keeping fans engaged with what has another gruesome rebuilding project at hand.
76-0 in the Final Two Minutes
Playing lifeless once again on both sides of the break, the Giants enlarged their scoring deficit in the final two minutes of either half this season to 76-0.
That’s right, opponents have now outscored big Blue in a combined four-minute span by almost 13 touchdowns. That number is over half the amount of touchdowns they’ve scored as a team this year (23).
In many cases, the Giants have received the ball late in the half with a golden opportunity to put points up and cut their deficit only to completely blow up offensively and hand the ball right back to the opposition, who end up doing the exact opposite.
The Giants received the football at their own 5-yard line with just over a minute remaining in the second quarter. Trailing 17-3 and pinned deep in their own territory after misjudging the distance of Chicago’s punt, very few expected the team to score but reasoned they should at least put the ball forward to give themselves wiggle room and maintain the score heading into halftime.
Instead, the Bears defensive front wrecked the Giants' running attack with Devontae Booker, sending the Giants ball carrier five yards backward in three plays into the end zone to force a safety.
Giving up two points and having their drive span just nine seconds, the Giants free-kicked the ball away to Chicago with 52 seconds left, and Dalton executed a fast seven-play, 39-yard drive in that span to allow Cairo Santos to boot one more field goal in before the zeros hit the first-half clock.
The Bears put up five points in under 60 seconds to provide one of the most heart-wrenching feats of the Giants’ embarrassing performance.
In the final minutes of the second half, the Giants offense tried to press and score a few more garbage time points but instead turned the ball over on their last two licks of the game.
With under five minutes to play, Glennon killed a three-play drive after six yards with his second interception on a pass intended for Pharoh Cooper. Luckily Dalton gave the ball right back with an interception of his own forced by James Bradberry, yet the outcome was barren once again as the Giants managed three plays and 13 yards in the final 1:42, and their luck had all run out.
Will this trend continue in next week's season finale against Washington? It sadly wouldn't surprise us.
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