Game Balls: Bears 41, Jaguars 17
The most important thing that will be remembered from the Jacksonville Jaguars 41-17 loss to the Chicago Bears in Week 16 is that it became the day the Jags locked up the No. 1 pick in the NFL Draft for the first time in franchise history. Of course, there were other performances of note.
From positive performances that are encouraging signs for the future to plays that made a difference in what can become a franchise-defining loss, these are the players and moments that stood out on Sunday.
Offense
The memes were endless as D.J. Chark toe drug his way to a beautiful touchdown grab versus the Chicago Bears on Sunday as the former Pro Bowler went up and over Kindle Victor at the pylon. Twisting his body after the high-point catch, Chark dropped a toe from one foot and carefully placed the other before dragging them along the boundary of the endzone for the score. It took no time at all for social media to be flooded with the Chadwick Boseman, “Black Panther” meme, paraphrasing the declaration for someone to “get this man a quarterback.”
And in a season when Chark has seen his target-catch ratio plummet with the carousel at quarterback, the acrobatic athletic catch was a reminder that Chark can be a game-changer; for that matter, so was the overthrow towards the end of the first quarter or the interception Glennon threw at the end of the first half when he was targeting Chark in the middle of the field. Chark needs a passer who knows his speed and can put the ball in his still admittedly wide catch radius.
Chark finished with four receptions for 62 yards and a touchdown.
Honorable Mention: With James Robinson sidelined with an ankle injury, the Jags turned to journeyman Dare Ogunbowale. He finished with 14 rushes for 71 yards (5.1 yards per carry) along with three receptions for seven yards. There’s no question Robinson is the Jaguars number one running back and biggest offensive weapon heading into the offseason. But he’s also been asked to carry the entire rushing attack for the majority of the season. Ogunbowale could use the tape from today to impress another team or show the Jaguars he can be a solid back-up to Robinson. Regardless, he needed a productive day and had just that.
Defense
In an otherwise disappointing season—especially on defense—middle linebacker Joe Schobert has carved out a spot as both a playmaker and leader in the middle of the field. He continued that strong play again on Sunday, with eight tackles and an interception. The latter is his third of the season, meaning he now leads the team in that category. It was a lame duck from Mitchell Trubisky, thrown into—no lie—quintuple coverage. But each of those parts were moving, not necessarily a scrum. Schobert read the throw and cut across the endzone like he was running a crossing route. It was a bad throw by Trubisky but a good read and play by Schobert, one of the many he’s continuing to make. Add on a strip-sack earlier in the day and it was a good game for the veteran, even with the lopsided score.
Honorable mention: If you’re in the boat of wanting to see the Jaguars tank, then there’s another game ball that has to be given for Sunday’s performance. As long as I live and watch football, I don’t know if I’ll get over the fact Defensive Coordinator Todd Wash dropped eight to cover a touchdown when all the Bears needed was 10-yards in the middle of the field with only time to get in field goal range. Unsurprisingly, Chicago converted the 10-yard pass and with five seconds remaining, kicked a 40-yard field goal to take a 13-10 lead into halftime.
It was only matched by the Bears opening drive of the second half, when the Jags played man in the red zone with no one on the mobile quarterback. Trubisky ran in the easy six-yard touchdown and the route was on.
Special Teams
The actual game ball goes to Aldrick Rosas who continued to fill in well enough for Josh Lambo who remains on IR. He hit the 26-yard chip shot to open scoring and made his two point-after attempts which is more than most team’s kickers can say this season.
But again, with respect to needing to lose for draft status, we have to give credit to linebacker Dakota Allen. On a 4th-and-3 from their own 35-yard line, Head Coach Doug Marrone elected to run a fake punt. The direct snap to safety Andrew Wingard proved successful with a run that picked up 10-yards ... but it was called back after a holding call from Dakota Allen. Now facing 4th-and-13 Jacksonville was forced to punt.
