I’ve Seen This Movie Before

Tell me if you’ve heard this one before; The Chicago Bears winning a game without scoring a single offensive touchdown. It happened again for their home opener against the Tennessee Titans. There was a famous Monday night game many years ago when the Bears defeated the Arizona Cardinals with defensive and special teams touchdowns while their offense played horribly. Chicago’s offense this past Sunday totaled only 148 yards. It was not a great start to QB Caleb Williams’ career, but the jury is still out on the number one overall pick. The Titans defense played masterfully and gave their offense plenty of opportunities to take control and they did. That is until Titans QB Will Levis began to lose all control. To be fair if the Titans special teams didn’t allow a blocked punt to happen and have it get returned for a touchdown, we probably wouldn’t be talking about this. Levis’ ill-timed throw under pressure with his left hand (not his natural throwing hand) resulted in the Bears defense returning that for the go-ahead touchdown. The life was sucked out of the Titans sideline and it was over at that point. I don’t take this as a sign of things to come for Chicago. With that offense they have built, it can’t happen much more. For Tennessee they can’t have their quarterback throwing the game away like that ever again.

That Was Impressive

Normally in today’s NFL, when I see a team losing by double digits against a team that they should be able to defeat, they fold like a napkin. Buffalo impressed me by not panicking and playing to their strengths which was to let QB Josh Allen take command of the game. Arizona isn’t expected to be a contender, but they will be a tough matchup for some teams if QB Kyler Murray stays healthy. Being down 17-3, Allen led the Bills down the field for a touchdown just before halftime. When the 3rd quarter started, the Bills scored two more touchdowns to take command of the game and never look back. It got closer because the Cardinals returned a kickoff for a touchdown, but Buffalo’s defense made adjustments and allowed only 3 points to the Cardinals offense the entire second half. This game bodes well for Buffalo going forward and whether they can win theses kinds of games with tougher opponents in the future.

Some Concerns, But A Victory Nonetheless

Detroit’s secondary still has some issues that they will need to shore up this season. Rams WR Cooper Kupp was dissecting them all day long for 14 catches, 110 yards and a touchdown. The Lions also didn’t get a good performance out of QB Jared Goff. There was consistent pressure being put on him and the fact that WR Amon-Ra St. Brown was kept quiet with only 3 catches for 13 yards was a testament for the Rams defense. Detroit’s bread and butter was the running game and when overtime started, RB David Montgomery took control. He ran it right up the middle on the Rams defense and they knew it was coming, but couldn’t stop him. This one game doesn’t define Detroit going forward, but they do need to make adjustments to remain in contention for the long run.