It wouldnt be 10 a.m. Thursday without checking in with The McNeil and Spiegel Show on WSCR-AM The Score 670, Danny Mac and Ben Finfer this morning sitting in for Spiegs.
A little fun with great death scenes from movies, which the guys were chatting up when I joined them. The shark getting it in Jaws by Ben was a good call, as was Jack Dawson sinking into the depths of the North Atlantic.
My big three? Denzel Washington being taken out at the end of Training Day (richly deserved, as Mac correctly stated); Sonny Corleone getting his at the toll booth; and Val Kilmers Doc Hollidays one-shot takedown of Michael Biehns Johnny Ringo in Tombstone (Johnny wasnt a daisy after all).
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The J.J. Watt problem was of more pressing interest for the week, and my sense of Watt continues to be a version of Dan Hampton and Julius Peppers, a defensive end with the power, strength and talent to drop inside and at any position to create a mismatch. Peppers has done it since he came to Chicago; Hampton went from left end to nose in the 46 (he also was defensive player of the year at D-tackle); and Watt at 290 pounds and 6-6 does the same.
Solution? There is none. Jury-rigging your offense to deal with that is a mistake, especially for an offense still forming. The Bears absolutely must run the ball (the Texans are good enough to dial Brandon Marshall down) and that is what they want to do and do well. This will be about whether the Bears can do their thing well.
Where is the bleeding coming from?
My thought to Mac was that the Bears offense is not hemorrhaging; its bleeding from a dozen paper cuts. A Kellen Davis drop cutthen a Gabe Carimi breakdown cutthen a Jay Cutler ball-hold cutthen. You get the idea.
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And coordinator Mike Tice has had some cuts. Abandoning later calls in the game plan because of a first-play sack, occasional lapsesTice knows what he wants to do and what wins. His role model as much as any is legendary Chuck Knox, and that means make your passing game truly lethal through ground supremacy.
Tice is excellent at looking for input and fresh ideas. Sometimes he just needs to trust that his have been pretty good over the past couple years and go with that.
And the pick for this weekend? Mac hadnt been able to make a pick so I wont, either. My preseason call was a loss to Houston and win at San Francisco; have to look at the first of those really close in the next day or two.