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Only Rams/Bears commentary posted. To read the whole article click the link below.
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https://profootballtalk.nbcsports.c...s-chiefs-mahomes-fmia-nfl-week-14-peter-king/
By Peter King
Night window—Either the Rams don’t like playing in 25-degree wind chill, or the Bears’ defense is going to make Chicago a threat to play into February. Or both. Bears 15, formerly explosive and wildly entertaining Rams 6.
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Chicago is going to be trouble in January. I’d say “big trouble” if Mitchell Trubisky was as trustworthy as a playoff quarterback needs to be. He might play well in January, but he hasn’t shown enough to make Bears fans confident that he will. Until he is, this team will have to win with defense, and it showed it can against one of the league’s most explosive offensive teams. This was a Butkus/Singletary type of performance.
The first 10 Rams possessions ended in: field goal, punt, pick, field goal, punt, safety, punt, pick, missed field goal. Yikes. It was 25 degrees at Soldier Field Sunday night, with virtually no wind. But the Bears gave the Rams no room to breathe. And that was without dominating performances from the best two Chicago defenders, Khalil Mack and Akiem Hicks (two sacks, six tackles between them).
What makes this D so imposing? The fact that pressure comes not just from two men. The Bears now have 25 interceptions, by the way. They had 24 in the previous three years combined.
Getty Images
Don’t buy Sean McVay falling on the sword. When your offense stinks, the popular thing to do is for the coach and/or play-caller to take all the blame. “Certainly don’t blame Jared for the bad spots I put him in,” McVay said. What should we blame him for, exactly?
In the last two games, at Detroit and at Chicago, Goff has stunk it up: 48-percent passing, 193 passing yards per game, one touchdown, five picks. Maybe the weather bugged the California kid Sunday. It’s not time to panic, certainly. But Goff’s got to be much better for this team to win big in the playoffs.
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Regarding the debate over the MVP, and whether defensive tackle Aaron Donald should be a legitimate prime candidate for the award, I have three thoughts:
1. The name of the award is “Most Valuable Player,” not “Best Player, Regardless of Position,” or “Most Outstanding Player.” And it’s hard to think that a defensive tackle, even one as incredibly good as Donald, would contribute as much to a very good team as a top quarterback would to a very good team.
2. Putting emotion aside, ask this question: What would the record of the Rams—11-1 after 12 games—be without Donald, versus the record of the Saints (10-2) without Drew Brees or the Chiefs (10-2) without Patrick Mahomes? (Or even the Rams without Jared Goff or Todd Gurley?)
3. I asked Pro Football Focus to calculate the WAR (Wins Above Replacement), the metric showing how many wins each player is worth to his team versus an average player at the position, in the NFL after 13 weeks. The PFF list of WAR for the candidates most often mentioned as MVP candidates, and including Donald:
Patrick Mahomes, 6.22
Drew Brees, 6.22
Philip Rivers, 4.55
Jared Goff, 4.37
Russell Wilson, 3.59
Deshaun Watson, 2.20
Aaron Donald, 1.82
Todd Gurley, 0.56
Interesting that the value of the defensive tackle for the Rams is higher than the value of the running back, in the eyes of PFF.
Donald’s WAR is significantly higher than any other defensive player; Bobby Wagner (1.49) is next.
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https://profootballtalk.nbcsports.c...s-chiefs-mahomes-fmia-nfl-week-14-peter-king/
By Peter King
Night window—Either the Rams don’t like playing in 25-degree wind chill, or the Bears’ defense is going to make Chicago a threat to play into February. Or both. Bears 15, formerly explosive and wildly entertaining Rams 6.
---------------------------
Chicago is going to be trouble in January. I’d say “big trouble” if Mitchell Trubisky was as trustworthy as a playoff quarterback needs to be. He might play well in January, but he hasn’t shown enough to make Bears fans confident that he will. Until he is, this team will have to win with defense, and it showed it can against one of the league’s most explosive offensive teams. This was a Butkus/Singletary type of performance.
The first 10 Rams possessions ended in: field goal, punt, pick, field goal, punt, safety, punt, pick, missed field goal. Yikes. It was 25 degrees at Soldier Field Sunday night, with virtually no wind. But the Bears gave the Rams no room to breathe. And that was without dominating performances from the best two Chicago defenders, Khalil Mack and Akiem Hicks (two sacks, six tackles between them).
What makes this D so imposing? The fact that pressure comes not just from two men. The Bears now have 25 interceptions, by the way. They had 24 in the previous three years combined.
Getty Images
Don’t buy Sean McVay falling on the sword. When your offense stinks, the popular thing to do is for the coach and/or play-caller to take all the blame. “Certainly don’t blame Jared for the bad spots I put him in,” McVay said. What should we blame him for, exactly?
In the last two games, at Detroit and at Chicago, Goff has stunk it up: 48-percent passing, 193 passing yards per game, one touchdown, five picks. Maybe the weather bugged the California kid Sunday. It’s not time to panic, certainly. But Goff’s got to be much better for this team to win big in the playoffs.
-------------
Regarding the debate over the MVP, and whether defensive tackle Aaron Donald should be a legitimate prime candidate for the award, I have three thoughts:
1. The name of the award is “Most Valuable Player,” not “Best Player, Regardless of Position,” or “Most Outstanding Player.” And it’s hard to think that a defensive tackle, even one as incredibly good as Donald, would contribute as much to a very good team as a top quarterback would to a very good team.
2. Putting emotion aside, ask this question: What would the record of the Rams—11-1 after 12 games—be without Donald, versus the record of the Saints (10-2) without Drew Brees or the Chiefs (10-2) without Patrick Mahomes? (Or even the Rams without Jared Goff or Todd Gurley?)
3. I asked Pro Football Focus to calculate the WAR (Wins Above Replacement), the metric showing how many wins each player is worth to his team versus an average player at the position, in the NFL after 13 weeks. The PFF list of WAR for the candidates most often mentioned as MVP candidates, and including Donald:
Patrick Mahomes, 6.22
Drew Brees, 6.22
Philip Rivers, 4.55
Jared Goff, 4.37
Russell Wilson, 3.59
Deshaun Watson, 2.20
Aaron Donald, 1.82
Todd Gurley, 0.56
Interesting that the value of the defensive tackle for the Rams is higher than the value of the running back, in the eyes of PFF.
Donald’s WAR is significantly higher than any other defensive player; Bobby Wagner (1.49) is next.
