Too Little Too Late for Big Blue as the Giants Fall to the Bears

The Good

The Giants defense continued to play well this week. The defensive line had yet another productive week as Mitch Trubisky was sacked four times. While the defense did have its fair share of blown coverages and mistakes, they were yet again the heart and soul of the Giants.

Not only did New York’s defense get to the quarterback, they also forced turnovers. The Giants defense had two interceptions to go along with their four sacks, while forcing a shutout in the second half.

Unlike last week, where the defense got tired and worn out, this week they seemed to get better. The Giants defense was burned for 17 first half points, but in the second half they were lights out. The defense did everything that they could to keep the team in the game.

Last week in the fourth quarter alone, Trubisky had 89 passing yards, torching the Lions defense for the entire fourth quarter. In this one, While Trubisky did throw for 160 yards in the first half, the Giants defense shut him down in the second half.

Trubisky threw for only 30 yards in the entire second half as the Giants defense stopped the red hot Bears offense over and over. From the second half of the Lions game to the first half of the Giants game, the Bears had scored 38 points and Trubisky had nearly 300 yards passing.

Trubisky and the Bears looked like they were going to stomp on the Giants and continue to be a scoring machine. Big Blue showed their toughness, however, and managed to stop them dead in their tracks. This was the one true bright spot for the Giants this week.

The Bad

While the Giants defense shined, and especially in the second half, the same can’t be said for the offense. To say the Giants offense was bad in the first half would be an understatement. The Giants were shutout and trailed 17-0 at half.

One of Big Blues biggest problems continues to be Daniel Jones turnovers. In the first half, Jones fumbled and threw an interception. The fumble was nearly an automatic RedZone opportunity for the Bears. Big Blue was lucky that is all they got. Jones’ interception killed what had been a seven play 48 yard drive with the Giants in field goal range.

Jones is not a bad quarterback. He is actually a solid player with plenty of potential. The issue is his decision making. This issue goes back to last year. Jones is a great natural passer but gives away the ball far too often. This is a must fix if the Giants want any chances of winning.

While Jones did give up the ball too much, that was not the only issue. The even bigger issue was the timing of the Giants offense actually showing up. The offense did not really start to show up until the end of the third quarter.

Big Blue finally got a drive together at the end of the third and capped it off in the early fourth with a Dion Lewis touchdown. While this was all well and good, it was far too late into the game.

If the Giants show up at all in that first half and manage to even get a field goal, then they win this game. You make one more field goal and now that last drive is a whole new story. Instead of needing a touchdown to win, they can just kick a field goal with a few seconds left and win the game 20-17.

The Ugly

As if the game would not be bad enough for Giants fans, they would receive some extremely bad news later in the afternoon. Giants star running back Saquon Barkley tore his ACL in his right knee on just the first play of the second quarter, and is out for the season. Sterling Shepard would also leave the game at the end of the first half with what seemed to be a toe injury. The Giants have yet to provide more information.

The Verdict

Big Blues defense continued to do what it needed to do. In both games, they have helped to keep the team in the game. While they have not been perfect, the Big Blue defense continues to do what is needed of them.

Daniel Jones has not been horrible, but he has not been amazing either. Jones needs to make smarter decisions with the ball and more importantly, he needs to get the Giants offense going. Big Blue can not and will not win with the way the offense has performed. Losing Barkley is a huge blow, but the team will need to rally together to try and start winning.

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