Chris Cooley evaluates horrible loss to the Bears

Some excellent analysis as always from Thursday’s embarrassing loss.

“You can’t lose these games. You can’t get down like that early in games.”

That’s how former Washington tight end and Redskins radio broadcaster Chris Cooley began describing his observations of the Commanders’ horrendous 40-20 Thursday night loss to the Bears.

Cooley appeared on the “Kevin Sheehan Show” podcast on Friday. Here are a few of his observations. Here is the link to the entire episode.

“If you are a good team, then win these games. If you are a good team, then consistently find ways to win these games. They can be a good team, but they are not. There is a lack of consistency.”

“Who are they? They got run by the (0-4) Bears early in this game!”

“I thought Washington was garbage. And are they going to continue to give up over 30 points a game? They are early in the season, so the preparation…….”

“He (Sam Howell) is better than Taylor Heinicke.”

Regarding Sam Howell’s interception: “They (receivers) are too short on their route. That route has to be run 10-12 yards by Curtis Samuel, period. But he cut it off five yards early, which would take about one second longer.”

Trailing 27-11 when Coach Rivera chose to kick a field goal on 4th & 3. “My concern is you haven’t stopped the Bears enough, so at this point, you can’t trade field goals with them, which is exactly what happened. Didn’t Chicago drive right down the field and kick a field goal?”

Playing against Philly last week, a big game, it went right down to the end. Getting your body ready for a Thursday night game is a challenge…They are early in the year, so I don’t know if they were tired, stiff, sore, but it sure didn’t affect the Bears” (who also played a close game Sunday, losing 31-28 to Denver).

“You know you can do a lot of preparation early for a Thursday night game. You could actually do some preparation during the preseason for your Thursday night game so that you are not waiting until you travel back from Philadelphia on Sunday night.”

I’ll bet you right now there are probably about 25 players upset, and they are cursing the coaches, the game plan. And there are probably several coaches saying, ‘these guys just don’t get it.’ Every dude in that locker room is probably pointing the finger at someone…there is a huge disconnect between coaching and playing. And I am not here putting it on either side. I think it is probably on both, and we need to figure something out.”

Chris Cooley: ‘This team has a chance to win a lot of games’

Cooley was super impressed with Sam Howell in Week 2.

“This is a team that definitely has a chance to win a lot of football games,” said Chris Cooley, former Washington tight end.

Chris Cooley was a guest on the “Kevin Sheehan Show” podcast, Wednesday.

Here is a sampling of what Cooley had to say about the Commanders’ performance against the Broncos last week.

“The offense played with a lot of confidence… and a lot of speed that I’ve not seen in a while (from Washington). They played fast.”

“The defense made Marvin Mims look like the All-Star of All-Stars in the first half of this game.”

“On defense, 57 (Cody Barton) no eyes whatsoever. Lost as far as eyes and vision.”

“As for the defense, after the s___ show in the first half, they came back and played a much better game.”

Regarding Emmanuel Forbes? “This is where you learn quick as a rookie. There is one thing Denver was trying to do in that position (:09 remaining with no timeouts). Forbes cannot let the receiver get outside of him to allow that catch. The game is over at that point. Understandable that you are a rookie. But there is one conversation we are having before that play. ‘They cannot get out of bounds.’ You cannot give them an easy four-second out-of-bounds play of 16 yards.”

“Sam Howell, he is a stud. He had great poise in the pocket. He had a ton of courage in the pocket. He stood there, made big throws and got hit in the face. He is not afraid. He stayed in the pocket a lot more than rookie quarterbacks will stay in there with the pressure.”

“Most of the throws he made were incredibly catchable balls into tight windows. I thought he was really accurate. I was impressed.”

Cooley provided several more very good insightful observations from his watching of the film. You will be glad when you listen and you will feel more informed as well.