The Houston Texans cut a cornerback Tuesday

The Houston Texans made some roster moves this week, including one that involved a former Chicago Bears cornerback. The Texans were looking to add help at safety earlier in the week. According to Aaron Wilson with KPRC in Houston, the Texans signed safety C.J. Moore to the team’s practice squad. The Texans cut BoPete Keyes from the practice squad to make room for Moore.

Will the former Chicago Bears CB be signed to the team off waivers?

Keyes was a teammate of Bears wide receiver Darnell Mooney at Tulane. He was signed to the Bears practice squad in 2021. The Bears cut Keyes in training camp this year. The Kansas City Chiefs drafted Keyes in the seventh round of the 2020 draft. The former Chicago Bear has appeared in 13 NFL games since. According to Pro Football Focus, Keyes has given up five receptions on seven targets in his career. One of the receptions was for a touchdown.

It’ll be interesting to see if the Bears try to claim Keyes. The Bears have three defensive backs on the practice squad. Not to mention, Keyes has a similar PFF grade to Jaylon Jones. Keyes does bring NFL game experience that could be useful to the Bears this season.

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The HITS principle that is the foundation of Matt Eberflus’ coaching philosophy has been alternatively praise and mocked by football pundits since he rolled it out at his introductory press conference. At first, there was a reflexive cynicism to the hokeyness of a professional coach relying on simplistic acronyms. However, many where willing to give him the benefit of the doubt as the principles are solid even if the delivery mechanism is tired.

HITS stands for: Hustle, intensity, takeaways and (playing) smart. This was clearly successful in their opening day comeback victory over the San Francisco 49ers both from a coaching and player perspective. He coached conservatively, making sure the Bears didn’t compound poor field position into mistakes by trying to force the issue in bad down and distance situations. The Bears bided their time, avoided the big mistakes and eventually created turnovers and took advantage of them once they occurred.

Actually the “T” in HITS stands for protecting the football as well as taking it away. Eberflus’ explained it this was at his initial presser:” T is taking care of the ball and taking the ball away. It’s all about the ball. That’s the most important thing for winning and losing, is taking the ball away and protecting the football.”

This worked (or was adhered to) in week one as they won the turnover battle and did a good job protecting the ball despite the sloppy conditions. The next four weeks were a wash in terms of turnovers—a timely takeaway could have led to a victory in the Giants and Vikings game—or the lack of a turnover in the case of Velus Jones’ muffed point.

Against Washington, the Bears lost the turnover battle and failed across the board in implementation of HITS, losing the game despite dominated the stat sheet; failing repeatedly in the red zone, a key component of the “S” in HITS.

Bears Need to Hold Players Accountable to HITS

This was a bad development. With any philosophy—particularly one that is committed to paper and the basis for your entire approach to the game—there has to be consequences, both when it is adhered to and when it is not.

Eberflus’ described the “S” in HITS this way: It’s being smart, situation players. No stupid penalties, we want to be great in the red zone, third down, two-minute, backed-up and being smart situational players.”

Velus Jones second muffed put in three games led to the Commanders only touchdown and wasn’t the only failure to adhere to the HITS principle, by a player or the coaching staff. As mentioned above, being smart situationally in the red zone and in two-minute situations is a key HITS principle.

The Bears had three trips inside of Washington’s five-yard-line without a score—not without a touchdown, but without a score. Three field goals would have meant a victory. Relying on field goals is not a bad thing, especially when your defense is playing as well as the Bears D played against the Commanders.

Bears Coach Staff Need to be Held to Account

The Bears were stopped on a fourth down inside the one-yard -line when Khalil Herbert was stuffed. Herbert is the back-up half back. He has been successful rushing the ball but is not as strong as Montgomery and does not have the same ability to gain yardage after initial contact. Using Herbert in that situation violated the principle of “smart situational football.”

In the loss to the Vikings, the Bears had a chance to come back and tie or win the game after the Vikings took back the lead late in the game. After a couple of positive plays, they moved the ball into Viking territory. Then receiver Ihmir Smith-Marsette made a catch along the sideline and instead of going out of bonds tried to cut it back for more yardage. This was a huge mistake on its own and was tragically compounded when he was stripped of the football, effectively ending the game. Two violations of HITS in one play.

Bears Violate HITS Principle

It is hard to apply the HITS principle to a team coming up against superior competition and the Bears can’t magically turn this group of wager wire castoff receivers into top round difference makers, but they can hold them to account for poor situational play. If Jones is having trouble following the ball on a punt, he could have raced forward blocked the gunner in hopes the kick would go into the end zone for a touchback. Or, given his lack of experience and his muff in a key situation at the end of the Vikings game, perhaps he shouldn’t have been out there in that situation.

In the case of Smith-Marsette, it is important to get out of bounds in that situation. This was such a poor decision that it may have been useful to release him as Velus Jones became eligible the following week. As mentioned above, if you base your approach to the game on the HITS principle, there has to be consequences for violations of the key tenets.

Smith-Marsette was later waived by the Bears ahead of Week 7.

Coach Eberflus says he will reevaluate every player in the mini-bye week prior to the New England Patriots game. He also needs to evaluate the team’s play calling and red zone offense to ensure he is holding up his end of the HITS principle.

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Jordan Lynch was the king of the world. Like Ali in the center of the ring after KO-ing Sonny Liston in 1964. Like DiCaprio in “Titanic” in 1997. OK, maybe not quite like those giants, but, man, did Lynch ever have it all going his way 10 years ago this fall. He was the quarterback of Northern Illinois, nobody could stop him and his Orange Bowl-bound Huskies couldn’t lose.

Now 32, Lynch still has reasons to ride out to DeKalb from the South Side. For one thing, his little brother, Justin, is a quarterback there. For another, it just feels so damn good.

“Believe me, when I step on that field now, I’d do anything to play again,” he said. “That’s for sure.”

But football weekends don’t belong to the Huskies anymore. They belong to the Caravan. Lynch grabbed the coaching reins at his alma mater, Mount Carmel, in 2018, won a Class 7A title — with Justin as his QB — in 2019 and now has what might be his best team yet.

The Caravan are 8-0. Loyola Academy is 8-0. Which team is the area’s true No. 1 superpower this season, we’ll find out in Saturday’s regular-season finale in Wilmette.

The game of the year on our high school scene might not be as big a deal as it was when NIU won its way into a New Year’s Day clash against mighty Florida State to cap a dream 2012 season, but those heady days are gone. Lynch is a high school coach — a very good one — and when it comes to the craving for football competition that still pumps through his veins, that more than gets the job done.

“I found a new love,” he said, “a new football fix that makes it easy not to look back and miss playing too much. I fell in love with coaching. …

“I get the same feeling, the same excitement, the same exact everything as if I was playing quarterback in the Orange Bowl or if I was on stage as a Heisman Trophy finalist, or if I was coaching college football. I get the same excitement in high school every game, not just this [Loyola] game. We can be playing whoever, with the love for the game that I have.”

But has it really been 10 years already since Lynch blew up on the college stage, competing for headlines with big-school BMOCs like Texas A&M’s Johnny Manziel, Notre Dame’s Manti Te’o and South Carolina’s Jadeveon Clowney? Where does the time go?

Lynch was a first-time starter — a junior — when NIU fell 18-17 to Iowa at Soldier Field in the 2012 opener. The Huskies lost a 17-9 fourth-quarter lead in that game, but going toe-to-toe with the Hawkeyes hardened Lynch’s belief in what was coming. And that was 12 straight wins as Lynch’s play grew into a storm the rest of the country couldn’t ignore.

Lynch rushed for 1,815 yards and became the first FBS player to run for 1,500 and pass for 3,000 in a season. He led the Mid-American Conference in rushing and passing efficiency and gained at least 100 yards on the ground 11 times, three more than any other player in the land. In the MAC title game against Kent State in Detroit, he threw for 212 yards and ran for 160, breaking the FBS record held by Michigan’s Denard Robinson for rushing yards in a season.

It was so good, it demanded a follow-up. So Lynch — from out of left field no more — came back in 2013, led the Huskies to 12 more wins and finished third, behind rock-star QBs Jameis Winston of Florida State and A.J. McCarron of Alabama, in the Heisman voting.

Twenty-four wins in two seasons. Precisely 100 touchdowns — 51 passing, 48 rushing and one receiving — accounted for. That’s a career, folks. That’s a legacy.

“I just put one foot in front of the other every day and kept chipping away,” Lynch said. “That’s all it ever was.”

A decade later, he’s gunning for another state title. First, the Caravan will tangle with Loyola, a Class 8A Goliath. That pits Lynch against Ramblers coach John Holecek, himself a former college star — at Illinois — before a long, successful career as an NFL linebacker.

It’s just high school ball. Still a heck of a big deal, though, right?

“Everything I’ve earned or gotten in my life, I had to work my ass off for,” Lynch said. “But that’s football. That’s what the game is. I’m proud to be doing this.”

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When Bears quarterback Justin Fields expressed frustration following the 12-7 loss to the Commanders on Thursday night — “We always get told that we’re almost there. I’m tired of being almost there” — it left people wondering who’s telling him that. Even if you accentuate the positive, the Bears’ offense looks like it has a long way to go.

But cornerback Jaylon Johnson put that lament into a more palatable context Tuesday, with the Bears hoping to end a three-game losing streak against the Patriots on Monday Night Football at Gillette Stadium.

“Close to winning,” Johnson said. “I feel like that comes from our coaches and I wouldn’t say they’re lying. I wouldn’t say they’re saying it just to say it. We are doing some things better. But a lot of that is overshadowed by the loss.”

Indeed, while the offense languishes near or at the bottom of the NFL in many key categories, and the Bears seem like a long way from serious postseason contention, they are close to winning. The the three consecutive losses that have dropped them to 2-4 have been by a touchdown or less — to the Giants (20-12), the Vikings (29-22) and the Commanders (12-7).

They’ve led in every game this season, including the fourth quarter against the Vikings (22-21) and Commanders (7-3).

“Considering how we’ve been losing these last few weeks, I think we’re pretty close,” Johnson said. “It’s just executing down the stretch. Like any team, there are things to improve. If we [had] won our close games, I feel like the conversations [about] this team would be different. But we’ve shot ourselves in the foot these last few games [that] we’ve lost at the end.”

Johnson’s perspective on the defense is quite different from the offense’s view of things. The Bears’ defense has its issues — the Bears are 29th in the NFL in rushing defense (163 yards per game) and 23rd in sacks (11). But while the defense hasn’t been the anchor coach Matt Eberflus needs it to be while the offense crawls before it walks, it’s still their strength and best hope to win. The Bears are fourth in the NFL in second-half scoring defense (5.8 points per game).

The Bears haven’t been very good at complementary football. The defense made stops that gave the Bears a chance to tie or win against the Giants and Commanders, but punt-return mishaps proved fatal. But when the offense rallied from a 21-3 deficit to take a 22-21 lead against the Vikings in the fourth quarter, the defense broke down — allowing a 17-play, 75-yard touchdown drive that made the difference.

If the Bears are close, they have one huge hurdle to clear. They have to learn how to finish. That’s rarely an easy problem to solve in 10 days.

“Outside of executing?” Johnson said when asked how a teams learns how to put the hammer down. “It’s not too much to change. In that moment, you’ve got to find a way to get it done.”

Every team in the NFL thinks they’re close. The Texans (1-3-1) are 31st in most power rankings, but have a points-differential of minus-13 — better than the AFC South-leading Titans (3-2, minus-22) and second-place Colts (3-2-1, minus-18). The Bears’ minus-25 differential is only three points lower than the defending Super Bowl champion Rams (3-3, minus-22).

“Everybody has been in a situation where they’ve had their backs against the wall and had to fight their way out of it. That’s the situation we’re in,” Johnson said. “There’s times in crunch time, where a play has to be made and we haven’t been on the right side of making those plays.

“We just have to find a way. It’s different for each person, but we’ve got to find a way to win our individual matchups to help the team win.”

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