DA decision to accept penalty

I thought it was a bad call for multiple reasons. At that point we were playing crappy defense, so wasn’t feeling great they wouldn’t pick it up. Also pushing them back there, even if we stop them it’s still less than a 40 yard FG. No real benefit to taking it there in my opinion.

I thought DA would decline so Bears would go FG. Defense was not good today.

Defense was not good in the 1st half, you mean? The D was awesome in 2H. I believe the Bears didn’t cross mid field in the 2nd and we forced 4 TO’s. Halftime adjustments were on point and that may have been the best half of defensive play the Saints have ever played.

Bears would have absolutely gone for it on 4th and 2 and probably gotten it. I agree that you push them back, hope to hold them and force a FG.

It was a terrible decision.

The NFL is all about getting stops on Defense. So in lieu of a guaranteed stop situation via 4th down try or FG attempt you decided to give them another opportunity. Opportunities are what you trying to eliminate and he voluntarily gave them one.

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While true, that really shouldn't play into the decision because you never know the answer to that.

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I was coming to post that. Hindsight is 20/20. At the time of accepting the penalty, he did not have the benefit of knowing what Eberfluss would decide to do with the 4th and 2.

Personally, I probably would have declined the penalty, but I think either decision was a dice roll and each could be defended at the time (or criticized after the fact). 3rd and 12 at that part of the field should have been pretty good odds at getting a stop, or at least force 4th and longer-than-2. DA has made far worse decisions than this one.

ETA: at the time, the Bears were carving up the defense, and they're a team with nothing to lose, so I personally fully expected them to go for it on 4th and 2 and didn't have much faith we'd stop it considering the way the D was playing at that time.

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Defense forced 5 turnovers and gave up 17 pts. GTFO with that statement.

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If it weren't for the turnovers that score would be much higher. Defense was not good, but it was highly opportunistic. Watching Chicago march the field at will is not the makings of a good defensive day. The turnovers, however, are.

I would have accepted it too since the Bears probably would have went for it. The thought process is to back them up and hopefully your defense can get a stop.

I thought it was a no brainer to decline the penalty.

I guess that's why DA makes the big bux and I am just a spare fan.