Nick Foles vs. Chicago Bears: 17/36, 200 Yards, 1 INT, 53.0 Passer Rating

3rd Quarter

Pass #22

Situation: 2nd and 7 SL 48
Description: Q3-(12:56) N. Foles Pass Incomplete Deep Right to J. Cook [J. Jenkins]

Foles must of not seen Cook till it was too late because any QB would have gone to Cook early if they saw how open he was. Cook has Acho covering him and its a complete mismatch as seen with Cook running right by him. Austin appears to be the first read on the post route but Porter is playing bail coverage and his hips are facing the right way to cover the route. Foles should of seen Cook wide open and floated it over Acho for a big gain. Instead he either waits for Austin too long or he is way too hesitant to throw this to Cook. By the time he is ready to throw to Cook, Jenkins is on top of him and Foles cannot step into his throw. As a result, the ball is under thrown and too far outside for Cook to catch in bounds. (9/21, 100 Yards)

Pass #23

Situation: 3rd and 7 SL 48
Description: Q3-(12:49) N. Foles Pass Short Middle to T. Austin to CHI 40 for 12 Yards (B. Callahan). Penalty on SL-G. Robinson, Offensive Holding, 10 Yards, Enforced at SL 48 - No Play

There is nothing wrong with what Foles does on this play. With Welker dragging Anderson inside with his crossing route and Callahan drifting outside in his flat coverage, Austin is open on the slant route. Foles makes the right read and while his throw is a little high, Austin comes down with the ball for a first down. This gets called back for another correct holding call as Robinson spins Young around when Robinson is beat to the outside.

Pass #24

Situation: 3rd and 17 SL 38
Description: Q3-(12:20) N. Foles Pass Short Middle to W. Welker to 50 for 12 Yards (J. Anderson)

Its 3rd and 17 and the Bears are playing a deep shell coverage. There is nowhere for Foles to go on this play but underneath to Welker and he makes the right choice in doing this. (10/22, 112 Yards)

Pass #25

Situation: 2nd and 1 SL 26
Description: Q3-(6:18) N. Foles Pass Incomplete Deep Right to B. Quick (A. Rolle) [S. Acho]

Foles again gets stuck on his first read and needs to go through his progression. Coming off the play action fake, his first read is to Quick on the post route. There is no way Quick is going to be open on the post route as the Bears are in a Cover 1 Man coverage and Rolle is playing in center field. Foles needs to see this and go through his progression. If he goes to his next read in Cook, he would have seen Cook has inside leverage on Amos and with Amos playing off coverage, Cook gets a step or two on Amos on the dig route. Foles should throw it underneath to him instead of trying to force a pass to Quick. Foles gets hit after the throw but the pocket held up for over three seconds so Foles should of been able to move through his progression. (10/23, 112 Yards)

Pass #26

Sitiuation: 3rd and 6 SL 21
Description: Q3-(6:11) N. Foless Pass Short Middle to W. Welker Pushed Out of Bounds at SL 35 for 14 Yards (B. Callahan)

Foles does everything right on this play. His first read is the wheel route of Cunningham but he is well covered by Houston. Foles comes off of this read quickly and goes through his progression. His next read is Welker on the crossing route. Welker is open underneath due the outside alignment of Callahan and Foles makes a good read to go to Welker. Instead of throwing a fastball like he has done most of the game to Welker, he throws a touch pass that hits Welker on the run and the Rams pick up the first down. (11/24, 126 Yards)

Pass #27

Situation: 3rd and 5 SL 40
Description: Q3-(4:26) N. Foles Pass Short Middle to B. Quick to CHI 23 for 37 Yards (A. Rolle)

Foles finally throws the high and inside fastball of a pass to the right receiver and the Rams get a big gain. Foles’s is reading the two slant routes on the left hand side of the field and he sees that Quick has gotten inside leverage of Callahan. Callahan recovers nicely to get in decent position but Quick is open for a completion with the right throw. Foles takes this chance and throws a pass that looks similar to his passes to Welker earlier in the game. Quick is 6’3″ though so he is able to snatch it out of the air and break the slant route for a big gain. (12/25, 163 Yards)

Pass #28

Situation: 2nd and 7 CHI 20
Description: Q3-(2:59) N. Foles Pass Incomplete Deep Middle to B. Quick

I can see what Foles is thinking here with this throw. Quick is a big receiver and Fuller is giving up four inches against him. Also Quick does get initial inside leverage on Fuller on the post route and Amos is too far away in his deep middle coverage to get over the top of the route. But Fuller recovers well and any throw to Quick has to be perfect for a completion. Foles takes this chance and throws a high fastball. Foles throws the pass too high though and Quick cannot bring it down for the completion. This isn’t Foles’ only option though. If he goes to his second read (Cook on the crossing route), he would see Cook has beaten Callahan to the inside. There is a hole between Anderson and McClellin that Foles can throw this pass through and even if he is late on the throw, Cook is 6’5″ so he can just throw it over the LBs and let Cook go up and get the catch for a touchdown. (12/26, 163 Yards)

Pass #29

Situation: 3rd and 7 CHI 20
Description: Q3-(2:53) N. Foles Pass Incomplete to Short Middle to T. Austin

Everything Foles does on this play is fine. He sees the mismatch of Austin versus Callahan (after taking a quick peek of Porter playing tight coverage on Welker) and Austin is open underneath Callahan who doesn’t want to be burned deep. Foles throws a great pass as well but Austin drops it after being hit by Callahan. (12/27, 163 Yards)

For the 4th Quarter, see the next page