How Bout Dem Bears?

SameOleJay

I'm not as down as others with that.

Texan's pass rush is exceptional, we knew our tackles were limited so the results were little surprise. White was poor and the pass rush was strangely absent. But there were positives. I think the interior of the line could be great, the ilbs are exceptional and the secondary looks to have promise.

Confident enough for a solid season, looking forward to MNF.

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SameOleJay wrote: »

I'm not as down as others with that.

Texan's pass rush is exceptional, we knew our tackles were limited so the results were little surprise. White was poor and the pass rush was strangely absent. But there were positives. I think the interior of the line could be great, the ilbs are exceptional and the secondary looks to have promise.

Confident enough for a solid season, looking forward to MNF.

Yeah it wasn't all bad. Like I said, Freeman, and also Travathan, look to have been worth the money. If Leonard Floyd keeps developing, then last Sunday was a pretty good indication that he can be really, really good. But it'll take a little time.To be honest I expected our front 7 to be good though, no surprises.

Offensively though so much needs to click. I know the Oline will get better as they go along this year but we'll be under pressure a lot with Massie at RT. The running game, all aspects of it, have to improve, and unless White shows serious improvement in the next three or four games, it's really not too early to start considering him a bust. Not giving up on him yet.

That having been said, he and the team have a perfect opportunity to shine on Monday. Eagles are rebuilding as well, and they seem pretty weak in the secondary so there are opportunities for WRs to show that they have a bit of something about them. We have guys who can put pressure on their rookie QB. I wouldn't say it's going to be easy, we're limited in some ways, but this is a perfect game to establish that we are not a team to be taken for granted. I think we win by about six.

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As embarrassing as anything under trest. We are as bad as ever, no progress. We don't get to laugh at the browns anymore.

Magico Gonzalez

Jay Cutler started reasonably and got a lot worse. There are major issues in that offense, not sure the new OC has clicked with Cutler and the team. Cutler looked like a beaten man in the presser afterwards. Early days but the NFC North is a tough division and you guys will need to find an offense very quickly to avoid being bottom of the pile.

On the other hand, Carson Wentz is the real deal.

bannerman2005

There are so many holes on the team. Losing Bennett and Forte in the offseason meant that this was going to be a tough year. Maybe being bottom of the pile isn't so bad if it means being able to draft a game changer. Not happy with it but the Bears are in a rebuild situation.

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Magico Gonzalez wrote: »

Jay Cutler started reasonably and got a lot worse. There are major issues in that offense, not sure the new OC has clicked with Cutler and the team. Cutler looked like a beaten man in the presser afterwards. Early days but the NFC North is a tough division and you guys will need to find an offense very quickly to avoid being bottom of the pile.

On the other hand, Carson Wentz is the real deal.

To be fair to Cutler, he was doing good things up until the third quarter, when he apparently injured his thumb on the fumble. He shooed away medical staff after that and played on when he clearly shouldn't have done. I guess when you have media twerps questioning your toughness all the time you start thinking you have a point to prove. But no point blaming the media for Jay's stupid decision. If he sounded defeated afterwards it's probably because it's the same injury that put him out for the whole season in 2011. At least there isn't a promising season gone down the drain this year...Regarding the OC, he really can't have any excuses either. Especially regarding clicking with Cutler, he was his QB coach last year and Cutler spoke glowingly of him, but so far he has proven (as many of us suspected) a massive step down from Gase, who really did get the best from Cutler.

Loggains's playcalling has been bad, his attempts to establish the run early seem to be based on the fictional notion that Jeremy Langford will be able to do it. We have seen that the run game works best when they rotate the backs in and out. The o-line is an absolute shambles, even Kyle Long, a pro-bowler every year he's played, looked awful, and was half responsible (along with Cutler himself) for one atrocious early sack. But they just have no chemistry there. Whitehair looks OK, and I'm sure Long and Sitton will step up, but Massie is woeful. Our offense is basically one wide receiver.

bannerman2005 wrote: »

There are so many holes on the team. Losing Bennett and Forte in the offseason meant that this was going to be a tough year. Maybe being bottom of the pile isn't so bad if it means being able to draft a game changer. Not happy with it but the Bears are in a rebuild situation.

I didn't have a problem with losing Bennett, because he was a locker room poison, and didn't give a flying damn about anyone but himself (his behaviour in interviews since has proven what kind of a man he is). Forte going makes sense in terms of getting younger, but then we go and sign Sitton (dropping Robbie Gould to do so) and you start wondering: are they looking to win now or get younger, the mixed signals are confusing. They clearly placed faith in Langford that they shouldn't have. Forte would have stayed as a Bear for less money than the Jets are giving him (they gave him 3 million, so we can probably assume we'd have gotten him for 2).

I have no problem cutting ties with veterans if there is a clear rebuilding plan (which was why I was so suspicious of them dropping Slauson earlier in the year). It seems more like Ryan Pace is dropping guys and CREATING holes that he doesn't yet know how to fill.

Again, I actually don't even mind bad days like yesterday if there's evidence of progress down the tracks, but it's almost like Pace doesn't like the idea of anyone on his team that he hasn't personally picked. That's a problem when his two first round draft picks so far look like busts (I know it's too early to say that, White looked a little better yesterday and Floyd was good the first day out).

I'm also not a huge fan of the idea that getting a high draft pick is all that great of a compensation. We had this argument on the thread in the past, but I just think losing creates a loser culture that's hard to break out of, especially when you're sticking with the GM and HC for the foreseeable. We need to be showing that we can win, that we're a team others can't take for granted, that we have something to be fearful of. High draft picks haven't helped the Browns or the Buccs, low picks haven't hurt the Pats or the Steelers. The culture created by your main guys is worth any high draft pick.

I dunno. Maybe yesterday was a blip, but with Cutler's injury possibly putting him out for a long time, I can see things being really bad. Also we had a very, very long list of injuries last night, another element to the disaster.

It's really unfortunate that we're on prime time again next week. I'd love if we could put our heads down and have nobody watch our games for a couple of weeks while we try to right the ship.

thomond2006

Have the Bears got any chance in Dallas?

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thomond2006 wrote: »

Have the Bears got any chance in Dallas?

Not with Brian hoyer starting I don't think. And not with the shocking number of injuries on defense. We've pretty much lost all our best players except freeman. I think as the year goes on and we bring Howard into the running game and the o line improves we'll look a little less pathetic, but at the moment we have a few weeks of very hard viewing ahead unfortunately. If I see us running the ball successfully in the first half, see our secondary continue to show such promise (from its second string, in fact, Jacoby Glenn had been great), and if Brian hoyer doesn't turn the ball over too often, I'll be happy.

D9Male

For a guy who signs as a backup and is clearly replacement level, Brian Hoyer gets a lot of game time.

If he were to walk into my office one morning, I would be nervous that I would be leaving in an ambulance shortly, with Hoyer taking my place at my desk.

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Well, looking at Osweiler today, and knowing that Wentz has only played the Browns other than us and is being touted as the greatest QB since Jesus lined out with 12 men on the field, I think it's fair to say we are making inflated reputations for up and coming QBs. So it's a good week for Dak Prescott...

I would say that Monday night had as much to do with the crappy situations the O left our D in as it did with the D itself. But another "big day for the rookie" and we can say we are basically the practice team for these young lads to build a bit of confidence before they play real teams.

thomond2006

The next three games aren't the worst:

vs Lions
@ Colts
vs Jaguars

aaronm13

The Langford and Fuller injuries are going to hurt bad. Think we can stick a fork in this season already. Sunday night was bleak.

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thomond2006 wrote: »

The next three games aren't the worst:

vs Lions
@ Colts
vs Jaguars

If we can't get a win out of those, we can start looking at mock drafts, and thinking about our #1 pick. Kizer? Watson?

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aaronm13 wrote: »

The Langford and Fuller injuries are going to hurt bad. Think we can stick a fork in this season already. Sunday night was bleak.

Everyone was depressed by Sunday, and while it's understandable, there were a few bright spots for me, and one of them was to do with Langford. Not that I'm happy he was injured, but we have seen who he is at this point IMO. Howard has been showing lots of flashes and I've been hoping they'll put him in to start. Now they are going to be forced to do so. Not saying he'll light up the field but he looks to have the potential to do something, establish the run.

Fuller, well, that points towards the problem that John Fox seems to have with pathological lying about the extent of player injuries. He's a big loss alright, although it's not clear that he's out for the whole season, he could come back.

There needs to be a serious response this week. Last week the real worry for me was the total lack of fight from the D until it was far too late. If they don't show any reaction to two weeks worth of prime time humiliation in a row, then the question marks about how Fox has them prepared to go out start turning into job security question marks. And I really don't want to see us blowing it up and starting again, think it would be a disaster. But it will be a real possibility.

thomond2006

G'wan Da Bears, on the board! Is it worth watching back?

@ Colts and at home to Jaguars next, can we hope for 3-3 going to Green Bay?

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thomond2006 wrote: »

G'wan Da Bears, on the board! Is it worth watching back?

@ Colts and at home to Jaguars next, can we hope for 3-3 going to Green Bay?

Amazing how fortunes can change in the NFL. Just for the record, I think I was right about Howard!! More importantly, the defence showed that they have serious fight and pride. Be interested to see if they can do it against a running team as well.

Definitely winnable games the next two weeks but we are still a bad team. Jags will also feel they have momentum at the moment and we know the colts can blow hot and cold. 2-4 going into the packers game is realistic, 3-3 would be amazing.

Badabing

White probably out for the season, if surgery needed.

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Badabing wrote: »

White probably out for the season, if surgery needed.

****. Was only just starting to show something. Career development wise it's a disaster if true.

Realt Dearg Sec

Right, so what do ye think this week? I was optimistic until I saw our injury list. Along with White now being on IR, Alshon and Eddie Royal are also Questionable. So that is, potentially, our entire starting WR corps. Leno is also questionable.

Up until now it was just our D that had a massive number of injuries but this is really ridiculous. I don't know what the stats are like for other teams but I really doubt there's too many dealing with the kind of injury list we have and it's only week 5. We have 16 guys on our injury report, the vast majority of whom would be either starters, or have stood in as starters for other guys already on the list. 75% of our starters, basically...Not making excuses but that really is a number that would require them to move mountains to surmount, no matter who they are playing. Hopefully some of the injuries are overstated, although Fox's tendency has been to understate these things, so I'm not particularly confident.

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Realt Dearg Sec wrote: »

Amazing how fortunes can change in the NFL. Just for the record, I think I was right about Howard!! More importantly, the defence showed that they have serious fight and pride. Be interested to see if they can do it against a running team as well.

Definitely winnable games the next two weeks but we are still a bad team. Jags will also feel they have momentum at the moment and we know the colts can blow hot and cold. 2-4 going into the packers game is realistic, 3-3 would be amazing.

Ugh, well that was two weeks worth of crashing back to reality. Two games we could have won but, particularly this week, found a way to lose. I would blame in particular the woefully inept and conservative playcalling on offense in the 2nd half. Hoyer is limited but he showed a willingness to open up the field in the first half that kept the Jags guessing and allowed us to move the ball both short and long. Second half? Oh well, we're a solid ten points up, let's just try to ride it out. Screens only please, dink and dunk...we had totally dominated possession, yardage, etc, up to that point, but rather than finish them off the coaches got scared and tried to wait it out. Idiotic stuff and we deserve to be 1-5. The back-up QB excuse won't wash with me after yesterday, we had two winnable games and shat the bed in both. Now we will be going to Green Bay to give them a nice confidence boost after their bad few weeks, nice for us to be able to help them right the ship.

I'll probably tune into that game because you never know, we might grow some balls in the next few days and actually play to our potential, but other than a Packers game, I've pretty much checked out of this season. Somebody call me when they fire Dowell Loggains.

Realt Dearg Sec

I dunno what happened to all the other Bears posters, but I suppose it's hard to blame ye!

What we learned last night: our 3rd string can't beat the Packers.

Matt Barkley is as bad as a 3rd string QB would be.

Leonard Floyd might work out in time to be a really good first round pick.

I don't know half the guys playing our secondary, but all in all I think Fangio did as well as you could have expected with what he had, they just got gassed having to be on the field so much in the second.

Our O-line is going to be good once Long and Sitton return, really good. There is nothing to gain from putting Cutler back on the field before then.

There is nothing to gain from this season whatsoever, except for experience for our depth guys.

I wish I cared more about baseball and less about football.

Brendan Bendar

Realt Dearg Sec wrote: »

I dunno what happened to all the other Bears posters, but I suppose it's hard to blame ye!

What we learned last night: our 3rd string can't beat the Packers.

Matt Barkley is as bad as a 3rd string QB would be.

Leonard Floyd might work out in time to be a really good first round pick.

I don't know half the guys playing our secondary, but all in all I think Fangio did as well as you could have expected with what he had, they just got gassed having to be on the field so much in the second.

Our O-line is going to be good once Long and Sitton return, really good. There is nothing to gain from putting Cutler back on the field before then.

There is nothing to gain from this season whatsoever, except for experience for our depth guys.

I wish I cared more about baseball and less about football.

I thought Barkley did very well for a 3rd string.

aaronm13

Realt Dearg Sec wrote: »

I dunno what happened to all the other Bears posters, but I suppose it's hard to blame ye!

Kinda hard to put into words watching the last couple of bleak games. So so Jay ready to go for next week? Just so glad hockey is back, go Hawks!

thomond2006

RDS et al, I hope to be at the Vikings game at Halloween night. Any tips for a pre-match venue for a few choice beverages?

Badabing

Cutler cleared to play this week. John Fox said.

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thomond2006 wrote: »

RDS et al, I hope to be at the Vikings game at Halloween night. Any tips for a pre-match venue for a few choice beverages?

I like Wabash Tap, which is on Wabash between 11th and 13th, kind of a dive bar place, but with a decent beer selection and pretty cheap. Also First Draft, forget where that is but worth googling.

I'm jealous, have a great time there, although locating a good watering hole for yourself might be the most important thing you do, given what's likely to happen on the field

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Badabing wrote: »

Cutler cleared to play this week. John Fox said.

I'd nearly prefer for him to wait till after the bye week, can see him getting badly banged up with Long and Sitton both missing, in a game I can't see any way for us to win (sorry Thomond!). Let Barkley take the hits and get the experience and see if he can do better with 11 days of preparation with the starters. See if we can rescue our self respect in the second half of the season...

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So...how bout them Cubs? Keeping the series alive so that Chicagoans have something to look forward to in the next couple of days. With nothing else worth watching this week it'll be great to see if they can pull it out of the fire and go even, and who knows after that. An inspiration to Chicago sports fans everywhere at a time when there is nothing whatsoever worth looking at otherwise...

What? Vikings? Oh...yeah I'll watch from between my fingers I suppose. Hope that with Jay back we start seeing Alshon in the game more, might persuade him there's something worth staying in Chicago for next year, might even make our offense worth watching. And Pernell McPhee will be back at full steam on D. I am honestly struggling to see anything else worth getting even remotely excited about. The Bears make me want to watch baseball. I think that says more than I could right now.

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Don't think anyone was expecting that! That was so much fun to watch, I'd practically forgotten football was meant to be enjoyable. Howard is looking very, very much the real deal, and cutler has thankfully shut up the neverending idiocy about whoever his backup is at a given time being the better choice (he's shut that up until next week at least).

I'm happy to admit I was wrong about this game and what was possible in it, especially about what the o line could do without long and sitton, they really made the Vikings look quite average. Which, maybe they are. Certainly the last two weeks have brought Bradford back to earth, he is who we thought he was. We've probably opened up the gates for the packers to go to the playoffs once again, and that's bad, but that was a serious win against a team everyone has been taking seriously, so without some major revisionism they'll have to admit that when we are healthy (and have mcphee running our D!) we are a dangerous team, albeit one with many glaring flaws.

On a side note, they were playing go cubs go on the way out of soldier field. Hopefully this win is a good omen for the cubbies this week as well.

Thomond, hope you enjoyed the night, you picked a great one to attend in the end!

Badabing

Just watched the highlights of the game, Cutler was outstanding and Howard. If Jay was playing all year we'd be 5-3 at least. Fox has to get a grip on clock management. We go into the bye week with a lot of confidence. Next two games on the road but very winnable