How Bout Dem Bears?

SameOleJay

Trestman's playbook comes up trumps again. McCown is playing so smart too.

Credit to the D. There's a huge talent deficit there but they're giving it socks and making big plays when needed.

Lastly, a word for Phil Emery. 2013- the draft class that keeps giving.

SameOleJay

Oh and I flicked over to the Detroit game in the interval.

You just can't believe how these guys manage to keep messing up. They should have walked away with the North after the problems in Chicago and Green Bay.

ChicagoJoe

A win is a win and 6-4 been tied for 1st in the division is a fine place to be. No matter what happens this year with the Bears, I have faith that our offense will be one to be reckoned with for years to come. They did an amazing job of surrounding Jay with weapons. If and when the Bears get back Cutler, Briggs , Tillman , Ratliff , McClellin, all ready to play we will be a tough task for anyone. Go Bears!

padraig_f

The defense is so bad now, I'm not even sure there's a point to making the playoffs...42 points against a backup QB, in fairness, the injuries they've had on that side are hard to overcome.

One bright side, there's a new league leader in Total QBR:
http://espn.go.com/nfl/qbr

He was great again yesterday, 37/48. Think his best asset is his intelligence in the pocket, reads the situations very well.

Oat23

Yeah, the season is over for sure. I wasn't ready to call it after the Lions loss because the D played well that day, and Detroit aren't very good either (as they have shown the last two weeks).

Tucker has to go after this season. No excuses for a professional football team not being able to tackle and being gashed by some guy named Benny Cunningham. It's not even an injury problem, they aren't doing the basics right.

As for the TQBR list above, McCown at no.1 & Cutty no.9?! AND we have unbelievable WRs? What the f*ck has happened the past two years

Spongey1975

Never thought i'd see the day where our offence is head and shoulders above the defence. I'd say give Cutler his contract and get that sorted so we can work on our defence (he cant be asking for too much more than what he's on at the moment

As for the defence i dont think Tucker can be fully to blame. Our interior d-line has been decimated with injuries. Hopefully our rookie linebackers will take a big jump in their second year. Time to say goodbye to Peppers which will free up so much cap space. Big decision to be made on Melton too.

Realt Dearg Sec

Spongey1975 wrote: »

Never thought i'd see the day where our offence is head and shoulders above the defence. I'd say give Cutler his contract and get that sorted so we can work on our defence (he cant be asking for too much more than what he's on at the moment

As for the defence i dont think Tucker can be fully to blame. Our interior d-line has been decimated with injuries. Hopefully our rookie linebackers will take a big jump in their second year. Time to say goodbye to Peppers which will free up so much cap space. Big decision to be made on Melton too.

I'm willing to give them a big pass on defense because it's a whole new coaching regime and they have been utterly decimated with injuries. There is the issue of how predictable we've been, which is especially irritating when you're playing so many rookies and back-ups you would hope that we might try and conceal our intentions a bit more but they probably want to keep things simple as well.

Definitely agree on Cutler, people are forgetting just how well he was playing before the injury. We are making huge progress, no question about it, and the experience for rookies like Bostic has been invaluable. I think the playoffs was a best case scenario (and never say never, stranger things have been happening in this league so far this year) but as long as we can see signs of promise then that's enough for this year.

Losing Sunday was depressing (it was a depressing day sports wise generally) but we have been facing an uphill struggle since the second loss to the Lions if we're honest.

SameOleJay

Part of me wishes the Lions weren't such an absolute shambles and we could just sleep on the season.

Emery can do a job on that D in the off-season, I don't doubt that. Get to 9 wins and Trestman goes above par for me on the season.

Very interesting to hear Jay's comments on being happy to take the tag. I love the man- no bull trying to seek leverage; straight shooting about how happy he is in Chicago and how the Offence needs to stick together. Sign him for 4 years now and keep Josh too. Then add a centre, find a competent RB in reserve and overhaul the defence completely. Simple as.

ChicagoJoe

I'm afraid took the Rams are not to be taken lightly. They have one of the best pass rushing tandems in the league. Our defence has become an embarrassment. Mel Tucker is, bar none, the most inept coach/coordinator we've had in thirty years. At least the offense is powerful and they will only get better.

Realt Dearg Sec

So how worried are we this week? It's amazing to me that things look so grim, and yet we are in a position to take the top spot in the division on Sunday. But still, grim is how it looks.

If the Lions lose and we win, there we are. BUT...with Rodgers coming back, a win for the Lions might be better because we can assume the Pack will finish very strongly indeed, and I would assume nothing of the sort about the Lions. So, I'm not even sure what I want to happen on Thursday. A tie would be lovely (!!!).

But then we have to go face the Vikings. Terrible QB, but that's what they said about the Rams, and then they absolutely torched us on the run. So now we have to face a not-as-bad-as-Clemens QB and...Adrian Peterson. I could see him getting 250 yards if we played like we did last week, easily. But as bad as the D has been, we've had good weeks as well. The offense will do what it does every week, and the question is if we can hold the AP show to about 21 points. If we can't then...well...at least I can finally stop getting worked up about what's still possible this season. If we can...well...then at least one more week of false hope.

kennyb3

Been away from this thread for quite a while (wife had twins) but still following football. This is very like last season - on the verge of playoffs but ultimately won't make it. Last year it was the offense, this year it's the D. Would be great to see us get there, especially experience wise for the younger players, but realistically with losing twice to the Lions and them having an easy schedule it won't happen - which is probably a good thing we'd only embarass ourselves.

We couldn't beat the Redskins, the Rams and struggled against the Vikes and a Arod less GB team. Our only convincing performance from start to finish was against the Steelers to be honest.

I've loved watching bits of the new offence and enjoyed the season hoping we'd continue to improve and make up into a proper team next year. The injuries on defence along with the age profile have killed us. Frankly at this stage give me a higher draft pick, it will serve us better in the long run.

SameOleJay

Congrats mate.

I'm fully confident for Sunday- keep All Day to 20 yards and we have a chance.

kennyb3

So we are 2-6 after our 4-0 start - our familiar mid season collapse, again with Jay missing a stretch. To think we were evens against the Saints at one stage (I really did think we were the most overrated team in the league around then).

I know it's Trestman's first year and our defence has been obliterated by injury but it's a real shame we couldn't do something this year with the Packers losing A rod.

We've now lost to some awful teams in the Redskins and Vikings (who ran us close the first time). We struggled against an Arod less GB team when others have hammered them. Our schedule looked tough coming into the year but with the Steelers, Giants, Redskins, Vikes and Ravens all being well below par I really think we should be doing better.

I don't know i'm just really disappointed and I've literally no faith in Mel Tucker - injuries or not this defence has been woeful - you expect players to come in and step up.

Here's to next year - at least we can give up on the playoffs now, though the writing was on the wall weeks ago.

SameOleJay

Such a bizarre season.

Offence has been a success, no question. There have been some pain points- to have a 2nd and 1 conversion to win the game and not convert twice is just embarrasing. Our short yardage attempts have been dismal for the most part and Trestman has made some inexplicable calls. But there's no question it's on the plus side.

Tucker is gone. End of story. 8 100 yarders againts us and 4 more to come most likely. That will smash the league record out the gate. Shea is a bust I'm afraid and Peppers, despite the odd spurt, is coming to the end. There is plenty of scope there for a total overhaul and I look forward to it.

I felt sick last night but have some perspective now. Trestman needs to learn and learn fast but I'll back him and Emery to have us ready for next season. So much cap space and so many out of contract- it'll be an exciting off-season, that's for sure.

Every game has had me through the ringer this season. That's just the Bears I guess.

kennyb3

SameOleJay wrote: »

Every game has had me through the ringer this season. That's just the Bears I guess.

Yep, win or lose we certainly don't do things easy - so many cliffhangers.

Huge offseason coming up.

Realt Dearg Sec

Well, what are people's views going into this one? Presume a few folks will stay up for it?

The Lions losing yesterday means we're still in the hunt, statistically, for the NFCN. I know we've (almost) all written off the chances of that), but to hear the Packers fans yesterday who now regard themselves as back in business, why not us too?

Well, yeah, there are all those things that mean "not us" for the playoffs. But no team is more likely to cough up a sure-fire qualifying position than the Detroit Lions.

The problem is that we aren't consistent enough to take advantage of that fact. McCown has been good and people keep pointing to his stats being better than Cutlers in terms of passer rating and total yards gained, but he just constantly ****s the bed in the red zone. And so, too, does Trestman. He needs to be willing to take some chances, his justification for going for the field goal on second last week seemed to amount to a "what if the sky fell in" level of conservatism that just will not win NFL games. Along with the Redskins, there's two games against very poor opposition that we simply failed to get it done at moments when the playoffs were in our grasp.

Alshon Jeffery has, of course, been incredible. To some extent he has benefitted from Marshall being double covered or being faced with the opposition's best corner. What's been most worrying on offense is that the O-line, which had been so good (considering the rookies on it etc) has been deteriorating every single week, and considering we are a team that's meant to be building, that isn't a good sign.

As terrible as our D has been, they actually did OK against Peterson last week, if you take out a couple of big carries. But we're screwed on that side of the ball and we've all discussed it to the nth degree anyway. What it comes down to is, we have an offense capable of racking up scores, but instead we are getting scores early and then trying to sit on the ball and hold the lead, when we simply don't have the defensive weapons to do it. Offensive aggression is the only real hope. With some luck, Trestman has learned a lesson from last week, and if we go ahead we should keep on trying to punch through.

EDIT: I should say, of course, that I am still being realistic. Our schedule is horrible, all of our remaining games are against decent enough teams and if we win two of them I'd be shocked, so I don't think we're going to be in the play-offs. I'm just contemplating the "ifs".

padraig_f

Woot, season back on.



Bookies have it 50-50, but think the Bears have enough to win tonight. There was some improvement on the d-line against the Vikings (even if it was still pretty bad), and maybe Ratliff getting more snaps this week can make a difference.

Either way the Cowboys defense sucks as well, so don't think we're at a major disadvantage there.

Red zone conversion has been a real problem alright. I think part of the problem has been on the o-line. While there's been a big improvement there since last year, a good part of it has been scheme, and a lot of the runs the Bears do make come off the edges. I don't think the o-line gets a lot of push up the middle, and I think this is a real handicap in the red zone when the field is compressed.

Temperatures look pretty low:
http://www.yr.no/place/United_States/Illinois/Chicago/hour_by_hour.html

but no precipitation forecast. Might affect catching a bit, and throwing as well I guess.

I'm expecting the Bears to edge it. Watching Seahawks-49ers last night, and how far ahead of the Bears they are (and anyone else in the NFC), I don't think there's any chance of progressing in the playoffs. But would still like to be there.

kennyb3

Think we'll lose tonight. RDS is right for all McCowns stats and yards we still only put 20 points on the Vikes, and how many attempts did we need on one of the Redzone opportunities v the Rams - 5 or 6 or something stupid. Dallas are an in and out side but I still think they are better than us - they ran the Broncos close, I couldn't imagine we'd be within 30 points right now. They also ran the KCC close, beat the Rams (who trashed us) and beat the Redskins. So I think it points towards them. At this stage I'm not that bothered as I'd like a higher draft pick, trade back and get an extra middle rounder (we badly need more depth). I've zero point zero faith in Mel Tuckers D and watching Chris Conte makes me want to punch something.

Realt Dearg Sec

On another note, retiring Ditka's jersey seems to be a more exciting aspect of tonight's game than anything that will happen while the clock is running for some people. Any thoughts?

I think it's odd they waited for so long (didn't he have a long standing animosity with the family though?). Also it's the last jersey they'll ever retire. For serious this time.

Itssoeasy

Realt Dearg Sec wrote: »

On another note, retiring Ditka's jersey seems to be a more exciting aspect of tonight's game than anything that will happen while the clock is running for some people. Any thoughts?

I think it's odd they waited for so long (didn't he have a long standing animosity with the family though?). Also it's the last jersey they'll ever retire. For serious this time.

It's strange alright but it a nice full circle that two teams he won championships with as a player are the teams playing tonight(or maybe just me being a boring history nut for sport).

I don't know if he had issues with the bears owners, but from stuff I seen it appears ditka could be in a room by himself and still have an argument.

Also I want the bears to win tonight.

Realt Dearg Sec

Itssoeasy wrote: »

[/B]
it appears ditka could be in a room by himself and still have an argument.

Yes, with his moustache. And neither of them would back down easily.

Itssoeasy

Realt Dearg Sec wrote: »

Yes, with his moustache. And neither of them would back down easily.

Isn't the 'tache gone ? I'm sure it's gone or was gone unless it's returned.

aaronm13

Realt Dearg Sec wrote: »

Yes, with his moustache. And neither of them would back down easily.

Does anyone know if the game is blacked out on Eurosport on Sky tonight. Set my Sky box for the Packers game a few weeks ago and it didn't record. Don't know if i did something stupid or it was blacked out and didn't record.

Realt Dearg Sec

aaronm13 wrote: »

Does anyone know if the game is blacked out on Eurosport on Sky tonight. Set my Sky box for the Packers game a few weeks ago and it didn't record. Don't know if i did something stupid or it was blacked out and didn't record.

Weird, why would they do that? I'm watching it on a stream anyway. Really wish Channel 4 or Setanta had Monday night football.

Realt Dearg Sec

Itssoeasy wrote: »

Isn't the 'tache gone ? I'm sure it's gone or was gone unless it's returned.

Unless it left to set up its own rival restaurant.

aaronm13

Realt Dearg Sec wrote: »

Weird, why would they do that? I'm watching it on a stream anyway. Really wish Channel 4 or Setanta had Monday night football.

Thought i read somewhere that Setanta could make Sky block out the games so I guess i just made a balls out of recording it. Up to early in the morning so can't stay up to watch it so hope this works this time.

Realt Dearg Sec

aaronm13 wrote: »

Thought i read somewhere that Setanta could make Sky block out the games so I guess i just made a balls out of recording it. Up to early in the morning so can't stay up to watch it so hope this works this time.

Yeah but I don't think Setanta show Monday night games so I don't see why they would block it.

aaronm13

Realt Dearg Sec wrote: »

Yeah but I don't think Setanta show Monday night games so I don't see why they would block it.

Ah, i thought they had both Sunday and Monday games. Should be good to go so, thanks.

Realt Dearg Sec

aaronm13 wrote: »

Ah, i thought they had both Sunday and Monday games. Should be good to go so, thanks.

Sorry to do this but just checked the listings, I was wrong, it is on Setanta. Dunno if that means it's blacked out but if it was before then there's a chance.

On the plus side that does mean I don't have to get an ugly dodgy stream.

mcgann4

Happy to be wrong on my assessment.guess it prolongs the aganony re the playoffs,should have expected that!