Bearstalk

I've watched this play a few times and the more I see it the more I think it's a brilliant play design. That's not my main point of this post. I think this play shows how well the defense is coming together. With Mack on board now for a few months there's a consistency to our pass rush and teams are reacting to that, and him. He's seeing the usual double and sometimes triple teams but teams are also working the quicker passing routes. That was the Lions scheme in our second matchup to negate our pass rush. Now these players and coaches have been together with Mack and are all coming to understand each other. This includes an improving Roquan Smith in the mi…

Here we go! Another division game and a chance to go to 8-3 with a few extra days of rest after Thursday's game. Detroit is decimated with injuries and will more than likely be without Kerryon Johnson and Marvin Jones. They already traded Tate, so they will literally have two receiving threats, Golladay and Riddick. No other player has more than 12 receptions or 100 yards receiving. There leading rusher will be Blount (who I believed burned us a few years ago). Payback is a bitch. Sweeping the Lions in the season series on Thanksgiving would be sweet. I heard this is the quickest two-game span in NFL history (from the end of the Sunday night game until kickoff…

Right now, with current records, we only have one game vs a prospective playoff team (LAR), and 3 games against potential playoff teams (GB and MIN x2). If we split the division and go 3-2 the rest of the way, beat the teams with 2 or less wins (BUF, SF, NYG) and lose to LAR, that's 6-3 the rest of the way without too much stretching. Week 9 at BUF (2-5) - Bills are coming off a MNF game and a short week. They have scored 81 pts on the season in 7 games. We should and need to dominate this game. I would consider resting Mack and Robinson again if they are not 100%. 5-3. Week 10 vs DET (3-4) - Lions games are always determined by which team or Stafford shows up. Are…

Outside of Special Teams, the 2018 Bears look to be equivalent or better across the board than the 2006 team based on positions. QB Grossman vs Trubisky - Not even a competition RB Jones/Benson vs Howard/Cohen - Fairly even production-wise but Cohen the X-Factor. WR Berrian/Muhammad/Davis vs Robinson/Gabriel/Miller - Fairly even top-2, but Miller takes the cake as the #3. TE/FB Clark/Gilmore/McKie vs Burton/Shaheen/Sims - Actually fairly even here with Clark and Burton with similar production. OL Tait/Brown*/Kreutz*^/Garza/Miller vs Leno/Daniels/Whitehair/Witzmann/Massie - Edge goes to 2006 team which only allowed Grossman to be sacked 2…

Trubisky listed on injury report with a right shoulder injury. Hopefully he is okay / injury is minor. Evidently it happened after the late hit near the end of the game. He joins Lynch and Shaheen on the injury report as the two of them are both in concussion protocol. Given the short week, I presume there is a good chance Shaheen/Lynch are out this week. Hopefully everything is good with Mitch!

I came across this video of Khalil Mack and his father visiting the Mack assembly line. The video was made back in the summer long before we ever thought he'd be on the Bears. It's 21min long but it gives some good insight to the player and his family values. I don't know what he drives these days but in this video it is clear what he wants to be driving. I thought I'd share it for those who might be interested.

I didn't know this, but we have the exact same opponents as we did in 2006 (our last trip to the SB) and so far we have lost to the same exact 3 teams. Check out the similarities: -- 2006 / 2018 -- 1. DET 34-7 / 34-22 2. MIN 19-16 / 25-20 3. SEA 37-6 / 24-17 4. BUF 40-7 / 41-9 5. ARZ 24-23 / 16-14 6. NYJ 10-0 / 24-10 7. TB 34-31 / 48-10 8. DET 26-21 / 23-16 9. NYG 38-20 / 10. STL 42-27 / 11. GB 26-7 / 12. SF 41-10 / 13. MIN 23-13 / Losses 1. MIA 31-13 / 31-28 2. NE 17-13 / 38-31 3. GB 26-0 / 24-23

Man, this is the third, or fourth, time that I will be on a plane when the Bears play. I think, but then again, I've had some good bourbon since then, that we always win when I'm flying. So, on Dec 2nd I'll ask for the good stuff on the plane!

I'm not a huge fan of Hub Arkush int he least. But sometimes, he makes some valid points. Going home yesterday I heard him on the Parkins and McNeil show (kind of painful in it's own right...) Hub mentioned, that he thought having Chase Daniel could actually turn out to be a benefit. He feared a lull in the team given the last 2 wins and the short week. Now, with Daniel in, it's a rallying cry to help the back-up and for everyone to up their game. We will see how it plays out. But, there is some logic to it. I'd still much rather have a healthy Tru. But his availability for the end run is more important than this particular match. Maybe it's high time we fee…

The 1985 season, for me, was bliss. That team had the best D ever (IMdO) and Jimmy Mac, when healthy, was dangerous with Sweetness next to him. So, my question is, what would those 1985 Ditka led Beras have to say to the 2018 Naggy led kids? What would Buddy Ryan have to say to Fangio? Would they have wanted the orange jerseys? What would Butt Head tell Parkey? Just to have those guys together and compare, I'd love to be the fly on the wall.

My Scouting Report: The Vikings are coming off a bye, so I looked back at their last 3 games to see anything that stood out. First, they went 2-1 beating the Lions 24-9, losing to the Saints 30-20, and beating the Jets 37-17. Diggs had a rib injury against the Saints, DNP against the Lions, then had the bye. In their most recent game against the Lions, Stafford went for 25/36 for 199, no TD's or INTs, but he was sacked 10 times. Protection is going to be huge. I would like to see some planned rollouts and screens to keep the pass rush honest. On offense, they got Dalvin Cook going with 10/89 yds with Thielen being the highest targeted receiver with 7. The offens…

Non Bears related. But need some fantasy advice. My team is on life support. 10 team full PPR I'm sitting at 5-6 with 3 games left. I pretty much need to run the table to have a shot at the playoffs (not looking good). We start 1 QB, 2RB, 2WR, 1TE, 1 Flex (RB/WR/TE), 1 K, 1 D/ST. Current roster QBs - Cousins and Prescott RBs - K. Hunt, Mixen, Howard, J. Richard WRs - D. Adams, Cooper, Allan Robinson, Sammy Watkins, Anthony Miller TEs - Ertz, Graham K - Lutz D/ST - Bears Trying to decide who on my team is expendable to open up roster spots to add players that can help these next three weeks. I plan on droppi…

Why does the day seem brighter today?

https://www.chicagobears.com/news/roster-moves-bears-activate-shaheen-move-sims-to-ir This is good news. I'm surprised they are putting Sims on IR and effectively this is the end of his Bears career. They would rather have Smoke Mizzell in the mix and apparently prefer Brown and Braunecker at TE as well.

3 prime time games in 4 weeks, the league must be noticing something. 2 out of 3 at Soldier Field. If KC beats LAR, we could be playing for a first round bye at that point.

Is it me or does it appear the Bears are trying to figure out what life would be like without Jordan Howard on the team? I couldn’t help but notice that once Kyle Long went down with an injury the Bears didn’t elevate another Olman from the practice squad, instead they brought up RB Taquan Mizzel. And not only that but his playing time seems to be increasing, to include him starting in the last game. I somewhat agree with another’s observation that Howard looks like he’s lost interest. And Yes I get that Jordan is needed for games in inclement weather and the like but it doesn’t seem Nagy completely agrees with that notion.

Not bad for someone who can't throw half his passes in bounds. https://www.nbcsports.com/chicago/bears/mitch-trubisky-named-nfc-offensive-player-week

https://www.chicagobears.com/news/bears-players-visit-children-s-hospital It's awesome to see 33 players give up their day off to visit a children's hospital, especially given the very tight schedule they have in the next 10 days. Best wishes for Will Rodgers' daughter in her battle with Leukemia. We usually see this stuff in the offseason when players have more time available and even then I don't recall seeing a group this large. I think it says a lot about the character of the players on our roster.