Bearstalk

This team is 4-5 and with better closing efforts against Minnesota and Detroit, we're 6-3 and leading the division. Not saying this team isn't flawed because it is and they'd likely lose in the playoffs pretty quick. But the NFC is pretty lousy so who knows? Just WIN baby. Just win.

Was watching the Giant's vs Cheatriots and the potential go ahead TD for the Giants stood out to me. Beckham has possession, with 2 feet in the end zone, then the ball is ripped out by the DB it's ruled no catch.... That brought me back to the Lions game where Golden Tate barely had possession for even a split second before it's ripped out and intercepted. Yet Tate is awarded a TD, Beckham is awarded and incomplete pass. Can someone explain why Tate's was and Bechkham's wasn't. To me if Beckham's wasn't neither should Tates. I know the rules get muddier and muddier with each "judgement" call. But that play last night reinforces that we got screwed.

http://profootballtalk.nbcsports.com/2015/...-sit-this-week/

Two games is pretty much all I need to see. The TD last week showed he has crazy hands. The TD this week showed he has great speed for a TE. Bennett is owed $6M+ next year on the cap. I think it would be wise to cut him at the end of the year and focus that money elsewhere, particularly on both lines. If the difficult decisions are being made, and moves like cutting Forte are being considered, then I think this is fair game. Bennett means far less to the Bears than Forte, and we've seen a similar sample size in their respective replacements.

It looks like we are going to get Brock Osweiler on Sunday. He led the Broncos on some late garbage time scoring drives, but otherwise he didn't look that good against KC either (58% comp, 1 INT, 3 sacks). Hopefully our internal knowledge of his tendencies will allow us to put in a great game plan against them next week. This is a huge game for Fox and I hope all our player step up for him and show Elway he was dumb to let Fox and Gase go. They also may be without TJ Ward who may be suspended (since he was ejected in the KC game for punch Maclin).

Offense: Overall Gase did a good job especially considering he had to work with a limited Alshon Jeffrey and Royal was out again. There are still gaps on the roster that need to be fixed but more on that later. Considering what he's working with on our Oline, WR, and the backup RBs (not that they were a problem) against a very fast defense he called a good game. He stuck with running the ball late when everyone knew it was coming. Cutler: Rarely did he have more than 2 seconds in the pocket before he had to avoid pressure. Despite all that he kept his cool and moved around well enough to extend some plays. Other times when it wasn't there he just folded…

Ever since Ditka put on GB colors in commercials, the Packers have not won.

Right on Mr. Miller! And Jeremy spoke in class today! Langford looks damn good.

http://profootballtalk.nbcsports.com/2015/...s-knee/related/

We have the edge in every offensive category except rushing yards per game. STL is horrible at 3rd Downs, which is our weakness on defense. This would be a great game to clean that up. On the defensive side, they have the edge in every category, though I was surprised at how close we were against the pass and in total yards. I would love to see Langford split out wide from the backfield to get some mismatches against LB's. He just outdueled Gordon, now let's do it to Gurley. Bears 20 - Rams 16

http://chicago.cbslocal.com/2015/11/12/jon...from-sidelines/ More of the same on White (which is a good thing in terms of how many people are complementing his overall make-up, etc). I actually found the part on one of our practice squaders, Thompson, more interesting. Would seem like he's a potential candidate to take on a greater role from a special teams perspective (as he continues to heal from his own injury which led to him being cut from the Bills).

We have players returning from injury but there are questions about who will remain a starter. Bushrod should be close to returning. I haven't heard anyone clamoring for him to get back on the field, not even our Oline guru Jason (not that Bushrod was a favorite of his). Will Leno stay as our starter when Bushrod is healthy? I think we're going with the future here so I say yes. Grasu...I think once he recovers from his neck injury he'll be back at center. That brings up the option of Ducasse moving back to RG or do we keep Omameh at RG and put Ducasse on the bench? I think our starting Oline becomes Leno, Slausson, Grasu, Omameh, and Long. SMC..…

I know there hasn't been much reported about Kevin White lately, but after doing some digging, it looks like the team will have to do something with him by November 24th (12 days from now). At that point they will have 3 options: 1. place him on injured reserve (most likely) 2. release him (obviously not going to happen here) 3. bring him back to practice (then have up to 21 days before adding him to 53-man roster) So if White had a chance to play this year, he could come back as late as December 20th (at Minnesota), 4 months removed from surgery, and would be eligible to play as early as next week if activated (and in game shape, which is not likely). He wa…

He is a game changer. We need him out there!

I thought this was a pretty good article about the age of QBs: http://espn.go.com/nfl/story/_/id/14084886...bs-dominate-nfl If this holds true, and just looking at Cutler's progress this year, it would make sense to keep him around for a few more years. He is in his 10th year, and based on these numbers a QB peaks at year 12 and continues to have very solid years through year 15/16. Now obviously you can say small sample size or the numbers are bogus after 10 years because only good QBs are left in the league at that point, but that is not always the case. To me, stabilizing the QB position seems like the first and most important step to making a sustained run…

I look forward to Fangio's weekly updates. He's so straightforward with his words it's sometimes funny. His matter-of-fact approach when talking about the players is never far off from what you'd read here on the board. http://www.chicagobears.com/news/article-1...f3-172828460cb5 ... on Houston ------------------------- "[The sacks] were huge plays," Fangio said. "Now if we can just eliminate the offsides, he'll play even more and more. But that should do a lot for his confidence, to go in there and make plays at a crucial time like that." -------------------------- From the same link the most surprising statistic I've seen at midseason: -------…

Rich Campbell ‏@Rich_Campbell 9m9 minutes ago Bears rookie OT Tayo Fabuluje has been suspended 4 games by the NFL for violating the league's policy against performance-enhancing drugs. https://twitter.com/Rich_Campbell/status/664186000613097472

Cutler is on a current run of solid play that is longer than any other time in his career. Everyone always talks to Cutler's inconsistency or the Good Jay Bad Jay, etc. Looking over his Game Logs, you can see that was indeed the case for most of his early career. However, it looks like we have entered a new era and the sample size is large enough to believe it will continue. Starting in the Arizona game, he now has 6 straight games with a QB Rating above 88, and even excluding the partial game, he has 5 straight games with a QB Rating of 88.4 or higher. Looking back at his Game Logs, the closest run was 6 games to start 2014 where he was 82.5 or higher. Before that …

Here is what we have left, if we show any additional improvement, and get some guys back off injury, we actually have a shot at the playoffs, but the next 3 games will be critical. @ STL (4-4) - winnable game, STL defense is tough, and Gurley has emerged, however, we are better against the run than the pass, so this plays into our defensive strengths, and if Forte and Royal are back, we have great shot with our offense. vs DEN (7-1) - Denver's defense has masked just how bad the offense and Manning have been. A mid-November game in Chicago and Fox knowing a lot about the players gives us a shot. If Indy can beat them, we can beat them. I expect a close game, and w…