Bearstalk

INJURY REPORT AND IMPLICATIONS Chicago Bears (5-4) at Green Bay Packers (4-5) By Michael Nudo The loss of Nick Barnett will likely force A.J. Hawk to the middle (AP Photo/Mark Humphrey). BEARS OFFENSEcolor> vs. PACKERS DEFENSEcolor> Quarterback Kyle Orton (ankle) is hoping to return after missing last week’s match with the Titans. Rex Grossman started against the Titans. Grossman struggled with his accuracy throughout the contest. Orton returned to practice this week and the signs are looking good for him to play. Wide receiver Brandon Lloyd has missed over a month with a knee injury. He returned to full participation in practice last week and is …

A nice look at Urlacher playing the run. This is worth watching considering all the talk about keeping our LB so close the LOS on so many plays. http://www.chicagobears.com/multimedia/mul...clip=Y&rn=2

Noots’ Notes-Game 9: 21-14 Loss to Tennessee By Michael Nudo The Bears (5-4) fell to the Titans at Soldier Field 21-14 to keep Tennessee undefeated. After the Bears took their opening drive for a touchdown, the Titans responded with 21 unanswered points before the Bears scored again in the fourth quarter. Another game, another 7 on 7 drill by an opposing quarterback (AP Photo/David Banks). OFFENSE Quarterback With Kyle Orton sidelined by an ankle injury, the Bears turned to Rex Grossman (20-37-173, TD, INT, 1/1 TD). Although he led the team on a touchdown drive to open the Bears’ possessions, he was downright brutal for most of the rest of play. H…

After the game, I heard Rex say about how the offense was put into a hole with such bad field position consistently. Well, according to Larry Meyer, that is no excuse.. Thoughts?

IMHO we are a product of our own coaches! Head coach= good person but soft as a coach. DC,OC and some position coaches are the same. If you look at our games...how many times do you see Hester getting chewed out for a stupid play. Not just Hester but the whole team! I have watch a few games with the help of some of this very supportive board members and have seen no fire, no desire nothing. Well not everyone of the Bears are soft, Briggs, Forte, Payne to name a few and others are doing their jobs. But you have to wonder where is Brown with the fire and hits, Urlacher is blocked all the time, Harris is well just holding the line, our corners Tillman & Vasher seam like…

http://www.chicagotribune.com/sports/chi-1...,1930787.column

http://blogs.chicagosports.chicagotribune....-back-at-p.html Peace

Something just hit me. Maybe Lovie really isn't involved alot in the defensive plays during the game and he's just defending his friend Babich? You rarely ever see him talk during games so I think maybe he should take over next week with the defensive play calling to give the team a boost. What say you guys?

I'm not disecting the details of what's going on, but looking at it as a broad brush stroke. I don't think the Titans had a pass over 20 yards last Sunday. Could it be, we're employing the "bend don't break" philosophy and are actually bending and breaking? I just swear, we're giving up everything in front and nothing in back...and to me that screams "prevent". Which we all know prevents winning...

Couple interesting interviews. The first was Mully & Hanley interviewing Warren Sapp. Now, people can say what they want about Sapp, but he knows Lovie (played for him) and knows the system. Further, the following comments, according to Sapp, stem not just from watching the game, but from watching film of the game. Sapp starts out talking about the type of protection Tenn is using, and goes on to basically rip the bears for the way the rushed the passer. He flat out said it was like Chicago never watched tape, and didn't game plan to attack the type of blocking scheme Tenn uses. I think he even took it another step, saying you really couldn't see much of a…

Rank 14 (from 10) Chicago Bears (5-4) Do they ever blitz? Or throw some exotic coverage scheme into the mix? I'm so tired of watching these guys play hard and go down because they were so predictable. http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/2008/writ...ex.html?eref=T1

http://www.nwherald.com/blogs/bearsinsider/ Peace

One thing I haven't really seen mentioned is Tennessee cornerback Cortland Finnegan. This is a guy who has a bit of a rep as being an ass. I think his own teamates (including team leader Bulluck) has even gotten into fights w/ him. Anyway, front the get-go, Finnegan was in our players faces, pushing shoving, late hitting, etc. I saw very little from our guys. I realize the 2nd guy draws the flag, and some (maybe much) of his antics are likely intended to get into the minds of our players, but still. At some point, when a guy is simply pushing you around, do you not have to do something? Yea, we had a couple guys here and there push back, but in a game like fo…

In 3+ seasons w/ the Bears, Bradley never had more than 18 catches in a season. I don't think he could even get active this year, and then we cut him. He picked up w/ KC, and has very quickly stepped in and stepped up. This past week, Bradley had 9 for 81 and a score. In the last three weeks, he has 18-188-2. Not bad for a guy who could not even get active for us.

David Haugh of the Trib offers his 5 ways to fix the Bear's D, http://www.chicagotribune.com/sports/footb...,1073982.column 1 Stop stacking the linebackers at the line of scrimmage so much to fake blitz. Agreed 100%. I've talked about this myself. Urlacher is being used to fake blitz, then drop back into coverage. This looked great week one, but since then, I think teams have figured it out and the effect is negated. Worse, it takes urlacher out of position to do much of anything. Basically, he is trying to get back into position, but is more often still in no-mans land when the pass is made. As Haugh mentions, Urlacher always seems a step behind the …

Personally, after today's performance, I would just as well see Caleb Hanie start against GB than Rex Grossman if Kyle Orton is not ready to start next week. I do not see how he can do any worse than what I watched today. What do you guys think? I pray that Kyle is ready to go next week.

If we fail to make the playoffs this year is Lovie canned? Or does Angelo & Co stay with him and ride the storm out...

They just aired Lovie's press conference, or at least part of it, on the Score. First thing to note was the tone. Lovie sounded very defensive. That isn't just my opinion, but the opinion of the guys on the Score as well. Anyway, some comments. One. First Q out of the box was questioning the scheme. Lovie was very quick to say the scheme is fine, and went on to say players must execute. So Lovie essentially stood up for his scheme and his coach, while throwing the players (as a whole) under the bus. Two. Q about players questioning the scheme and playcalling. Lovie "head in the clouds" Smith said no player is questioning the scheme, and quickly we…

I just read two articles (one on the Trib one Sun Times) that are basically the same talking about how pathetic our pass D is. In one quote Vasher is saying giving up inside slants all day long is the scheme and everyone in the league knows it. Other quotes have Lovie and Babich both saying we're trying everything but there's only so much you can do. Tommie Harris chimes in that the pass rush is doing their job (they aren't). Alex Brown says "we're just not getting there" and he's right. The pass defense is a mess. Either it's scheme or players, or as I see it, both. Nobody seems to want any accountability and nobody wants to admit what needs to improve, or at…

Reading the post-game quotes, it definitely sounds like our defensive players are "turning", but the question is, are they turning on each other or the staff, or maybe both. When asked about the pass rush, Tommie Harris provides us this, ''Do you understand football?'' tackle Tommie Harris said. ''How long was he in the pocket? How long did he hold the ball? Yeah, he was quick throwing the whole time, so something has to give. ''It has nothing to do with pressure. We're not Superman. If he drops back and he's patting the ball, then you talk to us about pressure. But we're doing our job.'' Alex Brown added, "When you give up 7-yard passes, 10-yard pas…