balta1701-A

Link.

More fair matchup. Coach Ditka vs. the 2006 Bears. Coach Ditka is required to stay in his chair.

"Um, hello, Mr. Angelo, this is Gary Kubiak...I'm interested in dealing for Mark Anderson...I have a defensive lineman you might be interested in..."

So this Bears team...yowza. Right now, the only 2 things that look like they could stop this team are injuries and their own heads. They are playing better than any other team in football and it isn't even close.

As long as the Bears play at least 50% as well as they have the last few weeks, you'll be correct.

SI Also.

As a Bills fan, I'll be rooting against the Bears this weekend. But I promise I won't enjoy it. The only reason the Bears should lose this game is if they were too busy celebrating their 4-0 start and didn't pay attention in practice. The Bears are a better team than the Bills. But the Bills are good enough to beat and scare some very good teams if they don't show up ready to play. This team has a good shot at being a playoff team next year...so thinking this will be a piece of cake is a mistake.

The Bears as a team, including Grossman's INT, have given up 29 points all season. 10 teams gave up more than 29 points yesterday. Including the Seahawks.

Is there anyone else that the Bears might wind up having to use the Franchise tag on at the end of this year?

He really better get some playing time this week. Unless Jones is on fire early. Jones just hasn't earned the "100% starting RB" role in the first 3 games.

Let's ask this then: Thomas Jones has 60 rushing attempts in 3 games. The Bears are spending the $$ and roster spots to have 2 talented RB's on their roster. But if those running backs are only getting about 20 runs and a pass or two each game between them...why exactly should the Bears hold on to both of them? That seems like an enormous investment of financial and talent resources for only 21 touches per game.

There were a couple of those sorts of plays yesterday...the one where Williams Clothes-lined Jones in the middle of a wide open hole showed a lot. Jones got a couple of tackles for losses because he stood around and tried to wait for a hole to open up instead of just diving into the pile and seeing what happened. Conversely, there were a few plays that he looked really good on. That little move in the 1st half that made Winfield look like an idiot was a very nice one. If the Bears want to be a "running" team like Lovie keeps saying, it's time for Benson to get some more work. Trade them off and try to get 30-40 runs per game. It's time to start runnign again just to open up Grossman and take some pressure off of him. Especially in the 2nd half when defensive lines start to wear down.

I could have come up with others if I wanted to also. Grossman counts as what, a 4th year now? Losman is showing signs finally in his 3rd year. Eli Manning fits somewhere on that list, but I'm still not sure about him overall. Drew Brees is a classic example - guy who stank for several years then suddenly figured everything out. Aaron Rogers will still probably need a year on the field next season to struggle. 2 years from now though, the Packers will have 3 "top of the first round" type draft picks on the field, Hawk + this year's pick + next year's pick, they'll have a coaching staff which has been settled and around for a while, and they'll have had a chance to stockpile some decent guys throughout their organization. If this group drafts well, then in 2008, the Packers could be a very, very, very good team. Lot of things that can go wrong...Rogers could just stink no matter what, the Pack could waste a lot of drafts, people could get injured.

Not so sure about that. QB's can learn a lot just sitting on the bench...we've seen that the last few years in a couple places (Rivers sat for 2 years, Palmer for 1, etc.) It takes a new QB usually at least a year or so to get all of the terminology down if nothing else...and Rogers has a brand new system this year as well. There's nothing wrong with him sitting behind Favre for 2 years. Especially comign out of a college system which has a history of guys flaming out after good college careers.

The Bears looked yesterday like they didn't care to run the ball at all. Jones struggled the whole first half, but they never gave Benson even a shot. Jones started running the ball well in quarter 3, but then the Bears went back to the passing game (which led, IMO, indirectly to that INT). They really should have been battering Minny with the run there in the 3rd quarter.

There are 2 issues here. 1. The Bears sucked in several aspects of the game yesterday. Their tackling was "bottom of the league" bad. That run at the end of the game by Minnesota's backup RB where about 6 guys missed tackles on the way to a first down nearly cost the Bears the game. And the penalties up and down the list hurt all day. The Bears defense has a lot of room for improvement. 2. The Bears defense is still damn good. It's hella hard to score on this team. They swarm. They cover well. They do a lot of things right. But they do have some weaknesses. So...here's the question...will they learn to plug those weaknesses before someone fully exploits them? This defense is already a damn good defense. If they get better at tackling and avoid the stupid mistakes and penalties...then they could wind up as a great/legendary defense.

I actually get to watch this game tomorrow! Wo0t!

Time for the Bears to prove that they're as good as the hype.

This animal was just another Godless killing machine waiting for its chance. If it had its freedom, it would kill you and your family. These people are the greatest heros in American History.

Doncha Mean week 3?

"And after 7 overtimes, the score here in Miami remains knotted at 0-0."

The longest pass play the Bears have given up is 25 yards. That's the shortest of any team in football. The Chargers are #2 having given up a 28 yard play. They have given up a 29 yard run.

I believe the defensive statistics disagree with the premise of this statement. Defensive Leaders RNK NAME YDS YPG RUSH RUSH YPG PASS PASS YPG PTS PTS/G 1 Baltimore 304 152.0 65 32.5 239 119.5 6 3.0 2 San Diego 347 173.5 142 71.0 205 102.5 7 3.5 3 Seattle 507 253.5 103 51.5 404 202.0 16 8.0 4 Chicago 512 256.0 149 74.5 363 181.5 7 3.5 In terms of yards given up, the Bears are still #4 in the league. If they're giving up too many big plays, then they're not giving up very many little plays. And the teams ahead of them? Both Baltimore and San Diego have had the luxury of playing the Raiders and Aaron Brooks, Seattle caught Arizona on the road after starting off with a kickoff duel against Detroit at home, San Diego also caught Tennesse and Kerry "shooting for a zero passer rating" Collins, and Baltimore sank its teeth into Chris Simms. So as far as I'm concerned, the numbers suggest the Bears are right where they should be in terms of yards given up; the very top of the league. Combine the fact that they get some big turnovers and play well on special teams to make up for the few times they do give up a lot of yards, and that's why the Bears have given up 7 points in 2 games. If this defense isn't the best in football, it's good enough to be in the top handfull assuming general health, and if it's teamed with a decent offense, it's definately the sort that can be playing in January/February.

If only the writers who wasted August asking whether Rex Grossman was the problem had spent that time asking why Rob Mackowiak keeps playing center field...

Well, the other side of that token is this one: last year, the defenses playing the Bears did exactly what you're saying the Bears are seeing now, because of Kyle Orton. They stacked up against the run. And the Bears still managed to run the ball with some level of effectiveness...and Jones racked up 1200 yards. If they are still doing that against Jones, it seems that yes the Bears are winning games because they suddenly have a passing game, but it also seems like Jones is having less success against that sort of defense. That seems to me to be a hint of a fall-off in performance compared to last year.