Ed Hochuli 3:16

Emotion is tough to follow on a message board, but I actually agree with you. To be 3-0 and only play aight on offense and defense (in terms of yards) is spectacular.

To me, I think the offense has explosiveness. They had a 40 yard pass to Marshall, a long run by Forte, and a long TD to Bennett. I know they came at inconsistent times, but I would gladly take each of those once a game. I think right now, Trestman and Cutler are still figuring out what they like and what they don't like, which is why I wanted to see more Cutler in August against CAR, SD, and OAK. But again, if I'm right, this is great because this means that they're still feeling the offense out yet they're 3-0 and Cutler's on pace to throw for 32 touchdowns and complete 68% of his throws but sacked 16 times. I do agree, however, that this just feels "aight." Each game has been semi-close and they can't continue to depend on 4th quarter heroics by Cutler. Not that he can't do it, but to do this every week is impossible. To me, this all hinges on the D. If they can start generating pressure with the front-4, they'll be golden. They can't continue to only get sacks from linebackers. Right now, I believe their only sacks are Williams (2), Wootton, and McClellin. Yuck.

He's done.

Mr. 4th Quarter

Kyle Long effect: the Bears are averaging 5.15 ypc off the right RG this year, 6th best in the NFL.

I'm 99% certain it's 5. Regardless though if it's 5 or 6, they have to hit on a few.

It's week 3 on the road against a desperate team. The Bears can afford to lose this game. Of course, if they lose the next 3 after, this post will sound dumb. THAT is what they can't afford to do.

The Browns have 5 picks in the first 3 rounds, including 2 in the 1st and 2 in the 3rd. They need to get at least 2 very good players out of that bunch. Two others can be solid-good ones. One is allowed to bust, because nobody hits on all 5 of their first 5 picks ever. I will say that I'm thrilled that the Bears play the Browns this year, however.

BTW, does anyone have any f***ing idea why we're talking about February-May of 2014 when the Bears are 2-0 in September 2013?

If Cutler wins a Super Bowl and gets $20/year, it's a good problem to have. Then, you keep the guys you can and let cheaper veterans flock to your team, knowing that they can win, similar to what happened in Baltimore. You then trust that Emery and Trestman can have another great draft and you're very competitive again next year. Two weeks in, I would not be upset if Wright, Melton, Costanzo and Garza are gone (especially Garza, because he's been bad for a few years now). Tillman is most likely gone because of age and money. Anderson is gone due to the drafting of Greene this past year. DJ Williams is gone because of Bostic.

I could have swore that this thread was started to talk about how great the Bears' QB has been, not about the intelligence or dumbassness behind a ST player's touching, but maybe I'm wrong?

So as we've all summarized, the Bears have holes to fill this upcoming offseason. Maybe they keep Gould and Melton and eliminate two of them. Perhaps they sign Jairus Byrd and keep Gould, eliminating two of them. I'm not sure, but I bet Emery is.

No, it's "WHEN DID LOVIE GET HIRED BACK?!?!?" after the first timeout. Bears 17-16

The Browns probably feel that they can't win this year, and that by the time they're competitive again, Richardson might be broken down.

After MIN touched it, the possibility of the Bears losing possession was nonexistent. The only question was where the Bears would start from, whether it be the 1, 2, 3 or 20. Had Weems not went and touched it, there's a good chance they would've started that drive inside their own 4. Had Weems actually scooped it cleanly, he could have ran with it. So, if I'm interpreting this rule correctly, the Bears had nothing to lose. Either Weems knocks it into the endzone and gets a touchback (like he did), scoops it up and runs for a few yards, or MIN flips it backwards and they down it inside the 5 like you see a thousand times each year by all teams.

Once the ball was touched by Minnesota, it was dead. The issue was that it was going to be dead where it lay after the ST player flipped it out of the endzone. The smart part was Weems flipped it back into the endzone.

I posted the same in the game thread! I rewatched this play 10 times today. A few things standout: 1) Maneri makes a poor effort to grab it. He and Harrison Smith are seemingly the only two in the area who know where the ball is. Maneri only jumped about 6 inches to grab it. Either he didn't see Smith, he's a bad athlete, or he didnt' give a shit. 2) The decision to throw it was poor. Maneri was open, but why throw it to that guy of all people? He's there to block, not catch. 3) His first option was M.Bennett and his second was Fiammetta. Both were covered, although with a perfect pass, he had Bennett for a second. 4) A run play call might have been the best option. I know they had just scored on a 1 yard pass, but why's Bush even on the team at this point then? 5) Why was Maneri even on the field at that juncture? It might have been to make MIN believe a run was coming due to his blocking ability, but come on.

Through 2 weeks, I'd say: 1) Look for better safeties. I like Wright and Conte, but they're both FA's. Also, you watch other teams play and their safeties are all over. 2) Find another TE who's competent. Maneri isn't any good. 3) Find a true back-up QB. Keep McCown as 3rd string, but find a young player in rounds 3-4 to develop, regardless of the season Cutler has. Who knows? Maybe they're Kirk Cousins-like and he can net them an early pick in a future draft. 4) Draft a CB with one of the two 1st picks. Tillman and Jennings are both FA's, and I doubt both are brought back. 5) Find a DE and DT in the draft to play. Keep Wootton, but Melton will be gone if he continues to play like this and so will Peppers. 6) Bostic is fine. Urlacher didn't start right away either. Greene will play next year. Still, drafting an OLB will be necessary with Briggs close to being finished. 7) Find a PR/KR. Unless Hester wants to stay for cheap, he's gone after the year. D'Anthony Thomas anyone? 8) Draft a K or P in round 6 or 7 and then sign the one not drafted. Podlesh isn't any good and Gould may be gone after the year. 9) Cut Bush. If you don't think Ford is a back-up RB in the league, draft one.

At the start of the game, Billick kept calling the Bengals "Kansas City." Last year @ Tennessee, he even called Lance Louis "Louis Lance." I'm not going to say these guys have easy jobs, for f*** me, at least be closER to perfect.

Those FOX announcers also didn't know the rules during the game, ripping into Weems when he touched that punt.

According to Scott Kascmar, NFL Writer, Jay Cutler is now 4th in the league among active players with 13 career GW TD passes. He is behind Brady and Manning but in front of Rodgers, Eli, and Brees. He also tweeted a chart that says with a minimum of 30 total games, Cutler is 4th *ALL-TIME* in winning percentage (51.4%) in games that are "kept close in the 4th quarter and OT" (he did not say exactly what 'kept close' is).

Does anyone have the Bears app? If not, I believe they have the same things online. Anyway, the last 2 weeks, I've noticed that the pictures they tweet of pre and postgame behind the scene things are really awesome. Last week, they had Trestman and Cutler hugging in one and shaking hands in another. From yesterday's, there's one of him and Cutler sitting in Cutler's locker just talking in what looks like a potentially almost-empty locker room. Another has him shaking hands with Jeffery. Check these out, guys. They're really cool. I really like this guy. I loved the hire because it was outside the box and I like it now. He could flame out. I don't know, but I do know that these guys, particularly the offense, seem to be trusting him more and more with each and every week, understanding perhaps that this guy knows what he's doing and could be the guy to get them their rings.

They're 0-3 because of the Bears. It's not like they lost to Oakland, Jacksonville and Tampa Bay.

I agree with stinger. There's a difference between criticism and things that make YOU sound stupid as s***. "Cutler made horrible decisions" and "Cutler f***ing sucks are two totally different things. Put in McCown." Seriously? McCown? The only reason he has a job here is because of his relationship with Cutler, not because he's actually capable of playing good football if they needed it.

Trestman said it's a bruise.