Pixote

Good job Gary! Yours truly comes in second, with 11 wins, with Gary besting me with 12 correct.

Your writing off all these players already? Williams may still be the answer for us at LOT. I think it is way too early to write off players like Harrison, Steltz, & Bowman. I have been disappointed in Bennett but still too early to tell.

It's possible Orton could be the answer at QB. I also feel Hanie in the near future could develop into an excellent option at QB. I do not feel QB is a high priority at this time. RB & TE are fine. Would not mind seeing a 2nd string RB drafted to back up Forte. However, OL needs a lot of work and WRs, well, we definately need not only a true #1 but a solid #2 as well. I think we have the DTs on our squad already if we had proper coaching / schemes.

When I look at your post by going to edit/full I am not seeing the link to the photo, just the line that would appear under the photo. You might want to try editing the post using the "insert image" link at the top of the editing area and see if your image shows up that way, or just provide me the link and I will give it a shot.

I would definately not trade for a quality WR unless I was confident we had a QB that could get him the ball. In the same regards, why trade for a top shelf QB unless you had the WRs to throw to or a OL to give him time to do so? I would not trade for a killer DE unless I was sure our DTs would provide the push up the middle to allow him to be effective. The problem we are in right now is we have too many question marks to fill unless we go into the FA market and hit it big in the drafts.

Thanks Noots. I know it is not fun writing up these articles when the Bears struggle. We all appreciate the great work you do in breaking down the games for us. I would prefer to read your analysis of the Bears games than any other sports writer out there in print or on the net. There are weeks when your articles do not get many responses but I am sure it is not out of a lack of appreciation but just frustration on the part of the fans trying to sort out why our team is unable to turn the corner and play like we feel they should be capable of.

I agree, Lovie will pull the switch on coaches who do not perform and I will be anxious to see if we get more changes in the upcoming off season. We have too much talent on this team for our defense to be playing like they are. I think changes need to be made on that side of the ball for sure. On offense, I do not know if it matters much unless we get players to surround the cornerstone of our offense which is undoubtedly Forte. We need to solidify QB, WRs, and our OL or we will always be known for mediocre offensive play.

If a teams medical staff evaluates a player before the draft and says he is a safe pick and Angelo selects him does that make the pick a bad selection by Angelo or is he victimized by either bad advice from the teams medical staff or bad luck? I think Dusty has shown promise this year. He just can not stay healthy. I know many will disagree but I think Bradly was a good WR when healthy, not great but better than what we have now, unfortunately he was never able to stay healthy.

Dusty has had a few good games this year and disappeared in others with the rest of the line. I know it is his 3rd year but technically he is a first year player. I think it might be too early to put him on the list. Tank Johnson was becoming a kick ass DLman before he got cut, certainly not because of ability, but because of his off-field problems. I am not sure you can fault Angelo for that. He drafted a talented DT who played well. Bradly was a good WR when healthy, he just never could stay healthy. Again, is this Angelo's fault? The other 7 for sure, just not sure if I would lay the blame on the 3 I listed on Angelo as being players that were not good decisions at the time of the draft. All 3 IMO were good picks that went south for one reason or another. The other 7 were players who never showed the skill sets they were drafted for and were bad picks. Maybe we should start listing Angelo's top 10 BEST selections? He has had as many if not more Good hits as bad ones, IMO.

Unfortunately, I do not think Orton is 100% and will still struggle even against a suspect MIN defense. God I hope I am wrong but I just do not see how we win this game, or even keep it within a TD, in Minny after we barely escaped with a win at home, not because of our offense, but primarily because of our defense, which, despite beating up on a very bad STL team, still seems to be struggling. The thing that aggravates me about our defense is that the players are kick ass players but because the DL is under-performing we are forced to play up in the box to stop the run and therefore can not stop the pass. We make chumps like Gus F look like world beaters. If you can not pressure the QB with the front 4 without bringing up the LBs you can not play a cover 2 and expect to win. Our failure on defense is not the players themselves, I feel it is because they are being forced to run a scheme which we do not have the personnel to run.

Thanks guys, I appreciate the feedback.

I think of the TEs I'd have to go with Visanthe Shiancoe & Stevens. RBs are close. J Lewis has an easier matchup than M Moore but Moore has done fine by me when I have started him in the past. Parker aggravating his knee will put Moore in the field again and he is an excellent pass catcher outlet for Big Ben as well. The Colts (I feel) will blow out CLE and they may have to abandon the run. I would go with Moore in what I see as a tight contest with NEP and Moore getting goal line attempts.

Ok guys, if I win this game week 13 I am in the playoffs in the ESPN league I am playing in. In this league you do NOT get point per reception. I am trying to decide on my WRs. I started T Owens Thursday and he did fine by me, got 15 points. I have Moss slated against PIT. My third RB/WR/Flex is what I am concerned about. My options are: TJH of CIN vs BAL, L Moore of NOS vs TBB, D Hixon NYG vs WAS (Burress is out) and K Walter of HOU vs JAX. I have R Brown of MIA vs STL & M Moore of PIT vs NEP as my RBs I have P Hills DEN, & R Williams MIA but do not see playing either of them in flex. I am also trying to figure out if I start D Brees against TBB or P Rivers against ATL. I am leaning towards Brees as his RB support is weaker and will probably continue to throw more often. However, one could argue Rivers has the better matchup. On Defense I have CHI & BAL and as much as I love CHI and hope they come up big as they did the last time they played MIN (gave up a bunch of points bt still scored big in FF) I think BAL is the safest start against CIN. Anyone want to give me their opinions?

Excellent break down as usual. I think reading how they are having problems in pass protection and are likely to limit the number of passing attempts means we will see the Bears stack the line more often with Urlacher and Briggs running stunts. If we can shut down AP & CT, we will, or at least should, limit them to less than 20 points. If we do that and Orton is anywhere near 100% there is no reason why we can not have excellent success against their very pedestrian pass defense. We definitely need to get TEs involved and I want to see at least a half dozen passes to Forte coming out of the backfield.

Agreed, he needs to average 100 in his last 6 and Ryan needs to falter a bit.

I think it depends on how the two players, Ryan & Forte, finish up the year. If Forte finishes up the year strong, say he averages 100 yards a game over the remaining 6 games, and Ryan chokes a bit and Atlanta falls then Forte takes OROY. However, if Ryan continues to have excellent stats and success over the remaining 6 games it will be hard to see Forte winning the award as the league puts so much emphasis on the play of the QB, especially a Rookie.

I suspect we will draft a RB prospect early day 2 to develop behind Forte.

Someone earlier asked about the current streak Orton has without an interception. I have been unable to be on the site as much as I would like over the past two weeks because of things going on at my job. However, I did find this tid-bit from Yahoo in my fantasy leagues. If already posted, sorry for the wasted post.

After looking at the other selections available I do not see how Forte does not win this week in a landslide.

The picksheet for Week 13 is Ready! Remember - 3 Games on Thanksgiving! Good luck with your picks! http://www.talkbears.com/Contests/index.htm

I did some snooping around to see if the NFL is going to get off the ass and suspend the two DTs for Minny and found nothing other than they went to talk to the commish and a ruling was to be made. I guess the DE was cleared, only received a fine and will not be suspended for the late hits. Does anyone know if they when this is suppose to be decided? They were talking during the game that Deuce M might be suspended before this coming week 13 games. This leads me to believe there is still hope we will face Minny without the Williams duo, which would certainly make life easier for us.

Beware, this week we will have 3 Games on Thursday, so I will have the new picksheet up this evening after I return home from work and we will need to work a little harder to get our early picks in. Maybe I can rebound this week????? LOL.

Congratulations for Staley for winning Week 12 Pick'ems! Lopaka & Ostrogoth come in 2nd place. Great job guys! On a side note, I come in last...

I may not get home until late tomorrow night, after the start of the game. The emails sent to me are time stamped so when I get home I will be able to upload all picksheets that were submitted after I leave for work tomorrow when I get home tomorrow night. I just thought I would give you all notice that if you do not see your sheets uploaded, they will be uploaded as soon as possible when I get home on Thursday night, as long as the time stamp shows it was submitted before the start of the game.

Good catch, I am about to leave for work but when I get home and upload the early entries I will be sure to keep an eye out and get yours uploaded correctly.