BearFan PHX

Hate to see it - Dayo was good at sealing the edge against the run at least. I hope this puts more pressure on us to trade for someone who can really help us.

right. one thing thats clear about Johnson is he sees the problems, and does things to fix them. we havent had a coach like that here in my memory. Even Ditka oe Lovie, who were great motivators never showed the flexibility in scheme to fix things so purposefully. what a great coach we have now.

right - this is right where he is. The pushed vs coddled thing will prove out after a couple years when those other guys are still learning, and Caleb is fully dimensional. Hes showing examples of getting it, and he needs to increase his consistency.

exactly. if this was the finished product for Caleb, that would be a tremendous disappointment, but I think this is just the beginning and hes already somewhere in the middle of the league as a QB. This season's mission was to increase his consistency, and learn the various tricks defenses will throw at him. We also all kind predicted we'd be on the cusp of the playoffs - and thats where we are too - all on time, but frustrating because I know we all want to see it all together already. Soon!

I met Flacco about three days after he won his superbowl, and spent an afternoon with him on the Letterman show - he was pretty much a jerk. One of the least friendly or kind celebrities (or people) Ive ever met. Your story definitely lines up with that. Huge ego, too cool for everyone around him, not just me! Contrast with meeting Drew Brees, also on Letterman, a couple days after he won his Superbowl, and he was nicer than most anyone youd meet famous or not. Just goes to show... you never know. But he does throw a really pretty ball.

yeah, this is definitely the thing, you were right about that, Id like to see Burden (when hes healthy) get a shot. Youre right Duvernay isnt that good - I was just pointing out the money isnt an issue, it is, as you say, about the roster spot.

I think all of this is spot on.

I totally agree that Duvernay should be better, and I'd also like to see Burden get a try. So we agree on that. But regarding the cap space, I think the league minimum is like $840,000 and only the top so many slots even count, so the least you could pay someone on the cap isnt much less than the $1.3M?

It IS amazing - and we are still so inconsistent - imagine when the discipline kicks in.

Well even the best coaches get beat on some plays! So perfection is impossible. But just this: how long has it been since a coach that didnt give up on the run game? Just that alone rocks.

I think Hightower and a LOT of the roster will get replaced this offseason. That's gonna help special teams a lot too. We are playing to win now of course, and we are playing to develop Caleb too, but we are also evaluating everyone this year, and I dont think Ben Johnson will be shy about replacing players, and fixing the special teams. Looking at you Cairo too.

Johnson gets beat sometimes in a rock paper scissors kind of way, but he doesnt make those unforced errors Flus was famous for.

Dominance! LOL

LOL I mentioned you ONCE after you said something about me, the same post Pix told you not to here. And all I said was "you guys are trying to start something, and Im not gonna take the bait." That was it. It was Ok to say, and Im still not taking the bait All's well, Bears win!

I definitely think Loveland is the better prospect, had him rated above Warren in my pre draft stuff, BUT I still think TE at pick #10 is a weird move. But weve got him, and I think he will be great.

Caleb finished 20/34 (58.8%) 280 yards, 3 TDs, 114.8 Rating He ran around a lot, mostly because he was hurried a lot by the pocket breaking down. Also the Bengals were in man to man defense almost exclusively, which you coulkd see by how easily Caleb was able to run for 10+ yards. Looked to me like Johnson has told Caleb to take the run for the first down when the middle opens up from man to man defense, as he was making the choice to tuck and run quicker in those situations. Caleb also had some accuracy issues, and WRs had drops, and were getting open as much as they should (the ll 22 will tell the story, so maybe Im wrong, Im never sure until I see what was going on downfield. But Caleb also had a game winning drive. The great ones find ways to win. I give Caleb a B overall for this game. Also Monangai was GREAT - looking forward to seeing him do it against real defenses next - no reason to think he wont.

100%

amazing

Im obviously getting a Monangai tattoo tomorrow LOL

I never think like this, but its getting hard to ignore the poor officiating at the bears' expense each week. There was a helmet to helmet hit on Monangai earlier too that went unflagged.

Caleb right now: 8/11 (72.7% comp) for 83 yards and a TD, with no INT = 124.4 rating And he had a couple drops of sharp passes early too. and 3 carries for 31 yards too. It feels like Johnson told him not to hold the ball and dance around back there, if it's man defense and everyone's covered, then you run for the first down - and he's had some nifty runs too.

yeah that was a bad read, I would grade that a minus play. But he's been getting the ball out fast, or making the decision the run in rhythm. I guess we will all agree when he is the total package, when hes' a top 5 QB, and until then, we will all see it through our own filters, expectations, narratives etc. And of course that includes me too.

not at all? He was getting the ball out fast, making fast decisions.

I like how Monangai finishes his runs, always getting a yard or two more after it seems its over - especially from a little guy

yeah, he "runs with authority" as they say.