AZ54

There aren't many but it's not hard to find a Forte fumble that has cost us a game or two in the last two seasons. Nor is it hard to find Forte's missed blitz pickups that have caused some negative plays. I agree, we can't isolate on that one play. The burst Langford shows over Forte is noticeable in his first two steps. We need that on the field.

Making a deal for either player is very tempting. I doubt we go after them since we're more likely to highly value our draft picks than a team that is better established. Thomas and Mack are signed through the 2018 season so you'd get 3 years out of them on their current deals. Not sure I like the idea of paying Mack $8mil/yr but Thomas at $10mil/yr is far better than Bushrod at $8mil/yr.

I like what we saw from Langford. There is a lack of vision at times but the only way that improves is with game experience. Not sure how badly Forte was injured but even if he is back we need to keep giving Langford at least 10 carries a game.

I'd take a chance on this kid. http://www.nfl.com/news/story/0ap300000056...kendall-gaskins With our WRs getting healthy, and some young ones like Bellamy and Meredith showing potential we won't miss Mariani much if he were cut. I think the 49ers put too much on Hayne's plate with this being his first year playing football. He's an excellent athlete but they had him doing returns and also getting snaps at RB. Just keep him focused on returns and give him another offseason to settle into the NFL environment, playbook, etc. before asking him to play RB.

Hits keep on coming for Goff's draft stock. http://www.nfl.com/news/story/0ap300000056...-top-college-qb Others are right, I haven't watched any OSU games so I really have no clue on how Cardale Jone's has done other than the fact he got benched, which isn't a good sign. Right now it seems clear there are no QBs worthy of going in the top 15 of the 2016 draft. There is still Cleveland whose history shows no fear of taking average QB prospects in the top 10.

There is absolutely no way we trade Cutler unless someone throws a couple 1st Rd picks at us. That won't happen. He hasn't shown enough to any other team to increase his value...there is still time to regress to what he's been. OTOH to our staff he has clearly shown signs of improvement so there's no reason for them to bailout now when his backup is horrible and the top QBs in the draft are looking worse and worse each week. No QB means no wins...ask Houston Texans how it's going for them? If one thing is clear our coaches want and expect to win in Chicago. They know this year isn't going to be easy but you listen to them talk about building the roster and they know where they are going long term. Jeffrey...any thoughts about trading him went out the door after the Detroit game. For Jeffrey to come back after all those weeks and put up the kind of numbers he did was very impressive. This is a completely new offense and after missing preseason and most of the regular season nobody would have questioned if he struggled a bit in that game. Again, we want to win sooner than later, we have cap space, and so no reason not to keep him around while Kevin White develops (hopefully). Forte...if the offer is good you take it. Love the guy but I love the future Superbowl ring more and I don't think he'll be here long enough to see that happen.

I'm still wondering how a 300b man this athletic can't get more than 12.5 sacks in 5 years. It's easy to see what got him drafted in the 1st Rd. I get the whole "jumping out of a pool doesn't mean a thing" in terms of playing football but OTOH the physical traits are there so the question becomes "what is missing?" Attitude? Film study? Knowing and executing his assignment? Workout dedication? Just because he was working hard in 2012 doesn't mean he did so in other off-seasons. It's not like the Steelers can't develop Dline players so I'd say he's had the proper coaching. Nobody knew Ratliff was going to blow up as he did yet the Bears were very quick signing Hood so they clearly already had interest. He's late to the program so I don't expect he'll be anything other than what he's done throughout his career as compared to a guy like Jenkins who had the entire offseason to work with the coaches and has pleasantly surprised us with more pass rush than he's shown in years past. As street mid-season FA's go he's a better prospect than what Emery brought in mid-season to help the Dline get past injuries.

Looks like Grasu is questionable for Sunday with a neck injury. https://www.google.com/url?sa=t&rct=j&a...vWAun6EHkMFyLMQ

I'm in complete agreement with you here. Dallas is going to get that which they cultivate in Greg Hardy. Enabling and even rewarding him for his antics means you get more antics. Even Jason Garrett's words the next day...."that wasn't exactly the time and place for that"... which means what? There is a correct time and place for Cowboy's players to be disrespectful to a coach? Grab your popcorn and sit back and watch this show. I'm glad Pace was decisive with Ratliff. These are decisions that have long term benefits even if the short term suffers with the loss of a good player. Will Sutton is now the most senior Bears Dline player in terms of games played with the team.

I don't think I'd mind this change at all. I didn't like Ducasse when we signed him and he hasn't played well enough to date to change my mind. Scout.com is reporting he's on the hot seat with possibly Omameh getting a look soon. http://www.scout.com/nfl/bears/

Of those options I'll take the CB Ramsey in the 1st Rd.

Great article. What I found most interesting was the scouting report line about the lack of confidence. It's a contradiction in that on the field he felt he had to make it happen and it worked in high school and for the most part at Vanderbilt simply because he was able to make that team competitive. Knowing he lacked some self-confidence and carry that over to the NFL where everyone critiques everything you do it's easy to see why he became so reclusive and standoffish. Urlacher's comments and cold locker room reception certainly didn't inspire any confidence that his new teammates accepted him. Mix in Lovie's lack of knowledge of what an offense should be doing basically just handed it all to Cutler and said make it happen. The team that got off the bus running usually got on the field passing and if that didn't work whose fault was it? Rinse and repeat each week after saying we're going to run the ball. Roll that up along with the years of media and fan backlash and it fits perfectly with the moody guy we often saw. It's common to see someone who lacks confidence get defensive or lash out a bit at those who challenge them. Or even just go stand off to the side by themselves so they don't have to hear it. That horrible game after Kromer publicly criticized Cutler and Trestman did nothing about it. That's not how you build confidence in a player. Enter last offseason after his big contract and subsequent complete tear down of the Emery/Trestman era. Suddenly we heard Cutler speak like the guy next door with humility, acceptance, and understanding. For the first time we saw a guy that was confident in just being himself even while he acknowledged his own shortcomings and responsibility for what had happened. I think that is what we see now when he's in the pocket. He's no longer approaching it from the standpoint of "I have to make a play... or else" to now being confident he can find the best play out there even if the best option is taking a sack for a loss. He's stayed that way despite losing 2 Olinemen and 3 WRs to injury, despite playing from behind late in games, despite throwing INTs or fumbling in the end zone, and despite other players making some critical mistakes like dropped passes.

I'm good with that. Oline: It's early but between Leno and Grasu playing well enough to be keepers and quite possibly starters long term it is taking pressure off the Oline needs. We don't have enough games with those players yet to make that determination but we will by the end of the season. I don't see anyone trading for Bushrod, an average LT with a bad back this season. We can decide where to go with him in the offseason but kicking him over to RT with Leno at LT puts Long back at RG. That could be a decent starting 5 with Tayo developing as backup OT and maybe competing for the starting job at RT. I figure Tayo must be showing something good in practice or they wouldn't have kept him on the active roster. If we cut/trade Bushrod before the start of next season it is because they feel Tayo is ready to play. Ducasse becomes backup OG and we can certainly (should) get more FA competition for that job too. WR: We will not be taking a WR in the 1st Rd no matter what next year. We actually are developing some good depth in Wilson and Meredith. Top 5 WR for 2016 could very well be set: White, Jeffrey, Royal, Wilson, and Meredith. If you want a 6th WR on the roster Bellamy has been productive but we will bring in some competition here likely in the form of a returner. QB: Cutler has shown enough and if this continues should be our starter next year. Bring in a day 3 QB in the draft to compete for a backup spot. That leaves RB: I'll assume Forte leaves. We will need to either bring in a decent FA or spend another 4th/5th Rd pick to bring in more competition for Langford and the players behind him. On the defensive side of the ball there are far fewer reasons to be optimistic than the offense. Safety: We have the continually improving play of Amos. HJQ looks like a keeper long term but I'm not sure he'll develop into a starter. Rolle's contract says he'll be back in the mix next year. If you have an elite S in Rd 1 no issues grabbing that pick and that would make this a strong group. I'm not a big proponent of using early picks for safeties as I think Dline are more impactful. CB: Who knows? Gotta have FA and early draft attention here. OLB: McPhee and a couple serviceable players in Houston and Acho. Houston hasn't shown much yet in the pass rush but he is working his way back from the knee injury. We'll know more about him by the end of the year but regardless this group is missing one key component: Speed. That has to be addressed early in the draft. ILB: I figure SMC sticks around as a starter because he's been solid. I wouldn't mind drafting a 2nd/3rd Rd player to lineup next to SMC. Jones is developing slower than I hoped but if he were the 1st backup next season that wouldn't be bad depth. Dline: At the moment we have just Jenkins and Goldman. Sutton and Ferguson haven't shown enough to think either are more than rotational players. With Ferguson on IR we won't know if he can be more. Goldman might develop into a star but he hasn't flashed big plays often enough to make me think that will happen. If Goldman were next to a star player then I think teams would have a lot of trouble controlling the LOS against us. That makes all the other players behind them look better. Start here in the offseason. I'm curious what Fangio and his crew will get out of Ziggy Hood. He is very athletic yet hasn't been able to turn that into production on the field. He clearly has the work ethic to get in shape for the job, at least he did a few years ago when this video was made. I'm not expecting much but then again I wasn't expecting much from Jenkins. Can Fangio help him find the missing piece to the puzzle? When you are signing guys off the street mid-season you can do worse than this one. Equally interesting are the comments below the video from the Steeler fans.

Right now the most important need is more pass rush from the Dline. I don't think that changes between now and the draft. If a DE is rated high enough he'll be our pick if he's not rate that high we'll go BP. i

Shocking as he was listed as our only good Dline player in training camp. He hasn't played well in the last two games so I agree there is likely something going on behind the scenes we don't know about. Whatever it is these guys do not mess around. http://www.chicagotribune.com/sports/footb...1022-story.html

Way down at the bottom Eddie Goldman is on their "5 To Watch" list. He won't put up big enough numbers to be in the discussion at the end of the year but his improved play is getting noticed. Point is just having two rookies in the discussion at all is a good thing.

http://espn.go.com/blog/chicago-bears/post...d-jones-quartey “For safeties there aren’t many teams that put two rookies back there,” Donatell said. “We’ve done it now for a couple of weeks and I feel good about what they’ve done.” Donatell thinks Amos is a ‘rare’ first-year player. The 2015 fifth-round pick has been entrenched on the first-team since the second week of the preseason when he unseated Brock Vereen.

http://espn.go.com/blog/chicago-bears/post...nd-charles-leno LAKE FOREST, Ill. -- There is uncertainty surrounding the Chicago Bears' left tackle position since Charles Leno played reasonably well filling in for veteran Jermon Bushrod (concussion/shoulder) the past three games. ...... “When you guys figure it out let me know,” offensive line coach Dave Magazu said. “I don’t know. I haven’t gotten that far. That will be something we discuss and move on from there. I don’t know. I’m not even lying. And I don’t have a problem lying to you guys.” ---------------------------------------------------------------- Bushrod has struggled with speed as usual but I think he's the better run blocker. Leno is the opposite and handles pass rushes from guys like Ansah without issue. These coaches don't pull punches and they are serious about putting their best players on the field and you know they have their eye moreso on the future than this season. This will be interesting to see what happens coming out of the bye week.

At this point I'm confident Pace's 5th Rd Safety is better than Emery's 4th Rd Safety. I also think Pace's UDFA Safety Jones-Quartey is better than Emery's 4th Rd Safety. JQ might have been beat by Calvin Johnson on that long pass but he was right where he was supposed to be.

He's not the biggest issue we have by far but if he keeps running scared his replacement is going to show up sooner than he thinks.

http://www.chicagotribune.com/sports/footb...1019-story.html I'm pretty sure Callahan played poorly on special teams earlier in the year giving up the early kickoff TD to Cardinals and was put back to the practice squad so there isn't much to like about this move. At one point on the sidelines Hurst was shown trying to loosen up a hamstring. I have no idea if he's injured (two weeks before next game?) or what he did to lose his job after helping force that second punt turnover by pushing Fuller into the ball.

Things I liked: Amos put some big hits on players. His closing speed and play recognition are coming together. We might finally have a keeper at S. Our offense scored 34pts. Everyone here is correct in the opportunities to score more. Alshon Jeffrey made a big difference in what we could do in the passing game. DBs....I've seen some critiques but I thought for the most part these guys had good coverage throughout the game. Stafford killed us several times by pulling the ball down and running and that is not something he likes to do. Despite all that the Dline couldn't get pressure. Fuller has improved but he's still about a half step from where he needs to be in coverage. He made some excellent tackles including the open field play on Johnson that prevented what I thought was a certain TD. The arrow for the DBs continues to point up. Online pass protection. Solid effort against a team with some good edge rushers. Cutler often had plenty of time to make plays including the game tying drive. Things I didn't like: Online run blocking. We hit some plays here and there but there was little consistency to the inside running game. ILBs. Anderson over-ran so many plays. On one play he ran right in front of Jones leaving the cut back lane wide open which was quickly the exploited. Everyone remembers him running behind the official and giving up another big play. Reynolds split time with him so this might have been both guys out of position. At other times things just looked out of sorts in terms of gap responsibility. I saw no signs of Jones being the leader on the defense actively working to make sure guys were lined up correctly. I look forward to getting SMC back on the field. DLine little pass rush. Drafting a DE for this scheme, or signing one in FA, is going to be a top priority. We need some inside pressure and that will help the edge rushers a bit. We need some real speed off the edge too. Coaching: First, once Detroit got inside the 10 keep some time on the clock. They had to get a TD so it's clear what they will do. Give Cutler more time to work the magic as he's done the last two weeks. When we had the ball with just under 3 min left we can't go so conservative with 3 running plays. It might be reasonable IF we had a good defense that had stifled them all game but we don't have that.

Agreed, couldn't get anywhere near Stafford except for a few plays. Running game was really bad. I didn't watch him closely but it's hard to believe Grasu had a good day with all the missed blocks on the running plays.

Didn't see this coming... http://www.chicagobears.com/news/article-1...34-bd1defcdb08a

At this point Detroit has nothing to lose and with players getting benched in the middle of the last game I expect a hard fought game. Given all the injuries we're stacking up it's hard to know which players will take the field. I think Bushrod will start but I'm not sure that's a good thing against Ansah's speed. Alshon seems like he'll be back but I think he'll be in a limited role. Marcellus Bennett is questionable too. Detroit is ranked lower than us in run defense and their pass defense is more solid. I think we'll go heavy and try to run on Detroit, or keep extra blockers in as protection and let a 2-3 WRs run around until they get open. Leno has played well, bring him in now and then alongside one of the OTs to give Bennett some rest throughout the game and just pave the way for Forte and Langford. Defense has to find ways to get to Stafford early. I think we need to plant some doubt in his mind early, and ideally get their fans booing before halftime. Losing SMC is a big loss IMO, I don't even know who starts alongside Jones. The loss is moreso from the play calling and adjustments before the snap. Jones didn't handle that well last week and it looked like a completely different defense for a bit until they pulled it together later on that drive. Abdullah is lightning quick and fast, miss an assignment and it's not 10 yards given up, it's a TD. This won't be like KC, our offense will need to score more than 25pts to win this game. Toss in a defensive score for us and it might be the final nail in their coffin.