AZ54

All we really know is that Alshon wasn't on the field for the 20min of practice that was open to the media. Nobody knows what he did prior to that. For comparison it is clear to the media that Bushrod did not practice. Why that is less of a secret I don't know. There is no depth chart posted on the Bears website. No news about who is starting at RT. No news about who our starting CBs are. No news about starting OLB other than the obvious McPhee. Starting Dline? We only have 5 of them so we have to figure they are all going to play. Fox is keeping his cards close to the vest.

Really this is the model every NFL franchise is operating under. I'm not sure why everyone is so enamored with Green Bay's drafting when other clubs like Seattle have done far better in recent years. For sure they have found some talent in the draft at times but they've also missed on a few high picks. Julius Peppers has a $12mil cap hit for them this year and they had to do that in FA because they failed at drafting DE/OLB for several years. Anchor any team with a future Hall of Fame QB in this modern-rules league and you are almost a lock to make the playoffs each year. That makes all those other issues fade into the background.

I'm in agreement here. First Jennings, then Foster who was expected to contest for a starting spot or at least be a good backup, now Mills. Out of all this SMC is a starter at ILB.

I didn't even know there was a guy named Bryce Callahan on the roster. Keeping 11 DBs is a surprise to me, 6 CB, 5 S. Seems like we're throwing a lot of darts at the board hoping to hit on a few. OTOH we only have 5 Dline and one of them is C. Washington who is in transition to a new role inside. I don't expect much from him this year and figure he flashed some potential there especially in pass rush but made the roster more off his special teams ability. So we're just running with 4 experienced Dlinemen unless Fangio considers moving guys like Houston/McPhee inside as part of the rotation. Ratliff is on the reserve/suspended list so I guess he does not count toward the 53.

I will update my thoughts... Tayo sticking around likely means there is a lot of concern about Bushrod's back and of course our other OTs are not playing well. Leno returned to backup LT and I think the experiment with him at RT is over. With Mills making the final cut I expect he will start at RT in Week 1. Is Tayo kept around as insurance at OT, or are we working him into the backup OG slot since Ducasse hasn't played well?

Wow Tayo made the final cut. We'll see if that holds or if Bears try to move him to practice squad as they shuffle the bottom end of the roster this weekend. At WR keeping both Meredith and Bellamy. Have to figure Meredith heads to practice squad once (or if) all the WRs are healthy.

I'm right there with you. He'd be a great addition to the defense and while I'd give him the big contract I don't want to give up too much in future picks to get him.

I find Foster getting cut surprising and I didn't think he played that poorly. Certainly didn't see where he got pushed down to 3rd string. I'm guessing the coaches are going with the upside of the young guys like Timu who's performance kept getting better each week. Plus at least Timu has been in on a few good kick coverage plays so that had to help his case. There is the money factor as well as this frees up cap space that could allow us to sign a vet Oline or safety that gets cut for salary cap reasons. That could be even more prevalent if the Bears were trying to trade for someone because their existing contract carries over.

Great work to pull that together. I agree that there seems to be something at work with the schemes or coaching finally having some players in the right spot to make plays. Even Cutler has seemed at ease in the pocket despite the bad edge protection. We don't have the talent to compete at a high level but we might have the coaching in place to be competitive once again.

It's hard to think of a defense that has been as bad or worse than the Bears in the last couple seasons. Atlanta is one of them so I doubt someone they cut as part of their improvement effort is going to help us. I'm sure Pace is watching every name on the waiver wire but I would think we'd be more likely to target secondary help that gets cut from a team with good safeties or corners.

There's no doubt we were in that discussion but I think it was wise not to commit to that high salary for a player who essentially just got cut.

Worth a look.

Just read the entire decision. http://static.nfl.com/static/content/publi...00000520629.pdf Interesting to note that the judge does not dismiss the fact the Patriots cheated. Brady is allowed to play simply because he, and any other NFL player, were never notified that if they were involved in a cheating scheme they could only be expected to be fined and not suspended. Hence Goodell cannot suspend Brady because he was not given prior notice of the punishment for cheating. Also noted was the fact Goodell used the NFL Policy on Integrity of the Game and Enforcement of Competitive Rules clause that is given to GMs, Coaches, etc. but not to players. This is what was used to punish the Browns GM for texting during a game. Essentially what this judge says is that per NFL guidelines players are allowed to cheat in the NFL with no punishment beyond a fine. In summary: Patriots cheating = Guilty and subject to whatever punishment commissioner deals out under Integrity of the Game rules. Patriots equipment managers cheating = Guilty but since they are not players they can be suspended as has been done with other equipment managers caught cheating in the past. Essentially they had fair notice of the punishment for cheating. Brady cheating = Guilty but can only be fined and it looks like the fine is a mere $5,000.

If we are still picking top 10 in the 3rd offseason with this new front office and HC then nobody is going to really care about this pick as much as all the other ones we missed on.

Alshon will eventually get back on the field. Reportedly his calf injury can be tricky to come back from but I'd rather have the team preparing him for week 1 than the last game of the preseason. We'll see. Unless you don't trust the organization but as for me, I worry so much about all the injury details. I especially don't worry about whiny reporters who don't get everything they want. I never saw any reports that they did the wrong thing with White's recovery other than reporters upset they didn't know the details.

Athletic TE with good hands. He's not that fast but he has very good agility in the open field to make the tough catch as seen on that one-handed grab in the highlight SCS provided. Here again he adjusts to a pass behind him for a 23 yd gain. We've been looking for a 2nd receiving threat opposite Bennett and nobody has stepped up in camp. Lee has also been playing special teams for Texans so Bears already have film of him and know if he can contribute in that aspect. I would assume he can since we made the trade.

I think we all knew he only had 1 to 2 years in him. I think we all wished we paid about 60-70% of what we did when we signed him but it's done and he'll be around this season regardless. He hasn't shown any burst this preseason to get around the edge so I think all we'll see out of him is likely bull rushes or some attempts to cut back inside after a short rush upfield. Here's to hoping Willie Young returns to form by mid-season. Forget about OLB for a bit, Willie was more effective and more cost-effective as a 3rd down pass rush specialist last year and if can get back to that he'll be worth keeping next year as well.

From the 2nd day of training camp it was obvious Carden would never be an NFL QB. With Clausen injured it doesn't hurt one bit to get a look at Desert in this 4th preseason game since he knows most of the system from his last two seasons. He'll get cut after the game but at least the Bears will have another QB on speed dial if need be later in the year.

Where did you see the news about Slauson having a concussion? I can't find any reports on that. Are you confusing Clausen with Slauson?

You can put Jared Allen at the top of that list.

No surprises beyond Jennings so far. Al Louis-Jean really disappointed me as I expect him to improve and compete for a roster spot but I suspect he just doesn't have the work ethic needed to succeed in this league. He hasn't changed much physically since we first signed him so he's clearly not a workout warrior and guys just ran through his weak arm tackles.

I think Terrence Mitchell has played well enough to stick around IMO. We're rebuilding and it makes more sense to give the roster spot to a young player who has upside than to a veteran like Porter who has an injury history and is already injured before the season starts. Porter was playing well before he went down but I'll take the youth right now.

I don't think Vereen was going to make this roster. If you can't tackle and can't cover why keep him? Rolle hasn't done anything of note this preseason. Mundy wasn't lighting things up either and now with this injury we're really thin here.

I worry more about the pressure up the middle with Ducasse who has some of the same traits as Leno and Mills in that he gets overextended and/or out of position too often. I saw on one play against the Bengals where Ducasse went out to run block and the defender just side stepped him and ran into the backfield and hit the RB. Like SCS stated the loss to our inside running game will also be significant. Not a good spot to be in right now. FWIW last year's super sub Ola has fallen by the wayside this offseason. I don't know if that means Ducasse is better than him or he's just worse than he was last year. I know Leno struggles at times with his technique but at least when he gets it right he is just fine which is more often than not. While he might not be ready yet the arrow might be pointing up on him. Mills on the other hand seems to either get pushed around or DEs just flat out run around him play after play after play. As far as backup OGs Grasu doesn't have the strength to succeed at OG. Neither does Montgomery but most likely we're keeping both OC on the active roster. Expect to hear rumors about the Bears scanning the waiver wire this weekend and next for Oline help, or possibly making a trade. If we can find someone more serviceable at OG than Ducasse then keeping Long at RT will give us a decent combination.

You might be correct in that you could be the only one supporting this. RGIII is not seeing the field right now in the offense "he knows". He looks completely lost with respect to what the defense is doing and more often than not he's dialed in on one WR. From what he showed in his 2nd preseason game (within that offense "he knows") he cannot perform better than Clausen does with our offense. There is no way I can see him coming in to an offense he does not know and performing better than Clausen at any point this season. If you take a chance on a guy like this it is done during the offseason (i.e. next offseason) when you can carry 90 players and he has the time to learn the offense and coaches can work with him on his fundamentals. There is no way I can see us giving up one of our 53 roster spots to carry RGIII this season as our only backup QB behind Cutler who we most likely know will miss some games. When you consider all the injuries to our WRs I will not be surprised to see us carrying 6 WRs to start this year. Any team bringing him in should do so with the intention of telling him he's the backup QB. He needs to come down off his high horse for a couple seasons IMO and sit back and learn without the pressure. If he turns it around in a season and competes to be the starter a year down the road no worries. I just don't see that happening next year anywhere in the NFL.