'TD'

Very odd, they will have to guarantee Scott's contract now. If they waited until after Sunday they wouldn't have to.

That was what I was saying, except with the opposite conclusion. He defines sufficient as a player doing enough that you can win games. In 2005, Orton fit his definition of sufficient. He was horrible in one game that year. By Emery's definition, he was sufficient in the other 14. The Bears went 10-5. I think he played well below the average starter that year. Emery may have seen him as average based on what he said, it doesn't mean he saw him as average tho. He didn't go into detail on the grades received for each game. It's not a conclusion that can be easily jumped to. I'm not sure Kromer or his scheme mattered. Carimi was bad last year and Emery knew it. He was defending his play vs. a second round pick and he said he knows he would get criticized. He was basically saying, yea he sucked but there was nothing else I can do. Let me throw some stats at you and say why. Which he obviously had prepared, and imho was the same he was doing with Webb.

http://espn.go.com/nfl/powerrankings/_/year/2013/week/1 14 Bears 10-6 Last Week: 13 New offensive-minded head coach Marc Trestman has work to do. The Bears' offense has finished above the bottom 10 in total yards once in the past 11 years. ESPN has the bears at 14 also. I had no idea about that last stat tho. 11 friggin years, where are you Jim Miller, Shane Mathews, A-Train, and Marty Booker?

Emery's Definition of sufficient as he was using it in the same interview: "they were at least at the sufficient level, which you can win with that player and his performance on that particular day. " Basically, 14 of 16 games he played at a level that he didn't [play at a level to cause the team to lose. That is not saying something positive That's not saying how many games he graded at any certain level. How many were considered sufficient, good, or bad. He was talking about his explayer in a positive light, just like Trestman was talking about cuts and saying they all people you want in the Bears locker room. He had that prepared, as he knew questions would be asked about Webb. That was his way of saying something positive. Last year Emery said this of Webb: "So you're going to be patient. That's what we're doing. We're being patient with J'Marcus, and we want to see him develop because of those tools, and what we're looking for is, we see him do it, and we want to see him do it with consistency." In the interview you reference Emery comes full circle with the idea of consistency that Webb is lacking: "He never gained the consistency, that sufficient level of consistency that we want out of our players. So at the end, his performance wasn’t to our expectation level that we felt we needed to move forward with it. " What I get from that, is that Webb never progressed. BTW, I'll give you an example of Emery defending a guy from the OL with stats. "There was only one right tackle that came out better than Gabe, and that was tackle from Baltimore. Gabe [Carimi] gave up 31.5 disruptions; he gave up 30. Gabe gave up 6.5; he gave up 7.5. His percentage was lower because they threw the ball more. His percentage came out better. His ranking was higher. But in reality, we’re looking at the same guy. So, in my eyes, the decision was: do we go for the playmaker or do we go for the offensive lineman knowing we’ve already got two 24-year-olds – those two guys are 23 – that are part of our mix. I made the decision to go with the playmaker. I don’t regret that decision. I know it’s going to be criticized. I feel good about it." That was at the end of this past season. He was defending not taking a lineman in the second round the year prior. He found a way to talk positive about him, to defend his decision the year prior. How long after that was Carimi gone? Obviously, if Emery felt that if he truly did play at a near average level last year, Webb will still be here. Johnathan Scott basically couldn't practice all preseason and is still here. He would be on the team in place of Britton, Brown, or Boggs. Webb worked with them to stay with the team by taking a pay cut. At league minimum, he still wasn't worth it. He's gone now, who cares. You have your opinion and what you back it up with. The many that disagree have there opinion. Who really cares? Especially now that he is gone from the team. You see Emery backing your opinion, other see "GM speak", it is what it is.

It could argued they have an easier path to and through the playoffs than NFC teams. They look likely to get a bye, so that's less games over all, and the team I would consider better is led by a QB that chokes in the playoffs. The Packers, which is the only team I think should be higher, may not even win the division. They are unlikely to get a bye due to the tougher teams they play, and could have to face both the Seahawks and 49ers on their path to the Super Bowl. Once you get to the Super Bowl anyone can win. I'll stop there. I hate the Patriots, and definitely don't want to defend how good they are, except for Gronk who will win me my local fantasy football league when he gets healthy.

Patriots should have an easy shot through their division this year. The site has the Jets and Bills as their third and 4th worse team respectively and the Dolphins as the 11th. The AFC really isn't as strong as the NFC this year. The AFC represents 7 of the 8 worse teams in their rankings. Other than the Broncos, I really can't see an AFC team that deserves to be ranked higher than the Patriots. Given their schedule, I think 5th is fine even if they may not be as good as some of the NFC teams. I'm more than happy with the Bears being ranked 14. They are in one of the, if not the toughest divisions in the NFL. Two teams from the North made the play offs last year, neither of which were the Bears. Plus, there has been a major overhaul of the team. A coach that has been with the team for nearly 10 years has exited and a completely different philosophy was installed. There has also been a major overhaul of the roster, with a massive amount of turn over. I personally think the Bears have a shot at the Super Bowl this year. An unbiased nonBears fan however, most likely see those problems and more once Jay Cutler's inconsistencies are thrown in. I think the Saints and Redskins rankings bother me most.

It's up to you what you do, but I like around here. It's kind of crazy that your obsession with the Webb debate has brought you to this point. Phil isn't going to say anything negative about any former Bear. That's just not the politically correct thing to do as a GM. I'm not saying "Your obsession" in a inflammatory term. It's obviously there in the so called "broken record" posts, and continues to be after he was cut and signed with another team for a couple days. Just let it go. No one cares about Webb. He's gone and moved on and enjoy. I promise this is a much larger issue, including questioning integrity, to yourself than it is to anyone else that posts or reads posts here. Time to move past, be excited for Sunday and the new topics at hand.

He's on the practice squad.

Prove it, links, sources, or it didn't happen. Unless Emery or Trestman said that you are excited to get this season underway, then I don't believe you.

I wouldn't call it a strength either, due to the inexperience right now. It's just a normal I guess. It's not a strength or weakness of the team.

3 by saturday

I didn't say "I know" Forte is healthy this year. I couldn't say that about anyone. It sure looks like he is healthy. He had an excellent preseason. Last year, I definitely wouldn't have said it. He got hurt game 13 the year before and missed the last 3 games with injury. He played a little in preseason. Between his injury, knowing the line, and Mike Tice as OC, it was the first year I advised people to stay away from Forte and didn't draft him in any fantasy football leagues myself. He also got hurt last year, but it was only game 2 and he missed game. He finished the season with a 100 yard game, which is a far cry from having a season ending injury like the year before.

I KNOW: Forte will have a career year for 3 reasons. 1.) He is healthy. 2.) He finally has holes to run through for the first time in his career. 3.) Trestman loves passing to his running backs. Career year in yards (1+2), Receiving yards (3) Total Yards (1+2+3) Receptions (3) TDs (2) Receiving TDs (3) Forte has held back by a horrible line for years, and the only reason he was so bad at short yardage. I honestly think past lines have been seen at decent in the running game due to the pass blocking being so horrible and Forte making them look better. So yes, I KNOW this will be a career for Forte.

Don't want the tickets, just wanted to make an observation. I've never seen 4 worse teams in a preseason schedule as the Bears have had.

There are times I just read more than I post, I'm sure there are steal a lot out there that do that too. I'm sure we will see Jason and Terra around when the season starts. I'd really like to see NFO back, but he's been mia for a long while. We know LT is around thanks to the second TalkBears FF league, and who knows we may see the occasional noots notes.

I think he is trying to say he hasn't had enough reps from where he is injured. He's still not feeling better and trying to rush it all in. He knows the plays on paper, but doesn't know it in action. Nothing to worry about, as long as he recovers, the offense may just not be crisp right out the gate. That's kind of something I'd expect anyways with the new offense and the major turn over on offense.

I got him in the 6th round. It was between him and RG3 (for some reason 8 QBs were picked before either). RG 3 is coming off an injury, and Cam gets to play the Saints D twice during our play offs, so I went with him. This is one of my favorite drafts I've ever had. I had to change the team name to Catching Grand Dads, my starting WR's will be 32, 34, and 35 this season.

I just did my local 10 man PPR draft that's been going on since '97 QB: Cam Newton WR: Roddy White WR: Reggie Wayne WR: Steve Smith RB: McCoy RB: Forte TE: Gronk K: Gould Def/ST: Bears Bench: Stevie Johnson Cecil Shorts Kenbrell Thompkins Alshon Jeffery Giovani Bernard Chris Ivory Ben Rothlesburger Running backs went faster than I expected, so other than my back ups there I am happy.

I think Webb was pretty successful. I don't think he is good, or even that he should make the team. However, he was a 7th round pick that outlasted and started more games than 2 1st round picks combined during his time. (I'm just guessing on the combined.) Out of all of the turds the Bears have had the past few years on the line, he was a floater and rose above the rest. I'm just glad that the line seems to be out of the bowl and improving.

Surpisingly, they only ran 70 more plays than the Bears last year. They had 1600 more yards of offense in the plays ran tho lol.

Agreed, after 3 years the Bears are his 6th team. I imagine each team saw the measurable when they signed him but not the talent on the practice field. Hope he turns out great tho I was there with you. Too many teams saw nothing for there t be anything left to find.

He didn't say much about Long, and Long had an amazing game. It's like he knows, they know, what Long did. He wants to pump up Mills, as he thinks he's the best option on the right. At least, that's how I interpreted his comments.

Maybe he will turn out to be the Bears' Rich Gannon.

I got 7th, so kinda where I wanted to be in this draft. 1 hour till the start

The rookies need reps, and they sure got them last night. That was great, but the black unicorn, Alshon, and the rest need reps with Cutler and in the new system. Passing to a guy he passed to 41% of the time last year doesn't help the offense progress. I really hope fooling the Bengals wasn't the game plan.