lemonej

One other thing to factor in is the health of Knox when it comes to deciding on Hester's future. If Knox is healthy he will be a cheaper option to sign vs Hester and he does have value at KR as well as Weems being on the roster.

The more I see McClellin dropping into coverage and spying QBs the more I believe we may have Urlacher's replacement on the roster.The Lovie 2 has morphed over the years into what we currently see now and on a couple of plays they rushed only 3 guys and Shea was in coverage against the Panthers.When I saw highlights of McClellin during the draft evaluation period he seemed to play a position similar to Urlacher at Boise. Kind of a "Rover". I wouldn't be shocked if that happened. As for Hester, the new kickoff rules and the Bears not being able to use Hester in a manner like the Vikings use Harvin or the Chiefs use McCluster and the packers use Cobb who are all similar players makes him less valuable to this team.Until they implement this unknown "Hester Package" he basically has been invisible since the Cowboys game. I put this squarely on Tice who seems to only call pass plays to Marshall and no one else.

When I started this thread I was pointing to the questionable play calling that Tice did during the game.If I'm running the ball at a 6.4 yards per clip with one player in the first half then maybe I need to run the ball a little more in the second half after I see that we are having trouble protecting against the pass rush when players like Greg Hardy who coming out was highly touted are having career games in one half but prior to this game haven't done squat.My comments were also based on the fact that Forte was going to help this team have a blowout but the play calling got too cute and needed to force the ball to Marshall who since Jeffrey has been gone is the only target that Cutler looks for. Stats support that comment because Jeffery is still the number 2 WR in receptions with Bennett and Hester only combining for 23 receptions period. My comments were not to rekindle the debate about the OL because right now nothing can be done about it and if you do something during the draft it still is going to take time. My only hope is that I hope Tice learns that when you do run the ball at teams early and often you can slow down the pass rush later in the game.

Agreed and I will add that his pet (Webb) and his 2nd pet Carimi have not been "potty trained" yet so why is he continuing to call for slow developing pass plays. The first 2 run plays yielded 18 yards with Forte, so why call any pass plays until they stop the run? BTW Jason I'm off all week and will respond a lot faster this week.LOL

Jason you know that I agree with your assessment, but I don't consider Rodriguez an addition to the team at all that is why Spaeth was used as a target and it failed. Davis is a raw taleent that will be raw talent when he retires. Kyle Adams was an undrafted FA for a reason and if you look around the league you will notice that the TE position is being utilized on most teams.

With Melton and Cutler needing deals done that would be tough. I say focus on drafting some guys but I will not be mad if the Bears decide to draft Urlacher's replacement in the first round. It is Mantei Teo only who I'm speaking of only. Other than that it should be OL first a pass catching TE and a CB in that order of priority.

I don't have a clue what the game plan must have been but if my starting RB (Forte) has 18 yards on his first 2 carries and had 205 last season against the same team the last time we played them,why not call his number until they stop him that first drive was a thing of beauty with him scoring the TD to finish the drive. At the half he was averaging 6.4 yards a carry. So IMO those sacks in the first half are not 100% on the OL and Cutler, I put them on Tice. On the pick Cutler threw,it was a 1 man route and max-protect that allowed the defense to basically quadruple cover the one WR in the route Marshall. Who called that play.? Tice. Some of those plays where Cutler was holding the ball for slow developing can only be attributted to the OC.When Martz was doing this last year we were all over him.Tice is getting too cute in these games if the Panthers are giving up 9 yards a play when you hand off why are we calling pass plays that are not working.Tice is the problem that no one wants to say anything about.

I always like to read these posts that come during game time because the passion and emotion that everyone exudes during the game is amusing. I tend to avoid posting during games because of some of the obscenities that are coming out of my mouth during games.I must have said "Run the F***ing football 75 times.

Hester is keeping the spot warm for Alshon but lets not forget that Hester still contributed to this game without making a play and that is tose stupid squibb kicks that Carolina was getting away with.The Bears enjoyed the best field position of the year and didn't capitalize with it.

Jason I'm not sure what criteria you used to come up with your rankings but of the teams you highlighted in bold as being better than the current Bears' OG tandem,I looked at 2 pretty telling stats that generally can be used to rate a whole OL.Sacks given up and average rush yards per attempt: Team Sacks Avg Rush Yds Per Att NYG 6 4.5 Phi 17 4.1 Ari 35 3.8 SF 20 5.9 Stl 21 4.2 Atl 13 3.7 NO 12 3.7 TB 11 4.1 Bears 19 4.3 The reason why I chose these 2 stats because they show IMO the strength of the OL and in most cases the cohesion(chemistry) of the unit. Since most teams run between the tackles the rush yards show how well the interior OL may be playing.The only problem in the case of Rachal and Louis is they have only played a couple of games together and if you take at least the last 2 games where the Bears have given up minimal sacks and have rushed for 172 and 200+ this tandem is starting to gel. Also lets factor in that the Bears average margin of victory is 14 points so a lot of the Bears runs have come when they have been trying to close out games late with 8 in the box. Only SF averages more rush yards per game of the teams you highlighted than the Bears and with NYG giving up only 6 sacks all season and averaging 4.5 per rush they clearly are tops in my eyes. SF averaging almost 6 yards per rush is very impressive after those 2 its open to debate in the NFC.

Just look at the highlight again and watch how Suh takes his right leg and tries to in essence trip Cutler down and then maybe you would see his point. It does look like a leg whip. I give Suh credit for coming over and seeing if he was okay but I would have done the same thing to help my rep.

I'm going along with Marshall's observation that Suh had to use what looked like a leg sweep to get Cutler down before he drove him into the turf.

Looking at a defense that is in double digit territory in turnovers and leading the league in points per game is what we like after 6 games and having an established #1 WR for the QB to throw to under duress. Having the deepest DL in the league after enetring the season with the age of the defense being questioned was not expected. On a couple of series during the Mon Nite game the DL was Wooten, Melton, Paea and McClellin.The play of the line didn't drop off when these not "old guys" were on the field. BTW 3 of those 4 guys I mentioned are JA picks and if you add in Tillman, DJ Moore and Briggs plus the aqusitions of Peppers ,Idonije,Jennings and Okoye(2011), JA didn't leave the defensive cupboard bare. Matt Forte and Michael Bush have yet to bust out and the team is 5 and 1. I'm going to sit back and enjoy what I see instead of trying to find what is wrong.Its time for me to be optomistic.

!. Bears scored on the first drive. Positive 2. Tilllman held Megatron to 3 catches that didn't matter.Positive 3. The defense again forced several turnovers.Positive 4.The Bears won another Mon Nite game. Positive 5. !72 yards rushing.Positive 6. Aside from Carimi's struggles the OL played decent. Positive Over the years (Since '66) I have learned to look at the single games as my salvation for the week. To everyone who posted something you didn't like in this thread,it seems like you are trying to find something to complain about. Lets enjoy the wins. Haven't all of you seen some of the injuries that have happened to other teams in the league? The Bears have been enjoying some good health this season and I'm keeping my fingers crossed because my vision is Super Bowl and with the national media and some of their fans the Bears are in a good frame of mind because they can use Lovie's favorite refrain " No one respects us." The only negative I take from the game is when Cutler was slammed to the turf with what I feel was a questionable tackle, Stafford wasn't taken down with a "legal hit".

If he was in contact during the play while the ball had been tipped then the call has to be "Illegal Contact" instead of pass interference which is a spot foul versus a 5 yard walk off.

It always seems the guys that hold out windup injured. He is jus the next on the list and the fact that he questioned Cutler's toughness makes it poetic justice.

The 2 OGs takem in the 1st round of the 2012 draft De Castro and Zeitler were taken towards the end of the round and currently De Castro is on IR and Zeitler is the Bengals starting RG. De Castro was very talked up at draft time by the experts but started to slide as the draft unfolded.Usually the only time a team will draft a OG early 1st round is when they project them to be able to play OT. That was the case when the Chiefs took Brandon Albert who was listed as an OG with the 15th pick. In 2010 the 9ers drafted OG Mike Iupati at 17 and the Steelers followed that with C Marquis Pouncey at 18. Both guys were immediately put into the starting lineup and are solid players. In 2011 Pouncey's twin brother was taken with the 14th pick and he too was special enough to go right into the starting spot. Drafting interior OLinemen earlier than the 20th pick happens rarely and usually is reserved for guys like Albert and Michael Oher who scouts projected to be able to play OT and played the position some in college. Hopefully the Bears will be drafting at the end of the first round and all positions except punter and kicker can be considered.

Its still early and I believe too early to even think about extending this coach or his staff, lets see what happens. If I'm not mistaken NFL rules have a deadline in place for extending player during the season and that is where my focus would be. Try and extend player like Louis and Melton now instead of when they hit the open market. Lovie can be last on the list because he would prefer it that way. I like when he is on the hotseat and with this being one of the most talemted roster's in his tenure, we will know if he is the coach of the future going forward for this franchise.

I watched Bears Huddle yesterday and they had Gary Fencik on as a guest( Why isn't his name mentioned when it comes to HOF?)and he is the Bears all-time leader in interceptions and takeaways and the question was asked how he felt about Peanut approaching his longstanding record and if that bothered him that his record was going down. Fencik replied "If one of your records is going to be broken you would want a great player like Tillman to do so." He also said he was a season ticket holder and that he thought the Bears safeties line up so deep that he wondered if they were on the game film every week.He is really enthused with the way the defense is playing and he likes the idea that they try and make a offense drive down the field without making a mistake. He said they played Cover 2 also and that this defense isn't always in Cover 2 also. I always like to see former Bears who speak glowingly about the current Bears and Fencik sounded as if he thought they had a good team. He also said he thought that if another DE could emerge opposite Peppers they would be unstoppable. When that was mentioned Corey Wooten's name came up and that is when he and Dan Jiggetts thought that his knack for big plays was something to look out for. Fencik said that he thought Wooten was still learning and filling out( Physically) and that it may be only a matter of time before he becomes dominant.

B Bear I agree about his play and with Williams on the way out I don't think they should have trouble extending him but, you have to figure on the priority list he may be after Melton who they should be trying to get done before this season is up. That has been typical of the way the Bears have extended players in the past.

Someone is underlining certain words in my posts and it isn't me. They are trying to get you to click on and be a winner at something. Everyone please beware! I am not computer savy enough to post links etc. like that.

My only question is when you are paying a guy that much to dress up in Bears gear if he is so bad why not cut him in TC and utilize the spot on one of the young linemen that are currently on the PS if you really are looking long term. Tyler Clutts didn't figure long term in Tice's scheme so just like Greg Olsen he was traded. I was fortunate enough to be able to watch all the preseason games live and a big enough couch potato to watch the replay the very next time it was telecast locally and neither player established themselves as a starting caliber LOT. In one of the first games Tice was so pissed at Webb's performance(as well as Spencer) that he left him in the game much longer than any of the other OL starters. That doesn't sound like a ringing endorsment of a player because regardless of what the beat reporters were reporting out of TC when you watched the preseason games,Webb was playing just like he did in the packer game. In the Colt game he basically used what I thought was a questionable block on the back of Freeney's achilles area that sidelined the DE for the rest of that game and subsequently the following couple of games. Just like we have noticed that Cutler has had some stinkers some of them can be attributed to the play of the current LOT(see week 2). I just feel this is Tice's baby and because when he worked him out and allegedly got a chipped tooth he is Hell bent on trying to make a player out of him. You saw Eugene Monroe playing LOT yesterday for the Jaguars well he was there with Tice and he didn't look so good.Coming out of Virginia he had spent the season a LG because a younger player(D'Brickishaw Ferguson) was manning the LOT spot. All the draft pundits and talking heads felt he could move well enough to play in space and make the move back outside to OT. Sometimes you catch lightning in a bottle with a Randalll Mc Danial but often a lot of position coaches get too much credit for a special player or two who has the drive that neither Chris Williams or Ja Marcus Webb will ever possess. Think about it, Buddy Ryan gets a lot of credit for being the ochestrator of that 85 defense but he had been with the team since 78 when Neil Armstrong was the coach. Well 7 of his 11 starters were 1st or 2nd rounders with the remainder of the guys having multiple years in his scheme.Compared to Marinelli, Tice still has work to do in terms of developing this OL. Just like last season when the lack of a full off season was the excuse, what could be the excuse why this OL is taking so long to develop every year under Tice if they are using the same blocking technique? He has been here 1 year less than Marinelli and has been slow to develop any noticeable emerging talent so far. He has had 4 draft picks to try and develop Webb,Williams,Louis and Carimi with 1 out of the 4 stepping up and that seems to be Louis. Marinelli has had 3 not counting Shea Mack this year. Melton, Wooten and Paea. Right now all 3 look promising as well as SMC showing flashes.

I find it funny how strength of schedule is determined based on last season's results and then as the season unfolds the schedule shifts. The NFC West was considered the weakest division in the conference and now the victory against the Rams looks like as much of quality win as the Dallas win. With the Colts beating the packers that win doesn't look bad either while the loss to the packers looks as though that was a game that the Bears should have won. With games looming against several teams with winning records plus the usual dogfights with division opponents,the Bears schedule is looking a lot tougher than originally anticipated.I say this with the idea that the NFC North was going to produce 3 playoff teams this year and that doesn't look like the case.I just hope that the experts keep ranking the Bears behind other teams in the power rankings, keeping them under the radar even though the way this defense is playing will continue to garner attention.

Just about every game so far this season the offense has started out slow. Why? IMO it revolves around the play calling, passing accuracy and pigskin donation.The opening drives have been where my frustration has manifested itself so far this season: 1. Cutler has been throwing into tight coverage alot and been wild high early. Marshall is a stud but he can't catch the ball when he is surrounded by 2 or 3 defenders. 2. Play calling in game 1 a play action pass was called on the first play of the game when the run hadn't been established. When you are starting the game off in a 1 back formation that isn't going to fool too many teams unless you hand the ball off a couple of times.In this game the Bears started off running the ball well but for some reason they felt the need to call a pass play causing Cutler to try and force the ball to Marshall surrounded by a CB, safety and LB.The result another opening drive pick. You can't keep hoping the defense can save you from early mistakes game after game. 3.Pigskin donation has become a regular thing early with Cutler and he has no one to blame but himself on the recent ones because he is simply trying to force balls in tight windows.I don't have the stats in front of me but I do believe he has most if not all the turnovers on offense. Thankfully this old and aging defense can put away their canes,walkers and wheel chairs to score 5 TDs to the offense's 6.lol While Iam optimistic that some of these things can be corrected, its awful hard not to remember when the offense got rolling last season, a turnover got Cutler injured basically ruining the season.

After yesterday's game 4 members of the OL played pretty good including Webb,while Carimi decided to crap all over himself.The rushing yards and average per carry tells me that the insertion of Rachal at LG has helped the interior create better running lanes inside. On a lot of Cutler's dropbacks he had decent time to make reads. Its still a work in progress and I will wait and see how they look coming out of the bye week when some severe self scouting should be done before I think this OL is starting to gel. BTW Am I crazy or is Lance Lois quietly having a pretty good season so far? I haven't heard his name called for much of anything all season.For an O-lineman anonymous is good.