CrackerDog

I think we'll have to wait and see. Two games where we had to overcome major gaffs doesn't have me convinced. It looks like a good hire but his team has played pretty sloppy football so far. And the D has been mediocre at best. I think I'm going to agree with you in the long run and I sure as hell want to right now, but I'm reserving judgment until I have more evidence.

I see game threads as the same type of conversation that might happen if you had a bunch of buds over to watch the game or if you were watching it at a bar. Someone is always shouting about yanking the QB after he makes a mistake, firing the coach, whatever. And most likely it has something to do with the amount of alcohol being consumed as well... I don't often participate in game threads because, well, I have friends over or I'm out somewhere or... I'm focused on the game! I agree with you Mad, I wouldn't hold anything against anybody that was said in the heat of the moment. You boys should just chill but I'm glad you're doing this in a thread I usually skip! I only noticed it today because it still has activity two days after the game.

Based on your recommendation I installed the app just now. I'm impressed. The photos are cool and the content in general is well done.

LOL Also, just to add, it appears Peppers is still dealing with illness and Melton is getting his legs coming back from the concussion. If we can get those two back to near full health, things will look a lot better in the pass rush.

OK. I just saw his overall game 1 as a net positive so I never really thought he was off to a slow start. I stand corrected.

No question. If they shutout the Steelers next week they'll be on a 17 point per game pace. I'm purposely looking for something negative, as I said in my original post, because I think we're getting a little too giddy. I don't accept the argument that only points scored against the D count. There were points scored on turnovers against us last year too. Apples to apples.

That really is crazy, isn't it? I noticed that as I was looking this stuff up. Numbers are high all over! Although Seattle put the smack down on SF last night in the rain. 3 points for ol' Sourpuss Harbaugh.

I took this a step further. The teams remaining on our schedule have averaged scoring about 24 points per game so far this year. If you take that over the 14 games remaining, this means we'll give up another 336 points. Adding our current 51 would yield 387 which is only slightly better than the number I posted above. Now you may say the Bears will give up fewer points than the average because we have a better D, but has that been proven yet? I haven't seen it. Maybe the offensive numbers decline as the weather gets worse. Maybe the offenses have been ahead of the defenses early in the season this year which is the reverse of usual but perhaps it's true. I don't know. But as a fan of the Bears I've been able to count on a stout D for most of my life. I'm not sure how this all pencils out in the end, but I can't get comfortable with this team going a long way in the playoffs if we continue to give up a large number of points.

To get myself to chill with all this 12-4 talk, I took a look at the Bears performance on defense. We're on a pace to give up 408 points. We gave up 277 last year. In fact, only 8 teams last year gave up that many points and guess what... Not one of them was a playoff team. You can sugarcoat this any way you like but if this trend continues, the Bears aren't going anywhere this year. I don't care how good Cutler and Forte turn out to be. The D needs to improve and they can start by getting a little pressure on the opposing QB.

Why don't we EVER see the White C?

About the same results as my "calculations". Are we too optimistic?

@ Steelers Likely W @ Lions Possible vs. Saints Possible vs. Giants Likely W @ Redskins Likely W @ Packers Possible vs. Lions Possible vs. Ravens Likely W @ Rams Likely W @ Vikings Possible vs. Cowboys Possible @ Browns W @ Eagles Possible vs. Packers Possible If we get 75% of the likely and 50% of the possible, this means 11.75 W's. This is an upgrade over my preseason expectation of 8 to 10 wins by 2 to 4 W's. Sounds like I'm drinking the Kool-Aid.

Now that we're off to a better start than most (I) expected, what do you think of the remaining schedule? @ Steelers @ Lions vs. Saints vs. Giants @ Redskins @ Packers vs. Lions vs. Ravens @ Rams @ Vikings vs. Cowboys @ Browns @ Eagles vs. Packers

I'm not sure there's as much correlation there as you suggest but fine, I'm happy with it. I'd like to know if Hester returned for over 200 yards on ST those other times too. That made a big difference yesterday. Every time the Vikes stuck a dagger in our hearts, Hester responded on the next kickoff, it seemed. Regardless, Cutler is on a 4,250 yard pace which is better than he's done since leaving the Broncos. He's also on a pace for 40 TD's which would be amazing. I sure hope he doesn't end up with 24 picks though, which would be near his career high.

We were lucky to play the Colts on opening day last year or they likely beat us. That actually turned out to be a big win, all things considered. Unfortunately we left too many W's on the table last year.

What shaky start? Preseason? Other than that comment, you're points are both spot on. Forte was the one guy in fantasy football I really wanted. He's going to have a tremendous year.

Yeah, I seem to recall thinking the Bears should've been ahead 24-0 at some point in the first half and it was tied at 21, I think. Crazy game. Frankly, to echo what some have already said here, on a macro level there's positives and negatives to this win. Under Lovie Smith I doubt the team makes this many boneheaded errors (particularly on ST) and thus, they aren't losing at any point in this game, most likely. On the other hand, if they did fall behind, most likely, they aren't coming back to win. I thought tackling improved in this game, the pass rush was poor. Plenty to be excited about on O except the mistakes which were plentiful. I can forgive Jay the fumble on that sloppy field but even that he needs to do better. Forte's fumble wasn't preventable, IMO. He was in an awkward position and the Viking made a play. The pick in the end zone needs to be avoided. I don't care if the man was open, you don't go late there over a crowded middle. With that said, RUN THE DAMN BALL in that situation. Sheesh! The deep pass to Marshall, I agree with someone else in the thread, I believe Marshall should've made a play for it and at least broken it up. That one isn't on Jay. He's supposed to make that throw, trusting Marshall. Overall, you can't be disappointed with two W's over playoff teams. Yesterday should've been a lot easier but it was still a W. PS. How about Hester!!!

Sounds about right. I don't think he'd have gotten fined at all if it weren't for his opening his mouth earlier in the week talking about it before he did it. I swear, some of this dipshits need to grow a brain. Regardless, it's always great to see the Packers, low lifes that they are, fined for being stupid.

My personal favorite at Ditka's is the Kick Ass Paddle Steak which is a bone-in rib-eye. Outstanding! I've heard great things about the pot roast nachos but have never had them myself.

Timothy O'Toole's is known as a Bears bar. It's in the Streeterville area where the pizza places are but you could also get some good pub food there. They have a free shuttle for Sunday games but you'd need to call them to find out if they were going to do it for a Monday night game. I'm not sure. Their website is http://www.timothyotooles.com/chicago. If you got a hotel room in the same area this would make more sense than if you plan on driving home that night. Just throwing it out there as an idea for you and/or anyone else thinking of coming in for a game in the future.

Selection7 said: Do you really think a guy who's been in the league for 13 years (and his professional agent) wouldn't know if it was standard procedure to issue a statement within seconds of hanging up the phone? OK, you said you think Brian is exaggerating the time, but does it change Brian's story if the real length of time was 5 minutes? You could see in his retelling the story the genuine shock he had when it happened. He could be lying, sure, but I doubt it. And at this point, the only way Brian looks bad in all this is if he's literally lying about most everything. Meanwhile, the Bears' silence is deafening. I didn't have a lot of time last night to address your comments in more detail. I still want you to re-read my post because I think I was very fair to Brian. With that said, I'll respond more directly to your comments I pasted above. No, I don't think Brian or his agent were confused by the speed at which the Bears got their press release issued. As I said, I'm positive the Bears had it ready to go as they probably already had a good idea that Brian was going to reject their offer. It was in their best interest to rip the Band-Aid off quickly. I don't blame the Bears for doing this that quickly given the need to control the message. Frankly, if Brian weren't just now whining about it all in public, more than likely to get more press for the fact that he's now a commentator, this would be a dead issue. He would've gone quietly into that good night and the Bears would be able to bring him back like all of their other mega-stars for various events. He's making his bed now. I hope he shuts up. I don't think Brian is lying. He's had his say, it should end here. The Bears should remain silent. Getting into a tit for tat argument with him at this point would serve no purpose. They could've handled it better than they did but they needed to move on and Brian should do the same.

Dude, you and I mostly agree. Read my comments again. I'm taking Brian's side but adding in a touch of realism. By offers I mean his camps offers as well as the Bears.

I stayed completely out of the hiring debate because I wanted to be free to be unbiased. If I picked a horse I'd feel the need to defend him. Just how I am. With that said, I have to admit, I like what I see thus far. A few L's in a row will change things a little. No, seriously, I think they hired the right guy.

Dude, I couldn't agree with you more. I can't listen to sports talk radio anymore. I used to be an avid fan of it. Woke up every morning to The Bull & Bear show. Now I think the broadcasters are more interested in saying stupid shit to stir up trouble, get lots of idiotic calls from idiotic fans... That's a show. It's like political discourse these days. Nobody can have a reasonable conversation anymore, it's all yelling. Jerry Springer's style of show has taken over everywhere.

Honestly, I see nothing wrong with Urlacher telling this story. I don't see him as being butt hurt or whatever. This sounds like the honest way it went down. The Bears steered this to remove him, which is kind of asshole-ish but whatever, they wanted to move on. I think they need to learn from this, that you DON'T treat your stars this way at the end of their careers. They should've went to Brian the way he suggested in this interview and put it out there for him to consider. I realize he's probably glossing over the fact that his agent probably wasn't negotiating as nicely as Brian is suggesting so the Bears probably had few options. At the end of the day, a few offers went back and forth before they said you have our final offer. He chose not to take it and the Bears moved on. The whole 30 seconds thing I don't believe. It was probably quick but not that fast. I do know that professional organizations want to control the message so they didn't want to wait and have Brian's agent out there spinning. They, without question, had the press release ready to go and hit send when the time came. End of story.