Alaskan Grizzly

Being one of the more strident ‘doubting Thomas’ers’ I’ll say in the highlight films I saw of yesterday’s game, Mr. Trubiksy...I am impressed. He looked composed, stood tall in the pocket, delivered relatively on-target throws to his receivers (which they didn’t drop) and he rolled out (the right way) when he felt pressure. Yes I get that this was the 24th ranked defense in Detroit but they were at home and wanted a win as bad if not more than the Bears. They especially were feeling good when they found what could be a pretty decent QB in Blough (or was it our defense playing so poorly?). Anyhow, overall Mitch did good yesterday. And by the by, has anyone else noticed lately he’s starting to develop a more harder snap count (from time to time)? I noticed it last week when the opposition had a fair amount of defensive line penalties and a few close calls yesterday for Detroit. This is a good thing for Mitch. Adds an extra element to the offense and causes the rush to pause that much more. Please keep this good thing going.

TP

DP

They can't keep their WC corps healthy. Gone through something like 6-7 different receivers in a few weeks....

To be fair, he did play behind this same (or nearly same) oline last year...and managed 935 yards with a 3.7 yard average. His overall average total yards (receiving and rushing) has remained constant for his three years with Chicago and the one year with Philly at 3.6. This time last year (after 10 games) he had 523 rush yards which is only 2 yards less than where he's at right now. And with regards to his being out (CBS Sports): "Jordan Howard: It’s now been over three weeks since Jordan Howard suffered a stinger against the Bears and he still hasn’t been cleared for contact, according to Pederson. Howard has missed the two games since the bye week and is in danger of missing another one this weekend. He won’t be allowed to play until he’s cleared for contact. Howard will again be limited in practice to start this week. “It’s day to day. It is progressing,” Pederson said. “It’s trending, obviously, in the right way. We just gotta make sure that he gets his strength back (in his shoulder) before we put him back out there.”"

I couldn’t help notice that in last nights game both GB and SF ran a variation (or had elements) of the offense Nagy runs. Of course we’ve all heard how the NFL is the copy cat league, but the issue with Nagy is timing. He has a tendency to call the wrong play at the wrong time and stick with what isn’t working. I’d agree that he is adjusting better to the game (unfortunately it took over half a season to figure it out). With Trubisky it’s execution. I went on this string yesterday during the game and commented how well he was playing. That was before his second interception and near misses with two others (one time into triple coverage). He still has spurts of solid play surrounded by others of not so good play. Watching the highlights of yesterday’s Bears game and the night game were not only literally night and day, figuratively as well. When SF runs their offense, even with Garrapolo being super mundane they collectively execute it well. (GB does well too but it’s apparent they are very one-dimensional). Hell they (SF) even ran a few plays with an actual fullback. From what I saw it was when they needed short yardage or were close to their own end zone. To me Shannahan is well ahead of Nagy running the same (or similar) offense or at the very least making the calls.

Don’t think it a fair assessment either; they played the Bengals who are 0-whatever. Their defense ranks dead last and allows an average of 425 yards a game. Against someone like the Pats or 9ers than maybe I’d be impressed. Speaking of; loving this SF - GB game so far lolololololol!!

Sorry, missed your comment on that the first time. I’m feeling good about SF winning tonight, they are a solid team and are at home (they are where the Bears should be). GB is totally one-dimensional. Rams should lose too. The Bears had LA on the ropes and could have beat them but didn’t in spite of themselves. Baltimore’s on a roll.

Doesn’t GB play SF tonight?

God I hope they don’t do Club Dub. ???

Nagy needs to go back to I-formation running. Plain and simple. And I’m tired of seeing Cohen as a primary back...not THE primary just sharing carries with Montgomery. Time to elevate Nall and keep Cohen to gadget and third down plays.

Would agree except most of the time, even against crappy teams they can’t seem to do anything right. Here, despite the sputtering, they are making forward progress.

They can’t seem to get things in synch. Trubisky’s playing exceptionally well today (I know it’s the Giants but still) BUT...between the refs and dropped passes they can’t seem to keep the momentum. The interception in the end zone was interesting due to the position of the receivers (at least according to Spielman). According to him Miller bent into coverage which looked accurate. Then later he (Spielman) noted two receivers were clumped together when in fact Montgomery was in position to block had the receiver behind him caught the ball. oh well....

Did I mention I’m a masochist? It’s synonymous with ‘Bears fan’. Pinerio opens the game with an out of bounds kickoff and the offense opens on a 3 and out. On the brighter side; ‘my man’ McManis has nearly had an INT and had a snot-knocking hit on Special Teams.

Ok trade him then.

I second this. The last number of weeks I’ve been watching Mack and it seems pretty apparent he’s cashing in the rest of the season. I would imagine he’s representing most of the other defenders in their frustration due to having to be on the field as long as they have and get nothing from the offense. His production can’t be that affected by not having Hicks on the field.

Not that it matters if he is done but the lack of production and his inability to ‘blow the top’ off of defenses isn’t Gabriel’s fault. Most times when Mitch has been able to throw it to the right place Gabriel has been able to get there and under it. But due to the scheme and the inconsistency of Mitch...he hasn’t been used to his potential. Miller ? F*#k him. And really think there’s something to be excited about seeing Ridley and Wims on the field. Robinson is an absolute must-keep. And agree they need another large body WR and would love to see them get someone like Seattle’s Metcalfe they drafted last year. Guy reminds me of a young Megatron.

That’s....hilarious! One more thing; I predict Eli will stay in Chicago after the game so he can audition for the starting job next year.

Or Lovie Smith (while with the Bears 81-63 overall, three NFC North Titles and one SB appearance) or Chuck Pagano (53-43 and 3-3 playoff record). But really, hindsight being what it is, would you have preferred Fox's 'boring' offensive scheme with this defense the last two seasons? Going back to earlier conversations, if you have a stellar defense even Qb's like Rex Grossman can make it to the Super Bowl.

Get your point Mad but this is more about the current big picture than it is where our kicking game is right now. Like in another post you believe more of the problem lies with coaching than it does with the performance of Trubiksy. Whereas I think the issue goes deeper than that.

I’ll side with you on this but only a little. I agree he’ll never be elite. He may (at best) be an Alex Smith type game manager. The reason I don’t completely buy in is because once he’s rattled, he’s done. He locks on receivers, he gets happy feet and he overthrows his receivers. Would more time in game time situations (yes -to include preseason) help him improve? Possibly. One measure, fair or not, will be to see how much better the team does if in fact Miller ends up starting most or the rest of the season. If the team improves overall, then Trubisky is more to do with it. If not....then as you allege it’s more the ‘supporting cast’. All that being said; you can’t simply dump him (Trubiksy). Too much invested. I’d say look for a WORTHY veteran QB to challenge him next year AND even draft a 3rd or 4th round QB. Heck I’d even be willing to see what more Bray can do, he had a good preseason at least. After next year starts though you’d have a better idea whether Trubiksy will pan out and whether they should honor his 5th year.

Ok mayyybee... story I found says Connor Barth became available (previously with NO) and had been familiar to Fox. In his favor (Barth) was that he cost less and Gould was allegedly on a downward trend. I’ll still blame Pace. Fox isn’t coaching right now so he’s paid his penance.

To be fair, in yesterday’s game the defense held up their end of the bargain for as long as they could. They had three(?) turnovers early in the game and put the offense in a relatively favorable position in almost each of those three times . Due to the combination of the offenses ineptitude and Pineriro suddenly sucking horribly... (whose idea was it to send Gould packing?), nothing came of it. I’m thinking the defense lost its motivation after seeing the offense (yet again and again and again) fail to convert. All that being said, I still am of the opinion that it doesn’t need to be burned down entirely but only partially. Send Nagy back to KC and let Pagano take the team to the end of the season. I know this was suggested by another and I personally think Pagano could make a decent go at it if given the chance. Who knows, maybe next season Fangio will get fired and could come back to Chicago as the DC? And maybe Luck will be ready to come out of retirement and play for Pagano again? Stranger things have happened...

Well now I know what MadLith needs for Christmas; more Lagavulin!! LOL In all the years I've known you I don't think you've ever been so frank and candid, usually more "glass half-full" type guy...as you've professed for years. But I feel your pain and totally get it. This is a mess top to bottom. Sad it won't be fixed anytime soon I'm afraid.

So now that the season is prematurely over, what next? There were two moments in last nights game that made me go ?!?!. One was the declined penalty for ‘running into the kicker’ against LA. And the shit Nagy pulled late in the game when he pulled Trubiksy. Was he injured like you claim he was or ???? If in fact he was injured as you claim, and he ‘wasn’t right’ throughout the game; why then? And to put Miller in that situation ... just all around pathetic. To be a Bears fan is tough enough but to have to air the mess that is our current team on national TV is purely disgraceful.