Alaskan Grizzly

We need Jason to add some thoughts on the oline production. This was his niche. Although he would’ve tried to convince me that all the guys should’ve been 1st round picks not just Kyle. But then maybe his point shows validity?

In another post I brought up the Biggs article and not only did they do that for Bars but also the TE Horstead who I believe had the opportunity to join another team’s 53.

Since it’ll be a few days until we see the Bears play again...how about this? Parkey set to sign with Titans after Santos let go. Wasn’t that nearly the same route the Bears took last year? https://www.usatoday.com/story/sports/nfl/titans/2019/10/07/cody-parkey-cairo-santos-kicker-tennessee-titans/3903660002/

Speaking of; found an interesting article from Brad Biggs (below, and can’t remember if we do or don’t like him). Anyhow, #s 6 and 7 on his list talk about Bars (and his choice NOT to play for the Patriots) and TE Jesper Horstead (also choosing the Bears PS over being on another teams 53). They both refer to the positive Bears culture for why they are staying and that it exudes good vibes. Maybe it is time to bring in some newer guys to see how they do in their relative positions? Coward looked good in his relief duty a few weeks back. It can’t get much worse right? https://www.chicagotribune.com/sports/bears/ct-cb-chicago-bears-oakland-raiders-10-thoughts-brad-biggs-20191007-7rnfxuxvm5ee7bwzhyop7ejipi-story.html

Long story short, was reading around and someone pointed out this was about where the Bears were this time last year (~3-2 around the bye and after losing to the Dolphins). Anyhow, I don’t think yesterday is an indication of how well this team can play. I think they’re more along the line of how they played against the Vikings the week before and will again, especially the D. The bears offense put up 21 answered points yesterday; that’s unheard of for the Bears normally. I think the team is too talented, the coaches too smart to let this get out of hand. I’m chalking up the near loss to Denver and the near win last night to bad conditions (high altitude and intercontinental travel) and poor planning coming up with the play we saw. They were saying early in yesterdays game that Gruden was 0-2 in London games because he arrived a day or two before the game. This time he switched it up and came over the Monday before. And considering they had all that time to adjust and our team didn’t, I wouldn’t think yesterday’s game really was all that bad. It certainly was entertaining.

Saw the same thing and was just amazed how out of position he was. He came out relatively strong with the first two tackles he had but after that faded quickly.

I wasn’t convinced the weak link was the oline until today’s game. Trubiksy is Trubisky and Daniel looked good in last weeks game. But he is a pocket passer and was getting close to being hit a lot more than he did last week. Mostly because the pocket was collapsing around him. Today’s game the only time he was really able to throw was when he rolled out (which plays more into zone blocking than not). Still not sure how special a player Montgomery is. Yes he keeps his feet but gets minimal gain when he does. The stutter stepping and spinning will only get you so far. But today he was attacking the lane better and still was meeting somoeone about 2-3 yards into the run. They need to focus more on the traditional straight line blocking (back to basics) and power block on every down.

I’m down.

“Peanut punch” McManis to the rescue!!!!! Or was that Tillman wearing #27?!?!! ?

This. ^^ I’m not a believer. Time to let players like Wims and Ridley step up. Edit: ok maybe he redeemed himself during this last drive. Looks to me like Nagy made some halftime adjustments. And Raiders are shooting them selves in the feet...

How is it one year removed from Harry Hiestand being heralded as the best Oline coach the team has seen in a long time is now putting this product on the field? The only real change from this year to last is Daniels and Whitehair swapping places.

Yeah this looks eerily similar to how the Broncos game went. Could it be the AFC West or just that they (Bears) got to London late and weren’t ready?

Hicks’ injury would probably send others out for several weeks but I have a sinking feeling he’ll be back sooner than later. He’s taking a long time to go to the locker room.

Anyone else having reception issues?

I’m curious, was there more than what came out since yesterday? I just saw a CBS report (as of an hour ago) that says Nagy has ‘declined to say whether Smith will suit up against the Raiders’. Hmmm... https://www.cbssports.com/fantasy/football/news/bears-roquan-smith-status-for-week-5-uncertain/

You know I think that’s the amazing thing in all this. The D in the last few years, going up to present, hasn’t really been called on a lot of ‘unnecessary roughness’ type plays. (At least without looking up all the stats that might show otherwise). With all the rules now to protect the QB and tendency to lean in favor of the offense, the Bears D is still intimidating other teams with its play. You have Mack who unquestionably is one of the best defenders in our time blowing up plays and offensive schemes without knocking the snot out of the players. Hicks and RRH coming up the middle and cleanly tackling people despite all the violence it takes to get there, LBs like Trevathan and Smith and Kwit cleanly tackling players in the open field and Jackson and Dix on the backend taking away balls with out stoning players in the process. Pretty amazing what they’re doing with all the restraints built in.

Yeah what Chucky did last year didn’t make a lot of sense. I thought going in the Raiders were a fringe team with Carr being a decent QB to move forward with. But with losses like Mack and Cooper I can’t help but think Gruden wanted to show everyone how smart he thinks he is. Now the team is a shell of its former self with a bunch of future early round picks. In the end I’m glad Gruden did what he did; Mack came to our team and thankfully not to GB. Can you imagine how things would look right now if he’d done that? Yikes!!!

Nah, I don’t buy it. But really who knows...or cares? As long as he’s ready and able to go (and healthy-emotionally and physically) that’s all that really matters. It was painful to watch him weather the media storm of several reporters essentially asking the same question over and over and him having to repeat ‘it was a personal matter and it’s behind me’. Looking forward to you play Sunday Roquan.

Update on Trubisky is he has a dislocated left shoulder and a ‘small tear’ of his labrum. No surgery required. Probably out another 2 weeks? Meaning he’ll probably be back to play week after the bye or week after that(?) With regards to the game I hear the Mack, Pinero and to some degree RRHs showcase efforts so that may amp them up a bit. With RRH and Mack amped then the D will probably dominate that much more than they already have. I suspect Smith will be out this week but after seeing Kwit last week (and assuming he keeps it up) I’m not too concerned . Offensively speaking I think the Bears are better off with Chase playing QB ... at least for now. He just does a better job of dissecting and pre-reading the D and as someone else mentioned, ‘looking off the coverage’. Hard to get a good read off the Raiders D but suspect running D isn’t their forte; maybe Montgomery gets close to 100 yards on the ground and another 50-60 in receiving yards? With Burfict out at least we don’t have to worry about any cheap hits on our guys...from him anyhow. I think they’ll have Daniel throw a good number of short and intermediate throws with a long chuck occasionally to keep the D honest. I’m personally hoping Wims gets some more opportunity to shine. Carr is really the only notable player on their O but they did go on a four score tear early in last weeks game against the Colts. However they did lose to the Vikings the week prior 34-14...so there’s that. Gonna go out on a limb and say Bears 30-10.

Yeah, I think you’re right. Without looking at all the film it seemed that Kwit was playing a spy-like position with zone support. Most of the time those Lbs are utilized for mobile QBs to keep them contained but tend to concentrate more on what is going on in the backfield. I can’t remember last weeks d formations but if memory serves there was what looked like a four man front (although the base is 3-4) with two MLBs (Trevathan and Kwit) leaving a combination of 5 CBS, NB and safeties in the backfield. In watching some highlights of Kwit he did trail a TE or crosser on a route or two but was backed up by a NB most times that being Skrine. I want to say it resembled more a zone defense in the middle to help support the mid range passes. But the times he was successful, especially later in the game, he was reacting to what he saw in the backfield...meaning he attacked the offensive backfield in a form of blitz or spy-like read.

In a related tone, I hope Roquan stays healthy and is able to return ... when he’s ready. But in the meantime it’s apparent that Kwiatkowskis time on the bench did him some good and sent him a clear message that the next time he was thrust into the limelight he was going to perform...and perform he did. Now time for Trubisky to take notes...

The ‘erratic behavior’ described by some makes me wonder if he wasn’t having some sort of CTE related issue? I really hope whatever it is it’s not health related. He’s a great kid from what I’ve read and seen about him. If you remember last year when the Bears did the “Meet the Rookies” episode on him (linked below) he talked about where he learned the definition of hard work while working as a well drilling apprentice(?) and was spoken of highly by many people in his (very small) community. And if you remember right around the time he showed up to report to the Bears he had a bunch of stuff stolen from his car; to include some of his personal college memorabilia and a team issued iPad. Reports at the time had him pretty despondent over it. There was speculation at the time that he may have forgotten to lock the doors on his car (which would play more into his small town roots). But based on all this and a few other articles out there it would seem really odd his being held out was for nefarious reasons.

Gotta hand it to Nagy (and Pace). But in today’s society where all the Schefters and Rappaports and the wanna-bes are out there to get the first big ‘scoop’ and not yield to that pressure is commendable . Especially if Roquan is dealing with something that he truly needs personal time to deal with; this plays into the ‘family first’ mentality that Nagy has instilled in the team. He will gain immeasurable trust and respect from the team for doing so.

X2 Bears don’t need the headache that comes with Kaepernick and aside from that one good season...under Harbaugh...seven years ago...he was never all that great. Bray and Daniel are quite capable running the O.

Yup.