Alaskan Grizzly

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.

Is it me or do the Bears come out strong for the first half then throttle back for the second half? They did come out fast for the first part of the second half but since then... And ... I’m wishing Montgomery would spend less time dancing around and moving upfield.

Holy sheet!!! Did you see that bull rush from Kwit?!?! Damn!!! The dudes on crack today!!

Word.

And Kwitkowski playing like he should be starting!! I love defensive football!!! Good stuff today.

Nick ‘next man up’ Williams making having Hicks out less painful!

He’s getting the job done and no Trubisky doesn’t need to rush back. I suspect they’ll call up Bray (he’s still on PS right?) and off to London they go. They're starting to put more pressure on Daniel but he’s showing some serious brass ones playing the role of true pocket passer.

Thank GOD the D didn’t do like they have so many times before, just let the ball roll around on the ground after a questionable call. Too bad the refs didn’t let it play out and see if Clinton ‘pick-six’ Dix could’ve run it back .

Are you seriously shocked by this? Amazing what happens if you’re able to pass downfield and the defense has to back up and not stack the box. Daniel shows what it’s like to be able to read the D and go through your progressions. Oh and the oline is giving him time to throw. Incredible!!!

Edit: looks as though ‘Iggy’ will get some playing time. I’m intrigued to see how he does. Seems to be a flashy player. In other concerning news; the Lions are playing KC tough with 23-20 lead going into the 4th quarter.

With Gabriel out that means a player like Wims will move up in the rotation. Some analyst this last week pointed out a significant third down play converted by Wims late in the game against the ‘Skins. If Trubiksy is able to be more accurate on his passes I think Wims will be more involved this time round. I think for the running game to be successful, the Bears need to be able to stretch the field. ‘IF’ all this happens, I see Wims being a large piece to this game. https://www.chicagobears.com/video/player-profile-javon-wims

Speaking of mirages; interested to see how this Daniel Jones kid works out. Bears will face off with them in late November, a week after traveling to SoCal to play the Rams.

Was just going to come back and apologize for hijacking the thread. So I’ll stick to the theme... After seeing last night’s game I’m having a hard time measuring how the Bears will do against Minny. Bears lost to GB at home 3-10 and Minny lost to GB (in GB) the week after us 16-21. Then GB lost to Philly last night in GB. The game last week against Washington would indicate the Bears did great; but those of us who watched it went away unsatisfied. The score was more a result of one half of good play and another half of crossed fingers. Minnesota is capable especially at RB. Cousins is an unpredictable player but has Thielen and Diggs at WR and Rudolph at TE. The current OC Stefanski (sp?) is the most recent OC ‘up-to-bat’ after DeFillipio was let go last season. He’s been with the Vikings since ‘06 and credited for helping Keenum to his best career year while the QB coach (remember Keenum’s 2-0 record against the Bears?). HC Zimmer is a defensive minded coach and a good one to boot. Hunter is an ‘up-and-comer’ at DE and they still have Griffin on the other side who (to me) is hot/cold. There’s Anthony “slam Rodgers to the turf” Barr at LB and Smith and Rhodes in the backfield to be concerned about. Hard for me to predict the weakness on D. To have a chance, I think the Bears will have to do more of the same from last week; short/intermediate passes with a fair amount of running mixed in. The D will do it’s thing but I’m concerned about how the corners will hold up, especially Amukamura and a little bit Skrine. This could be a close one and I see Bears either losing by 3 or winning by 7-10.

All trolling aside; I should’ve said their offense was more balanced with a good control of the passing game. A fair amount of the overall rushing yards came later in the game (at least according to the radio broadcast). A look at Howard’s stats are interesting; he ended up the lead rusher with 87 yards (5.7 avg) and 2 TDs. And... added 3 rec for 28 yds and another TD. The “rookie starting ahead of him” had no receptions and 15 less yards rushing...and 0 TDs. Jordan was targeted 4 times where the #1 WR (Jefferey) was targeted 9 times but both had the equal number of receptions at 3.

Beg to differ....mostly passing game that seems to be doing the job. As a matter of fact, one passing 20 yard TD reception by former Bear Jordan Howard. Yes that’s right ... passing reception...Jordan Howard. Oh and one running TD to boot. Why did the Bears get rid of him again? Running stats so far (into the 3rd quarter) show all three RBs for Philly with less than 100 yards...combined.

Its more apparent this year than last that taking the whole preseason off wasn't a good idea. I get the concerns of injuries but the opposite issue is what we're seeing now and as NY points out our team was 'this close' to going 1-2. Had the Redskins been a better team; like Minnesota, like Dallas or maybe even Philly we could have very well been looking at that record. 'So far' everyone in our division has a winning record so its even more imperative our team get their collective sh#t together. I honestly haven't seen the breakdown in the OL as much as the rest of you have claimed, or at least for the same reason. The troubles I see reflect more of the lack of Trubisky to stretch the field so the opposing defense is able to stack the box, putting as many as 8 defenders within 5 yards of the LOS. When they are playing man-to-man on coverage knowing Trubisky can't hit the tight window or long range throws they can afford to send more people on the rush or to stuff the run. Montgomery's success at running isn't coming from his first effort, its when he bounces outside or even catches in the flat. With regards to the OLine struggles, it comes down to simple math. Five blocking linemen (or even 7 if you add two tight ends) will lose every time to a rush of 6-8 people.

Agree with needing Whitehair back at Center. But... need to put Trubiskys performance in perspective. Remember this is the 30th ranked defense he’s playing against . They came out early with him doing a heavy dose of game management plays and what appeared to be college level sideline play calling. That meaning I got the impression the offense would line up and once they saw what the D was doing, Nagy would call in a play adjustment. Early on I don’t think Nagy was comfortable with Trubiksy having the autonomy he needs to run the offense. However as the game has wore on, Trubisky has been allowed to do more (ergo that nice throw to Gabriel). Nevertheless, he’s looking more confident as the game wears on. Which is really important as they start get ready to play better caliber teams.