Alaskan Grizzly

Going back to week 1, it would seem the offense was holding it’s own (with a 20-0 lead) but wasn’t it the defense that eventually broke down? Especially after Rogers came back? I don’t see a repeat of that this time. Question I have is; will Aaron be wearing his Bose headphone as the ad suggests? Something tells me it’ll be a fruitless endeavor.

Yep. Couldn’t agree more. It would be absolutely sweet to vanquish the Packers from playoff hope. And yeah I realize Daniel isn’t a starter but dang it sucked to watch Trub suck so bad. His mid range tosses were ok but man those long range chucks were absolute garbage. It was echoes of ghosts past (Cutler). We can only hope he continues to improve on that aspect. Thankfully the defense is as good as it is. Something else that needs to be considered is that he seriously needs to lessen his running for gains. He did less this last game but he can’t try and go RGIII on us or he’ll end up crippled.

Thank you Bill. You don’t think I’m happy with how the ‘team’ played? You bet I am. If I offend a couple simpletons because I’m frustrated by Trubiskys play tonight, so be it. The kid has some glaring weaknesses and despite some hand picked stats to support the arguments in his favor, it’s painfully obvious he has A LOT of growth ahead of him. But like I said a few weeks ago so does Mariota. Im still happy with Nagy (for the most part), Fangio, the D and most of the offense. So there is that. ?

Blah blah... you say a lot. With little substance so I’m not all that worried about your opinion. Trubisky stunk it up. Like it or no. Yes a win it was and quite frankly I liked it because it got ‘back to basics’. That being; a solid and dominating defense and Howard ground out 100 yards rushing. Yes, a win’s a win.

Not because of Trubisky. GFY!!!

Somebody tell me again how much better Trubisky is at running the Offense than Daniel? If it weren’t for the D...this game would be a pure disaster.

Speaking of the long game; well need do keep an eye on that. If Trubisky tries and is way off of target (more than he usually is) it could be an indicator his shoulder is bugging him. Or if they just decide to do more traditional WCO then they’re trying to let him limit his long throws. Sounds like the injury was more serious than thought. Partial dislocation. Ouch... here’s to youth!

So too did Aaron Rodgers...born in Cali and played at UofC just like Goff. Wonder if those two talk at all? ?

This will be a huge factor. Agree with Mad this will be a fun game to watch. Also agree with, and very much like, the idea of a balanced attack. Not something we’ve seen much of this year. This would be the type of game where many have said Howard would be a difference maker. In his long game I want to see Trubiksy limit his mistakes; the Bears will have a hard time recovering from that if he does. And I hope, if he has to scramble, he’s worked on his slides.

We also don’t all agree that Trubiksy has solved the long game rubik either. Yes he has improved but last I checked he still has a tendency to overshoot his receivers, but yes he has improved. I think part of why the Bears lost against the Giants was not all the turnovers that occurred but the abandonment of the run game. In the first half Jordan had 68 yards rushing but only had 8 yards total rushing in the second half (edit). I saw an article that deferred to analytics and statistics suggesting to why Nagy decided to pass more the second half; and I say ‘hogwash’. The Bears still had a lead, however slight, in the second half and conventional wisdom says running the ball helps eat clock and gives you a balanced attack. When you have things like constant blitzes, as you pointed out Boettcher prefers to do, you counter with plays like play action and screens. Not necessarily long bombs. Especially if the run game is proving successful.

Just out of morbid curiosity and for the sake of being a Devils advocate at times; had this been Trubisky playing like Daniel did yesterday, would you have been calling for a change? I’ve been a bit harsh on Trubisky but even I would’ve given him the benefit of the doubt; considering where the team is now and how he has shown some promise. Don’t think for a moment that with the conditions as they were (misty/fog) and how Trubisky has had issues with reading coverages at times he may not have made the same mistakes. And besides that, some of those turnovers, or near turnovers, were not Daniel’s fault. Certainly not when Whitehair sent the ball to his feet or when Gabriel fumbled the pass after the catch. My point is; one game does not a career make. That is only the third start for Daniel in his career but the fifth year in this system. And I think we’d all agree he looked pretty good, if not as good as Trubisky, last week. The one big difference between these two aside from age and experience is mobility . That by itself puts Trubiksy on a higher plane of potential, at least right now. I mean if Peyton Manning can fumble the opening snap of super bowl 50 and still make the Hall of Fame then I think Daniel should at least be given a chance to still play backup to Trubisky.

There was a fair share of mis-steps by Daniel too but yeah the o-line didn’t do him a lot of favors. Don’t think the Rams weren’t paying attention. Mitch better be ready and fully healthy next week. *positive note: Pack lost to the lowly Cards. Makes me feel better.

Gonna be one of those rare occasions where I cheer for the Patriots to win today. Essentially nullify this sad display today.

Gotta say that calling a timeout late in the first half was a little too cute and sorta slanted things against the Bears.

Was that some zone blocking I saw? Great to see Jordan finally getting some respectable reps and it pays off!!

AZ, was going to put a huge rambling rebut to your comment but I feel the response would waste space where it doesn’t need to be. Let’s just say you and I are on polar opposites politically with regards to this issue. Bottom line, like Stinger points out, no way no how do you put hands on a woman. And I would go so far as to question my fandom if they even consider this asshat to becoming a Bear. Andy Reid I’m sure had some say in this. To hell with his professional life.

NM

It was about mid 2nd quarter through about mid 3rd. Watched the highlights this morning. They’re currently on a four game winning streak to include wins against the Redskins and Eagles. Their remaining four games are two at home; Eagles and Bucs and two on the road; Giants and Colts. Of those four the Colts are on their own bit of a tear so if I had to guess, Dallas might go 3-1. Dont get me wrong; the Bears are building their own head of steam especially on the defense. I think what we’re witnessing is the embodiment of the phrase ‘the season doesn’t really begin until November’. Where teams like New Orleans and the Rams, who have gone relatively unscathed, are meeting teams that are learning from what they’ve seen and preparing to play them. Just like what we saw last night. Where the normally stoic Drew Brees withered under the relentless pursuit of Dallas’ D. I get a good feeling seeing this, and knowing what I’ve seen from the Bears’ D, they might just be able to do the same with LA in a few weeks.

After watching parts of tonight’s game it’s clear Dallas is surging at the ‘right time’. Without doing all the ‘what ifs’ they look like they might prove to be a challenge late into the season.

Yeah I still think it happened later in the game when while he was sliding he had that hit from Smith. But tomato, toMAHto. Either way, think its clear he needs to work on his baseball slides.

Trubisky out for this game. http://www.nfl.com/news/story/0ap3000000993693/article/mitchell-trubisky-will-not-play-for-bears-vs-giants Not really surprising given how well Chase played last week and how they probably should let Mitchell rest up a bit more for the stretch run. I had seen somewhere that said it was an AC injury which would make sense based on what we saw. Trouble is these can linger for weeks depending on severity. I suspect his is mild in nature due to the effective range of motion I saw him display last week. The other fact in his favor is youth. Hopefully this doesn’t hamper his accuracy on long range. He’s still developing that skill set.

This is primarily for Jason because I know he's a HUGE fan of his but J'Marcus Webb is still out there and may be available as a tackle option. He was slated to be the starting RT for Indy until he hurt his hammy. Apparently he's currently on IR. But there's hope....

And he's on a team with a 6-5 record in contention for a playoff spot versus his previous team...which may not. Of the current NFL players there are 50 alumni from Alabama, 28 of which are on the defense. To include players like Jonathan Allen, Mark Barron, Landon Collins, Marcell Dareus, Minkah Fitzpatrick, Dont'a Hightower, Dre Kirkpatrick, CJ Mosely, Reggie Ragland and our own Eddie Jackson. And of the 'top 10' colleges represented by total numbers of players currently in the NFL, Alabama is near the top (close second to LSU or lead depending on the year). Of those 10, six are in the SEC.

Proof positive that whenever you need defensive players you look for them from Alabama. Or at least the SEC (Smith). I like the ‘Jackson 5’ tribute on the ChicagoBears.com website (to his 5 career TDs - so far).

Because it’s looking more and more likely the Bears will not only win the division but could be playing for first round byes in the coming weeks, my money is on Mitch sitting. Last week on the sidelines he didn’t appear to be hobbled too bad and seemed to have pretty good mobility, especially when he raised his hands for the TDs when they scored. And it didnt look like he was wearing any type of brace so maybe it was just a slight sprain (still don’t buy the bruise). Either way it makes more sense to just let him rest. In other news, how about them Fudgepackers losing tonight? Nice to see them hovering above the cellar.