Alaskan Grizzly

All the more reason Nagy needed to expose Trubisky to this offense more than less during the preseason. To me, this was a calculated risk that he (Nagy) messed up. As it was, Trubisky had minimal starting experience in college and only 12 games last year (with a 'meh' performance) prior to Nagy coming to Chicago. Another question that raised and with valid concern was why didn't Nagy use more of the proven commodity in Howard? Especially as the game was winding down? Was he trying to get too gimmicky? That being said, I seem to recall with the advent of this most recent CBA most teams don't really appear to have it together until about week 3-4. These first few games are almost an extension of the preseason as many teams are still trying out new parts and players are still getting their legs beneath them. ESPN did say that the new coaches were 0-7 this first week of action; a first in NFL history. So we shouldn't feel too bad about it...as long as it doesn't continue.

So I'm wondering now if Nagy is re-thinking his strategy of not playing the starters for the last few preseason games? Yes, I get the injury concerns BUT you shouldn't have to worry as much about them if you game plan accordingly. It looked to me, like others have commented, both the offense AND defense petered out in the second half. How else can you explain having a quarterback come out, after getting knocked out of the game and noticeably limping when he returned, and put three TD's on a team? I mean yes he is Aaron Rodgers but ... Similar to Stinger, I've only so far been able to see most of the first half of the game and for all intents and purposes I liked what I saw. A few minor things I picked up. Trubisky has a tendency to throw off his back foot, similar to what Cutler would do. In fact one time he threw the ball and not only did he throw as he was falling back but immediately as he was throwing the ball turned his back on the receiver (ala Grossman). I think the intended receiver was Sims along the sideline. The defender missed the potential interception and the ball ended up bouncing off of Sims chest (don't think he expected it was going to make it to him). Nevertheless, this type play from Trubisky needs to go away. He had a lot more confident and sure passes that I don't think this will be a problem. Loved to see Robinson make the catches in the first half. He looked great and reminded me a lot of BM who was great not only at getting contested throws but also reaching up and grabbing them out of the air. Like everyone else has pointed out, Mack looked like he is worth all the money and draft picks they gave up. And to think, this was after he sat out nearly all of preseason. His very presence on the field made everyone else (at least the front seven) a heck of a lot better. Our defense is going to be special sooner than later...especially once we get all the pieces figured out and they all get more conditioning. (Side note: A concern going into the end of this year is if the D once again ends up being in the top 5, how many more times will Vic not get chosen to be an HC somewhere?). I get a lot of the folks being upset with the result from last night. And I'm usually one of the first to nay say some of the choices made by players and coaches, especially if they are what I see as contrarian. But I still believe in Nagy's ability. And I definitely believe in VIc's ability. I don't see a downward trend at all, in fact if it had not been for the lucky star that Rogers appears to have been born under, last night's game probably would've turned out a lot different.

Hey you guys are supposed to say ‘spoiler alert’ when stuff like this happens (LOL). Can’t watch the game live while I officiated a wedding today. But seriously, thank God there was a bar near the reception so I could keep up around the edges. Looking forward to seeing the replay on Hulu later!!! Go Bears!!!

Agreed. Considering he’s being evaluated by Vic Fangio maybe he saw something the stats aren’t showing. If all he (Goldman) does is occupy 1,2 or 3 people in the middle of the online (aka clog the middle) then that’s great news for Trevathan, Smith, Floyd, Hicks and Mack.

I like your vigor!!! DA BEARZZZZ!!!

Not part of the deal (or is it?) but Nall is gone...for now. https://bearswire.usatoday.com/2018/09/01/despite-productive-preseason-bears-waive-rb-ryan-nall/

THIS. And this: Aaron Rodgers looking at the Bears new front seven.....

He ‘only’ got 10.5 sacks last year which was down from 15 the two years prior. And he averages in the mid to high 70s in total tackles each year. And *knock on wood* he has yet to miss a game since he was drafted. I think he’ll do fine. A lot of money and picks yes but I suspect with Vic as his mentor we should be pretty happy in the long run.

As much a nay sayer I’ve been of Pace I think this team is only one, maybe two players away. Mack makes a Fangio run defense that much better. Easily top 10 If not better. im still waiting to see how Nagy does as an HC but there are certainly a lot of potentially good pieces on the offensive side of the ball. If he manages them like Reid or Peterson has, we’ll be looking pretty sweet. Trubisky is the unknown. Is he truly worthy of a 1st round pick? Time will tell. Alex Smith has always been at least a good game manager (especially with Reid) and he was chosen before Aaron Rodgers. So we should hope for at least that much.

Derp... not sure why I thought he was from Alabama. Maybe McClain was who I was thinking of. Either way... good to know. Thanks. One concern I have is he like Smith has been sitting idle for a few weeks and could be delayed in getting on the field. Or has he been working out on his own?

Ok...I’m about as stunned as I was when we first got Cutler. HAWT DAMN! Nicely done Mr. Pace!!! And Mack is an Alabama alum too!!!

Many good points in your edit. The Bears may have the better overall receiving corp but with Rodgers throwing and Graham in the mix they have an edge. In the RB department I’m gonna say Howard gives the Bears an edge, however slight. We know what Jordan can do against most teams (close to 100 yards rushing) but will this be the year he adds efficient pass catching to his repertoire? I agree Nagy and Fangio make a potent if not intriguing mix. Mike Pettine has taken over the Packers D and prior to going to the Browns as HC he was putting out some pretty stout defenses. Hard to say how his style will translate to Green Bay’s players but I expect we’ll see some pretty interesting blitz packages (as a side note, many are predicting the Packers in the lead for the Mack lottery - God I hope not). After it’s all said and done I think the lack of game time participation in the preseason our offense will look a little rusty. Our D will be ready (Vic wouldn’t allow any less) but they may be missing a few key pieces; Floyd and Smith. I don’t see a blowout but I don’t see a win for the Bears. Maybe 21-17 or somewhere in that ballpark. *EDIT*: With the recent and surprising acquisition of Mack I’d like to change my score prediction. Packers 0, Bears 150!!! DA BEARZZZ!!!!

You’re right on many points. Yes Trubisky is young. Yes he has very limited experince (especially in this offense and in game time situations). Yes he has a large (although unknown) upside. The Bears are taking a very similar track that the Rams did last year and many of us (myself included) were hoping they would. My doubts lie primarily with Pace and the preparedness of Trub. Pace hasn’t shown he’s as wily as he appears to think he is ... yet. I’m still concerned to see how Robinson and White will perform. Some of his FAs have flamed out and a large potion of his draft picks still are unproven (see Grasu). Yes he’s invested a lot in players in the skill positions and that is great, especially to aid in Trubiskys development and confidence. I’m glad they kept Howard (despite the rumors) and Fangio. Those were two large pieces that succeeded the last two years and would have knocked the Bears back significantly had either or both been lost. Ar this point I think the only way we, as fans, will be able to judge Trubiskys effecticveness will be during the regular season. We can hear all we want to about training camp but until you go against an opponent not running a blase defensive scheme, you won’t really know what you have. From what I see so far in Nagy he looks (for all intents) like he knows what he’s doing. And as long as Trubisky doesn’t go all Cutler like, he should be ok too.

Not for nothing but QBs like Joey Harrington, Vince Young, J’Marcus Russel, David Carr, Matt Leinart and Rick Mirer were all first round draftees that their respective teams invested heavily in. Just because Trubisky was picked at #2 overall (when he could have been picked at 3 by the way) doesn’t gurantee success any more than it guarantees failure. True, Trubisky hasn’t sucked but then he hasn’t been stellar in game situations either. Let’s not overlook his 7-7 (TD to INT ratio) in the pretty vanilla offense from last year. Maybe all this was is an exercise of determining who the backup QB will be as they potentially keep only 2 QBs on the final 53. Still, it would have been nice to see Trubisky get some more in-game experience.

Yep. And for me, hearing and seeing are two separate things. And for the record I don’t think Daniel is a stud. He definitely looked like garbage in that first outing. But I believe he has benefited from both game action; althougbeit preseason and familiarity with this style offense in KC.

Yes that one throw that Trubisky made was pretty nice. But that was also a pretty sweet catch that Miller made, that one time. Cutler was pretty good at occasionally throwing sweet passes too. Daniels also made some pretty nice timing drops to Wims. I mean you gotta admit that TD pass to back corner of the endzone was pretty sweet. And yes I agree we could argue the point of who is better at what for however long. Do I honestly think there is a QB controversy per se? not completely. I’m hoping that Nagy isn’t concerned with how Trubisky has performed thus far and is covering up by “resting his starters”. I’m one that would have liked to see Trubisky play more actual game time snaps than just a few and only at practice. Given all the considerations I listed before it’s enough for a lowly casual fan such as myself to want. But if Nagys good with it, then by golly he’s the one making the big bucks to make those decisions. I’ll be looking forward to the game with GB to allay those concerns.

What have you seen that convinces you that Trubisky has the job locked down? Considering the situation our team is in; first year coach with a new system and all it makes more sense than not to see our starters get more ‘game time’ experience or at least as much as experience as possible as we fast approach the new season. It’s not just this game that Trubisky didn’t play in but most of the others this preseason too. And of those times he played, he looked just ok. Yes he started last year but that was a completely different system with a completely different coaching group. I think it was Colin Cowherd that said he can’t put a grade on Trubisky because he “doesn’t trust him”. I’d say that’s a fair assumption based on his limited college experience, his mediocre performance last year and his next to nothing play so far in this preseason. Nagy is an understudy of Reid’s who is known to deploy unorthadox moves in the pre and post seasons. So maybe that’s all this is. And I like Nagy a lot. It’s just that once the season starts and if the team (Trubisky) struggles out of the gate, fans are going to start questioning both Trubisky and Nagy after what we’ve seen so far with this new team.

Said it once, I’ll say it again; love me some Wims!!! I dare say he so far has looked better than Miller. Of course our “#2 QB” was the one throwing some nice drops to him. Which makes me want to bring up a bigger concern. Why hasn’t Trubisky played more snaps? He hasn’t proven at all that he’s ready for the regular season. The one game he played into had him with one TD and one turnover where Daniel turned in a 2 TD effort. I dare also say we may be looking at a QB controversy early into this season? I was hard on Daniel early on but so far he’s looks better at running the offense in game time situations.

If JPP can play with 1-2 missing fingers I’d think Floyd should be able to man up and use a club cast too. The pragmatist in me says before I buy off on this offense and how effective it is, I’d like to see more production against 1st string defenses. Trubiksys performance was ok and the TD throw to Burton although impressive in scheme was countered by the INT due to the aforementioned confusion of Cohen. Chase Daniel looked better in his play; althoughbeit against a lesser quality D. And Mizzel (whoever the hell he is) looked as impressive (if not more) as Miller.

Realistically speaking what's to say Wims couldn't supplant a 2nd or 3rd seeded WR on the team? Speaking as of 'right now' we don't know how well Robinson or White are going to do based on injury history alone. Yes there is no doubt Robinson has shown he can perform in the NFL at an elite level (he did it for one season after all) but he's coming off a pretty significant injury on a body part that is a necessity in his position. White has not only been injured in each of his first three years but each year its a new injury; 2015 - left tibia, 2016 - left fibula and 2017 - left shoulder blade. That being said, he has yet to prove his 1st round grading. And because I'm not as high on Miller as others, what's to say Wims couldn't be better? How do the two compare in college? The only advantage that I see Miller having was he played 1-2 years more in D1 than did Wims? But an argument could be made that not only did Wims play only one year at the D1 level, he played in the SEC. Many would agree that in that division you are more likely to see NFL ready defensive players (let alone teams) than any other. As far as measurables; both were invited to the Combine but only Wims produced (I didn't look to see why Miller didn't measure at the combine). Miller did have his own pro-day in April so here are the 'comps' based on that. Wims: 6'3"/215, 40 yard dash - 4.53, vertical jump - 33.5". Miller: 5'11"/201, 40 yard dash - 4.50, vertical jump - 39". So Miller has more collegiate D1 experience. Wims is taller and heavier (explains the lack of speed?), yet both ran a near identical 4.5 ish 40. Miller does have a little more height in his vertical with nearly being able to leap a full half foot more than Wims. At the end though NFL.com graded them pretty close at 5.79 for Miller and 5.28 for Wims (on a scale of 1-10). For the sake of contrast, another fave of mine Calvin Ridley received a grade of 6.4.

I only saw a very small piece of the game and what I did see was...well not so good, especially on offense. That was due in large part to the Chase Daniels performance. Wasn’t he brought to Chicago to join Nagy due to his familiarity with this type offense? Yes he threw two interceptions and perhaps they were due in large part of the performance of others but many of his other throws (that I did see) were relative garbage. Makes some sense why Helfrich said earlier this week: “We’re nowhere-nowhere-near where we need to be.” Im stoked to see Wyms’ stat line and see what Ashkum had to say about him. He’s a personal favorite of mine and would almost venture a guess that he’s going to surprise a lot of people; maybe even pass up a few others on the team. And Cunnigham continues to impress. He’s an older version of what Cohen hopes to be someday. ? Fitts and Irving looked good in the bit that I saw them. Of those two, maybe the alter pass rusher to Floyd can be found?

Curious why you don’t think Amos could or will be a ‘core player’? Seems rather early to say that. Granted his 2016 was not so great but he showed vast improvement despite not starting last year. And in Fangios defensive scheme it is said he prefers ‘in the box’ capable SS which I think Amos has shown he is willing to do. Also agree that we shouldn’t be leading the way in salary cap space but not sure you can buy a core player from somewhere else.

Yep, have to drop out tho year. Thanks for the opportunity to play along these last few years. And Sulster...all my best to a continued recovery.

Classy move Mr. Cohen. Taking a nod from Warrick Dunn, JJ Watt and other notable NFL stars giving back to the community. Great way to turn the tide from some of the other silliness (and plain idiocy) that seems to dominate the NFL headlines some days. Glad he's doing it and is a Bear.

And you claim to be a student of Freud. Perhaps I’ve given you too much credit. You continue to twist what I’m saying to fit your narrative. Please take some time and look up ‘critical thinking’ when you get a moment. I know you are capable of finding definitions as you so cleverly demonstrated . Frankly I suppose I could care less that you think I’m negative. If it soothes you to think so; great for you. As far as the team goes I’m enthusiastic about a lot of the changes made and hopeful they will work out as planned. I like Nagy. Think he’s got what it takes to coach. Like a lot of the players on the team, despite some of the uncertainties I see. We will all see how successful he is in orchestrating wins with the group he currently has. At this point we’ve wasted too much time on the personal banter and one-upmanship so I’m moving on.