Alaskan Grizzly

Absolutely. While watching the game yesterday you could absolutely see the ‘night and day’ difference between the two halves of how Chicago played and between how better disciplined and conditioned the Bears were over the 9’ers . I believe SF had somewhere near 100 yards of penalties which, as one of the commentators pointed out, is a loss of 7 points on the field. I was concerned we wouldn’t see the teams full potential until about week 3 or 4 but this was indeed a pleasant surprise.

If they can keep pressure on Rodgers that will also be key. He was sacked 4 times today and they lost starter OG Runyan for concussion protocol. Bakhtiari was out today and maybe could play next week but he looks a shell of his former self. Had a third surgery on his knee this off-season and hasn’t played much since 2020.

He looked WAY too calm in the second half and made those passes look easy . He was putting touch on the ball and throwing it exactly where he wanted. No panicked scrambling off center passes, just calm drops in the bucket.

I’m a believer in Flus-ball.

Ok… I love what I’m seeing but suddenly Cairo can’t kick?

Absolutely. This is gonna be key for the season. Bears are definitely in better shape right now. SF making lots of mistakes through penalties. And I take back what I said about Jackson!

Hell fuc#in ya!!! Fields is the real deal!

Maybe a bit early but I think I’m seeing where this extra tough practices are paying off, especially on D. They’re definitely not “loafing” after the offense scores. SF looked a little gassed on that last series.

And just like the offense clicks. Beautiful play Justin!!

The opening second half series had whiffs of Fangio’s ‘bend don’t break’ defense.

Like the idea of swapping out runners. Monty’s running into a blob of people, Herbert is finding more open space and Justin’s running has helped. But not preferred. Like the roll out options for him. Liked the try to Pringle in the endzone. Just a bit long.

Offense has been sputtering because of the long field. Backs literally against the wall. Defense is still finding their way. Jackson bounces off Samuel like a fly and has a pass go right by his head. He needs to go.

Not sure how they’ll win just yet but I feel they will by 7-10. I predict great things from Morrow and Brisker.

(Below) Not much help but sorta lays out a strategy? Maybe they couldn’t find any available DTs they liked and knew the system? Also see they brought back Dieter Eislen. Theory is he could play Center as depth. Still doesn’t fully clear up what plan with Patrick is.

The Jenkins saga may not be over yet. We’ll know more tomorrow.

This looks like as good a place as any to dissect the mauling the NFL champs took last night. I saw ARob’s poor play. And when I saw him wearing the #1 I thought “really?”. But man, did you see their oline play? Sheesh. Stafford was sacked 6 times and threw 3 INTs. To say he was pressured would be an understatement. Of course Von Miller played like a man on a mission and the Buffalo defense is no joke but…this is the NFL Champion Rams coached by McVay. Somewhere I read that at no time has any QB coached by McVay been sacked more than three times in a game. The wise words from Mike Tyson have never been truer. “Everyone has a plan until they’re punched in the mouth.” And punched they were. With the retirement of Whitworth at LT they resigned Noteboom to a $30 million (?) deal in the off-season to become the next starting LT. Last season Noteboom played sparingly but played well. Last night he did not. Nor did any of the other oline for that matter. Do you really think Braxton Jones will be that bad? Or any of the rest of the oline? First test is the front seven of SF and the younger Bosa.

This is where I’m at. Saw an article this morning where Quinn was quoted as saying this is going to be a great defense. Sure I get his biased view but not sure he’d make a comment like that if he wasn’t confident…and he’s a Captain so there’s that. In that same article I got the below screen grab. Noticed Patrick wasn’t on the injury report (saw yesterday(?) they were going to get him in the lineup “where he fit”)…hmmm. And Eberflus had something to do with the turf change?

All of this. “Run out of the back of the endzone” Orlovsky is one of the most annoying analysts. And he wasn’t even the best QB the Lions ever had. Ugh. Simms was good in college but after that…

Somewhere else I read that there a few players on the team that would be stars elsewhere and I think that could balance more in the favor of the Bears. Take the defense for example. Morrow (62 tkls, 3 sacks, 1 FF) would've been out star at LB had Roquan not have returned. Muhammad (32 tkls, 6 sacks and 1 FF) was on a dline two seasons ago that ranked #9 overall in the NFL and Justin Jones (37 tkls, 3 sacks) was one of the best run-stoppers for the Chargers last year before he became plan B to Larry Ogunjobi's failed physical. If for nothing else these guys were starters on other teams and now aren't really considered key players in their respective roles, not yet anyhow.

I would even venture to say that if Lance plays poorly then Jimmy G will take over, especially because he signed a new deal.

I’m always a fan of those hybrid LB/Safety types (like Urlacher). In watching highlights of him it appears he likes to play more in the up position or somewhere where the LBs roam. There’s no question he’s an ‘in the box’ type player. Could he be that third LB with Roquan and Morrow or competition for Brisker?

I remember when he came out from Bama and how highly touted he was . Remember him playing in a few of those championship games and thinking what a beast he was. Goes to show how those 1st round picks at OT can be so unpredictable at times. Vegas was a bit of a mess last year so maybe that was more the issue than him? Whoever got Jenkins pointed in the right direction should latch onto him quick.

I read elsewhere that Poles has nearly rebuilt the roster from top to bottom in just one off-season. Of the 2021 starting roster, he’s replaced 58-59% of what was there. Still on this years ‘first 53’ are 3 UDFAs, two 6th round picks and two 7th round picks.