BearFan2000

Earlier this year I commented that we need to start seeing the defense get after QB's, create pressure and that there is way too much talent on the D to not see better production. Well, over the last few weeks it has gotten better and they seem to be taking weekly strides in getting more consistent. I feel like it has a lot to do with lack of normal offseason programs and no preseason games that puts defenses slightly behind offenses. It's good to see and I feel like Pagano is getting more creative in scheming to create added pressure. I feel like our tackling is slowly getting more crisp in general as well. With our offense playing the way it is it's on the D to keep games close. At some point the offense is going to have to pull their weight. It's sad when you see the statistic that we were the only team in the NFL to be shut out in any quarter. It took us 6 games to finally put up points in the 3rd quarter. A vast majority of our points this season have come in the 4th and that in large part due 4th quarter comebacks.

It seems like this season it has been even worse. Like Adam said it's like we've become conditioned to see a big play for the Bears and just expect to see a flag called for something to take it away. It's more infuriating seeing that even within the game it's not called consistently, Robinson can get mugged and no call but they call Johnson for PI? It goes for holding, roughing the passer, and so on. Seeing us get called for anything close to a penalty but watching our opponent get away with murder gets old. The only game this season that had calls actually go both ways was the Bucs game and I suspect that's because the Bears and the Bucs are two of the most penalized teams and it feels like once that stigma is there officiating crews tend to follow the trend and call more penalties on you rather than try to call things fairly. I liked the idea last year of being able to challenge pass interference but in reality it essentially became a wasted challenge since the league would rarely reverse the call basically wouldn't admit their refs screwed up. It'd be nice if certain penalties could be challenged but only if it's truly challengeable, meaning there's a reasonable chance of success if the video evidence shows the call was wrong or that there should have been a call and there wasn't. Maybe limit it to impactful plays. Like a well defended pass that gets called for PI on a 3rd and long gifting the offense get free first down plus yardage. Or that play when Rodgers needs a hail marry pass play for a com-back and his OL is tackling D-linmen and nothing's called.

Amen to that. Stop throwing to Harris, it's a wasted down because 9 times out of 10 he'll drop it no matter how well thrown the ball is.

Foles should have just thrown it away since he was rushed and didn't have time to set his feet. Live to fight another down.

That TD was a gift. How the hell is that pass interference?

so far Kmet has contributed 1 catch, and one holding penalty. Other than that it's been a where's waldo. For the draft capitol invested in getting him he should be on the field more and more involved. Which either means he's not quite ready to be more involved in the offense, Naggy's holding him back, or he's not as good as we hoped he'd be. Through 5 games I would have expected more production from him. As a ND fan and having watched Kmet play I feel he has what it takes to succeed at this level and maybe at some point he'll become more involved.

the drafting of Johnson reminds me a lot of getting Jackson where we got him. Both were great picks especially where we got them.

4-1 and in a lot of ways this feels like the most sold win of the 4. We needed two crazy comebacks, and survived with a W against the hapless Giants. While most of the first half was forgettable once things started clicking this became a competitive game against a solid opponent. The way it started I had the "here we go again" vibe as the offense couldn't get out of their own way. But at the end of the day all 3 phases had a hand in this victory. Santos was solid, D stepped up and finally saw more consistent pressure as the game wore on. And the offense while they didn't light up the scoreboard got enough done to get the W. My game ball goes to Fuller. That was a great hit to dislodged the ball and the play was actually ruled correctly for once. That play put us in the position for the go ahead score before the half. And Quinn being there to scoop up the fumble for a clear recovery. I must say we''ve had much to complain about when it comes to officiating it's been so bad that every time something is getting reviewed or looked at I assume we'll get screwed. This game felt for the most part evenly called. I agree with NYC the tackling has been atrocious. It feels like every big play we allow either YAC on a pass or a run play we had multiple guys whiff. Roquan whiffed on TFL twice resulting n good runs because it allowed Jones to get to the second level. That needs to be tightened up. Now I will say it got slightly better in the second half perhaps it was a half time point of emphasis. Also agree as I'm sure we all do, the offensive line needs addressed it's been neglected for too long. It all in the trenches it's hard to consistently make anything happen when you are losing that battle more often than not. I loved seeing Brady under duress more and more as the game went on we need to see more of that on a consistent basis. With the talent we have in the front 7 we should be getting after the QB's. All in all a quality win vs a solid opponent. We're 4-1 and Ill take that any day.

Can't argue with any of this and that was my first thought when he was pulled and Foles was put in. Mitch's time is done here, I have a lot of respect for the kid, just too bad he's not better at football.

This 100%, He balls out every week. His broken tackle for a walk in score was amazing determination. And he got Robbed of a TD. He's a big reason that comeback even happened. Pay the man. Give him Mitch's money.

For sure, I was about to turn off the TV after that pick as I was sure we'd just get buried. I'll give Nagy credit for having the guts to pull the plug on Mitch in game. We've seen enough, and you have to try something different. And what a difference there was. The way it all went down I have to think they went into this game with Foles being at least prepared in case they needed to pull Mitch. Knowing we were going to have to put up points to compete. And Mitch was the starter on a short leash. Otherwise I don't know if Nagy makes the move. I'm sure the Falcons hadn't prepared for Foles exclusively, and lets face it preparing for Mitch isn't a difficult task. But you could see a difference. Foles looks confident, composed, and decisive. He's less mobile but I'll take the improved accuracy and a QB who can go through his progressions. He'll make his mistakes and I don't assume what happened in that quarter and a half will be the norm, but I do expect the offense to be more efficient and effective with him under center. I'm glad we got him in the offseason.

I feel like Ridley is underrated in that offense because people focus on Julio Jones. Ridley's had himself a nice season so far and I believe had a strong second half of last season. But definitely having both on the field makes that team more dangerous. Gage going down hurt them too as he was also having a good season. It was basically Ridley, and a bunch of no names and their TE Hurst. The crazy thing is we're 3-0, but if Swift catches that pass we lose to the lions, if the Giants score on that final drive we lose, if we don't have our second miraculous comeback we lose this week and just like that we could easily be 0-3. The Falcons have blown double digit 4th quarter leads in back to back games (16 and 15pt). Losing week 1 to the seahawks is understandable that's a tough matchup. They can argue that they should be sitting at 2-1. But blowing big leads at the end of games has been a pattern, that's how they lost the Super Bowl. All in all we're 3-0 and I'll take it any day. We need to play better all around. Can't depend on 4th quarter heroics to pull games out that won't work against better competition. Hopefully Foles having a full week's prep as the starter will help. He could have had 5 TD passes in the 4th quarter, one was wrongfully taken away, and the other a drop. The difference in command of the offense, the huddle, reading the defenses, and decisiveness were clearly evident. Mitch looked like a guy scared to make a mistake and generally indecisive. Even his big run, he looked like he didn't know if he should go down, or try and score, if he's thinking score all the way (and once he was in open field he should have), the block was there to score. He has all the phyisical tools to be a good QB he just does not seem to be able to put it all together consistently. After 4 years he pretty much is what he's going to be most likely baring the lightbulb coming on at some point if it ever will. The Bears have given him every opportunity to succeed. He's had more benefit that many young QB's have. Solid to great D, plenty of weapons, etc. We've seen young QB's come in with less around them and succeed. I like the kid, but his time here's done barring injury this season. The D has to play better, there is too much talent on the roster for the production we're seeing. Our front 7 should be able to regularly harass QB's and we get there sometimes. I know we're getting held a lot but there are also a lot of downs where our studs are getting neutralized. I know our offense hasn't done them any favors. It does get tiring to work hard to get off the field and the offense does nothing over and over. Our run D, pass rush, and tackling needs to improve. Kicking game... ug. It really hurts not having a reliable kicker. The game should have been tied early on 6-6. We're just going to have to play better on offense/defense so games don't come down to our kicker. Refs have also not been doing us any favors. Two straight weeks we have had a defensive turnover taken away that would have been big momentum changes for us. Roughing the passer on a sack fumble??? How do you even justify that call? The pick 6 should not have been pass interference, the defender has as much right to the ball as the receiver. Yesterdays game was by far the worst I've seen, for 90% of the game it seemed like every time we'd do something good the refs would take it away. Yet wouldn't call the Falcons for anything till late. This was the only game it felt like they were doing all they could to keep the Falcons from losing. As bad as it's been the Bears have been their own worst enemy. The refs didn't miss and overthrow WR's, they didn't miss tackles in the run game, etc. Good teams shouldn't be in a position where bad calls make/break you.

That interception for the giants should have been PI. Defender was all over the receiver and never once turned his head. That make the one we get a TD in taken away worse. The defender has as much right to the ball as the receiver. It gets maddening watching us get screwed

Santos looked solid on his kicks. I know its a dome and it's not like he had any really long attempts. Maybe the Pinero IR thing is a blessing in disguise. Here's hoping Santos performs well enough to get us by till we find that long term solution.

I give the Bears credit for continuing to fight. They could have easily folded after that embarrassing fumble, it looked like everything was going wrong. 21-0 in the 4th makes for great comeback. The offense can’t stumble out of the gates and expect to pull this off against better teams. A good team would hav buried us today. A win is a win but you have to put up more than 6 pts up through 3 qtrs. Just look in our division packers put up 43 points in a game with a combined 77 points scored. That said I liked what I saw from Miller with some key catches including the go ahead TD. Good start to having a breakout year. It was good seeing our rookies involved. Moony with some nice catches, Jaylen Johnson with some nice defensive plays including the final play. Thought Kmet would be more involved.

Agree on Quinn and Mack. On paper our D looks to create nightmares for opposing QB's but time will tell if that plays out on the field. I feel like over the past few seasons we have not gotten after QB's the way I'd have hoped to see. I love seeing opposing QB's running for their lives and generally struggling to feel comfortable. We should be able to regularly generate that kind of pressure, I'm just hoping it actually materializes. Granted it would help if they actually called holding on our opponents.

Agree he's shown little durability regardless of whether he can or can't be a good kicker, if he can't be depended on to stay healthy it's best to look elsewhere. The search for a dependable long term kicker continues. Same story, new year.

I wouldn't read too much into it. Marketing is marketing. Mitch is the incumbent starter at QB so it makes sense his image is there, doesn't mean he won't get beat out or can't be beat out. It's going to be different this year without a preseason to have the two battle it out for week one starter on the field before the games count. Also consider the alternative if Fole's image was there instead it could be read to mean Mitch is done and Foles is the starter having only been signed this offseason and has yet to play a down in a Bears uniform.

we could actually see some of that since we do run a combination of 3-4 and 4-3 fronts. It's up to Pagano to put us in the best alignments to get the most out of our guys.

Sure would be nice to see the Bulls turn into a winning squad again. Been a heck of a dry spell with a few false hopes seasons mixed in. Course had Rose never gotten injured things could have been much different. He's became a shell of his former self. I'm hoping that finally moving away from the Gar Pax era will help things finally move in the right direction. Loved Pax as a player but as a co-gm was a bust.

touche! lol. And sad at the same time that in the long history of a founding franchise we've had 2 QB's who could carry a team only one in the SB era. Till we ever find/develop one everyone will suggest we sign every FA who becomes available each offseason or even any guys on the trading block. And every time one of those QB's signs elsewhere it's declared a failure on the Bears part for not signing them no matter what the cost would be.

For Monty to get 1500, or anywhere close Naggy will have to commit to running the ball with consistency which he hasn't yet shown that he wants to. Maybe that changes this year and he realizes how important the run game is to a balanced offense. It also means there needs to be more variety in run plays when we do run it. Our offense has been too predictable, some of that is on Mitch, some is on Naggy. Mitch has shown leadership in organizing workouts and has a good attitude along with honest self reflection of his game/tendancies. Will it translate on the field? He needs to take that next step and be more than a 1 read QB who overthinks things. It's make or break this year for his time in Chicago. I like the kid but at some point it's put up or shut up.

The pick reminds me of the Jackson pick. Would have been a first rounder were it not for the past injury history. Both players are hard nosed ball hawking DB's We got first round talent at second round price. As long as he can stay on the field he is a steal. We'll have to see how it plays out. It worked out for us and Eddie here's hoping it works out for Jaylen too.

looking forward to the home game vs the Colts my wife and I might try to go to that game.

Ted Ginn agrees to 1 year deal