BearFan2000

His numbers at ND can undervalue what he can do. The offense ND ran spreads the ball around between TE, WR, and RB. Having watched Cole his whole career at ND we got a big physical TE with soft hands, with good instincts and technique. Like AZ pointed out his ability to sell the block before going on his route demonstrates a kid with good football IQ that will put the time into working on the little things that make him better. I'm looking forward to him and Graham on the field together and that Cole has that vet to mentor him is a great situation. Watching his draft video and seeing his excitement to play for his hometown team is genuine.

I get the same vibe about both of them. Jay never liked being in front of the camera. The way he handles that dislike is what gives him this "don't care" persona. Viewing him that way I kinda get his sarcastic/snarky humor. Kristin does definitely come off as a narcissistic type that needs to elicit the approval of others to validate herself so she needs all the attention she can get. I can imagine Jay not wanting to have to compete for her attention. Who knows, we only see what's out there in public.

Second that. Above all is the hope everyone stays safe and those stuck away from home can return soon. The draft has provided a good distraction. Glad the NFL is working towards keeping football going. My wife’s aunt and uncle both tested positive. Her aunt was in far worse/dire shape with double pneumonia. Thankfully she is making progress and is off the ventilator. As for TE, The “experts” seem to find crap to say no matter what we do. We had the worst TE play in the entire league. It’s not like we’ll keep all. I agree it’s probably going to be 5.

And sadly that tells you all you need to know about our TE situation... sigh

Something to keep in mind is that the window for success only stays open for so long. Gone are the days when you could invest 5+ years in a QB waiting for them to develop. We have the roster to win now and who knows how much longer our window will be open. I would like to see Mitch take the steps to become the QB we drafted him to be, but if he doesn't, we have to look to move on. This year could be his last here, and Foles is merely a backup/fallback in case Mitch takes another step backwards. We don't have the means or capitol to draft a QB high this coming draft. I could see us drafting a QB with development potential. Mitch may get it and he may not, maybe he'll get it this season and we can scratch QB off the need list. Future is so hard to tell. He's entering his 4th season, 3rd season under Nagy, he needs to step up his game.

I would be very surprised if there was any truth to the Bears tampering with Eli. This offseason I've seen articles linking every possible QB FA or possible trade target being linked to the Bears. It's the easy article. These kind of rumors spread like wildfire on social media. Someone floats something out there and watches it spread. As far as bringing in Eli (out of retirement). He may be a better backup than Daniels, we can do better than a recently retired 38/39 year old QB who's best days are far behind him. Just don't see the benefit in kicking those tires, much less risking a tampering charge by having dinner with him. After googling it there's very little reason to believe this "rumor" has any credibility.

I was not happy when he was traded away simply because our coordinator at the time didn't value the TE. He's had a good career in Carolina but as other's have mentioned that price tag for his injury risk is too steep a risk to take. If you could guarantee he could stay healthy it'd be different.

which goes back to play caller. If that's Nagy or we bring in an actual OC (meaning someone who's sole job is calling plays) they need to be willing to run enough for Monty to have a shot at 1200 yards. Also goes to the OL, and needing guys who can create holes for the RB's. This season we've had Nagy not utilize the run game with any consistency, and when we have we've rarely blocked well for it. Perhaps that was part of his reasoning for not sticking with the run game? Whatever the case we've seen it this season and into the playoffs teams with strong run games have had far more success. Being able to run the ball effectively is a key to success for the reasons you mentioned. Sets up play action, chews clock, and also draws the D closer to the line, opening up the downfield stuff. Not being able to run the ball makes you one dimensional and easily shut down.

agree, and I have no doubt Kyle will stay around the team/city. He's the type that will always see himself as a Bear, he's proud of the fact that he was drafted here and gets to retire as a Bear. Great guy, great player, just sad that his body wore down so quickly. He had that mean streak and temperament you want in an OL. Wish hime well in whatever he does next.

I too would rather have Hooper than Ebron. Ebron's never lived up to expectations, he will kill you with crucial drops, so in that respect how's he different or better than what we have. Hooper has much better hands and has been far more consistent.

Long's retirement saves us 8.1 mil

I think it's a good hire, but changing coaches doesn't improve the level of talent or lack thereof on our line itself aside from the possibility of getting more out who we have. That would more likely be a marginal improvement at best. Hopefully this is the start of addressing one of the biggest issues with our offense in 2019. You can change the driver but if the car is falling apart it won't matter. Our current line doesn't pass block or run block well we get dominated in the trenches making it harder for our RB's and Mitch to succeed. If we enter 2020 with virtually the same line the offense will be doomed again.

That's a good thing, there maybe other's willing to restructure to help the team sign needed FA's. This year was a disappointment, to both the fans and the players. The talent is there to rebound in 2020, players hungry for success may have the motivation rework their deals to help the team be more competitive next season. Not sure what the added 6 mil puts our cap for next year at, but every bit helps.

I agree, I feel like it would be better to take the cap hit, like you said a post June 1st cut would allow us to split it up. Keeping him just to avoid a cap hit for cutting him and just not playing him doesn't make sense wastes a spot on the 53 man roster for a guy your not playing. Just admit the contract we gave him was a mistake, take the hit and use his roster spot for someone who can help the team.

How many times have we seen the packers in a 3rd and long or a third and goal where you just know that even if the play fails the odds are they will get bailed out by a PI or a Def holding to give them a first down or a first and goal at the 1. Or someone breathes on Rodgers and it’s a roughing. It’s not always the yardage it’s that these gifts come at critical points in games.

It is frustrating. The Bears have enough struggles of their own that they don't need to have their opponents aided by the refs. It just adds insult to injury. Also irritating is it seems like the Packers seem to get more bad calls benefit them than any other team. When they need a half ending hail marry type play, they are allowed to blatantly hold so Rodgers has all day to make a throw. We've had more than our fair share of bad calls this year, but for the most part I haven't felt like they were the difference us winning or losing. Yesterdays certainly made in impact. The Patterson call could have changed the first half a potential 14 point swing that could have given us momentum going going into the half possibly with a lead. Instead we go into half down 7-3, then give up two quick TD's to start the second and the hole has been dug.

I agree, Robinson's a hard worker, and all around good guy. He's been a positive addition to this team giving us a legit #1 WR.

very interesting read, our chances certainly are slim which we likely will be kicking ourselves for the couple games we gave away earlier in the year. All we can do is keep working to win the game ahead of us till we're officially eliminated. It sucks to know that 1 more win and we'd be in a far better position. I just hope that the momentum we've been building the last few weeks can carry over into next year. I'd love to see us make the playoffs and feel we could be a dangerous team if we do.

Relief that it wasn't more serious, it looked bad at the time and he was definitely in a lot of pain. I found it irritating though that he's laying on the ground in pain and two cowboy players were doing a celebration in the end zone. But then again why expect any thing classy from that organization.

always disliked this approach yet most teams do this. The Bears are not alone here. I've always felt you should not change the way you play regardless of the score if you are in the lead. When you have a team on the ropes take the knockout blow and finish them off. We allowed Dallas to climb back to within 7 in a game they were being dominated in. I do think we made more of an effort to keep the clock moving and actually trying to get first downs than we have in the past where we just hand it off a few times and punt. We could have been far more aggressive and just kept the pedal down and tried harder to chew up the clock. Had Miller caught that 3rd down pass, we may have been able to keep them from getting it within a score.

Easily the best overall performance by the Bears this year. Offense imposed it's will pretty much all night till late when they basically shut it down. The D played well outside of that first drive and a few garbage time drives. The scoreboard doesn't indicate how we dominated the Cowboys. For much of the game we were playing with a 17 pt lead yeah they cut it to 7 at the end which is something we can't get in the habit of allowing garbage points. But this one was never in doubt once we took the lead. You could see the frustration on their sidelines and on the field. It's been a while since we've watched an opponent display such turmoil on their sideline, and it was as fun to watch as the game itself. TE's wow, more TE action that we've had all year. Really impressed with both Holtz and Horsetead. They were big part of the offense. I didn't expect that. Maybe TE isn't as high on the need list as I thought. Granted it is one game, but I like that they were heavily involved. They were more involved last week or so than they had been but not as much as last night. I hope that keeps up. It's possible with them both being young and having had limited playing time they are now finding their role in the offense. I liked that we spread the ball around, it wasn't just force it to Robinson, the TE's, Wimms, Miller, Robinson, etc., and we even had a Ridley sighting. We were able to run the ball much better, which I think the passing game helped loosen up the box for Monty. I feel like we did more to get Montgummery the ball in space, by running to the outside, using the screen game with him and the TE's. This was the first game that the offense looked like what I'd envisioned they could be capable of in the offseason. Now can they continue that week to week? If we can keep spreading the ball around and get the ground game going, while sprinkling in Mitch making plays with his legs. This could be a dangerous offense as opposed to the one dimensional shell of an offense we've watched for much of the first half of the season. The officiating was again awful (as it has been league wide all year). Three face mask penalties not called, one of them would have negated a fumble, one of them would have made an offsetting penalty on the obligatory bogus block in the back that we seem to get called for at least 1-2 times a game. A pair of missed PI calls on red zone pass attempts, I think both times Wims was the target, one of them being the play he got hurt on. Jaylen never tuned to local the ball on either play. Other than that though it was a game refreshingly light on penalty calls, or at least it felt like they were letting the teams play more rather than stopping play constantly to call something. If the Bears can keep this up, it bodes well for next year. All they can control is these next three games. This late surge is likely to little too late to save this season by making the playoffs. They will likely sorely regret the handful of games they gave away. A strong finish however, especially given how bad things got for a while, does speak to both the players and the coaches. I chose to believe that they both have learned some valuable lessons this season. Adversity often makes you find out just how resilient you can be, it either makes you pack it in, or it makes dig in and fight to get better and figure things out. I give the Bears a and their coaches a lot of credit for digging out of the hole they put themselves in. To be 7-6 at this point when just 3-4 weeks ago I doubted we'd get more than 4 wins, shows they still have some pride and haven't stopped fighting. For the D to continue to play as well as they have considering all the injuries we've had speaks to the depth, it's great to see guys come in and step up. Getting Hicks back will be huge. Last year we had good fortune when it came to injuries, this year hasn't been the case but we've seen the next man up work and guys are getting valuable playing time and making plays.

I think that's what Hub was getting at, not immaturity as a person or lack of dedication. Perhaps a poor choice of wording by Hub but essentially it's about experience and growth as a QB/leader. I feel like this season can be a good teaching lesson for Mitch. Sometimes adversity is the best teacher. His play the last few weeks and especially last night show he's improving. Can he keep improving and more importantly play more consistently. One thing that is noticeably different the last couple games is he looks like he's having fun and playing more loose. I feel like he was playing tight and scared/afraid to make mistakes. It's good to see him using his legs as a weapon in the offense more. That is a dimension to his game that will help the offense by making defenses have to account for that possibility. He's not a pocket passer and his comments and actions make it seem he was told not to run but to try to be a pass first QB. Let him be who he is, and that's a mobile QB that can beat your with his legs and his arm. For Mitch with the remainder of the season it's all about keeping the arrow up and playing consistent football. If he can do that we can win with him.

Neither kicker Maher or Pineiro has been good, of the two I might rather have Maher, but it's kind of a tallest midget argument. We're stuck with Eddy for this season, and I don't believe he'll be back next year. There's just absolutely no confidence or reason for confidence in our kicking game. Not only has he been shaky when he's been called on, the coaches clearly have little faith in him, and tend to opt to go for it or punt, rather than trot Eddy out there. They know they don't have a good kicker and they coach like they don't have a good kicker. It's about damage control. On the positive side there are several good collage kickers that can be had either in the back end of the draft or UDFA signings. I'm personally tired of the Gould talk, he was in a slump when we cut him, he even said that woke him up. There was also some friction between Robbie and the staff at the time. That story is done though, he's not coming back and he has struggled this year as well at times. We need to look forward not backward. We need to either address it late in the draft and/or UDFA's. I don't want us to bring in another retread, or "hot FA" kicker that's expected to solve our issues. I do believe part of the issues with Eddy are issues that are inherent to being a kicker for the Bears, the swirling winds at Soldier Field don't help and only get worse as the season goes on. We need a kicker who can handle that environment, who excels in adverse conditions.

I don't mind the club dub thing if it's earned but at 4-5, and having struggled to beat a bad Lions team without it's starting QB. That is not a reason to celebrate, you limped to a win that finally broke a 4 game skid. This is the equivalent of celebrating a sack when your getting blown out. I believe you should have to earn the right to do these kinds of things. And this year the team hasn't earned it. It feels like handing out trophies for participation.

loads of talent but the cost of bringing him here would be too much for the inevitable season ending injury that will happen, couple that with the drama and I'll pass. We've already gone the route of overpaying for a QB who has talent past success, but has drama/maturity issues. *cough* Cutler *cough*