BearFan2000

The best part of all this IMHO is that we Bears fans have have endured mediocrity for the better part of the past 3 decades. In that time we've seen the Bears have the occasional surprise season(s) only to disappear again. What we are seeing now has the possibility to be sustained success. We could become a perennial playoff team who can contend for multiple titles. If Pace can continue to draft well and add talented depth to keep this thing going long term the future is bright.

Something that I've mentioned before and it is getting old in my opinion. When a QB gives himself up and slides I though defenders weren't allowed to hit him. More often than not when I've seen Mitch slide he's been hit (not just contacted but hit). Shouldn't these hits be 15 yard unnecessary roughness or is this something league wide that's just being allowed. Minny's dirty play to me is a reflection on the coaching and character of players they have. There could have been a few more personal fouls, late hits and targeting penalties. It makes me glad that our players don't play that way in general. Seems the Vikings look for opportunities to take cheap shots and the refs only called them on a handful of them. We've had some bad judgment plays on our team at times but it's the exception rather than the rule here.

Non Bears related. But need some fantasy advice. My team is on life support. 10 team full PPR I'm sitting at 5-6 with 3 games left. I pretty much need to run the table to have a shot at the playoffs (not looking good). We start 1 QB, 2RB, 2WR, 1TE, 1 Flex (RB/WR/TE), 1 K, 1 D/ST. Current roster QBs - Cousins and Prescott RBs - K. Hunt, Mixen, Howard, J. Richard WRs - D. Adams, Cooper, Allan Robinson, Sammy Watkins, Anthony Miller TEs - Ertz, Graham K - Lutz D/ST - Bears Trying to decide who on my team is expendable to open up roster spots to add players that can help these next three weeks. I plan on dropping Prescott. Considering dropping Howard, Allen, Watkins, Graham and possibly Richard. These are the players on my roster that I don't have a lot of confidence starting each week for various reasons. I have the #10 waiver priority so my chances of getting my top pickups aren't great either but gotta try. Available players: RB - Gus Edwards, Josh Adams, Theo Riddick, Payton Barber, Frank Gore, Ware (Hun'ts handcuff), Bernard (Mixen's handcuff), E. McGuire WR - DJ Moore, Tre'Quan Smith, Keke Coutee, Fitzgerald, Chris Conley, Christian Kirk TE - Jonnu Smith, G. Everett, Jeff Heuerman, and a lot of yuck Who would you drop, and who would you target and in what priority. RB is high on my list with Hunt on bye. Who would you start?

8-3 and 3-1 in the division would be great. Especially if minny were to fall to Green Bay. They’d both be at 5-5-1. What would really be funny is if they tied again. They’d be 4-5-2 lol not likely though. Get the win and a much needed rest. Almost like a mini bye. We face a depleted Lions team who are coming off of a win that was an accurate Newton pass away from a loss. We can’t let this be a trap game. We’re coming off a huge win in a hard fought game. I don’t feel like we’ll overlook them. Our D should feast on them all day. This could be similar to the Bills game. Where the offense isn’t asked to do a lot.

Vikings sure took a lot of cheap shots. They strike me as a bit of a dirty team.

First of all huge win. We've all noted how critical this win was. A loss and we drop to second place in the division, a win and we're a game and a half up on the Vikings. While the Packers and Lions fight it out for 3rd/4th place. We have put ourselves in a great position we are 7-3 and on top of our division by a game and a half. 6 games to go and we have a favorable schedule going forward, Minny's gets tougher. 10 or more wins is very doable even if we drop a couple and go 4-2 the rest of the way that's a flip of last year putting us at 11-5 and at worst a 4 seed possibly even a 3 seed with the NFC East being a bit of a mess. The number 1 see will probably be NO, the #2 the Rams. So our playoff road would likely be a home wild card round game, then a road divisional round likely vs the Rams, win that and we'd be on the road again to face the Saints in the NFC championship game. That's a tough road but however that shakes out will be icing on the cake of a massive turnaround this team has made over the past 4 years (I include Fox's years here because we wouldn't be where we are as a team without his time here rebuilding the locker room and bringing competitiveness back to a lifeless Bears team that Trestman left). Making the playoffs and possibly even advancing to the second round is a successful season for the first year under Nagy, and the new offense. We are fairly young, and are built for the long term. The Bears are becoming a force to be reckoned with going forward. To the game itself The offense looked sharp and put the Vikings in a 14 pt hole at half time. The bad is that the offense managed just 3 points in the second half, but the D added a TD. It was the kind of game I expected. It was a hard fought close game. It wasn't pretty but when we needed to we found ways to make critical plays. Up 14 at the half but a pair of FG's cut the lead to 8. Their FG's set up by turnovers with great starting position and huge stops by the D to hold both of those to FG's. We get a key pick 6 and 2pt conversion to go up 22-6. They matched our TD and 2 pt conversion to pull to within 8 points 22-14, Then the offense comes through with a critical FG to make it a 2 score game at 25-14 inside 3 min left. We give up a TD but stop their 2pt conversion 25-20 their only hope is an onside kick that Cunningham snagged out of the air ending the game. It wasn't pretty but we did what we needed to to come away with hugely important win. I'm proud of my team. We are winning games this year that the last 3 years we would have lost. This kind of win is huge for the Bears, they refused to give up, refused to let Minn steal this game. The good teams find ways to win when the chips are down. We served notice to the rest of the league that the Bears are back.

I wouldn't be surprised if there wasn't someone who felt it was possibly too steep initially. It's hard to part with 2 first but two first round unknowns for a player of Mack's caliber is worth it. I don't think there was a great deal of handwringing on this move more of the excitement and anticipation of what he could bring to an already high caliber D. I know last night I thanked Jay Gruden for being dumb. He's made his presence known from the first game even in limited snaps he made a huge impact. If there was any regret over what we gave up that's long since disappeared. I loved that play and it proves how well he uses leverage and his opponent's momentum against them. He can beat you in so many ways.

How friggin crazy would that be??? To go from dead last in our division at 5-11 last year to possibly being in a position to secure a 1 or 2 seed in the NFC playoffs? Let's not get ahead of ourselves though, one game at a time but sure is nice to think that it's not out of the realm of possibility. KC is humming, and so are the Rams but there are some chinks in the Rams armor.

Amen! I like that we are considered the underdogs on our own field against the Vikings who while they are good are not without their flaws and not an unbeatable opponent. I have a feeling this one is going to be hard fought. This game means so much to both of these teams. For the Vikings they need thew into close the gap in the standings, we need the win to increase the gap. There's so much riding on this game that I expect both teams come out fighting. They are the more rested team but they also have a history of coming out flat after a bye. I don't think that will be the case this time. They will be prepared and gunning for us. So we need to bring our A game.

Well done Mitch! Keep up the good work and most of all stay hungry. Lead the Bears to a title or multiple titles and you will own this town. It's been great watching how much he's grown from the start of the season to now. At the start of the season he looked good till we got past the scripted plays to where you could tell when we were going off script he'd drop off a ledge with his play. He's gone from that guy to what we saw last week against the Lions. He's gone from trying to figure out the offense to commanding the offense. The confidence, the moxie, enthusiasm, and his growing ability to work the defense has really shown up from the Jets game on. I feel like we are now seeing something we haven't seen in Chicago. Development of a franchise QB. The concept is totally foreign to us. He's on pace to smash single season records for a Bears QB, and he's still only 9 games into a brand new offensive system. We are seeing why Pace wanted him so badly feel it was worth moving up one spot to get him rather than risk someone jumping up to 2 for him. We can debate that till the dead horse has risen from the grave but at the end of the day if Mitch does turn into what we hope and what he is on track to become. No one will care or question the move on draft day.

I like Howard a lot, and we and Nagy know what he can do. Previous seasons he was the offense on a Bears team where opponents KNEW he was all we had. That speaks volumes to his value as a RB. And it is frustrating to see him being underused considering what he's capable of. Howard isn't the type of back that excels in spot duty, he's a momentum reps type runner that needs volume to get on track. But at the same time I agree that play calling thus far has been more focused on developing Mitch, and that means more passing than smash mouth. We've seen games this season where Jordon is involved in the game and others where he's nearly game scripted out. From his perspective I can understand some frustration knowing he can contribute but not getting the opportunities that he'd like. This season is all about the process of installing, and growing the offense, finding this teams identity. It's possible Nagy sees Howard as an Ace in the hole. Leaning more on the pass and developing that part of the offense can help loosen up defenses to utilize the running game more as the season winds down and we get more into the colder weather. I remember something about Nagy wanting our offense to be versatile, and able to beat teams in different ways rather than one trick pony. And clearly coming into this season the passing game had a lot further to improve over last year than the run game. I too can understand though if Jordan leaves town at the end of his contract, but it's also possible that by seasons' end he may be more regularly involved and we're having a different conversation.

The difference being for Crosby it was a rare day for an otherwise dependable kicker. He returned to form the following week. Parkey has be a disappointment for most of the season yesterday was by far his worst day, but it's not been his only bad day. We are likely stuck with him for the rest of this year but no doubt we will be addressing that next year. He alone cost the Bears 8 points by himself It didn't cost us today as we were beating the Lions fairly easily. The issue is when we are in games where every point is valuable we can't trust Parkey to come through and that's a liability. I wouldn't be surprised if we didn't bring a kicker or two to try out and see if we can fix this issue this year. The pressure will certainly be there to at least go through the motions of trying to fix it. I wonder how much of it has to do with taking South Florida warm weather kicker and ask him to kick well in the cold swirly winds of Soldier Field. Kicking aside this was a very enjoyable game to watch. We gave up some cheap TD"s in the second half but the hole we put the Lions in was too deep for them to climb out of. Welcome back Mr. Robinson! Could even say welcome to Chicago. His best day yet as a Bear. (too bad I didn't start him on my Fantasy team or I'd have won this week). Hopefully this is a harbinger of things to come and a sign that he and Mitch are getting to be on the same page. By far at least to my eyes the most complete game Mitch has put together. He looks confident, and played under control, and fired up. I love watching him spike the ball with authority after his TD run and celebrating with his teammates. As he grows into his role as leader of the offense his enthusiasm and energy will be contagious that is what endears you to your teammates. He's starting to show the qualities that convinced Pace to make the move to ensure he got him. The last several games the offense has taken strides and they still have room to grow. The D started getting their swagger back with the Jets game and have rounded back into form. They displayed the defensive team stats yesterday and this reminds me a lot of the 2005/2006 D getting turnovers, scoring, getting after the QB, and generally wreaking havoc. But unlike those Defenses we have an offense that has the ability to take over a game. The stronger the offense gets the more they can impose their will. We are watching a playoff team that is my firm belief at this point. After last offseason on paper we looked to be a vastly improved team. There was much to be excited about and a new energy surround the team. On paper we looked to at the very least be vastly improved. Question was could this team go from 5-11 and last in our division to a playoff caliber team this year. I think the answer is yes. I don't se us winning a championship this year but we are certainly in the playoff conversation. Once the playoffs start anything can happen. The Bears haven't been relevant for a long time. Plus we are built for the long term Pace has rebuilt our roster to be younger. We are the only team in the league to not have a single defensive starter 30 years old or older. I have to give Pace a lot of credit for turning over the roster but doing so with a longterm view rather than a win now fade away. Since the 80's the Bears have been a team that will have occasional resurgences only to fade away as quickly as we rose up. This has the potential to be the start of the Bears being a perennial playoff team.

If he keeps up the pace he's on and continues to improve the national media won't be able to ignore him for much longer. But watching the games lately you can tell the announcers taking notice of how well he's been playing. It sure is nice to watch a Bears game and hear announcers coming even remotely close to gushing over a Bears QB. Yesterday was possibly Trubiskey's best most complete performance that I've seen. I've seen stretches and flashes of the potential we all hoped he'd show. But what jumped out at me yesterday was it feels like we are finally starting to see the offense begin to look like what many had envisioned or hoped it would look like when we added the weapons we did and the new coaching staff last off season. Since the Jets game it looks like Trubiskey is playing more and more under control it looks like the game is starting to slow down for him. As Bill noted you can see him going through the progressions and more often than not throwing to the right guy. I also felt his long ball was much better yesterday. I only recall few overthrows. Perhaps the timing is getting better. We had a lot more plays of 20+ yards (explosive plays) than we've had to this point. If we start making more of those chunk plays with regularity this will be a hard offense to stop. With the talent we have on D if we keep jumping out to leads our D can just pin their ears back and go after teams.

Timing couldn't be better either. We will need as many weapons as we can get on offense and getting Robinson back and next week (vs Vikings) will help a lot. It is encouraging that even with the offensive flaws we've had thus far a lot of room to grow we are putting points on the board and winning games. When the offense gets it's legs under it watch out NFL. What a change this season has been. We are installing a legit NFL offense without sacrificing on the defensive side of the ball. Get both phases humming at the same time the Bears could become scary good. Been a long time since we could say that. Still work to be done to get there but the arrow is pointing up.

This is one of those hard to predict games. Having Robinson and Mack back at full would be huge. Detroit started out the season playing much better but as of late just don't look right. That doesn't mean they won't come out swinging. The Bears have to prepare for the team that beat GB, NE, and MIA. But the teams they beat we were a play away from beating GB, a defensive stop away from beating Miami, and a yard from forcing OT against the Pats. I feel like this should be a win, but not one we can take for granted. We need to hold nothing back these next three games. Win them and we are seriously talking playoffs, lose 2 or 3 of them and making the playoffs becomes much tougher.

makes sense for a lot of reasons. This game has potential post season implications.

Well put. In today's age with social media and forums like this and podcasts it's a different environment where games are nitpicked and overanalyzed to death. No win by any team is perfect. I thought the D played great and took what the bills gave them. I feel like we got after Petermen but could have easily had more sacks had we not been called for some very iffy penalties. Officiating was atrocious. I feel like the turnovers for the most part weren't of the dumb luck variety but were good athletic plays. Every week it seems we've had opportunities to make plays like that and missed this week we made those plays. Probably could have had a couple more. The D came up with 3 picks and a fumble two of which returned for scores. We had 4 sacks. Defense got us 14 points and they gave up 9 pts. which really should have been just 3 as the Bills were helped tremendously on their lone TD drive. Seemed like the officials were calling sympathy penalties. It was far more annoying knowing that that TD ended their streak of not scoring. It felt really cheap. Outside of that their offense managed a single FG the entire game. I'd say the D held it's own. The offense added 27 points but the way people are talking (not just here) you'd think they did nothing to contribute. Sure the D got the team rolling and the offense wasn't overly sharp at times. This was a day that the offense didn't need to do a lot. We were without Robinson. This proved to be a perfect opportunity to let him and Mack heal up some more for when they will be needed starting next week. All in all we beat a bad team 41-9. We are 5-3 and could arguably be 6-2 or 7-1. We've already matched last season's win total with 8 games to go. We're in first place in our division with 3 critical games next on the docket. We host a crumbling Lions team (what's new), then host the Vikings, followed by a road game at Detroit on Thanksgiving. Minny is on bye next week so we could go into our matchup in week 11 at 6-3 facing a 5-3-1 Vikings team who is beatable (one of their losses is to the Bills we just blew out). It's not out of the realm of possibility that we run the table on the next three games and emerge 8-3 with a 3-1 division record and well on top of our division. These three games will be very crucial. Even winning 2 of 3 sits us at 7-4. The Bears have put themselves in a good position to control their own destiny. Offense is a work in progress and we're winning games while we learn which is a plus in my book. I don't expect us to make a serious run at the SB this year but do feel we are a playoff caliber team now. At this point New Orleans looks to be the cream of the NFC crop along with LA and even Atlanta getting hot. NFC north feels like a two team race now between us and Minn. Win that and we're guaranteed no less than a #4 seed. Take care of business these next 8 weeks and we can secure that spot. Once the playoffs start anything can and does happen.

We sure are getting called for a lot of BS penalties at key times. Billed helped out a lot on that cheap TD

Hopefully we do come out prepared and focused. This is a game we could afford to let Mack and Robinson get an extra rest to heal up more. If we come out and play the way we're capable of we should steamroll the Bills. It'd be nice to see us blow them out like we did the bucs.

I think Jerseys are a magnet for wing sauce among other food items. I treat my Urlacher jerseys the same way, I just throw it on over whatever I have on. It is a dangerous site what a great anniversary gift, a wife that supports your sports interest is a good wife for sure. Maybe the screen printed ones have gotten better quality wise. I've bought my jerseys off eBay in the past.

The accuracy issues with the long balls looks like it could be a timing issue. It's like Mitch is trying to find that sweet spot. Something that needs more work in practice. At least in most cases he's erring to the side of caution and overthrowing rather than under throwing where the DB has an opportunity to locate the ball for an INT. So while it's frustrating to watch passes sail over the WR's head it's better than making his WR become a DB and have to try to break up an INT.

This has the feel of a potential trap game, with 3 straight key division games after Buffalo. We can't take Buffalo or any team lightly. The Bills have some talent but they average just under 11 points per game and give up an average of 25 points per game. 4 of their 6 losses were fairly lopsided. The Vikings game seems more of an anomaly for both teams. Their last two outings they've been outscored 11-62. This is a game we absolutely should not lose but we can't go in overconfident. They got after Brady, and we have a new RG. We might see Mitch taking off a little more but it's something he does well. The game could be closer than it should, I didn't think the NE/Buff game would be as close as it was for that long till the pats pulled away in the 4th. What I hope happens is we jump out on them and not give them any hope. The longer you let a team like that hang around the harder it is to put them away.

So for our 2 year anniversary my wife wants me to pick out a Bears jersey. I want to go with an orange Mack Jersey, but on the NFL shop online the only orange Mack jerseys (or any Mack jersey for that matter) are the ones with the screen printed name/number etc. I don't see anywhere on the NFL shop to get the version with the stitched names/number, etc. like they used to sell as "authentic" vs cheap screen print. I prefer the stitched as the screened ones crack and peel. I noticed that there are different versions of the Nike jerseys. Where the Limited and Elite both have stitched numbers/name. But looks like the only one like that for the Bears is a Jordan Howard. Seems odd to me that a superstar like Mack wouldn't be available as a stitched jersey. I have found stitched orange Mack jerseys on eBay and other sites for way less than they would be on the NFL.com shop, which makes me leery of getting ripped off by a fake/knockoff.

Why not put Cohen back there instead of Cunningham. I do realize that would possibly hurt his ability to contribute on offense, but if anyone could take a kickoff in the end zone and make it past the 25 more often than not it'd be him. He's got a bit of Hester in him. As it is it is frustrating watching Cunningham take it out of the end zone and get stopped well short of the 25. I don't know if he's given green light to go if he thinks he can return it or if he's taking it on himself to chose not to take a knee. Either way it needs to stop. These are costly hidden yards. Put your offense in a hole and if they go 3-out you are giving up tremendous field position.

Good win, not perfect by any stretch but they got the job done and beat a team the should beat. Coupled with losses by GB (very satisfying loss to watch), Detroit, and Minny, we are now back in 1st place. One thing for sure the NFC north is up for grabs. We face a struggling Bills team while the vikings have a home game against the Lions and the Packers go on the road again and face a surging Pats team. We could theoretically lead the division at 5-3 and GB in dead last at 3-4-1, and the winner of the Detroit/Minny game being in second place. As for today's game, we took care of business. It wasn't flashy. No turnovers by either team though Darnald had a fumble but recovered it. It was nice to see Howard a little more involved in the game. I agree with the other comments on how he just doesn't look like the same back but in his defense Howard isn't the type of back that thrives on a handful of carries sprinkled in. he's a back that needs volume to get into a rhythm. As the weather turns colder we might start seeing him get more action. I felt like Trubiskey was more on target and more decisive today. Still had some bad throws at times but overall felt he played more composed today. The D did what they needed to keep the Jets off the board for the most part. 3rd downs still seem to be an issue as too often get teams to 3rd and even 3rd and long and let them off the hook. Jackson made a bonehead decision on a third down stop to give them a new set of downs and lead to their lone TD at the time pulling them to within 7. Can't make those kinds of mental mistakes against a good team. Just gotta play smart. I hope Long's injury isn't season ending. Not only for the team but for Kyle to have fought through so many injuries already. There were missed opportunities on both sides of the ball. But at the end of the day we get a needed win to snap a two game losing streak. At this point with the division being the way it is, the Bears control their own destiny. Keep winning and you make the playoffs. Hopefully we don't look past the Bills to the three division games ahead. Next week could be a trap game if we're not careful.