BearFan2000

It was awesome. A team steeped in rich tradition and Nagy is honoring that with his players is great to see. I loved seeing Mitch arrive at the game dressed like Da Coach. Here's to Mitch and Nagy adding to that great tradition!

Plenty of blame to go around in this one. I thought the second half play calling and end of game time management hurt us a lot. I feel like we miss spent time outs on NE's last drive that could have given us more time with the ball to try to tie the game. when we did get the ball with 30 seconds left and decent field position but no time outs. We throw to the middle of the field and chew up 21 seconds of precious time. Which by the way how is it not a delay of game when 2-3 patriots pile on and try to hold our player down to keep the clock running? But that sequence left us with 9 seconds and a lot of real-estate. So what do we do? We throw a short pass to the sidelines that eats up 7 seconds and nets us 7 yards... With 2 seconds left it's hail marry time and we can't give Mitch time to throw and come up a yard short of tying. With 30 seconds and no time outs we should have used the sidelines. In that situation you only throw to the middle of the field when you have time outs left. It came down to this but it shouldn't have. We gave up two special Teams TDs, two Interceptions. Mitchel was horribly inaccurate. His ball placement was terrible. He looked sharper the previous two games. We know there will be growing pains but then watching Mahomes and KC destroy the Bengals it's hard to watch Mitch have games like this. Teams are going to continue to throw the kitchen sink at him till he proves he can handle it. I will say this game didn't sting as much as the Dolphin's game, that game was there for the taking and we crapped it down our legs. We could be looking at 4-2 vs 3-3. We went from 1st in the division to last in one week. There's plenty of football to play this year but if the Bears hope to make the playoffs they've put themselves in a must win situation. But, we do face two winnable games ahead of 3 critical NFC north matchups. We could be 5-3 heading into home games against Detroit and Minny, followed by a road game at Detroit.

Hope that is the case. At the moment it feels like we are wasting his talent.

Well now that we are 6 weeks into the season, I have to admit I'm starting to wonder are we ever going to fully utilize Howard? Seems especially the last two games he's been mostly invisible. At the close of last season the only proven commodity on offense was Howard. It's hard not to wonder are we purposely leaving him out of the game plan? If so why? In 5 games he's total 78 carries for 272 yards for 3.5 ypc and only one TD. He has 10 coaches for 78 yards (and that was pretty much just the first few weeks). He's averaging just 15.6 carries a game as our "feature back" when he "was" our offense last year. Not liking this trend. We aren't taking advantage of what Jordan can do for this offense. Giving him a carry here and there throughout a game keeps him from getting into any rhythm whatsoever. When I first replied I thought no way do we trade him... but if we're not going to use him why not shop him. If I were him I'd be frustrated and want to be somewhere where I'm used consistently. Maybe his usage will increase as the weather turns cold, he's the kind of back that can chew clock and gain yards for you when you need to close out a game.

Agree, I don't think the D is as bad as they looked and played Sunday. You could tell something was off they were not in sync at all. Be it heat, be it it whatever. The breaks more then not went the Dolphins way. A prayer pass that gets knocked away from the intended receiver only to be tipped right to another Phins receiver, uncharacteristic fumbles by Howard at the goal line and Cohen's fumble late. The critical calls that went against us at key times to help the Phins. Yes pick plays get called from time to time but Burton has a right to run his route, after contact was made he continued into the end one to get open, he wasn't cleaning someone out to clear someone out he was running a route. This doesn't get called often and I stand by my assessment we got screwed. The roughing also call BS. Yeah his hand got near the helmet and may have made slight contact but he was trying to deflect the pass. The contact was incidental at most. Ossweiler wasn't hit or dropped after the throw, no reason to throw that flag. If your going to throw that flag how about nearly every time Mitch slid he was hit and no call? I thought you weren't to hit or touch the QB when he gives himself up. Got sick of watching that happen over and over when they are calling ticky tack stuff on us. All in all There was a lot of blame to go around but still stick to putting most of it on the D. There was some terrible officiating, and bad play calling at times, but if we make just one defensive stop in the 4th we win this in regulation. I do believe our D will have better days. Bad games happen, hopefully this lights a fire under them and motivates them. Our D has a lot of pride and they got punched in the mouth. I'd like to see them take that frustration out on NE. Maybe they can help Brady retire like they did Favre.

Exactly, we easily forget Gould was looking worse and worse his last couple years here. He was costing us games. And I agree 100% and he said it himself getting cut woke him up and made him refocus. He's done well for the 49ers. A lot of times we fall for the grass is greener thing. Players get complacent and sometimes a change of scenery wakes them up. I'm glad that happened with Hicks. On to Trubiskey, from both a stats and the eye test something started clicking with him the week before the bye. What I wanted to see was would he carry that into the Dolphins game after the bye? The answer is yes. He's not yet arrived and consistency and playing biggest in the clutch has progress to make before we start thinking of him in the top 10 of the league. But I like what I'm seeing out of him. Success breeds confidence and confidence breeds success. I feel like Mitch is growing in confidence. Our D had it's worst game of the season. If your offense in a close game blows up for 28 points in the second half you'd think you walk away with a win. But we gave up 28 points and lost in OT. We can talk about the INT in the end zone and it was a bad throw he didn't need to make. His guy is covered throw it out the back of the end zone and live to fight another down and he'll learn from that. But had the refs not screwed us on the previous play we end the drive with 7. Instead they get the ball back and get a quick easy score. that is a 14 pt swing and put us behind the 8 ball. Then after that Mitch leads us right down the field to answer and we're up 28-21 with 3-4 min left. All the D has to do is keep them out of the end zone and we win. Then a stream of bad happens and we allow Friggin Osweiler and Wilson to connect on an improbably TD pass that reminds us of the times Rodgers and Cobb have burned us late in games. But in OT after a very fortunate goal line fumble, Mitch drove the offense down into Parkey's FG range. I don't agree with sitting on the ball once we got into his range. Why not get at least one more first down? We had time, make the FG as easy as possible. We settled. That's not on Mitch that's on the play calling. A bad snap made the kick hard and Parkey misses. Then the mistake of settling at the edge of his range the Dolphins take over needing merely to get 30 yards or so to get their kicker in range. When our D had proved it couldn't stop a nose bleed. I can only comment on the second half as I haven't seen the first half. But from what I saw Trubiskey stepped up and put the Bears in a position to win even with the INT in the end zone. He lead the offense to 28 second half points in most games that will get you a win. So I'm encouraged with Trubiskey's future. When you look at a lot of the greats their careers didn't start off great. Payton Manning threw a ton of picks his first year, Rodgers looked awful at times when he took over, and you can go on. Not saying he's either of those guys, but I like what I'm seeing. And if we keep this staff and this offense around him for the long term he has a good chance to grow into that franchise QB we've been long searching for. We haven't had consistent QB play but we also haven't had consistency around our QBs either. Rodgers, Manning, Brady, Brees, etc. One thing they all have in common is consistency in staff and system.

This loss is squarely on the D their last two TDS were gifts. We made fruit in Ossweiler and wilson look like superstars. This should never have reached overtime.

That really does make sense. I could see McCoy being interested in returning to Philly. Things haven't quite gone well for him this season in Buffalo, or since he's left the Eagles for that matter. Makes sense for both parties. But if it did end up being Jordan, we better get good value for him.

Second that, and while Fox's 3 seasons with the Bears become frustrating from a wins/losses, and ultra conservative play style. He took us the first step from an NFL joke and locker room mess, to a team that while it didn't show on the score board was no longer a pushover doormat of the NFL. It's easy to miss his role in turning the Bears around. The Bears were a lifeless shell when he took over. And I agree we wouldn't have gotten either Vic or Gase were it not for Fox. Were it not for what Fox did for this team it's highly possible we don't land Naggy, and retain Vic. We had an old, slow, uninspired/uninterested team under Trestman. We now have one of the youngest rosters and an ascending team. If Pace and Naggy can bring a championship to Chicago they will own this town.

This is what jumping the bandwagon looks like from the "experts." They continue to stumble more and more bandwagons will jump ship. When they finally realize GB's success is very hollow, and dependent on one player. Without Rodgers that team is mediocre, and it's starting to show. They have wasted Rodgers prime and now his body is starting to fail him. Given the disparity in success between the Bears and Packers, us Bears fans will enjoy every minute of the Packers fall back to earth. They have had rare fortune to go from HOF QB to HOF QB. May they experience decades of Browns level wallowing in suckage. They and their fans deserve a truck load of humble pie.

Did Miami take all our cast offs? When Gase went there? The comment section of that article was ironically funny as we've been there and know that pain. Miami started out hot but they've quickly become a hot mess. There's a lot of parallels to the not so distant past here in Chicago. Tannehill is their Cutler, hanging on to a guy who will never be constantly good. Stuborn play calling, fans already calling for Gase to be fired. It's not pretty there and we know their pain. Their plight should serve as a reminder that a good start is just that. If you don't finish strong it doesn't matter how you started. They stared 3-0 and could be 3-3 after week 6. I bet they were pretty high after their 3rd win. We're 3-1 right now here's hoping we don't have the same reverse of fortunes. Gotta stay hungry and continue to work hard and stack wins, no room for complacency in our division.

agree, I wouldn't read anything into it. With Acho going on IR we had an open roster spot. It could be for future need, it could be to get a look at him and see if he can add depth.

I don't think Howard is going anywhere, and I don't think his role will be as small as it was against the Bucs. Game flow dictated his role to be reduced. We will need him going forward his role will reflect that. It is easy to read into his reduced role this season and think he's not needed and why not trade him. People will probably continue to link him to teams in need of RB help. The Eagles restructuring contracts to free up cap space, could also be a sign they have some interest in pursuing Bell. He'd be an expensive rental but would be a solid add to their backfield. A lot of this is speculation by people paid to connect dots to write stories. Only Jordan and the Bears know if any of this has a shred of truth. Nagy's said Jordan will still play a big role in this offense. As the wether turns colder the run game will be more and more critical.

It sure is sweet to go into week 6 in first place in our division. Watching GB lose to Detroit was a good substitute for lack of Bears football. 4 missed FG's and a missed extra point and watching Rodgers face as he coughed it up twice. I always love seeing that frown on Rodgers face rather than that arrogant smirk. We've definitely put ourselves in a good spot after 4 games. We can't get happy or complacent. Best way to stay on top is to keep winning. The division is still up for grabs. We lead at 3-1 but our one loss was to GB who sits at 2-2-1. Minn at 2-2-1 as well, and a much improved Lions team at 2-3. I was really pulling for Philly to come back and drop the Vikings to 1-3-1 but it didn't happen. If our offense can build on last week, and that D continues to get better and continues to dominate this could be a dangerous Bears team. I feel like our bye came at a great time and even better heading into the bye on a positive note. Last year we didn't notch win #3 till week 7 and then only added two more wins the whole year. The arrow is pointing up but they will have to continue to work hard to get better and not let up.

Wonder if Gruden is thinking "what did I do???" that or the Raiders FO is thinking it. He has been a human wrecking ball from the first game with the Bears on. His play elevates the play of his teammates. Unless the Raiders strike gold with the picks we gave them we win this trade hands down.

Thanks for posting the experience of being there live. It wasn't a pretty win by any stretch. And the offense has a ways to go and that begins with Mitch. The D gave up two quick scores but then shut the Cards down. It was good to see them dig in and stop the bleeding and start making plays to keep them off the score board till the offense could claw us back into the game and take the lead. Huge, huge pick to effectively end the game. The Cards were starting to move the ball slowly closer to FG range and I can remember thinking here we go we're going to let them get a FG to take a 1 pt lead and we'd come up short of regaining the lead. To think that if Fuller makes that INT we'd be 3-0. An ugly win but a win nonetheless. We are 2-1 above 500 for the first time since what forever??? And we are in first place in the NFC north, which even if that is short lived it's nice to be in first. One thing that I keep thinking after this game, is we are 2-1 and haven't played our best ball or a complete game on either side of the ball yet and we're finding ways to win. Creating a winning culture is a process. After 3 years of Fox where we would fight hard, come close, but more often than not find ways to lose games we should have won. This is a young team that that is trying to find it's identity and learn how to play winning football. I'd love us to be playing at a higher level for 4 quarters every week but we're a work in progress. It'll take time, but grinding out wins along the way is encouraging knowing we haven't played our best or to our potential. Doesn't mean we won't get frustrated and upset at play calling, individual players, units or the team as a whole. We're all passionate fans as proven by the shear amount of Bears fans in AZ for an away game. We want our team to dominate every play every down, every game all year.

Mack Got held on that TD Pass. And how is it not a penalty when the Cardinals D after the play takes the ball to the end zone and does a group celebration??? Very sloppy first half thus far. Are we reversing how we play? Suck in the first half and play hard in the second? Need to wake up and play some ball. This is the same Cardinals offense that has looked awful this year till today. Come on man!

Right there with you on the scripted plays vs when we start calling plays as we go. It will take time Trubisky to have the same confidence/comfort level with all the plays in the playbook once we go off script. And to an extent that includes Naggy as well. As he gets a feel for utilizing the players and their talents on this team to be more effective overall and better in situational play calling. These last two games there is a noticeable change when we go off script. He is still essentially a rookie. Last season about all he did was hand off with a few pass plays sprinkled in. This is a vastly different offense, and with that brings a vastly different way defenses will play us and what they present at the LOS. He's running new plays and trying to process how teams are defending those plays. He's thinking more than playing on instinct. We have to have some patience. I also wonder if part of the reason we've been more pass happy to start the season is Naggy getting a feel for the new weapons we added in Burton, Robinson, Gabriel, Miller, etc. The Bears got a lot of new toys on offense like Christmas morning and the old toys sometimes get neglected. He does need to lean more on the run game. It's hard to protect leads and kill time when your going 3 and out throwing the ball.

I agree with stinger as well, In the heat of the moment we went from a high excitement level at halftime seeing our Bears offense resemble a legit offense and our D playing at an elite level. It felt like the realization of our hopes of what the team could look like. That made the second half collapse even harder to take to go from that high to such a low seeing that game slip away in the 4th quarter. So at the time that's what we tend to focus on. As the dust has settled, we can compare this game in it's entirety to last few years of boring, predictable "offense" handicapped by lack of receiving talent, creativity in play calling, and a top 10 D that did all they could to try and keep us in games while the offense did next to nothing. We hung with a GB team at their house that many have high expectations for come post season. In fact we dominated them for an entire half, we got conservative in the second half, and were it not for a big comeback from the Packers in the late 3rd/4th quarter we would have walked away a winner. We really were one or two plays here or there that would have netted us a win on the road in a tough place to play. It's a tough loss to take cause it was there for the taking. Last years Bears wouldn't have been in that game to begin with. So we have come a long way. Still have a long way to go. D is understandably closer to being what we'd hoped they'd be than the offense. On offense there are many new faces, new scheme, new staff. Both the staff and the players have to take this as a learning tool. And it should make them angry that they let one slip away. Perhaps they got a little too comfortable/satisfied at halftime and weren't as mentally prepared to play the second half as they should have been. But it should serve as a reminder that they have work to do to get to where they want to be. But as a fan I saw reason to be encouraged when I don't let one horrific quarter of football cloud my judgement.

No kidding. I had to mute it collinsworthless holding Rodgers jock reminded me of maddens love for favre. Fuller should have caught that pick and it would have been over. Someone needs to tell Mitch you an check the ball down. Not every play has to be a big play. That second half D was atrocious. Everyone on that team needs to learn there are two halves. We came out flat on both sides of the ball after half. This game was there for the taking and we coasted to a loss.

Mack already making his presence felt. Just pickpocketed Keizer

Here's to wrecking their "model" this year. These predictions are little more than "I'll believe it when I see it" with some lazy research thrown in for good measure. They always assume Green Bay is great, Bears suck. To an extent you can understand as we've not had a winning season in what 5 years? Respect is earned and the Bears while on paper have made vast improvements. We as fans are more familiar and are quicker to see the potential. But till it shows up on a football field and in the score board they won't believe. GB has seen vastly more success than we have in recent years and that creates homers in the talking heads community. We saw what Green Bay was without Rodgers it wasn't pretty. They have one player propping up that team. The first step in changing these perceptions is knocking off the Pack convincingly on Sunday night football. The win would be satisfying enough but the added bonus of these "experts" eating crow would be icing on the cake.

Still pinching myself. We gave up a lot in draft capitol and in salary cap but we landed a known quantity. Dude is a human wrecking ball. There are some comparing this to us giving up so much to get Cutler but to me that is apples and oranges. Cutler showed a lot of promise, but also came with question marks with his personality, work ethic, etc. Mack has done nothing but produce, be dependable, work hard, play with a contagious passion. He got shopped because Oakland (Gruden) didn't want to pay him anywhere near the kind of extension he got here. Especially after he'd paid Carr his huge contract. He didn't force his way out of Oakland, they just didn't see fit to reward him for basically being their defense since he got there. He's not a malcontent, and a locker room distraction, as his former teammates comments have shown he was well liked and will be missed. He makes an already formidable defense that much better. He also has the luxury of having a lot more help in our defense, he was all they had in Oakland. I'm excited to see how good our front 7 will be with him playing with Hicks, Goldman, Bullard, Trevathan, Smith/Kwait, and Floyd. This could be the best LB group that we've had since Urlacher, Briggs, and Colvin. It's exciting to think about. Can't think of a better environment for Roquan to learn his craft in. Offenses will have a hard time accounting for everyone.

It has been a long busy offseason and there has been so much anticipation of what it will all mean when the games count. From a fan perspective for us we've been chomping at the bit to see this revamped Bears team hit the field. What whirlwind this offseason has been. Firing fox, Naggy hired, Vic retained, several key FA acquisitions, the draft, the drama surrounding getting Roquan signed and in house. The crazy blockbuster trade that landed us Mack. There is much reason for optimism this year and beyond. Maybe we make the playoffs maybe we make a real push to make a deep playoff run. We lived through 2 years of the freshman dumpster fire, the transition years of Fox who while he didn't produce wins or winning seasons, the locker room and team chemistry put us in a position to land Naggy and with that hire bring in talent that wanted to come here and be a part of something special. Time will tell if Naggy can reach the potential we hope he can. He's in a golden position to lead the Bears back to respectability. If he's able to bring championships to Chicago he will own this city. I'm looking forward to this game, and it is very hard to predict how this will go. I'm with Adam on this, I feel there's potential we could jump out and surprise people and take the Packers down. Naggy has played things very close to the vest in preseason. The Packers have to mostly rely on Cheifs film to scout for this matchup and it's very advantageous that we get the Packers week 1. It's an important game not only because it's rivalry but it's also the only divisional game till week 10. I also get the sense that unlike past Bears coaches who have taken the "just another game" mentality, he embraces the rivalry spirit and will have the guys pumped. These games require an extra chip on your shoulder. Prediction wise I could see this being a close game won in the fourth quarter, or a game won easily. As long as our D keeps Rodgers and the offense in check, I see a Bears win. Bears 28-24, but wouldn't be shocked at a more lopsided win in a game where we are in control and a late rally makes the score closer than the game was. Unless we come out flat which I doubt will happen. if anything we might come out a little too jacked up.

Thankful it's over and he's signed and in practice. He's missed valuable reps and conditioning that he can't get back. Just a couple less days of holdout than Bosa's If I recall correctly didn't Bosa sustain an injury trying to push too hard getting up to speed for the start of the season. So I hope he can get up to speed for the start of the season and stay healthy doing so. Out of curiosity any insight on what the compromises were either by CAA, the Bears, or both? I just hope this isn't a pattern for Smith. He verbally committed to UCLA, before actually committing to Georgia, and this holdout. It does give concern whether every contract negotiation with might be high drama. All in all though glad it's behind us and he's signed for 4 years and I hope he's able to make it up to the team and the fan base on the field. He has some respect to earn now.