BearFan2000

TD Jeffery!!!

good greif and now they throw a flag... freak the refs......

Conte finally makes a positive play

Detroit taking so many shots and blatant late hits yet no flags thrown... clearly the we must protect anyone but a Bears player, it's ok to hit them late, it's ok to take cheap shots. Detroit must have brought their officiating crew with them.

I wasn't directing my comments at any poster in particular. I it just a general assessment trying to give both sides. I mentioned sample sizes and defenses faced to state the facts of McCown's 2 1/2 game stint. It wasn't to make excuses for Cutler. I also made it a point that while we shouldn't over-react to McCown's play recently but that we also shouldn't discount it. We have to admit that it's possible that the offense the offense has been improving to a point where you put either Jay or Josh in there and good things will happen. We can't discount that Jay and the offense in general has been up and down. Not all of that has been on Jay, he does tend to be a lightning rod of sorts much of which is of his own doing, he's a hard worker, and will give you all he's got, but he has that persona of being a jerk in the public eye. I'm unbiased in whether I hope jay plays lights out and gets that big extension, it means we make a serious playoff push. I never hope for a player to suck for another to get put in his place. Never like that mentality. This week Jay is the starter and so I want him and the team to do well and take first place in the division by beating the Lions. That said if Jay underperforms, and leads to losing his starting job to Josh, that means the Bears won't resign Jay, and will save a lot of money, by extending Josh, drafting a QB, and maybe bringing in a vet. I'll be ok with either outcome. The main thing in my mind is what's best for the team and winning games. I want whoever is under center to excel. If that means next year our QB is Cutler under a shiny new contract and McCown as a solid backup, with a rookie developing in the wings. I'd be thrilled. If we go into next year with McCown, rookie, and possibly a vet I'd have no problem with that either. The added bonus there would be the ability to use the money that would have been spent on Jay, to be spent improving the D. As it stands with Cutler starting against the Lions Jay will have the chance to make his case that he should be our QB going forward. There is a measuring stick to compare Jay and the offense going forward. No doubt all eyes will be on the offense and I have a feeling there will be many that will be looking for reason to say "See Josh should be the QB", or "see Jay isn't the right guy", etc. There are people in the media and the fanbase itself that have made up their minds that they hate Jay and regardless of what he does will never change that. There are people who will defend Jay no matter what he does. I consider myself neither of those, I want the best guy out there and I want the guy out there to excel which means our offense will excel and put points on the board. No doubt this will be interesting going down the stretch to see how this plays out and what the coming offseason holds.

Just a side note what about licensing? If your producing a shirt with copyright or trademarked images/logos with the intent to sell, you could get in hot water with the NFL, NFLPA, and Bears. The Bears logos/uniforms, and even the players themselves could be off limits without licensing. I work for a company that does vehicle wraps and someone wanted a colt's wrap for their RV and we had to secure licensing for the use any images or logos or players on the colts team in the design. Just something to be careful about. Would hate to see you or anyone involved get in trouble.

I think ditching your starter for the new shiny thing after 1 1/2 games worth of action is premature. We can look at stats all we want but the sample sizes aren't the same, and the longer McCown plays the more film is on him in this system and next week if he starts will face the best DLine he's faced in his current stint filling in for Jay. The redskins D is awful, GB's pass rush is hampered by injury. Couple that with the gelling of our offensive line it may very well be a perfect storm. The offense as a whole has been gradually improving week to week, as the players get more comfortable in the system. When you look at the body of work from the time Jay got here to now, you can't discount that he's looked the best he has looked as a Bears QB this year. It looks as though this offense is starting to mature to the point where you can now take a competent QB and plug him in because the staff has done a good job of preparing both QB's. I think we don't want to overreact either way to this. We don't want to look at the 1 1/2 games sample of McCown and say he's the answer, let Jay go, draft a rookie and hand the starting job to McCown. But we shouldn't discount his performance either he has looked good. I'll go back to a comment I made in a thread a week or so ago, about how it does beg the question that perhaps the style of QB Jay is isn't the best fit for this offense. Perhaps we'd be better off with a more traditional pocket passer. That's not to say I'm advocating that the answer is yes, but it is interesting to think about. There is a lot of speculation going on, but what we do know is we have two QB's who can run this offense and put up points that's more than we knew 2 1/2 weeks ago before Jay went down. That is something valuable to know going forward. Wether we resign Jay or not, it makes sense to at least sign McCown to a multi year contract as a #2. When Jay does come back we definitely have a measuring stick to evaluate his performance, and I'm sure that will weigh into the decision to either sign Jay long term, tag him, or let him walk. If Jay plays well and earns that extension, and we resign Josh long term as backup and draft a QB, that would be a great situation to have heading into next year. If Jay comes back we see a drop off in the offense with him vs McCown, that does open the door for the Bears to let Jay walk (he won't sign to be a backup), extend McCown, and draft promising young QB and maybe another vet. It would certainly be the cheaper option than a Cutler extension and we know the money could be well spent retooling the D. However this shakes out, it's possibly going to be a tough decision at season's end. But I do think Emery and Trestman will look at all the options, and information and make a decision, I don't think it will be a hasty or quick one but will be thought out with a plan for the future.

There were a lot of packer fans whining about bad officiating benefiting the Bears, LOL Talk about the kettle calling the pot black when more often than not the Packers are beneficiary of the officiating. It's just amusing to watch those arrogant a holes lick their wounds. Plus their fan base always talks big about how they sustain injuries and keep rolling and rip other teams and players like Cutler and Stafford for being wusses. We beat them in their house with our backup QB, and a defense that can't stop a nosebleed. It's funny that at the end of the day we looked like the better prepared team to lose a starting QB than they did. Rodgers went down and they looked as lost as a deer in the headlights. And while I don't like seeing guys get hurt I admit I enjoyed every minute of their cluelessness. Thing is I think i dispose the Packer fans more than I do the actual team.

So apparently a case of consensual tasing?

as well as McCown has been playing I think the Bears can afford to allow Cutler to be fully 100% healed and don't need to rush him back. Unlike the Packers who are screwed till Rodgers returns.

I'm sure Emery and Trestman do have some guys on their radar. What I'm really liking over the last two/three weeks with McCown in there performing well, is that For the first time in a long time I don't feel a QB drafted is a wasted pick even if Cutler comes back and plays well enough to earn an extension. I feel like this staff is capable of developing the next guy in line after Cutler is done in Chicago whether that's next year or 4-5 years from now or so. One of the comments McCown said heading in was he feels he is more prepared to play than he's ever been here. The difference this year vs the last time he had to come in and start in place of Cutler is night and day. It was a freeking train wreck the last time, which is why most of us felt all was lost when Jay went down in Washington. I feel like we are creating a system where QB's can thrive and succeed rather than fail epically.

Definitely reason to be encouraged about the future. Seems that we finally have some real football minds running the show, both in the FO and the Sidelines. I also noted a few times at least that they remarked how this offense looks a lot like what the Saints run, and even one play commenting that "I've never seen a play call like that before" I think it was on the play were we they had an all out blitz called and Trestman anticipated it so he called a pitch left to Forte, with some crack blocks to seal the edge for Matt to make some moves for a big gain. I thought that was a brilliant call, I believe it was 3rd down, and it was nice to see us recognize that and run away from the blitz and take advantage of it rather than run it right into the teeth of it. We may well be witnessing the birth of a legit, high powered offense. An offense that can carry this team. It's a new ere... Where we just need an average to good D to be truly dominant.

For how long have we watched other teams lose a QB and plug someone else in and not seem to skip a beat, while our offense was run by idiots who I wouldn't trust to call for pizza. And we threw QB after QB at the situation. Well perhaps we are now that team, that has a system, that is being put in place with both the present and the future in mind. A system where we can see QB's excel. Who'da thunk it. It shows that the Bears are prepared to move forward with or without Cutler. If Jay comes back and show's he's worthy of an extension, great, if not, this coming draft is fairly deep at QB. I like the foundation that Emery and Trestman are building on the offensive side of the ball.

Lots of guys to give props to. Shea, McCown, Forte, Jeffery, Marshall, The entire offensive line. That last drive was beautiful watching the line just take it too them. Props to Trestman as well some brilliant play calling at critical points. Good overall team win. Course Gruden saying this win should have an * because Rodger's went out with an injury.... uh... hello, the Bears came in with a laundry list of injuries, including staring their backup QB and beat the Prickers on their turf!

hometown refs all three pentalties of the night on the Bears apparently the packers never committed any penalties But inspite of that the Bears finish off the Pack by doing something we've seen so little of this year back to back sacks!!!

I agree he should take the time needed to fully heal before risking further injury just to prove a point. From what I've heard/read that it takes time for a tear like that to scar and strengthen to where re-injury is far less likely. What I'd like to see happen is that he takes the 4 weeks as Emery stated, means he'll miss: Wk 8 (bye) Wk 9 @ GB Wk 10 home vs Lions Wk 11 home vs Ravens After that evaluate if he needs more time or not. I've read that it could be anywhere between 2 weeks to 6 weeks. And that according to one article he was seen walking around normally and you wouldn't know he's injured, maybe that's where Marshall's comments come from, but just because he isn't limping or hobbling doesn't mean the injury is miraculously healed. Walking around is a lot different than running, jumping, dropping back, planting and throwing a football with velocity. If he returns after 4 weeks he would return to play at St. Louis on field turf, which doesn't give like grass and a hard plant on that turf if it's not fully healed could put him at risk for re-injury. I would actually prefer he takes the 6 weeks returning for the Monday nighter vs the Cowboys. That will give him the 4 weeks to where he might be ready to chance it plus two weeks to make sure it's good and healed. For his own sake I don't want to see him hurry out there and make it worse. Wk 12 @ Rams (artificial surface) Wk 13 @ Vikings (artificial surface) Wk 14 home vs Cowboys grass (where I hope he returns) IMO while we can't overreact to what McCown did in the second half vs the Skins 31 points, I think it should give us, the bears, and Jay reason to not rush back. For a guy to come in not having had the reps in practice come in and run the offense the way he did is comforting. Do I expect us to put up 40 + points week in and week out with McCown? No be cause we won't be facing that crappy of a D every week. What I do think he can do is keep the ship afloat till the captain returns. I think the scenario doesn't change here. We still have an offense that is potent and can put up points and a D that has trouble stopping anyone. What I liked out of that game is consistency, throughout the second half we didn't score a couple TD's then disappear for a while, but for the whole second half we went toe to toe matching TD for TD. I was glad to be wrong about McCown coming in, when Jay went down I basically said "game over." I have enough confidence in Josh to carry the team till Jay is ready to come back. It won't be easy GB and Detroit going to score so we'll need to keep pace, the ravens are struggling, as are the Rams and Vikings. If we can go 3-2 or better with McCown that's all you can ask.

Fendi "Vice Grips" Autobon will help McCown lead us to a Super Bowl win!

Started loosing me at cutting Marshall, he's our best WR and I don't feel he is or will be the big distraction people want to make him out to be. I do agree that Melton will be gone, I wouldn't be opposed to keeping Garza as a backup, he's done well at center since Kruetz left. I think the offense is heading in the right direction and we need to keep building that, but I only see minor tweaks going forward needed for the line to add quality youth and continue to get younger there. I think what people miss in this clamoring to jump to a 3-4 because we have the guys to play LB in that system, to make that system work you need big disruptive tackles. Even if all our guys are healthy, Angelo tended to draft smaller guys at tackle focusing on speed. Rather than the beefier guys. We haven't had a dominant presence in the middle since Harris before his knee gave out. Not saying I'm opposed to it if we can bring in the personal to run it either from the draft or FA. Tucker does have experience with the 3-4. I think we have to be smart about it and not just change for the sake of change. That said the opportunity for change may be there as we are looking at a major overhaul of the Defensive personal in the near future. I'm sure that If Emery, Trestman, and Tucker feel that it can be done and improve our D they'll consider it.

in other news water is wet... Safety is a huge void in our D. Conte seems to be getting worse, always seems to be late getting over to the play, doesn't look like he knows where he's supposed to be. Oh how I miss the Parish/Brown combo.... too bad that didn't last long.

if we can keep him at a reasonable price for just return duties, then cut Weems, why not see what Marques Williams can bring to the return game in weems place. He's got the quicks for it.

Not sure I'd assume it's attitude or mental capacity. It may be more that Cutler's game isn't ideal for this offense. Jays had to try to play within it, where as it's an offense that may well better suit a guy like McCown. The true west coast is based on quick throws, short drops, and taking shots down field here and there but it's a more ball control type offense. Jay is more of a gunslinger. I think we've seen he can play in this offense but doing so he's had to change how he plays the game.

The way he "walked off" the field to the tunnel and that picture followed by the signing of Palmer, tells me it's a serious and potentially season ending injury. Which for Jay sucks because if he's done for the year, he'll enter the offseason with only 6 games to show for his potential in this offense where it looked like he very well could have proven his worth. It puts both him and the Bears in a tough spot. Do you tag him? Can you sign him to a fairly cheap 1-2 year "prove it" type contract? In the mean time we roll with McCown and palmer to back him up. Hats off to McCown for a guy to come off the bench cold without the practice reps to come in on the road and lead the offense to 28 second half points was impressive. If He can continue to lead the offense and keep that group rolling, then really that leaves right where we were. An effective offense, a Defense that can't stop much of anything, and a special teams unit that's hardly been special. Who's to say we can't make the playoffs with McCown? I'll admit when Jay went down my first thought was game over, but I got to give him credit for playing the way he did.

agreed and it's crazy to think that all those years with Lovie and a dominant D Saying if we had any kind of offense we could win it all, now we have an offense that moves that ball and scores we are now saying if we only had some kind of defense.... uggg.. Sadly the reality is we waisted the window of opportunity we had with that D. Age, time, and injuries have caught up with a once dominant unit. They are a shell of their former self. It's time to make the most of the pieces we have and if we can add any. But start rebuilding this coming offseason. We are becoming one of those teams with a high powered offense but can't stop a nose bleed. As for Cutler I do think he can be effective in this offense but watching McCown run the offense and run it well, does make me wonder if a more traditional pocket passer. By no means am I saying McCown is the answer and should be our QB. It just makes me wonder is Cutler's natural style of play slightly at odds with the system that Trestman is tying to install? I think Jay has shown he can play within the system and it has helped his game. But maybe a QB who is more in the traditional mold could really make this offense run at a high level.

game over

regardless of how this turns out I'm proud of this team for not packing it in. They are playing their butts off and major kudos to McCown and the offense for continuing to fight.