BearFan2000

Totally agree, his one real negative play was the sack fumble. But outside that over the last 5 weeks we are seeing the guy we thought we were getting in the trade. I think that there are two main reasons why. #1. Martz has discovered this offensive concept called balance. He is not putting Jay back there in empty sets to drop back 7 steps down after down and and looking for the deep big play. The play calling now plays into the strengths of this talent we have on offense. Martz's play calling is putting Jay in a position to succeed rather than putting him in a position to fail. He's got a cannon for an arm but he also has a pair of weapons attached to his waist which we are seeing more use of. He's mobile, deceptively quick and can throw well on the run which makes him a Dangerous QB. Before the bye week we were using him like a statue pocket passer and he was getting his clock cleaned down after down. #2. Jay is playing more under control and playing within himself. His decision making has been drastically better. Still has the occasional brain fart or tries to force a ball that shouldn't be thrown and at times will hold the ball too long. But you will have that with any QB. I think that #1 is part of this equation as he looks more comfortable because the play calling plays to his and his teammates strengths. He looks more like a player who trusts the system he's playing in than he did before.

Ugly indeed and I agree with the earlier post and I've said this before Detroit is far better than their record and they are on the up swing. They have talent on both sides of the ball and what's hard for them is to shake that losing mentality. Bears Lions games have usually been tough fought games. When it became obvious this game was going to be a battle I was thinking just win this game any way you can. Win it get out of there at 9-3 and prepare for the next game. Hats off to the offense for stepping up in this game when they needed to. I'm still a little ticked that Hester got tripped up and so was he. He should have had the record today... Some quick observations. On defense part of our problem was we did not have contain on the outside that long run at the end of the first half should never have happened we all crashed inside and no one was there to catch Best till Manning pushes him out. Defensive play calling it seemed like often when we called a blitz they had a perfect play called. Really it was their big plays on offense that kept them in it. Tackling wasn't as sharp as it's usually is. Kudos to the D though on the stop after the turnover that was huge stand. Special teams weren't very special today outside of Hester nearly running into the record books only to get tripped up by the kicker. Coverage was poor for the most part way too many yards given up on returns. Kudos to Gould for hitting his career long 54 yard FG was critical at that point Hats off to the offense for sustaining drives and keeping the clock moving One thing that I do think needs to get better still is of course the line. Detroit has a great front 7 and they were getting pressure all game long we will continue to have issues with sacks, and plays like the one that lead to the fumble (though Jay should have done a better job holding onto the ball). There are still plays where we are seeing 2-3 defensive players coming clean to the QB Bennet... man what do you say but he has become a real go to guy probably the most consistent and all around polished WR great possession receiver I want to see him locked up long term. Loved the play where it took 4-5 guys to brign him down, he is one tough SOB. Where he lacks in speed he makes up for in skill, and strength. Reminds me a little of Marty Booker in his first stint with the Bears. Sure handed and quietly effective he had over 100 yards receiving today. All in all a game that we could have potentially lost but found a way to win it. Good teams find a way to win. Look at NO Cincy took them to the wire and they found a way to win. Ok in general the offense the past 5 games has definitely been the most balanced I have seen from a Bears offense in a long time. Hats off to Martz and if Lovie made him taylor his scheme more to the personnel and not this pass happy crap he was calling earlier in the year than got to give credit there but either way I have to say the staff this season seems to be doing better at self scouting than they have in the past to realize Jay is not a pocket passer statue, and our line cannot block for 7 step drops down after down, and it's asinine to regularly empty the backfield and drop back 7 steps which has been a hallmark of Martz style. During the bye week the Bears looked at themselves and have come out playing to their strengths talent wise. Cutler looks like he is playing within himself and doing the things that he is good at. The previous mentality was both going to get Jay killed, and was putting him in a position to fail. I will admit I didn't trust Martz or this staff to see the flaw in the status quo and actually do something about it. This new found balance on offense is putting the Bears offense in a position to succeed. One thing that I really like is that we are sustaining drives and chewing clock. We had that 17 play drive last week vs the Eagles that darn near chewed up the entire 3rd quarter. That is what balance will do for you. When we were throwing all the time and getting 3 and outs and throwing pics we were losing the time of possession and putting our D in the bad spot of having to keep us in games till the offense finally could score. This is going to be so critical in this coming stretch if the Offense can control the clock and keep the defense rested they will be better suited to step up when needed. The D did not have a good game today but I can't get too upset with them as they have been a big part of why we are 9-3.

Voted IMO Cutler deserves it more, Brady should perform that well against the Lions, and Cassel doing that against the Seachickens isn't exactly show stopping either. This was arguably Jays best performance at least as a Bear if not overall he had a career high 4 TD Passes (three of them coming in the first half) and no picks. He had a QB rating of 146.2 in the game. In a game where the "big play" Eagles were shown up by the "big play" bears.

And that wasn't the first blown non-call on the refs I think that was the one that put him over the edge. While I don't like that he kept at it till he got a flag for it, I like that he is not just going to sit there and take it. I don't know how many times he's taken hits that should have been roughing that would have been called if his jersey read Manning, Brady, Rodgers, etc. For a Marquee QB the officials seem disinterested in protecting Jay. Is it because he's a Bear? I like that the Bears as a whole showed fire today much of the extra curricular activity after plays were instigated by the Eagles and the Bears players were standing up for each other like the shove to Forte lead to Kruetz shoving that player. From what I could see it looks like there's plenty of dirty players on the Eagles When the game ends with three QB kneels and Cutler takes a knee and sprints away from the line because they are diving at the line as a defense to me is sour grapes from a sore loser. We dominated this game and at one point up 3 scores on one of "the best teams" in the NFC. The final score makes this game appear closer than it really was. That TD to Selek was a fluke. It was thrown to a well covered receiver and more often than not that ball is batted down or picked. I liked that the Bears came to play yesterday and executed well in all three phases, if they can play like this the rest of the way the can play with anyone. Hats off to Martz true to his word he kept the play calling balanced and called another good game. Marinelli had his Defense ready to play they just showed how to beat the Eagles we got pressure with our front four and we able to commit players into coverage and not give up the big play well designed defensive game plan and well executed on field. Offensively we looked like the high powered offense yesterday I liked that we kept the pedal down and pushed it to a three score lead and had the ball nearly the entire 3rd Quarter. Keeping the Eagles offense on the sideline. We sustained drives and capped hem off with TDs. Big plays were on our side and none bigger than Chris Harris' INT. 2nd and goal from the 4 the Eagles trailing by one were in position to take a 2 point or a 6 point lead at half time instead we get the turn over and march down the field and score making it an 8 point halftime lead. That's as much as a 13 point swing in our favor just before halftime and we got the ball to start the half and score again. The Eagles could not stop us till we went ultra conservative with a 3 score lead and let them crawl back into the game in the 4th. This is probably the most complete game I've seen the Bears play this year if not in the last three years. And Cutler looked like the guy we traded for great decision making, great ball placement, and good use of his feet. Some things I didn't like were the play of the OL at times was horrible. Multiple times there were 2-3 guys coming clean that should never happen. Web has horrible technique and repeatedly getting beat by guys who he has a size advantage over should not happen. Prevent Defense in the fourth allowing the Eagles to get a pair of FG's and a TD to draw with in Seven at the end. I have never liked the prevent as I'm sure I'm not the only one. Why go away from what is working you give up cheap yards and cheep points I know we had a cushion score wise that it didn't matter but the final score shouldn't have been that close but still a win we dominated when many assumed we'd lose this game. That's really my two big negatives. We obviously need to address the OL this off-season and I think the play of the defense, Cutler, receivers and RB are good enough that we can focus mainly on OL. Fix the OL and your running game gets better, and your passing game gets better. Over the last few weeks the Bears have outperformed the play of their line or found success in spite of bad OLine play. Sure there has been improvement from the line but they are a long way from decent. One thing that does help an OL line is consistency and there has been no consistency. We've played musical chairs with the line for the most part. They are sticking with the guys that are in place now and we'll see how this group plays in the coming weeks.

The D line played probably one of their best games collectively today even though there was holding on almost every play.

as good a coach as Frazier could be he's still playing with the crappy hand that Minny has. Favre is a detriment and Jackson.... nuff said. That team is so defunct it's like trying to steer the Titanic to shore with a gaping hole in it. The vikings don't scare me that much. Now he may get them to play better then they have but I dont' think that team's ceiling is very high right now.

I agree as well, we are 7-3 and it could be argued that we should be much worse record wise and also argued that we should have a couple more wins. We haven't gotten respect other than our Defense because of who our wins came against and how we played in those games barely beating bad teams or loosing games that we should have won nearly losing games we should have won easily. We can argue till we're blue in the face or our fingers fall off lol but we are where we are at 7-3. By hook or crook the Bears have put themselves in a position where they can make a legit playoff push 10 games into the season. I didn't think this was possible at the start of the year honestly I wasn't sure what to expect. We've seen good, bad, and ugly out of our beloved. But what matters is what is happening now and what we do going forward. As with any sport you want your team to be getting i'ts groove on for that final push. If the Bears indeed are coming together and things are clicking this is the ideal time for that to be happening you want to be playing your best ball at the end of the season if that's the case for the Bears then at 7-3 they are in a position for that to pay off. Right now they just need to focus on beating Philly any way they can. Do that and some respect will come our way and at 8-3 we would have to stumble bad not to finish 10-6 or better. In a way the Bears are in position to control their own destiny. As mentioned earlier once in the Playoffs all bets are off, we could get knocked out of the first round or make an improbable run. Either is possible. Just take it one game at a time.

LOL how far he's fallen top of the world as a Packer then the I'm retiring, no I'm not, yes I am crap that GB finally got tired of begun his downward spiral. He then goes to NY and a flash in the pan starts out well but fizzles out by the end of the season and during his time in NY he decides to send some inappropriate texts. On to Minny where he has a good season but again fails to come through in the playoffs (a staple of the Vikings). He then decides to come back for one final season, one las try for another ring and the fan is covered in fecal matter. His texting is no longer a secret, his NFL career is crumbling, respect is dwindling if not gone. The once "great" Favre is now an NFL teams liability not it's center piece lol. And this Bears fan is enjoying every minute of it.

Ok off the top of my head these are some things the stuck in my mind. 1. I thought in general Jay had another good game. he had a few bad throws and another boneheaded pick but all in all better overall decision making. 2. I thought the protection was decent for the most part 3. Web is killing us with penalties whether it's holding or some kind of illegal hands to the face. Penalties are still an issue with the line. and this needs to be cleaned up. 4. we won 16-0 but I got tired of watching us settle for FG. We dominated time of possession but found the end zone once, that's not going to cut it. We were playing a mash unit and while the game never really seemed in doubt a good team beats that Dolphins team big time. with a score of more like 30+ to 0. Not trying to find the black cloud in the silver lining but face it we beat a crippled team today and only scored 16 points doing it. I do realize that Miami's strength is it's defense. 5. 700th franchise win is a great milestone for one of the found franchises. 6. In the other thread Urlacher needed 4 tackles to overtake Singletary for the most tackles by a Bear well according to the stats he registered just that. 4 tackles. so Congrats to Brian! 7. all in all we are 7-3 and at this point I'll take it. We have a tough road ahead and will be a better test as to whether the 7-3 record is hollow or if they can back it up. the next 6 games will prove or disprove whether they belong in the playoffs or deserve to stay home.

it worked on my end I was able to watch the game. had a few stops and starts in the process and some stuttering but overall worked and decent quality for a streamed game. Still wouldn't mind having a copy of the game to view again. other than Monday night games I can usually watch and record Bears games as the local fox and CBS stations carry the Bears games most weeks. I like to watch them a second time and kind of pick them apart more.

maybe he's doing research in order to give Peterson advice on texting.

I wouldn't be either usually Briggs is right up there with Urlacher for tackle totals. there is a gap but I could see Briggs doing it should Url retire before Briggs does. Hopefully neither retire soon. Talk about a void without them on the field. Hard to replace what they individually bring to the table let alone in tandem. This is probably one of the best tandems at LB we've had in a long time with them and Pisa. Better than Urlacher, Colvin, and Holdman/Hilly.

I agree with this, especially the last part about the role he was given in the vikings game that is a good blueprint for how to use Hester. I think when they tried to make him a #1 receiver he became tentative and "safe" on his return game not wanting to risk injury or effecting his effort at WR. The thinking was get the ball to Hester in space. Teams started kicking away from him. One way to get the ball to his hands in space is to try him at WR. Where I don't agree with the staff is they tried to make him a #1 which he doesn't have the size or skill set for that role. He's better suited to a speedy slot receiver. The other factor is he wanted more money and you typically don't pay top coin to a one trick pony return specialist even though in Hester's case you could almost make the argument to do that based on the impact his return game had in game. We were enjoying great field position cause no one wanted to kick to him and he generally made them pay when they did kick to him. He isn't a bad receiver and he has gotten better over time but he's middle of the road at best. He lacks many of the instincts that make a good to great receiver. 1000 yards receiving isn't the big deal it used to be. But you are right he's always been more dangerous on Punts than on kickoffs. Though if memory serves me correctly the last time we played in Miami he opened the game with a kick off return for a TD.

Too Funny!!! Honestly I'd be surprised if Chilly keeps his job at the end of the year if not getting the axe sooner.

I live in Indiana and don't have cable or dish so I don't get WGN either.

Dont' get NFL Network here wold anyone be able to burn a DVD copy of the game? I'd gladly pay for the effort and time. Message me if it's possible. Thanks

Any chance someone could burn a copy of the game on DVD? I'll pay for shipping, materials and your time. What a game.

I'm tired of having to look back for the glory days I hope that we will see that 85 season become a memory when we bask in the glow of a shiny new Lambardi Trophy!!!! Go Bears!!!

And that is why it was ruled in complete. Johnson and the Lions may be ticked at that outcome but it's his own fault. He had control of the ball and all he had to do was hold it up. I think t's also the way it came out. He landed and ball touched the ground then left his hand. I believe he did have control but chose to let go of the ball. Should it have been a TD? Yes, but not because the official blew it but but because Johnson blew it. They all know the rules that you must maintain possession all the way through the catch and come up with the ball. Had he done like Forte did and held the ball up where there's no doubt he had possession and control it would have been ruled a TD. The bigger story is it should never have come down to that play. Turnovers absolutely killed us every time we got some momentum we coughed it up.

One would think the next logical step would be for our DBs to use press coverage, seems silly to practice it simply to benefit the Offense and then on game day not to use it. This logic seems like it should be both ways, helping the WRs learn to beat jams and press coverage but also helping the DBs get better at jamming and pressing. But there I go thinking logically, this is Lovie's passive defense. I'm tired of the whole passive bend but don't break and watching opposing offenses bend our D over backwards. It's about time we started taking the fight to someone else rather than them taking the fight to us.

Why doesn't he just admit that he doesn't want to go through training camp? That's right, honesty and decisiveness aren't really part of his MO.

I'd love to see them add the clip of Metallica For Whom The Bell Tolls that they play when the Bears score. Probably will never happen but Always thought that would be a cool touch. Bear Down being added is cool though.

I've been trying to reserve judgment till I see how it goes. I've felt since we got Martz it's either going to work and succeed or it's going to fail miserably I see little middle ground. But again won't know really till we see it in action.

But the more they raise the prices the more difficult it is for true fans to afford to go. The stadium will still be packed but will be more of the rich executive types who can actually plunk down that kind of money to go or to treat clients. What little I make at my job makes it prohibitive to go as it is. The timing isn't the best either as the team has sucked big time the last three seasons. So they're going to raise the prices to go see an inferior product..... good plan.

Exactly, and having your DB's line up 10 yards off the LOS on short yardage downs giving the other team a free first down with little effort. You could call it jelly coverage cause we don't believe in jam. Having your LBs up at the line of scrimmage every down only to make them backpedal into coverage and wonder why they are not in position to make a play. No one is falling for this clever trick. Plenty of examples on offense as well. Bring in a mobile QB with rocket arm and pretend he's statuesque Kyle Orton when the line can't pass protect. 14 weeks into a season you discover that he's dangerous when you use his mobility and roll him out. Moving the launch point so the opposing defense can't just rush to a known spot for an easy sack or a cheap shot on your prized QB. No creativity in the run game or the offense at all.. The average fan, or idiot on the street could predict the play calls. Yes execution does play a role but when coaching puts players in a position to fail how can you fully blame the players? This is basically company line. There's plenty of blame to go around.