DABEARSDABOMB

If you think Miller is the single stud TE, a 31 year old who in his whole career has less yards then Bennett in his best season, then I think you are delusional. I like Miller, but he is not a single stud TE, Bennett, well he is a single stud TE and Miller is a good, underpriced backup. And even then, we are jumping to the conclusion of good because he made a great catch 2 weeks ago and a big play this past week (which was an impressive one at that, but still just a big play). That is pretty premature given that we are talking about a 31 year old player.

I always presume the refs in the Bears / Lions game thought it was a 50/50 call and given the Lions were screwed out the prior week (Seahawks - Lions game where the Seahawks should have lost), they decided to rule in favor of the Lions. That said, we obviously aren't the only ones confused and the whole league needs to come up with something more conclusive. It was easier to figure out what a catch was 10 years ago then it is now...how the heck is that supposed to make sense. Rules are supposed to get better and easier, not the other way around.

Langford is also a superior receiver. I don't know how you can say well if Carey got these carries then we'd be fine. Langford has shown superior vision and cutback ability to Carey. Carey looks solid (which is good for a back-up) and a guy who can get the tough yards. Langford looks like a bonafine star. Great vision, speed, ability to cut back, solid pass protection, and above average hands in the passing game (despite that costly drop against the Vikings).

We could consider it, but because we are going to draft or sign another guy, not because we are going to take a guy who entering this year played in 4 games over a 4 year span. I hope to hell Miller stays healthy but his past history tells me we shouldn't hand him a starters position based upon it. Especially when the other guy we have is a probowler who is an above average receiver and blocker and still in the prime of his career (especially considering the fact that TE's age pretty solid).

As I've said, I'' okay if we had a top pick / young guy that was cheap and had upside stepping in, but I'm not okay with using a 31 year old who has barely stayed on the field in his career. We have a guy still in his prime and we should leverage the fact that we have a quality back-up around him. Two TE sets work. A lot of teams can't leverage it successfully but the Pats were masters of it with Gronk / Hernandez and we've seen it work well in other places. We also have a bazillion in cap space so I'm not all that concerned about Bennett @ his going cap hit (which is very little compared with his production). Marty is on pace for over 700 yards. Miller has 635 yards since he entered the league in 2009. Prior to this year, over the past 4 years he had played in 4 total games (yes 4, so an average of 1 game per season). If Langord was 31 and was coming off the past two games that he had, their is no way in a million years I'd be arguing to drop Forte for Langford.

Their take on the Bears RB's: Cutler helped, but I believe the Bears had 2nd most rushing yards of any team all season vs. the Rams. Their take on Cutler: Consistent with what I mentioned a post above. Punish the guy for playing within the system. Fuller graded out higher then Porter and Fuller was the highest graded player for the Bears. Aaron Donald, Garret Reynolds and Nick Fairley all graded higher then any Bear yesterday. Fairly certain they don't watch football. Fuller tackled well and is making progress, but the Rams had a ton of drops that would have been catches. The secondaries best defense (outside of Porter) was the Rams & Fole (who couldn't catch or throw accurately). In terms of the Bears RBs, they do realize they pretty much rushed effectively even when it was completely obvious we were rushing.

Presumably because our 3 TD's were on short passes that turned into gigantic runs. Shouldn't be a surprise given their measures (which are in a vacuum) and don't reflect checks by the QB and / or reflect the fact that we played a much different football game given the blowout score. I actually thought it was one of Jay's worse actual performances of the season, but statistically was one of his best. I think part of the "worse" has to do with the fact that we were playing conservative and with the lead and Jay had almost no time to throw. Overall though, the fact remains, he did exactly what you want with the big league and never made the big mistake and was smart to throw the ball away, etc. Plus, that TD pass to Miller (2nd) was pretty beautiful).

Because Forte is going to cost a lot more money and you rarely get to use 2 RB at the same time (yes you can mix the load but you still are talking about a set amount of carries). Plus you are advocating dropping a 28 year old Bennett to build around a 31 year old Miller. In no world does that make sense. Also, because the cap hit on Forte will be more then Marty who is actually under contract for next year. In a 2 TE set, you are also limited, but in this case, we aren't pissing a ton of cap space into the spot. I respect the hell out of Forte (and Urlacher) for that matter and what they did for this franchise, but it is also a business and if Langford and Carey look capable and can do it for peanuts, you go that route and invest the other resources in other spots, such as the oline or defense. By the way, if Forte wanted to come back for another year, I'd be okay with it, but I'm not about to hand him a 3-4 year deal (not unless Langford's legs fall off or game film gets out and makes him look like crap). I also don't think Forte is going to want to come back next year anyway (and share the load with a rookie).

The defense might be awful, but it plays well against Cutler. I hope Jay has a good game against them, but either way, first step is Denver. GB's D against the Cutler led Bears is like the Giants D against Brady...some kind of, in general, kryptonite (yes Brady won this past week...but the Giants D sucks against the league and then gives the best QB in the league a hard time) .

I am fired up but then I looked at who we are chasing and Packers and Falcons still have a nice path to the playoffs. It doesn't help that our conference record is absolutely brutal, which will hurt when it comes to tie-breakers. I still can't see a team with Rodgers crashing that hard and missing the playoffs (unless his oline gets him killed), although I could see Atlanta running into issues. The back half of our schedule is manageable. Had we pulled out one of those games, we'd be in business. Then again, we kind of stole that Chiefs game. Still...we got a chance, but to realistically have a shot, we'll have to win at least one of these next two. Win them both and well, even better.

Also, Langford and Carey are both significantly younger then Forte. Miller is 31. Bennett is 28.

Marty has consistently been one of the best TE's in football. Miller has played well and looked good as a 2nd TE. In fact, having him and Bennett is much better then just Miller, but dropping Bennett for a guy who has put up two good games (or really 1 great catch and then a solid 2nd game) is just crazy. Miller has missed something like 3 consecutive years entering into this year. This isn't a 23 year old draft pick emerging. This is a solid player, but one who is extremely injury riddled and as such, is perfect to have as a reserve. I also think he benefits from being the 2nd TE as Bennett garners a lot of attention, especially with us not really having a slot receiver to help take some of the attention off the middle of the field. If we could ever get a few games with Royal healthy (and eventually with White), plus Alshon / Marty and Zack, well then you are talking about something.

One defense of special teams unit is, with a thin roster, it means our ST unit is even thinner. That said, of all the coaches Fox brought in, Rodgers was the one I was most dissapointed in.

Lol even before he muffed the kick, he had some dumb decisions on Kick Returns. When he muffed the kick, I looked at my wife and said...this guy has a thread dedicated to him on the web for how much he sucks...and yes, I was referring to this one. But come on...call the fair catch for pete sake and don't be so stupid out of the end zone. It isn't just the dropped kicks of the lack of returns, it is just the stupid decisions before the return even happens.

http://chicago.cbslocal.com/2015/11/12/jon...from-sidelines/ More of the same on White (which is a good thing in terms of how many people are complementing his overall make-up, etc). I actually found the part on one of our practice squaders, Thompson, more interesting. Would seem like he's a potential candidate to take on a greater role from a special teams perspective (as he continues to heal from his own injury which led to him being cut from the Bills).

Every insider around Halas has said that Vic absolutely adores and loves Shea. I think he's supposed to be back this week, although nothing has been confirmed. That seemed to be the speculation late last week.

I echo your sentiment. Lagavulin 16 is fantastic.

Why wouldn't they just buy time and have him "practice". I presume their is a loose definition around "practice". That way you keep the clock going a little longer?

By the way, I do agree that I've seen enough of him. I also haven't seen anything from our blocking units either.

Royal is having trouble staying on the field so I'm going to guess that is part of the reason.

http://bleacherreport.com/articles/2582867...dipping-problem I know we all recently learned about the outburst and him being named captain (after this most recent fiasco) but seeing more specifics...craaazzy. Only thing I wonder is why didn't new regime drop him immediately (as I presume they would have been made aware of how players felt, etc...or maybe general reaction from players was okay with Ratliff...they just wanted to see more control from coaches)?

More then from a former scouting guy, it was from his former GM. I thought it was a really good article as well. The parts on Mcdaniels are just brutal. Interesting how it seemed like Jay was never really put in a spot to succeed but you could see the difference in terms of what Denver tried to do for Jay vs. what the Bears didn't really do up until about 3 years ago (and even then, it was half assed cause it was the wrong coaching and constant turns). I'm really hoping Jay / Gase can work with each other for a while (as an OC and then maybe eventually as a HC after Fox retires...cause that would mean things went well all the way around). Very insightful. I still say, right now, odds are looking better and better that in the 2nd round, a pretty solid QB talent could be their whom we could take and groom (whether its PSU's QB whose supposedly talented but hasn't put it all together or even someone like Connor Cook...just seems like their won't be a bunch of QB's in round 1 this year). It would free up the Bears ability to target an athletic linebacker, talented olineman, or an elite looking corner.

I found this nugget interesting (and something I wasn't previously aware of). Yet another stark difference in the way things are ran today vs. a year ago. Their is a lot less tolerance for this stuff and as a result people understand their are consequences to their actions (vs. the Trestman era).

Very interesting. He's had some issues in the past and could be true. If it is, I hope he gets the help he needs.

Very interesting. I wonder what happened.