DABEARSDABOMB

I want to see our defense get better and I want to see Trubisky grow as I'd like to see other young players grow. Never expected playoffs this year anyway.

I agree with you on Inman. He had that bad drop (imo) late in the game, but in general, he's at least an NFL receiver who got open from time to time (vs. the crap we have had). Huge difference.

It was also a one score game...you usually aren't playing prevent in a one score game...you are doing that in a two score game where you are more focused on making them take a long-time going down the field. I thought Trubisky was better, but he is still extremely slow at his decision making and not getting the ball off fast enough. Somewhat related, he tends to panick and have bad footwork in those situations as well, which impacts the footwork. In general, he looks like a guy who doesn't have much experience reading defenses and given his lack of playing time in college that really shouldn't be a surprise. This is all going to come down to how mentally strong he is (to not let this struggles create bad habits) and how smart / how hard of a worker he is so that he can correct this issues and really deliver. Our coaches and players also have to help him out, but there were at least a few sacks where live (not on replay) I was busy going, you got to get that ball out to X (who was open) and he just wasn't scanning the field / making the immediate reads based upon blitzes coming in, etc. He's playing "slow" and I mentioned it above, but we shouldn't be surprised given his lack of experience.

OMG...the Bears needed to invest in the position because Miller had proven he was going to be on IR. Maybe we should ignore the fact that White is always on IR again next year too....

Interesting...the Browns acquired Aj McCarron but the paperwork didn't get into the league offices in time, so no deal.

Great post and I agree with you that Trubisky made some strides this past week. Still lots to learn, but we really shouldn't be surprised with him needing to have a big adjustment...he just hasn't played that much football at the highest level and that means it is going to take him longer. The good thing is, he seems to put in massive amounts of time to learn those things and I've seen him make adjustments week to week. Long way to go though...long way to go.

Thoughts and prayers with him. He's always been really good when he was on the field and I just hope he's able to have a normal life (after football) given all these injuries.

It has been fantastic. Dline has been awesome and Christian Jones and Danny T at ILB have been a great pairing. Floyd is really good and I presume we will look to upgrade our other OLB position in the off-season.

I hope we can pick up Santos from the Chiefs. That would be a huge upgrade. We know my feelings when we got rid of Gould. I thought moving from Gould to Barth was just an awful move. I would have been able to accept moving on from Gould (because he was looking like he was on the back-end of his career), but if you do it, take a chance on someone you think has some real upside...not a guy like Barth who is just bad.

I hope our dline stays healthy cause it has been phenomenal and I'd argue the arrow is pointing up (as goldman and bullard are getting better...heck, Hicks is getting better and he's an absolute monster).

Interestingly enough when looking for quotes on Sproles working out of the slot...I found an article on Jordan Matthews and why the Eagles traded him and they mentioned it was because he was pretty limited in the route tree and they wanted to move him because they didn't see him being anything other than a slot receiver and they couldn't justify handing him the contract extension he wanted (given the limited route-tree). Of course, we all know who Wes Welker was...just a "slot" receiver, but I don't think Matthews is that.

That isn't necesarily true. If he is at slot receiver it doesn't mean he gets the ball all the time...you can motion him back to the backfield with Howard there (and go with two backs and do a variety of things from that formation) and you can also have him out on the slot (without Howard in the game) and motion him back to RB where he plays RB or still goes out in pass formation. There are a ton of things to do and in terms of Sproles...he was heavily used as a slot receiver in both Philly and New Orleans. Below is a quote from Sproles from his days in New Orleans and there were other quotes from Brees talking about how much they used him the slot. The guy is a running back, so he should be able to leverage contact, etc and he is super shifty quick (and strong) so dealing with a bit of bump coverage is a potential advantage. Play your match-ups and use the ability to put him in the slot as yet another way to create an advantage (that is what the leagues best offenses do on a regular basis). "This is the way I love to be used," Sproles said. "They have me wide sometimes, they have me in the slot, they have me in the backfield. That's the way I like it. ... They put me in the right spots, they put me in a lot of space."

No...Cohen is not a running back...he is a guy who you use as a weapon and get the ball in space to. If you are using him out wide and finding creative ways to get the ball in space to him there, leveraging him in the backfield, etc...I'd say you are doing things right because you will make it hard for "defenses" to know what you are doing when Cohen is in the game and maximize the ability to get him the ball in space, etc. When you add in the fact that Howard is our starting running back and he should get the bulk of those carries, it magnifies the fact that you need to get creative to get the ball in the hands of one of your best playmakers. If he's a match-up problem on the outside, you exploit that fact and it should only make him a better player. Think Danny Woodhead or Darren Sproles and how much they would get split out, etc. In 2011, Sproles had one more rushing attempt then reception (87 vs. 86).

Had a nice season a year ago. Conditional pick and 800 yards in prior year. I presume most of last year came because he was forced into action due to the other teams injuries (and this year they got their receivers healthy + drafted Mike Williams), so he might just be an odd man out. Either way, seems like a clear upgrade and with the pick being a conditional 7th, I am ultimately okay with the risk.

Hicks has been a total stud.

If Matthews doesn't pick things up, then I think there are more questions that need to be asked. Good receivers don't usually go other places and stink. Guys who were more system players tend to. I actually think the FA WR list is depressing, albeit, we clearly are going to have to address wideout within the draft and via FA. All this said, I like Matthews and figure he'll bounce back as he gets better acclimated to the system (and gets healthier...he's been battling an injury). Matthews will never be anything more than a good #2/#3 though, imo. Which is fine cause we could definitely use that.

Bullard was awesome this week. Supposedly it was the first week where he was "healthy" and it showed. Great to see. In terms of Floyd, he was all over the field. He is constantly getting double-teamed and is still getting pressure all while being a good run defender and playing strong in the pass defense. The guy is a complete backer who can get to the QB. Will be great to see the sacks climb, but he's going to need to get more help from McPhee / whomever else is opposite of him.

I think it has more to do with the fact that Wheaton has proven himself at the NFL level in the past (with the Steelers) and has physical talent. He was limited by injuries last year and then he was impacted again leading up to the season by injuries. I'd say injuries are an issue, but the Bears should be patient to see if some consistent playing time (after recovering with injuries) as well as just overall time adjusting to the system, can help him.

Really great post. I do really wish we had a "safety" blanket for him or at least some real talent at receiver. Hopefully though he can overcome that lack of talent and learn and then this off-season we can inject some life into those weapons. I also hope that with time we see Shaheen come around, but maybe he is just more of a project and it isn't realistic to expect production this year (but hopefully next year). I still would think we'd see him get more comfortable as the year goes on and start to make plays and flash (right now I haven't even noticed the guy on the field). I just remind myself this is a long-term investment and we need to view things that way and hope we see flashes and increased consistency (in a positive way) as the season goes on.

Leno got beat on that one play and had that penalty, but he is an unnecessary scapegoat. He is a much better LT then the majority of posters give him credit for.

I don't think the receivers not looking like they belong on an NFL team has anything to do with Fox. Blame the front office or use injuries as an excuse, but Fox can only do so much. Wheaton is also rusty from injuries, etc. Not excusing his bad play but I'd give him a couple more weeks before cutting him loose (and either way he is still, sadly, better than most of what we have at wideout). We have a really really bad WR corps. The units with Johnny Knox and Devin Hester are significantly better then this corps.

Yet he is the 2nd best receiver on the roster (by far). Wright being the best.

It was interesting, Fox mentioned they didn't have a football ready (because refs switch in / out a kicking ball) and that is what drove the delay of game. We may have gotten too cute, but that made me feel a bit better about that sequence of events (or at least that's how I rationalized it).

They are getting there hands on too many balls of late...the turnovers are going to come...I'm convinced we are going to have a huge defensive games (when it comes to TO's).

The play calling was weak, the execution was poor, but it was also evident just how shitty the receiving corps is.