Bears4Ever_34

The pass protection looked fantastic in the 1st quarter, but began to break down as the game went on. I thought they were pretty careful in having Vick run around though. Most of the time the options were to hand it off to McCoy or throw it down field. Definitely something to keep an eye on as the weeks go by. Fair points. That is part of the formula for success against the Chip Kelly offense. I don't think you can beat them though relying solely on defense. If you're going to beat the Eagles this year, you better have a good offense yourself. They are going to score points as long as they keep this tempo up. They'll have more opportunities to score. What we didn't see happen last night, and what I'm curious to find out moving forward, is how worn down the defense gets in the 2nd half defending this team. The Eagles were up by so much early on that they slowed everything down by the end of the 3rd quarter, which allowed the defense to get rest. If they kept the foot on the gas pedal, they probably could have turned the game into a joke. Not sure how good their team is yet. They may be a playoff team. I think the offense will put up points, but the defense will not be able to keep up, and that will be their downfall.

The penalties the Bengals committed were completely avoidable if they knew how to play with discipline. They're the kind that you can't live with. The penalties on Bennett happened within the flow of the game that aren't as easily avoidable. It's like when Nhdamakong Suh takes out a dudes knee to negate his team's pick 6. Just don't be an idiot and you get 6 points. Same thing with the Bengals. Don't shove a guy when he's out of bounds or get in a fight with an offensive lineman when the game is still on the line and you give your team a chance.

So you're going to use the first game RGIII comes back from ACL surgery as evidence for how the league has figured out how to stop the read option, and then ignore what just happened with Philadelphia? The 49'ers ran a bunch of read option stuff yesterday. Kaepernick just didn't take it and run with it much at all. He threw it or handed it off instead. That's why it's called an option. It's the threat of not knowing where the ball is going that's killing defenses. I don't know why people think it's all of a sudden suppose to just go away. Now if they all threw the ball like Tim Tebow.. Then I could see it.

They slowed the tempo down and played not to lose in the 4th quarter. As far as figuring the Eagles out, unless you can tell them to stop running the no-huddle I don't see what there really is to figure out that teams don't already know. The read option was supposed to be figured out, but I'm still waiting for that to happen. Only way to combat against the tempo is to sustain long drives yourself on offense, which is the same thing teams try to do against the Saints. A lot easier said than done.

It's not a negative attitude, it's called perspective. If it weren't for the costly brain-dead penalties the Bengals committed, and the miss managing of timeouts at the end, it could have been a different story. Robbie Gould's FG would not have happened had they not been gift wrapped the field position, thanks to Dre Kirkpatrick for being an idiot. That's huge. I give the Bears credit for finishing the game strong, but I feel like they were pretty damn fortunate as well. Most teams aren't that stupid and undisciplined. If you take my entire post in context, I tried to paint an honest assessment from both viewpoints, the positive and negative. There were reasons to be concerned just as there were reasons for optimism.

The Eagles are putting on a clinic. This is scary good.

20+ plays already and it's not even halfway through the first quarter. I am fascinated by this at the NFL level.

I was going to post that Long pic earlier. Can you say, "Culture Change?" Guy is a beast. Burfict is a pretty imposing dude himself but Long makes him look like a little kid.

I learned: - The Bears offense has a long ways to go. In the first half, they looked like one of the worst teams in football. 96 yards of total offense, and the defense couldn't get off the field on 3rd downs. The 2nd half was much better. - Defensively, I am concerned. The defensive line wasn't generating any pressure, which was putting Tillman, Jennings, and the rest of the secondary in a bad spot because they had to play perfectly, and they didn't. AJ Green torched them all game long, and they didn't seem interested in tackling either Eiffert nor Gresham when they caught the ball. - The offensive line did much better than expected. They weren't perfect, but they more than sufficient. Didn't hear Geno Atkins name being mentioned at all in this game. Kyle Long and Jordan Mills look like the real deal so far. If it weren't for the Bengals channeling their inner Detroit Lions and committing some moronic 15 yard penalties in dire situations, the Bears might not have won this game. Luckily, Cutler made some big plays in the 2nd half that won us the game after a bad interception that could have easily thrown it away. Overall, the Bears showed glimpses of how good they can be if things click on offense. I think it's a very realistic possibility that the defense will fall out of that elite category by the end of the year, and it could be enough to keep them out of the playoffs. It will take a few more games to get a clearer picture of what this team is all about. They did just enough to win today against a pretty solid team. All of a sudden, the schedule is looking a little better right now with Minnesota and Pittsburgh looking pretty vulnerable after their week 1 losses.

LOL! What a dumb ass penalty. BEARS WIN!

Credit to McClellin for that pressure. Anderson almost picked that off! So close..

There's a nice finishing drive! Now they better freakin hold the Bengals.

There's the trademark Jay Cutler idiotic interception that changes the game.. Unbelievable.

OMG the defense got a stop!

Good response from the offense! Now if the defense would stop somebody..

I'm not sure what looks worse today, the offense or defense. The Bears look like they'll be getting a top 5 pick this year with the way they have played so far. Horrendous!

Yep. Looks like the same old Bears to me so far, except a little bit worse on defense. Bengals totally outplayed the Bears that half, yet only lead by 4. If the Bears get any type of pass rush, they have a chance to win, otherwise, it is going to be a long day.

I have. The Bears obviously feel good enough to put him out there over Bostic because they feel like he's a better player. Lets not act like he was on the street because of a lack of talent/skill. His issues go beyond what takes place on the field. The Bears took a chance. Lets see if it pays off.

Bostic's flashy plays this pre-season make it seem as though he's been playing so well while all the bad things get overlooked. He has a long ways to go. If Williams is healthy, he should be out there because he's probably the better player right now.

What I learned from watching that game: - Peyton Manning is solidifying himself as the greatest quarterback of all time - The Broncos are insanely talented on offense, and will be difficult to stop all year long - The Ravens are going to struggle on both sides of the ball due to injuries and a lack of talent

If Trestman is as smart as he appears to be, I think he will try to exploit Cincinnati's LB'ers in pass coverage, where they are horrible. The zone read, play action pass would shred their defense because their Lb'ers are built to play downhill, they are not quick enough to get back in pass coverage. A combination of the zone reads and quick passes should help negate Cinci's biggest strength on defense. The pass rush won't have time to get to the quarterback, and the Linebackers won't be able to play in the box, where they are most comfortable.

With Sunday approaching quickly, I'm curious as to type of offense and defense we will see heading into Game 1 against the Bengals. What I am expecting is to see the Bears come out in a wide variety of offensive formations to keep the defense on their heels. I expect to see a good chunk (maybe more-so later in the year) of the pistol, not in terms of the QB run, but in terms of play action passing. Martellus Bennett should be a huge factor if they choose to go that route, because the middle of the field will be wide open. I think we know by now that Matt Forte will become the focal point of the offense. I expect him to see a lot of touches as a runner and as a pass catcher. He may very well approach the 80-90-100 catch territory before the season is over. But the most intriguing thing to me will be the offensive tempo. Will there be a lot of no-huddle? How quickly do they want to get a play off? I have to think with the way Trestman has put a major emphasis on organization and structure at the line of scrimmage, that there will be some sort of up-tempo style. I would be shocked to see the Bears call plays out of the huddle for an entire game this year. I think he has a lot of tricks up his sleeve. -- On the defensive side of the ball, I expect to see more press man coverages, and blitzing from the DB's. Mel Tucker seems to me like the aggressive type as opposed to the conservative type we've seen for the last 8 years from Lovie Smith. They'll run a lot of cover 2 for the vets this season, but once the Lovie jock riders are gone, I think we might see an entirely different style of defense. What I will be watching for mostly is the way they plan on using McClellin. I just don't think the guy is a defensive end. Will be interesting to see if he gets any burn as a rush OLB as the season goes on. Marineli experimented with that last year, but I'd like to see more of it. Thoughts?

Wooten is the better player. McClellin gets abused in the run game and has pretty much zero counter moves to shed off blockers. Both will see a lot of reps. Plus, Wooten is capable of moving to DT when the Bears bring out their rush, nickel package, which will allow McClellin, Peppers, and Wooten to all be on the field at the same time. Personally, I'd love to see McClellin get more reps at OLB as the season goes on. However, that doesn't seem like it's going to happen.

No offense, but you aren't helping the cause at all with your constant baiting.

Not sure I see the potential there for Jarrod Johnson. Hard to fix quarterbacks who have serious accuracy issues. His funky sidearm-ish delivery certainly doesn't help. I guess because of his size he's worth a shot on the practice squad to see what, if anything, you can salvage, and if it doesn't work out, so be it.