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Vikings Game Thoughts


AZ54
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First I have to admit the free tequila shots at the bar made this game feel better than it was.

 

 

Cutler: With another Oline combination in front of him against a strong pass rush threat he kept his composure and stayed within the game plan. Overall a good game with no turnovers.

 

Oline: I think these guys were the cause of all the conservative play calls early in the game. With interior line of Omameh, Slauson, and Ducasse I believe Gase didn't want big mistakes early and allowed the Oline time to settle in and get a feel for the inside pressure the Vikings like to bring. Later on he opened up the play calling.

 

RBs: Forte is still a good RB but he's not a big play threat. Langford is and despite his bad drop that could have helped us seal the game with a victory he needs more carries.

 

WRs: I can't see how there will still be any trade talk about Jeffrey after this game. Nobody else stands out among this group but part of that was the pressure the kept Cutler moving around a lot. I expected to see more from Royal this week.

 

TE: Marty where are you?

 

 

Dline: Pass rush is non-existent. Often had some big holes for their running game. Some of that I think is on the LBs who at times completely disappeared. The line's biggest asset was that Teddy Bridgewater was throwing the ball.

 

ILB: I might be alone on this but I really want SMC back on the field. Jones made a couple splash plays but he's often late to the show or can't even be found. The players sharing the other spot on the field are lost. I shouldn't expect much more than that seeing as they are off the street or practice squad but this is a need area. There's nothing spectacular about SMC but the D as a whole played their assignments better when he was out there.

 

OLB: Aside from McPhee it's the same as ILB.

 

 

DBs: Fuller played well and finally we have an INT. Amos and Rolle were big in run support early in the game. Rolle stood there as a WR ran in front of him to catch a pass and that turned the game. There were WRs open throughout the game that a better QB would have made us pay for. Bryce Callahan was on the field quite a bit. Not sure how well he did overall but he did show some good athleticism on a couple plays.

 

Coaching: Once again we were right there at the end and while there are no moral victories these coaches seem to be getting the most out of the talent they have.

 

 

 

 

 

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Pretty much agree. What I like about this game is that the Bears were close, but showed flaws. That sounds bad, but what I mean is they didn't win a pointless game when the team obviously needs a lot of help, but at the same time, they showed fight. The coaching helps a lot with that.

 

More and more I'm excited about the Bears' future under Fox/Gase/Fangio, and believe getting 4 or 5 key pieces will drastically turn this team around.

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Agreed.

 

I was honestly hoping for exactly this. (Barring the end result...) I wanted us to be smart, and be in games every game. No more blowouts. No more complete stupidity. Yes, we still make some mistakes. Yes, we lack talent (especially on D). But we are in these games. All of them so far when we have Cutler under center. We are no longer a joke. That is this season.

 

Next season, we build on that. Draft well, get a few key FA's and keep moving int he right direction. By year 3, we should and need to be in the mix for a run at the SB.

 

I just hope we can keep Gase and Fangio around as long as possible...

 

Pretty much agree. What I like about this game is that the Bears were close, but showed flaws. That sounds bad, but what I mean is they didn't win a pointless game when the team obviously needs a lot of help, but at the same time, they showed fight. The coaching helps a lot with that.

 

More and more I'm excited about the Bears' future under Fox/Gase/Fangio, and believe getting 4 or 5 key pieces will drastically turn this team around.

 

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I agree from the perspective that I did not have great expectations going into this season and want to see a team play hard and smart while showing improvement from week to week. Thus far they have not been embarrassing unless Clausen has started for Jay. Coaching has been much better and we are seeing in game adjustments being made. Glad to see the trade of Allen, cutting Ratliff as now is the time to keep playing the youngsters to see what we have. My biggest complaint is special teams which apparently takes the short bus to soldier field! Pace / Fox need to fire the ST coach because this unit has been that embarrassing.

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I agree with everything in this thread except the concept of winning a meaningless game. I want the team to win every Sunday. You build a winning attitude by winning. You get soft with excepting excuses and patting yourself on the back for a good try. There's no damn good reason the Bears shouldn't have won the last two games they played other than the defense cratered in the clutch. 2/3rds of the teams in the NFL just beg you to beat them week after week. They suck. It's the good teams that capitalize and do just that. While I think we're on the right path, and at the end of the day Jason might be right that this is a good loss in the long run, I cringe when I see the team happy with moral victories. They shouldn't accept failure so happily, nor should we as fans.

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I'm pretty much in agreement with the posts in this thread. I'm with Cracker on this you do build a winning attitude by winning, so I always root for the Bears to win. But at the same time even though we've come up short in a few games it's evident the culture has changed and the attitude overall has changed. Last season we witnessed one of the most pathetic excuses for a football team to don Bears uniforms in a long time maybe ever. Bears were gutless, clueless, toothless, pushovers. We were a complete joke, setting dubious records, like giving up 100+ points combined in back to back embarrassing blowouts. Going into this season I don't feel success is directly measured in wins and losses. But after the disaster the last couple years created, seeing the team compete and play hard is a good foundation. This year is a year to evaluate the roster and determine who deserves to be part of the future or who deserves to be elsewhere. Making the jump from disaster to winner isn't something that happens over night. Learning find ways to win vs finding ways to lose is a big step.

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I agree with everything in this thread except the concept of winning a meaningless game. I want the team to win every Sunday. You build a winning attitude by winning. You get soft with excepting excuses and patting yourself on the back for a good try. There's no damn good reason the Bears shouldn't have won the last two games they played other than the defense cratered in the clutch. 2/3rds of the teams in the NFL just beg you to beat them week after week. They suck. It's the good teams that capitalize and do just that. While I think we're on the right path, and at the end of the day Jason might be right that this is a good loss in the long run, I cringe when I see the team happy with moral victories. They shouldn't accept failure so happily, nor should we as fans.

 

I know what you're saying, and I don't like losses. But I also accept that often there have to be backward steps to take large forward steps. Otherwise it's just a lot of back and forth with little forward movement. It's why many didn't like Lovie's approach. It's the reason the Bears lost draft position when they won the last games in 2007 (2), 2009 (2), 2011 (1). Those wins matter because...

-In 2008 we would have been a few spots higher, and might have picked Ryan Clady instead of Chris Williams.

-In 2010 we might not have made the Cutler trade because they might not have thought we were one big move away. Also, maybe we would have been a few picks higher in the 7th and avoided picking Jamarcus Webb. <_>

-In 2012 we might have not picked a tweener in SMC and went in a variety of other directions.

 

It sucks to lose, but those spots in the draft matter.

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I know what you're saying, and I don't like losses. But I also accept that often there have to be backward steps to take large forward steps. Otherwise it's just a lot of back and forth with little forward movement. It's why many didn't like Lovie's approach. It's the reason the Bears lost draft position when they won the last games in 2007 (2), 2009 (2), 2011 (1). Those wins matter because...

-In 2008 we would have been a few spots higher, and might have picked Ryan Clady instead of Chris Williams.

-In 2010 we might not have made the Cutler trade because they might not have thought we were one big move away. Also, maybe we would have been a few picks higher in the 7th and avoided picking Jamarcus Webb. <_>

-In 2012 we might have not picked a tweener in SMC and went in a variety of other directions.

 

It sucks to lose, but those spots in the draft matter.

 

I don't care how you dice it. You NEVER EVER throw games to get better draft picks. That's absolutely ridiculous.

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