20 minutes ago, adam said:

The only thing I can think of for the slants over the middle is they are concerned about tipped passes because 5-15 yards inside the numbers seemed to have a ton of space and no routes were going there. That also feels like where Raymond had routes and he has rarely been targeted over the last few games.

I would say, the fact that the Bears are 5-2 with one loss in a monsoon and one loss with Bagent starting is a great sign.

It also feels like the Offensive Line is not as sharp as they were last season, for whatever reason. Bradbury vs Dalman maybe? CHI QBs have the most pressures against thru 7 games. Caleb's sack numbers are double what they were last year. You can attribute some of that to his injury, but not all of it.

we are missing a lot of plays by not utilizing the plays across the middle especially in slowing down blitz's. tipped balls? then they need to seriously fix that problem if it exists. it works like a charm against us yet we never use it in our arsenal.

we need to seriously work on who is picking up blitz's and also caleb needs to sit down with keenum to figure out HOW to get quick releases out from these blitz's to make them pay and stop taking the sacks or throwing it away. blitzing is killing us.

and on the subject of ryan poles... this guy is terrible. the ONLY defensive free agent player i can think of that was a good pickup was byard and of course he is gone. on offense the two guards and possibly swift for players still on the roster. that is it. the decent ones he dumps and keeps the mediocre players forever. add to this that BJ is probably the key in picking up these players. also we have wasted a multitude of 1st-3rd round picks with few exceptions like burden and possibly thieneman.

10 hours ago, Pixote said:

I assume you love vanilla ice cream? LOL

I love that he is unpredictable (within reason ;-))

No, I love some trickery. But, not on 2nd and 3 inside the ten. (Especially, when you don't know the rules of the penalized play). There's a reason why our TD rate inside the ten is the lowest in the NFL. Ben being cute. He's cost us four TD's so far.

3 hours ago, Lucky Luciano said:

EDIT: what kind of play was that goal line handoff to our LG? i have never seen somthing like that in my life. what was the flag about? didn't get any of that.

From what I learned listening to the officials, they can hand off to a lineman but it can’t be a forward handoff. Has to be back. I think to Mongos point, if you’re gonna call trick plays at his level, Johnson should be sure he knows the rules. He looked dumbfounded when they called the penalty. I did too but I’m sitting at home on my couch.

19 minutes ago, Alaskan Grizzly said:

From what I learned listening to the officials, they can hand off to a lineman but it can’t be a forward handoff. Has to be back. I think to Mongos point, if you’re gonna call trick plays at his level, Johnson should be sure he knows the rules. He looked dumbfounded when they called the penalty. I did too but I’m sitting at home on my couch.

If Thuney declares as eligible, then it can be done forward.

What this sort of implies is handoffs forward should be considered passes, because that is sort of the rule they are enforcing. An eligible receiver can receive a forward pass, but a lineman can only receive it laterally or behind.

Good:

• Williams- looked like a young Aaron Rodgers these last two games

• Gordon- elite football instincts, continues to look exceptional rushing the passer

• Burden- starting to look like a #1 receiver, no idea why he got 0 targets in the second half, though

• 4th quarter redemption for Santos & Odunze- as frustrating as Odunze can be, he does seem to make critical catches in big moments

Bad:

• Jaylon Johnson- totally unplayable, have to find a replacement before deadline

• Defensive execution- atrocious end of half tackling, followed by a near repeat of the Packers game in the 2nd half, allowing 1st downs on nearly every pass completion.

Quick notes:

• Absolutely huge win going in to the SEA game. 2 of their next 3 are against TB and NE, meaning there's no excuse not to be—at least—7-3 or better heading into the Thanksgiving game. SEA has to play KC this week, and their offense doesn't look very good right now. It'll be tough, but the Bears could absolutely beat them next week with the way the quarterback is playing.

• Ryan Poles MUST make trades as soon as he possibly can to fix this defense before it loses them a game. The Bears were up 27-14, but it should have been 27-7 before the Patriots touched the ball again in the 2nd half had it not been for that horrendously executed end of half sequence by the defense, which completely ruined the momentum the offense had been building with that touchdown by Burden. Those are plays that will get them beat at some point if Poles waits too long to make something happen. This offense is too good, and this QB is too good to not be in all-in mode right now.