Observations

[fudgeripple2000]

Peppers: I can't see how this team will pay him 17 million this year. On defense I only watched him and he is slower and not overpowering anyone. Either he agrees to a major pay cut or he is gone.

 

Melton: after watching his injury in slow motion. When his foot planted with that little bit of rotation and then it buckled, it looks an awful like an ACL.

 

Defense/Offense: after scoring early it felt like we were playing not to lose.

 

Overall: I love being 3-0. The only ugly part is that we aren't putting our foot on anyone's throat. Too much playing to the level of the competition. It's great now, but it's not a switch that can always be turned on and I fear it will bite us in the butt.

[Connorbear]

Peppers: I can't see how this team will pay him 17 million this year. On defense I only watched him and he is slower and not overpowering anyone. Either he agrees to a major pay cut or he is gone.

 

Melton: after watching his injury in slow motion. When his foot planted with that little bit of rotation and then it buckled, it looks an awful like an ACL.

 

Defense/Offense: after scoring early it felt like we were playing not to lose.

 

Overall: I love being 3-0. The only ugly part is that we aren't putting our foot on anyone's throat. Too much playing to the level of the competition. It's great now, but it's not a switch that can always be turned on and I fear it will bite us in the butt.

I agree on Peppers.

 

If Melton has an ACL tear, he's not getting 8 million a year next year. He should have signed a long term deal.

 

A win is a win.

 

Peace

[madlithuanian]

Agreed.

 

It's babysteps.

 

Game 1 was about keeping Cutler upright.

 

Game 2 was about beating a divisional opponent.

 

Game 3 was about winning on the road.

 

I eagerly await game 4...

 

I agree on Peppers.

 

If Melton has an ACL tear, he's not getting 8 million a year next year. He should have signed a long term deal.

 

A win is a win.

 

Peace

 

[Bears4Ever_34]

As with Games 1 and 2, this game had its good and bad moments.

 

The Good:

 

- No turnovers on offense

- Cutler continues to shine late in games when the team needs it

- The defense continues to score off turnovers

- No pre-snap or holding penalties (that I can remember) on offense.

 

The Bad:

 

- The offense continues to lack explosiveness

- The defense is giving up way too many explosive plays.

- The front 4 is still generating zero pass rush

 

My overall observations:

 

The Bears go to 3-0, but it still feels.. odd, to me. The offense has been "aight" through 3 games, and the defense has been giving up huge chunks of yardage. When they aren't creating turnovers, are they just going to continue to be a sieve? Will the offense be able to generate enough points to overcome that? The answer should be a yes if you are buying in to Trestman. That is what he was hired for: to put points on the board.

 

While the offense has been hot and cold to start the season, Jay Cutler has been mostly good. I am beginning to feel more and more confident in these close games with him at quarterback. Again, tonight, it looked like he just flipped a switch in the 4th quarter and took over. The last touchdown drive was about 90% all on his play making abilities. Credit also goes to Earl Bennett for making a sick catch in the endzone.

 

The Bears still need a burner, though. My concern is that teams will begin to take away all these short routes and force Marshall, Jeffery and company to beat them over the top. It's too difficult to consistently score when you have to grind out most of your drives. We saw a little bit of that going on tonight.

 

What I take away from this game is that Mel Tucker is going to blitz until the front 4 proves they can get to the quarterback, and also that the offense, in the long run, may just be missing one home-run hitter that will take them from being an average-above average offense to a great one.

[Stinger226]

As with Games 1 and 2, this game had its good and bad moments.

 

The Good:

 

- No turnovers on offense

- Cutler continues to shine late in games when the team needs it

- The defense continues to score off turnovers

- No pre-snap or holding penalties (that I can remember) on offense.

 

The Bad:

 

- The offense continues to lack explosiveness

- The defense is giving up way too many explosive plays.

- The front 4 is still generating zero pass rush

 

My overall observations:

 

The Bears go to 3-0, but it still feels.. odd, to me. The offense has been "aight" through 3 games, and the defense has been giving up huge chunks of yardage. When they aren't creating turnovers, are they just going to continue to be a sieve? Will the offense be able to generate enough points to overcome that? The answer should be a yes if you are buying in to Trestman. That is what he was hired for: to put points on the board.

 

While the offense has been hot and cold to start the season, Jay Cutler has been mostly good. I am beginning to feel more and more confident in these close games with him at quarterback. Again, tonight, it looked like he just flipped a switch in the 4th quarter and took over. The last touchdown drive was about 90% all on his play making abilities. Credit also goes to Earl Bennett for making a sick catch in the endzone.

 

The Bears still need a burner, though. My concern is that teams will begin to take away all these short routes and force Marshall, Jeffery and company to beat them over the top. It's too difficult to consistently score when you have to grind out most of your drives. We saw a little bit of that going on tonight.

 

What I take away from this game is that Mel Tucker is going to blitz until the front 4 proves they can get to the quarterback, and also that the offense, in the long run, may just be missing one home-run hitter that will take them from being an average-above average offense to a great one.

We are a long way away from being a elite team, but 3-0 is a good start. We can find plenty to scratch our head with, but we have things to smile about too.

Cutler looks clutch/

Looks like we have a plan when crunch time pops up.

The defense gave more pressure, Peppers is starting to show up.

What I see is progress, we adjust to adjustments and have come out on top.

 

If we want to look at imperfection, we have plenty to look at but we are doing this while we are winning games. I think that is huge.

Ask GB and SF about what looked bad. What I like is we are headed in the right direction, as sloppy as that might look, we are still 3-0, I cant tear this apart.

When we find our first loss, I am not sure I will be able to hang around to hear all of the soothsayers.

May I suggest to enjoy what we have, it is so hard to consistently win in the NFL, lets find a little joy in winning on the road to a desperate team.

[Ed Hochuli 3:16]

To me, I think the offense has explosiveness. They had a 40 yard pass to Marshall, a long run by Forte, and a long TD to Bennett. I know they came at inconsistent times, but I would gladly take each of those once a game. I think right now, Trestman and Cutler are still figuring out what they like and what they don't like, which is why I wanted to see more Cutler in August against CAR, SD, and OAK. But again, if I'm right, this is great because this means that they're still feeling the offense out yet they're 3-0 and Cutler's on pace to throw for 32 touchdowns and complete 68% of his throws but sacked 16 times.

 

I do agree, however, that this just feels "aight." Each game has been semi-close and they can't continue to depend on 4th quarter heroics by Cutler. Not that he can't do it, but to do this every week is impossible. To me, this all hinges on the D. If they can start generating pressure with the front-4, they'll be golden. They can't continue to only get sacks from linebackers. Right now, I believe their only sacks are Williams (2), Wootton, and McClellin. Yuck.

[balta1701-A]

To me, I think the offense has explosiveness. They had a 40 yard pass to Marshall, a long run by Forte, and a long TD to Bennett. I know they came at inconsistent times, but I would gladly take each of those once a game.

 

I do agree, however, that this just feels "aight." Each game has been semi-close and they can't continue to depend on 4th quarter heroics by Cutler. Not that he can't do it, but to do this every week is impossible.

Here's the thing...tell me where there's an elite team in the league? Seattle is playing like one for now, but other than them? 12 teams will make the playoffs in the NFL and right now 11 of them feel "aight" (or worse) about their performance so far.

[CrackerDog]

Here's the thing...tell me where there's an elite team in the league? Seattle is playing like one for now, but other than them? 12 teams will make the playoffs in the NFL and right now 11 of them feel "aight" (or worse) about their performance so far.

 

I'd add Denver in the AFC and that's about it.

 

As to this game, it was a lot of fun and I usually get worried and pissed off when games go like this. I'm not sure why I was chill last night but it probably has something to do with our resiliency over the first two weeks and maybe a little bit of feeling like we already had two W's and a third one this early was unexpected, even by me, a Kool-Aid drinker, at this stage of the season.

 

With that said, the D continues to be one that bends and gets turnovers. This is great when it works. But you can't count on it when you're up against teams in the playoffs. It can work but I'd almost rather have less scoring from the D and have them be able to stop someone more consistently. I realize Peanut wasn't 100% and he missed chunks of the game but damn, there were WR's from Pittsburgh running around with no Bear in sight!

 

I thought we did get pressure last night. Not sure what you're all bitching about. What you saw last night was Big Ben's game (besides raping chicks in bathrooms). Early on they got a few nice runs on us but basically we shut down the running game. It helps that the Steelers have nobody playing the RB position, I suppose.

 

We took some hits via the injury bug last night. At positions we already lacked depth. If we go into next week's game without Peanut, we're dead. Melton is a big loss too but I think we can cover that one better than we can the edge against Megatron.

 

Forte and the O Line were excellent. Hester disappeared. I guess he figured he had a good week last week so he could afford to make shit decisions the entire game this week. Pathetic.

 

Jeffery looks like he'll be an excellent #2 for us. Really grew into his role and matured. Bennett's catch was amazing for the clincher.

 

I picked this game 27-13 Bears. Felt like the Steelers were a lousy football team. Still believe that. They produced more than I expected because our DB's disappeared. I mentioned Nut above and I'll give him a pass. The rest of the guys though, not so much. And Briggs, while having some solid plays as well, didn't get deep enough when they were playing cover two. Ben's pump fakes ate us alive all damn night.

 

I predict a Bears loss next week and it may be a bad one if Nut isn't able to play. We'll put up some points but the Lions are good on both sides of the ball. If we win the turnover battle 5-0 again, we'll win. If it's a lot closer than that, we'll be 3-1 and behind the Lyin's in the division. On a related note, I hope someone goes for Suh's knee and puts him out for the season during the game. I hate that prick.

 

The schedule this year only gets tougher. The Bears will need to play better to keep up this awesome start.

[Ed Hochuli 3:16]

Here's the thing...tell me where there's an elite team in the league? Seattle is playing like one for now, but other than them? 12 teams will make the playoffs in the NFL and right now 11 of them feel "aight" (or worse) about their performance so far.

Emotion is tough to follow on a message board, but I actually agree with you. To be 3-0 and only play aight on offense and defense (in terms of yards) is spectacular.

[Uncle Buck]

I think what I am hearing from some is similar to how I feel today.

 

I'm excited they won last night and 3-0 beats the alternative any day of the week. BUT, I am looking long-term here, this team cannot count on turnovers and points from the defense each week. It sure seems like it, but I can't count on it, they will meet the team that does not turn the ball over; how will this defense look then?

 

I just wished there was more coming from the front four on D; any measurable increase in performance from them would make me feel better about the long-term prospects. But all in all, to qoute Lovie, you want to stack wins; these guys are, I just want them to be a cohesive unit for that day the turnover tree can't be shook.

[madlithuanian]

Great post C-Dog...

 

I'd add Denver in the AFC and that's about it.

 

As to this game, it was a lot of fun and I usually get worried and pissed off when games go like this. I'm not sure why I was chill last night but it probably has something to do with our resiliency over the first two weeks and maybe a little bit of feeling like we already had two W's and a third one this early was unexpected, even by me, a Kool-Aid drinker, at this stage of the season.

 

With that said, the D continues to be one that bends and gets turnovers. This is great when it works. But you can't count on it when you're up against teams in the playoffs. It can work but I'd almost rather have less scoring from the D and have them be able to stop someone more consistently. I realize Peanut wasn't 100% and he missed chunks of the game but damn, there were WR's from Pittsburgh running around with no Bear in sight!

 

I thought we did get pressure last night. Not sure what you're all bitching about. What you saw last night was Big Ben's game (besides raping chicks in bathrooms). Early on they got a few nice runs on us but basically we shut down the running game. It helps that the Steelers have nobody playing the RB position, I suppose.

 

We took some hits via the injury bug last night. At positions we already lacked depth. If we go into next week's game without Peanut, we're dead. Melton is a big loss too but I think we can cover that one better than we can the edge against Megatron.

 

Forte and the O Line were excellent. Hester disappeared. I guess he figured he had a good week last week so he could afford to make shit decisions the entire game this week. Pathetic.

 

Jeffery looks like he'll be an excellent #2 for us. Really grew into his role and matured. Bennett's catch was amazing for the clincher.

 

I picked this game 27-13 Bears. Felt like the Steelers were a lousy football team. Still believe that. They produced more than I expected because our DB's disappeared. I mentioned Nut above and I'll give him a pass. The rest of the guys though, not so much. And Briggs, while having some solid plays as well, didn't get deep enough when they were playing cover two. Ben's pump fakes ate us alive all damn night.

 

I predict a Bears loss next week and it may be a bad one if Nut isn't able to play. We'll put up some points but the Lions are good on both sides of the ball. If we win the turnover battle 5-0 again, we'll win. If it's a lot closer than that, we'll be 3-1 and behind the Lyin's in the division. On a related note, I hope someone goes for Suh's knee and puts him out for the season during the game. I hate that prick.

 

The schedule this year only gets tougher. The Bears will need to play better to keep up this awesome start.

 

[CrackerDog]

Great post C-Dog...

 

Thank you, sir.

[Daventry]

I was able to watch the game today and enjoyed seeing the Bears win...my observations:

 

Cutler looked pretty good for most of the game, he certainly showed poise in the end although I think a fair bit of that was in some very nice play calling as well.

 

Forte looked great, thank goodness we have him!

 

The passing game overall looks very solid.

 

The offensive line had a good game, almost night and day to last year. Alot to look forward to for that line in the years to come.

 

E Bennett reappeared! It would be great to see him back full strength.

 

Nice linebacker play from all LB's.

 

Turnover machines in the secondary!

 

However, I do think the D gave up too many yards; the roughing penalty really swung the momentum. I agree with others that I am thrilled we are 3-0 but there is much work to do.

 

That being said, I am so happy to have Trestmann and Co. at the helm, I have a feeling we will improve every week.

[balta1701-A]

Oh, I also should add to this, Soldier Field and Heinz field are some of the toughest places to kick in the NFL (even though it's not yet winter) and Gould has hit what, a 58 yarder and a 48 yarder in 2 weeks in those stadia?

[adam]

My observations:

 

The Bears won

The Bears are 3-0

Cutler's QBR is 78.1, 3rd best in NFL

The Offensive Line passed another test playing against a 3-4

The Defense continues to produce, outscoring 6 teams this week

The Bears won on the road in a hostile environment, in prime time

We are undefeated and still have not played our best football

 

 

[Stinger226]

My observations:

 

The Bears won

The Bears are 3-0

Cutler's QBR is 78.1, 3rd best in NFL

The Offensive Line passed another test playing against a 3-4

The Defense continues to produce, outscoring 6 teams this week

The Bears won on the road in a hostile environment, in prime time

We are undefeated and still have not played our best football

I think we are a work in progress, we are only scratching the surface of what our offense can be. We need work but have flashers, and we are doing enough to win games. Defensively I think we are about what we will be, give up a lot of yards and make some big plays. Every week is not going to go well for us, but who on here actually thought we would be 12-4 or 13-3, I never did. I still think we will be around 10-6 which would mean we go 7-6 the rest of the games. If we continue to improve, we may do better than that, but we will have to see when we play better teams if the magic continues. The key is we are making progress. Our offense have looked really good at times and mediocre other times. The great think is it has produced when we needed to to win games, and that is huge.