Chisoxfn

Fun start to off-season, but regular season matters most. Grandal certainly is a proven guy, hopefully his body can hold up as he is a big overall upgrade in the lineup (and I think there is still plenty of opportunity for McCann still too, who is a very good defensive catcher in his own right). Will be interesting to see whether Collins becomes trade bait. Hard to say with Collins since he made a lot of strides late last year (swing looked like it might actually play after the adjustments made).

In Mack's defense, it is much easier to be schemed against when you have an offense that can't score and therefore teams can easily make decisions to punt a series and play more conservative on offense. The Rams very rarely put Mack in any situation where he could make a play. Heck, he could have been unblocked on most of the passing plays and he wouldn't have had a chance to make a play (because of the scheme). If this team could play with leads and had an offense even at all fearful...I think you'd see more "splash" plays from Mack. Either way, he's still a tremendous player.

I think Nagy is probably not the guy, but they aren't getting rid of him in the off-season. Pace has done some good and some bad. Guys miss on QB's. And while I'd like to say he missed bad on TEs (Simms & Shaheen), I can't really blame him for Burton. Burton was a productive player all of last season. No one could have expected him to fall of the wagon this badly. My one caveat is, I've long said you can't give up all your future cache in capital...it just doesn't work. I've argued with posters for years about it here and I'd say it again, would I feel better knowing I have Miller or better knowing I"d have had my picks in the years I need them? I'll take the picks. Even Mack, I go back to the fact that as explosive as he was...we mortgaged the future without knowing what our QB was (I get it...you make that bet) but 2 1sts plus a massive contract that tie-up cap space was always going to be a steep price. Worthwhile price for this defense though. And this team could bounce back...they could sign Newton in the offseason, he proves totally healthy and bam. My major issue is whether Nagy is the right guy offensively. I think the reality is this offense is a freaking train wreck. Receivers running poor routes, bad spacing on plays, inability to run the football. Mitch is an issue too...but I don't know that QB solves all of the things we are seeing on offense.

Lauri has been horrific this year.

So on that play, Nagy was yelling at Cohen and pointing out what he should have been doing. It happened right where I was sitting and from my angle looked entirely like a ball Cohen should have caught (if he went back shoulder and from where Cohen was...I didn't see a good angle on him making the catch over the LB (given how small Cohen is). The reality is, this is an offense where no one is playing synchronized with each other. So many bad routes / miscommunications between QB and WR. Completely inexecuseable for a team in its 2nd year in a system. That to me goes back to COACHING. This team is just rarely well prepared and when you combined all of the basic issues they make with the fact that Mitch has not been good and the wideouts lead the team in drops and that the team can't consistently run block or that it has the worst TE production in like NFL history...and welp...you end up with a very very very bad offense.

When Mitch was taken out, I was watching, there was not one medical person talking to him at all. All I am going to say is, there was a lot that went wrong in that game beyond anything Mitch did. But Mitch is still the QB. I thought he had a pretty good 1st half and when you look at Miller...dude literally created that pick and than another handful of drops. There was also a throw that Mitch made down the sideline to Cohen that Nagy was quite frustrated at Cohen for as Mitch made a back shoulder ball (which is the only spot he could put it) and Cohen just wasn't at all in the right spot. If he was, it would have been a big play (and if I recall it was on 3rd down). Would have put the Bears in scoring range. A lot of little things add up to a lot of big things. Very rarely (albeit at the game I may not always have the right angle) did I feel I was watching a QB make a ton of mistakes). Again, TV might say otherwise. Mitch actually looked relatively quick in his decision making. The questionable option play happened right in front of me and that was destined for disaster). Who knows, maybe Daniels will come in and show they have some actual talent but I wouldn't expect it.

Daniel will show just show shit this offense is.

Being at the game. This wasn’t at all on him. Dropped passes etc. no licks made. Sucks.

RIP CITY...

It is nice that Korner is playing less. Dude is so soft.

Dunn looks more like the guy two years ago than last year. Last year the athleticism was just not there. Always will have the issue shooting but his d and ability to aggressively get in the paint was gone. White had a nice game but he has a long way to go. If you are going to shoot as much as he does he has to figure out a way to be an elite shooter while also drawing fouls. Good thing is kid seems to have a great work ethic and plays defense. Whites game was nice but it was still basically him just hitting a high percentage of his threes for once.

I look at the many games where they have got out to double digit leads as a good indicator as well. The flipside to that is they have blown large leads, but I have seen them miss a lot of really good shots. The one concern is their inability to be physical and it hurts them on 2nd chance points, however, Carter has really elevated his game and is trending up.

I think I said somewhere else...outside of those 3 drives, didn't they go 3 and out in all but one other possession. The offense continues to be a problem. Mitch's body language looked much better though and he looked pretty comfortable going through his progressions. I actually thought they could have done more in the 2nd half...they just chose to be ultra conservative, but I might just be overly rosey on that analogy. And this was against a really bad defense. No other way of saying it other than this offense is historically bad. Literally nothing to hang its hat on. That is on the coach more than the QB, however QB playing with more confidence can help.

Woulda, coulda, shoulda. I'm over past decisions. Goes back to my earlier point, Bears need to put blinders on to the outside and focus on getting themselves better each and every week. No matter what this season isn't going to end like we expected...but they have every opportunity to change the trajectory and tone heading in to next year. Steadily improving offensive performances while the defense stays sharp (although ideally improving turnovers) is exactly what I would like to see. Would be a hole lot nicer saying...you know what, lets upgrade our TE position, improve the line, and add draft picks, because we can win with this guy (Note: I did not say we can win because of him). I of course would add a good veteran back-up for competition (either way). No matter what, I see the Bears changing OC's in the off-season and going to a more experienced guy or at the very least finding someone who could be a "run game" coordinator.

Damn. Wild card is going to be an 11 win team.