Chisoxfn

The way he speaks, the one thing I've noticed is, he doesn't come off as a guy with high confidence. Not sure if that is just him being humble or what? Probably the one thing I've always noticed. The reality is in this new era of instant overreaction (to extreme overreaction), that resiliency trait can be huge.

Brady was not good from day one. I recognize the league standards were different, but his first full season was pedestrian and he had some up and down years (and this is coming from Tom Brady's #1 fan). ANd even in that 2002 year, he had quite a few atrocious games. 3 games where he threw for < 135 yards. My point in all of this is, TOm Brady, when he was young, had his fair share of turd games (which is what happened to Mitch this past week). None of those games in isolation meant that he stunk. Big Ben was pretty good from day 1, but he also had a season (his 3rd year), where he finished with a 75.4 QB Rating and had 18 TD to 23 INT (by no standard would that have been considered good). And that was 3 years into the league. Of the great QB's, about Aaron Rodgers, Peyton Manning, and Patrick Mahomes are about the only guys I can think of who basically just crushed it (or had a small adjustment before kicking ass for good).

Drew Brees - 3rd season in the league (11 starts), he threw for 11 TDs and 15 INT in 16 games. Yes, Drew Brees, one of the greatest QBs to ever live.

Tom Brady had 3 games with zero TD's in his 3rd season and 4 games with 1 TD. He also had 6 games where he threw as many picks as he had TD's. His single worst game that season, he went 14-29 with 0 TD and 1 INT with 134 YDS. That game was following up a game where he threw for 133 YDS. Said another way, in Tom Brady's 3rd season, he threw for less than 140 yards in 2 of 3 games that season (with 1 TD and 2 INTs). In Tom Brady's fourth season, he had a 0 TD and 4 INT opening week performance where he threw for 123 yards. What if people overreacted to Tom Brady and managed him on a day to day and week to week basis? Would he ever have even gotten a chance to become a GOAT. I am not saying that Trubisky is going to be the next Tom Brady and he very well could be the next Blake Bortles, but you got to give him time to prove it out. My gut says he's not much different than Mariotta, but I could be wrong and there are plenty of times where I see Mitch make special throws. Whether he actually has that it factor and the game slows down super crazy, I don't know, but he is who we have and we need to put everything into getting everything we can out of him.

Most teams in the NFL are pretty close to each other, so the difference between a few more good teams vs. some bottom feeders can be huge. Very few automatic wins in the NFL (imo). You have a few elites and a bunch of teams who depending on health and week to week execution could go either ways.

Agreed - Watching it right now. Fantastic.

I actually don't think Carr is that bad of a QB. He played a great game and more importantly there oline kept him extremely clean (something the Bears oline didn't do against the Packers).

That was the worst halftime show I’ve ever seen.

Damn it. Wanted Houston to win. Not for any reason other than I want NFC teams to lose whom might compete with Bears for potential playoff spots haha. Going to be a tough run in the NFC.

Should be a really good game.

I watched quite a few football games. I saw a lot of pretty sloppy play in general. Goff and Cam Newton both played pretty sloppy in the Rams/Panthers game. In general, Trubisky could suck this year and take a step back...he could also take 2 steps forward. The statistical significance of Thursday's game on either of those outcomes is relatively small (imo).

Best move of the offseason

I just want to point out, everyone things Miller kicks ass. He isn't a proven superstar or something and he missed a ton of practice time this off-season and you've heard a lot from coaches (last year and even this off-season) how he is not consistent in his breaks, etc. Dude has talent, so I am not saying he's a bum, but people talk about Miller like he's a proven 1000 yard receiver. Fuck it...I'll throw out my prediction. 30+ TDs for Mitch this year.

Bulletin board material.

I would expect him to get better on those balls this season. Game and offense should slow down and his feet should be more accurate. I actually thought he had more good throws than Rodgers did tonight. Didn't take much since there were almost zero good offensive plays in the total game. And no, I'm not going to let the first game of the season impact my full year conclusion. I'd also say, the reason I don't think the Bears match up well vs. the Packers is Rodgers doesn't turn the ball over. He literally doesn't and I think if they played another QB, with the pressure the Bears had, you would have seen a few turnovers. Rodgers is just absurd in his ability to not throw picks (although you can strip him).

Are you just making random comments from last season? OR did you see him miss a bunch of open guys this year? Hell, most of his completions there were DB's all over the wideouts / close. I was not impressed (at all) with the Bears ability to create seperation. Robinson is a pro so he makes things work and doesn't need much seperation, but the rest of the wideouts don't have that benefit (especially given how small Gabriel is).

Look. They played a bad game. They had no rhythm, had tons of penalties, gave up a bunch of sacks, had dropped passes and literally had minimal field position most of the game. All of those things combined with the fact that they had jumbled play calling and non-existent performances from literally anyone not named Robinson didn't help either (albeit Gabriel made a couple plays and Montgomery looked good...they just didn't use him). Mitch is the QB and he is responsible but every time it looked like he got in a roll, they'd shoot themselves in the foot. It was just a flat out ugly performance with everything going against the Bears offensively (and those things all being self inflicted). Like I said...they looked like a team with a TON of rust. I remember back in 2003, Patriots lost 31-0 to the Bills. Patriots went on to win the superbowl and the Bills ended up winning 6 games that season. Random Nit: I know the announcers and TV ref were adamant, but I did not believe Gabriels offensive pass interference on the 1st and 30 (that eventually became 1st and 40) was OPI. Yes, he touched the Packer...but I don't think it at all impacted the play (the Packer player wasn't getting it and that touch didn't give Gabriel extra leverage to make a catch).

Unless I am missing something, I don’t remember any throws where Mitch’s accuracy was brutal. Other than his near pick early in the game...where is three across his body and the field but under threw the ball.

They looked like a team who wasn’t ready for what it takes to play against another team (vs practice). To be frank, packers offense didn’t look very hot either and they have a hall of famer at qb. His td pass was awful too (how that wasn’t picked or batted down is beyond me)

This. And it is one game. One game. This thread is absurd. There are a lot of fingers on offense and they need to clean this up. Looked like a unit totally unprepared. When they got momentum, penalties or drops would immediately shoot them in the foot. No rhythm to the play calling either and I totally didn’t get the use of all the running backs. They will get better (and this is coming from the guy who a couple days ago specifically said I had major questions about the offense). I also didn’t see a ton of explosiveness from the wideouts or others. Didn’t see a bunch of wide open guys all over the field who Mitch was missing. One game. Period. Move on.

I will caveat that our depth at wideout is still pretty unproven. Gabriel isn't great (he had a few really good games, but also some non-existent games) and Miller looked solid for a rookie, but he has had injury issues and hasn't gotten a ton of work during training camp. Wims and Ridley have proven absolutely nothing at this point and Ridley was missed a ton of training camp. People are overselling the depth at the position. In general, I see plenty of reasons this season can be a step or two back. Part of that is to cool expectations a bit, but we have a tougher schedule, unknowns around health, probably most notably within the secondary (CB & TE) where there is very little proven depth beyond our starters. Now many of these things are just the nature of the NFL, but just want to point all these things out. We also have people assuming we are going to all of a sudden have a strong ground game, but the Seahawks, a team who likes to run the football, weren't that interested in getting Davis back and Montgomery is still a 3rd round rookie (normally projecting immediate greatness out of a 3rd round pick seems a bit delusional and many fanboys are doing just that). And of course there is Trubisky, who is still to me squarely in that median range where he could take a big step forward or he could prove that he's not much better than a Tannehil / Marriotta / etc.

Are you serious? This is absurd.

No - That is not how it works. How you treat people matters and how you go about things matters.

The entire franchise looks different if Jay doesn't break his thumb late in that San Diego team. That offense and team were just rolling. Like rolling.

Greg...this sucks, but I too have left my laptop when I go pee and am working remote. I lock it, etc...but something feels wrong if I live in a world where I can’t walk away from my stuff for two minutes without it being stolen. I will caveat that if I wasn’t in a good neighborhood I might think twice but still I don’t think you are a chump and it is sad that someone jacked your personal belonging.