Chisoxfn

Their offense through the first 3 quarters (sans the first few minuets which were a turnover fest) was the best I've seen the Bulls have in a few years. The ball movement was crisp, great drives, lots of open looks and just complete unselfish basketball. 4th quarter I'll ignore because it had too much Felicio (who is a horrid horrid basketball player).

Roberts is probably going to be available. If I were sox I would see if they could get Jensen on the cheap. I’d bet he bounces back and is great again and if I am sox I won’t a lights out pen.

Yeah I want him. Love the fact that he can flat out hit and is a good defender. Why not put him in right.

At the time I recall people thinking Buehler had a low ceiling. I always wondered after I saw him, how that was possible. I still don’t get those people here who says Fulmer has good stuff. If he does, I have never seen it at the MLB level. Bad command and mediocre stuff is a recipe for disaster (and that is what he had been).

And Lonzo Balls improved form. I still think if Ball stays healthy, he turns into an elite player.

If I were Nagy, I would have Gruden on my list of coaches to hire as a potential OC. My bet is this is Helfrichs last year. I’ll be he goes back to college for a head coaching job.

Anthony Miller / Burton (skill position) and Kyle Long & Charles Leno are probably the biggest x-factors not named Trubisky for this offense. To stick away from the Mitch debate, I'll outline some reasons why I could see certain of these players taking steps forward (post bye week) while others may not. The good news, since I'm an optimist, is I don't think I'm being a total homer in saying, a couple of these key players should absolutely get better and if a few of them to, that in an of itself, will make the offense much better. Skill Position: Miller & Burton Miller needs to play consistent and get his head right and show that he is ready to take next steps forward. After being injured for a good chunk of training camp, the bye week should provide him with the necessary time to get fully assimilated back into the offense (similar for Burton who has been slow to rebound from his groin injury). I am more optimistic for Miller because he has high potential vs. Burton, who still looks very slow and a shadow of the player he was, that said, I think the bye can help both of them significantly. On top of that, they'll get back Gabriel, who has his own limitations, but his speed alone should help add more dimensionality to the offense. Oline: Long & Leno The oline has struggled greatly this season. While I can knock Daniels, I am going to stay silent here, because I truly believe in his talent and with his youth, he should get better and a bye week can help him spend a bit more time on the basics and increased nuances of center (vs. guard, where he played last year). Kyle Long has been flat out atrocious this season, a shell of his former self. I think the Bears are going to have to be real honest in their assessment of Kyle, both physically as well as his actual abilities, and make a decision during the bye week as to whether he can continue to be their starter. I don't see high odds in him regaining his old form this year (unless there are other physical imitations I'm not aware of, it seems like all his past injuries are catching up with him, which is a bummer). On Leno's front, he has taken a major step back this year. Combination of bad blocking + stupid penalties. Leno is still young and I don't see any reason why he would have taken such a step back, which makes me think, this is more of a technique confidence thing, and with a bye week, we could see him rebound to his usual solid level of play. Leno isn't a star, but he's been consistently better than the player we've seen this season. Him taking a step back to that level of normalcy, would be a huge improvement for the oline. LT this line has some solid young pieces (Whitehair, Daniels, and Leno) and I think it could take steps forward, but the run blocking has been atrocious since Nagy took over and while I think Leno can make progress and Daniel will get better (with time), I can't help but wonder, are there aspects of the Bears ground struggles that go beyond just the line. I don't think there is a part of the Bears who isn't more on the hot-seat (from a needing a lot to fix), than everything associated with the Bears absymal rushing attack (most notably HC / OC / Oline). I don't believe this is a RB issue at this point. Wildcards: Javon Wimms & Shaheen's Development

I absolutely love basketball, so I can't wait. That said, this team obviously has a major ceiling and I don't think White is so good that he is going to be crazy exciting to watch (especially early on). I am excited to see what Lauri & Lavine do in a full season with Otto as well as to see what year 2 brings in Wendell Carter. I think we should see this team take steps forward (and if they don't by the end of the year, there are going to be a lot of reasons to be concerned). Steps forward means new challenges as the team on paper doesn't have the talent which can take them to the highest levels, which means the front office is going to need to find creative ways to move forward and improve. First things first...the team on paper needs to show potential, upside, and win more games though.

Bye week is coming at the right time.

Good post. And this is still a good team. Move on to the next one.

The bright side is they clearly were not ready out of the gate. The downside is...they weren’t ready out of the gate.

Miller is a headcase. I said it a ton..everyone around here annoited him before he should. Dude runs weak routes and thinks he is way better than he is. Unfortunate cause he actually has skill but if he keeps this up, he will never live up to it.

The interesting part is he has been at Halas Hall everyday. I wonder if this is a real personal issue (LT health / family / friend, etc) and the Bears are essentially being there for him and making sure they provide a family environment and treat him right while he gets things situated (some of which includes the fact that being close to his teammates is something that can help him as he deals with whatever the situation is).

Lol - I don't get it, but I have to imagine this is a pretty good sign that they think he'll be able to get back on the field sooner vs. later. That said, will be interesting to see how much it limits his mobility, etc. I would have to imagine it is going to hurt anytime he gets hit, etc.

Probably best case answer. Surprised he is going to travel with the team. I presumed they wouldn't risk travel and would just keep him home for rehab.

You worry about drugs, depression, etc? It seems like there is no good outcome of this, other than hopefully whatever the issue is has been identified before he went too deep and that he can get the necessary help.

"Not acting like himself".

On Trubiksy front, I think best news would be him getting back after the bye week. There is zero chance they are flying him across the pond and getting him to play in London. Zero. Will be interesting to see who the Bears bring in on the back-up front. I presume Bray will be activated from PS.

I really can't imagine anything regarding Roquan Smith coming out and being good news. I kept wondering why none of the announcers made a big deal about it during yesterdays game. Fact that he was still at the game is what draws the alarm. Something happened and drew the team to make a decision.

I give Chase Daniels credit for making enough plays to win. He had me terrified because he really holds the ball a long time. He also doesn't have the arm strength (and he will get picked more on balls that just "hang up" there. What he does have is the stones to hang in there and make enough throws and obviously tons of experience to quickly disect a difference. Major difference between Daniels & Trubisky in upside and potential though, but the good news (in the sense that Chase is in there), not a huge downside difference given their more recent play (bad in the sake that Mitch hadn't been super sharp early in the season...albeit was progressing nicely). The key goes back to the fact that young NFL QB's just can't dissect defenses the way certain coaches expect them to. You really need to simplify things for a few years before you truly unleash them. I heard that comment from a couple offensive minds recently and they essentially mentioned that the difference between college & pro is so distinct that more and more teams offensively are starting to learn that to best adjust QB's you really simplify things and go on 1st couple reads and really pare things back for more sustained near-term success. Give them a few years of starting and seeing defenses and than you can start to see them become true disecters of D. Look at the best young QB's and they all tend to have one trait in common...their ability to scramble and make plays with their legs, which in turn helps them get out of the pocket, cut the field in half and enable far easier decision making. Phenomenal defensive performance by the Bears yesterday...I thought they were in really bad shape with the injuries & personal issues, but they came through. This Raiders game, with the travel and injuries, is going to be a lot tougher than people think and it is a pretty critical came at this point in the juncture (given how tough the Bears schedule is about to get).

He’s a very good running back. Glad to see him having an awesome game!!!

I’ll take it. Kicked ass and Mitch had some tds. Still more room to grow but a win is a win! Vikings game is going to be tough.

That a boy. TD DIX!!!

Most DE's don't run as fast as Sweat (4.42).

I heard Joe Thomas interviewed (former Browns lineman) and he essentially said in his view, it takes 3 full seasons for a QB to actually learn to read the D. Before that, they just got to play and a coaches job should be to help them get through progressions simple and play fast. Essentially...don't let them be a pure drop-back QB, you have to scheme for them to enable them to play quick and be themselves. If you don't do it and let them just read the D, they just aren't ready yet given how complex NFL defenses are. Thought it was interesting. Part of it goes to the fact that the Bears needs to find ways to enable quicker reads for Mitch and get him out of the pocket so he can read and react faster (and get the most of his strengths).