Chisoxfn

Rams are the funnest team in football to watch play.

Goff was absurd last night. He made the game look as easy as I've seen any QB. The accuracy on his balls was phenomenal. Was dropping dimes the whole night. Their weapons are absolutely dynamic. It is one thing that I hate to bring up, but I really think the Bears offensive weapons are still extremely subpar. Yes, they upgraded from last year, but that doesn't take much. The Bears top weapons were literally on the street from a year ago. That might change if Shaheen ever becomes good/dynamic (or at the very least hopefully a good red zone target) but Gabriel is an overpaid gadget guy who is a nice compliment but is nothing special (not knocking Gabriel...he is what he is). Robinson needs to prove he's above average again...will be interesting to see if as he gets more confidence (and just further and further into game shape) and Mitch starts throwing a better deep ball if we will start to see some big play potential. His current play has been on-par with a good possession receiver. Burton has shown nice hands but has yet to flash dynamic skills (albeit he certainly looks solid). And Miller is currently hurt and while he's flashed at times, he isn't a proven commodity (yet). We know Cohen is a weapon when he gets the ball in space, but he hasn't made a lot of plays in the slot / true receiving game thus far. Part of the above also probably is compounded by the new system and young QB having early season struggles as well. That said, when you watch the Rams, you saw a lot of guys open and flashing and a ton of routes. Hopefully in time the Bears weapons, along with the rest of the offense, prove to be more capable than they have shown thus far. A lot of money was spent...but remember, they were upgrading from a 1971 Ford Pinto. I actually look to see White get more involved this week. Doesn't help that the Bears have seen such little return the past couple years from high picks / FA signings at the skill position (White / Shaheen / Wheaton / Simms).

How are the bears saying it is day to day? Nagy said he dislocated but they have officially said he is day to day. Is there any hope that this is actually a lot more minor or is this really a season ended or at the minimum a very extended injury?

I think people are overhyping the Bears offensive weapons.

You are comparing an essentially rookie Trubisky to seasoned vets in Big Ben and Fitz. That just isn't a fair comparison....a fair comparison is going back to rookie/2nd year Big Ben or rookie 2nd year Tom Brady, etc, and asking...did they make poor decisions under pressure...struggle to quickly read defenses, etc. And I would argue that answer is unequivocally yes because the NFL game is extremely difficult and complex and it takes time, with very few exceptions. Now many will never develop and it is a fine line.

Let me ask a separate question...how much credit does Trubisky and the offense get for the team ranking #2 in TOP. Obviously a component of that goes to the Bears D for getting off the field...but the Bears offense has had its fair share of extended drives that certainly contributed to that TOP argument. Yes, ultimately an offense needs to score points, just trying to point out, it isn't like the offense has been some horrific dumpster fire.

I completely agree with this.

If the Bears didn't acquire Mack, none of us are talking / debating Trubisky at this point. Yes, people wouldn't be happy with his play, but I think more would have a wait and see approach. To me, that approach shouldn't change...when you invest in someone that high and believe in that guy, you need to back him and do what you can to believe. Don't do the Bears thing and not put everything you have, including patience, into this kids development. Bears need to be patient and give him time, coaching, etc, for him to either prove he has it / doesn't. Bottom line...if Bears want to be great, their best chance (near term) is being patient and investing in Mitch and turning that investment into a fruitful reward. They could certainly pivot, but I think a pivot may lower the "floor" and guarantee a few playoff seasons...but it prevents the upside of truly being great. Mitch might suck...but let him fully prove out that fact and let this season be partially about winning, but more about Mitch's development. Not doing that is a disservice to the QB, imo. That said, Mitch is a #2 overall pick and with that comes pressure...he needs to be big enough to handle the pressure, etc. But before everyone discounts offensive changes or so rookies/2nd year QB's that end up being good, don't play like Mitch is, think about two different things. From the system side, remember when the New York Giants / Steelers made major OC shifts and how much Eli Manning/Big Ben (both of which were veterans at the time) struggled to gel with the new systems (all while having largely consistent personnel). Now think of Mitch...without that experience in a brand new system (much different from what was ran a year ago) combined with the fact that his top 4 wide receiving targets are all brand new to the Bears (Robinson, Burton, Gabriel, and Miller). Now on the young QB front, below are some stat lines of a few other recent QB's just to put things in perspective a bit more: Wentz over 14 starts [14 Pederson] 63%, 241 yards, .9 TDs, 1.2 TO Goff over his first 14 starts [7 Fisher, 7 McVay] 58%, 201 yards, 1 TD, 1 TO Trubisky over his first 14 starts [12 Fox, 2 Nagy] 61.2%, 183 yards, .86 TDs, .9 TO

I never said the Bears were going to get him. Bears need to invest in Mitch for this year and next year, imo....unless he is so terrible this year that he is beyond redemption (thus far I haven't seen anything other than what I call typical young QB jitters). That could still mean Mitch is a giant bust...but what he is struggling with is not unique to terrible QB's...it is what pretty much every other young QB who became great also went through. It is why I am committed to patience. If he was terrible and didn't put in work and show signs off the field mentally, etc, that would be another story (and technically none of us know whether he is or isn't...only the coaches know that)...than I would come to a potentially different conclusion. That said, the risk we took with Mack was that if Mitch wasn't the guy, we would likely be giving up 2 better picks, one of which could be used to take another QB (to extent we wanted to). That said, it is unlikely Pace gets the luxury of drafting another QB early (at least not in the next year or two) so if Mitch is that bad, he's likely gone anyway (or needing to get a veteran QB route...say a Joe Flacco via FA to try and pivot).

The Oregon QB is legit.

So any more news on Miller. I've heard various things including the fact that he dislocated it twice and at some point will need surgery...if he has surgery, done for the year? None of those are from legitimate sources.

The TOP has been a huge component on the season and allows the Bears defense to play as aggressive as it is. And I have to give the Bears offense credit for that. They have chewed up the clock and while they have left points on the field and not been as efficient as I'd like, it isn't as if they haven't gotten first downs. They have...but they've left some big chunk yardage out there and not been as good as we'd all like. I think the fact that they are getting TOP despite those issues is a good sign towards the future...but we'll see.

Sure did. I was totally thrown off from the last 2 episodes. What did you think and what do you think happens next?

JOE CREDE!!!! Yes!!! Hawk a true legend and easily one of the first things I think of when I think about my life to date as a Sox fan. He was there with you for all the great moments and unfortunately all the crappy losses too. Especially the last decade or so. Man its been a rough go...I really hope the franchise can get things turned around.

The Bears were about a 7 win team, unless the offense took major step forwards. I still think they are about that, unless the offense and Trubisky become good this year. Their schedule has a window later on that is just brutal. Nice to be in 1st place 3 weeks into the season. When was the last time the Bears were even in 1st?

He has played really really well this season. Too bad Mack was offside on that pick 6 though. Was great to see the secondary get going after those couple big plays they allowed early in the game.

Yeah - I didn't get that. Not sure what they were doing there. I suppose I understood if they wanted to try and trick the Cardinals into a false start, but they didn't even attempt that. Did they lose track of the downs?

Agreed. And like I said, I'll start evaluating the offense after they've played half of a season. Any update on Miller? Was Robinson actually hurt or was that just a typo from someone on here? Glad the defense woke up. Cohen played very well today. Howard looks Ike he isn't quite used to the blocking scheme yet...hopefully he's about to break out. Won't comment on Mitch other than to say his accuracy and decision making has to improve. He left some plays out on the field again. I do think this game against such an aggressive defense will be good for him...he had to see a lot of blitz fronts and the film sessions should be beneficial.

Disaster. Defense looks like it bought into the hype and quit playing. That fumble was bad. This game is going to be a test for Mitch. Arizona is going to blitz him all day...he better show that he can make some good quick decisions and make the cardinals pay. Come on Bears get this thing turned around and kick ass from here on out!

They look like they will. What an awful first drive on defense. I’m okay giving up points but no one was covering on either of those big plays. Let’s hope it is Arizona’s only td of the game!

Is Sunday really Hawks last telecast? He’s not doing any of the games the following week? Sad his last year had to be associated with such a bad team. More so that his last four or five years had to be dealing with such terrible teams.

Not true. I’m 1/4 inch under six foot and have stood next to Cade Mcnown. He was taller than me.

McNown sucked in the pros but he was going to get drafted in the 1st round. He was absolutely sensational in college and there were a lot of reasons to be excited. He didn't cut it because he didn't want to put in the work and had attitude problems that emerged (plus a drug issue and Primadonnism). Of course Champ Bailey sure would have looked nice.

How can the Bulls manage the cap to get Butler?

Its funny...when it comes to Trubisky, I was largely pretty happy with his decision making. Really two things bugged me, one was that horrendous decision he made throwing a near pick at the end of the 1st half (literally that was just awful...I have no idea what he was looking at when he made that throw and he wasn't under "that much duress" at the time). Definitely one you'd want back. Probably his second worse decision, imo, came on the 1st drive of the game where he made a throw to Howard that turned into a good play but was just as likely to be a pick 6. His miss to Gabriel was bad and driven by poor footwork at the time, but the right read and a decisive read (that is a 30 yard play and if Gabriel makes someone miss, could have been a TD). Similarly, the pick he threw down the field to Robinson....right read, right decision, just awful throw. I'm really not worried about either of those though...he's so freaking accurate when you get him on the run and not thinking, that his footwork will calm down as he gets more comfortable (its just natural) and I believe in his accuracy. The interesting piece to me will be when Nagy and company watch the tape and we see what progressions he didn't make and what was left out there. I also want to see how we can start to stretch the field a bit more, because I think we are playing too much of a horizontal game and not enough vertical game.