Chisoxfn

Yes...what Big Cat said. I've been on this bandwagon for a long time. I will also point out that the schedule might be a nice favor for us these next couple weeks as we could win these games without a fully humming offense and that could buy more time. That said, the defense should feast and if we lose those games because the offense and QB aren't ready (very possible)...that mounting pressure to win now could cause major issues in Mitch's development. All of this goes back to where I was pre-season, we were a year away from truly loading up and getting Mack was the right move since he clearly is a difference maker but the Bears need to take the "long" view with Mitch and we need to keep that long view. At some point things will have to slow down and Mitch will have to just start flinging the football (and hopefully that will be a good thing), however, it shouldn't shock anybody that 2 weeks in to a brand new system with almost entirely new weapons you are seeing that tendency to overthink. Its natural for young QB's, especially for ones who have pretty limited experience at higher levels (i.e., NCAA / NFL). Next year will be what I call Mitch's make it or break it season...this year is all about development and hopefully we see that forward looking curve where he keeps getting better to where we can be excited about what he could be and hopefully that getting better gets better faster as that would help us "win now". And Big Cat nailed it on another point, its just fun to see competitive football again. First time in a long time where I don't feel we are outmanned.

Correction: Trubisky and the entire offense are raw.

Pats are living one season at a time so in their case, if they bet right, he fills a major need for the year and if they don't, they aren't any worse off. I feel a team like the Niners would not have served well by getting Gordon...they have a longer term need at playmaker and I don't see how any sane person can bet long-term on Gordon. You know he'll get suspended at some point.

This is a good move for the Pats. I'd have said it would have been a bad move for the Bears.

Yeah - The big difference to me is Mahomes is in year 2 of a system and his wideouts (outside of Watkins) are experienced in the system). Trubisky has had an off-season in the system and his wideouts (by and large) have the same level of experience with that system (additionally, they also have minimal experience with Trubisky since none of his main weapons were around last year). You also have someone like Robinson who is coming back from an injury which compounds things as well. Over the course of the season, this should normalize, but I'm going to try and limit short-term reactions and focus on the long. If that long is bad, than its bad, but hopefully it will be good. I don't think any reaction based upon week 1 would really make me any more informed about Biscuit's long term success. Now if we break it down into the 4 quarters of the season and isolate his progress under each 4 game span, I think that will become more meaningful and hopefully will show a favorable trend. All that said, I hope Biscuit goes out and throws for 6 TD's tonight

You have to wonder how much Wilson running around (while effective) makes it harder to actually pass block. I kind of think Wilson's feet (which make him electric) also cause major issues.

On the bright side, our head coach played a key cog in developing him!

For everyone implying this will be an easy win, for teams that have lost as many games the past few years as the Bears, there is no such thing as an easy win. Monday night against a Seahawks team that still has some legacy Super Bowl egos plus the superior starting QB (Wilson). I hope the Bears win but don’t downplay Seattle or the fact that until Bears prove otherwise they still have a ways from being a playoff team or a team who you can expect wins from. Hopefully they win and we see continued development and growth all season

This; They will still be a playoff team and they'll have ability to land a big free agent in a year, however, highly unlikely they win a title, but for LBJ, this is much more about his family and future basketball life than necessarily winning a bunch more rings. And if he does win a ring...it will further cement his legacy as no one is expecting him to win. I think him not making championship in West is actually better for his legacy than losing more and more titles in the East (which is what would have likely happened had he stayed in the East...with the possible exception of Philly).

How many snaps did Smith get? I didn't see him out there very often.

This time might have been different, given the fact that he was not mobile. I kept wondering when we were really going to test his ability to be nimble and we didn't. The touchdown to Alison was just a thing of beauty. Not many QB's can make that throw....albeit, as Bears fans, we think they do cause we see Rodgers do it to us at least once a season if not twice. He's such a special player. The Bears lack of conditioning (whether it was because they didn't play in the pre-season or just more because it was the first game of the season) certainly reared its ugly head. Everyone was dying in that 4th quarter. Packers should have been as well, but I think the friendly crowd and momentum helped give them enough energy to push them over the top. Note, I don't know if the pre-season reps make a difference in full-game conditioning since they wouldn't have played it anyway.

As a reminder, early in the game, they handed it to Howard and he got stopped. Just pointing that out. The Packers made a nice tackle and Sims probably ran a poor route as he should have been about 2 foot further up the field (little things matter and had he done that, we are talking about a 1st down and if they don't make that tackle, potentially a huge play). Earlier in the game Sims literally ran into a guy instead of going towards the sideline where he could have gotten a first down. Sims is one of the things that worries me about pace, he literally looks terrible pretty much every time I see him (yet we handed him a pretty sizeable contract a year ago and than followed it up with Shaheen). Hopefully Burton isn't another one of his FA busts (or Arob). I won't call Gabriel because I don't think of him in the same camp as the other guys.

I'm not making a comparison, but look at Tom Brady's career progression (ignore the W/L record and the fact that he won the superbowl because of an elite defense). Just look at his statistics. He threw for 2800 yards in 15 games (14 starts) in his 2nd season (where he came in and took over for Bledsoe). Please know that I'm not saying Mitch will be Brady, I'm just saying, look at how pedestrian and vanilla he looked early in his career.

Fantastic post. I'll also say, I think the Packers have a good defensive line, especially against the run, and Howard made things look pretty easy. If the oline stays healthy as does Howard, we should be able to run the ball. Howard's hands also looked good. Hopefully he keeps that up.

He was solid in the second to last drive. That was a big drive and he made some good throws and was very much a key cog to moving those chains. They were just a play short. He and the bears will get better...I guarantee it....you will like the way the bears look!!!

You make a great point. While I thought Mitch looked poor that last drive, he made some nice plays on what could have been the game sealing drive. We are all saying different things about Mitch had they converted that 3rd and 1.

I’ll also remind people how after like four weeks Marc Trestman was the greatest coach in franchise history (vs. the worst).

Mitch wasn’t even bad. Mahomes looked great and let’s remember who spent a bunch of time last season coaching him.... Watson was lousy today against a mediocre patriots defense. Lots of qbs were mediocre and inconsistent to start their careers. It tends to be more the norm. Plus, I’m not even really judging that first year with whatever the heck offense they were running.

He d finitely wilted under pressure, but this was his first game in a new offense. I’m not surprised. I noticed quite a few plays where it looked like he missed a guy down the field. Mitch and the offense were playing not to lose the game vs playing to win the game and it got them. He looked like a guy afraid to make a turnover. That said, credit to packers secondary that did its thing. If Mack was in shape, I think we win that game. If Fuller makes the catch, we win. If Mitch hit like Robinson early in game in red zone, we win. 7 point dogs on road and should have won. Shitty was to loose but I’m more optimistic vs less as I expected them to get smoked. They will come out strong and win next week.

It wasn’t like he was terrible, but he had some open guys and nerves got to him. He’s not experienced and still developing. Does he suck, maybe he will, but this game isn’t proof of his long term success or suckiness. Lets cool the hot takes and see see how the season plays out. I still think by end of year we will all feel very good about franchises future.

He tried to be aggressive there. I’d have handed it twice but it’s one week and they better be ready next week.

Fully expected this. Mitch played scared in second half but d was tired and part of that I think has to do with fact Mack was tired and they hadn’t played a lot. Wideouts were gassed late too. Rodgers owns them. I always assume we will lose when we play him.

And Iowa’s defense is awesome and offense is meh. That said this looks like one of those Ferentz teams that ends up doing pretty good.

Julio put up big numbers, so lets not imply that Ryan didn't go to him. In the red zone they literally can't make things work.

Very reasonable deal though...pretty in-line with what I think everyone expected. Hopefully he stays healthy and takes another step forward.