Jake

Murphy is a guy who IMO has a higher floor and equally high ceiling compared to all the catchers on the 40-man. At 22, it is quite reasonable to think that he is more likely to find his ceiling than any of the others as well. They have no reason to value him super highly and given his relatively modest ceiling, it makes much more sense for them to get a guy in Gillaspie who is probably going to be a similar MLBer but in a position of greater need and hits from the left side, which is always going to be useful for them. We got a top 15 prospect from a much better system for Matt Thornton, so let's not start acting like his prospect rating turns him into a god or something.

QUOTE (SoxAce @ Dec 22, 2013 -> 10:52 PM) Well Cutler is that guy. Question is, can people live with him forcing the issue which can lead to bigger plays, but more turnovers. He has proven to know how to run a West coast offense with Shanahan. Trestman might have a different terminology, but it's still the same philosophy. He is the best QB the Bears have had since Luckman, but that isn't that impressive in our history. Should the Bears stay with him or Josh in a short window to win, or are they better off drafting and grooming a QB, surrounding him with more talent as the Marshalls, Fortes of the world start to age a bit, and then see what you got (with a right side, young OL and Jeffrey's potential as a #1). The latter two can be done simultaneously.

QUOTE (The Ginger Kid @ Dec 22, 2013 -> 01:36 PM) Smart move by Texas. '15 FA market doesn't look that great. Get him now. Yeah and that '19 FA market looks like s*** too!

I just don't think the joke had anything to do with the definition of Downs Syndrome. If it was meant as a criticism and thus was a joke that was made at someone's expense, I wouldn't like it. I'm not going to beat my chest about my Downs Syndrome cred but it has certainly touched my life and that comment did not strike me, even for a moment, as out of line

Yeah, finals probably just wrapped up a week or two ago and they probably brought the kid to "trial" with a regulations board/honor council something like that

Getting Briggs back made us all optimistic but he looked like as bad of a player as any other on the defense.

You could say that we had no chance to win with this defensive play and you'd be right. But you also have to concede that there is no good reason to believe that our offense looked like a group that could lead us to a win either.

Championship intrigue continues on in my league into Monday. I'm down 114-120 now with Vernon Davis as my lone player remaining and nobody for my opponent. Non-PPR league. It looked like he would blow me out with Foles and Jackson, but neither ended up with big fantasy numbers. I didn't get a ton from Brandon Marshall, but enough. It would be a blowout if I hadn't started Cousins over Dalton........

The defense is bad. Really bad. Maybe Mel Tucker should be fired. I'll let our Scout-in-Chief Emery decide whether Tucker deserves to get another year with different personnel. They lost us today's game. What we need to figure out is whether Jay Cutler is worth our investment. Not whether he is worth the franchise tag or a long-term deal. Is he worth any deal? Are we better off rolling with a mixture of McCown/rookie/cheap FA project for the long-term future or Jay Cutler? These are the choices. We have a great offensive core locked up for a few more years. Best WR tandem in the NFL. A top-5 RB. A very good TE. An OL with real potential. If you sign Cutler, you're saying that core lives and dies with him. Are you comfortable with that? These are the questions we have to sort out. Jay is not showing me he's worth the time. McCown may or may not outplay Cutler next year, but the monetary investment will be relatively small and you'll be free to open the door to the next guy if it isn't panning out/you have the next guy ready. I've been a huge Jay fan. I've been the guy DA is mocking in this thread. I don't think I believe in [the boy from] Santa Claus anymore.

QUOTE (LittleHurt05 @ Dec 22, 2013 -> 10:10 PM) Better now than next week with the division on the line The division means little. Whatever Trestman thinks is necessary to figure out who next year's QB should be is what he should be doing

This will be when McCown crashes back down to Earth

QUOTE (Dick Allen @ Dec 22, 2013 -> 10:06 PM) That isn't Jay's fault. That't on Trestman. If he called a running play, that INT never would have happened. Huh?

QUOTE (chw42 @ Dec 22, 2013 -> 10:05 PM) Put in McCown? Now he's played so bad we can't pretend we're protecting his health

Boykin surprises Jay Cutler with "the most basic zone defense ever created"

QUOTE (Soxfest @ Dec 22, 2013 -> 10:02 PM) Draft be nearly all defense and free agents they bring in will be defensive. Unless something really impressive happens in 7 days, I expect a QB to be drafted as well.

Looks like Brandon has mentally checked out

QUOTE (Dick Allen @ Dec 22, 2013 -> 09:59 PM) It will be interesting to see how Emery plans to fix this defense. They need help everywhere. A huge factor that requires input from the defensive coaches is figuring out which guys are truly worthless, which have looked bad because of how bad the entire team defense has been, and which ones are likely to actually get better.

Wright is worse than Conte IMO. I don't want to see either of them, but if I had to have one I'd take Conte

QUOTE (scs787 @ Dec 22, 2013 -> 09:52 PM) Please let us know, because I think it's getting overblown. They already grade our line as nearly the worst at pass blocking in the NFL, so they certainly won't be taking it easy on them

PFF credits sacks to the QB if he holds it too long for it to be reasonably blamed on the line/linemen. I wonder how many they'll give to Jay

QUOTE (Chisoxfn @ Dec 22, 2013 -> 09:44 PM) They were down 21 0 and forte, d and Devin and Maynard put us in a bind. No one could have saved that. Can't believe you'd smear Brad Maynard's name like that

No blitz? Quick dumpoff

I think most fans knew ahead of time it could very well require over 40 points to win this thing. It is also fair to say that a competent offensive performance is also a fairly effective point prevention method as well

QUOTE (Dick Allen @ Dec 22, 2013 -> 09:39 PM) I am thinking all this trouble getting the ball snapped over the years that has been blamed on the coaching staff, might be misguided. It didn't happen with McCown. Indeed. Only time I saw that happen was in McCown's first game

According to Cris Collinsworth, Matt Forte's ass cheek dropped the ball