Official 2018-19 NFL Thread

[Jack Parkman]

3 minutes ago, Kyyle23 said:

Your perspective sucks

Let's agree to disagree. Unmet expectations equal frustration. Much easier when you have no expectations. Disappointment sucks, and it takes all of the joy of watching sports out of it. I choose to have no expectations unless they are warranted. To each his own. 

Edited October 21, 2018 by Jack Parkman

[ptatc]

22 minutes ago, Jack Parkman said:

I hate being mediocre, which I think the Bears are. I either want to completely suck, like the Sox, or be really good like the Hawks were from 2010-16. Being mediocre is the worst type of torture. There is no pain when there is no hope. I think a lot of fans are coming to this realization, which is why full rebuilds are becoming more common throughout all sports. From my perspective, it is much easier to watch a team when there is no hope and enjoy the few good players your team has, rather than nitpicking everything that went wrong when your team is mediocre. 

They have a new head coach who had only 1/2 season as a play caller for experience. A QB who has only 18 NFL a d 13 college starts. They are going to be inconsistent.

What shouldn't be happening is the defense refusing to use their arms to tackle and only diving at the feet of the ball carrier. The defense refuses to tackle.

[Jack Parkman]

Just now, ptatc said:

They have a new head coach who had only 1/2 season as a play caller for experience. A QB who has only 18 NFL a d 13 college starts. They are going to be inconsistent.

What shouldn't be happening is the defense refusing to use their arms to tackle and only diving at the feet of the ball carrier. The defense refuses to tackle.

Defense is massively overrated. They may have greatly overachieved in 2017. 

[soxfan49]

1 hour ago, Jack Parkman said:

Let's agree to disagree. Unmet expectations equal frustration. Much easier when you have no expectations. Disappointment sucks, and it takes all of the joy of watching sports out of it. I choose to have no expectations unless they are warranted. To each his own. 

This post is odd. You said it’s easier to digest when you have no expectations but now you’re saying you’re disappointed. The Bears are probably going to win 8 or 9 games with a ton of talented players under 27 years old. I’m not sure what the Mack trade did to you but this offense is going to be a work in progress all year. Deal with it.

[soxfan49]

1 hour ago, Jack Parkman said:

Defense is massively overrated. They may have greatly overachieved in 2017. 

Every D looks bad when there is no QB pressure and it’s understandable that Mack & Hicks can’t be superheroes every Sunday. It’s time for the almighty Fangio to fix it.

[Jack Parkman]

7 minutes ago, soxfan49 said:

This post is odd. You said it’s easier to digest when you have no expectations but now you’re saying you’re disappointed. The Bears are probably going to win 8 or 9 games with a ton of talented players under 27 years old. I’m not sure what the Mack trade did to you but this offense is going to be a work in progress all year. Deal with it.

I really never had expectations, it was just a a comment in general. Even after the Mack trade I thought that 10 wins was an absolute best case scenario. 

The offense has been better than I had anticipated, and the defense has been much worse. 

Most likely they were going to win 6-9 games, and I stand by that. Despite some of my criticism of it, I am 100% behind the Mack trade as they were going to spend their 2019 1st on an edge rusher anyway and they only swapped 1st and 2nd in 2020. The 2020 2nd from Oakland is very likely to be in the 33-43 range. 

Edited October 21, 2018 by Jack Parkman

[Chisoxfn]

1 hour ago, ptatc said:

They have a new head coach who had only 1/2 season as a play caller for experience. A QB who has only 18 NFL a d 13 college starts. They are going to be inconsistent.

What shouldn't be happening is the defense refusing to use their arms to tackle and only diving at the feet of the ball carrier. The defense refuses to tackle.

Yes, Mitch and the wideouts left a lot of pints on the field but this game is in the defense and special teams. The defense has been very poor technique wise and Fangio has not been creative at all. 

They will win the next two. 

[Insp]

3 hours ago, Jack Parkman said:

That's your game, folks. They still have a long way to go. 9 wins should be considered a good season. 

What makes you think that they can win 9 games?  The way they played, they'd be lucky to reach the six wins mark.

[SoxAce]

1 hour ago, Kyyle23 said:

Your perspective sucks

Jack Parkman gonna Jack Parkman.

[soxfan49]

3 minutes ago, Insp said:

What makes you think that they can win 9 games?  The way they played, they'd be lucky to reach the six wins mark.

They beat 3 bad teams already and still play 3 bad teams. They’ll probably beat the Jets and Lions once too. That’s 8 there.

[Jack Parkman]

9 minutes ago, Insp said:

What makes you think that they can win 9 games?  The way they played, they'd be lucky to reach the six wins mark.

I don't, which is why I think 9 is a good season. They will almost certainly beat 2/3, if not all 3 of San Francisco, Buffalo and the Giants, and they have the ability to win a game against the Lions and next week vs. the Jets. There's 8 wins. if they win all of those games, and then one they're not supposed to, they have 9 games. Xavier Rhodes might have suffered a season ender for the Vikings, and Mike Hughes already has. They're down both starting corners in that case for the remainder of the season. With Rhodes/Hughes out for the season, the game at home vs. Minne just became winnable. 

Edited October 21, 2018 by Jack Parkman

[soxfan49]

5 minutes ago, Chisoxfn said:

Yes, Mitch and the wideouts left a lot of pints on the field but this game is in the defense and special teams. The defense has been very poor technique wise and Fangio has not been creative at all. 

They will win the next two. 

Yeah, and not to dodge criticism from the defense but they gave up 24 to Brady. If you had told me the Pats were going to score 24, I would have said the Bears will win. The ST is the scapegoat today.

[Chisoxfn]

4 minutes ago, soxfan49 said:

Yeah, and not to dodge criticism from the defense but they gave up 24 to Brady. If you had told me the Pats were going to score 24, I would have said the Bears will win. The ST is the scapegoat today.

It is the way the d plays. Soft and pathetic. Fangio has been so weak this season. We have had no creativity, just relying on individual plays. I’m not happy with the softness and way they have closed. James White shredding them for a couple first downs...no bueno. The lack of tackling, inability to generate pass rush lately, just a lot of nothing. Looks like a mel tucker defense with the amount of big plays and missed tackles the past two weeks. 

And man...no idea what was going on with Mitch’s passes today cause he made a lot of good reads but just had a ball that was floating all over the place today. Wideouts losing balls in the sun didn’t help either.

I also think they need to get more creative with Jordan Howard. Dropping back as much as they did concerned me. 

[soxfan49]

3 minutes ago, Chisoxfn said:

It is the way the d plays. Soft and pathetic. Fangio has been so weak this season. We have had no creativity, just relying on individual plays. I’m not happy with the softness and way they have closed. James White shredding them for a couple first downs...no bueno. The lack of tackling, inability to generate pass rush lately, just a lot of nothing. Looks like a mel tucker defense with the amount of big plays and missed tackles the past two weeks. 

And man...no idea what was going on with Mitch’s passes today cause he made a lot of good reads but just had a ball that was floating all over the place today. Wideouts losing balls in the sun didn’t help either.

I also think they need to get more creative with Jordan Howard. Dropping back as much as they did concerned me. 

Oh, I agree on the defense. I’m just saying that they only gave up 24 points today which by looking at that, they were decent. 

Trubisky was off today, no doubt about it.

As for Howard, I don’t know. I’m just not seeing it. He gets 4-5 yards every now and again but he looks so slow & most of his carries go for 1-2 yards. I’m afraid he isn’t a scheme fit and he’ll be traded in the spring.

[Chicago White Sox]

2 hours ago, Jack Parkman said:

I hate being mediocre, which I think the Bears are. I either want to completely suck, like the Sox, or be really good like the Hawks were from 2010-16. Being mediocre is the worst type of torture. There is no pain when there is no hope. I think a lot of fans are coming to this realization, which is why full rebuilds are becoming more common throughout all sports. From my perspective, it is much easier to watch a team when there is no hope and enjoy the few good players your team has, rather than nitpicking everything that went wrong when your team is mediocre. 

This team is not mediocre.  The defense is still top notch IMO despite the last couple games and the offense has a ton of interesting weapons.  There is a lot to be optimistic about here.  The problem is you can’t accept that Mitch is a work in progress and that he will have mediocre performances like today.  If/when it clicks, this team will have the potential to be extremely dangerous.  Whether that happens this season or not remains to be seen, but I’m certainly glad the necessary pieces are already in place in the event he does take that next step.  There was absolutely nothing fun about last year no matter how you want to spin it.

[Jack Parkman]

5 minutes ago, Chicago White Sox said:

This team is not mediocre.  The defense is still top notch IMO despite the last couple games and the offense has a ton of interesting weapons.  There is a lot to be optimistic about here.  The problem is you can’t accept that Mitch is a work in progress and that he will have mediocre performances like today.  If/when it clicks, this team will have the potential to be extremely dangerous.  Whether that happens this season or not remains to be seen, but I’m certainly glad the necessary pieces are already in place in the event he does take that next step.  There was absolutely nothing fun about last year no matter how you want to spin it.

No doubt the arrow is pointing up, I'm just not sure about the defense being as good as people say it is. They're a season or two away from being really good. Going from 5 wins to 8-9 is a huge step in the right direction. I really like what I've seen from Mitch, and I know he's young. They have too much youth at the most important positions(QB, HC) for me to get overly excited. When I'm saying that they're mediocre, I mean this season. I believe they will take a couple big steps forward in 2019 and 2020. I'm more responding to people that think this team should be making the playoffs this year, while playing in the most competitive division in football. They're on the right track, I don't doubt that. My posts saying they suck, etc. have been to point out that other's expectations are unreasonably high. Too many people drank the kool aid after the Mack trade. 

Edited October 21, 2018 by Jack Parkman

[Chicago White Sox]

2 minutes ago, Jack Parkman said:

No doubt the arrow is pointing up, I'm just not sure about the defense being as good as people say it is. They're a season or two away from being really good. Going from 5 wins to 8-9 is a huge step in the right direction. I really like what I've seen from Mitch, and I know he's young. They have too much youth at the most important positions(QB, HC) for me to get overly excited. When I'm saying that they're mediocre, I mean this season. I believe they will take a couple big steps forward in 2019 and 2020. I'm more responding to people that think this team should be making the playoffs this year, while playing in the most competitive division in football. They're on the right track, I don't doubt that. My posts saying they suck, etc. have been to point out that other's expectations are unreasonably high. Too many people drank the kool aid after the Mack trade. 

But is anyone actually saying the Bears should make the playoffs this year?  I think even the most optimistic fans have said Mitch would have to take big step forward and they’d have to have some good luck.  IIRC, your intial take was this was a six win team.  Clearly they are a better team than that and that’s all that people are really arguing.  

[Jack Parkman]

10 minutes ago, Chicago White Sox said:

But is anyone actually saying the Bears should make the playoffs this year?  I think even the most optimistic fans have said Mitch would have to take big step forward and they’d have to have some good luck.  IIRC, your intial take was this was a six win team.  Clearly they are a better team than that and that’s all that people are really arguing.  

I said 6 on the low end and 9 on the high. I stand by that. Mitch has progressed a lot more quickly than I had anticipated. He's still pretty green, but it is easy to see why he was picked 2nd in the draft. He's on pace to become the 1st QB in franchise history to throw 30 TDs in a season. I think it is pretty likely that he does that. He already has 13 on the season, and they still have 10 games to play. 

Edited October 22, 2018 by Jack Parkman

[Jose Abreu]

This was not a good game for Trubisky and we still put up 31 points against a team that was getting pretty good pressure on him. The offense has only gotten better. I believe the defense will improve once Mack gets healthy and the weather worsens 

[LittleHurt05]

So they can compete with any team, but also lose to any team. Its a major improvement over the past few years. They will be a touchdown favorite in the next 2 games, win those and you are 5-3 halfway through and a half game back at most in the division, with 5 divisional games left. While I bet they fall short, they can easily improve, beat their rivals, and host a playoff game.

[Jack Parkman]

13 minutes ago, LittleHurt05 said:

So they can compete with any team, but also lose to any team. Its a major improvement over the past few years. They will be a touchdown favorite in the next 2 games, win those and you are 5-3 halfway through and a half game back at most in the division, with 5 divisional games left. While I bet they fall short, they can easily improve, beat their rivals, and host a playoff game.

yup, nice post. 

 

[kwolf68]

1 hour ago, LittleHurt05 said:

So they can compete with any team, but also lose to any team. Its a major improvement over the past few years. They will be a touchdown favorite in the next 2 games, win those and you are 5-3 halfway through and a half game back at most in the division, with 5 divisional games left. While I bet they fall short, they can easily improve, beat their rivals, and host a playoff game.

 

Remember they were a favorite v. Miami too. That said,  you are right. But all that only happens with real progress with Trubisky, the defense gets back to what we think they can be, the receivers actually catch the ball, and special teams don't go clown city on us. If Nagy can clean up those things then yes the Bears could do something interesting, but the doubts remain. That said, the games have been kinda fun (though frustrating at times) to watch. 

[Harry Chappas]

The two picks he threw, the receivers should have worked harder......the two in the end zone offset those as they were terrible throws.  

Whoever the special teams coach is should be fired.  A punt earlier was almost blocked and then then there was the one that actually was blocked.

Good to see Kevin White do something as Allen Robinson is looking like a complete bust.

[Kyyle23]

4 minutes ago, Harry Chappas said:

The two picks he threw, the receivers should have worked harder......the two in the end zone offset those as they were terrible throws.  

Whoever the special teams coach is should be fired.  A punt earlier was almost blocked and then then there was the one that actually was blocked.

Good to see Kevin White do something as Allen Robinson is looking like a complete bust.

lmao wut

[bmags]

I'm much more okay with a "down" game with Trubisky that looks like this than the AZ/Seahawks games.

Pats are just real good at making the QB the guy to beat you while also making it very difficult on the QB (opposite of the fangio approach that appears to be "make it easy as possible for QB so long as they keep it in front of you"). 

The technique that gets so off with him is tough. That's something that's teachable but also something that many guys never learn. It felt like he gritted out a decent game, I do blame ST more (perhaps there was something wrong with parkey hence the never kicking longer field goals and the short kick that led to TD).

We are at a point now where the offense can play in a shootout. That's a development. The defense regressed, that's weird! I really hate this play where Mack is banged up and a little less effective...so we just completely remove him from the play and send him to coverage.