AZ54

I"m so old I remember when everyone was talking about how Trubisky had never thrown multiple TDs in a game. Or that he couldn't handle the blitz pickups and make the right read. I remember when he couldn't use his cadence at the LOS to get offsides penalties. I remember when he couldn't complete back-shoulder throws now we get them in the endzone and deep down the sidelines. Each week, or month, different criticisms tend to quietly fall by the wayside. Trubisky is now the best or second best rushing QB in the NFL. I'm so old I remember when DeShaun Watson, Dak Prescott, and Cam Newton were lauded for the dual threat capabilities even if their pocket passing efficiency was still a work in progress. Trubisky still has issues with mechanics at times, even he acknowledges that, but the inaccuracy on the deep routes looks to be the last hurdle he'll have to conquer. Despite that through 8 games he's improved considerably in this offense. Enough that he led the offense to put up 27pts against a top 10 Bills defense on the road and yet there is still meat on the bone. He's improved enough that coaches are adding new plays to the play sheet weekly. It might take a full offseason with this receiving corps, and this playbook, for him to close the deal on some of the deep route timing issues. Then again, considering his improvement over the first 8 games this year it might all come together in the last quarter of the season. For now defenses know one thing: They better respect and cover the deep ball because 1) Enough big plays have been made in the last 5 games to make it real threat and 2) Trubisky and Nagy won't stop going there and it can be for MIller, ARob, Burton, Gabriel, Cohen, or even Bellamy.

https://www.chicagobears.com/news/bears-vikings-game-moved-to-primetime

I don't understand this modern approach to sports where people can't celebrate a good ass kicking. I don't see too much negativity here but around the internet it's pretty bad considering the final score. You might think Trubisky kicked someone's dog. Wins are never perfect, even blowout wins. Entire seasons are much less so and especially with a young roster. I'm old enough to remember watching the '85 Bears and I can say some of today's fans would have been very critical of that team during the season. Take a look at some of those games and below is a summary of the Packers game we won 16-10. People would have wanted to bench McMahon and there'd have been criticism of Payton for not getting going until his 4th quarter TD. A Bears DT was the leading receiver in fantasy points too. It's sports and if we took the human nature out if and it were perfect I wouldn't watch it. We're winning games without some key players on the field. We're doing that by getting contributions from many players on both sides of the ball, and who that is differs from week to week. This is not the teams of the last few years where we were forced to rely on a few select players to have a good game or we lost. For me that is the biggest improvement this season and it's become very apparent the last month. My only regret is that I'm on vacation this week and won't be able to talk about teams in the playoff hunt with the Packer fans at work. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1985_Chicago_Bears_season "The Packers increased tensions in the Bears-Packers rivalry after putting horse manure in the Bears locker room. However, the Bears had the last laugh against their hated rival, winning 16–10, and Perry scored his first career receiving touchdown along the way. Green Bay's Mark Lee and Ken Stillsintensified the game after Lee sent Payton over a bench and Stills leveled Matt Suhey.[16] With the Bears in trouble and trailing 10-7 in the 4th quarter, a Steve McMichael safety proved to be the key play that turned the game. This cut the lead to 10-9 and the Bears got the ball at midfield following the safety free kick. On the ensuing drive, Walter Payton sealed the victory with a 27 yard touchdown run, putting Chicago up for keeps 16-10."

I only got to watch the last quarter of the game but I will take a 41-9 win every day of the week and I don't care how we get there. This is against the same team that held the Patriots to a 12-6 game through 3 quarters last week.

Nothing unusual there. Look at the offensive stats anyway you want and Bears are right around top 10. 9th in pts per game, 10th in yards per game, 11th in Offensive DVOA. Of course our Oline is great (not). WRs? Trubisky has done this while missing Anthony Miller for a couple games or he's at least played in a very limited fashion. Allen Robinson missed the last game and saw limited snaps the previous game. His #2 TE Shaheen hasn't even seen the field this year. As fans we're a hyper-critical bunch but there's zero chance the offense runs this well with the 27th best QB in the NFL. This guy is simply an idiot. Here's the excuses for players ahead of Trubisky: "Tennessee's run-run-drop approach on offense and Mariota's adjustment to Matt LaFleur's system has led to him holding the ball too long in the pocket and struggling with when to deploy his running skills." (Trubisky apparently needed no such adjustment to his new WRs and new system.) "Winston finished the game against the Browns as if his entire career in Tampa depended on it and he couldn't handle the weight. Four interceptions in Cincinnati later, his Bucs career may indeed be over. " "In the first two of those losses, Mayfield played better than his numbers showed. " (numbers don't matter...now I get it) "Carr will light up an opponent if he's protected well like he was against the Colts in Week 8, although that's true for the majority of players on this list. Carr has thrown two more interceptions under pressure, however, than anyone in football, according to PFF, despite rarely being pressured compared to his competition." (maybe it's that new offense he's dealing with) I'd put Trubisky around 20th overall. He's showing signs of moving into the top 15 and he'll easily be there if he can improve his consistency.

I completely forgot but I believe RB will be a position that gets addressed this offseason. Of course I still expect Howard, Cohen combo to continue but I think Cunningham's days are over and Nagy will want someone else with potential to fill that role. That most likely will be a draft pick.

I'd be ok with a 1-2yr contract extension for Floyd this offseason (not now) because he's still adding value to the defense at a spot we don't have a lot of depth. He's still here in 2019 for $5mil regardless. At the end of this year he's not going to cost much and I definitely want his cap hit well below the 5th year option cost. Yet it could give him some guaranteed money while he'd still be young enough to really cash in on his next contract. With the lack of draft picks in 2019 it'd give Pace another year or two to draft some depth at OLB, or at least see how Fitts or Irving develop. I don't know if he'd be interested in that but if he has another injury plagued year with few sacks playing opposite of Kahlil Mack he won't get much in FA anyway. He would probably be looking for a short term deal elsewhere again hoping to have a breakout season and then cash in. He'd be in the spot Aaron Lynch was in this past offseason so he has an idea what that value is. Fact is if he wants to put up big sack totals for a couple seasons he won't find a better spot than on this Bears Dline. He's got some good coaching too. If we let him walk in 2020 we likely won't see much of a comp pick either and I don't see teams offering us much in a trade this offseason.

I can see us grabbing a S in the 3rd over an OT if the value is there. For the TE it's clear we value the blocking aspect Sims brings to the table or he wouldn't be getting so much playing time over Brown or Braunecker. I realize Shaheen should step into that role as the starter but for depth TEs like that can easily be found on the 3rd day of the draft. If we want to go the other way we can find a tweener TE in the mold of Burton late in the draft. I don't see the team too enamored with either Brown or Braunecker in that role yet it's clear how valuable that move-TE position is in the offense. For CB I think Tolliver has shown enough to be considered at least a definite depth piece at CB if not a future starter. We have Prince, Fuller, Callahan, Tolliver, and then I have to give credit to McManis who has played decently in spot time. At the bottom of the CB depth chart why not keep a very good special teams coverage guy who can fill in capably if called upon?

We're are finally at the mid-point of the season. I'm curious what you view as our draft needs this offseason. As it stands now we won't pick until late in the 3rd Rd. Everyone knows Sims will be gone and that gives us $26mil in cap space. I expect a big chunk of that to be used to re-sign Callahan. Beyond that we just sign a few of our own players, or someone of similar talent, to fill out the roster such as RRH, Kush, Bellamy, LS Scales, and maybe Witzman. Likely departures Massie, Amos (I don't think they will pay him and Callahan), and the forementioned Sims. What then are the needs? The most obvious gap is RT if we let Massie leave. I think Coward will ascend into that role but I'm not sure the team will view him as a guaranteed option so he'll have competition. As I see it: 3rd Rd: OT 4th Rd: S 5th Rd: TE 7th Rd: OLB

I'm glad Golden Tate is out of Detroit. I'm surprised Philly gave up a valuable 3rd Rd draft pick for him when he's not likely in their long term plans. They seem to be a bit desperate adding a slot WR to roster when they already had Nelson Agholor playing effectively in that spot. The Rams are learning the hard way that missing edge talent on the defensive front matters. If there is a player who is more of a pass rushing bust than Leonard Floyd among former top 10 draft picks it is Fowler. Giving up a 3rd and 5th Rd picks for him is a high price for little productivity. At least Floyd is a very good player in the open field both in run defense and pass coverage. They went all in this offseason for the Superbowl this year and they are trying to add to that so I can't blame them for putting a few more chips on the table.

It's interesting to listen to Nagy as he'd coaching Trubisky. "It wasn’t a made-for-TV conversation. Nagy said he forgot he was wearing the mic about five minutes after he put it on and didn’t remember it was there until he was in his office after the Bears’ 24-10 victory. So it was a glimpse of how the most important relationship within the Bears organization functions behind the scenes." https://www.chicagotribune.com/sports/football/bears/ct-spt-bears-matt-nagy-mitch-trubisky-20181031-story.html

No but you also know it was a division game and they threw everything at the Patriots. It'll be hard for them to come back with as much emotion and energy against Chicago. Their D has talent and will be a good matchup for us on the road especially with a new RG. I noticed they didn't follow Fangio's lead and decided to get after Brady...and it worked.

We certainly want to see him develop into a starter but at this point it seems his career will be spent as a backup player.

What Nagy did giving each player a throwback jersey of their favorite Bears player was awesome, and it was great to see how the players responded to it.

Good win today. Jets were down a few players but so were we. It was hard to figure out the wind conditions because at times it looked calm then I see kicks and passes drifting. Nagy must have gotten in Mitch's ear at half time because in the 2nd half he was driving the ball much better.

I like Jordan Howard and to be honest it is understandable when a player to be a bit upset when he goes from bell cow to back of the herd. He's a 5th Rd pick but this is his livelihood so it matters to him. I'd be more concerned if he didn't care. As long as he keeps working good things will come his way but this offense is far too diverse for him to be what he was for Fox and Loggains. That much he'll have to accept. He could also use some better blocking and too often that has been poor. I really think Nagy focused on the passing game in the offseason both for Trubisky and the Offense overall. I'm not saying that's wrong because it needed the most attention but clearly the blocking assignments on some run plays are poorly executed. Hopefully they can get the running game details down soon and start opening more holes for Howard.

Under fire to improve things..yes. Just don't go full McCoy on him. Tabor is a good special teams coach and I believe he'll fix the issues. This whole team looks like a bunch of young players who got a bit arrogant after a great start to the season. Maybe in some ways our coaches did too. Everyone needs to go back to the basics. I believe we have the right coaching staff to make that happen and that includes Tabor.

Is Brady giving up the 14pts off special teams? I don't think so.

The eye test says it all because he's largely making the right reads now. That makes it easy for us to see his potential and the potential of the offense. If we kept the bad endzone reads w/ INTs as long as he hits those open receivers down the field nobody would care (much) and we'd be adding two more TDs a game.

When he was drafted the big concern with Floyd was if he could set the edge on run downs. Now he does that very well getting those long arms into the OT or TE and using his other arm to reach out if players try to go around him. But too often he won't use his arms on pass rushes and so the OTs just wait until he does a little move and then hit him in the chest. The fancy moves will work more often if he can build off some power moves but he never seriously challenges an OTs anchoring ability. I've seen him do bull rushes but he usually gets stopped after 2 yards and just outside the QB. I'd say he lost strength due to the hand injury but he was still fairly effective on run downs at least with his good hand blocking. In training camp the talk was about how well he was using his hands and arms. Then we get injury and it feels like he went back to his old pass rushing habits.

I agree 100%.. must win. https://forums.jetnation.com/topic/140607-sam-darnolds-growth-could-be-stunted-by-jets-mounting-injuries/

All of the focus has been on Trubisky and the offense but in reality they've done their part in 5 of 6 games, with the Cards game being the exception.

Why were we putting Mack in coverage so often and leaving our first round pick on the bench? Put all the player mistakes aside this is one strategic decision by Fangio that I still can't figure out. If you want to drop 8 in coverage put the best 8 coverage guys on the field especially when Mack has a bum ankle.

Howard has improved his hands but he's not as effective on the routes that Cohen can run. We typically just see him on little swing routes out of the backfield or quick routes/screens. However, I agree with you, and I'd actually like to see us give Howard an occasional double move route and go upfield a bit. I think we'll catch some LBs looking into the backfield and get a wide open look at times. Plus it will help to keep the D guessing. If I have to choose I'm taking the 30-40pts over winning TOP any day. Did you know we are 3rd in the NFL in TOP? Are you expecting with Howard getting more carries we'll move into 1st place? http://www.nfl.com/stats/categorystats?tabSeq=2&season=2018&seasonType=REG&role=TM&offensiveStatisticCategory=GAME_STATS&d-447263-n=1&d-447263-o=2&d-447263-p=1&conference=ALL&d-447263-s=TIME_OF_POSS_SECONDS_PER_GAME_AVG

I think the big stage got to him again just like in Green Bay. It's clearly something he'll have to overcome. Hopefully with more experience that stuff fades away.