AZ54

https://www.chicagobears.com/news/roster-moves-bears-activate-shaheen-move-sims-to-ir This is good news. I'm surprised they are putting Sims on IR and effectively this is the end of his Bears career. They would rather have Smoke Mizzell in the mix and apparently prefer Brown and Braunecker at TE as well.

Lose and he plays poorly and it will be a bunch of "I told you so" on Monday. If he plays well and we win we're going to need a bigger bus for all the bandwagon media. The most likely outcome is a middle of the road performance because they have a good defense.

https://www.nbcchicago.com/blogs/grizzly-detail/chicago-bears-minnesota-vikings-anthony-barr-andrew-sendejo-500701671.html No word on Shaheen. Team is keeping this one very close to the vest. Sims is ruled out for sure so we really need Shaheen this week. I expect him to come off IR on Sat.

I believe we'll have to overcome some mistakes to win this game. I also think it will be the same for the Vikings. That showed up in Week 1 against GB. I believe the Bears have grown a lot in recent weeks and there is more belief among players they can affect the outcome with a single play. This is all part of becoming a playoff contender and I really look forward to the matchup and seeing how far we've come in this process.

3rd and 2 and Rodgers threw the ball in the dirt. I'd love to see him get the Trubisky treatment. Calling Michael Lombardi!

There is no doubt improving the passing game is Nagy's focus. However the Bears have the 11th most rushing plays in the NFL. Nagy is not disregarding the run plays but he is definitely sharing the workload among his RBs. There are some extenuating circumstances for Howards poor YPC such as some games where he's just grinding out the clock on back to back possessions. Still it's clear he's not seeing things as well in this offense and his favorite off-tackle stretch plays more often than not seem to go to Cohen. Howard is a very good back but he's not one to bounce a play from a closed hole in the planned gap to an open hole in the next gap, much less two gaps over. In short, there's no jump cut. Kareem Hunt has a lot of similarities to Howard but I think he has a little more lateral quickness. I think this offseason we are likely to add an Alvin Kamara type RB.

Not bad for someone who can't throw half his passes in bounds. https://www.nbcsports.com/chicago/bears/mitch-trubisky-named-nfc-offensive-player-week

https://www.chicagobears.com/news/bears-players-visit-children-s-hospital It's awesome to see 33 players give up their day off to visit a children's hospital, especially given the very tight schedule they have in the next 10 days. Best wishes for Will Rodgers' daughter in her battle with Leukemia. We usually see this stuff in the offseason when players have more time available and even then I don't recall seeing a group this large. I think it says a lot about the character of the players on our roster.

Actually the Bills have a better defense than the Vikings. It might not seem that way because they get zero help from their offense. Giving up just 4.9 yards/play is 2nd best in the NFL while the Vikings are 7th and give up 5.3 yards/play. The Bears are right behind Buffalo at 5.0 yards/play. The Vikings are still a very good and sound defense. With Everson Griffen back that helps them but we have Mack back in action. My point is just that Trubisky has already seen this kind of pressure and stout run defense and that was on the road where audibles are hard to do. If you consider the defenses an even match, and on offense there is reasonable mix of good talent on both sides. This game could simply come down to how well Trubisky plays versus Cousins. That should be a huge advantage for the veteran Cousins. I know this much, a veteran team like the Vikings is going to arrive ready to deliver a knockout punch. I think we can deliver a few of our own.

Interesting approach to the analysis. I'm not sure about the ranking at the end of it.

I scanned a couple Vikings forums last night. Since they've been on a bye there were plenty of comments before we played Detroit and they were pretty much of the usual variety talking about the upcoming easy game, Bears are over-rated, etc. The tone changed after we won Sunday because that is the same Detroit team (think active players) they faced and they didn't dominate them like we did. They still have trouble pass protecting and we must take advantage of that in a big way. Cousins will throw up a prayer now and then when he's under pressure. On offense we could use a boost from Shaheen. At a minimum I'd like to have Sims on the field again to help contain some of the edge rush and help the running game. I'm sure someone will say he's not very good blah blah but he's a better blocker inline than Burton, Braunecker, or Brown.

Based on QB Rating, which has it's demerits, Trubisky is now ranked in the top 10 NFL QBs with a 101.6 rating for 2018. He is ahead of Newton, Roethlisberger, Watson, Rodgers, Luck, Brady, Stafford, Carr, Dalton, Garropolo (limited stats), Mariota, and Prescott. I'm not saying he's a top 10 Qb, but on that list there are many QBs who have been paid a ton of money. He's played just 17 games in the NFL and he's not getting much help from the running game. I don't know how the national media can keep putting him at 28th best in the NFL.

Certainly Bears fans are starting to burn their Trubisky jerseys. How many fans are even old enough to even remember seeing this type of performance from a Bears QB in a season before, let alone 9 games? https://www.nfl.com/gamecenter/2018111100/2018/REG10/lions@bears "This was Mitch Trubisky’s 3rd game this season with 300+ passing yards and 3+ pass TDs, the most by a Bears QB in a single season since 1950." "Mitchell Trubisky has 2+ passing TDs in each of 5 home games this season"

Trubisky is starting to breakdown the complex defensive coverages. https://www.bleachernation.com/bears/2018/11/08/week-9-video-room-mitch-trubisky-is-starting-to-take-to-matt-nagys-coaching/

Not too quiet... https://twitter.com/adamjahns/status/1060600800534241280?ref_src=twsrc^tfw|twcamp^tweetembed|twterm^1060600800534241280&ref_url=https%3A%2F%2Fbearswire.usatoday.com%2F2018%2F11%2F08%2Fallen-robinson-declares-himself-100-percent-healthy%2F

Me too, I really wanted Cam to stick around but at that time we didn't know what would happen in FA. Even so it looked like we'd be better off with him than without him. Javon Wims your time is now, make the most of it.

The good throws when he's off-platform are when he stops thinking and just plays the game. Being too deliberate with his throws was a common issue for him very early in the season. You could see he was more trying to place the ball than just throwing it out there. That can also come from not being certain how the receivers are going to run the route and being uncomfortable with the timing of the play. HIs footwork though is still an issue at times and has led to some errant throws, even on short passes. I worry less about those things because over time and with experience it is correctable. Bad reads into triple coverage in the endzone? I don't want to keep seeing flashbacks to the Cutler era. As I said before when looking at the list of things he had to improve upon at the beginning of the season starting with snaps under center, calling protections, knowing when to change plays at the LOS, throws to his left, reading defenses pre and post snap, knowing when to step up in the pocket vs. when to run, throws downfield, throwing multiple TDs per game, and I"m sure there are more, he's come a long way in just 8 games.

Shaheen represents another chance to take advantage of a defense's weakness. They can't all be on the field but having a viable 2 TE pass catching threat definitely changes what Nagy has to work with when calling plays.

Yeah he's still on the journey to being a top 10 starter but as of now I feel he's definitely in the top 20 and very close to a top 15 QB. I do think it will take the offseason for him to fully settle into the offense and that will allow him to again focus on the fundamentals of the position. Just 8 weeks ago he was still working through how to call the plays in the huddle. I'm really curious to see what this offense looks like when Shaheen is out there with Burton. Once Trubisky gets outside the pocket to extend a play, if Shaheen was in blocking then he can release up field and actually catch the ball. He's a big safety valve right in front of the QB. Reportedly he's close to returning and I'd really like to have him on the field against the Vikings in two weeks.

I forgot to add the complaint that Trubisky can't throw to his left. Early in the season there were also fans upset about all the passes behind the LOS.

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.