AZ54

Jackson couldn't have played much worse than he did yesterday. If Hall is looking good in a couple weeks I'm willing to give him a shot at FS.

Pace has put more talent on this roster than anything Emery did. Keep in mind Emery is about the lowest bar possible. Angelo, despite the complaints about him, did build a team that got to the Superbowl. Time will tell but Pace may have found the best piece for an NFL team in Trubisky. It's going to take time for him to improve his fundamentals and knowledge of the game. Wentz wasn't spectacular today, not IMO. Unless you missed his poor passes when he had time in the pocket. He made some great plays with his feet but other than that he looked like a good, but not great, QB. His team, especially the defense dominated.

Horrible game. Nobody showed up ready to compete. Eddie Jackson is killing this defense. Can't get in his gaps, can't tackle, can't cover, late to arrive for help on a deep passes. Missing Trevathan doesn't help things either but with Timu out there Jones again looks ok, except his blocking on punts was horrible. I see complaints about Hicks (Dline in general) but he's a gamer playing through his injury. We can't fault his effort. For those who don't appreciate how well Floyd holds up as an edge defender it should be clear after watching Irving get pushed around like a rag doll today. On the flip side Acho came to play today and he did well. Acho isn't starter quality as a player but he stepped up today. Oline didn't show up today, really nobody on offense did including Trubisky. They were beaten before they finished stretching.

The only way I see us winning is if Trubisky lights it up and I don't expect that. Plus we'll need a big turnover or special teams play. The Philly Dline is stout inside but we're really good on outside zone runs. Expect to see a lot of Howard off tackle but they have good speed at LB. Overall I'd say the odds of Jeffrey getting injured are much greater than the odds of us winning. Then again, that was true for most of his tenure in Chicago.

Dead last. For single seasons, in 2017, played WR, requiring Targets >= 79, sorted by descending Catch Pct https://www.pro-football-reference.com/play...er_by=catch_pct

I see two players we should target, both at one of the 3 key positions, with our first pick: Chubb or Connor Williams. If both are gone before we pick then we should trade down. Williams would step in right away at RT, maybe stay there for a few years until Leno's deal is done. I don't think having Williams at RT (instead of LT) is as big of a deal as it used to be since so many elite pass rushers line up at LDE now. Eventually he'll be the LT of the future. For now, give Trubisky one side he doesn't have to worry about the pass rush and he'll take care of the rest. If we find someone else to handle RT and move Williams to LT we can trade Leno after a year or two. Unless someone gives us an offer that's too good to refuse. That could happen as we'll be sitting right around the spot where the last of the good QBs will be available.

It's worth noting that Lamar Jackson is rising into the top tier of QBs for the draft. Darnold is still a question mark to enter the draft but if he does we'll see 4 QBs with early to middle 1st Rd talent. Teams will keep in mind that the 2017 crop of "bad" 1st Rd QBs has done well so far. The Browns look really stupid for passing on QBs early in Rd 1 three times in two drafts. They had #1 and #12 in 2017 and didn't take a QB with either. At least that's true for Watson and more and more Trubisky looks like the real deal. Mahomes hasn't had a shot yet but his lack of action won't alter the discussion either way. Then there are the struggles of Kizer and any QB taken after the 1st Rd. No Dak Prescott showed up in 2017, but finding a good QB on day 3 only happens once every 3-5 years. Besides, Prescott has looked less and less like an elite QB as this season wears on, especially minus Elliot. Once again, it all adds up for GMs and owners: If you want a franchise QB your best bet is to go all-in early in Rd 1 on the best prospects. To mix it up further, there will be two decent veteran QBs potentially available in Alex Smith and Eli Manning. With all this you can feel the QB-needy sharks starting to circle the prey.

By the way... Arden Key is sliding down some boards: http://bleacherreport.com/articles/2744978...latest-rankings

Yes trade down is the ideal. I don't like Arden Key at #10. Maybe in the late 1st early 2nd Rd I'd take him if he performs well at the combine. Every time I watch him play he does nothing exceptional. Physically he looks the part. I don't see anyway Ridley last into the 2nd Rd given how poor the WR draft is this year. At #10 I'd take first choice: Bradley Chubb DE/OLB. He fits the McPhee role but is more athletic, enough to drop into zone coverage at times. If he's gone I'd love to get Connor Williams OT. In fact Williams looks more like a future lock down LT than Chubb does as a DE so maybe that's the way to go should both be there. If we trade back, depending how far, then we put Ridley in the discussion but beyond him I really don't like the first round WRs this year. If not Ridley I'd wait until the 3rd Rd to draft one.

Pace and Fox knew Trubisky needed time to learn the game. Glennon, didn't give it to them. People have been all over Fox and Loggains because fans think they can't develop the QB. Trubisky had and still has shortcomings but he's clearly improved in 6 weeks. Somebody helped him get there. We're still waiting for the game where we know we got a good QB but I think it's on the horizon now. As Stinger said it's clear we have quite a few pieces of the future on the roster now. We look a lot like the 2014 Raiders and in some ways like the Eagles of last year: big concerns at WR, concerns in teh secondary. With the exception they have better players at both OT spots.

Quick notes from the game. Hicks must be hurting pretty bad. He was facing double teams most of the game but clearly is not 100%. He's a warrior and our leader on defense. Nothing today changed my thoughts that OLB is our top need heading into next season. Irving showed some flashes of good play in the preseason and now we'll find out if he can do anything in a real game. Expect to see more of RRH on the edge on early downs. McPhee might be the energizer of the defense, Hicks the leader, but Trevathan is the piece the makes it all work together. We need him back on the field. Marcus Cooper played like Marcus Cooper but I have no problem with coaches lighting a fire under Fuller. I'd like to see Callahan back on the field but today LeBlanc was a capable backup. On offense it is clear what a difference Kyle Long makes. He get criticized a lot from fans this year but he's playing through a lot of injuries. We'll get him right this offseason. Still love the guy despite his late hit penalty. He was looking away from the play so if the whistles aren't being blown how does he know? Saw signs of why we drafted Shaheen early, both in blocking and receiving. He's going to be a tough matchup next year after a full offseason with an NFL training program. This year is all about developing a rookie QB and again this week I see progress. He still makes errant throws with poor mechanics and you can tell he's reading things slowly at times. Hopefully as his mind catches up to speed of play he'll keep his feet under him more consistently. Overall he is starting to play quicker. Most remarkable through his first six games is that with all the new things he's trying to keep up with he's been pretty good at protecting the ball. Meanwhile Cutler threw 3 INTs today. Given all the obvious plays he's missing it's easy to see how over the next year or two Trubisky's completion % will improve quite a bit. His last two games he's completed 60%, a clear step up from his first few games.

I think that fact was completely missed or ignored by the fans here. As I said before there is nothing that shows the Bears are satisfied with Barth or consider him a long term option as our K. Bringing in Santos Thursday showed that and the pressure didn't improve Barth's performance today. I expect to see Santos wearing a Bears uniform within 2 weeks. http://profootballtalk.nbcsports.com/2017/...its-with-bears/

Came across this film study from a former NFL Offensive Coordinator.

I'm just waiting for the Trubisky breakout game. There will come a point in time where he sees the blitzes as his WRs see the blitzes and route and pass meet each other for big plays. I was hopeful we'd see some of that against the Packers but went home disappointed. I'm not confident this is the week either and I think to win we'll have to rely on a strong defensive effort. Without Trevathan I'm not optimistic that can happen. Last week after the game Trubisky basically called for having Josh Bellamy on the field more. I think that happened before the game too in some meetings with coaches. Lost in the frustration over his dropped passes is the fact that Bellamy can usually get separation and I believe he's far more likely to be in the right place at the right time than McBride was. We'll have to accept a couple drops in the game but Bellamy and Inman should be more productive on the outside than what we've had so far this season. With a little more confidence in his WRs I feel like we'll see a bit more relaxed Trubisky playing football his way than what he's done so far this year. If they can find success early it will open things up for Cohen who has sometimes faced top CBs when he's lined up as a WR. http://www.detroitlions.com/news/notebook/...e5-81f7efc6dccd Welcome back Cornwash... "Lions captains for Sunday are: Theo Riddick (offense), Darius Slay (defense), Cornelius Washington (defense) & DJ Hayden (special teams)."

He has my vote http://www.nfl.com/probowl/ballot?icampaig...Include_200x150

Every Trubisky completion, and there are more than 7 of them. I wish they included all attempts because it would be nice to evaluate his missed reads on blitzes and other plays. Nonetheless there is progress here that we haven't seen to date. Plus it's clear that even on the drive around 5min left in the game the Packers did not go into a full prevent defense although there were plays they'd have given up underneath routes. Trubisky still fired into the coverage past the 10 yard line.

Six weeks ago everyone was saying forget about the record, let the kid play and learn. We'll get and need a high draft pick anyway. He's doing that and the results haven't been fantastic but he's improving. Yet that record thing is now a hot topic. Inman fits in the Meredith category, maybe he's a tick slower in/out of his cuts but he's a heck of a lot better at getting open than Gentry. He's going to help Trubisky quite a bit.

4th quarter passing plays: 2nd and 7: Inman 14yds 1st and 10: Bellamy 46yd TD I'm not sure you could say GB was in prevent defense on the above drive which started with 13min left in the game Next drive starts with 5min left 1st and 10: Inman 17yds 1st and 10: Inman 12yds 2nd and 10: Brown 16yds 3rd and 10: Wright 4yds total 49yds Next drive w/ 1min left in game 1st and 10: Wright 11yds 4th and 10: Cunningham 5yds total 16 yds If you say GB was in prevent defense with 5 min to go they gave up 65yds of Trubisky's 297.

We've seen Trubisky progress over 5 games to now he throws for 297yds with no INTs and he's not progressing? Trubisky has seen every blitz possible in the NFL and he's thrown just 2 INTs in his first 5 games. Nobody would blink an eye if he had more INT's considering the constantly changing and poor quality WR corps. Clearly he still has much to improve upon but I just don't see how today's performance represented a step back, or even no improvement, in Trubisky's development.

I'm not sure how creative we can be on offense when our best WR has been with the team 2 weeks. I'm surprised to say that about Inman but it's clear how much of a difference he made today. To get him on the field they had to stick with a fairly small set of plays. For the first time I think Trubisky sees what it is like to play with a WR who can consistently get open against man coverage. I'm not saying Inman is a great WR, but he's at least an NFL WR. We really miss Trevathan on defense. There is no doubt he is the QB of this defense and without him on the field Jones falls back into his usual mental lapses. Fortunately he'll be back soon. I feel the same with Long on the Oline. The Oline shuffle just didn't work well for the running game today. Despite the loss of Trevathan I'm most disappointed in the defense. They looked gutless today. They need to regroup before the next game. Despite the disappointing loss there were some positives. Without Cunningham's fumble this offense puts up at 19pts and likely 23pts. While he missed quite a few plays this was by far Trubisky's best outing and we're starting to see progress. With Inman looking like a reliable target for him I think we all saw how Trubisky seemed to settle down later in the game. He finished with 297 yards so just barely missed his first 300yd game, and his previous high was 164yds. His last two game he's had 32 and 35 passing attempts. If his teammates, Oline (less penalties) and WRs will start helping him out a bit more we'll see some consistent offense from this unit. Sooner or later he's going to start reading these blitzes too and picking up the hot reads.

https://chicago.suntimes.com/sports/packers...tellus-bennett/ I didn't see this coming.

http://www.chicagobears.com/team/injury-report.html Looks like Whitehair will be able to play. Long is a bit more of a question mark with limited participation but I expect he'll find a way to play with the bad finger. It also appears that we'll have Grasu available to play. Trevathan DNP on Wed's practice so he might not be available Sunday. Could mean we'll see Kwit and Jones with Timu (full participation) as backup.

Sprain is not good, if it we're a strain he'd likely be able to play. This may end up a game time decision on this one so we may end up with Kwit and Jones at ILB.

If he'll follow his zone read blockers to the outside he'll find more success running the ball but he can't be a one-trick player like Hester was as a receiver.

After watching the MNF game I found myself wondering if the Packers did Trubisky a bit of a favor by revealing the defensive game plan they'll be using against us. They seemed to be blitzing often and from all angles trying to force some mistakes like New Orleans was able to do. I didn't get to see the game against the Packers earlier in the year so perhaps this is what they did there against Glennon? Regardless, I can't see why they wouldn't go after us in the same manner except we have a better running game than Detroit. Trubisky will finally need to get the ball out on a hot read but doing so could be more challenging with another new WR, Inman, on the field. Bulaga just went out with a torn ACL. I shed no tears. The Defensive front must take advantage and get early pressure as well as keeping containment on Hundley. He doesn't look comfortable staying in the pocket even though he tends to hold the ball a long time.