AZ54

Kyle Long and Sitton are too experienced to be making these mistakes. Not all mistakes in the first 3 games are on them but clearly there are numerous issues on the Oline that need to be corrected for this running game to take off. http://bearswire.usatoday.com/2016/09/29/f...gainst-cowboys/

I didn't expect to go anywhere this year but the poor start is still disappointing. I think the D was good until Goldman, Trevathan, and Callahan left the field. The offense hasn't done them any favors at all. In terms of players my biggest disappointment has to be Bobby Massie. I knew he'd struggle in pass protection because he always struggled in pass protection in AZ. I expected he'd be good at run blocking especially lined up next to Kyle Long. That hasn't happened. If Massie doesn't improve very quickly we might be a week or two away from seeing Adams at RT. If the Oline and running game got going we'd be ok with Hoyer. Injuries have certainly impacted us since week 2 and the biggest loss is probably Goldman and Trevathan right behind him. That leaves a big gap up the middle and Will Sutton is not ever going to be a good NT because he gets moved around too much. So you are correct we don't have enough depth but we all knew that going into the offseason. We were a team looking to get decent starters much less better depth players. When I isolate on some of the younger players many seem like they belong on the field but they just have to learn how to play in the NFL. I like that Floyd has held up physically better than I expected on run plays but he's at least a year away from having the strength needed to play OLB, maybe he'll need a couple off-seasons. While we wait to see sack production for now, even with his rookie mistakes, he still offers more in coverage than any of the other options we have at OLB. Whitehair may be the stud of this last draft class and I think he will develop into a very good player for us. Bullard has to learn how to play with better leverage and he does not have the strength needed if he takes a mis-step. Kwiatkoski flashed on a couple plays in the Cowboys backfield but otherwise he easily blocked or lost on assignments. Still I'm glad coaches put him out there and I hope we get to see more of him this week. Jordan Howard has a better feel for the running game than Langford and I think he'll be more productive for us. Each week Kevin White looks more comfortable running his routes. I think his confidence grew last week and you see his emotions. He'll be working to make some more big plays at home this week. There are now players in starting roles that I was hoping wouldn't even be on the roster: OLB/ILB Christian Jones, S Prosinski, and ILB Anderson (he's gone now replaced by Timu who is a better football player but he's slow), and McManis (who is still good on special teams and not good in coverage).

Not a good situation with Carey also out. If Carey doesn't recover this week it will force the teams hand into bringing up another rookie, and then who do they cut to make room on the roster? Or do we go heavy and bring back Lasike?

I've actually never used the All 22. On NFL.com it is called Coaches Film. I have a Game Pass subscription just because it was a cheap add-on to the Direct TV Sunday Ticket, which cost just $100 for my college student to sign up. We stream the game through an Xbox unless it is a network broadcast. The Game Pass has a very good slo-mo feature, and a 10sec back/forward that makes it easy to review a play when you want to see what went right or wrong. All-22 would be best for evaluating QB play.

I still like the young talent we have on our roster and I'm most likely the only one. The roster is by no means complete but I think we have some good building blocks now.

A friend who is a Cowboys fan told me he isn't that impressed with Dak so far. He said he's very inconsistent on long passes (the knock on him in the draft) but that he's good on the short routes. Of course he's also good at scrambling around and that makes up for a lot. His biggest concern was that Prescott is ineffective and often makes bad throws in the red zone. Impossible to tell if our defense will be able to find any advantage in that mix especially with so many players out with injury. We might get lucky in the red zone but Dez Bryant can make up for a lot of inaccuracies on a pass. On the other hand it all likely means Dallas will focus heavily on the run game. My glimmer of hope for this game is that every Cowboy's fan has the name Jordan Howard etched in their mind afterwards and they are wondering why they drafted a RB in Rd 1 when Howard was available on day 3.

Sorry but once again you are the one blaming everything on Cutler, and you are right no veteran QB should ever attempt a pass when a defender is about to tackle him.

When I get to the weekend and I'm emotionally ready I'll go look at the All-22 and see if Langford is missing opportunities. I can't believe that we put Howard in and suddenly we were ripping off 5+ yards a carry. It's a small sample size but he deserves more opportunities.

Because clearly all that is wrong is Cutler's fault... http://www.chicagotribune.com/sports/footb...0922-story.html

We need more of this. Good pre-snap read of the play by Howard and I think we'll see more from him next week. http://www.chicagobears.com/multimedia/vid...ea-58ab68e544b9

Barkley is not the answer. If you like short/medium throws and 8 defenders in the box we might as well stick with Hoyer. It is really disappointing that Shaw broke his leg because he looked like a good backup QB for us, and if he had potential to be more we'd be getting a chance to see that now. IMO finding a QB requires one of two things: a) Luck (not necessarily Andrew but that'd be a good answer). Throwing a lot of darts at the board which is what Seattle did in Pete Carroll's first two seasons. Then the luck portion paid off with Russell Wilson. For all their genius is finding Wilson they are the same organization that traded a 3rd Rd pick for Charlie Whitehurst, started Tarvaris Jackson, and said this: "Seattle's front office later stated they had already picked up a potential franchise quarterback in the draft by acquiring Whitehurst with the 2011 pick". NFL history is littered with flameouts and surprises but statistically speaking you will need to use either 1st or 2nd Rd pick to get your QB. A third path is the reclamation project which is what the Cardinals did with Carson Palmer. I think we have to be bold and patient. Bold as in the proposal as Stinger said in his proposed trade for Connor Cook. I like the aggressiveness there but I just don't like Cook. Denver was bold when they went after Peyton Manning and still had Osweiller in the fold. That wasn't a slam dunk either given his recovery from his neck surgery. The patient part requires keeping Cutler around because with a good defense we can win games with him. Once we confirm we have a better option on the roster I'm good with moving on. Maybe locals can keep an eye on this kid: http://jetswire.usatoday.com/2016/08/18/pr...-deshone-kizer/ I expect Lasike back on the 53 once things get better but there are just so many injuries right now that we have to go in this direction.

Before the injuries I felt we were seeing the beginnings of a good defense. It was 3rd quarter and we'd given up 9pts. We still have holes to fill on the D and a lot of players need experience but there is only one way to get for them to get it. The offense OTOH is built to run even all the way out the big WRs who both block well. Yet we can't run the ball. More than anything else that bothers me.

I don't mind the concept as much as I'd rather see us trade for a good QB and not Connor Cook. I think Cutler is here next year unless the wheels fall off completely but he will be looking at his replacement. Until he tore apart his thumb he was not the reason the offense wasn't moving the ball. Unless he is key to run blocking. After the injury it was clear he couldn't throw a football.

The Texans will be the best Dline we face all season, and we had to do that in week 1 with a rookie at Center and a LG who had practiced with the team for 6 days. That said, Massie's weakness blocking on the edge was exposed and we're going to see that from time to time but hopefully with the interior players getting in sync Cutler will be able to step up in the pocket more often.

I get the number of attempts difference. I don't dislike Forte, nor am I glad he's gone. OTOH I don't mind that he's gone because I think it was the right thing for the future of the team. As far as 30 attempts to get to 100yds, I actually feel that trends worse towards Forte's part because defenses tend to wear down as running attempts go up but I didn't see the game so I can't say how or when the good runs happened, or all the short yardage situations. Matt's a good guy and keeps himself in excellent shape. He'll have a good year but I don't think he'll have 3 good years. I hope we give Howard some snaps this game. Fox sounded a bit upset that he wasn't on the field in week 1.

Trying to understand. Langford averages 3.4ypc in his first game and nobody is happy (for good reason). Forte leaves and averages 3.3ypc against Buffalo and that means he was a big loss to our offense. As I see it: Langford ends up as our change of pace back. Our bell cow will be Howard. Carey backfills when one is injured.

I know nothing about him but for Andy Reed to put him on the street like this is a huge red flag.

I'm glad Fox went with youth in this game. Whitehair did ok, a few misses here and there but considering the short notice and little practice at center, he'll be much better in just a few weeks. Floyd was ok but I can't understand why a player with so much short area quickness is always the last player off the line after the snap. He standing there reading the play before he goes into motion and he's not using his best advantage against OTs. Hopefully with more experience comes more understanding of how to read the play on the fly. Glenn might never relinquish the starting job to Fuller but at 185 lbs I doubt he'll hold up for the entire season. Hall impressed me too. For a guy with a slow forty time he finds a burst to get back in the play.

I like how Cutler and Massie are looking at Watt after this play. http://bearswire.usatoday.com/2016/09/12/w...rs-week-1-game/

Quietly it has slipped out that Whitehair will start at Center Sunday. I know there's a learning curve for him but I'll accept those issues and won't miss Ted Larsen one bit. http://www.chicagotribune.com/sports/footb...0908-story.html

Last year Eddie Goldman was out of shape too and he went through a learning curve as far as what the NFL is about. Floyd had no idea which team would draft him, for which scheme, and which role in that scheme. He was light for our OLB role when he came and I didn't expect he'd come in and be lights out right away. I think we're asking or expecting a lot for him to make that leap in just 4 months time. It took Cornelius Washington two off-seasons to get his body adjusted for the DE/DT role he's in now. Floyd is not being asked to make as big of a jump but it still takes more than a few months. As far as stamina I expected Floyd would be good with that, but then again he's now battling against bigger faster and stronger athletes than he's used to. That can wear out a smaller player but I haven't really noticed that much during preseason games. I always thought he was at least a year away from being a top contributor but I also think in the right sub-packages this year he's going to give us abilities in coverage and as an edge rusher that nobody else can do. If he falls behind Christian Jones on the OLB depth chart then I'll be worried. Could be worse: We could have Bosa with his leg wrapped up on the bench after 1 practice. Or Goff on the inactive roster as the 3rd QB behind players nobody knows.

I expected he'd get the start given the fact this is a road game and Whitehair hasn't had much time to adjust to snapping the ball, much less making the blocking calls. Then we've got a brand new LG who doesn't know the calls so having Larsen clarify things for him will help. Still it will be hard to watch Larsen getting blown up all game long. Hopefully Whitehair steps into the starting role within a few weeks.

How many extra points has Barth missed? In all honesty I think that's the death knell on Gould. It's not so much the extra point missed but the fact he is not getting the height off his kicks, or at least not consistently. IMO something changed and father time has caught up to his leg. I don't know that Barth is an upgrade but I imagine his price fits the performance a lot better. Gould will end up somewhere so we'll see how their seasons play out.

What they are telling us is this is his last season with the Bears and that other players like Bellamy and Meredith can now be productive 3rd/4th WR options, as well as Thompson out of the slot.

Fox said Center was Whitehall's best position. If you are Grasu recovering from injury that comment didn't feel good. Next year if Grasu becomes our backup OC and Whitehair is starting OC/Backup OG then we've done well for ourselves in terms of upgrading the interior of the Oline.