AZ54

I'm not sure you could put together numbers in a more meaningless way than Total QBR. Rodgers threw for 77 yards with an average of 3.5/catch, an incredible 10pts on offense, and he's ranked 11th in Total QBR. That is above players like Brady who's team put up 36pts in a win over Miami while throwing for 356yds, 9.4/catch. http://espn.go.com/nfl/qbr/_/type/player-week

I didn't notice this during the game: http://www.chicagotribune.com/sports/footb...1102-story.html The loss of center Hroniss Grasu to a neck injury forced a switch that moved left guard Matt Slauson to center, shifted right guard Vladimir Ducasse to left guard and brought Patrick Omameh in to play right guard. I'd say the Bears are taking a look at Omameh to become our starting RG over Ducasse. Earlier in the year Omameh came in and played LG when Slauson moved to C so that seemed like the logical move again. Instead they made two changes pulling Ducasse over to the left side. We know Ducasse won't replace Slauson when he can move back to LG.

That's true but Langford needs some experience so he can start seeing these things. He has to be able to combine what he sees real-time on the field against what the film shows afterward. I think the light will go on.

It didn't look that bad when he got hit. Hopefully he's back by Thanksgiving.

First I have to admit the free tequila shots at the bar made this game feel better than it was. Cutler: With another Oline combination in front of him against a strong pass rush threat he kept his composure and stayed within the game plan. Overall a good game with no turnovers. Oline: I think these guys were the cause of all the conservative play calls early in the game. With interior line of Omameh, Slauson, and Ducasse I believe Gase didn't want big mistakes early and allowed the Oline time to settle in and get a feel for the inside pressure the Vikings like to bring. Later on he opened up the play calling. RBs: Forte is still a good RB but he's not a big play threat. Langford is and despite his bad drop that could have helped us seal the game with a victory he needs more carries. WRs: I can't see how there will still be any trade talk about Jeffrey after this game. Nobody else stands out among this group but part of that was the pressure the kept Cutler moving around a lot. I expected to see more from Royal this week. TE: Marty where are you? Dline: Pass rush is non-existent. Often had some big holes for their running game. Some of that I think is on the LBs who at times completely disappeared. The line's biggest asset was that Teddy Bridgewater was throwing the ball. ILB: I might be alone on this but I really want SMC back on the field. Jones made a couple splash plays but he's often late to the show or can't even be found. The players sharing the other spot on the field are lost. I shouldn't expect much more than that seeing as they are off the street or practice squad but this is a need area. There's nothing spectacular about SMC but the D as a whole played their assignments better when he was out there. OLB: Aside from McPhee it's the same as ILB. DBs: Fuller played well and finally we have an INT. Amos and Rolle were big in run support early in the game. Rolle stood there as a WR ran in front of him to catch a pass and that turned the game. There were WRs open throughout the game that a better QB would have made us pay for. Bryce Callahan was on the field quite a bit. Not sure how well he did overall but he did show some good athleticism on a couple plays. Coaching: Once again we were right there at the end and while there are no moral victories these coaches seem to be getting the most out of the talent they have.

I'd be perfectly fine if they cut Mariani tomorrow and signed Hayne to return kicks. Meredith was inactive today but IMO he can easily replace any production Mariani gives us at WR, if not more. Hayne is a threat with the ball in his hands, Mariani is not.

There aren't many but it's not hard to find a Forte fumble that has cost us a game or two in the last two seasons. Nor is it hard to find Forte's missed blitz pickups that have caused some negative plays. I agree, we can't isolate on that one play. The burst Langford shows over Forte is noticeable in his first two steps. We need that on the field.

Making a deal for either player is very tempting. I doubt we go after them since we're more likely to highly value our draft picks than a team that is better established. Thomas and Mack are signed through the 2018 season so you'd get 3 years out of them on their current deals. Not sure I like the idea of paying Mack $8mil/yr but Thomas at $10mil/yr is far better than Bushrod at $8mil/yr.

I like what we saw from Langford. There is a lack of vision at times but the only way that improves is with game experience. Not sure how badly Forte was injured but even if he is back we need to keep giving Langford at least 10 carries a game.

I'd take a chance on this kid. http://www.nfl.com/news/story/0ap300000056...kendall-gaskins With our WRs getting healthy, and some young ones like Bellamy and Meredith showing potential we won't miss Mariani much if he were cut. I think the 49ers put too much on Hayne's plate with this being his first year playing football. He's an excellent athlete but they had him doing returns and also getting snaps at RB. Just keep him focused on returns and give him another offseason to settle into the NFL environment, playbook, etc. before asking him to play RB.

Hits keep on coming for Goff's draft stock. http://www.nfl.com/news/story/0ap300000056...-top-college-qb Others are right, I haven't watched any OSU games so I really have no clue on how Cardale Jone's has done other than the fact he got benched, which isn't a good sign. Right now it seems clear there are no QBs worthy of going in the top 15 of the 2016 draft. There is still Cleveland whose history shows no fear of taking average QB prospects in the top 10.

There is absolutely no way we trade Cutler unless someone throws a couple 1st Rd picks at us. That won't happen. He hasn't shown enough to any other team to increase his value...there is still time to regress to what he's been. OTOH to our staff he has clearly shown signs of improvement so there's no reason for them to bailout now when his backup is horrible and the top QBs in the draft are looking worse and worse each week. No QB means no wins...ask Houston Texans how it's going for them? If one thing is clear our coaches want and expect to win in Chicago. They know this year isn't going to be easy but you listen to them talk about building the roster and they know where they are going long term. Jeffrey...any thoughts about trading him went out the door after the Detroit game. For Jeffrey to come back after all those weeks and put up the kind of numbers he did was very impressive. This is a completely new offense and after missing preseason and most of the regular season nobody would have questioned if he struggled a bit in that game. Again, we want to win sooner than later, we have cap space, and so no reason not to keep him around while Kevin White develops (hopefully). Forte...if the offer is good you take it. Love the guy but I love the future Superbowl ring more and I don't think he'll be here long enough to see that happen.

I'm still wondering how a 300b man this athletic can't get more than 12.5 sacks in 5 years. It's easy to see what got him drafted in the 1st Rd. I get the whole "jumping out of a pool doesn't mean a thing" in terms of playing football but OTOH the physical traits are there so the question becomes "what is missing?" Attitude? Film study? Knowing and executing his assignment? Workout dedication? Just because he was working hard in 2012 doesn't mean he did so in other off-seasons. It's not like the Steelers can't develop Dline players so I'd say he's had the proper coaching. Nobody knew Ratliff was going to blow up as he did yet the Bears were very quick signing Hood so they clearly already had interest. He's late to the program so I don't expect he'll be anything other than what he's done throughout his career as compared to a guy like Jenkins who had the entire offseason to work with the coaches and has pleasantly surprised us with more pass rush than he's shown in years past. As street mid-season FA's go he's a better prospect than what Emery brought in mid-season to help the Dline get past injuries.

Looks like Grasu is questionable for Sunday with a neck injury. https://www.google.com/url?sa=t&rct=j&a...vWAun6EHkMFyLMQ

I'm in complete agreement with you here. Dallas is going to get that which they cultivate in Greg Hardy. Enabling and even rewarding him for his antics means you get more antics. Even Jason Garrett's words the next day...."that wasn't exactly the time and place for that"... which means what? There is a correct time and place for Cowboy's players to be disrespectful to a coach? Grab your popcorn and sit back and watch this show. I'm glad Pace was decisive with Ratliff. These are decisions that have long term benefits even if the short term suffers with the loss of a good player. Will Sutton is now the most senior Bears Dline player in terms of games played with the team.

I don't think I'd mind this change at all. I didn't like Ducasse when we signed him and he hasn't played well enough to date to change my mind. Scout.com is reporting he's on the hot seat with possibly Omameh getting a look soon. http://www.scout.com/nfl/bears/

Of those options I'll take the CB Ramsey in the 1st Rd.

Great article. What I found most interesting was the scouting report line about the lack of confidence. It's a contradiction in that on the field he felt he had to make it happen and it worked in high school and for the most part at Vanderbilt simply because he was able to make that team competitive. Knowing he lacked some self-confidence and carry that over to the NFL where everyone critiques everything you do it's easy to see why he became so reclusive and standoffish. Urlacher's comments and cold locker room reception certainly didn't inspire any confidence that his new teammates accepted him. Mix in Lovie's lack of knowledge of what an offense should be doing basically just handed it all to Cutler and said make it happen. The team that got off the bus running usually got on the field passing and if that didn't work whose fault was it? Rinse and repeat each week after saying we're going to run the ball. Roll that up along with the years of media and fan backlash and it fits perfectly with the moody guy we often saw. It's common to see someone who lacks confidence get defensive or lash out a bit at those who challenge them. Or even just go stand off to the side by themselves so they don't have to hear it. That horrible game after Kromer publicly criticized Cutler and Trestman did nothing about it. That's not how you build confidence in a player. Enter last offseason after his big contract and subsequent complete tear down of the Emery/Trestman era. Suddenly we heard Cutler speak like the guy next door with humility, acceptance, and understanding. For the first time we saw a guy that was confident in just being himself even while he acknowledged his own shortcomings and responsibility for what had happened. I think that is what we see now when he's in the pocket. He's no longer approaching it from the standpoint of "I have to make a play... or else" to now being confident he can find the best play out there even if the best option is taking a sack for a loss. He's stayed that way despite losing 2 Olinemen and 3 WRs to injury, despite playing from behind late in games, despite throwing INTs or fumbling in the end zone, and despite other players making some critical mistakes like dropped passes.

I'm good with that. Oline: It's early but between Leno and Grasu playing well enough to be keepers and quite possibly starters long term it is taking pressure off the Oline needs. We don't have enough games with those players yet to make that determination but we will by the end of the season. I don't see anyone trading for Bushrod, an average LT with a bad back this season. We can decide where to go with him in the offseason but kicking him over to RT with Leno at LT puts Long back at RG. That could be a decent starting 5 with Tayo developing as backup OT and maybe competing for the starting job at RT. I figure Tayo must be showing something good in practice or they wouldn't have kept him on the active roster. If we cut/trade Bushrod before the start of next season it is because they feel Tayo is ready to play. Ducasse becomes backup OG and we can certainly (should) get more FA competition for that job too. WR: We will not be taking a WR in the 1st Rd no matter what next year. We actually are developing some good depth in Wilson and Meredith. Top 5 WR for 2016 could very well be set: White, Jeffrey, Royal, Wilson, and Meredith. If you want a 6th WR on the roster Bellamy has been productive but we will bring in some competition here likely in the form of a returner. QB: Cutler has shown enough and if this continues should be our starter next year. Bring in a day 3 QB in the draft to compete for a backup spot. That leaves RB: I'll assume Forte leaves. We will need to either bring in a decent FA or spend another 4th/5th Rd pick to bring in more competition for Langford and the players behind him. On the defensive side of the ball there are far fewer reasons to be optimistic than the offense. Safety: We have the continually improving play of Amos. HJQ looks like a keeper long term but I'm not sure he'll develop into a starter. Rolle's contract says he'll be back in the mix next year. If you have an elite S in Rd 1 no issues grabbing that pick and that would make this a strong group. I'm not a big proponent of using early picks for safeties as I think Dline are more impactful. CB: Who knows? Gotta have FA and early draft attention here. OLB: McPhee and a couple serviceable players in Houston and Acho. Houston hasn't shown much yet in the pass rush but he is working his way back from the knee injury. We'll know more about him by the end of the year but regardless this group is missing one key component: Speed. That has to be addressed early in the draft. ILB: I figure SMC sticks around as a starter because he's been solid. I wouldn't mind drafting a 2nd/3rd Rd player to lineup next to SMC. Jones is developing slower than I hoped but if he were the 1st backup next season that wouldn't be bad depth. Dline: At the moment we have just Jenkins and Goldman. Sutton and Ferguson haven't shown enough to think either are more than rotational players. With Ferguson on IR we won't know if he can be more. Goldman might develop into a star but he hasn't flashed big plays often enough to make me think that will happen. If Goldman were next to a star player then I think teams would have a lot of trouble controlling the LOS against us. That makes all the other players behind them look better. Start here in the offseason. I'm curious what Fangio and his crew will get out of Ziggy Hood. He is very athletic yet hasn't been able to turn that into production on the field. He clearly has the work ethic to get in shape for the job, at least he did a few years ago when this video was made. I'm not expecting much but then again I wasn't expecting much from Jenkins. Can Fangio help him find the missing piece to the puzzle? When you are signing guys off the street mid-season you can do worse than this one. Equally interesting are the comments below the video from the Steeler fans.

Right now the most important need is more pass rush from the Dline. I don't think that changes between now and the draft. If a DE is rated high enough he'll be our pick if he's not rate that high we'll go BP. i

Shocking as he was listed as our only good Dline player in training camp. He hasn't played well in the last two games so I agree there is likely something going on behind the scenes we don't know about. Whatever it is these guys do not mess around. http://www.chicagotribune.com/sports/footb...1022-story.html

Way down at the bottom Eddie Goldman is on their "5 To Watch" list. He won't put up big enough numbers to be in the discussion at the end of the year but his improved play is getting noticed. Point is just having two rookies in the discussion at all is a good thing.

http://espn.go.com/blog/chicago-bears/post...d-jones-quartey “For safeties there aren’t many teams that put two rookies back there,” Donatell said. “We’ve done it now for a couple of weeks and I feel good about what they’ve done.” Donatell thinks Amos is a ‘rare’ first-year player. The 2015 fifth-round pick has been entrenched on the first-team since the second week of the preseason when he unseated Brock Vereen.

http://espn.go.com/blog/chicago-bears/post...nd-charles-leno LAKE FOREST, Ill. -- There is uncertainty surrounding the Chicago Bears' left tackle position since Charles Leno played reasonably well filling in for veteran Jermon Bushrod (concussion/shoulder) the past three games. ...... “When you guys figure it out let me know,” offensive line coach Dave Magazu said. “I don’t know. I haven’t gotten that far. That will be something we discuss and move on from there. I don’t know. I’m not even lying. And I don’t have a problem lying to you guys.” ---------------------------------------------------------------- Bushrod has struggled with speed as usual but I think he's the better run blocker. Leno is the opposite and handles pass rushes from guys like Ansah without issue. These coaches don't pull punches and they are serious about putting their best players on the field and you know they have their eye moreso on the future than this season. This will be interesting to see what happens coming out of the bye week.

At this point I'm confident Pace's 5th Rd Safety is better than Emery's 4th Rd Safety. I also think Pace's UDFA Safety Jones-Quartey is better than Emery's 4th Rd Safety. JQ might have been beat by Calvin Johnson on that long pass but he was right where he was supposed to be.