AZ54

As long as the Packers WRs are allowed to block DBs while the ball is in the air Rodgers should be graded lower. Watch their goal line plays and it's always a guy running behind the others while they step up and block. Creates a natural screen from the DB in man coverage but even if the other DBs see it and react off their man they are blocked while the ball is in the air. They got flagged for it once but should have been flagged a couple other times as well. I expect some savvy opponents will highlight this to the league before they play GB.

I agree, the plan and these changes are just some focus on the future. At this point we've done nothing more than get rid of some guys who couldn't play well (Vereen, Bostic), or couldn't play well enough in the scheme (Jared Allen). Seattle did this very early on when their new GM came in. I think at one point they had looked at something like 150 players in their first season. IMO, it is still important for us to remain competitive so we get better evaluations of players. Keep rolling with Clausen as QB and you might not know what you have in some of these WRs, or backup TEs, or even RBs. Jared Allen was a leader in the locker room so that hurts things but this places McPhee squarely in that role and I don't mind that, along with Ratliff. The other two guys leaving sends a message to the rest of the team about performance and knowing your job. I don't mind that message either. Now if a guy like Forte is traded that's a big gap in leadership and competitiveness. If we move in that direction I hope we'd see some good things from Langford first to indicate we got stability at this position going forward. Everyone knows Jacquizz Rodgers, although he has done well enough, is not the main guy for the future.

Unfortunately for Vereen this was an easy decision when you consider who the guy we just signed. If Vereen can't make plays on special teams, and if he can't make plays as a safety, we might as well go get a safety who can at least make tackles on special teams. It's not hard to find players who can leave Jimmy Graham open.

Keep an eye on Cardale Jones. All the zone read stuff clouds the picture but he's improved from last year and shows some good work at times under pressure. Strong arm but can put some touch on the ball and at times throws his receiver open. He doesn't read the defense much more than 1 read most plays but the fact he can run doesn't hurt. He's also not Andrew Luck. http://draftbreakdown.com/video/cardale-jo...inia-tech-2015/

I'm watching film on Goff as it comes in on DraftBreakdown http://draftbreakdown.com/video/jared-goff-vs-texas-2015/ I don't like what I see in this game against Texas. Goff has a really bad habit of throwing off his back foot when he's under pressure. He also bends his knee on that back leg when he does this taking even more off the ball. Equally bad is the way he opens often his hips when throwing (see Colin Kaepernik) even when he's not under pressure and he does not have anything close to Kaep's arm strength. He's not terribly accurate in this game even on some easy throws, often putting the ball behind his WR/RB or having it drop low (not enough velocity) to where the receiver has to lose momentum to make the catch. Most of that likely from the poor mechanics. Is this stuff correctable? Mechanics can sometimes be improved. OTHO, the tendency to fade back under pressure and not step into the throw? Sometimes players can grow out of it, but what are you willing to gamble on that when game speed in the NFL is much faster than college? Top 5 pick? Top 10 pick? Late 1st Rd pick? 2nd Rd pick? Most of what he does in this game are easy out patterns, underneath stuff so as usual in a spread offense the comp % looks good. To his credit that is often what is given to him by the defense. I don't see bad decisions, even under pressure when he throws the ball away, and when he's using better mechanics he has decent arm strength but it doesn't appear to be anything special. He's going to get drafted early but IMO this is not Andrew Luck, not Mariota, not even David Carr. Maybe Teddy Bridgewater is the better comparison. Based on this game that fits better where I think he'll go in the draft but I'll keep watching as they add games. Maybe this was just a bad week. He looked better against SDSU but then again level of competition has to be considered.

Special teams help has arrived (I hope): http://www.chicagobears.com/news/article-1...5e-953dbe779037

I realize that but I'm still not impressed by him when he's on the field. With young players if they are going to develop into a consistent performer there are usually a game or two where you see some big contributions. From there we look to see consistency. I can't recall that game from Wilson. He has had some catches but in traffic, or fighting for the contested catch I don't recall many. The kind of plays that give a QB confidence to throw into tight windows need to start showing up. I hope he proves me wrong this week.

A 6'8" guard. I have to think veterans like McPhee, Ratliff, and maybe Jenkins after what we saw in Seattle, are going to get under his pads and get some push up the middle on pass rushes. We'll see how this goes. At least one Raider fan wasn't too enamored with Webb's performance in Week 2. http://justblogbaby.com/2015/09/21/oakland...kdown-awards/2/ Or week 3 (he uses PFF stats) http://justblogbaby.com/2015/09/28/oakland...kdown-awards/3/

You've hit 3 or 4 threads with posts promoting, wishing, begging, for the team to find a trade partner for Cutler. I don't recall if you were for Mariota, I certainly was, but there weren't many here that were. We have to play out the season now and then evaluate our options at QB.

I don't want to trade Bennett at all. Keep him around he'll still be a very good TE in 2 to 3 years. Regarding Wilson he can get moved back to bench as far as I'm concerned. After seeing him round off that route against the Cardinals leading the Peterson interception, and then the fact he hasn't done anything last year or this year tells me he won't develop. Bellamy has outplayed Wilson and I'd like to start seeing Meredith get some more looks. Meredith is young and needs a lot of development but might as well see if he'll be one to count on next year or not.

Dickerson is wrong. We are making moves with aging or bottom of the roster players. Go with a fire sale and get rid of all your talent and the rest of the team will quit. We need young good players like Jeffrey. Pay Jeffrey now and if White becomes a true #1 years down the road you let Jeffrey leave in FA or trade him then. Trade Cutler and Bennett? After seeing what Clausen did on offense the only one who thinks we are a better team without Cutler is AG. Unlike in the last draft where we might have had a shot at either of the top 2 QBs, getting rid of an average QB with no clear cut plan to replace him is the fastest way for Pace and Fox to find new jobs. Every player on the team knows with Cutler around they can move the ball and score. Martellus is one of the best inline TEs in the NFL. We should absolutely pay him to stay next year he has plenty of good years left. Forte, we are better with now but not down the road. For now I think the young guys can fill in decently. I might be the only one who saw Forte miss a couple blitz pickups this past game so that's still an issue with him IMO. If we get a good offer like a 3rd Rd pick I'd make the deal. I'd be good too if we traded him for a good young player at a weak position (we have many options). A young CB, DT, S, even Oline. Especially if that safety can play special teams. I see no reason to keep Vereen around because he's not doing well at either pass coverage or special teams.

I have no idea what to expect from the Raiders. They have no idea what to expect from the Bears if Cutler plays. They play a 4-3 defense so all they have to go on is what we did against Seattle. Our defense has been extremely up and down. Jared Allen is gone so they'll have to plan against who on the right side of our defense? I know Jason can't wait to see J'Marcus Webb playing again.

That explains a lot, would have liked more cap room this year. I still like the deal, we got a pick for a guy that is not part of our long term future. I assume Pace feels the pick is worth more than the cap room this year.

Yes, Acho was in on quite a few plays against Seattle. Plus Acho is on all special teams. With Allen's lack of production and high salary making this trade is an excellent deal. Anything allen provided we will likely get back with Willie Young, and Houston, as they get healthier. This is not the kind of a deal that makes our team better now but when looking at the future this is a very good deal. I'm amazed anyone would take on Allen's high salary but Pace pulled it off and now I'm looking forward to a very active offseason.

Instead of Kevin White's resume being on the field we have Josh Bellamy's resume there. I'll take my chances with the 1st Rd pick being tougher to defend.

Clausen was completely lost reading that defense. I don't mind putting Fales out there next week if Cutler can't go. It was promising that Cutler ran around for about 10min before the game started.

I'm not impressed with Rolle's play at all but I still think having his leadership and experience back there with the almost entirely new group of players is a good thing to have.

I thought it was a great effort by our defense. They had a pulse today. We had things we haven't seen in two games: passes defended, good 3rd down defense even on a few 3rd and short plays, and sacks by Dlinemen. McPhee was excellent. I have no idea why Seattle felt they could block him with a TE. Regardless he was all over the field on pass rush and run defense. There are still growing pains with the scheme and we still need more talent but this was a markedly different defense from what we've seen the first two games. We're not going to shutout any teams but if they play like this we can compete. Offense, I'll say the Oline was good, with some mis-steps on a few plays. Forte was good as well. We were running but Seattle stacking the box with 8 and sometimes 9 players you are only going so far. Clausen looks completely lost on anything other than a handoff. No reason for Seattle to do anything other than go all-in and shutdown the run.

We invest picks on the Oline. We need to be better at finding talent and developing talent. You can't miss on 1st Rd picks like Carimi, Williams and then say we need to keep investing. Those guys should be at least good starters for 8-10 years.

Luck under pressure looks a lot like Cutler under pressure. Same with Peyton Manning. Anyone remember the Superbowl against the Seahawks? If that was Cutler he'd be ripped apart on this board for that performance. For Manning, he gets credit for getting his team to the Superbowl. Jay gets the Bears to the NFC Championship and people say he gets no credit. Eli? No need to go over his INTs. He's won it all, and played well in those games, but has he done it without a great defense which was the excuse people gave Cutler when we got to the NFC Championship game? I'm not saying Cutler is a great QB. But he's a good one. He'll always have his issues but he's the 12th highest paid QB now so last year's "he's the highest paid player in the league" is out the door. It's all about what is best for the team moving forward. Reality is people, especially the media, don't like the guy and that shapes every opinion of him, every comment about his negative plays. Luck throws an INT under pressure and people say I wonder why he did that?" Cutler does it and we hear "he's stupid". Saying Bears should cut ties just because he isn't "it" doesn't mean a thing to me if you won't state who you would have drafted or traded for to be in his place. At the end of the day we have to field a competitive football team and I damn sure don't want to go back to the Henry Burris days. Regarding those average QBs in the 13-17 range in salaries, you can't even trade for one of them (just behind Cutler are Romo, Stafford, Alex Smith, P. Manning, Carson Palmer, Andy Dalton) until you get to Sam Bradford. Can't recall anyone stating we should go after him. Next on the list is Nick Foles (he was available and he earns $12mil/yr), Brady, and Luck. After that it's all journeymen and backups. How many QBs get drafted each year? Maybe 6? Good starting QBs, talking about those top 15 guys, career lasts about 10-15 years. So we have 60-90 QBs drafted during Brady's and Manning's careers. Of that 13 have become top 15 QBs. Many of them have warts in their game as Cutler does. Newton, Rivers, Ryan, Flacco, Tannehill, Kap, Romo (Dallas fans have burned him alive many times), Palmer, Dalton, Bradford, and Foles. Just saying we have to figure out how to win with Cutler now because replacing him is a) far from a guarantee and comes with a long learning curve even if the guy has the potential to be better long term ( see Andrew Luck). This is the most pivotal position in all of sports, the most difficult to play as well. This doesn't mean I'm against drafting a potential future QB but I am against going all in and dumping Cutler just to say we have someone else when odds are that someone else is worse. Life in the NFL: I know a few Denver fans who will gladly trade Peyton Manning.

Yea I was wondering why "players at fault" was not an option on that list. We're in the red zone with guys like Josh Bellamy running routes. Call the same play for him and/or Alshon Jeffrey and odds are one is a TD and one isn't even with the same QB. One play caller is good and one isn't good.

I agree there but it's impossible to project that Bosa will go forward like Watt did at DE. We'll let the season play out and keep an eye on him.

Great to see the news about Long. On the flip side it's bothersome that the Cards LT is also on that list which means we didn't get any pressure against him at all.

Nobody wants to hear it but the reality is when guys like Manning or Brady or Rodger play in the same system for a decade or more they don't have to go through this except with new WRs. It's partly why it takes a couple years for players to come up to speed in Green Bay because Rodgers throws guys open based on where the coverage is but that location can be anywhere from back shoulder to over the top outside/inside. A WR has to have a sense for where the ball will be placed, and he's really accurate in locating the ball. Watch Peyton now learning a new system for the first time and he's done nothing but look average, or worse, for the first couple games. Everyone in Denver has been calling for Osweiller since the preseason games and you would never think of hearing that. We don't know who was wrong on Bennett's route other than the fact the two guys involved were not on the same page. It's frustrating for every fan in Chicago. Take Gronk and his massive catch radius away from Brady and he looks a little more human. Plenty of games going back the last few years to see the difference. Take Jeffrey and White away from the field and we go from at best being average to an offense nobody is worried about. (Please I hope every one can read and understand: I'm not putting Cutler in the same category of either of those three QBs. I'm simply comparing the challenges of an entire team learning a new offense, especially one where the WR and QB must make the same coverage reads, versus an offense that has a few new pieces and the key player (QB) and everyone else knows what is going on. ) Tim Tebow cannot throw accurately which is why he is no longer in the NFL (again). With this defense Fox is not going to win any games scoring 1 or 2 TDs like he and Tebow did in Denver. Why are you criticizing SMC on coverage? (Curious what you are seeing since i haven't focused on him) Is it because of the play where Fitzgerald scored a TD? Or other plays? On Fitz's TD it was Fuller's man and SMC realized the blown coverage and ran back late to get in the play. Can't fault him on that one. He's still a step late getting into coverage and is reading things but with experience he should become more instinctive. To be honest I think SMC (our leading tackler) is far from the biggest issue on our defense these days. Surprisingly, I've noticed a complete lack of threads dedicated to SMC these past two weeks which has not been the case the last few seasons.

http://www.chicagotribune.com/sports/footb...0922-story.html “So with Kyle, I just need him to -- he has to be a true professional, and he has to be a true studier of film. And more importantly, he has to play with his strengths. If you’re going to press a guy, you have to make sure you put your hands on a guy. You can’t line up in front of a guy and then not disrupt him whatsoever.” --------------------------------------------------- Rare to hear such straightforward talk. Perhaps a little too much success early last year before he tailed off later in the season, then perhaps too much confidence in those positive things the new coaches said shortly after they arrived, and it sounds like Fuller has taken things for granted. Let's hope Rolle's words sink in and he turns it around.