AZ54

Great work to pull that together. I agree that there seems to be something at work with the schemes or coaching finally having some players in the right spot to make plays. Even Cutler has seemed at ease in the pocket despite the bad edge protection. We don't have the talent to compete at a high level but we might have the coaching in place to be competitive once again.

It's hard to think of a defense that has been as bad or worse than the Bears in the last couple seasons. Atlanta is one of them so I doubt someone they cut as part of their improvement effort is going to help us. I'm sure Pace is watching every name on the waiver wire but I would think we'd be more likely to target secondary help that gets cut from a team with good safeties or corners.

There's no doubt we were in that discussion but I think it was wise not to commit to that high salary for a player who essentially just got cut.

Worth a look.

Just read the entire decision. http://static.nfl.com/static/content/publi...00000520629.pdf Interesting to note that the judge does not dismiss the fact the Patriots cheated. Brady is allowed to play simply because he, and any other NFL player, were never notified that if they were involved in a cheating scheme they could only be expected to be fined and not suspended. Hence Goodell cannot suspend Brady because he was not given prior notice of the punishment for cheating. Also noted was the fact Goodell used the NFL Policy on Integrity of the Game and Enforcement of Competitive Rules clause that is given to GMs, Coaches, etc. but not to players. This is what was used to punish the Browns GM for texting during a game. Essentially what this judge says is that per NFL guidelines players are allowed to cheat in the NFL with no punishment beyond a fine. In summary: Patriots cheating = Guilty and subject to whatever punishment commissioner deals out under Integrity of the Game rules. Patriots equipment managers cheating = Guilty but since they are not players they can be suspended as has been done with other equipment managers caught cheating in the past. Essentially they had fair notice of the punishment for cheating. Brady cheating = Guilty but can only be fined and it looks like the fine is a mere $5,000.

If we are still picking top 10 in the 3rd offseason with this new front office and HC then nobody is going to really care about this pick as much as all the other ones we missed on.

Alshon will eventually get back on the field. Reportedly his calf injury can be tricky to come back from but I'd rather have the team preparing him for week 1 than the last game of the preseason. We'll see. Unless you don't trust the organization but as for me, I worry so much about all the injury details. I especially don't worry about whiny reporters who don't get everything they want. I never saw any reports that they did the wrong thing with White's recovery other than reporters upset they didn't know the details.

Athletic TE with good hands. He's not that fast but he has very good agility in the open field to make the tough catch as seen on that one-handed grab in the highlight SCS provided. Here again he adjusts to a pass behind him for a 23 yd gain. We've been looking for a 2nd receiving threat opposite Bennett and nobody has stepped up in camp. Lee has also been playing special teams for Texans so Bears already have film of him and know if he can contribute in that aspect. I would assume he can since we made the trade.

I think we all knew he only had 1 to 2 years in him. I think we all wished we paid about 60-70% of what we did when we signed him but it's done and he'll be around this season regardless. He hasn't shown any burst this preseason to get around the edge so I think all we'll see out of him is likely bull rushes or some attempts to cut back inside after a short rush upfield. Here's to hoping Willie Young returns to form by mid-season. Forget about OLB for a bit, Willie was more effective and more cost-effective as a 3rd down pass rush specialist last year and if can get back to that he'll be worth keeping next year as well.

From the 2nd day of training camp it was obvious Carden would never be an NFL QB. With Clausen injured it doesn't hurt one bit to get a look at Desert in this 4th preseason game since he knows most of the system from his last two seasons. He'll get cut after the game but at least the Bears will have another QB on speed dial if need be later in the year.

Where did you see the news about Slauson having a concussion? I can't find any reports on that. Are you confusing Clausen with Slauson?

You can put Jared Allen at the top of that list.

No surprises beyond Jennings so far. Al Louis-Jean really disappointed me as I expect him to improve and compete for a roster spot but I suspect he just doesn't have the work ethic needed to succeed in this league. He hasn't changed much physically since we first signed him so he's clearly not a workout warrior and guys just ran through his weak arm tackles.

I think Terrence Mitchell has played well enough to stick around IMO. We're rebuilding and it makes more sense to give the roster spot to a young player who has upside than to a veteran like Porter who has an injury history and is already injured before the season starts. Porter was playing well before he went down but I'll take the youth right now.

I don't think Vereen was going to make this roster. If you can't tackle and can't cover why keep him? Rolle hasn't done anything of note this preseason. Mundy wasn't lighting things up either and now with this injury we're really thin here.

I worry more about the pressure up the middle with Ducasse who has some of the same traits as Leno and Mills in that he gets overextended and/or out of position too often. I saw on one play against the Bengals where Ducasse went out to run block and the defender just side stepped him and ran into the backfield and hit the RB. Like SCS stated the loss to our inside running game will also be significant. Not a good spot to be in right now. FWIW last year's super sub Ola has fallen by the wayside this offseason. I don't know if that means Ducasse is better than him or he's just worse than he was last year. I know Leno struggles at times with his technique but at least when he gets it right he is just fine which is more often than not. While he might not be ready yet the arrow might be pointing up on him. Mills on the other hand seems to either get pushed around or DEs just flat out run around him play after play after play. As far as backup OGs Grasu doesn't have the strength to succeed at OG. Neither does Montgomery but most likely we're keeping both OC on the active roster. Expect to hear rumors about the Bears scanning the waiver wire this weekend and next for Oline help, or possibly making a trade. If we can find someone more serviceable at OG than Ducasse then keeping Long at RT will give us a decent combination.

You might be correct in that you could be the only one supporting this. RGIII is not seeing the field right now in the offense "he knows". He looks completely lost with respect to what the defense is doing and more often than not he's dialed in on one WR. From what he showed in his 2nd preseason game (within that offense "he knows") he cannot perform better than Clausen does with our offense. There is no way I can see him coming in to an offense he does not know and performing better than Clausen at any point this season. If you take a chance on a guy like this it is done during the offseason (i.e. next offseason) when you can carry 90 players and he has the time to learn the offense and coaches can work with him on his fundamentals. There is no way I can see us giving up one of our 53 roster spots to carry RGIII this season as our only backup QB behind Cutler who we most likely know will miss some games. When you consider all the injuries to our WRs I will not be surprised to see us carrying 6 WRs to start this year. Any team bringing him in should do so with the intention of telling him he's the backup QB. He needs to come down off his high horse for a couple seasons IMO and sit back and learn without the pressure. If he turns it around in a season and competes to be the starter a year down the road no worries. I just don't see that happening next year anywhere in the NFL.

He's not a 2 gap player, just let him get upfield that's his forte. It certainly won't hurt having at least one Dlineman who can do this.

New boss in town and performance is king. Fuller better get the message too.

Simple statement does not in itself imply that the action is easily done. But given our remaining talent at WR and the talent on our Oline which leans toward better run blocking than pass protection. Let me phrase it another way: I think it makes more sense to focus the 1st string offense on the run game in the 3rd preseason game since more of those pieces are in place rather than focusing on the passing game with some players who likely won't be on the final roster.

and people want sympathy for the Packers because they lost Jordy Nelson. It's time to find a running game and deal with this.

As far I have heard his only reps in practice this offseason have come at LT, even in camp. That was until Mills went down just before the last game against Indy then he switched over to RT on Thur before the game. That's why i said we have to give him a bit of a break for some of his issues because one day of practice isn't exactly enough to get proficient on your technique.

Interview was done back in the summer when Bennett was holding out. In classic media fashion they wait to release it until the season is about to start. Just keep that perspective (Bennett's) in mind when reading it. Remember, after his holdout Bennett joined Cutler down in Nashville where Cutler helped him get up to speed on the offense before camp started. Of course this is the time everyone said Alshon hated Cutler. http://sportsmockery.com/2015/07/alshon-je...ceiver-went-to/

This is why Leno has largely practiced at LT this offseason and throughout camp.

I'm sure many players would say the same about Martellus and his antics....sometimes you follow him and sometimes you don't.