AZ54

Yes but we all knew Cutler's deal was a 3 to 7 year deal meaning the team could get out from under it anytime after the 3rd season. It will be interesting to see how we handle this with Clausen already in house. Clausen has the physical talent to play QB in this league, unlike Fales who's arm isn't very strong. I don't see us drafting a QB in Rd 1 with so many other needs but if we go after one in Rd 2 or 3 then the coaches have decided Clausen isn't the answer. All of which brings up the question: At what point will we see Clausen play? Knowing you have that decision to make regarding Cutler or future option, wouldn't you want a better idea of what Clausen can do before you commit such a high pick to a rookie QB?

We can ignore it but it is a factor. This is a young man's game and we've relied on some long in the tooth veterans on defense (Williams, Briggs, Tillman, Ratliff, even Allen). When the next man up is either a rookie or a player in his 2nd year there's a drop off, at least in terms of job knowledge, and it was very visible at times. Despite all that it hasn't been all bad as we are 12th in the league against the run. On the flip side we are 30th against the pass. FWIW the Cardinals are 25th, Panthers 26th, and Ravens 29th against the pass. Fixing the run defense was our number one priority heading into the past off-season and I have to say we made significant improvement. Some of the reason for ranking 12th against the run is due to teams finding it easier to pass but our 2013 defense proved that if it's easy to run teams won't stop doing it so the ranking means something. Sutton, Ferguson, Washington, Fuller, Bostic, Jones, and Vereen will all be better for having this experience. They've all had their rookie moments but off that list Vereen and Washington seem to be the biggest question marks going forward. The rest look like they'll be significant contributors, if not starters, down the road. On offense…Oline for sure injuries impacted things (unless you like Ola at RT) but they never fell apart which is good progress considering where we've been in the past with our Oline. Elsewhere they have no room to hide. Offensive issues typically came down to players not executing and the blame goes around to everyone. Cutler more often than most but everyone had a share in key mistakes throughout the season: Forte fumbled early in year, Marshall key fumble/penalties, Bennett had his two hot-reads that were missed and turned into key INTs.

Glad to see Bears commit to the younger players. Briggs had a phenomenal career for the Bears and I don't think he'll get an offer to play anywhere next season. It's hard to believe his 35 tackles will be enough to impress anyone to pay more than a vet min salary and I don't see Briggs going through the motions for that. His skipping the 1st practice of the season to open a restaurant, not to mention his recent comments about not listening to his coaches during meetings, told the entire league what kind of leader he is…meaning a rebuilding team won't sign him as a backup player to provide locker room leadership. What Emery has done is smart because he frees up another roster spot to bring in a young player, or players if we cut and run, and see what they can do. It also keeps Briggs' attitude out of the LB meeting room and that alone might be the biggest help.

I think Fuller is just fine on the outside but he's still a rookie and learning. He's tough and played through a bum knee yesterday. Everytime I saw him walking around after a play he was limping a little bit. He went at Megatron and lost but he'll learn from it. He also wasn't getting the support he should have had on the inside routes. If he's playing outside technique then there has to be someone assigned to take away that inside slant and that player usually wasn't there. Or, like on the TD throw to Johnson, Fuller was right there on the outside but the FS Vereen was late. According to one article I read Vereen actually pulled up and decided not to hit Johnson on that play.

We have good players on offense. We have two receivers who can make great catches. But we need several things but for sure we need some speed on offense. I don't care about the record for swing passes because they were largely effective early on. I don't think Calvin Johnson was bothered with his record for 15 yd slant routes either. When it was time to take advantage of the closer coverage we cannot get guys open deep, or we can't run the coverage off deep and have someone underneath take advantage of single coverage. I can't be the only one who sees LBs running stride for stride covering Forte and not just in this game. Forte is versatile but does anyone really think a D is scared of him breaking off a big play? Jeffrey and Marshall don't often run away from coverage either. Everyone knows it will be a jump ball when they go deep. Our best advantage appears to be Martellus Bennett and I think we should be using him more. There's plenty of blame to go around for the offense. Can't protect (against that Dline) long enough to spread the D out. We certainly couldn't run block against them. Ola against Fairley? Kyle Long is a stud though. Overall if you are going to run these type of players out there then you better have a very good Oline to get them time to get open. We don't. Most certainly not against the best Dline in the NFL. I felt Cutler did ok taking what the D gave him and stayed within the game plan, at least until very late in the game. By then it didn't really matter. On defense I counted 10 rookies or 2nd year players we relied on: DBs: Demontre Hurst, Kyle Fuller, Brock Vereen LBs: Christian Jones, John Bostic, SMC, . I'll include SMC in 2nd year group solely because he's in a 1st year of position switch but yes he's in his 3rd season. DT: Will Sutton, Ego Ferguson, and some guy I never heard of name Brandon Dunn DE: David Bass, Cornelius Washington (until he was injured was the 11th) That has to be the youngest defensive group in the NFL by far, maybe one of the youngest ever fielded. Despite that the run defense was very good. Pass coverage was not and learning curve seemed to be flat on the same routes over and over. Yet in the 2nd half they came out and improved in coverage. There are definitely some good things to build on from this young group but it will take time although the LBs pass coverage has a long way to go. While I see improvement in the front 7 players we must add some good safeties to the mix. Mundy had a bad game often taking poor angles on plays.

Golden Tate actually concerns me more than Calvin Johnson. Johnson will get his big plays of course but he is less nimble in/out of cuts and easier to double cover. Tate is the guy running all over the field and if you don't get a good pass rush he's impossible to cover when they start free lancing. That's the kind of plays that really break down a defense. Nothing changes in the NFL…you get a good pass rush and your secondary looks better.

I've been reading some good things about Al Louis-Jean and got curious about his background. I don't typically follow our UDFA signings as they rarely end up contributing but he appears to be on track to doing just that. (Christian Jones too). I figured I'd post some of the links I came across here in case others were interested. He's 6' 1", 190lbs and ran a 4.52 forty. He has the size and athleticism to play the position but he came out of college at just 20 years old and without making much of an impact on the field. He also had a couple disciplinary issues in his last season. A roadmap for any player who wants to go undrafted. In the last game when Fuller went out I felt we'd see a big drop off in coverage or run support. It never materialized, and that was also with Christian Jones on the field. Detroit will be a much tougher challenge. http://www.csnchicago.com/bears/bears-lion...w-worry-detroit “You’ve just got to compete,” said cornerback Al Louis-Jean, who filled in when Kyle Fuller was injured against Tampa Bay. “You can’t be scared and back off and let him dictate everything.” Louis-Jean at 6-foot-2 will be expected to keep Johnson from dictating. Fuller is not expected to be back from his knee injury and Louis-Jean graded out at a very high level against the Buccaneers, according to sources. http://www.cbssports.com/nfl/draft/players...l-louis-jean-jr http://www.bcinterruption.com/2014/1/19/53...ssmen-nfl-draft http://www.patriotledger.com/article/20140...ports/140408101 http://chi.scout.com/story/1431801-br-rook...y-al-louis-jean http://www.suntimes.com/29120560-606/undra...ml#.VHUmlUs8gVc

We just faced a team with a good pass rush and one of the top 3-tech DTs in the NFL while two of our Oline starters are sitting on the sideline. We also had Eben Britton sitting out and he often comes in as the extra blocker when we take those shots downfield. Maybe Trestman should have had complete confidence in Charles Leno and Michael Ola or maybe these radio guys missed seeing the 3 sacks the Buccaneers had on Cutler in the 1st half. I also think there is some truth to reigning in Cutler. If they went so far as to discuss benching him recently then it's not unreasonable to think they'd do some things to make him find, and get in the habit of taking, the safer throws. I really don't have a problem with that. The radio guys can talk it up as Trestman doesn't trust Jay but I want my HC to do whatever it takes to get a winning product on the field. Part of this involves understanding what his players can do well and can't do well and aligning that with the play calls. If that involves hurting a particular player's ego then so be it. There was another thread on here that we should not cater to Cutler who likes to take those downfield throws. Well then, there you go.

First, I don't fall into the category of apologizing for any wins in the NFL. I don't think the Packers are apologizing for beating the Vikings by 3pts and only scoring 24pts. I not saying we beat the Patriots or Broncos either. From a few weeks back I wanted to see progress and I see it. Not everywhere but there is some fight in this team. Offense: Cutler…stayed patient even through several drops, 3 and outs, early on. That's not his MO but he did this earlier in the season and we won against San Fran so he needs to bookmark these two games and remember this is how to play the game and stop trying to be the hero on every play or series. Good things I mentioned during the game. Several times Cutler threw the ball incomplete at WRs who were well covered but it was clearly away from the defender, or in the dirt, to where there would be no chance of an INT. He typically tries to throw a bullet into these tight coverage spots which often ends up in a bad result. I'll live with the punt over the INT. I wanted to see more running plays early but we kept putting ourselves in a hole on down/distance. Discipline must improve! Marquess Wilson... he's definitely quicker in and out of cuts. Can he be the missing ingredient for the middle of the field? I don't know yet but as he gains experience with Cutler and the offense overall, his quick slants will be more troublesome for teams that blitz their LBs or DBs against us. I actually liked the 1 step drop and quick throw to Jeffrey late in the game when the CB was 10yds off the LOS. I don't think that was anything but ad-lib for Jeffrey/Cutler but it's what good teams do. At least it's what they've done to us over the years. Oline played well. Not great but that's a good Dline with one outstanding DT and with two backps at LG and RT we held our own. Certainly they couldn't have been happy with the way we ran the ball in the 2nd half. We still have issues with speed off the edge, likely won't change until we get a true LT and move Bushrod to RT but if the middle is clean we'll survive. DLP is not the answer at OG but as our backup C/OG he's better than any backup I can think of in recent memory. Matt Forte is slowing down. He's still a very good RB and his versatility remains his calling card. They need to get Carey more reps to keep Forte fresh. Defense I was impressed today. No, we're not going to shutdown Brady or Rodgers but there was a passion out there that was good to see along with better play. Jared Allen hustles and is a good leader for the D. He does not have the burst he used to have to get around the edge but he plays solid for us. OTOH, whoever has been working with Cornelius Washington they are doing a damn fine job. I though he was going to be a non-factor all year long except for his special teams play. We can all see the athleticism but effort often wasn't there, nor were the pass rushing skills. He showed up several times today. He had one play where he got around the LT, in full contact he still had the strength to dip low as he went around the edge, disengage from the block and chase McCown. He only finished with 2 tackles and 1 sack but there should be a couple QB hurries mixed in as well. I look forward to seeing how he progresses the rest of the season. I like Willie Young but his sacks come more from effort. and he can't make that same move around the edge. Paea…keep eating your Wheaties. We need to keep him around. 6 sacks from the DT position at this point in the season has been an outstanding effort from him. He's been good on run D as well. LBs…Briggs left the game and... our D got better? I don't know if I'd stick to that long term but it is hard to say it got worse after he left the field and Jones came on. I'll stick why the fact that Jones' play is ascending fast. In general the LBs played well today. Bostic is finally starting to show some instincts in the passing game. I don't know how he missed that INT, well yes we do because you catch with your hands not your arms. Nonetheless he was in the right spot and almost made a similar play in the end zone earlier in the game. SMC played decently as well. DBs…another INT for Conte but largely because of the pass rush. I take it anyway. Vincent Jackson and Evans are a tough matchup and we held our own for most of the game. For the most part this shows that if a defense gets a consistent pass rush then the DBs look better. Coaching. Nobody will want to hear it but Tucker had his defense ready to play. For those who like a fire and brimstone coach look up the articles on his halftime rant. It worked too. I see many dismiss this because Tampa isn't that good. True but we're also the worst defense in the NFL. We were, but now we're 21st more or less dead even with the Buccaneers. I see progress and I see young players like Bostic, Jones, Paea, Washington, Hurst, Louis-Jean improving and contributing positive plays. Offense is a different story but they came out and played better in the 2nd half. Special teams. Our kick coverage has improved dramatically in the last few games. The new returner didn't fumble. Hard to believe after not playing for so long and he looks like he wants to be out there. We'll see next week. We still have areas for improvement with the punt blocking and KR blocking but overall we are getting better and more consistent.

I think you misread my statement. I was never in the McCown is better than Jay crowd although I admit at times he ran Trestman's offense better than Jay. At times. Other times he didn't. McCown was the only avalable QB that I can think other's here wanted to have instead of Cutler. I don't recall any specific names being tossed about for 1st or 2nd Rd draft picks either. If you want a starter they will almost always be drafted in those two rounds.

That is true regarding the D coordinator. I felt Pasqualoni was brought in as a backup DC candidate should we go that direction. FWIW Pasqualoni has been a HC before as well albeit at the collegiate level. I totally agree we cannot get back into that mess where the DC (or OC) is effectively on a 1yr deal under a prove-it-or-lose-it head coach.

Perhaps it's a matter of scale. Catering to Cutler such that the offense is designed to take advantage of his strengths…makes sense. You don't cater to him at the expense of the future. Go back and see how Tom Brady felt when the Patriots let Wes Welker walk away. If that means bringing in another QB to seriously challenge Cutler as the starter, either through draft or FA, then so be it. At this point with Cutler's new contract that type of decision is likely to be done via the draft.

Agreed!

If I knew you were the owner I'd likely see things differently. History says that Bears ownership will keep Trestman around for another season barring a totally disastrous 2nd half of the season.

I still think Cutler was and remains the best near-term option at QB. I still haven't yet seen any of the Cutler haters explain who was available on the FA market, or who we'd have drafted, that would have played better aside from Josh McCown. Cutler sits at 7th in total yards to McCown's 32nd. Granted McCown was injured but that's one of the complaints about Cutler too. Cutler is 11th in yds/game vs. 33rd. 26th in QB rating vs. 47th and the all important interception rate: Cutler 12/373= 3.2% McCown 6/134 = 4.5% We overpaid for Cutler at $18mil/yr. I wanted something more in line with the deals Carson Palmer and Andy Dalton received at ~$16mil/yr. That's the range for a top 15 starter in the league. He's the 7th highest paid QB right now based on avg salary over the contract. By next year he'll likely be 10th with Russell Wilson, Luck, and Foles possibly getting new deals this offseason. I believe we must get a legitimate backup who can develop into our starter long term. If Cutler turns it around then trade the guy down the road. If Cutler doesn't then trade Cutler or cut him. Can Clausen be that guy? Perhaps and it's interesting to see that the coaches were, or are, close to making that swap. I have no issue with that message being sent to Cutler. I wish it had been sent to Lance Briggs too.

I still think this decision is at least another year away unless we completely fall apart the rest of the way. What I saw in the Vikings game says that isn't going to happen. At this point in his career choosing Bowles would be a risky decision and I think it's likely teams will want to see another season from his defense before feeling comfortable with his track record. I believe he'll get invited to some interviews though. Harbaugh's decision point is this offseason so he won't be available next year. Chip Kelly's success means teams will be more willing to look at other college coaches who run similar schemes.

Absolutely NO to McDaniels. We can find plenty of offensive geniuses who can succeed with Tom Brady or Peyton Manning, neither of those guys plays for Chicago. Trestman has a far better record of success coaching QBs than McDaniels. We don't need an arrogant McDaniel's playing his mind games in the locker room. Harbaugh I'd love to have. He was successful with Smith, Kap, and whoever else is on the field. He's creative and knows how to utilize a player's strengths and stay away from their weaknesses. He does the same when game planning his opponent. Todd Bowles is worth keeping an eye on but I think we need to see more (another season) before considering him. That is the likely path for a decision on Trestman anyway.

I was very surprised by the run defense. We had one. Pass coverage was ok and a better QB would have done more damage but on the other hand they were where they needed to be. The biggest take away on the defense was that guys came to play and I liked the energy I saw, even after Cutler's 2nd INT. Offense: Oline did well and considering this is our 14th, 15th, or 16th combination on the front line they held their own. Forte was his usual steady good but that run late in the game was beautiful to watch. Loved the effort. Cutler was good except for the obvious INTs. Before halftime I have no idea why or what he was doing under-throwing the ball that much. I blame Coach T for that because he seemed to accept we'd go into halftime without trying to score then after two time-killing runs decides to go up top and get in FG range. I was ok if we just ran out the clock. Build on the positive first half and then come out with the ball first in the 3rd quarter. I was ok if we decided to get upfield for a FG too. Make a decision early and don't go both ways and then have Cutler in a spot where we're trying to pick up 30 yards on one play? The 2nd INT drives me nuts. We had the exact same thing happen in one of the first few games: Defense blitzes, coverage drops back 10 yds, Bennett runs right through and past the coverage while Cutler throws what looks to be the hot read underneath the coverage. I believe it is Bennett who is blowing the hot route reads. On the pick you see Cutler starts to throw immediately to Bennett but he's not looking. Cutler pulls back and then releases the ball toward Bennett who now is further upfield but is still not looking. I suppose we can go back and forth that Cutler should not release the throw but then there are those who say he has to trust the routes and release on time instead of waiting to see guys open. I believe he should trust his WRs/TEs to do their job. Every NFL team has hot reads and both WR and QB need to know their job. Coaching. On top of the late 2nd quarter clock mis-management I did not like Trestman going for it on 4th down at the goal line. He has to know his team psyche is fragile after the recent losses. At that point in the game we're up 14-10. Take the FG, build positive momentum and come back on the next drive and do it again. Plus our D, though playing well early, is not exactly the one to rely on a 4pt lead. I say you go up by 7 points and continue to build the positive momentum. Instead we get stopped short and give momentum back to the Vikings. That FG we gave up would have made the 4th quarter much more comfortable in protecting the win instead we allowed them the to stay within striking distance of putting the game into overtime. To his credit, he stayed with that mentality and went for it on 4th downs later in the game that were successful so the team responded and performed. I can't be the only one who was happy to see us run on 4th and 1 and make it. The Vikings do not have a bad defense, they're not great either but we did what we should be able to do. I bet coming into the game they felt they'd be the team that ran all over the field against the worst defense in the NFL. I'm not ready to give up on Tucker or Trestman. I believe in seeing the body of work. I wanted to see improvements on both sides of the ball and we saw that. Everyone is dismissing this because it was the Vikings but aside from the TD given up after the punt fake, what more should we have seen from the D? Special teams. I don't think he'll survive after this season. I see no spark, no assignment discipline, no nothing with the players he's coaching. Our kick returns are bad in large part because nobody actually blocks. They act scared. This is one area Lovie was good. He always had 1 guy to lead his special teams: Ayanbendejo, Costanzo, etc. If we lost that guy he made it a priority to go out in FA and get the best available replacement. Who is our leader on special teams?

Trading Cutler doesn't bother me except for the fact who is going to replace him? It's not going to be a FA QB that comes in and saves the day because those guys just aren't available in FA. In theory we can trade Cutler away and then move up in the draft to grab someone. Who are folks asking for? The other possible option would be trading for some teams young backup QB. This is how GB got Favre, SF found Steve Young, Seattle found Hasselback. Then again those deals can turn into a Charlie Whitehurst deal like Seattle did years ago. I can understand the notion this guy isn't as good as what we need but the idea is to make a deal so the team gets better, not just making a deal so we can say good riddance. Don't make some deal and then have me stuck watching the next Henry Burris at QB. I'll take Jay and his 1-2 INTs per game over that any day.

I'm not saying he's a bad coach but I am less sold on Bruce Arians' greatness than others are. I've seen many games where his offense struggles just like ours does. It has been the defense keeping the Cardinals in games and winning them most of the time. They did just that today against Detroit giving up just 6pts despite an Cards INT that gave Detroit the football inside the redzone. On that side of the ball the guy to keep an eye on for future head coaching jobs is Todd Bowles. He has the D playing outstanding despite losing two key starters: Washington and Dockett.

Thank you for that outstanding assessment. If you are a young player watching and listening to Briggs what exactly are you thinking about? Why in the hell is this guy the leader of this defense? He takes a day off to open a restaurant before our first game? He admits to doing nothing in our meetings? Why won't my coach take him off the field, I mean, how many times do they have to see him making these mistakes before they give me a chance? Alaska…when you saw Lacy's long TD run on that screen pass it was Lance Brigg's 10 yards downfield who completely blew that read. Plus, once it was obvious what was coming his way he just stood there and made no effort to get around a blocker and make the play. Get Briggs off the field. It's not just about Brigg's performance being better than Bostic, SMC, Jones, Greene, etc. its about Briggs bringing down the rest of the players. I asked this question all the way back in training camp: What will it take for these coaches to bench Briggs? What we may have are coaches who are good teachers, they know the X's and O's, but they don't seem to understand the dynamics of what is happening in their locker room. Anybody who works has likely been in a situation where one or two bad apples ruined their entire work experience among a group. When that happens it isn't long before people hate going to work. It's one thing if that bad apple is just a part of the team but if they are in a leadership position it's even worse. That will drive people into small cliques that don't communicate or trust other cliques. We don't have a leader to replace Briggs right now but putting everyone on an equal footing among the defense (by removing the bad leader) will allow others to start exerting influence in a positive way. Build for the future!

Frustration runneth over here in AZ too. I say good riddance to Santonio, he couldn't even beat out Josh Morgan despite being far more athletic. I've posted several times wondering where he is on the field. We need more changes and I would bench the guy who admits he doesn't pay attention in team meeting...Briggs. I don't care about his history with the franchise. If that's the best our defense can be with him on the field we might as well go with the young guys across the board. If nothing else those guys are all playing for a job next year regardless of what happens with the coaching staff. I'd have D.J. Williams sitting too. I don't know where to go with the Dline as we have no pass rushers. I don't think Clausen is ready to take the job from Cutler, as bad as that is.

I don't get the reference. Napolean was a great general. It took a concerted effort of 4 nations, including the world's largest superpower Britain, to bring him down. I wish it would take that much to stop Cutler from succeeding.

Can we go a little easier on the Cyclones?

Do you really think abandoning fundamentals will enable him to excel? Nobody ever says this but lemonade is horrible if there is no sugar in it.