AZ54

I'll disagree on the firebrand approach in one aspect. Firebrands do work but they often just bring short term results, at least if that is the main approach. As others have said, I don't think it's essential in the head coach. What is important to me is that the HC builds a staff with diversity. Not the usual stuff you're thinking. Rather diversity in terms of coaching style. We know Trestman wants all of his coaches to focus on sound fundamentals. Fair enough but I don't want a coaching staff of 10 Trestman's because it's guaranteed to fail. Nor do I want to see a staff of 10 Ditka's or Belichiks. You need a mix and styles and personalities even if they all have fundamentals as their main approach to learning the game. Trestman knows he's not a firebrand. I think hiring guys like Pasqualoni, Herring shows that he realizes he needs guys who are. Kromer is not a quiet guy when he's coaching, he has a definite edge to him. Lovie managed this in a similar manner where Marinelli had the edge and Lovie could sit back and be the sounding board to listen to players issues. If it's the HC whose pushing buttons then it'll be the position coach who is the sounding board. I think we have a good mix of styles on board so I don't think style in itself is an issue. Competency…that's a valid question at this point.

Out of curiosity, does anyone know how many snaps Houston played at DT versus DE? I know he did spent some time filling in for Ratliff. I'd also be curious what his productivity is between the two positions.

I agree with you. It's been frustrating to watch our offense. We've had more injuries to fight through than last year yet despite those we were managing to win those games. Now with guys healthy the offense is stagnant. Hard to explain, and yes, no excuses. The defense was always going to be a work in progress with a new LB corps that has had a lot of injuries down to, at one point, relying on a guy who was on the roster for just 3 weeks. We lost Tillman, and FS has been nothing but a merry-go-round. Of course I expected to see a better effort than what we saw against NE but the D has kept us in most games this year. While last week wasn't enjoyable I can live with letting the young guys learn and grow from that knowing there are going to be some big bumps in the road. Our D was never going to advance to the next level with Tillman, Briggs, and DJ Williams. At best those guys can help us bridge the gap but at the end of the day the young guys, SMC, Bostic, Jones, Sutton, Ferguson, Fuller, and Vereen need game experience.

If I had skills, for this act of luck I'd post a photo of Keanu Reeves dodging bullets in The Matrix. We've taken enough hits with bad luck and bad decisions.

I don't think Houston was a bust but I'm accustomed to most FA not being that good in their first year. Peppers had 8 sacks is first year, 11 in each of the next two with us. It's just a big transition moving to a new home, family issues, getting into a new scheme etc. He was never a pass rushing DE and he was brought in to fix our run D and provide some versatility and he's helped with that. We're only paying the guy $6-7mil/yr and he's roughly the 15th highest paid DE in the league and Jared Allen is getting a lot more money for not much more performance. It's not like we broke the bank for him and in the next couple years his salary will fall further down the ladder. Houston's celebration was a bust and stupid at that point in the game but now he has plenty of time to come up with something new ….like a fishing demonstration. We can watch any game and find all sorts of players jumping, chest bumps, etc. that risk injury and nobody says anything until someone is injured. I would think that after seeing Tulloch go out doing the exact same celebration he'd have learned something about those moves. It's early but I still say a fast pass rushing DE is one of our top 2 needs going into the draft/FA next year. We need some speed on the edge and none of the guys we brought in have that.

I like Carey but he's not ever going to replace Forte, nor do I think he was drafted with the intention of being Forte's heir apparent. He is a good football player and I think he'll be a good, versatile, #2 RB. At this point he's right inline with what Carlos Hyde has done except his ypc is 4.6 vs. 3.4.

I've been through a lot of bad years and a lot of good years. A few great years mixed in between. I'm not changing.

Chandler Jones won't be playing. Neither will Jordan Mills but I think we gain a slight advantage among the two since Ola has been solid so far in his play. Ola is actually more mobile than Mills IMO but we'll see how he handles speed on the edge.

As long as we have Bostic and SMC (and Fuller) out there to cover the TEs I think the D can do enough to keep the scoring within range of what our offense should do. And what our offense should do is run the football. This is not to say we should be favored…far from it but I still don't think this game is as big of slam dunk for the Patriots as what some might believe. Let's see they have lost to the Dolphins, beat the Vikings, Raiders, then lost to the Chiefs, and of late have beaten the Bengals (who were missing some key players), Bills and just barely beat the Jets after giving up 25pts to Geno Smith. We could lose big but we could just as likely be in this to the end. BEAR DOWN!

Those would be the backup LBs everyone wanted to see more of…at least two of them were. I personally didn't mind seeing the young guys play as I view this is a necessary sacrifice to getting where we want to be on defense next year. I just don't think most are willing to accept the growing pains that come with it. I watched Greene quite a bit as I sat next a former NFL player at the bar. It was obvious the read-option was killing his reaction to the plays as he just stood there while offensive players took two or three steps before he decided which way to go.

I saw him when the Rams played a couple weeks ago and tried to key on him since I was thinking the Bears might draft him. I didn't see him do much the entire game but he did draw quite a few double teams. For me it's the trade off of Fuller/Sutton (drafted to fit the pass rusher role) versus Donald and 3rd Rd CB. Sutton has done well for us, 13 tackles but I'd say Donald is clearly playing better although neither player is a starter. Need to see which 3rd RD CBs were available to match up the performance of two players since that is what the draft option might have been if . As noted above, Ferguson has 9 tackles and 2 sacks, and a few tipped passes, if you prefer to match up 1st/2nd Rd picks.

I'm not ready for Clausen. I don't think Clausen is ready for Clausen.

I like Cutler having the ability to change plays but if he's not doing this correctly take it away from him. Cutler has always had a tendency to think short term and not long term when it comes to game strategy. He's not likely to want to stick with running the ball early when it's only gaining 3yds per play. We do tend to run the same plays from the same formations but if you watch carefully we will often run a different variant later in the game looking to catch a big play off of it. I personally think the offensive game plan was horrible. Backing out of running plays didn't help it either IMO. We don't have a roster built with quick WR who can turn WR screens into big plays. Both of our WRs take a few steps to get up to speed. If I were a DB and I saw those plays I'd be ecstatic because I'd much rather try to tackle Jeffrey or Marshall behind the LOS while they're standing there versus defending routes downfield. If we'd established a deeper threat and the CBs we're playing way off the LOS then ok, but they weren't. So why did we keep calling those plays? We also call plays that are designed to flood a zone or area of the field and then in theory Cutler should read how the defense reacts and go to the open guy. So yes, he'll often be staring at one side of the field. What else is happening when they line up triple WR to one side in a bunch? The question, or problem, is if Cutler is taking the quick read as he should? It's always hard for me to sort that out in a TV broadcast. Against Miami we did much better with Forte when he came out of the backfield he continued on a route. This was far more successful than against Carolina where he often just stopped waiting for a check down pass and was easy pickings for the LB to tackle for little gain. I never understood why he wasn't running a route when he came out of the backfield against Carolina's LBs. I realize our Oline has suffered through a lot of injuries but what happened to all the running plays with pulling guards and tackles out on the edge? Maybe we're running them and I'm missing it. Those were very successful last year and I don't recall seeing much of them this season. I felt like those plays helped slow down the edge rushers a bit. Helpful for a guy like Mills who struggles with speed rushers. I was calling for it all offseason: We need a speed element to our offense. Marshall and Jeffrey are great and draw attention but we have nobody who can really take advantage of all that open space. Forte is not a quick twitch speed guy either. I have no idea what happened to Santonio Holmes but he's damn near invisible. I thought he'd do this for us but is Cutler ignoring him or doesn't he run the routes well enough? Or don't we have him running the right routes to take advantage of that? Bennett is great to have as a TE but he's not going to scare a defense either. Will Marquis Wilson finally open up that element in a couple weeks? Use Ka'Deem Carey more. He's done well enough to get some more run plays. Take some of the load off of Forte because he's been our best weapon and we need him long term yet he's already banged up enough to need days off.

Bostic is inactive today as well.

I have never liked the way Briggs acts every time he wants a new contract. I don't have anything against players asking or doing what they can to renegotiate a deal. I don't have anything against a team telling them no. It's business. Players like Briggs, and even Gould before his new deal, go after the organization in very negative ways. http://espn.go.com/chicago/nfl/story/_/id/...ys-lance-briggs Blame him for going to the media to demand a trade? Blaming Briggs is secondary. This is what he does. He complains when it comes to money. He did the same thing in 2007, even though he didn't ask for a trade the last time. Saying, at points during his unhappy stage, he would "never play another down for Chicago again," "I'm prepared to sit out the year if the Bears don't trade or release me," and that he'd "do everything in my power not to be with [the Bears] organization." Then there's just unprofessional behavior like showing up to training camp out of shape. Missing the first practice of the season to go open up a restaurant in California. For some reason he's not crying about his contract like he did in the past. The way the young guys played in Atlanta will help keep him that way.

I think DE is a need for us, at least a pass rushing DE, more than DT. That might change if one or two of these young and fast LBs can start to show something in a pass rush on blitzes. I'm happy with our top 3 DEs it's a good mix but not great. Far better than what we had last year but Allen is only getting slower and Houston, while good at run D, is below average as a pass rusher off the edge. I like Willie Young but adding a very good 4th player into the mix would be a huge boost and would make worries about our safeties less of an issue. We need a replacement for Allen down the road so we will be drafting a DE early in one of the next two drafts.

Equally as bad: Draft one had Angelo's scouting department. Draft 2 is where Emery had implemented his changes.

Have you watched the Football Life show about Brandon Marshall? If not, you should.

Horrible trade for the Seahawks. They were hailed as geniuses when they traded for him. Now they are hailed as wise business men cutting their losses early and taking a dead money cap hit of $7mil next year. I have no idea what the Jets are thinking trading for him. If he can't find his way in Seattle's offense after 18months he's not going to help Geno this season, and he's not going to help Rex keep his job either. Not to say Rex is definitely losing his job rather that, whatever will happen, Harvin won't influence it either way. The Jets got rid of a malcontent in Santonio Holmes so why would Rex want to pick up another one? Feels more like a GM getting desperate to me because taking on that contract is not good for the future although it seems they can cut their losses this offseason if they choose too. If that happens the GM looks bad for making the deal. So either Rex or the GM is positioning themselves to save their job with this trade. Whoever it is it won't work. Get ready for more fireworks in New York.

I agree. If I skip back and watch a play, or just isolate on these guys during a replay I'm usually thinking why don't you run? They make the tackle more often than not but it seems that instead of taking 3 or 4 steps to get into position they take 2 to 3 and then wait for the ball carrier. Your good players are making tackles while moving forward and it was a trademark of Urlacher and Briggs in their prime. It's often the other way around where the veterans appear to be faster because they make quicker reads and know where to go while the young guys arrive late and chase the play. This is actually a very good sign that we have good young talent on the roster. They still take mis-steps but that is happening less and less often. We tend to forget this is an all new scheme these guys are learning. Something good is happening because this does not happen by mistake: http://www.csnchicago.com/bears/bears-defe...hits-are-coming "The Bears, injury riddled and 32nd against the run last year, rank tenth in rushing yardage allowed – this after being shredded in game one by the Buffalo Bills (193 rushing yards)."

Hopefully we get to see more from Vereen. I assume we'll start SMC, D.J. Williams, and Bostic at WLB but I'm curious who will lineup with Bositc when we're in our nickel defense.

The news everyone has been waiting to hear. I may be alone in this but I'm glad to have him back on the field. I expect he'll be a bit rusty but he may also have had some time to sit back and learn the position better. I will summarize why I'm optimistic this way: Reggie Herring is being praised for his work with the backups this past week against Atlanta, and rightfully so. Reggie is the same guy who continues to praise SMC, his skill set and the improvement he showed before the injury. If Reggie is looking forward to having SMC back as a starter, and says he is close to showing us that he can be a playmaker, then I'm glad too.

This is a tough transition for him. The first thing he has to do is learn how to hold the ball correctly. I think he is right to start off as a kick returner, keeps him in open space where he's accustomed to running while he learns the game. Since he's played rugby he should know how to tackle too which works for special teams coverage. However, playing RB is a whole new ballgame and learning how to run between the tackles, well let's just say it took Reggie Bush 5-6 years in the NFL to learn how to do that. This guy is already 26, 27 by the time he'd be ready next season. Hayne can catch a rugby ball moving at 10mph but if he can catch a fast ball from Cutler I'd like to see him used more in the Percy Harvin type of role as a slot WR. He has elite quickness and with his size he'd be a very tough matchup, plus I'd think he could be an effective blocker too. That keeps him in the open field where he's comfortable and you don't have to teach him many routes to get him to be effective as he grows his skill set. What did Wes Welker run in New England? Go up 5 yds turn left. Go up 5 yds turn right.

Meet the man responsible for the LB performance: http://www.chicagobears.com/multimedia/vid...6a-9ca9880ab086

I agree on Fuller, maybe not a superstar yet, but he's going to be a very good player for a long time. When we played the Packers we had the CBs sit back in a soft zone and it killed us. Fast forward to Atlanta and we allow Jennings and Fuller to man up on the corners while bringing pressure up the middle. It worked because Fuller is capable of staying with the 2nd best WR in the game. I suspect he's capable of staying with Calvin Johnson too. This great result went quietly un-noticed by almost everyone in the media. It won't stay that way for long.