AZ54

Do we really need a QB named Chuckie?

Ditto that.

I expected a very physical Steelers team to show up tonight on both offense and defense, especially the defense. That's exactly what we got. We had the game in control until we hit their punter and that ended up giving them a TD a few plays later. Yet on the road where the momentum changed in the home team's favor the Bears responded on both defense and offense in the 4th quarter and that is what good teams do. It's not all perfect, we're still missing a pass rush and we gave up far too many big plays on D. The Oline must get better at run blocking. Our first draft pick in 2014 will likely be a DT. Depending on who drops it could be a CB but I think DT is going to be at the top of our wish list.

This... and the fact they won't go anywhere without a QB in today's NFL so might as well go all out for the right guy. I think Lombardi is right to make the deal for a 1st Rd pick. On Richardson's durability I haven't watched him play but some RBs are better at avoiding the big hit. LT was very good at it in his prime. Other RBs just run into defenders. Not sure where Richardson falls on that scale but if he takes a lot of contact that has to be a factor when considering his longevity.

Haka...pre game cheerleading. It's been a tradition at my kids' high school for many years because we have a strong polynesian influence here. Started some time around the time Deuce Lutui was there. I've never seen it at the few rugby games I attended here in AZ but it expanding in popularity. I wish the Bears would do it the way our high school does where all the players line up and participate as it really gets the crowd going.

From week 1: http://www.suntimes.com/sports/football/be...a-big-game.html It’s early yet, but it seems best to step aside when Bennett gets on a roll, which is most of the time. He certainly was rolling Monday, a day after he dropped the first pass thrown his way, caught the first touchdown pass of the season for the Bears, was flagged twice for holding and threw a key block on a fourth-and-one play that helped his team beat the Bengals in the season opener.

Most importantly there is that these stats came against two teams that went to the playoffs last year and both of them have good defenses. Last year we put up some good numbers against the Colts in game 1 but I value our week 1 win over the Bengals more as a barometer of what we are than that Colts game last year.

After a shaky start Martellus certainly looks like a great signing. His catch in the end zone (out of bounds) was incredible but the fact he was hurt, stayed in and still made more plays including a twisting back shoulder grab that only the best WRs make to win the game was something we haven't seen in years from a TE. Greg Olsen wasn't even able to make as acrobatic catches as what we've seen from Bennett. Only two games in and he's played a key role in both victories. Teams are going to have to pay more attention to him in pass coverage and that will open things up even more for Forte and Jeffrey. Speaking of Forte: He quietly had a much better day than AP with 90 yds rushing and 71 yds receiving. I say quietly because he is not getting any props from the media as they like to focus on the spectacular plays (or the "100yds rushing target") but he generated consistent offense for us throughout the game.

As I told my son after the game: This isn't your father's Chicago Bears. We used to play ugly on offense and win games 17-13. Plus to get to 17 pts we would have needed a INT pick 6, the other would have come from Hester. Today we played as ugly as possible and won 31-30. We still had the pick 6 in there but the rest was the offense doing something. However bad it was, that is new. Now if we can just clean up a few things.

If you are staying overnight I recommend a short trip out to Greektown for breakfast at Lou Mitchell's. It's a legendary place with great service, great food at a good price. There is a lot of history there as many famous people have eaten there. My daughter lives in Greektown and last year when we visited we stopped by...I'll be back on my next trip. http://www.loumitchellsrestaurant.com/index.asp “If God made omelets, they’d taste like creations at this loop, World-class breakfast place. Open for lunch, too. Great pancakes. ...” —Zagat Survey

I'm with you here. Urlacher at the time was clear he'd play for less money for another team like the Patriots and he wanted a home team bonus. His words and his perspective of today after nobody else came calling for him represent some perspective. Over time he will have even more perspective. I'm just going to sit back and allow him to gain that perspective realizing it is very hard for elite athletes to end their careers. I've never been elite at anything but I can get a sense of the emotions someone else likely has when they come to the realization they are no longer elite, especially during that first weekend of the NFL season when he's not playing. There may even come a point where he learns to actually appreciate Bears fans once again. When you see that you will likely see the warm embrace of the Bears community welcoming back one of their legends. I will add that if Urlacher's agent didn't understand the Bears cap situation, and if that agent also didn't understand the market for Urlacher (and other vet FAs) then he clearly had bad advice. Perhaps he is coming to that realization as well and some of that perspective seems to be showing in his comments.

Game plans actually based on what opponents weaknesses and strengths are. I also like the way he talks about adversity, how it always happens in games you just don't know when it will be. http://www.chicagobears.com/multimedia/vid...49-f903772f5d2b

I haven't been able to post much since the first game but one of the most obvious differences I noticed with our D against the Bengals was the lack of gang tackling. I give Lovie credit because we always had 11 guys running toward the ball and it paid off routinely. Too often against the Bengals we would have one or two players go for a tackle but additional support was either late getting there or never arrived. I'm glad Tucker and the players are addressing this in practice this week as we need this to stop AP this weekend. http://espn.go.com/chicago/nfl/story/_/id/...rn-fundamentals

They need a better drug dealer.

On NFL AM some reporter from Detroit said Suh will not change his ways and summed up Suh's fines this way: He's made $51 million since entering the league. His total fines since he entered the league equate to a fine of $55 for a person earning the average annual salary here in the US. That's not even a speeding ticket, so yes he does not care.

While watching highlights last night I noticed the slight limp Vick had as he walked off the field late in the game, and so it begins. Anyway, Chip Kelly also plans on practicing on Tuesdays which is when most teams are letting their players rest or come in for treatment. We'll see how this all adds up.

Having watched Kelly's offense at Oregon a lot I will say this: Gary Crowton's offense looked unbeatable in his first start. Oregon always struggled when they hit the big name competition. The media would have us believe nobody could stop Kelly's offense and that's not true. Whenever they had the athletic advantage (which was often in the Pac 10) Oregon would dominate. In college it is easier to isolate your faster players (when you have a lot of them) against slower players but talent in the NFL is far better balanced. I believe after 4 games his plays will be figured out and the going won't be so easy. The presumption the only way to beat this offense is to have your offense make long drives is partially correct but keep in mind the point is to win a game not necessarily "stop" his offense. Forcing Chip's offense to go 3-and-out in 30 seconds (or 6 and out in 60 sec) really hurts his defense and gets you more plays as well. I don't think the Eagles defense is that good to begin with but tonight they succeeded by relying heavily on blitzes that left huge holes open behind them. RGIII and the Redskins were not prepared for this, however, teams will figure this out very quickly and I think we will see a lot of big plays given up. As far as the Eagles offense and all read-options...just go hit the QB. These plays have always been around in college there's a reason they weren't used much in the NFL. And I don't buy the story that we haven't had talented running and passing QBs (Steve Young for one) in the past. In the NFL your QB determines your success more than any other player and it's a brutal 16 game season so protecting the QB from hits is of paramount importance. Unlike recruiting for college where elite programs find it easier to keep talent in the pipeline, finding your next NFL QB is a crapshoot. QBs who are predominately runners (average accuracy or below as passers) can take you far in college but who has done that in the NFL? National Championship rosters are littered with the names of these players. I could be wrong but Jim Harbaugh didn't sound as if he likes his QB taking hits on run fakes. I'll stand alone, or in the minority, that this offense won't be looking so elite by mid-year.

No surprise here.

After reading the post-game articles it was intentional play-calling for the first few series to make sure the Oline could keep Cutler upright. Long missed one assignment early that led to a pressure. Once they settled into the game we opened up the playbook and results followed. Going into the next game against the Vikings we will have more confidence with the rookies and they won't have as big of a challenge facing them.

It's game 1, don't get too high and don't get too low with one exception....our brand new Oline did not give up a single sack. The Bengals didn't show much of their two TE offense in the preseason so we didn't have much to plan with. I was nervous as the second half started but after seeing what they were doing we improved in the second half. DJ Williams missed the entire preseason so he was rusty out there, he will get better but if he doesn't we'll be seeing the rookie before the end of the season. Pass rush was the biggest disappointment, not so much the sack total but the lack of pressure overall. Bengals Oline is really good but we were not showing any passion to get after the QB in the first half. It got better in the second half where they kept Dalton to quicker releases and that helped the secondary quite a bit.

Love reading the in-game thread after the game. It's great to see the up and down emotions (mine mood swings were just as up and down) then we get the posts after the win saying "what the hell were you all worried about?" I can't recall too many games where we were dominated in the first half on both sides of the ball and responded like that in the second half on both sides of the ball. The D has done it in recent seasons for sure, but our offense?

I expected the team to fold after we were down by 11 instead they responded to the call and fought back to win the game late and in a decisive way (controlling the last drive). We were the better coached team on the field given how we adjusted to what they were doing and the effective execution of a new offense and that is a very good sign.

I agree on the sample size in terms of number of games but in terms of number of plays we had well over 30 and that's relevant data. If we go back over the last few years could we even find a singular game like that against that good of a Dline? That means this data point is likely part of a new data set. It's hard to believe the league's best DT would come out of the first game of the season going against two rookies on the right side of the Oline with zero sacks. Did Atkins even get a QB pressure? This wasn't all dink and dunk passing either as we hit several big plays down the field in the second half. There is much to improve upon but this was as good a start against that Dline as I could imagine. If we go back and do the draft all over again with 1 game's data and we choose Long at 19 and nobody will question it. Mills will never last to the 5th Rd.

Baltimore's defense was horrible. How many times can a team forget to cover WRs? Pass rush? Coming off a Superbowl win players often don't work as hard to come back for another ring and in this case losing some key leaders and other good role players.

First and foremost I am very happy to finally even have a discussion about a rookie LB starting. Granted we've had Url and Briggs but our 3rd spot has been nothing but a stop gap player since Hillenmeyer departed and the front office had multiple opportunities to fix the gap but didn't. Given the two TEs we'll be facing in this game I prefer to have Williams' experience on the field. Bostic often looked lost on passing plays and he needs some time to learn. With DJ coming off injury and still not in game shape I could see them putting Bostic out there for some first and second downs throughout the game but prefer Williams experience on the field on 3rd downs. Of course there is always hope that we have such a big lead that in the 4th quarter Bostic can take over completely and thus get some valuable game experience.