AZ54

I don't know, I've read some good things about Addison but I haven't seen it.

The deal is he was so good they drafted a rookie early to take his place. Happens all the time with older players, especially those who play a speed position. Alex was never fast coming off the edge, can't even see him being as effective now as he was when he was with us. Let's see what the rookie does this weekend. If he doesn't flash anything, I wouldn't mind having Brown back as our 4th DE.

The good thing is it set the market at what I think is a reasonable price. He's not Gore, no Pro Bowls, Gore has had to earn his accolades on a bad offense with QB issues as well so there's a solid comparison. Forte hasn't quite measured up to what Gore has done but he's not far behind and neither should his contract. I think the Bears will look for something a little longer term though, probably 4 years as suggested above. I'll say 4 years $32 mil and the guarantee in line with Gore's contract around $13-14 mil.

Translation: Taylor knows he needs to stay professional to help his chances at getting another job.

They've gotten a lot better on the pull blocking. Still some misses but compared to the first game where they struck out as often as Sammy Sosa it's a big difference. All these blocking schemes with someone pulling I don't think Carimi always knows his assignments. By the way, did you notice the passing play where we pulled to blockers (OG, TE) simlulating a run play? I don't recall any of that last year so it seems Martz is getting more confident in the Oline, or at least wanted to test them in that scenario. Carimi missed his assignment, or at least seemed confused on which guy to block between the DE and LB and blocked neither.

I thnk they've already decided to stick with the younger Addison and work to develop him, or, more likely, they are content to work with Henry Melton as the 4th DE and will keep an extra DT.

Welcome back! I would say a lot has changed simply because Cutler had 43 pass attempts with only 1 sack. Roy Williams still drops a lot of passes only now he's dropping them for us. On D #91 has really picked up his game and has 3 sacks in the preseason.

To clarify...Taylor is not in the Bears plans other than the fact they plan to try to trade him.

Word is the Bears will hang on to that punter until the last minute to try to trade him. Teams will need a punter and he can kick. I bet the Bears are successful. As far as I'm concerned, if he's better than Podlesh then keep him and trade Podlesh. It's doubtful the Bears will do that after giving Podlesh all that money but I want the best team on the field. I suspect Taylor not getting playing time against the Titans is the Bears keeping him healthy while they work to find a trade. I doubt there will be any offers but it doesn't hurt to ask.

I watched the NFL Network replay today. Haven't had to slow things down and see how our Oline did but my initial thoughts are that those guys were much better than anything we've seen last year or this year. Oline ------------------------------------------------- It was odd listening the Titans broadcasters (Eddie George in particular) compliment our Oline multiple times. They flat out said they never thought the Bears could run the ball against the Titans Dline. Again, I felt Carimi was the worst of the 5. He's young and he'll get better so I'm not worried and at times he delivers some great run blocks. I know they've both been the source of much angst on these pages but I really like how our two athletic guards are shaping up. They are both getting better when they pull they show good quickness adjusting to where the defenders are and/or finding the right guy in the open field to hit. Chris Williams has quietly been.... good. It's like that old adage, if they aren't talking about the Oline that's a good thing. JWebb...for the first time that I can recall he actually drove a guy into the ground. He is starting to play with some attitude and the athleticism that Tice has been talking about since last year is starting to show up. I never saw it last year. It wasn't a perfect game for the Oline but it was pretty good overall. ---------------------------------- For the first time I have seen the Martz offense in a Chicago uniform. Yards were coming in big chunks both runs and passes. Cutler has really grasped what needs to be done out there. Last year on blitzes he held the ball too long. Much has been made about Martz and the lack of audibles but against the Titans (and against the Giants) when blitzes happened Cutler took the hot read and the WR made the adjustment and was ready. For teams blitzing the Bears this year it will be much more difficult to be successful. This is without game planning! Sanzenbacher....this kid is very crafty in the way he runs his routes. Coming back to ball on angles that make it difficult for defenders to track, of finds soft spots in the zone. He looks very natural out there and he's making similar reads as Cutler is. I see why Cutler likes throwing to him. Love him or hate him, Roy Williams will be a big part of our offense. But he won't be the #1 option. This year the ball will be all over the place. Number of receptions leader: Earl Bennett. Receptions yards leader: Hester. Forte has better lateral quickness and more pop to his cuts. Once he makes his cut he is surprising defenders with how quickly he is on them and arriving with more power. When there's no hole on the stretch plays he's still gaining 2 or 3 yards before they can bring him down. -------------------------------------------------------------------------- Defense ---------------------------------------------------- Melton looked much better this week. He and Amobi and going to cause some damage upfront. Big Toe will too. As is his usual practice, Peppers was not fully engaged in that game, he wasn't fighting off blocks to make plays. He will once the real games begin. With a couple guys inside being able to get penetration this year I expect a big difference in the entire Dline once the lights go on in week one. We really need Wootton to come back healthy. Gotta have a 3rd guy in the DE rotation. ---------------------------------------------------------- Major Wright ....not yet seeing the instincts. Perhaps he was more conservative in his approach to the game after being burned last week. We need more out of him.

Just got home from work, thanks for the good post. I'll be taping the replay today and watch it later and my thoughts. I'm really curious to see if LL (Lance Louis) improved from last week.

I have no issue with signing Roy for that one year deal. Cheap and no commitment needed. No issues with Knox getting some tough love either. It was done early in camp when Knox still had time to fix things and earn his spot back. Knox is doing that, and Roy isn't. The Bears never said Knox was completely out of the picture.

The tough love from Bears coaches continues and I like the new approach. I think it will pay off for the team. Amazingly Hanie, after being sent to 3rd string for a day, didn't throw a pick in his next three practices.

I'm not interested in a 400lb LT with a bad attitude. The reality is that good LT do not stay on the FA market as long as McKinnie did. The Ravens traded for Boldin too and I wasnt interested in him either, at least not at that price, and Johnny Knox outplayed him. What are the Ravens focused on this season? Getting younger faster WRs.

I don't think the Bears look stupid for demoting Knox. He had issues he needed to fix. He has apparently gotten that message and is working hard to earn back his starting job. Roy Williams got the same message today albeit without the demotion ...yet.

I watched the first half in slo-mo focusing on our offense. In order of good to bad: Chris Williams and Roberto Garza played well, at least I didn't catch any obvious mistakes like I saw last week. Webb will still have trouble with speed rushers on the edge but he was more solid in his blocking against the Giants, had a couple mistakes though but this time around he tried to stay with his man which allowed Cutler to step up. Lance Louis...kid makes a lot of good plays followed by some not so great plays but overall he had a decent game. If Tice can ever get him to block with proper technique we'll have a good player. I'm no expert on blocking techniques but his arms often got pushed off the defensive player who then bull-rushed him back into the pocket. For now he's just getting by on his strength and athleticism and managed to stay with the block but he needs to learn how to anchor better. It wasn't all bad and Louis some solid blocks both in pass pro and the running game. Carimi...Justin Tuck had his way most of the night, and I don't care what Jaws and Gruden said on MNF. There were plays during the game where I was blaming Louis for missing his block but when it's all slowed down it was Carimi. On multiple run plays Carimi was pushed aside, thrown down, etc. On one play, I think 1st and goal, the interior blockers had a great push and hole opened up but Carimi allowed Tuck to slide all the way down from the end and make the tackle. This happened on more than one running play too. It wasn't all bad, Carimi had his share of wins too but the kid has some work to do. Overall much better than the Bills game. Guys knew their assignments much better, and on seven step drops (we had several) they even protected the QB well. Hopefully they gain confidence from this and we see another step up this weekend against the Titans. Side note: On one running play designed to go up the middle the line had solid blocks and a good push, easily should have been a 4 yard gain or more yet Chester Taylor ran all by himself off left tackle for a 2yd gain. Hope he does better at his next job. To his credit his pass protection was key on one of our long gains when he slid to the right last minute to help Carimi.

I wouldn't be surprised if Clark is cut either as they keep the young TE Adams who was on the field a lot for special teams.

Agreed, I saw quite a few blitzes last night, either line backers or CBs. For sure this time around Cutler had and used hot reads.

Yes, but he's our moron.

If that's the test, they passed. I'm not saying they were perfect, not even good enough yet, but compared to just a week ago they were a lot better.

I agree with his assessment too. I think the Bears were right to have Spencer earn the starting role. In any case, Garza is our backup and if Louis is to be our backup RG then everyone got reps at new spots while the new guy learned his role. But the switch has to happen tomorrow!

It is about how you play on the field and the Cardinals do not have to give up a draft pick, not even a conditional one, to find a RB who can average 2.4ypc.

From the outside it appears Unga doesn't want to make the team. That makes no sense so I can only surmise that he has some serious family issue and wish him the best of luck. I think at some point the real reason will be revealed much like the issue with Charles Tillman a couple years ago but for now his family's privacy is more important.

Great info, thanks for the update.

The fact we are comparing Mays to a player we just let go in order to upgrade our safety position pretty sums up my argument. If we were to attempt to bulk him up and coach him on being a WLB then that's something you do during a full offseason, not 3 weeks before the season starts.