AZ54

I can't say what expectations others had for this team but mine were pretty average. Given the talent level we had to start the year especially at Oline and running a new offense I never thought we'd get to 9-3, now 9-4. I figured to get that many wins so quickly we'd need Tommie Harris to return to his Pro Bowl form, instead he's the backup DT and nobody outside of Bears fans can name any of our other Dlinemen except Peppers. I thought at the beginning of the season we were a 9 win team, 10 wins max if all went as well as possible. Of course I could still be right but I think we'll finish with 11 wins. I was as upset at the effort against the Patriots as everyone else but overall to this point the team has exceeded my expectations. Despite that disappointing loss I think this has been the best year of coaching we've seen from Lovie and his staff because they are getting more out of players like Webb, Toeaina, Melton, DJ Moore, Jennings, and they've somehow made a safety team of DManning and Chris Harris play well for the most part. Consider a few teams said to have better talent than the Bears: Vikings, Packers, Colts, we're holding our own. I don't care about the injuries to the Packers we beat them early in the year. Besides, how many starting combinations have we had on our Oline? QB concussed? Yeah, we had that.

Perhaps but I can remember the last time opponents faced the Bears when they had significant injuries and it wasn't that long ago.

This is a lot like the Randy Moss situation except Haynesworth is doing a lot more bitchin' and moaning. Moss was a dominant talent but he was taking plays off in Oakland and didn't like the team, coaches, he was a locker room cancer, etc. Everyone, including me said to stay away but then in rides Bill Belichik. Next thing you know Randy is happy and lo and behold New England and Brady are setting records left and right. I know they just got rid of him but they still got a couple great seasons out of him and you can't say he didn't help them. That's my point, if JA and Lovie and Marinelli get strong indications that Haynesworth would be happy in Chicago running our scheme then I think it's worth the risk. Another example is the Jay Cutler situation, although he wasn't taking plays off there were risks to that situation and the cost was much higher than we'd be paying to pick up Haynesworth off the street. We all hate to hear this but elite talent often comes with elite egos and managing that aspect is part of what's needed to put together a winning team. On the other hand, you can't fall into the coaches ego trap either where they think they can coach anyone to play better and work harder. The smart guys are the ones who figure out correctly which egos they can deal with and which to cast aside. If the opportunity is there JA needs to be having these discussions with his coaches.

I'm in the minority on Webb. I actually think he's getting better each week. There are struggles and it's frustrating to watch but the kid usually adjusts within the game and stops getting beat. I always figured he'd struggle with the fast edge rushers, and he does from time to time, but quite often he shuts them down one-on-one. I don't really isolate on line play but since he's been in we've had a running game. There's other factors in there too with Garza, the play calling, among others. Often times it's a gain for nothing but then we hit one for 8 or 9yds. I know there's a whole lot of factors in that but when I see us control the ball for the last 5 min against Detroit he had to be doing something right.

A couple things stood out in the Pats game. The Jets were constantly blitzing and the Patriots schemed to get players right behind the blitzing players. We don't blitz like that at all so we'll have LBs in better position to stop short inside routes. Despite all the effort to get to Brady the Jets couldn't get there so either the Jets have bad pass rushers (I thought their effort and moves were weak) or the Patriots Oline is just outstanding. Throughout the season there have been teams that have gotten to Brady. I'm guessing we'll be able to get some pressure on him. Regardless Brady is a stud at getting rid of the ball. I look at this game the same as when we played the Eagles and how to contain the Eagles offense. Brady won't run like Vick but you need quick pressure on the QB so the ball comes out early and let the zone D flow to the ball and make the tackle. You need this to avoid the big plays. We're not going to shut these guys out but at least make them work for it and the tackling better be outstanding because these quick guys on the underneath routes can go upfield in a hurry. If we can't get to Brady with the front four we're in big trouble. Patriots defense...I saw lots of big running gains so there's a reason the Patriots are ranked 19th in run defense. That ranking might be worse if teams weren't playing catch up in the 4th quarter. The Jets seemed to back off the running game, unfortunately Sanchez is not good enough of a QB to rely on him like they did. (I've never been that impressed by him.) Jets also dropped a lot of easy passes. We need to stick with our offensive formula and run first on these guys. Keep putting together long drives while Brady sits on the bench. Patriots are 31st in pass defense. Is it because teams are passing to keep up? Either way, they aren't stopping the run and they aren't stopping the pass. Nonetheless Belichik is the master at taking away that which you do best, I just don't know what that is on our offense. I expect lots of blitzes early on to test our Oline. Overall we'll need our best offensive effort of the season to win this one. We're going to get opportunities to do that can we take advantage of them?

That might as well read "Redskins put Haynesworth on bench while they try to trade him". They are going to have one heck of a tough legal battle trying to bench him for four games without pay. Who else has ever done that? For what reason? Poor play? Any rookie lawyer would have a field day with that one. Just pick one of McNabb's bad games to start with. They're going to have to either cut him or pay him, or it will just get worse for them legally. From an organization standpoint, why would they even want this circus act around for the last four games? At this point it's clear they are not going to get along with Haynesworth so he's not going to be around for next season. Cut him, eat your losses but let the locker room know you are moving on with the players that want to be there and McNabb as your leader. The only factor that might be unknown is that perhaps there's something with the pending lockout that could make things financially better for them if Haynesworth is still around but I can't see how or why. They can't keep throwing good money after bad money. ---------------------------------------- If he's available I'd take him in a heartbeat and if necessary I'd cut Tommie Harris to do it. I know Haynesworth has been a really bad distraction for the Redskins but it isn't as if Harris has been a role model since we gave him his big contract. Harris is nothing more than a rotation player for us. Today's out of shape Haynesworth would be far more damaging coming up the middle than anything we've seen from Tommie this year. What's an Oline going to do with Peppers and Haynesworth side by side? I also think he'd respect Marinelli, Peppers, Urlacher, and Briggs and he'd come to work. If this happened I'd actually start thinking about the Superbowl.

Everyone on the Bears knows they would have lost that first game if Calvin Johnson held on to the ball. I highly doubt the Bears will take this road game lightly. While the D would probably like to have a better effort I think the offense has more to prove with these guys.

How we handle New England will tell us a lot. While the Eagles are challenging with their deep threats NE spreads the ball around very quickly and that's always been something we've had trouble with. If there is one thing in our favor it's that it seems Brady has been getting hit a lot so our pass rush might be able to get him.

Everything about our offense is much steadier now, from Oline blocking, route running, QB play, even TE Manu is actually blocking people these days.

Having watched most of the Cards games this year I would say Anderson is typically pretty focused on the sidelines and this one shot is not the norm. We've had this discussion before about TV cameras and their 5 sec view of the bench. While facial expressions indicate a lot you cannot and should not read too much into it without getting the context. My daughter has met and talked with Deuce and his family many times. From what I know he's the type of person who is going to try to lift your spirits in tough times. I can't imagine he wasn't concerned about the team's poor play but when you know, like he did, most of that blame is going to be leveled at your QB would you try to pick up his spirits and help him relax before the next series, or do you just keep piling on? Do you leave him alone and isolated on the bench? I know there are many different answers (I have my preference) but none of us know what's already been tried with Anderson, what had already been said to him during the game, etc. Without that context I can't say what Deuce was doing was wrong...but John Gruden can. There were plenty of camera shots of play on the field to show how uninspired the Cards were playing on both offense and defense and that was the real story. Obviously Anderson handled the question very poorly and seeing his meltdown it's clear the pressure he's under. He knows this is likely the end of his career; for sure his chances at ever being a starter. Yet the Cardinals have no other answer on their bench. Max Hall is at best a backup QB and on top of that he's looking every bit a rookie. Behind him is a more talented thrower, John Skelton, who doesn't have the playbook down. The fact Whisenhunt kept Anderson in the game says a lot about his backups. Regardless, you'll be seeing one or both of the backups soon.

On that throw I felt the same when I first saw it. However, on the replay it was clear the DB jumped to the inside when Cutler looked inside and that's when Cutler threw the ball to the outside receiver. No way to know if that's how Jay saw it or if he was just tossing it out there and got a bit of luck. I know this, if his name were Manning, Brees, or Brady he'd have been complimented for looking off the DB and coming back outside. Really the same goes for the Olsen catch. If Brady had tossed up something like that to Moss (he did in the past) he'd have been complimented for knowing his receiver would go get the ball. The only people Jay needs to make happy are Bears fans. Did anyone mention that with our draft picks Denver has won 3 games?

One thing I've noticed about Cutler is that lately he is taking sacks more in stride and not trying to force plays afterward to gain back the yards. He seems more content that if a drive stalls it's time to punt and give it a shot on the next try. Is it coaching? Maturity? Likely a combination but it's nice to see him head to the sideline looking more prepared to get back to work than dwelling on what went wrong the previous series.

Great game all the way around. I include the coaches on there too. Again there was some confusion on the Oline early on but it was fixed. Meanwhile Cutler hung in there during the troubles and kept his cool. Martz continued to call runs even when most of them went nowhere, for the fourth week in row! Can't say enough about the D, they kept everything underneath and that's what you have to do against these guys.

You have to go after Vick. There's no way our DBs are covering their WRs for 5 seconds. Don't bring the house but blitzing often with a LB is fine by me. I don't even care if we don't get sacks it's all about getting the ball out of Vick's hand early and then rally to the ball. The Giants showed the blue print on the pass rush we gotta duplicate it. I think our O can exploit their D because their secondary gives up plays. What you didn't see last week was the Giants don't have anywhere near the speed at WR that we have. It will make a difference. We just need Jay to keep his head on straight and be patient.

Izzy in his own way has been a great player for the Bears. He's not a Pro Bowl talent but he's done everything the club has ever asked him to do, and done it well. You need guys like this to fill out your roster and in order to be successful on Sundays. I hope he gets 10 sacks this year so he starts to get a bit more recognition. Of course if he does that it's good for the team too.

Total BS. Fitz isn't going anywhere. The Cards have already reworked his contract twice for him and that last contract resulted in Boldin leaving town. Why would he be upset with Whisenhunt who got the Cards to the Superbowl? It's ridiculous conjecture. Now if in two or three years there is no progress on the QB situation I can see this but not now.

I came away very impressed on a couple fronts. I know Miami was wounded but for us this was a short week on the road and I expected to see a flat performance, missed tackles, lack of hustle on edge rushes, etc. That wasn't there at all. Likewise on offense I figured we'd be stuck relying on Cutler's arm for better or worse yet we went up against a very good defense (8th ranked and no significant injuries there) and ran the ball on them. It wasn't pretty on offense but it was effective. I was disappointed we didn't roll more pass protection toward Webb's side. He got owned today. On the other hand he got a lot of one-on-one experience against a really good edge rusher. For the most part Webb has continued to improve each game and hopefully this experience helps him. Martz at least let Webb get even on a lot of run plays including Forte's TD. Now we have a nice long weekend to rest up our pass rushers and get ready for Vick and the Eagles. I think our offense will look much better against the Eagles than it did tonight.

Wrong...Phil Jackson told Jordan if he wanted to win a championship he better learn how to pass. I had no problem with the Bears making Hester a WR. He's dangerous with the ball and defenses know that. The problem I have is they kept saying he was (or was going to be) a #1 WR and they forced him into that role. That's now what he is.

I expect Jared Allen is next in line since he helped bring Favre back for this $20 million season.

Kreutz has never been good at blocking when on the move.

According to Cutler he was trying to throw the ball away and he threw it a bit too far. Who knows, I'm just resigned to the fact we'll always see 2 or 3 of these throws in a game. Sometimes they'll get picked sometimes they won't. Overall though I am noticing a nice trend of Cutler taking more and more underneath throws. Slowly but surely he is becoming more content to move the ball on long drives. Martz too, he called run and run even when they weren't going anywhere. Eventually they got it going and Forte ended up with over 100 yards (only to lose it on the last few plays of the game when Miami sold out with 10 in the box to stop him.)

Today's discussion at work: The Cardinals Oline and all the problems they have. Their Oline coach is Russ Grimm. My point of course is that Tice has had far less to work with, far more injuries forced upon him, and at this point in the season his Oline (including 7th Rd pick starting at RT) and are playing better. He has taken what looked like a disaster of an Oline in game 4 and turned them into acceptable 5 games later. The arrow is still pointing up but I'm impressed at the rapid turnaround nad perhaps he can get them to "good" before seasons end. Martz too has adapted and stood firm in support of his players throughout all the controversy. He's admitted his mistakes either in preparation or in play calling and to prove it's not just words he makes noticeable changes over the next few games. For Marinelli's part I understand he has some Pro Bowl caliber players but he also has a secondary that is questionable. He's making it work and I think given the talent he's getting the most out of his secondary. Plus he has demoted Tommie Harris and is making due with guys like Toea and Henry Melton at DT. Not Pro Bowl talent there.

Just setting the stage for his retirement BEFORE the end of the season. That's all.

I don't see how anyone cannot say the Oline is not playing better. It's because Cutler is scrambling more? Crazy idea. He was running for his life against the Giants how good did the Oline look that day? We only had a couple meaningless late game runs? Minn was ranked top 10 in the league against the run. Our horrible Oline managed to put up 100 yards against them. Those runs late in the game when they stacked the line because everyone knew we wanted to kill the clock, that's what good teams do. After coming back from 14pts down with 3min left in the game last week against the Cardinals don't think the Vikings were giving up either. I'm not anointing our Oline as one of the best in the league but they have clearly improved over what we saw just 4 weeks ago. So has the play calling.

Yep I think I've seen that request before on this board. I agree with it.