AZ54

For some reason I am just not as "down" on the offense, QB and WR, as others. I am not saying I was happy with 4 INTs, far from it. I just expected a lot of growing pains in our first few games and especially the first one. We started Bennet who had zero rec last year, Knox a rookie, and Hester. We had 3 new starters on our Oline and a new QB. All of that went into Green Bay, a difficult place to play against an arch rival. What I saw was really bad play by almost all units early but improvement as the game wore on. Pass protection got much better late in the game, although it still needs to get better. Run blocking was poor throughout. WR made more plays in the second half and actually did some damage (i.e. big yards) against GB secondary. It's that improvement that has me confident we'll be able to get things going soon. This week we go up against Pittsburgh who has a better D but without Polamalu I don't think their secondary is nearly as good as GB. Their LB are much better though so the Oline needs to have learned their lessons from GB and be better at picking up their blocking assignments. If they do that, Cutler will move the ball against Pitt. I don't think we'll run the ball well this week but it still needs to be in the game plan to keep them off-balance a bit. And I don't think going 0-2 will spell the end of our season. If we come out of the first quarter of the season at 2-2 then we'll be fine, and really by the end of Oct I think we'll be 3-3 worst case. Assuming the arrow is pointing up for our offense the second half of the year should be better for us. I think wins against Seattle and Detroit and very likely. Beat the Steelers and we could have a great start to the season.

Knox is not ready for prime time but I do like getting him some reps in the game. The guy I'd like to get on the field is DA. He's a bigger WR and should be better suited for the quick slants against press coverage. I think we only had 4 WR on the active roster so the coaches would have to decide between Knox or Davis. I vote for the future.

Nothing was going to work until our Oline blocked pass rushers or opened some holes for Forte. Pass protection got better in second half run blocking didn't. I'm not sure what plays you can call when you are losing the battle up front on every play. Once that straightened out everyone else looked better, not great.

I don't want guys injured, I want them hurting so bad they get off the field. Like Urlacher did to Garcia years ago when he was the backup QB in Detroit. Ran through him so hard he was done for the season. I think Favre is primed for a similar take down this year.

With Aromashodu hurting I'm wondering if Knox is active tonight and plays as our KR. DManning is coming back from a hamstring injury and I think it would be wise for the coaches to limit his workload tonight. I sure hope it isn't Rashied Davis back there returning kicks.

Unfortunately for them they don't have anything but preseason film on the Bears so their isn't much to get prepared with. Sure they can go back to last year but we have a new QB and there's no comparison between what he does in this offense and Kyle Orton. On defense we are the same except we might be different. The D still goes with the Tampa 2 but what that means for their preparation largely depends on how good our pass rush is from the Dline. We already know they are going to be setting up differently (on an angle at times) than what we saw in the preseason. Today they put this article in the Tribune: http://www.chicagotribune.com/sports/footb...0,5562815.story On the surface doesn't look like a big deal but one quote caught my eye: Hoke played under defensive coordinator Buddy Ryan and head coach Neill Armstrong. He learned from the way Ryan dealt with players and said it influenced his own coaching style. "You knew Buddy was in charge of the defense," Hoke said. "He made that exclusively clear from the get-go. Everything was detailed in what he did. He taught a very aggressive style, he taught the players to be aggressive." It's just pure conjecture on my part but Lovie fired his DB coach and brought this guy in for a reason. All preseason our DBs continued lining up way off the LOS but was this a smokescreen? I know we're going to continue in a cover 2 setup but might we finally line up our CBs closer to the LOS and play the quick slants better than the past? I hope so.

Maybe they released it to add one more thing they have to plan for, or at least think about.

Plank got a defense named after him, one of the most famous in the history of the sport. That's pretty good consolation prize.

http://www.chicagotribune.com/sports/footb...0,3484075.story "If the Bears' defensive front four appears to be in a crooked alignment Sunday night, don't adjust your television. It is supposed to look that way. Having a couple of the defensive linemen in a cocked position -- usually the interior linemen -- is just one of the minor tweaks assistant head coach Rod Marinelli has implemented since taking over the defensive line." ************************************************************************** Maybe I was drinking too much during the games but I don't recall our DTs lining up this way during the preseason, at least not routinely. If I'm wrong someone will correct me shortly. If I'm right then Marinelli and Lovie have kept something off the film during the preseason which makes me wonder if our pass rush will be a bit better than I anticipated. Since our secondary isn't giving me much hope of stopping the Packer WRs, a bit of Cubs-World-Series-esque hope for an improved pass rush will keep me going until gameday.

After watching the Cards vs. Packers game in person I'm not that worried about our offense moving the ball. The Cards ran the ball well and easily found openings in the secondary. Their TEs found lots of open space, even getting deep for several pass completions and none of them are as athletic as Olsen. The Packers brought extra pass rushers often and they got to Warner but Cutler is far more mobile than Warner, and he's much more accurate throwing on the run. What Green Bay's defense did well was force turnovers and that is the one thing we must avoid. I agree our defensive front four must get pressure on Rodgers. Keep him to 3 step drops and the secondary can play with more confidence. If we can't do that I don't see us covering their WR very well. Overall I expect a high scoring game one that will be determined by who loses the turnover battle.

We have the Brady rule this year and defensive players are not allowed to hit a QB from a prone position (or something like that) which basically if you are down on the ground you can't lunge forward to hit a QB in the legs. This is how Palmer and to a lesser extent Brady went down with knee injuries. I'm sure I'm missing something but as I know it: HEAD--off limits, can't use hands, arms, or even helmet to helmet contact. Defensive player must put head to the side when tackling. LEGS -- off limits BODY -- can only hit with body, no crown of the helmet can contact QB. Can't use your weight to land on the QB either. The problem is when you have big guys like McNabb and Rothlisberger who are damned near impossible to tackle without a good solid hit.

I hate all the pussified rules they have for QBs. Take the hit. I can agree on some protections but as it is now there's almost no way anyone can hit a QB without getting a penalty. If we're going to continue down this path it would be best for all if they just gave the QB flags and pink jerseys.

Come on, you know we'd lose Rashied Davis.

He came to the Bears after getting cut by Cleveland after spending the offseason and all of training camp with them.

Not a single WR on the list, who would have thought that? We still have one opening left so it remains a possibility.

If we're going to keep a bad QB on the team at least keep the one who knows the offense.

Unfortunately I didn't get to see the game but it's apparent he did suck. Since he knew all those WR and that offense he should have played well. If you can't get it right after practicing against them for 4 weeks when will you get it right?

Rex has the arm strength and experience to settle in as a backup QB in this league for years. At some point he may even end up a starter way down the road and play well. We've seen this happen before with other QBs...Doug Flutie comes to mind for one.

Why do the Cards need a RB? They have Hightower and drafted Beanie Wells, who looked very good against the Packers. I wouldn't be surprised to see us pick up a RB, nor will I be surprised if we just settle with AP and Wolfe. Either way you can bet there will be at least one if not two RB added to our practice squad.

As far as Hood goes I look at it this way, Hood is a veteran who's been in the league long enough to understand different coverage techniques. I didn't see the game but I assume we were pretty basic against Cleveland. Despite that, and despite the fact that Hood has practiced against all those Cleveland guys for several weeks, he still didn't play well last night. That isn't a good sign. I too felt he was better than McBride but Lovie doesn't agree with me but he has more info than I have so we go with it.

Wait til you see 4 WR with Knox, Hester, and DA who is another sub 4.4 WR. For kicks let's go with an empty backfield and put Olsen out there too, he can either stay in and pass protect or run a pass route. I like the idea of keeping him in pass protection and let the fast guys run around a bit and see what Cutler finds.

Hood makes the team, McBride cut and replaced by DJ Moore at the bottom of the CB depth chart. The Bears give Moore one year to learn how to be a pro. I'd like to see Turrene on the practice squad.

I take the surprise and keep Malast and put Freeman on the practice squad.

I like Manning a lot at Nickel and I like what I've seen from the Payne/AFalava combo. I know both are young but in total I think this gets our best combo of players on the field at the same time. I think this has become more likely as Tillman's return is a bit in question. I'd rather give Tillman another week or two to fully heal up and get ready rather than lose him for the year because he came back to soon. That means we put Manning at nickel and Graham at CB along with Bowman. Vasher becomes one very expensive backup. When Tillman returns we have Graham as backup nickel or CB and Vasher behind him. Manning remains first backup at safety.

I think Malast is making things very difficult on Hunter. We have good depth and experience now with Pisa, Roach, and Williams. I won't be surprised at all to the see the Bears go with youth here and keep Malast. I expect Freeman to get on the practice squad. I disagree with the Dline because I think Melton goes on the practice squad. He's too raw to be ready this year and I highly doubt anyone would think enough of him to put him on their active roster. In his place we keep Gaines who has proven he can block and make big catches for us. Davis gets cut and Rideau finally makes the roster. Knox and Iglesias both make roster too. Running back: AP is cut and McClover takes his roster spot.