AZ54

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.

If Basanez is eligible for practice squad I believe that's where he'll end up. If not I still think there's a good chance the Bears cut him anyway.

Why now? I'd understand if someone was seriously injured but this would make no sense now.

Davis had no receptions tonight. Was he even on the field? As far as special teams he's been reduced to nothing more than a cover guy because of Knox doing KR/PR. I think after tonight Knox secured his spot on the roster. Davis has done the kick coverage role well this preseason but is that really enough to keep him on the roster? As I scrolled through the play by play on nfl.com I noticed Knox making the opening kick off tackle. I think that might be the end of Rashied Davis. I'm not trying to say one tackle is the difference but Knox has the arrow pointing up in a big way and he should only get better on special teams coverage. Point is this reduces one of the main reasons for keeping Davis. As far as receiving is concerned I think Rideau has surpassed Davis here too. Rideau has been in our offense long enough to know the system too so game experience goes to Davis but knowing the offense should be closer to being even although I'd still give an edge to Davis. Rideau has a nice size advantage over Davis and that's something we need on our roster. I won't be surprised if Davis sticks but at this point I say he's gone.

I'm a believer that you are what your record says you are, mistakes included.

Thanks. It won't be long before someone posts that AP is a better pass blocker. Wolfe is a far better special teams tackler and can return kicks. He's also more capable of providing big plays. I think he sticks as our #3 RB.

While I'm a fan of AP I've also been stating that his time with the Bears is over. All the Wolfe bashers are always saying how he doesn't bring anything to the table, nothing more than AP. I'm waiting for the end of the preseason to put together a post to compare their stats. If someone doesn't beat me to it I'll do it this weekend. Based on what I've seen in each game I think the stats for Wolfe have been either better or comparable to AP but I want to see it all together to compare. I know this, Wolfe has more KR yards than AP.

I don't think there's any doubt he makes this team. Dual threat at PR/KR and WR. He'd never stay on the practice squad after tonight, some team would at least pick him up to be their PR/KR.

Manginious has an ego problem and I totally agree that the Belichick disciples don't know how to apply his tough love tactics. Belichick himself didn't know how when he was in Cleveland. I like it because it's entertaining.

Ahh, adjustments. When do we get them?

Funny as hell!

We're going to agree to disagree here. My years of experience (lol) have shown me that these types of major organizational changes don't happen in a vacuum. Job interviews for head coaches last for hours and include at least two or three separate interview sessions. IMO there is no way Bowlen doesn't ask McDaniels what he thinks about the current players on the team and in particular how Cutler fits into his offensive scheme. I also believe the subject of his success in New England with Cassel was a part of the discussion. It might be one of the reasons he got the job. IMO all of these questions would be likely during an interview: "How did you develop Cassel to have such a successful season after sitting on the bench for years?" "Do you think Cassel can be a franchise QB?" "What do you think are New England's plans for Cassel this offseason?" "Would you be interested?" Part 2 of this equation is that Cutler had a conversation with Bowlen after Shanahan was fired. I can't imagine that being about anything other that the future direction of the team and likely included where he (Cutler) fit in with the long term plan. That's a typical question whenever a new manager is brought into a company, everybody wants to know where they fit in, or if they do. Even though McDaniels hadn't been interviewed or hired yet it's totally logical for Cutler to have asked Bowlen where he felt he fit in. I'll admit your scenario is a possibility I just view it as remotely likely. Flip it around and approach it from your angle and say McDaniels suprised Bowlen after being hired by stating he wanted to pursue the trade for Cassel. That would mean McDaniels said in the interview that he liked Cutler and could run his offense effectively with him. For McDaniels to come back just a couple months later and change his mind and ask the owner for permission to trade his franchise QB would take some balls. He'd be going to his new boss and telling him he either lied to him or didn't know what he was doing when he said in the interview that he liked Cutler. Keep in mind that decision would be made without even working with Culter on the field much less in the film room. That would be a major violation of trust and confidence if it hadn't been discussed before. Bowlen would realize immediately that if the deal fell through and became public knowledge that he risked alienating Cutler. I don't believe in coddling players, or any employee but you don't alienate a key performer and make them feel like they don't have a future with your organization. Like you said, head coaches come and go but franchise QBs are really hard to find. I believe Bowlen knows that and that's why I feel this was all part of the conversation in the interview. I just can't see Bowlen agreeing to the trade after having an agrement with his new coach they'd go forward with Cutler.

Ouch, I couldn't imagine that being as bad as that. The problem for him is that this is not good for his throwing hand. I know from experience that bad finger sprains don't go away quickly and affect my basketball shooting for several weeks. He must need a few weeks to get back to normal but even then it's likely going to affect his passes. It's a good thing he's a dink and dunk passer in a dink and dunk offense.

I'd much rather have Hood than McBride. We'll lose a bit on special teams coverage but maybe this is why McClover was brought back? Hood is more physical than McBride and can make some good plays. He's also inconsistent and makes some bad plays. As opposed to McBride who doesn't make any plays that's an upgrade.

Lost in all this is the point that our TEs are open, a lot! I realize our WR aren't getting open as often as we'd like (myself included) but I don't care how we move the football. If a D is giving us open TEs for 20 yards gains then I'll take it all night long. At some point teams are going to have to address this or Greg Olsen will beat them. That's one thing (among many) I like about what Cutler has done the last two games, he's spreading the ball around. While our WR might not be in the top half of the league, we have so many weapons and a QB who knows how to use them all over the field. It'll be reception by committee this year but I think it will work just fine. Hopefully by the second half of the season a WR or two have become more consistent threats for Cutler.

It's total BS to allude to that fact that this cheapshot block was the tacklers fault for moving too slowly.

Total bullshit and I'd be fining him big time. For a veteran player to do a cheapshot like this during a preseason game is really messed up. If I were on that D I'd have been taking a penalty for a late hit on Favre to makeup for it. A message needs to be sent around the league on this because a lot of teams are going to line up in wildcat formations. Not to mention all the Crowton WR screens we see.

Pass

It's PRESEASON! Why worry about a halfback passing play in a practice game? We ran it in a highly charged atmosphere where the players can get a feel for what it will be like when it really counts. At least now they have it on tape and can coach it up further. It's the same for our opponents too. Perhaps that means one less safety crashing down on a run play.

His premise about the owner is wrong. There's no way McDaniels was hired without Bowlen knowing in advance he wanted to go after Cassel. So in Bowlen's mind Cutler was getting traded. When the Cassel deal fell through they wanted to fall back to Cutler at least for this season. McDaniels admitted as much when he said publicly that he told Cutler he couldn't assure him he would not get traded in the future, although he phrased that into a generic statement as if that applies to everyone. So to Cutler it was clear he wasn't his QB. Cutler read between the lines and he knew the owner had to approve of the trade in advance and he knew he'd been lied to. Since it was clear neither owner nor head coach were committed to him he called their back-tracking bluff and basically said don't wait to trade me, get it done now. The owner approved going out and getting a serviceable QB to hold over the offense and as many draft picks as they could garner. Point is he approved of McDaniels searching for his own QB from the beginning. McDaniels gets all the heat for this fiasco but reality is that Bowlen was in on it from the beginning and IMO it was the lack of commitment from the ownership that bothered Cutler moreso than the rookie head coach. Why Bowlen gets to sit on the sidelines in all this as people spread the blame among Culter and McDaniels is beyond me but IMO he's equally culpable, if not moreso because he made the decision to hire McDaniels knowing he'd be trading Cutler. It was his setup from the beginning.

Got a Broncos fan in my morning meeting at work, he didn't want to talk to me today. I understood.

Amazing, we've had about 5 quarters of play with this new QB, new WR, rebuilt Oline, and already the panic is setting in. If anything, given the circumstances I'm amazed at how productive this group has been. There's only one reason for that and it's Cutler.

I can live with a cushion of a few yards, even as many as 5yds, but you have to be lined up on the inside of the WR to take away the quick slant. That's a gap that can be closed quickly but the 10 yard drops just kill me. There's no logic in that at all.

Tommie Harris limps when he runs, not a good sign. Harris rarely puts up much effort in preseason so hopefully he can still get upfield when it counts. Seemed like the Dline was able to get some pressure but it's tough with Orton throwing so many dink and dunk passes. I could have sworn Alex Brown was being held by Clady on several plays but no whistle. Nonetheless for Brown to get around the edge on Clady is a very good sign. Harrison is a beast if somebody can get inside this guys head and turn him into a true professional we've got a key component of this D for a long time to come. Still not sure why Adams gets so little respect but I like the guy. LBs, some good, and some average play. I like the range Pisa has, he closes quickly and he's going to be a nice compliment to this group. Malast stays with this team, if not on the active roster he's on the practice squad. DBs, McBride is at best a 5th CB on this team. Among the corners I don't think anyone stood out, at least not for playing well. The safeties were quiet tonight but several times Payne did what a safety should do...he stopped a big play by making a sure open field tackle. Afalava didn't get his name mentioned all night. Cutler threaded a lot of passes into tight coverage and players caught them! I'm still not used to seeing that in a Bears uniform. The Oline, in particular Pace and Williams didn't play well. Pace changed his tactic from dropping back to trying to get out after Dumervil right off the snap and this seemed to at least give him another second to get his feet set on the outside. This is our first look at a 3-4 D and that's all we'll play from here on out until game 5. They settled down after a couple series but even then Cutler had to help with his mobility but that's part of the package. WR...anyone surprised it's receiver by committee? Cutler did a great job spreading the ball around. I was pleasantly surprised to see Bennett run through a DB and then turn around and make a tough over-the-head catch on a key third down. I can't guess how the WR corps is going to shake out. Clearly we have Hester/Bennett and I think Iglesias and Knox both stick around. Among the final spot or two we have Rashied Davis who made some good plays on special teams but nada as a WR. Meanwhile Aromashodu and Rideau made some small plays at WR but didn't do much on special teams. This battle goes into game 4 Thursday night.