AZ54

What was one of the biggest problems for Bears WR last year? They couldn't get off the LOS under press coverage. Davis was a big part of that problem. What was the other big issue for our WR....drops. Rashied Davis was big part of that too. At some point you have to come to the conclusion he's a guy who could contribute but just is never going to be more than what you have already seen. He also seems to be a better practice player than game player. I can't believe Iglesias, Knox, or Aromashodu can't replace this: 2008 SEASON: Started a career-high 12 games and appeared in all 16 games for the third straight season... Posted career highs in receiving yards (455) and receptions (35), while matching a career high with 2 TD catches... If the Bears keep 6 WR then Davis can stick around, if they keep 5 then let him go.

It's too many injuries in too few seasons. No matter how you feel about him as a player or as a person it's impossible to look at him and feel like you can count on him. For whatever reason injuries are like that for some guys. I think it's best for the team and him to part company. At best he was going to be #2 and more likely #3 NT so give another young guy a shot. Toeina has done some good things for us in the past so I say it's time to open the door for him.

I wasn't counting on him but it's still tough to see him get injured like this again. I hope it's just a sprain but that alone might be enough to keep him off the final roster.

At a minimum Knox has already shown the league he can be a good KR/PR, and while he hasn't made a big splash at the WR position just yet he hasn't been non-existent either. Give him a couple more games and I think you'll see what he's about and I think it will be clearer that he makes the final roster.

I still feel that Orton is a good QB. I just don't see him as a great QB. He is still going to move their offense and put up some points but he's not Jay Cutler. I watched some of the Denver game and much of the big gains came on short pass plays (WR screen for 50 yds). Kyle can and will do those things well but so can a lot of QBs. However, I much prefer our situation where the opposing defense has to cover another 20 yards on the field.

In either case I like the idea of having a backup OG who we know can play. This is a nice change after years of hoping we'd never have to see Metcalf on the field.

Cutler threw the ball to the spot Hester would have been at if he (Hester) didn't stop running.

As I understand it, he had that bicep tendon tear repaired by having it fully cut clean. It takes a couple months to get over that change but then the pain is gone for good with no impact to his throwing ability. While all that was going on they found a torn rotator cuff. That will cause him some issues if he throws too much. Since he doesn't like to practice he should be ok.

Now that the afterglow of seeing a real NFL offense in a Bears uniform is fading a bit I can jot down some thoughts. This can't solely be due to Greg Olsen but he certainly is going to be a huge part of our offense this year. That's the first I've ever seen a WR screen to a TE and it was pretty effective and almost went for a big gain. It probably wasn't noticed as much but Olsen had a great pass-protection block on one play, not sure if it was a DE or LB he stopped but they went nowhere and Cutler had time to throw for a big gain. He is going to give opponent DC's trouble figuring out how they want to matchup. WRs...we found some. They weren't always able to get separation and at times the coverage was pretty good but Cutler got the ball into a tight spot and our guys held on. That's what you have to do in this league. DA made an incredible catch. Bennett I thought was solid but for him this alone is a big improvement just to get the monkey off his back. Rideau finally played like the big WR he is. Hester had a TD if he didn't hesitate while running deep and the image of that play will be in the back of the minds of every DB who covers Hester this year. Overall not too much spectacular but a solid showing nonetheless. The most important thing was that good plays were spread around and this group needed to have a day like this to gain confidence. I needed a day like this too! Oline. Showed improvement against a very good Dline. Some mistakes were made but they are on the upswing of the curve. RBs... Forte, are you kidding me? Some of his moves and vision were first-rate tonight. Jones did some good some bad but he's no Forte. Wolfe seems to be a lot stronger in his leg drive, he is actually going forward after contact even in runs up the middle. Fumbles need to go away especially near the goal line. AP was AP. Hanie....after watching him play so deep into the 4th quarter I am thinking the Bears will go with 2 QBs on the final roster. Otherwise I think the Bear would have given Basanez more reps late in the game. I don't know if Basanez is eligible for the practice squad, I just don't see him doing anymore for us than a vet we'd pickup off the street if things got that far. I liked what Hanie did with the second team, he was effective putting drives together, even the one in the last two minutes of the first half where penalties kept pushing us backward. Once the third string got in the game nothing looked right. Dline...Alex Brown are you going to get double digit sacks this year? It just might happen. I'd still like to see more consistent pressure but there were flashes this game as opposed to none last game. I'll gladly accept the progress. Mark Anderson seems to be MIA. Jaron Gilbert looks like the real deal but while I think he'll contribute this year I don't think we'll see his upside until next year. Harrison still plays like a beast if he ever gets his act together and gets in great shape he'll be a stud for us. LBs...trouble wrapping up early but it got better by the second quarter. Pisa will start for us. DBs...I thought Payne played well but it's hard to isolate on safeties until I watch the game tomorrow. Afalava was ok. Steltz is nothing more than a backup. Our corners were again soft but they were lined up tighter this game. Still need to see more pass breakups, can we at least get one? I'm not going to count Bullocks PDs late in the game.

Considering the is just the second quarter of play for this new Oline I think the effort was pretty good. There are still things to work on but I like the progress. I feel exactly the same about our Dline except most of them have been together for years.

Hester clearly underestimated how far that ball was going, he hesitated nearly to a full stop before taking off again. Cutler made that 60 yard throw while on the run, and had Hester not stopped running it would have been on the money. Even the DBs quit on the play because they probably thought they were deep enough being 50 yards off the LOS. They also must have forgotten who our QB is. Talk about having to cover the entire field when the QB scrambles! The last time I saw a pass like that it came off the hand of Brett Favre and it was many many years ago. I remember our DB quit covering because he thought he was deep enough. Only on that play the Packer WR kept running. Hester will learn to keep running too.

Wasn't it Jacobs Urlacher steamrolled en route to a near sack? We don't practice tackling in camp so going from zero to tackling Jacobs is tough but I was glad to see they got better as the game went along.

I'd like to say Afalava stood out in large part because our safety situation is so tenuous but with DManning out the coaches felt good enough about him to move Payne over from SS to make room for Afalava with the number ones, and that all happened very quickly. So yes, with weak competition he has a good opportunity but to stand out but doing so that early means he knows his assignments and isn't just a big hitter. I think we'll still see DManning return to FS in large part because it sounds like Corey Graham is starting to settle into the nickle role.

More entertaining was watching take the direct hit on a blitz up the middle. He rolled off the carpet pretty slowly. I wonder what he was thinking after that play.

Far less concerned about WR than CB. If a decent vet is cut OR is dangled for a trade I bet we're making a move to bring them in.

Favre leads the NFL in INT's, all time. The only coach who got him under control was Holmgren. Since then you might as well flip a coin because it's good Favre -- bad Favre and just like a box of chocolates you never know what you have until he opens it up on gameday. Do any of you think when a head coach like Childress gets on his knees to beg Favre to come play for him, violates two distinct deadlines ("it's now or we move on"), then starts training camp ready to move on yet backtracks two weeks later and calls for help again. Then when the guy gets in town the same head coach drives down to the airport to pick him up. Anyone think that when Favre throws multiple INTs in a game that Childress is going to get in his face? How about the second time it happens? He can't because Favre will just look at him from his (Favre's) office and say "you begged me to come here." It's clear the tail is wagging this dog. Their season starts off with several easy games they should win. I expect the entire league to be all over the Vikings and how they are going to the playoffs and the Superbowl. This part of the season is also when Favre will be the strongest. Then in week 4 their real season starts with Green Bay, then StL (easy), followed by Balt, Pitt, and again Green Bay. I expect the Green Bay games to be very physical. I'm curious to see how Favre does after this stretch.

When did Dungy become an agent? Harrison would be with a team if his contract demands weren't so high. Now it appears that demand might just be getting lower but it's too late IMO unless some injuries hit us. I know we don't have a great WR corps but I like the talent and I prefer to let them go through the growing pains.

How does a pocket passer injure his hamstring? That defies belief.

I think we're all going to have to realize this offense is a work in progress. We have a QB who made it to the Pro Bowl last year but he's still young and still learning his craft, and he's learning an entirely new offense along with new receivers. I fully expect to see these type of mistakes well into the first quarter of the season. Of course I expect to see less and less of them but still we'll be seeing some INT's.

I thought about all this for a day and finally came to the conclusion that I'm thankful we finally have a QB who will say what's on his mind. I'm sick and tired of athletes and coaches giving out run of the mill statements while on the other hand the media does all it can to split hairs and cause friction at the slightest sign of accoutability. These days you can create a template for a typical sports interview and article and just print it over and over again with different names. I'm not saying Cutler should always be blaming others for bad plays, absolutely not, but I don't see that here at all. Cutler's statement is exactly what it is, he made a poor jump ball throw and acknowledged that he should know it's not Hester's strength, and he should. In between the words is the hint that, regardless of a bad throw, Hester should have fought more for the ball and that's exactly what's been said on the board here. I totally agree with both aspects. As long as Cutler calls himself out for making mistakes the end result will be more accountability instead of a mish mash of "we'll do better" statements.

Rideau was in a lot with the first team. He's the one who dropped the TD pass from Cutler on the play that as blown dead for a penalty. DA was in for a lot of reps with the second team and seemed to get open a few times as I was keying on him but Hanie kept going to Davis, which bothered me because I want to see if these other guys can do anything. DA also had a tackle on a KR. Davis was in on a few special teams plays as well so the competition will continue. I don't draw much from the first game especially with the young players. They are typically very nervous and unsure what to expect. Once they get a play or two you start to see what they can do. You can focus on the negatives but as long as those fade with experience they'll be ok. There were some positives tonight. Iglesias showed me a bit more speed on his KR than I thought he had and he had a nice TD reception along the back of the endzone. Knox also had a very nice PR, and made a nice move to get a first down on a quick out route. Rideau still looks a bit challenged with press coverage. All I saw from DA was that he appeared to get open sometimes but never got the ball, he had some good coverage on kick offs.

DBs...not good at all. Gave up pretty everything all game long. Afalava can tackle. LBs...saw some good plays from Url and Briggs. Pisa didn't standout IMO. DTs...saw good consistent push up the middle until we got down to the third string but nobody really broke free inside. Harrison got a lot of snaps and early on was beast but tired late in the game. Gilbert showed some quickness to get upfield l but I don't recall him making a lot of plays. DEs...Mark Anderson did nothing. Brown and Ogun did little more. Nobody stood out among this group. QBs...Cutler was either really good on a pass or downright awful with not much in between. Hanie reminded me why I liked him last year. He really likes Rashied Davis but he needs to work more of the field. Basanez...he was let down by a couple bad WR plays but overall looked at best like a 3rd string QB, and I mean at best. Oline...starters seemed to have good pass protection. Run blocking wasn't very good. Pace left early but I saw Williams in with the second string so it's clear they are trying to get him more playing time before the season starts. RBs...I liked the burst and strength Kevin Jones ran with but it would be nice to see him have some holes to run through. Wolfe looked ok. WRs...nothing worth writing about at all.

Orton looked pretty good throwing dump off routes while San Fran had it's DBs way off the LOS. Then the pick in the endzone showed what happens when the field gets compressed. Orton's last two picks were just absolute horrible throws. The third one being just what we were used to, a longer pass (20yd) where he tried to drop it in over a DB to a wide open receiver and the ball came up short. Orton was never very good at putting arc on a pass to drop it in over the top of a DB. To say Simms will take over for him is just not realistic. Simms looked absolutely horrible, constantly locked in on receivers and he wasn't particularly accurate either, it just looked better against 3rd stringers. McDaniels will stick with Orton because he is the better option but after game one it's clear it's going to take some time for him to get a good feel for a new offense and new teammates. Brandon Marshall must be happy.

With all the QB controversy they had last year (benching McNabb at one point) I'm surprised the Eagles are doing this. At the end of the year they came out and said McNabb is there guy going forward. Now maybe that's not true? Kolb really struggled when he got on the field so perhaps Philly is starting to look in a different direction for down the road.

Exactly where will AP contribute more? RB? Not likely as he is at best our 3rd RB and currently is listed as 4th on the depth chart. He won't see the field unless Forte and Jones go down. Losing players is never a good thing but if there's one thing that teams have shown over the years you can find a RB off the street (or more likely off your practice squad) to fill in. AP is an average RB, and not very good as a blocker, at least not last year. Special teams kick coverage? Wolfe was far better on special teams last year, I'll go so far as to say he was stud often getting downfield early and making tackles before the KR/PR could get momentum. Even KJ outshined AP in those last few games getting further downfield and making tackles on KR. Special teams blocking on returns? This one I'll give to AP because I simply don't know one way or the other. So we'd be keeping AP on the roster solely to be a special teams ace, even though others outperform him in some areas. There is going to be a lot of competition for this role. Consider Freeman who did well on special teams in college. Jamaar Williams who has often been a special teams standout and appears to be our 4th LB on the depth chart, especially now that they've listed him on the SLB depth chart. My belief is they are doing that solely because they know he can contribute well on special teams and they want him active for game day. It's good for him to know the SLB role even if he'd only do that to finish out a game. You prefer to keep AP solely to get a good blocker on KR/PR and in exchange only keep 2 TEs, the most injured position in the league? Or we drop one of our talented young WR, a position we have so many question marks and lots of inexperience? You realize we like to run 4 WR sets from time to time? I'll take the extra WR to see which of the 4 young guns develops best for the future. I've already been posting this offseason that it's time to move on from AP, and nothing I've heard from camp has made me change my mind.