AZ54

On the McKie 3and1 "dive" play what I'd like to see the next time we lineup in that formation is a fake handoff to McKie and then a pitch out to Forte running to the other side (right side). I figure almost everyone on the D will bite on the dive and Forte might have one guy to beat on the corner. I'll take that matchup any day and expect he'll at least get us the yard we need. If he beats his man he could be gone all the way. This time it will be acceptable for TE Davis to let his man beat him to the inside.

If you want a questionable second round pick look no further than Devin Hester. Nobody drafts a PR/KR in Rd 2. I think Graham would be fine at the nickel spot but he hasn't practiced there at all. There's no way I'd put McBride there because with his size teams would run right at him. He is pretty poor in run support.

Two of them might if Barton does something in Miami.

I watched Painter last week and he absolutely sucked. He has no arm strength and was terribly inaccurate. He didn't look very mobile either. Attribute his passing yards to the Joe Tiller system and go find another QB especially if you are going to take one in Rd 2. I'd take Chase Daniel out of Missouri before him. Chase doesn't have all the skills you look for at the next level (i.e. strong arm, height, etc.) but when plays break down he finds a way to extend the play and make good things happen.

We call it special teams but a KR or PR is the first offensive play in any drive unless they kick it away. Hester has the most TDs of ANY player on the Bears in the last two seasons. That's offense IMO and just because he does it on PR and KR doesn't change the 7pts on the scoreboard. Every team considers their return team successful if they get decent field position however Hester has changed that expectation for us. I believe it was typical to say above 7yd per PR and beyond the 20yd line on KR was good. Nobody expects Hester to make a TD return every time he gets the ball but everyone thinks it's possible. Hester can return a kickoff to the 30 yard line the opposing team's fans still cheer like crazy because they tackled him. The way his contract was structured he is paid like the best return man in the history of the game and if he can succeed as a WR he'll be paid well for that too. I think it was a fair deal for both sides.

I love how Childress bails himself out of responsibility for the decision to start Jackson: "I know full well that one position is not responsible and that everyone needs to step up," Childress said. "But I'm just not seeing right now the aggressiveness from Tarvaris that I saw throughout the offseason, training camp, the two preseason games he played in." IMO nothing really changes, we still have to stop the run when we play these guys.

We will not be the only team searching for a QB. Expect Minn to give up a 1st for Quinn since they've shown a willingness to part with a 1st Rd pick already. They may also view their offense as complete except for a QB. I don't see JA giving up a first round pick. What will Gruden do in Tampa? He has to get his QB situation resolved next year or he might be gone. I'm sure there will be other teams as well. Who else might be available? With McNabb lighting it up the situation with Kolb changes. I have no clue about him. Alex Smith will be available. Not much good about what he's done. Rex Grossman? As always it's a QB starved league. I'm not ready to give up on Orton but I'm not ready to say he's starter material either. I think what's most likely to happen is he continues to perform average for us and remains our starter going into next year while we bring in a high draft pick to groom for the spot.

I haven't seen so many missed tackles since I watched the Bears play D in the preseason. In a game like that it's hard to even know what's real. Are the offenses that great or are the defenses that bad? How much time can you give McNabb to throw? How many times can you let Romo step up in the pocket into a huge alley right up the middle? Brian Dawkins has clearly lost a step in coverage but if he gets you he'll hit you hard. I see opportunities for Greg Olsen and Clark in the intermediate passing game. Asante Samuel, how many times does he bite on a pump fake before realizing he's supposed to just stay with the WR? I see opportunities for Hester to get deep, can Orton throw it to him? Dallas' OT's were giving up pressure around the ends but their DT did nothing inside. Certainly both teams are good but I'm not going to write off the Eagles as a loss after what I saw last night.

If you don't spend money on your best offensive weapon who do you spend money on? Even if Hester hasn't played great on offense yet he's still our leading scorer over the last two seasons and the field position he gives the offense throughout a game is worth even more points. At least it would be if anyone else would care to contribute to the cause.

Will we see Graham at the nickel spot or do we go back to DManning?

NO to Garcia, especially if we give up a draft pick. Funny how Griese "deserves to be a starter" now after Gruden dumped him after the 2005 season. The only thing you can be sure of about the QB situation in Tampa is that nobody trusts what Gruden is saying, not even his players. Standby for this carousel to pick up speed as we go through the season.

Actually that kinda proves the point...the only TD. How many DBs in this league give up TD passes to Peyton Manning?

For his size, Forte is very smooth and slippery finding even a tiny crease to fall forward and gain several yards out of nothing. This is the type of consistency that really makes a running game good. Gotta like the burst and vision in the open field too.

At the time of the trade I felt it was Payne who made Harris expendable. If Payne didn't break his arm last year we might not be having this discussion. That fact seems to born out by the fact Payne is our starting SS. In only his second game he had 13 tackles which, if they update the NFL site, should put him in the same neighborhood as Harris. What has surprised me the most about Payne is how quietly he has gone about doing his job. Nobody was up in arms about his coverage against the Colts or Panthers. His run support was solid in both games. For a guy with the arrow still pointing up this is a pretty good start to his career.

It's been one very quiet week on the board after all the Indy chat died down. Usually you see multiple posts about game plans or certain players needing to step up. IMO it appears nobody has a clue what to expect out of our team tomorrow although there is more excitement and optimism than before the Indy game. At least those are my feelings heading into Carolina. I'm not expecting as much of a running game tomorrow, at least it will be a lot tougher than we had it at Indy. On offense it seems to me we need our WR and TEs to step up and make plays in the passing game. They were pretty quiet against Indy. Are we still going with WR by committee? If Carolina keeps 8 in the box as I expect them to we need to make them pay for it with some big gains. Will we see Garrett Wolfe on a few plays this week? On defense we must shutdown their run game. Moose against either Vasher or Tillman does not worry me. Moose against anyone doesn't worry me including Danieal Manning. It's true in every game, but this week we need to win the special teams battle and play for field position. Keep a short field for our offense and I say the Bears win by 3.

I give both coordinators credit for solid game plans and for sticking with them.

The D was awesome last night because they beat Manning at his own game. We showed up full force at the LOS every single play and that wouldn't let him check out of pass plays to runs which he loves to do. We essentially showed him the same stacked look all night and then just let our LB run back into coverage or blitz. This left the DBs with the knowledge that they would almost always be in pass coverage and they just stuck to the plan of keeping everything underneath. With so many guys committed to the LOS we had the run stopped without support from the DBs. We gave up some plays for sure but overall it worked beautifully.

This was the gameplan we were all calling for in the Superbowl. Instead we got pass happy and gave up too many yards rushing. Last night we won against an elite AFC team on the road in their brand new stadium where they had everything going for them. I don't want to hear any BS about how they had to make do with 3 backup Oline when we were making due with our backup LT and backup LG. Do you think there's a Colts fan out there who can name our starting WR? Hell half the Bears fans I know still don't know who our starting WR are. How about a rookie RB? We also had essentially a rookie safety in Payne out there on D and still we gave up only 13pts to Manning. Find excuses wherever you want but we still went into their house and beat them at their own game.

Instead of micromanaging every single play call find a way to celebrate a big victory. A victory nobody expected. We beat Indy soundly on both sides of the ball. You might not like the play calls but you can't argue with results.

Wow, J. Norwood ran for 93 yards against Detroit too I guess we should have signed him up too.

As of today the Bears depth chart lists starting WR as Davis/Hester on one side and Lloyd on the other. 2nd string is listed as Bradley and Booker is listed as our 3rd string WR along with Earl Bennett.

The problem is they are saying the exact same thing on their side only they have Peyton Manning to execute the plan, we have Kyle Orton. On D we should be better than them but that wasn't even remotely close last year. At this point we have quite a bit to prove on both sides of the ball. We do have better special teams though!

Sorry but the game is about winning, not talking about how good a player (or team) was years ago. I like Booker but he didn't do anything to show me that he's still got it. You want to give him a pass because he's a vet, fine. I just want production. That includes the D and no I never gave them a pass for playing like crap. I have pointed out that not everything the D did was terrible but did likewise with the offense. I am always ready to eat crow when a player performs better than I expected and I never mind doing so because I just want this team to win. Someday we may cut Brian Urlacher, Tommie Harris, Olin Kreutz and I may very well agree with the decision but that does NOT mean I don't respect their contributions to this team, or them as a player and person.

In another article the Bears players commented on how the Giants' D from last year was the model they were using to set their goals for this year. I might be wrong but I thought the Giants D rotated up to 8 players on their D line throughout a game. We typically rotate 3 De and 3 DT (6 total). This year for the first time under Lovie it appears we have a couple backup DTs who can provide a pass rush up the middle (Harrison, Idonije). Will we see more of a 4 man rotation at DT this season? Will Idonije do double duty rotating in some at DE and DT throughout a game? Reducing snaps per player for the Dline might help us as we get to the 4th quarter and also later in the season.

I think it's clear that a team like Dallas would have been willing to put Hanie on their roster as a #3 QB and that's all us Haniacs wanted for the Bears to do. Why folks keep assuming this means we believe he's the next Tom Brady is beyond me. I believe he's shown enough (comparable numbers to Joe Flacco by the way) to Keep him around and let him learn on the sidelines. Then let's see if he improves again next year. And no, that does NOT mean he becomes a starter next year, it just means let's see if he improves. We all know that Rex is gone after this year and there will be another QB in camp next year who will have the potential (hype) or even the experience of being a starter in the league. In that situation guess what, Hanie is still likely your #3 QB and Orton or the new guy are 1/2. Certainly there will be a 4th QB in camp next year to compete for that third roster spot.