Alaskan Grizzly

We also don’t all agree that Trubiksy has solved the long game rubik either. Yes he has improved but last I checked he still has a tendency to overshoot his receivers, but yes he has improved. I think part of why the Bears lost against the Giants was not all the turnovers that occurred but the abandonment of the run game. In the first half Jordan had 68 yards rushing but only had 8 yards total rushing in the second half (edit). I saw an article that deferred to analytics and statistics suggesting to why Nagy decided to pass more the second half; and I say ‘hogwash’. The Bears still had a lead, however slight, in the second half and conventional wisdom says running the ball helps eat clock and gives you a balanced attack. When you have things like constant blitzes, as you pointed out Boettcher prefers to do, you counter with plays like play action and screens. Not necessarily long bombs. Especially if the run game is proving successful.

Just out of morbid curiosity and for the sake of being a Devils advocate at times; had this been Trubisky playing like Daniel did yesterday, would you have been calling for a change? I’ve been a bit harsh on Trubisky but even I would’ve given him the benefit of the doubt; considering where the team is now and how he has shown some promise. Don’t think for a moment that with the conditions as they were (misty/fog) and how Trubisky has had issues with reading coverages at times he may not have made the same mistakes. And besides that, some of those turnovers, or near turnovers, were not Daniel’s fault. Certainly not when Whitehair sent the ball to his feet or when Gabriel fumbled the pass after the catch. My point is; one game does not a career make. That is only the third start for Daniel in his career but the fifth year in this system. And I think we’d all agree he looked pretty good, if not as good as Trubisky, last week. The one big difference between these two aside from age and experience is mobility . That by itself puts Trubiksy on a higher plane of potential, at least right now. I mean if Peyton Manning can fumble the opening snap of super bowl 50 and still make the Hall of Fame then I think Daniel should at least be given a chance to still play backup to Trubisky.

There was a fair share of mis-steps by Daniel too but yeah the o-line didn’t do him a lot of favors. Don’t think the Rams weren’t paying attention. Mitch better be ready and fully healthy next week. *positive note: Pack lost to the lowly Cards. Makes me feel better.

Gonna be one of those rare occasions where I cheer for the Patriots to win today. Essentially nullify this sad display today.

Gotta say that calling a timeout late in the first half was a little too cute and sorta slanted things against the Bears.

Was that some zone blocking I saw? Great to see Jordan finally getting some respectable reps and it pays off!!

AZ, was going to put a huge rambling rebut to your comment but I feel the response would waste space where it doesn’t need to be. Let’s just say you and I are on polar opposites politically with regards to this issue. Bottom line, like Stinger points out, no way no how do you put hands on a woman. And I would go so far as to question my fandom if they even consider this asshat to becoming a Bear. Andy Reid I’m sure had some say in this. To hell with his professional life.

NM

It was about mid 2nd quarter through about mid 3rd. Watched the highlights this morning. They’re currently on a four game winning streak to include wins against the Redskins and Eagles. Their remaining four games are two at home; Eagles and Bucs and two on the road; Giants and Colts. Of those four the Colts are on their own bit of a tear so if I had to guess, Dallas might go 3-1. Dont get me wrong; the Bears are building their own head of steam especially on the defense. I think what we’re witnessing is the embodiment of the phrase ‘the season doesn’t really begin until November’. Where teams like New Orleans and the Rams, who have gone relatively unscathed, are meeting teams that are learning from what they’ve seen and preparing to play them. Just like what we saw last night. Where the normally stoic Drew Brees withered under the relentless pursuit of Dallas’ D. I get a good feeling seeing this, and knowing what I’ve seen from the Bears’ D, they might just be able to do the same with LA in a few weeks.

After watching parts of tonight’s game it’s clear Dallas is surging at the ‘right time’. Without doing all the ‘what ifs’ they look like they might prove to be a challenge late into the season.

Yeah I still think it happened later in the game when while he was sliding he had that hit from Smith. But tomato, toMAHto. Either way, think its clear he needs to work on his baseball slides.

Trubisky out for this game. http://www.nfl.com/news/story/0ap3000000993693/article/mitchell-trubisky-will-not-play-for-bears-vs-giants Not really surprising given how well Chase played last week and how they probably should let Mitchell rest up a bit more for the stretch run. I had seen somewhere that said it was an AC injury which would make sense based on what we saw. Trouble is these can linger for weeks depending on severity. I suspect his is mild in nature due to the effective range of motion I saw him display last week. The other fact in his favor is youth. Hopefully this doesn’t hamper his accuracy on long range. He’s still developing that skill set.

This is primarily for Jason because I know he's a HUGE fan of his but J'Marcus Webb is still out there and may be available as a tackle option. He was slated to be the starting RT for Indy until he hurt his hammy. Apparently he's currently on IR. But there's hope....

And he's on a team with a 6-5 record in contention for a playoff spot versus his previous team...which may not. Of the current NFL players there are 50 alumni from Alabama, 28 of which are on the defense. To include players like Jonathan Allen, Mark Barron, Landon Collins, Marcell Dareus, Minkah Fitzpatrick, Dont'a Hightower, Dre Kirkpatrick, CJ Mosely, Reggie Ragland and our own Eddie Jackson. And of the 'top 10' colleges represented by total numbers of players currently in the NFL, Alabama is near the top (close second to LSU or lead depending on the year). Of those 10, six are in the SEC.

Proof positive that whenever you need defensive players you look for them from Alabama. Or at least the SEC (Smith). I like the ‘Jackson 5’ tribute on the ChicagoBears.com website (to his 5 career TDs - so far).

Because it’s looking more and more likely the Bears will not only win the division but could be playing for first round byes in the coming weeks, my money is on Mitch sitting. Last week on the sidelines he didn’t appear to be hobbled too bad and seemed to have pretty good mobility, especially when he raised his hands for the TDs when they scored. And it didnt look like he was wearing any type of brace so maybe it was just a slight sprain (still don’t buy the bruise). Either way it makes more sense to just let him rest. In other news, how about them Fudgepackers losing tonight? Nice to see them hovering above the cellar.

Agree. And very good point on the contract vs draft needs.

I’m with Jason on this, but not necessarily because he should run more. Why can’t he be used more for receiving too? Last I looked a few weeks ago he was 100% in receiving when targeted. Yesterday he missed one due to Daniel overthrowing him. And I’m sure there a few more misses since then which would effect his overall catch percentage. Watch most of the times he goes out as safety outlet and see how often he is open. If they insisted he work on his pass catching ability last offseason then why not exploit that skill more often? The running scheme, not his execution, is lacking. Been discussed numerous times but they aren’t doing the zone blocking like last year where he has a better chance of looking for open lanes. Right now when he runs he’s essentially given the ball and asked to run straight forward. Power running might work better for him if the blockers were set up to do power blocking. Right now you have two rookies in the guard positions and like Stinger points out are missing key players at the FB and TE positions. For all intents and purposes Howard is being asked to make his own holes and not given as much opportunity to put to use his newer skills as a receiver. But fear not, Jordan still leads the team in rushing yards with 536 and is 6th on the team in receiving yards. Just a few weeks back I was told if Jordan we’re still able to get 800 rushing yards in the season that would still be considered productive. Considering where everything else is playing out I’d agree with that.

It may be the combination of this play and the Smith hit that resulted in Trubisky's injury but like Mongo said, Trub continued to throw decently after this. I will say this though, I don't believe for a minute that he has a simple 'shoulder bruise' as the injury report indicated. Your illustration and the Smith hit both show more of a structural integrity issue than an impact injury. This will definitely need monitoring. I am personally glad to see that Trubisky will get the rest and that Daniel is quite competent in this offense. To me he looked better at running the offense during the preseason than did Trub. Of course that was over 10 games ago where Trubisky has made improvement in his comprehension of the offense.

Heck...crazier things have happened before. Look no further than last year’s Eagles. Maybe Chase could end up being this years Super bowl MVP?

Whodda thunk we'd ever agree on something? Although after what I've seen, Chase may know the offense better he doesn't have the arm Mitch does. But yeah, could potentially get real ugly for Detroit if Daniel were to play.

Yeah for me I think the more primary need is Defensive backfield. I’ve see some say that Amos is the ‘worst’ player on the defense but I can’t say I agree when Amukamura to me still looks slow. And he ain’t getting any younger. Don’t get me wrong he’s great on initial press coverage but after about 10 yards of that he loses. Just look at last week game against Minny. Unless I’m mistaken it was the two TD passes by Minny that were against Prince. I see Nagy/Fangio trying out players like Mizzell and Tolliver now just to see how good their depth is.

Yeah they are airing it here in Alaska at 0830 AM which would be 1230 EST. I know this because I negligently signed up for the annual Family Turkey Trot 5k that morning. My wife and I are now discussing possibly hiring attorneys to settle the dispute. ?

Shaheens injury looks like it happened when he went to catch the 2 pt conversion and as he’s falling back slams the back of his head on the turf. He got up a little groggy looking after that and when Trub went to congratulate him.

In watching the replay and if in fact it was the late hit when Trubisky hurt his shoulder, it might have been him jamming his right arm/elbow into the ground while being hit. As Trub starts to make the slide he goes to put his right hand down and is hit on his left shoulder knocking him into the ground with force. He gets up from that a bit gingerly. Later he tries to throw a short pass on third down and comes up way short. Possible separated shoulder? (Pic below is immediately before the hit)