Alaskan Grizzly

Yeah was about to comment on the fact that Forte seems to be fading off into the sunset and the best days are behind him. 3 yd average or no he still managed 100 yds and three TDs. Which was a tie to a career high...by the way. And don't let me forget to mention how well BM looked. 6 for 103. And this after he had his knee twisted awkwardly late in the second quarter AND have (career journeyman) Ryan Fitzpatrick passing to him.

Looks like he's off the market now that Cincy has signed him. Thanks to those that answered about him. Helps get a more real perspective.

Anyone know what's the deal on this guy? He was KCs third round pick this year. Played CB for Notre Dame but looked as though he could play Safety in the pros. Ran a 4.4 / 40. Missed one year (2014) at ND due to "academic improprieties" and came back to play in 2015. Mike Mayock said this about Russell's suspension: "...missed the entire 2014 season with an academic issue that would have been a one-game suspension at most other schools." So there are a lot of folks trying to figure out why he was released. Some think it may be that he's having a hard time with football IQ. Anyone here follow ND football and maybe know or see something that better explains this?

I was actually hoping to see Howard play. Read that Fox had it in the plans to let him play but they didn't get enough possessions to do it. Hopefully next time.

I'm mostly asking as he's a former Saint and although older, Fox and crew showed some interest in the other CJ (Anderson) last year. There are a lot of questions about whether Langford can carry the load. And whether he can consistently catch out of the backfield. Spiller does that. If the Bears checked him out I wouldn't see him as the feature back, maybe a change of pace. http://profootballtalk.nbcsports.com/2016/...ut-c-j-spiller/

No, same reason Mad gives. (Hoyer and Cassel ring a bell?). Although I'd still be interested to see what Hoyer might be able to do at this point. To be honest, it looks like Connor Shaw might be worth holding onto and seeing what he could offer. Kid looked pretty solid in the preseason. After relative no-names Wentz and Goff go 1-2 this year I'm fairly confident our team can mine a good player maybe even from D2. And don't get me started on our passing on Dak Prescott. (Scarily, this is something it sounds like Jason and I oddly agree on). There was an article I read not all that long ago prospecting the idea of trading Jay to Dallas shortly after Romo got hurt. The discussion involved Jay to them for a pick or two. Might have been a good idea...until the before mentioned Prescott entered the field.

You're absolutely right. He would start out in the shotgun and not move. Earlier this week when I was watching the Carolina / Denver rematch they were commenting on how in last years SB one big reason why Cam was getting mauled by Von Miller and Co. was due in large part to how he started several yards behind the line. Then when Miller and Ware would come around the outside of the pocket Cam would rarely move. In the game the other night he was standing about 3-5 yards shallower and it was making a bigger difference. When watching Cutler today, especially towards the later part of the game I was seeing the same thing. Granted there were a few times he got rushed from the middle and shallow side but it seems a fair number of the sacks today came from the top end of the pocket. Jays never really been a great pocket passer. In fact I had thought the whole idea of getting younger and lighter on the Oline (ergo loss of Slausen) was to start more zone blocking? I didn't see any of that. No rollouts... Nada. We all know Cutler is better on roll outs when he's able. Why not more of that?

Yikes! I doubt he'll make the whole season. Good on him if he does.

I wouldn't say 'every' move, just a few. Cutler: actually was very excited about his coming to Chicago. Until about 2-4 years of watching him play and realized, wow! Brian Billick was right when he made the comparison of Cutler to Jeff George. Willie Young was one of my most recent favorite pickups when he came over from Detroit. The guy seems like a good guy and he plays really well. I was a little discouraged when he started talking down about the conversion of the 4-3 to 3-4 defense but since has seemed to embrace it. Loved the acquisition of Marshall...at first. After seeing some of his character flaws surface after a few years wasn't so sure I was as keen on him staying. Not that he can't play (the dudes a baller, no doubt) but given the way the team was transitioning to a new generation of players (mostly younger) the last thing we (and the management and staff of the team) needed was a guy who was going to openly challenge everything. Even more so I was discouraged when he chose to do the HBO show during the week. Martellus Bennett was one I wasn't all that keen on when he came to us. Not so much for his character but to me he didn't really seem to legitimize his ability to play all that well. I was wrong; in that he can play pretty well. But man does he have an attitude issue. There are plenty more examples I could give. In some of the moves made I've evolved my opinions about, based on how they perform on the field. Usually I can overlook a minor character flaw unless it becomes a huge distraction. As far as some of the managerial changes that have occurred over the years. Hated the loss of Lovie. Hated the hiring of Emery. Absolutely respect the hiring of John Fox. Pace? The jury's still out.

Thanks Pix. I was having second thoughts after starting it. I agree that we can be plenty devisive when it comes to talking about the Bears. Especially if the topic is Jay Cutler or drafting Olinemen in the first round! Go Bears.

Grrrr... ?

Stinger; once again you manage to jump to the wrong conclusion. Are you familiar with the term 'critical thinking' or "analysis"? That being where if you see something that doesn't make sense you question it? There's a huge difference between that and what you are familiar with as you call 'bitching' of complaining. Perhaps you're too sensitive to realize the differences? Anyhow my point had nothing to do with complaining, but instead questioning some of the moves as of late. I'm not hoping to be vindicated in my thinking (cause I know you'll say that) but believe it or not, hope to be wrong and way off base. The only way to find out is let the season play out. I know you and I will at least agree on that.

Historically Fangio has always been this way. Tells it like he sees it. Gotta believe it's his way of motivating people. http://blogs.mercurynews.com/kawakami/2013...96716308593750I

Cause and effect Adam. Not necessarily literally. Slausen leaves; they think Grasu is the answer. Oops. So they go and get Sitton and move a guy, whose never played Center (ever - that we know of). And one week before the start to the season no less. A few years ago they draft White, hoping he could become the next #1 or 2 receiver and oops, he goes down with an injury. Right around the time this takes place they let BM walk and boom, AJ is our #1 WR. And apparently not happy about any of it. To make matters worse who were the rest of the guys on the WR roster during that time? Oh yeah, Eddie Royal was one of them. Oops. This LS mystery is just a small piece of the pie. Aaron Brewer, who was on the roster when Gould was cut and about the time Barth was signed and actually played with Barth in Denver for a short time. Alas, they release him and bring back Scales. ???? Isn't the kicking game (FGs and XPs) all about timing and routine and familiarity? How much timing and routine and familiarity can they get in one week? Just doesn't make sense given the circumstances.

This article below outlines some of the concerns I've posted in other strings. Why cut Gould when they did? Why release one long snapper (who actually had some time with our 'new' kicker) for the other long snapper that was released a few days ago (Scales)? Some of you have reminded me time and again that our team is doing a younger generation renaissance. And when I asked before why we'd cut ties with the likes of Slausen, its because "he's not athletic enough" or he "doesn't fit the scheme" or "he's too old". Guest what? Sitton and Slausen are the same age. And from the looks of things, similar build. And here's another piece of information to the good of Slausen: we know he's played Center before. Sitton? Maybe. Instead they want to essentially force the new guy, Whitehair, into a situation at center that he has no measurable experience at. And what's more, one week before the regular season. As the article points out there are many players going into this week with HUGE question marks over their heads. I hope for the sake of our team, Pace isn't making a worse mess of things. http://www.chicagotribune.com/sports/colum...905-column.html

Agreed about Mariani. Don't get why he was released and Royal was kept. Hasn't put more than two full years together as of late. Unfortunately it sounds as though Mariani may be back in LA or Tennessee now(?)

https://mobile.twitter.com/AdamSchefter/sta...628288653107200 Josh Sitton signing a 3-year, $21.75 million deal that includes $10M guaranteed with the Chicago Bears, per source.

Hmmm. Marshall, Slauson, Forte and now Gould? Do these guys ever have a backup plan in place when they make these choices? At least with Forte they appear to have a plan but with Gould they decided to cut bait and bring in a new guy a week before the regular season. I'm beginning to think TD was right in questioning some of this management teams decisions.

In the few highlights I've seen and the few other preseason games he's been in, I haven't been all that impressed with White. I understand that perhaps the offense has been vanilla so far both to allow him getting comfortable and not reveal really what he could do; but until I see otherwise I'm starting to have my doubts. Amari Cooper (his peer) came out of the blocks hot last year and I was hoping to at least see that much potential from White. Maybe the best is yet to come? I'm still holding my breath.

Hue Jackson is a no nonsense guy. He's respected throughout the league from what I've seen. I saw the incident they refer to when punter Lee essentially passed on making a tackle when the opponent ran back a punt for a TD. I'm sure that wasn't the only thing that made the Browns decide to move him. Just like reading that not only is Williams 'disagreeing' about his injury, he was suspended for the last two games because he violated 'unspecified team rules'. Jackson must have seen or known something that made him decide to move on. Something tells me we'll find out soon enough what that was. His alleged ailment; bone spurs in his foot, is something that could be troubling. Especially if he's going to try and 'tough it out'. Not sure what the hesitation on his (Williams) part is to not get it fixed.

Unless he can play o-line, probably no(?) But then again Fox does know him.

With the way the Oline has been perfoming I'm not sure they could keep Virginia McCaskey from sacking Jay let alone whoever may be backing up watt. Romo, I suspect, is done. Dak Prescott appears to be the real deal.

I looked at this similarly but more specifically how John Fox has done as a head coach for preseason and he's about .500 when it comes to career (something like 27-23ish). I didn't see how he did in the preseason before any regular season where he went over .500, especially during the two Super Bowl runs he made with Carolina or Denver. But I do know that although He had a pretty well built team in Denver with Peyton eventually coming along he did manage to put some good regular seasons together with the likes of Jake Delhomme and Tim Tebow. Not to say Cutler is the root of the issue (not at all); just that usually your supporting cast can help significantly more when you're making those winning season runs. And one last point I thought of earlier today while watching a Cutler interview from yesterday. He said they were operating about 67.3% on offense yesterday and had a lot more to show that they hadn't yet. I certainly hope so Jay because what we saw yesterday wasn't pretty.

I'm not sure how I quite understand what happened here over three preseason games. Game looked like a typical 1st preseason game out of the chute. Only real downer was the shutout. Then in game two it was the first stringers coming out of the gate with an 11-0 run (?) until the second and third stringers came out. Then this. WTh? The D looked just bad. Couldn't get off the field to save itself. When the offense was on the field it's as if they couldn't wait to go back and sit down. AJ dropping passes, the Oline just passing altogether, Cutler looking like his trademark 'don't care' and then the only potential bright spot (at least yesterday) Shaw goes down with a broken leg. And injuries. Holy cripes! Porter - concussion, Long - shoulder, Fuller - knee, McPhee - knee(?), Grasu - knee. Those are the ones just off the top of my head. I'm sure there's more but these are all at key positions that obviously are affecting how things are going. If it wasn't for John Fox being the head coach and knowing we've been here before (2010) Id be panicked. For now I'm more at a slow simmer of nervousness.

Yikes... What was it 25:5 mins TOP KC:CHI? And when the offense did have the ball...ugh I'll save some of my personal observations as anyone watching can take a pick at which part of the offense is a mess.