Wesson44

It's strange but I think the football gods are with us this year. If you look around the NFL at teams we have to play strange things are going on with them. 1 Colts = Manning knee and was rusty from being hurt. 2. Panthers are without Smith for fighting. 3. Tampa Bay may start Greise against us because Garcia is hurt and having run ins with the coach. 4. Philly No real problems 5. Detroit has no defense 6. Atlanta has a new Rookie QB 7.Vikings Qb that can't make the important throws 8. Lions have no defense 9. Titians Vince is hurt and mom says he might not play football 10. Packers have a new QB 11. Rams No WR that can hurt you 12. Vikings Qb that can't make the important throws 13. Jaguars lost two O linemen in the first game 14.Saints Colston out for 4-6 weeks 15. Packers have a new QB 16. Texans still looking for a RB If we keep playing like we did last weeek and stay healthy we are in the playoffs at least.

I likr the Blue on Blue at home and the white jersey and bue pants on the road. I hate the white on white....looks like Penn State just cheap with the uniforms. LOL

With the win against the Colts which was one on my maybe we loose games, I still say we can go and be and 11-5 team. If we the same performance from this team the rest of the year then we will be in the playoffs for sure.

Glad you are looking but it's way to early for this IMHO.

Dog we must do what we did this week to win next week. Jake is no Manning and they will be throwing to who...Moose and not Smith so we stand a chance their. Sure they beat they Chargers in their first game but we should have two last year. Dusty abnd Brown are still with us.....knock on wood and we looked good not great but good. We are going to throw deep to Hester next week and he's going to run one back or give us better field position than we had in Indy. They defense is going to want to repeat what they did last week so look out panthers.

Can I frame this for all those who were in doudt about the Bears chances to beat the Colts?

I hate to say it to this board.........but I told you so that the Bears were going to win this game. Jones & Forte rush for over 150 yards, defense scores 9 points, Gould 2 for 2 in field goals no fumbles lost or interceptions throw by Orton, the defense gave up 50 yards rushing. Bears Offense 20 Colts 13 =WIN! Bears defeense 9 Colts defense 0 = WIN!

Wow the Bears have limited the Colts to two field goals in the first half while scoring a saftey..........now that's my team!!!!!

Forte is having a good game. If we contuine to block he will have over 100 yards for the game! Oh by the way Dallas Clark is hurt and not playing!

How well the Bears answer five key questions will determine how many games they win in 2008: 1.Can they create turnovers the way Lovie Smith teams typically do? Defensive coordinator Bob Babich calls it the " AT&T'' approach -- attack, tackle and takeaway. But lately the Bears cannot find a good connection with the way they like to play defense. Their defense created only 13 of their 33 takeaways in the first half of last season and by then it was too late to recover. Overall, that was 11 fewer takeaways than 2007. Smith's teams need turnovers to win; he is 21-5 when winning the turnover battle since taking over in 2004. When the Bears have fewer takeaways than their opponents, they are 6-16, including 2-6 last season when aggressiveness and urgency were missing. That reality should force Babich to attack more and utilize blitzes better, especially from linebackers, to manufacture chaos in the backfield so the ball pops loose more than it has. The Bears also need more than four combined interceptions from the cornerback duo of Charles Tillman and Nathan Vasher, who are paid (well) to intercept passes. 2.Can they stop the run again in a Cover-2 defense? They aren't going to junk Smith's signature defense, but if the Bears want to contend in the NFC North -- where the Vikings and Adrian Peterson live -- they must improve substantially against the run. The Bears held opponents to fewer than 100 rushing yards only four times last season, hardly the sign of a dominant defense that forces opponents to be one-dimensional. They gave up 53 rushes of 10 or more yards and 15 that went 20 yards or more. Those are the numbers of a defense that can't get off the field. A healthy Tommie Harris and Mike Brown should help, and the tackling better improve. The linebacker corps is too good to allow the defense to get gouged as it did in '07. Forget the day Peterson racked up a record 224 rushing yards against the Bears; seeing unproven Derrick Ward of the Giants ramble for 154 in November typified how far the run defense had fallen. That same sort of collapse cannot occur this season or it will be time to re-examine Smith's trademark scheme. 3.Can they improve their average yards per carry with a new backfield? The Bears ranked last in the NFC and 31st in the NFL in yards per first-down play (4.44). That's directly related to their inability to establish a running game early, which sets up the rest of the West Coast offense. Of all the discouraging numbers from last year, averaging 3.1 yards per rush should motivate the Bears more than any other. Improve that, and the season is full of possibility. But if that doesn't change significantly, forget anything great in '08. In Smith's tenure, the Bears are 12-6 when a running back surpasses 100 yards. More telling: In the past 25 seasons, the Bears are 61-2 when rushing 40 or more times in a game. That's the evidence Smith points to when insisting he wants to be a running team. The combination of Matt Forte and Kevin Jones at least gives Smith more confidence in the ground game than he had a year ago. 4.Can they continue winning the field-position battle because of Devin Hester? Say what you will about Hester's potential impact on the offense, given the stage of his development it will be hard for him to affect the game more at wide receiver than he could returning kickoffs and punts -- especially kickoffs. An offense that needs good field position more than most needs Hester deep. In 77 non-onside kickoffs last year, teams kicked away from Hester 33 times. The average starting field position for those possessions was the 38-yard line. More than half of those possessions (19) began beyond the 40. When teams kicked to Hester, the Bears' average starting point was their 31-yard line. The Hester Effect involves more than highlight-reel returns. Winning those hidden-yardage battles will be key for a defense that has yet to find itself, as well as an offense that wants to control the ball and the clock. 5.Can they protect the passer well enough to avoid catastrophe? In the Bears' seven victories of 2007, their quarterback was sacked 14 times -- an acceptable rate. But in their nine losses, the number jumped to 29 sacks, and no quarterback can get the job done under that kind of pressure. That's the biggest fear and question about this year's passing game; not who is throwing the ball to a committee of wide receivers but how well the pocket can be preserved. Every future opponent saw in the exhibition game at Seattle what happens when teams blitz the Bears. The Bears insisted, somewhat stubbornly, that keeping John Tait at right tackle and John St. Clair on the left side was the correct decision. Now they must prove it. Offensive coordinator Ron Turner can help too by relying on the short, quick passing game and assigning running backs and tight ends to assist against outside rushes. But if Kyle Orton is to improve his passing percentage of 57.5 percent, as the Bears need him to do, the offensive line must protect him so Orton has time to show off his improved accuracy.

I wish I were the coach. I like Lovie but this team needs more passion! If you look at our game in the Super Bowl we were giving them a hard time all but two plays that killed us. One the Grossman int for a TD and the blown coverage by Manning that Wayne caught for a TD. Well the three fumbles didn't help either. But unlike the Bears the Colts are a weaker team this year. We have many different faces meaning more hunger to prove themselves, but the Colts have more injuried players either not playing or playing. Manning is like what 100% I think more like 80% including the rust from not playing and the knee. Play like I said and we can do this....beat the Colts!

In order for the Bears to win they have to attack the Colts right. It starts with the offense. Being that the Colts run basically the same type of defense that we do they are built for speed. We have to run at the smaller DE Mathis side. We have to use screens to counter their speed rushers. Our TE"s (Olsen & Davis)need to be used to create mismatches against the samller Colts LB'S and DB'S. Do not just line up and try to run up the middle. As for our WR'S we have speed on our side and need to use it with Hester,Davis and Bradley......don't know how fast Bennet & Lloyd are. On defense we have to take advantage of the Colts missing three starters in the middle of the line with our Haris and Dusty & company getting pressure on Manning. Make him use that bun knee. We have to play cover two man and not the zone we play. Put Vasher on Harrison and Tillman on Wayne with Brown and Payne/McGowan to provide a double team to either side. But most inportant we need to use the bump and run man cover two to throw off the timing Mannig and the Ciolts WR use. If we game plan like this then we will win. The x-factor is hester which the Colts don't have and have to game polan for either at WR or returning kicks

Are you kidding me Bears can't win! If we take advantage of the three new starters in the middle for the Colts then we stand a good chance at winning. If we get to Manning some we may trigger his bum knee and he will have to sit. The question is can they stop our RB and TE if we use them right.

Bears | Bowman signed to practice squad Wed, 3 Sep 2008 17:01:01 -0700 Brad Biggs, of the Chicago Sun-Times, reports the Chicago Bears have re-signed free-agent CB Zackary Bowman to their practice squad.

Well that should means that he is back to 100% and can help us now and not down the road.

You hit the nail on the head with that one. He must have gotten dressed in the dark and wore dark sunglasses to work. LOL!!!

Who reallt know what's going on...can this be a smoke screen? I hope so With the Colts starting three new players at center and both the guard spots this will be a good advantage for us to have Harris in the line up.

When I watched him play against us in 205 he was blocking our line all over the place. He seems to be a good run blocker and that we surely need with Forte and Jones in the backfield. In passing plays he held his own. He is not a pro bowl player but he is surely better than Metcalf and Beekman. He is 6'4 320 so he is big enough to stop the likes of Pat Williams from the Vikings and such. I like this guy. Now with that Bowman was cut, IMHO if they thoght so much of him I might have had to part ways with McBride. Not because he is a bad player, but if Bowman is bigger, stronger and faster he can match up better with the taller WR teams have, like the Chargers who's WR average 6'1 in hieght compared to the 5'9 McBride

You have to understand that I was said the nobody could match Paytons stats.I simply said that it has been done already by different backs. The whole point was if Forte could be a player/runner like Walter was....not be Walter. The reference to yards was used to say the Forte was good in college and can he be the same in the NFL

What I was saying in the begining was that Walter was a Rookie back in 75 and look what happened in his carrer, I was asking if Forte could do the same since he is the first rookie to start for the bears at RB since Walter? It got blow out of the water when the guy thought that I was trying to compare the two because there is none.

First game of the year......Harris will be dressed and playing. But we have Toeina, Harrison to give him and the knee rest This is why we kept 6 DT Harris, Adams, Dusty,Toenia,Harrison,& Idonije

Maybe but who would you bring him in to replace?

Well your statement has holes in it see Barry Sanders, Emmitt Smith etc, someone can put up Payton like numbers. I was asking is Forte can do it. Walter never ran for 2,000 yards in a season in college.

Oh com on...you and I both know there will never be another Walter Payton but what I mean is can Forte put up numberes like Paton did. And carry the torch when Payton left off.

Matt Forte will be the first rookie running back to start a season opener for the Bears since Walter Payton in 1975. Informed that Payton was held to zero yards on 8 carries in his debut, Forte said, "Hopefully I'll do better than that." Yes hopefully you will for our sake.