jason

Says who? Maybe Cutler would have forgotten because of possible post-concussion syndrome, but there is no way the Bears fans would have forgotten.

I love DJ Moore. I knew when he was picked up he was a great selection. Dude is a ball player and should be in all the time. ALWAYS around the ball.

Yep. Barber already has two carries. First one was for about ten, and he plowed over the tackler.

I don't like the QB draw play. Cutler has already been beat up this year. Why endanger him more when it's a near certainty that he'll take more hits this game?

Looks like the season will work out exactly as everyone hoped. The Bears will run on a shitty Carolina Defense and everyone will say, "SEE?! I KNEW THEY COULD DO IT!!" I'm happy to see the start, but this is to be expected.

Bears 24 - Panthers 17 Closer than we think, because the Bears will be up, the Panthers will be forced to throw, and the DL will not get to Newton fast enough to stop him from scrambling around and finding receivers who will get open if given any mistakes or time (read: Smith).

I definitely don't change my point of view on this. The dude is scum, and the literary equivalent to an ambulance chasing lawyer.

Agreed. This is not a chicken-and-egg situation. Cutler regresses when the OL plays like garbage. The OL rarely plays otherwise, so Cutler's flaws will be magnified. It's not like Cutler doesn't step up into the pocket when he has consistently gotten one. And it's not like the OL suffers as a result of Cutler's bad mechanics. The only Cutler--->OL connection is that the OL gets sack statistics when Cutler holds onto the ball. Could he do better? Absolutely. Do I blame him? Not much. Cutler's bad mechanics and bad habits are almost entirely based on feeling the heat of opposing defenders as they collapse his miniscule pocket and attempt to reorganize his organs with yet another unhindered path to his ultimately defenseless body.

Man oh man, I'm glad you aren't in charge. You'd start off with a bang by getting a new staff (I like), but then gut the roster by unceremoniously casting off the heart and sole of the Bears' D (Url, Pep, Briggs, Tillman), and follow it up by failing to emphasize (like Angelo) the #1 priority on the team ("Somewhere in there, draft an OG.") for yet another year. I don't think many players would choose to come to a team that dumped the four defensive stars listed like they were pieces of a jigsaw puzzle rather than veteran leaders.

A thought about message boards, and discourse in general: Passionate responses rarely come from those who are completely satisfied. This naturally lends itself to a message board being more negative than positive. The fact that the Bears are 1-2 and have gaping holes - something Forte hasn't seen in a while - that have been ignored or unaddressed for multiple years is obviously going to bring out more negativity. If the Bears win, this board is less negative. Simple. All that said, to leave because you don't like someone else's point of view is weak. Don't take it personal, even if you happen to be remotely connected to the source of frustration. In this case, the media. Perhaps there wouldn't be an obsession with the media if the media wasn't on a constant witch-hunt to paint people in negative lights once they are no longer able to defend themselves. There is a difference between "reporting the news" and what most "journalists" (term used loosely) do nowadays.

Exaggeration is a talent. What can I say? With that said, even with three HOFers at WR, their production would drop off drastically if the offense they were on had this OL.

WHAT?! The bolded part is insanity. The two parts are symbiotic. I don't care if you pick up Calvin Johson, he doesn't do a damn thing in the New Orleans game. Period. Cutler would have thrown the same balls because the pressure would have been the exact same. You don't think the opposing defenses worry about Knox and Hester going deep? They have to at least roll some safety support. But when they know they can get to the QB in 1.3 seconds, that is how they will attack. Put it this way: Cutler + Forte + Bears WRs + Best OL in history (90s Cowboys) = Prolific offense Cutler + Forte + Jerry Rice,Calvin Johson,Steve Largent + Bears OL = Average offense, at best (because of everything NFO said).

To add fuel to the Randy Moss fire, is there even a question that he's better than anyone on the Bears' roster?! Seriously? Compare him to the "big" #1 signing of Roy Williams, for instance. Roy Williams 08 - 36, 440, 2TDs (multiple teams) 09 - 38, 591, 7TDs 10 - 37, 530, 5TDs Randy Moss 08 - 69, 1008, 11TDs 09 - 83, 1264, 13TDs 10 - 28, 393, 5TDs (multiple teams) I'm sorry, I just don't buy the "Randy Moss is old" argument. Dude got completely ignored while with the Titans for the second half of the 2010 season; that is undebatable. And I didn't both to include 2007, because that would have been a ridiculous comparison since Moss put up 23 TDs. And if he did get old, then his old is better than Roy Williams is currently. Did he get shorter since? No. Did he get incredibly slower? No. Did he forget how to get open? No. Did he misplace his jumping ability? No Did he suddenly lose the ability to catch? No. Hence, he's better than any WR the Bears have right now. And he should be approached, at the very least. (something I've wanted for several years)

Completely disagree. OL still has to outweigh WR. Imagine if this team had Calvin Johnson, Wes Welker, and Hines Ward, a perfect combo of #1, slot, and chain-mover. It wouldn't freaking matter that much because 2 of the first 3 games have seen Cutler get his ass pounded like a 112lb fresh prison fish. Would he have torched the Packers? Yes. So have other teams. Hell, I'm not sure he would have had much more than the 300+ he already had. Maybe 350-400? That would have been cool and all, but he still would have taken a beating and the WRs would have not lived up to the potential they currently have. Getting a #1 like Calvin Johson would be great, but with this OL the talent would be severely undercut.

Wow. Really? I'd LOVE it if Mark Cuban bought the Bears. That dude spends money, hires smart people with long pedigrees/proven success/industry respect, and adamantly supports and understands his team yet gets the F out of the way. So he cheers on the sideline. Big deal.

Bingo. Except I think he's nowhere near getting to the third read on 99% of the plays. If he's lucky he gets to the second read.

Previous to this season I really thought the Bears could make do with the WRs they have. Do I love them? No. But I honestly felt/feel that if the OL was even close to a good college line (they're not), then the WRs would have enough time to get open and make plays. Well, as it stands now, they do neither. The last game showed us that when Cutler gets time - which is infrequent - the WRs are simply not open. And when they are, they're not as good as they should be. The Knox experiment has been given enough chances; he doesn't have the mental makeup or the skills to be a starting slot. Realistically the Bears should have a #1 (presumably Roy Williams), a slot (Knox or Hester), a possession guy (Bennett or Sanz). What they do have is no #1 (because Roy is hurt and questionable as the #1), no real slot (because neither Hester nor Knox can get open like a slot should be able to), and 1.5 possession guys (because Bennett is hurt). WTF is Cutler supposed to do with that? That is, when he actually has time to do something. Next year's draft should be three positions: OT, OG, WR. That's it.

Agreed. Everything. Especially the college scouts. Those guys are horrible. Fire every one of those blind morons.

Good strong first post.

Yes, several years ago. Yes, in this offseason. Yes, now.

The OL did have an improved performance yesterday, pass blocking. But it was obviously at the expense of any sort of run blocking. It's just too bad the improvement was from "potentially the worst in NFL history" to "probably the worst in the NFL this year." Agreed on pretty much everything else.

No offense taken. I was just pointing out that in officiating circles, that is even a bad call. I guarantee he gets downgraded for that call. It's like calling a holding call on the WR on the short side of the field when a sweep is going to the wide-side. It's of absolutely no consequence to the play, and you let it go with a warning to the player. But, agree, that call was horseshit.

OFFENSE Looks like everyone on this board was right. The Bears need OL and WR. I'm done with the Johnny Knox experiment. The guy just quits on routes and doesn't seem to be in the game at all times. It severely hurts the offense. There was more than one play yesterday in which Cutler had multiple seconds to find an open WR, but either didn't have one or didn't trust the one who had a defender nearby. The underscores the need for WR. Also, I hated seeing the drops hit the players when Cutler threw some great balls. It sure doesn't help confidence when the good balls get dropped. As for the OL, well, they can't run block or pass block. So if the O goes to the ground, it's three and out. If the O goes to the air, Cutler donates a liver to science. Not much choice. But when there is a choice, Cutler has to make smarter decisions. He could easily have had 4 INTs yesterday. Martz has some blame in this, but it's minimal. The players are failing in big ways. If it's not a missed blocking assignment, it's a dropped pass. And before either of those start, there is the once-per-game drive killing False Start on False Start Frank. DEFENSE Through three games this defense has allowed the opposing QB to average 28/41 (68%) for 295 passing yards. That equates to 25th overall on D, 26th in passing (and 18th in rushing for what it's worth). That is worse than the offense. Yeah, yeah, I know the two are linked and offensive failures give the defense less time to rest, but the defense is staying on the field for a long time mostly because of their own failures. The cover-2 may tighten up in the red zone, but it allows for brutally slow and time-consuming drives through perpetual short passes. SPECIAL TEAMS Great play to end the game. They got screwed. I'd like to see Hester and Knox return a few more for larger gains, but it's hit or miss.

Guys, I'm sure I've mentioned it before, but I'm an official. I've personally talked to multiple NFL guys. Guys who have officiated Super Bowls. And one of the philosophies often spoke of is specifically related to this kind of call. More often than not it's referred to a "56 MPH Penalty." You don't pull over the speeder going 56 in a 55. You get the big ones. If your grandma can't see it from the stands, then it probably shouldn't be called. In other words, be absolutely certain that either A] The foul is safety related, or B] The foul provides one team with an advantage. In this case, the foul was neither. It was a horrible call.

So basically what you're saying is that the system isn't outdated or anything like that, the Bears just don't have the personnel to make the system work. The "living in the past" part, however, doesn't make a lot of sense. Give Martz an OL that can block for more than 1 second, and guys like Hester, Knox, and Bennett will be open on a consistent basis.