DABEARSDABOMB

All I know is Ratliff at 85% is better then what we have. If he could come back, he could be a potential hail mary at getting the defense to start looking better. Have no problem signing him (worse case, he doesn't play and you drop him).

The biggest news is you get a good chance to continue to evaluate his progress. It really is too bad we don't have easy games in that span so McCown and the defense (somehow) are going to have to really step up.

In the locker room, as per Michael C. Wright. I am sure we will find out soon. I wonder if it is players or coaches or both.

It is going to give Greene (sp?) and Bostic a heck of an opportunity. Bostic will start to call plays I presume so it will be a great opportunity for him.

Consistently Briggs has been a great player. Really sucks to lose him. Get better Briggsy. This will give our young linebackers a chance to step up and get some development time.

We are in a retooling phase. The offense has a ton of weapons and i don't see how you necessarily rebuild with this sort of offensive firepower. I hope Cutler is okay cause he was looking like a guy that might be the franchise QB we expected him to be. I don't see why you don't invest in him (even if it is a severe injury) as it will save money and the Bears can then focus this off-season on making the defense younger (and looking for a center to replace Garza). We have one of the top scoring offenses in the NFL this year and it was going to keep getting better (that might not be the case now if we don't have Cutler in the huddle).

I just want to point out that it is a new system and he was completing like 70% of his passes and looking pretty darn good. He's matured significantly and I think (albeit its just what I think), we'd have one of the top 5-7 offenses in the league by season end. Cutler made a ton of progress this year and was getting better every week. A week ago he played one of his best games in a Bears uniform (looked so comfortable and would have had a more monstrous game if Alshon didn't trip and drop a few balls...Cutler also left a couple out there too).

I really hope Jay is okay. I think this is going to be a dynamic offense by season end with Jay at the helm and it would be a bummer if he's hurt and that doesn't end up happening. Sounds like some Bears players think it is pretty bad.

He should be gone at the end of the year.

Yeah....we already discussed that. Conte is freakin awful.

Early in the game they were penetrating and making some nice plays on D. As the game went on it got worse and worse. The D has had quite a few performances that were pretty terrible this year.

Forte put the team on his back and McCown played well and you have to tip his cap because he's prepared. It was also against a sieve of a defense and the Redskins weren't prepared for McCown which could help. If we have to go an extended period of time with McCown, we are in trouble.

I presume Cutler will be back and start the next game. Cutler has turned the corner and he will be just fine.

He has been one of the biggest reasons this defense has struggled and given up so many big plays. I don't know what the hell happened between this year and last year but he has been absolutely abysmal. The biggest reason our defense has sucked have been the injuries to the interior line and the lack of a pass rush. Despite this awful performance on D, i actually thought the D played better then it had most of the year at times but they made some really costly mistakes. I am so freaking pissed right now. Bright side is Briggs, Tillman, and Cutler should really benefit from the bye (some for Brandon Marshall).

I'm extremely nervous. They are going to put it together one week and I hope to hell it isn't against the Bears.

This is tough. Paea better step up and hopefully Emery can work some magic and find someone (would definitely be open to a trade).

I think it has a lot to do with the respect Urlacher commanded too. People didn't want to try to force something near Urlacher. Past his prime he might have been but early performances indicate he was more valuable then we previously thought last year.

Statistically we led the league in 3rd down conversion percentage entering today's game. With a new staff, I expected to have a bad game or two and this was it. They will have a lot more good games and the offense will get better. I am fully on board with what we are trying to do offensively and am very impressed with how Cutler has matured and how he is handling adversity this year (and just his overall presence).

It is a new system with new coaches. There are going to be growing pains. Jimmy Johnson was very good talking about this and how no one should be pushing the panic button in Chicago (at least not offensively) as this was to be expected (in fact, I was impressed how quickly it had came together). The offense will get better and I think with the right moves could turn into a top 7 offensive unit in this league in a year and very well could and should be a top 10 unit this year.

Oh and to your last point...Marinelli is a stud (this is responding to Bears vs. you MadLith), but this isn't even close to the same Dline. Melton and Peppers were not at 100% in the 1st 3 games so hard to evaluate when your two best guys aren't playing right. They play right and we are talking about an above average d-line. However, going forward we only have one above average linemen. I know I harp on it, but the Bears royally screwed up on Idonjie. He'd look real good right about now.

I think Tucker is a very good D-Coord (his tenure in Jacksonville was good evidence of that). These issues have a combination with the Bears playing ahead, going up against some good offenses, and of course poor gap control and overall shoddy d-line play. We also have had injuries in our secondary. The dline will get better as Peppers gets back to 100%, however, our interior D is weak and that could create issues. Historically our D and LB core has been able to control the run which puts oppositions in a lot more 3rd and long situations that are advantageous to our defense. I have noticed poor gap control as a whole and that needs to get cleaned up. Conte has also been brutal. They need to get this cleaned up and I think they can, although they might need to make a deal for a starting DT if they somehow can.

They need a DT badly. And Melton was recovering from a concussion and getting double teamed. He is a premiere DT and a perfect fit for our system and just a huge loss. I hope he gets healthy and the Bears can sign him back to a fair deal a year from now.

I don't really care about anything other then the pick Cutler through late in the 2nd quarter. The first pick was a great play by Delmas. Tip your cap and move on. The late picks were picks when he was trying to bring the team back. In fact, I applaud him for never giving up and continuing to try and leading the Bears on 2 TD drives. In years past it would have just gotten uglier. Defense played bad and our oline after 4 games is bad. Bright side is Peppers looks back. Downside is, despite what some yahoo's think, the loss of Melton is huge and our interior D is very weak and Shea is looking more and more like a bust. More importantly, our special teams is atrocious. Consistently struggling and I'm ready to fire our ST coach (oh and Hester is gone at the end of the year). I have faith that the offense will get better and better and I think Trest is the right guy and that Cutler is the right QB (I wasn't sure in the off-season but I'm buying on them). I also think we might have a few more losses here early before we get things headed in the right direction but this team will make the playoffs!

Really sucks to lose Melton. I liked him a lot and hope he has a good recovery and can get back to being the player he was.

Hopefully you started Gio. I did.