DABEARSDABOMB

The game was not lost because of the defense. If you want to talk about the defense folding at the end of the game, maybe, but not from the first half. The team adjusted accordingly and did an nice job to it. The game was lost when the offense failed to score in the red zone on three seperate ocassions, failed to run, failed to pass/run block, made stupid offensive penalties, etc. The last group that should take the blame for this loss was the defense, a defense that performed pretty damn good against one of the league's better offensive attacks.

Barring some sort of return to form, Tommie will be gone at the end of the year. HE's just signed to a series of one year deals so the Bears can easily let him walk. They might opt to trade him too, but who knows. I also expect the Bears to move Urlacher and that we'll see a changing of the guard on the defensive side of the ball. We might actually have a pretty new unit starting next year. The tough part is going to be how do the Bears add these new players. We have very few early draft picks, so I do expect us swing some deals of players that give us a few picks in the 3rd to 4th round. On top of that I expect the Bears to be players on the FA market. Either way I think the Bears are going to have to hit big on Gaines and see one of Roach/Williams develop and get nice things from Bowman/Aflava/Moore. If we do that, we'll be okay and won't be in as dire a need, if not, two years from nows draft will be huge cause we'll have a ton of holes needed to be filled.

We'll probably never see Pisa play for the Bears again. One of Roach/Williams will have passed him on the depth chart and I expect the Bears to potentially make some changes on the LB front anyway.

Arizona can score, Cincy is improved, San Fran has played well most of the year, Minny is good....I expect us to win most of these games, but it isn't some cakewalk by any sense of the imagination.

The good news is that Ocho Cinco is the type of WR that Tillman marks and plays very well against. I think we'll do a good job stopping Chad, the key will be the Bears getting pressure on Palmer, which forces him into a few mistakes and prevents him from getting into a rhtym. On the rushing front, I expect the Bears D to be motivated, in there gaps, and to essentially neutralize the ground game. Anthony Adams will have a big game.

The biggest adjustment in this years Bears Defense has been the blitzing scheme Lovie has utilized. It has been pretty creative, very aggressive, and for the most part it has worked. I'm glad too, cause for a couple years all that happened when we blitzed was us getting burned. Now if only our oline could learn to protect, but before they protect a blitz they need to learn how to stop 3 man rushes from getting to our QB's (which they had a hell of a time doing during crunch time last week). How Cutler has done what he has this year is beyond me, but I'm so glad we got him.

NFo, you summed things up excellently.

Wouldn't you think of all OC's, Turner would know the most how to utilize Garret Wolfe. His brother runs the show in San Diego and while Norv is a terrible coach he's done a ton with a similar scat back. Couldn't Ron have made a call pretty easily to figure out some better ways to utilize Garret? Now my guess is that Ron has and I personally think the Bears need to utilize Wolfe more, but before we get crazy on things, if you watch the Chargers, they don't just throw screen passes with Sproles. They run him inside, outside, use him as a decoy, etc. Bottom line, I want everyone to remember that for Wolfe to succeed the Bears will have to do the same and that means he will occasionally have to be used inside to essentially keep defenses honest. The Bears just need to be more committed to using Wolfe (which means we need to sustain longer drives and maybe take the ball out of Forte's hands a bit more...at least for the time being).

His dumbass got him blacklisted. I'm glad to see he's turned it around cause he made me look at least a little bit smart when I defended him and talked about how he could be a franchise running back. Especially when some still talked about how Mike Williams would have been the better pick. Benson was an immature dumbass that made mistakes, but he seems to have learned a bit from his mistakes. He still talks to much though and I hope the Bears stick it to him this weekend.

You talk about the no-huddle situation. The Falcons made an in-game adjustment and it worked shortly (for a bit longer than we'd have liked, yes, but we also have had 3 starters at MLB this year). The Bears than countered and did a pretty good job limiting the no-huddle the rest of the way. So this year I've seen a coaching staff that has actually adjusted very well and a defense that you might say is overachieving as it has played pretty damn good against some good offenses (GB, Atlanta, Pittsburgh).

If you don't think Lovie's feeling heat, than I think your mistaken as to why Lovie has came in and took over the playcalling duties. Angelo's job is safe. He brought the team a franchise QB and has put them in a position to be a contender every season the past few years. The Bears have had injuries and other issues prevent them from taking the next step but at the end of the day Lovie knows damn well that if he doesn't get this team into the playoffs (and possibly farther...ie a post-season win) that there is a good chance he gets the boot. I know the org tends to be cheap when it comes to paying coaches not to coach, but when you have a QB like Cutler and with the moves the org has made lately, the reality is on the wall and this is a different Chicago Bears franchise and I'd be shocked if Lovie isn't held accountable if the team fails to reach the mark management believes they should reach.

Tremendous move. I couldn't be more pleased with Cutler. He's shown me everything i"ve wanted to see in our QB and than some. Now its time for the Bears to put a good oline around him and give him the support he needs to lead this team to a few superbowl championships!!!

I realize what was said about sideline demeanor, but I've read Ogunleye's blog, I've seen Alex Brown's quotes and I don't buy into the fact that the Bears don't care about winning. They've had a ton of injuries to there defense this season and still are playing pretty solid defensively. Has it been dominating, no, but we don't have a dominating pass-rush and have had no continuity in the LB corps so I think all things considering everything has gone better than expected. Bowman is getting better, Tillman looks good, Manning is improving, Aflava is young, Payne stinks, but in general I've seen no leader on this team look dead. Briggs, Peanut, Ogunleye and Brown would be the four guys I'd call the current leaders on the defensive side of the ball and all have always impressed me with there professionalism. On the offensive side, no one could possibly say that Cutler doesn't care and he's our offensive leader. So I think any talk of our team not caring is pretty inaccurate, imo. Not to mention, I don't think you can make a whole lot of inferences from what you read from one game in any given season from the sidelines. We aren't in the clubhouse, we aren't at the practices and as a whole there is absolutely no way that Angelo or Lovie would put up with guys not-caring. Lovie cares, the front office cares, and the Bears players by and large care. Obviously they care about there pay too, but these guys want to win and anyone saying any different at this point is being completely ridiculous.

Glad to see your account is all set-up !!!

I hope we start a back-up QB too cause I don't want Cutler dying.

I don't see the Tillman hate. He's been playing very good this season. He shadowed and shut-down Roddy White all game and did the same to Calvin Johnson in the last game.

He's started at MLB and OLB and hasn't fit in as nicely as they thought in the Chiefs new 3-4 defense.

I'd be down for an Iglesias for JOhnson trade.

Interesting. I loved this guy coming out of college.

Williams hasn't been great, but he also hasn't been the problem either.

Noots, I usually like your stuff but this week I disagreed with you a lot. You were overly harsh on Cutler, who still played a very good game, especially when you factor in the play of the o-line, the blitzes he saw, and the lack of support from Forte. The picks and the loss prevent him from getting an A, but he deserved a B (B- at the worse) for his performance. Heck, given how he played in the 2nd half, I'd get close to giving him a B+ but at the end can't because that redzone pick was costly. Running Backs - You are being way too nice. Forte might not have had good blocking in-front of him, but he's been one of the worse starting RB's in the NFL this year and last night he was awful. There were a few times where I thought I saw holes and he would not hit them with any authority. He's playing passful and its pretty dissapointing. Garret Wolfe has been more explosive and a better runner so far this season. The Backs deserve an F since our starter has sucked so badly. Receivers were strong. Really can't fault anything from there game. Would have been great if Clark could have hauled in that 4th down reception but regardless those guys had an A- type of game and made some big plays. Plus, along with all the receiving yards there were the PI yardage as well. On the defensive side, completely agree. As always though Noots, I enjoyed your pieces. Just thought you were too harsh in some areas and not harsh enough in other areas.

freak it, I was wrong, our WR's have stepped up big time!!!

Are there any big time FA Olineman this year? Cause the Bears need to sign at least one, especially given how few draft picks we have.

If we don't win, than we deserve a new head coach and with Cutler at QB plenty of good coaches will be lining up to take the job.

Time for Beekman to start.