DABEARSDABOMB

If we have the #1 pick, I either want to take a QB or trade down. No other position, to me, given our needs, is worthy of the #1 pick. I'd rather move down a few spots and let a team that has fallen in love with someone grab them and let us accumulate additional picks. I fundamentally don't like the idea of making a top 3 pick on anything but QB. I also don't think you force it, if a QB isn't their, don't take them, but also don't be afraid to move down a few spots (to 5 - 6 range).

I don't understand how our odds are that close to 3 teams who have a win already. Not to mention the Raiders are pretty solid.

Adam Schefter ‏@AdamSchefter 4m4 minutes ago Bears QB Jay Cutler will miss at least 2 weeks with hamstring injury, per sources. Jimmy Clausen now starts. The Bears declined comment.

I want Connor Cook.

The bulk of the penalty yards were on our defense, not the offense. Claussen was awful. The offense was awful without Jay.

By the way, I echo these sentiments as well.

I think all of you are delusional but I hope you are right. I legitimately think we don't get blown out of a bunch of games like last year, but I don't think we have the ammo to win those close games yet. But a few bounces go our way, I think we win 8 games...they go against us and I think you are talking 4 or 5...most likely 6-7 wins. Teams you don't include that are pretty good on our schedule are: - Arizona - KC - St. Louis (I buy into them) - Denver - San Diego I don't think we beat any of them, but I could be wrong. Then you have the Lions / Vikings, don't see us sweeping either of them, could see us losing to both, but peg maybe 2 wins their. We should beat the Bucs, so that is a 3rd. Oakland (may not have their QB) / Washington are games where on neutral fields I'd expect us to be favored slightly at this point (but not by a lot and in the Raiders case, purely cause their QB is out). I'd expect Niners at this point would be slight favorite of us but not a lot. Bottom line, when I slice and dice it, I just don't see it, but I hope I'm wrong. What I want to see though is progress and young players developing into starters.

His forty time was sub 4.5. He has been a probowl returner and looked good returning for the Bears late last season. Ever think that maybe he was going a little slower because he was waiting for some blocking to develop ahead of him? This isn't some scrub special teams guy. When he's been healthy (which has been the big if in his career), he has been a playmaking returner in the NFL. He has 3 return TD's in 39 games played.

I completely agree. I still think this will be a long season, but I am confident we have the right people to get the ship pointed in the right direction. Coaches need talent and we are devoid of defensive talent. Offensively, we do have some talent, so I am curious what Gase will be able to showcase. That said, the offense clearly has its own limitations (oline) and injury risks (most specifically wideout).

Yeah...he was talking about this years Bears D vs. last year. Basically saying how this year, it is a lot of what the Niners used to do and how they have multiple blitz packages, etc, and how last year they knew what we were going to do at all times (our D was totally predictable).

So not only did everyone know what we were doing offensively...evidently they knew what we were doing defensively last year. This was out of Biggs 10 thought on Bears piece.

That int was a hell of a play by Matthews. No QB in the planet is expecting the LB from the other side of the field to be in position their. It was the 2nd incredible play Matthews made in the game...the other was the play in the red zone where he came from the other side to tackle Forte from behind (when it looked like Forte was going to walk into the end zone).

I absolutely loved how we stuck with the run and how we didn't give up as many big plays on the D side. From a passing game perspective, we looked rusty, but I would expect that with Jay's top receivers being hurt for most of training camp. I was surprised we didn't use Bennett as much in the red zone and agree that our play calling in the red zone could use improvements. That said, it is week 1 and while other teams will get film on us, I am hopeful we have a staff that will be able to adapt accordingly. I still think we are a 5-6 win team because we just don't have talent in the secondary and I don't buy our oline being good enough (plus we have zero depth at wideout), but if we had a health White, I'd probably increase my prediction. One thing for certain, I thought we played hard and I liked that. But it is easy to play hard in week 1. Defensively, I didn't like the fact that we really didn't get much pressure on Aaron after about the 2nd quarter.

If someone put a gun to my head and said 30 or over or under 30...I think I'm going 30 or over. Yeah Nelson is out but our secondary is weak. That said, I hope I'm wrong.

By the way, I'm super excited for week 1. You never know what team you really have. After past couple years where we all thought we were good, I'd be okay being on the inverse side this year, thinking we are really bad, only to find out we are actually really good. I'd have been more optimistic if White were healthy, but offensively we have weapons, but our oline is a total work in process. Defensively I'm thrilled where we will go, unfortunately we still are missing a lot of building blocks, but hopefully we'll see Shea, Goldman, Amos, Fuller and Christian Jones take steps forward. That would be huge and allow the front office to focus on adding playmakers and rebuilding the oline (plus of course evaluating and ideally finding a franchise QB).

I remember hearing from multiple players on opposing defenses last year, that they all knew what the Bears were running. Trestman was a joke as a head coach. That said, our talent levels are bad but I feel bad for everyone that had to play with that excuse for X's and O's. It will be interesting to see how he does as a pure OC (as he is very intelligent), I just think in the NFL with all the footage, people are smarter and better prepared and you need to disguise and adjust much quicker then when he was last in the league.

Supposed to be a really good teammate. Has injury / concussion issues, which some say are why he has been blackballed from the league. Personally I think he'd be a good guy to have around. Knows how to win.

But what is the downside here. If he doesn't work, you cut him. Also, I thought those were clean-ups and relatively minor, might be wrong. Our focus this season should be accumulating talent. In Nix case, injuries might have been what derailed him (along with some questions over his effort..but that might change with his back against the wall). Or in the case of the guy the Falcons are going to release (who was a relatively high pick), he is a guy who was picked by a previous regime who might have some upside but didn't fit as the new regime is building things for their scheme.

Dezmen Southward, Falcons 3rd round pick at safety (68th overall), is expected to be released. The Falcons converted him from safety to CB this off-season. Given our lack of depth in the secondary, wonder if Bears would take a look. Big physical safety who played 4 years at Wisconsin and appeared in 16 games in his rookie year. Below is some info about him. Remember, he was drafting by the previous regime in Atlanta and Atlanta invested a lot in this position in the off-season. http://www.atlantafalcons.com/team/roster/...b1-3c2fd47e09e6 http://www.thefalcoholic.com/2015/7/6/8888...-falcons-future

Just last year...hasn't played a snap yet in the NFL and is your protypical NT prospect. I think we'd be foolish not to give it a look (as long as the med's check out). See if a change of scenery does him good. If he does, you could pick up a pretty talented player who could turn into a building block. If he doesn't, oh well.

Texans cut Louis Nix today. He was in Bill O'Brien's doghouse. I wonder if Bears would take a look. Would seem to fit your prototypical NT mold, albeit he obviously hasn't lived up to his ND hype. He was a projected 1st / 2nd round pick when he fell to the 3rd round because of some concerns over his weight and work-ethic. Perhaps getting cut and coming back to the midwest would help? I would have to think we'd be potentially interested. Never played a game last year due to surgery on his knee during the preseason.

I thought it was you that knew him Lith. Haven't seen anything but given our need at safety (and the fact that I think safety is one of the positions where undrafted guys can play...people get too overhyped on measureables where intangibles such as ability to close / react / read d and of course simple things like ability to tackle and take the right angles get overlooked. I thought he actually was on the outside looking in at one of the final roster spots, but would presume he's a lock at the practice squad (as long as he isn't out for any significant time). Given we have a lot of garbage at safety, some of which is aging or Vereen (who the staff clearly doesn't like), I figured Jefferson would get his shot at some point this season (if he kept doing what he was doing). Hopefully minor injury.

Lets hope his injury wasn't serious. IIRC, a poster on here either knew him / he was a family friend. He has had a good preseason. Below is what Biggs had to say about him in his most recent piece.

I know a lot of people on here didn't like Lance, but Lance was a total stud for the Bears for a long time and was an all time fav of mine to watch. Wish he could have went out on his own terms but I'm glad he'll be covering the Bears!!! Lance, you are one of the all time great Bears and I thank you for playing the way you did on the field and for how you contributed to some extremely special defenses.

I don't know what happened in 2014 with Raiders but he was pretty productive prior to that (as a non #1 / #2). Would be a pretty solid upgrade, albeit, hard to just add a wideout at this point in the game and have them be effective (got to get them up to speed with the offense, build rapport, etc). Still, considering our injuries at the position, I don't know how you don't look at him.