adam

It has been a long time for sure and based on Passer Rating Against, we have the top 2 rated CBs in the league.

Mongo, I wouldn't say Shaheen is playing well (2 receptions on the year), but he is playing better than he did here. Davis was always a good player when he got reps, he was not getting them as RB3 here. Kwit was very solid for us and I would've liked to have seen him back. However, he has been injured with LV and just got back on the field, and had 2 tackles as a ILB. So he is not necessarily lighting it up just yet. Amos has always been a very solid SS. As long as he has a strong supporting cast around him, he flourishes. I thought they should've resigned him, but they were saving that money for Jackson, who has not been the same player since his injury.

The team never should've paid Leno, fool's gold. The guy is smart in that he played for a big contract, but then turned back into a lazy turd once he got paid. People forget Leno was a Pro-Bowler the year before he got paid. Then after the big pay day, he got married, had a kid, and got lazy. Just look at some games from that season and now. It's a different player. I remember his wife posting a picture of him studying on a plane after a game where he had multiple penalties and allowed several sacks and pressures. That looks hilarious now. Leno may be the worst starter on offense, and that is scary at LT. I would see what Spriggs can do. Massie is who he is. He is a smart player, huge dude, but doesn't play nasty. I also hate that we have yet to address OT early. We had chances in every draft to get one in the first few rounds. We have so many guys that have not contributed at other positions and draft picks that you would think at least one or two of them would stick if they went OT.

Chase Claypool, Kmet's ND teammate and someone we were talking about as a hybrid WR/TE selection for the Bears (drafted after Kmet) scored 4 TDs today.

Lamar Miller? Forbath?

As we know, the national media or even our local media have not been very high on this team. Some preseason predictions had us winning 3-8 games, which we have already exceeded some of those predictions by Week 5. However, there is something else going on. The media pointed to a weak schedule for our record but have not used the same reasoning for teams that are very similar to us through this week. Check out these teams and how much different they are rated than us in power rankings. 1. First we have BUF. They are top 5 in most rankings. On NFL.com they are #4. Here is their breakdown: BUF 4-0 (beat NYJ, MIA, LAR, LV = 6 combined wins), 2 wins by 3 or less, allowed 23 or more in 3 games. 25th SoS. The best team they beat was LAR, who is also on this list, and only beat them by 3. They have the 25th SoS to this point, yet are rated 18 spots higher than the Bears. 2. This one is crazy. Pittsburgh is also rated in the top 8 in most power rankings, and are #5 on NFL.com. Here is their breakdown: PIT 3-0 (beat NYG, DEN, HOU = 1 combined win), allowed 16 or more in every game, 21 or more in 2 games. 32nd SoS. The EASIEST schedule so far, one combined win from their opponents and they have allowed multiple TDs in every game, yet they are 17 slots higher than the Bears? Seriously. 3. Another one very similar to PIT is TEN. They are also in the top 8 in most rankings and #7 on NFL.COM. Their breakdown: TEN 3-0 (beat DEN, JAX, MIN = 3 combined wins), all wins by 3 or less, allowed 30 or more in 2 games. 29th SoS. Who have they beat? A 6 point differential on 3 wins and no losses means they are barely winning. All wins by 3 or less, but they are ranked 15 slots higher than the Bears, half of the league higher, but why? What have they done better than the Bears? 4. This one might be the most legit one with LAR coming in at #9. Their breakdown: LAR 3-1 (beat DAL, PHI, NYG = 2 combined wins), lost to BUF 35-32. 23rd SoS. They still have played a relatively easy schedule and have only beaten teams with a combined 2 wins. Does that garner a top 10 ranking and 12 slots higher than the Bears? 5. The media darling Browns. Everyone loves Mayfield, even though he is still middle to the bottom half of the league (182 yds/g, 6.3 Y/A). The Browns come in at #13 at NFL.com. Their breakdown: CLE 3-1 (beat CIN, WAS, DAL = 3 combined wins), allowed 20 or more in every game, over 30 in 3 games, lost to BAL 38-6. 21st SoS. They have a -2 in points differential at 3-1. Come on man. They barely beat CIN, beat a Chase Young-less Washington team that had Haskins still starting (3 INTs, 3 sacks), and won a shootout in DAL where neither team played defense. DAL actually cut the lead to 41-38 with 4 to play. So that game was a lot closer than the score looked. CLE is ranked 9 slots higher than the Bears. So here are the Bears, in the bottom 12 in most power rankings, and even before the TB game were still comparable to these teams above in terms of performance and record. #22 - CHI 4-1 (beat TB, ATL, NYG, DET = 4 combined wins), lost to IND 19-11. 28th SoS-before TB game. So I can understand rating the Bears that low, but why are other teams not held to the same standard? It is clear that both PIT, TEN, and to an extent CLE are all in the same boat. Then you have to consider BUF and LAR because they really only played each other. One other thing I noticed, none of these teams have played SEA, GB, or KC yet. The best teams faced outside of this group have been BAL, IND, and TB. The Bears have played two of them and are 1-1.

RZ was also our biggest weakness next year, so his presence and play have been a huge bright spot.

Here is another one, when is the last time you have seen Trubisky talking to Nagy like this? Never. Foles is telling him what he is seeing and why he was frustrated that they stopped the no-huddle which has the offense moving. After the huddle that Nagy called, they lost a bunch of yards and settled for a long FG. That was a TD drive.

Yeah, they will have to do something with a few of those contracts. I can see both Leno and Massie being moved before Fuller though. They can always restructure his to make the cap hit a little better. I like having bookend shutdown corners. The more they can trust these guys, the more chances they can take with blitzes and such.

This is a great example of the difference between Foles and Trubisky. Foles does this all game long. Trubisky has to get the call from the sidelines, then just executes it to the first read regardless of coverage. So he does make some amazing throws like the ones to Miller but then also throws into triple coverage to ARob. Foles adjusted this play, the receiver, the rub, and the protections all while the defense shifted. Very cool to see a play broken down to this level. So now Foles needs to work on the timing of routes with his receivers. Nagy mentioned that not all routes are being run to the exact spot they are supposed to and he wants that level of detail on every route. He also wants the timing throws to be there as well. Right now some of that is off, but the good news is we are 4-1 (4-0 in the NFC) on a mini bye and can only improve from here.

We are halfway to our bye week and 4-1 with 5 to play having just played the #1 and #2 DVOA Defenses in the league in the last 4 days. Our next 5 are against the following with their Defensive DVOA in paratheses: CAR (28), LAR (15), NO (8), TEN (18), and MIN (13). We beat DET ranked 29th, ATL 25th and NYG who is surprisingly 11th. So out biggest upcoming challenge is going to be NO, who we get at home in two weeks. We actually have a pretty favorable schedule to the bye with 3 games with extra rest (CAR, LAR, MIN) and only one game with less than a week of rest (NO). CAR, LAR, MIN, and TEN are all ranked #20 or worse against the run. That should really help out our run game and allow Bars to get more comfortable at LG into the bye. For pass defense, TEN and CAR are the bottom two teams, and MIN is 21st, so we should be able to have some success passing against those teams. That makes the CAR, TEN, and MIN games all very favorable for our offense. The LAR and NO games are going to be the two challenges. Even if we win 3 and lose 2, we can go into the bye at 7-3 with 6 to play. That would be a great position to be in with DET, HOU, MIN, and JAX games after the bye (all very winnable). Our biggest challenge after the bye? The bookend games against GB, one out of the bye and one in Week 17, which could setup as a Division Championship Game, NFC Seeding, and potentially 1st Round bye potential.

To me this is one of the most baffling things going on with the team. How can this polished pro-ready TE only have one catch on the season, when lesser players have more production? This feels worse than Shaheen because everyone knew he was going to be a project.

Somehow, someway this team is 4-1. I will take it. Now the team gets a mini-bye before heading to CAR.

So the 3rd Quarter Bears show up again and score 0 AGAIN. The Bucs obviously get a FG to take the lead. We get a FG ourselves after an uptempo drive. However, Foles wanted to keep it going, but Nagy called a huddle and the team went backwards and they almost didn't score. Luckily Santos hit a season high 47 yarder. Then TB drives back down and hit their own FG to take the lead. After basically exchanging 3 and outs, Foles is able to drive the team into FG position, and amazingly Santos hit the GW FG. The defense shuts the door and Tom Brady wanted 5 downs apparently. Regardless, it's another win, and now versus a legitimate team, in conference. Bears are 4-1.

A pretty crazy half. The Bears were down 13-0 and then finally mustered a TD drive. Then Kyle Fuller decides to kill a man with a textbook hit over the middle, forcing a fumble and the Bears recover in TB territory. The offense capitalizes and scores another TD on a pass to Graham to take the lead into the half 14-13. Within two minutes, they go from shutout by 13, to up 14-13. Outside of one weird play (where they allowed a 35 yard reception) where no Bear seemed to want to tackle, they haven't allowed a play longer than 13 yards to Gronk. The Bears still killing themselves with penalties. Two more that gave TB first downs. Besides that one long play and the two penalties, the defense has been solid. For what seems like the millionth time, ARob has a ball hit his hands that ends up as an INT. This time he juggles a back shoulder throw right into the defenders hands for an INT. Foles threw the ball only where ARob could catch it, maybe a little short, but for that to end up as an INT sucks. Foles is still a work in progress, but even without a running game, he has a much better command of the offense. Now he needs to get some better timing with the receivers, which is not quite there yet.

Ok, so the injury report is out; Godwin is out, Howard is on IR, Evans will be a true game time decision with a bad ankle. Fournette is doubtful, McCoy is out, and Scotty Miller is also questionable but expected to play. So we catch a break again with both Godwin and Howard out, and Evans and Miller not playing at 100%. That is 4 of the top 5 receivers out or injured. That leaves Gronk as the only non-RB with more than 2 catches. So I expect Ronald Jones to see a lot of action and dump offs tonight. He will also see alot of rushing attempts. The Colts were not this beat up or playing away on a short week. The Bears have no excuse not to win this game. I don't see how TB scores more than Indy did last week. I am changing my prediction to Bears 23-17.

It is still a roster spot that will likely not see the field. It feels like a waste if he is there only as a "voice".

Yep, Skrine has been solid, Trevathan still the weakest link in coverage. I also don't like using Mack in coverage. The scheme needs to change where he is attacking the QB on every snap.

So Bray got activated for the Colts game and Trubisky doesn't have backup QB duties on the sidelines. I know Nagy tried to downplay this, but there has to be more to this. Nagy said that Bray knows the offense, here is the quote: To me this is a huge knock on Trubisky. So the guy that has started in the offense since you've arrived, has more reps in your offense than any other QB in the league doesn't know the offense well enough to help out the new starting QB, but a PS QB does? Doesn't that seem odd to you? There are several theories floating around but if you peel the onion back, there has to be more to this. Trubisky doesn't want to handle in-game back up duties, or he can't? They don't want Trubisky on the Scout Team because he can't run the other teams plays well enough? Why would a veteran of Foles' caliber need a "voice" on the sidelines. Is Trubisky not providing that voice? The crazy theories are related to Trubisky being on the trading block, which makes sense considering he will be a UFA after this season. Do they move him before the trading deadline once Bray has a few weeks as the backup? Time will tell.

No matter what metric you use, Johnson is near the top for all CBs this season. As much as I am on Pace about Kmet and other draft picks not to be named here, Johnson was a steal in the 2nd round. It almost makes Pace look dumb for not drafting Johnson first. I was just hoping for play equivalent to Prince, but Johnson has far exceeded that and at times has been the best DB on the team, which says a lot. If he keeps this up, he has a chance at Rookie, Pro-Bowl, and possibly All-Pro honors. He will need a few INTs to be in the All-Pro discussion, but he is right there right now in every other metric.

Now Johnson deserves his own thread.

I hope so, because it doesn't seem too hard for him to only have a few routes with minor wrinkles for blitzes and audibles.

I sure hope so, but we are already at the quarter pole of the season. I am good with 2-3 balls a game and 3-4 targets, but my fear is he is not getting open, so neither QB is looking his way. The only other factor is the play caller is not using him at all, which is also concerning.

He has the same output as Adam Shaheen had thru a quarter of the season of his rookie year. This kid was supposed to be pro-ready, had the playbook down in a week, etc. Then nothing.

So what gives with this guy? He has the same amount of receptions as Bobby Massie and Ryan Nall, 1. He is 11th on the team in receptions and has only been targeted 3 times all season and was not targeted against Atlanta. For a 2nd round pick, you would expect at least a little better production at this point. If you remember, there were some other TE names the team could've targeted, guys like Adam Trautman who was supposed to be a project, has 3 receptions for 34 yds, Harrison Bryant has 7-59 and a TD. Instead of Kmet, they had Antoine Winfield Jr. sitting there, Jeremy Chinn or even Antonio Gibson who looks great with Washington. Those were all players we were talking about before the draft. Pace went with Kmet, and we are not getting any production out of that pick so far. I feel like that is also part of the offensive problems. Johnson has replaced Prince but Kmet is not improving the offense. I almost regret not taking any Offensive Lineman at that pick as that seems to be the weakness of the team again.