adam

Oh crap, I saw the Floyd play for another angle. It was bad, borderline suspension worthy, what the hell was he thinking? However, on the one against Osweiler, again he flashed in front of him and tried to block the pass, Osweiler sort of spun out of the way and it looked like Floyd got him up high, but he barely touched him. That was a bad call. On the screens, on the first one, Wilson took two steps forward then came back to the ball. Amendola was already engaged with his DB with the ball in the air. Close call, ball caught right on the LOS as he came back to the QB. Too close to call on second look. It looked bad live. Also, I relooked at the 75 yard play to Wilson. It looks like Mack backpedaled and chipped the TE, then peeled off and went after Osweiler, leaving his space wide open with Wilson right behind him. Callahan, Smith, and Trevathan were all in the area, but Trevathan took a bad angle, and then got blocked. With so many guys there, it seemed like they all gave up assuming someone else was making the tackle. Talking about how one play like the INT, fumbles, etc would've changed the outcome of the game. How about stopping the 2-pt conversion?

4-5 seconds to pass to Hill, 6 blockers, 4 rushers, no one even close to Mahomes at the throw. Hill literally wide open, a few frames before this Hill was only one on screen. He has the single high safety to beat who takes a bad angle, easy TD. Pass to Hunt, who broke off route, DB lost him staring into backfield, no over the top protection, the 2 deepest players are on KC. Easy TD. So Mahomes gets credit for these and the 3 yard drive TD, when all he had to do is make an east toss with no pressure.

Trubisky is top 10 in a bunch of categories. Very solid TD percentage, TD:INT ratio, etc. A very promising start. The only issue that stands out is his Situational Stats for the last two minutes of the half. He has a 19.5 Rating, 5/16, 31.2%, 0 TD and 1 INT. That has to improve. The real test will be next week at home against NE. With Mahomes just playing NE and Watson playing them last month, we will have a good comparison for the young QB's. I am still sick of the media bias. Mahomes had two bad games before the NE game, and was having a bad game before this happened in the 2nd half: 1. 67-yard TD pass to Kareem Hunt, a 3 man rush, 5 seconds to pass, no defender within 5 yards of Hunt and no over-the-top coverage. 2. Starting from NE 29 yard line - short field, easy TD pass 3. Starting from NE 3 yard line - very short field, easy TD pass 4. 75-yard TD pass to Tyreek Hill, zero pass rush, 5 seconds to pass with no rusher within 4 yards of Mahomes and no defender within 5 yards of Hill in a single high safety look 4 TD passes, and two long passes on what essentially was zero pass rush and blown coverage on both plays. The difference right now is that Mahomes is hitting all the deep balls, and Trubisky misses at least one easy long ball per game. Once he hits those, it will be hard to argue that Mahomes is better.

Oh yeah, no one player or coach is to blame. A lot of mistakes to go around. Albert Wilson should not look like the 2nd coming of Randy Moss. The defense did hold serve for most of the game. After the first TD, they didn't allow a TD for basically 3 quarters. Then the wheels fell off. There was zero pass rush and Floyd looks like a total bust. There are zero excuses for him now, he is healthy and Mack is on the opposite side drawing the double teams. It almost seemed like they were expecting Tannehill and didn't know what to do with Osweiler in there. The offense did nothing in the first half, then rattled off 28 points to put the team up. The turnovers (1 by Trubisky in the end zone, 1 by Howard in the end zone, and 1 by Cohen) were the difference. We can't give up that many points in the red zone. Coaching was horrible, Nagy looks like a genius then turns into John Fox with the game on the line. Why play for a 50+ yard FG when 10 yards seals the game for at least a tie? One thing to note, the officials blew a bunch of calls. Go look back at the Wilson screen passes that went for huge gains. The other WR's were blocking before he caught the ball. Both times they should've been flagged, especially after the Burton call in the end zone. He has every right to run his route and doesn't need to yield to the defender. Complete BS. Floyd also got a few bogus calls, so Amendola can keep fighting for a first down and we have to gently pull him to the ground, either stop trying to advance, or get throw down. Then there was the phantom Roughing the Passer, where he tried to block the throw and flashed right in front of Osweiler, barely touching him. Horrible officiating. You can't beat the refs.

Yeah, but those don't even matter if Trubisky doesn't throw a pick in the end zone and if Howard doesn't fumble going in for a TD. That's 14 points off the board.

Here we go, fresh off the bye week, looking to extend to a 4-game winning streak, something we haven't seen with this team since Lovie's last season. In Miami, hot weather, tropical storm coming through before the game (hopefully it doesn't linger). Miami has lost their last two games 65-24 (NE and CIN), so we should have some chances on both sides of the ball. Ironically, our last two games, we have outscored opponents 64-24. Their leading rusher is Frank Gore, in sort of a 2-headed monster setup with Drake. Neither are very effective. Leading receivers are Stills and Wilson. Tannehill has 5 INTs, has been sacked 11 times and has lost 3 fumbles. Mack should have a field day. There will be opportunities for turnovers. I expect an uptick in performance from Smith, now 4 games and a bye under his belt. There should no longer be any holdout rust. So I will base the outcome solely on recency bias and giving a few points back for Miami playing at home: Bears 31-13 Also to note, KC (Nagy as OC) beat Miami last year 29-13 (Cutler played QB for Miami, Wilson played for KC).

Ok, I was a little excited, but something like 11-12 wins (going 8-4 or 9-3 the rest of the way) does not seem unrealistic now. If we take care of business against the AFC East, go 3-1, and are 6-2 at the halfway mark, then 5-3 doesn't seem too tough to achieve with this team.

They can all end up being great, which would be good for the league. It won't be a binary outcome, too many variables. In terms of raw stats, Mahomes and Watson seem like they are going to consistently produce big numbers which will always get the attention. As long as we keep winning and playing competitive football, I am good with it.

This next quarter of the season is against the AFC East. We really need to come out of it 3-1 (6-2 overall). We will end with 8 straight conference games. Shaheen is eligible to return against Buffalo Week 9.

Yeah, based on current stats, it is hard not to pick Mahomes, though Watson seems more clutch. Mahomes has it really easy right now and is not really doing anything too difficult. He played bad and they had a 23 point lead late in the 4th quarter. The last and only time Trubisky threw 2 picks without a TD, we lost 31-3. We will get a pretty good idea on where both teams and QB's stand in two weeks, after KC plays NE this week and we play them next week. By then, you will have a good recent comparison on how both teams fared against the same opponent. Houston lost to NE in Week 1, 27-20 (Watson - 17/34, 50%, 1 TD, 1 INT, 62.9 Rating).

Watson had a good game but he is going to end up like Carr. You can only take a beating so much before you either get injured or get happy feet and start seeing ghosts.

Yeah, we have a great chance to make a move this year. Outside of the Rams at 5-0, we are the next best team. Washington and New Orleans play tonight, so only one of them will be a 1-loss team. Philly is 2-3, GB and MIN are 2-2-1, and Carolina is the only other NFC team with only one loss.

With the GB loss, Bears are guaranteed to go into Week 6 with 1st Place in the Division. Hilarious that Crosby missed 4 FG's and an XP (13 pts) and they only lost by 8.

Early games: Darnold: 10/22, 45.5%, 198 yards. 3 TD, 1 INT, 98.1 QB Rating (Win) Mayfield: 25/43, 57.1%, 342 yards, 1 TD, 1 INT, 81.7 QB Rating (Win) Mahomes: 22/38, 57.9%, 313 yards, 0 TD, 2 INT, 62.7 QB Rating (Win) Allen: 10/19, 52.6%, 82 yards, 0 TD, 1 INT, 42.0 QB Rating (Win)

This is the media bias I am talking about, "best player in the NFL"?: I don't disagree that Mahomes has been lighting it up, but most of his receivers have been wide open. Also, he is 12th in Passing Yards and 20th in Comp%. The only thing saving him is the ridiculous TD-INT ratio which will eventually trend back to averages. Khalil Mack is easily the best player in the NFL right now, and it is not even close.

Here is a quick look at how are rookies are doing so far: Smith - 15 solo tackles (2nd on team), 1 sack, 1 PD, played in a team-high 81% of defensive team snaps vs TB. He is clearly getting more and more playing time, and he is nowhere near his peak yet. Just think about it, no one is even talking about him because guys like Jackson, Hicks, Trevathan, Callahan, and of course Mack are playing great. Daniels - rotated with Kush in TB game, looks like he is ready for prime time. He seeks contact like a vulture. He wants to hit people and is very athletic and strong. A great combination for our OLine. He has to be starting coming out of the bye. Miller - 8 rec, 60 yards, 1 TD in 3 games, injured shoulder, 112 offensive snaps thru 3 games. Injury risk is going to be the only knock on him for the rest of the year. He has clearly cemented himself as our #3 WR. Iyiegbuniwe - Core special teamer, 19 ST snaps vs TB (70 for season, 3 defensive snaps). Iggy has played in every game this year, mainly on Special Teams, which is fine. Nichols - tied for team lead in TFL (3), 0.5 sacks in 3 games, 50 defensive snaps. This guy makes splash play after splash play in his limited playing time. Already tied for team lead for TFL, he is always in the backfield. I can see him getting in to spell Goldman more often going forward, which is not a knock on Goldman. Nichols has a lot of upside. Fitts - Inactive for first 4 games, 0 snaps. After Mack acquisition, someone was going to be the odd man out. With Acho injury, he may get some PT. Wims - Inactive for first 3 games, 1 offensive snap. Wims got activated for the TB game with Miller out. He has the same amount of targets as White does (0). I am not concerned at his lack of PT since he is a 7th round pick and still a depth piece. Toliver - A UDFA with 71 defensive snaps, 30 ST, and 8 solo tackles. A great pickup by Pace, and I would rather see him more than Cooper any day. Overall, at the quarter pole, a very successful draft with a varying degree of contributions to this point, which is to be expected. If Daniels starts, and Nichols starts getting more PT, this will be a very solid draft.

The Bears had a bunch of HOFers on that defense, and it is possible that Mack is better than all of them.

Coward may end up starting at RT by the end of the year. Daniels should take over at LG after the bye. That line would be nasty and athletic.

AZ, well put. I am not trying to put down Mahomes, he has been electric and very fun to watch. I just find it interesting how the narratives between the two can be so vastly different when Mahomes is the one that should be having to prove that these first few games are not a fluke. Everyone is high on Watson, and I will again say I wanted him at #3, but do people realize he has thrown a pick in all but two of his games? 11 games, 9 games with picks.

I agree, but no one is saying the same things about Mahomes' 6 TD game. If you discount one, you have to discount them all. So you might as well take them all into account. I just find it interesting that Mahomes' throws 6 TDs in a game, and it is all skill and he is anointed as a Franchise QB, and then when Trubisky does it, every discounts it and says it was a fluke, TB's defense is bad, etc. Both players can become franchise QB's, but it just seems that Mahomes is getting credit for throwing to Hill, Kelce, Hunt, and Watkins in the 2nd year in the same offense while Trubisky is questioned when he does the same with the Bears.

Chicago Bears linebacker Khalil Mack was named NFC Defensive Player of the Month after completely wrecking the Buccaneers o-line play after play Sunday. The defensive end once again stuffed the stat sheet, compiling four tackles, one sack, one QB hit, one tackle for loss, one pass defended, and a forced fumble. His play was even more impressive than the numbers. Mack discombobulated the entire Bucs offense with unrelenting pressure. The Defensive Player of the Year frontrunner is worth every penny for the NFC North-leading Bears. https://www.nbcsports.com/chicago/bears/khalil-mack-named-nfc-defensive-player-month http://www.nfl.com/news/story/0ap3000000969926/article/khalil-mack-jj-watt-among-players-of-the-month

Stats thru Week 4: 1. Mahomes 90-138, 65.2%, 1200 yds, 8.7 Y/A, 14-0 TD-INT, 126.5 Rating, 18-53, 1 TD (College Stats: 63.5%, 8.3 Y/A, 4:1 TD/INT) 2. Trubisky 91-130, 70%, 945 yds, 7.3 Y/A, 8-3 TD-INT, 101.6 Rating, 17-117, 1 TD (College Stats: 67.5%, 8.3 Y/A, 4:1 TD/INT) 3. Watson 92-148, 62.2%, 1246 yds, 8.4 Y/A, 7-4 TD-INT, 93.5 Rating, 24-161, 1 TD (College Stats: 67.4%, 8.4 Y/A, 3:1 TD/INT) ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 4. Mayfield 38-64, 59.4%, 496 yds, 7.8 Y/A, 2-2 TD-INT, 81.3 Rating, 6-8, 0 TD (College Stats: 68.5%, 9.8 Y/A, 4:1 TD/INT) 5. Darnold 73-127, 57.5%, 868 yds, 6.8 Y/A, 4-5 TD-INT, 72.6 Rating, 10-8, 0 TD (College Stats: 64.9%, 8.5 Y/A, 2:1 TD/INT) 6. Allen 55-103, 53.4%, 666 yds, 6.5 Y/A, 2-4 TD-INT, 63.8 Rating, 27-116, 2 TD (College Stats: 56.2%, 7.8 Y/A, 2:1 TD/INT) When looking at their college stats, it is hard to see what Buffalo was thinking. Allen had an extremely low completion percentage, and it seems like there is some correlation for that to the NFL. Darnold seems extremely overrated, and Mayfield is underperforming overall. For the sophomores, who knew that Mahomes would've be this good? I still think the law of averages catches up to him at some point. What I find funny is that Trubisky has started more games (16 v 5) and obviously has more attempts, completions, TDs, etc, yet Mahomes is already considered a Franchise QB but the jury is still out on Trubisky? Did anyone see the offense Trubisky played in last year? Mahomes came into the perfect situation with elite skill position players (Hill, Kelce, Hunt, Watkins), and is in his second year in the offense. At this point, it should not even be a comparison between the two. Watson got a year in the same offense, but also played a bunch before injury, so Watson and Mahomes would be the best two to compare. I think we can't compare Trubisky to anyone this year. Either way, Trubisky's numbers are solid. If he can maintain a 100+ QB Rating, we will be in good shape. That is Franchise QB level. A sneaky stat is Trubisky's legs, he has the best yards per carry of any QB right now. With 4 starts in the new offense, Trubisky is projected to have the following stats for a full season: 364-520, 3780 yards, 32 TD, 12 INT. That would be within 32 yards of Cutler's best season with the Bears (58 yards from franchise best) and the 32 TDs would be 4 more than Cutler's 28 (and 3 more than Kramer's 29). So there will probably be a few more up and down moments for Mitch, but I think we will see those trending upwards from here on out, meaning his bad games won't be as bad as before and he will have the potential for games like the TB game more often.

One thing I have noticed on the RPO plays, Mitch has rarely kept the ball (if at all), and on almost every play, no one follows him. To keep the defense honest, he needs to take a few of those even if it is for only a short gain and slide.

Taylor Lewan did the exact same thing last year and was not suspended for any games, just disqualified for the current game. Looking at both plays, it is hard to see where Hicks' would warrant additional punishment.

Gotta love the national media. We are now in the top 10 of most power rankings and our odds to make the playoffs is 3rd best in the league (behind LAR and KC). According to DVOA, we have the best defense in the league (by far) and the 2nd best team overall. We only have 3 games against teams that are in the top half of the league (LAR, GB, and NE). Those are ironically all home games, and the Rams is December 9th (Bear weather).