adam

Bears at home, favored by a TD, Lions coming in at 3-5 and having lost two straight. This will come down to which Detroit team and Matt Backwards Hat Stafford show up. This team beat GB, NE, and MIA (all the teams we lost to) and lost to MIN, SF, NYJ, SEA, and DAL. So I have a feeling that this game will be a little closer than expected. For the Bears, it marks a string of Divisional games that will ultimately decide the fate of the season. This is sort of one of the must wins, at home, a divisional game, with a fractional lead in the Division race and last WC spot. If Mack and Robinson are back, I say it will be a solid win (30-17), and without them, I still think we squeak out a closer game 27-24.

I agree on the officiating, but not much else. The offense was missing Robinson and Long, and still is missing Shaheen. My biggest concern is Trubisky's accuracy on his deep throws. I can't remember a long one he hit with a receiver in stride. He has been overthrowing receivers for weeks. We need to figure out what is going on there. The defense was without Mack again and they completely dominated the game and scored twice. I will take a pick-6 over a sack every time. We had 4 sacks and several negated by BS penalties and one resulted in intentional grounding. So we should've had 7-8 sacks easily. Now did they miss a few sure, but that would've put them in double digits. I thought the defense played great. 3rd best team? If the Packers lose against NE, they will have a losing record, they are not better than us. Minnesota, possibly, but we have yet to play them, so time will tell there. I don't care how we got here, but we are 5-3 at the halfway point in the season and in 1st place in the Division.

Bears favored by 10 on the road. The Bills defense is very good but their offense is arguably one of the worst in the league. They have scored 37 points in their last 5 games (averaging just over 7 per game) and are coming off a MNF loss to NE. In contrast, the Bears have scored less than 23 once (in a 16-14 win). Just based on averages, we should be winning this 24-10 in a game comparable to last week. It's all about taking away McCoy. Hopefully, our LB's neutralize him out of the backfield. Sunday weather looks like it is going be partly sunny and in the mid to high 40's. Winds will be around 10 mph. So weather should not be any worse than last week. Bears final injury report for the week: Out: Braunecker (concussion), Long (foot) Questionable: Mack (ankle), Robinson (groin), Nichols (knee) Good to go: Kush (neck) I am going with Bears 27-10 to stay 1st in Division. DET plays at MIN, and GB plays at NE. So there is a great chance that 2 Division teams will lose and we know one will at a minimum barring another tie. Bears 5-3 Vikes 5-3-1 Packers 3-4-1 Lions 3-5 or Bears 5-3 Vikes 4-4-1 Lions 4-4 Packers 3-4-1 WC Watching, SEA plays at home against SD, and CAR plays TB at home.

National media does not like Trubisky, ranked 26th on NFL.com:

If we sign Callahan, then I doubt we draft a CB early. Fuller is signed thru 2021 and Prince is signed thru 2020. They both have Dead Money over $10M in 2019. So I doubt they cut either of them. So I can't see us drafting a CB early if we are going to pay all 3 of those guys. I can see another 5th-UDFA as a possible option to groom under them. Callahan is a must. He is arguably our best CB. Safety is definitely a need. If we don't re-sign Amos, we will need a starter, and we are fairly thin back there. OLB is a need, and I am not sold on the team picking up Floyd's 5th year option. OT is definitely a need. Massie isn't very good and I doubt we pay him as we want to get younger there. Even with Coward, I can see us going OT early. With Long's injury history, it wouldn't hurt to go OG as well. So I would say S and OT are the top priorities, with OLB right behind. Then OG the last of the four need areas.

Long is out 6-8 weeks, so he has a chance to come back Week 17 or for the playoffs. If we can beat NYJ without Robinson and Mack, and they are not 100%, then we need to rest them in Buffalo.

So GB moves Montgomery and Clinton-Dix, and DET moves Tate. Those moves clearly help us in the Division as all those guys seemed to gash us regularly. Fowler to the Rams is crazy, how can they afford all those dudes on Defense? Eagles get Tate, which is a great fit for them. Thomas to Houston to replace Fuller. Hopkins and Thomas with Watson throwing to them is going to be fun to watch. With that defense, they are a sleeper pick in the AFC.

Here ya go: https://www.chicagotribune.com/sports/football/bears/ct-spt-bears-kevin-white-josh-bellamy-20181026-story.html

Right now, with current records, we only have one game vs a prospective playoff team (LAR), and 3 games against potential playoff teams (GB and MIN x2). If we split the division and go 3-2 the rest of the way, beat the teams with 2 or less wins (BUF, SF, NYG) and lose to LAR, that's 6-3 the rest of the way without too much stretching. Week 9 at BUF (2-5) - Bills are coming off a MNF game and a short week. They have scored 81 pts on the season in 7 games. We should and need to dominate this game. I would consider resting Mack and Robinson again if they are not 100%. 5-3. Week 10 vs DET (3-4) - Lions games are always determined by which team or Stafford shows up. Are they the team that beat NE and GB or the team that lost to the Jets and SF? Lions will be coming off a road game against the Vikings. At home, playing a dome team, this needs to be a win. 6-3. Week 11 vs MIN (4-3-1) - This one will be tough. Minnesota will be coming off their bye. I am going to say this one is a loss for that reason alone. 6-4. Week 12 at DET (3-4) - Same as last DET game, which team will we be playing. I say we split with the Lions. So 6-5. Week 13 at NYG (1-7) - Wow the Giants are bad, and I assume they will be mailing it in for the #1 pick at this time. 7-5. Week 14 vs LAR (8-0) - I don't see the Rams going undefeated and they looked beatable against GB this week. 3 of their last 4 wins have been by 3 pts or less. I don't see us winning the way we are playing right now, but if we play to our potential, and the Rams lose a game or two before we play. This game may have more playoff implications than they do right now. I will go with the Rams right now, 7-6. Week 15 vs GB (3-3-1) - GB is not as good as the media makes them out to be. They beat us on a fluke, and have only beat BUF and SF. Between now and Week 15, they play at NE, MIA, at SEA, at MIN, ARZ, and ATL. At best I see 7-5-1, but realistically 6-6-1 or 5-7-1. Either way, we will be close enough in the standings that this will essentially be a playoff game and a great payback for Week 1. Bears win. 8-6. Week 16 at SF (1-7) - If we can't win against this team with playoffs on the line, then we don't deserve to go. 9-6. Week 17 at MIN (4-3-1) - This will be another playoff game, and will more than likely decide the Division. I could see the Vikes coming in at 9-5-1 at best. Since I have us splitting, then this one is a win. We go 10-6 and Vikes are 9-6-1. Vikes remaining (DET, @CHI, GB, @NE, @SEA, MIA, DET, CHI) 5-3 (9-6-1 at best), 6 games vs teams .500 or better. Worst team to play, DET at 3-4 twice. Packers remaining (@NE, MIA, @SEA, @MIN, ARZ, ATL, @CHI, @NYJ, DET) 6-3 (9-6-1 best), 5 games vs teams .500 or better. Worst teams to play: ARZ, NYJ, ATL, and DET.

Also, a nice win when you consider Robinson and Mack did not play. Sucks to see Long go down. We are now thin on the O-Line with Kush out. However, if Kush comes back, then we will be ok next week. Next up, Buffalo.

Ball game, 24-10. Bears win a game they should've won. Glad to see them close it out on offense and defense. With a Detroit loss, Bears now 3rd in the Division. Could end up in first by the end of the day.

Yeah, it didn't look good and sounded worse. Hopefully just a high ankle sprain and a couple of weeks, but I fear he is done for the year.

I would like to think my negative comments will these guys to play better. Yeah, run blocking has been off for most of the year.

Good response by the offense after Jackson's bone-headed penalty extended the Jets' drive which led to a TD. Now we need a stop to end this game.

Outside of the Cohen screen, there is not much to get excited about. 7-3 at half.

Bears getting burned on 3rd downs right now. Do great on first and second and let up an easy play on 3rd. Eventually, that is going to catch up to you.

Unless Howard does something explosive, I am starting to think he is not going to be that valuable going forward. On some of his runs, a simple cut-back and he would have a huge gain, but he misses it and gets 2 yards. Really odd, he is also not running as hard as I remember him running. Breaking very few tackles.

Oh look an NFL kicker. Bears up 7-3, good bend but don't break drive on the defense.

BOOM! Great screen, I like the playcalling, all the quick hitters to the outside, then the screen on the blitz. 7-0 Da Bears!

Yeah, come on, there are all these random guys making 50+ yarders, and we can't get a kicker to hit an average kick to save our lives.

Yeah, it is frustrating, I do the same thing, but I am cussing up a storm when he does that. It is literally a drive killer. The odds of him breaking a long one off without a penalty is so low that it makes no sense to even attempt a return. The chance of a block in the back or holding is much higher than anything else. So take a knee, take the ball at the 25 and be happy with that. Who knows, those few extra yards could make the difference between a 51 yard FG and a 47 yard FG later in the drive.

Daniels Time:

In a way, the spotlight has been off of Smith, which is probably better for him. Especially with the Mack trade. I would just like to see week to week improvement. If it doesn't show on the stat line, at least let it show up on the tape.

Floyd's is very springy, and doesn't have a quick turn, so it is odd that they ask him to drop into cover and cover an RB man-on-man. If he can get pressure, it changes the entire game because the offense can't commit to both sides of the line. If they do, with max protect, we should have the coverage to stop it. The issue lately is they have been stacking Mack's side making Floyd beat them and he hasn't.

Just the fact that he doesn't tell Cunningham to take a knee if the ball is in the end zone is enough for me. Here were Cunningham's 4x returns (3 were downable) from Sunday: 1Q - 1-yd deep, returns 18 yards to the 17 (-8) 3Q - 4-yds deep, returns 31 yards to the 27 (+2) (+15 yard NE penalty) - only worthy return 3Q - 1 yd line, returns 24 yards to the 25 4Q - 3-yds deep, returns 19 yards to the 16 (-9) So 3 kicks into the end zone, and on those kicks, we lost a net of 15 yards total compared to if we just downed it and took it at the 25. The issue with the two bad kicks was the first one was our first drive after NE scored, and the last one was in the 4th quarter when we were trying to mount a comeback. Cunningham is averaging 22 yards a return and only has two returns longer than 25 yards (out of 7). On his only other return longer than 25 (28 against TB), he caught it 5 yards deep and only got it out to the 25. So out of 7 returns, Cunningham has got past the 25 once (to the 27).