adam

No, we lose to all of them, only SF and DAL have a comparable SoS, we would pick last out of those 4. We are now locked out of the top 8 for sure. So right now it looks like this: 9. Tampa Bay Buccaneers (6-9) - .478 (@CAR) ~ 6-10 10. New Orleans Saints (6-9) - .513 (@ATL) ~ 6-10 11. Philadelphia Eagles (6-9) - .513 (NYG) ~ 7-9 12. Detroit Lions (6-9) - .531 (@CHI) ~ 7-9 13. Chicago Bears (6-9) - .540 (DET) ~ 6-10 (Proj: 12th) 14. New York Giants (6-8) - .496 (@MIN, PHI) ~ 6-10 ----------------------------------------- 15. Indianapolis Colts (7-8) - .504 (TEN) ~ 8-8 16. Oakland Raiders (7-8) - .504 (@KC) ~ 7-9 17. Buffalo Bills (7-8) - .518 (NYJ) ~ 7-9 18. St. Louis Rams (7-8) - .531 (@SF) ~ 8-8 A loss and we are locked in at 12 (regardless of who wins between NYG/PHI), this also assumes TB and NO losses. The worst scenario is a win where we would fall to 16th (assuming STL and IND win finales). So now it looks like 12 or 16 depending on win or loss.

Game ball goes to Jones-Quartey; what a game for the rookie. A goal-line INT, a forced fumble, and 2 passes defended. If not for some ridiculousness on some broken plays, this game would not have been this close. TB got 43 and 50 yard TD plays and another catch for 46. I have mixed feelings about the win, hurts draft position (by 3-4) but nice to get a win and beat last year's win total. Cutler with another solid game without a turnover and with very little passing options outside of Miller. Royal dropped a easy TD pass which would've given Cutler 2 on the day. He still finished with a 100.1 QB Rating. The Bears dominated TOP, Langford had 83 yards on 19 carries and besides for not finishing drives (4 FGs), the offense did enough to win. Langford/Carey duo may be enough if Forte wants too much money (if he is even offered anything). The defense actually stuffed the run and Martin only had 49 yards on 17 carries. Besides for discipline on some broken plays, and a couple of bad angles (Amos/Porter), the defense played solid even after some injuries.

Gore got 3 year 12 million with 6.5 in guarantees. I wouldn't be against something like that with the 3rd year really being an option year with little to no dead money.

After early games (Week 16), due to win, we drop to 13th. 1. Tennessee Titans (3-12) - .489 (@IND) ~ 3-13 2. Cleveland Browns (3-12) - .535 (PIT) ~ 3-13 ----------------------------------------- 3. San Diego Chargers (4-11) - .522 (@DEN) ~ 4-12 4. Dallas Cowboys (4-11) - .540 (WAS) ~ 4-12 5. San Francisco 49ers (4-11) - .549 (STL) ~ 4-12 ----------------------------------------- 6. Miami Dolphins (5-10) - .471 (NE) ~ 5-11 7. Baltimore Ravens (5-10) - .518 (@CIN) ~ 5-11 8. Jacksonville Jaguars (5-9) - .462 (@NO, @HOU) ~ 5-11 9. New Orleans Saints (5-9) - .513 (JAX, @ATL) ~ 6-10 ----------------------------------------- 10. Tampa Bay Buccaneers (6-9) - .478 (@CAR) ~ 6-10 11. Philadelphia Eagles (6-9) - .513 (NYG) ~ 7-9 12. Detroit Lions (6-9) - .531 (@CHI) ~ 7-9 13. Chicago Bears (6-9) - .540 (DET) ~ 6-10 (Proj: 12th) 14. New York Giants (6-8) - .496 (@MIN, PHI) ~ 6-10 15. St. Louis Rams (6-8) - .531 (@SEA, @SF) ~ 7-9 ----------------------------------------- 16. Indianapolis Colts (7-8) - .504 (TEN) ~ 8-8 17. Oakland Raiders (7-8) - .504 (@KC) ~ 7-9 18. Buffalo Bills (7-8) - .518 (NYJ) ~ 7-9

Bears score in the red zone? A play fake and pass? What? Carey with 2 TD's.

After a 3 and out, Anderson nails Martin and he coughs it up again.

Jones-Quartey having a game, now with a goal-line pick.

Typical Bears, broken play, Winston hits Sims who goes 50 yards because Porter takes a bad angle and goes for the pick (and misses).

Yep, seems like they can do that all game if they want to. Also with 95 rushing yards and over 20 mins TOP.

Eddie Royal drops an easy TD, Bears settle for a FG.

Wow, another great play by Jones-Quartey, and then Goldman with a sack on 3rd down.

Harold Jones-Quartey with a huge hit on Martin who fumbles. Something we have missed all year. Now Bears running the ball down their throats, drive ends in a FG.

Wow a huge penalty negates an INT, then Bears drive easily down field and Carey scores behind the O-Line which got some great push.

Woo hoo Bad News Bears on Special Teams, a blocked punt, and Bucs score on next play. LaRoy Reynolds (LB) literally did an olé on the guy who blocked the punt. He literally let him go then turned around like "should I have blocked him".

Defense actually looks....respectable. Refs not calling any holding against TB.

You're disappointed in Kyle Fuller? Please elaborate. He has actually turned into a decent Corner. For me, I was most impressed with Adrian Amos. With Mundy hurt, then Rolle hurt, he was thrust into the starting lineup and has played way above a rookie 5th round pick. Porter and Deonte Thompson are my honorable mentions. Disappointed in the most? That one is tough, I would have to say based on expectations, Bennett. With all the WR injuries, he was supposed to step up and never did. Honorable mention: SMC, Jeffery, and Gould.

With the announcement of his 6th missed game, it is hard for me to see the Bears paying him Top 5 WR money or even franchising him for $12mil. The franchise number is skewed because of Megatron's ridiculous deal which looks even worse today (2016 cap hit $24mil). I think I would be ok with something under $10mil for a couple of years, but even $10mil a year would put him 11th overall. Is he worth it, especially considering the injury history? If we did go in another direction, these are the best available WR's under 30 this season: Unrestricted Free Agents: Travis Benjamin, 25, CLE, 61-893-5 Marvin Jones, 25, CIN, 57-745-4 Rueben Randle, 24, NYG, 51-638-6 Rishard Matthews, 26, MIA, 43-662-4 Mohamed Sanu, 26, CIN, 29-359-0 I wouldn't mind Benjamin or Jones across from White.

Bears Inactives: WR Alshon Jeffery CB Bryce Callahan ILB Shea McClellin OL Nick Becton OL Tayo Fabuluje DL Bruce Gaston CB Jacoby Glenn Buccaneers Inactives: QB Ryan Griffin S Chris Conte RB Mike James DE Kourtnei Brown TE Brandon Myers WR Vincent Jackson WR Evan Spencer Bucs 31-20, which would lock in no worse than the 12th pick.

lol, nice. That would be awesome.

Updated after OAK/SD game: 1. Tennessee Titans (3-11) - .489 (HOU, @IND) ~ 3-13 2. Cleveland Browns (3-11) - .535 (@KC, PIT) ~ 3-13 ----------------------------------------- 3. San Diego Chargers (4-11) - .522 (@DEN) ~ 4-12 4. Baltimore Ravens (4-10) - .518 (PIT, @CIN) ~ 4-12 5. Dallas Cowboys (4-10) - .540 (@BUF, WAS) ~ 4-12 6. San Francisco 49ers (4-10) - .549 (@DET, STL) ~ 4-12 ----------------------------------------- 7. Jacksonville Jaguars (5-9) - .462 (@NO, @HOU) ~ 5-11 8. Miami Dolphins (5-9) - .471 (IND, NE) ~ 5-11 9. New Orleans Saints (5-9) - .513 (JAX, @ATL) ~ 6-10 10. Detroit Lions (5-9) - .531 (SF, @CHI) ~ 7-9 11. Chicago Bears (5-9) - .540 (@TB, DET) ~ 5-11 (9th) ----------------------------------------- 12. Tampa Bay Buccaneers (6-8) - .478 (CHI, @CAR) ~ 7-9 13. New York Giants (6-8) - .496 (@MIN, PHI) ~ 6-10 14. Indianapolis Colts (6-8) - .504 (@MIA, TEN) ~ 8-8 15. Philadelphia Eagles (6-8) - .513 (WAS, NYG) ~ 7-9 16. Buffalo Bills (6-8) - .518 (DAL, NYJ) ~ 7-9 17. St. Louis Rams (6-8) - .531 (@SEA, @SF) ~ 7-9 18. Oakland Raiders (7-8) - .504 (@KC) ~ 7-9 8 of the 10 teams in the current top 10 were there after 8 games (MIA and NO joined after), we dropped from 9th to 11th, and HOU went from 10th to potential Division winner. Down to 3 scenarios based on projections: 2 losses = 9th (or 8th if MIA beats IND) 1 win = 12th (almost every scenario locks us in at 12) 2 wins = 17th (or 18th if IND loses to MIA) I really don't like the SoS tie-breaker, it is not our fault that we played good teams. We lose multiple draft positions based on SoS alone.

For the first time in a long time, the NFC North gets a decent break, playing two of the weaker divisions in the league. We draw the AFC South and NFC East, which are the two divisions with a potential 8-8 Division Winner. With this info, we need to be all in for next year, as I don't know when we will get this type of opportunity again. It also figures that we could have up to 3 NFC North teams in the playoffs next year. Here is what the schedule looks like today: Home: Detroit 7-9 Green Bay 10-4 Minnesota 9-5 Philadelphia 7-9 Washington 9-7 Jacksonville 5-11 Tennessee 3-13 San Francisco 5-11 Away Detroit 7-9 Green Bay 10-5 Minnesota 10-5 Dallas 4-12 NY Giants 6-10 Houston 9-7 Indianapolis 8-8 Tampa Bay 6-10 The projected SoS is .451, compared to the .540 we had this year. To put into perspective, a .451 would be the 3rd easiest SoS this year (only behind CAR and NYJ). So for once, I feel like the schedule is finally in our favor. The two toughest teams we will face next year (based on record) will be GB and MIN, which to me is a great draw. What do you think? I see 10 wins.

I looked at our stats from last year (brutal) and compared to what we have so far this year. The offense, overall has improved in most areas and only regressed slightly in Passing Yards per game (by 3), Rushing YPC, by 0.09, and Comp% by about 3% (not as many Forte dink and dunks). On the positive side, we cut down on turnovers by almost 0.5 per game (INTs cut in half), and our run game produced 22 more yards per game which increased TOP by over a minute. --------------- 2014 / 2015 Points/Game - 19.9 / 20.6 + Yards/Game - 327.1 / 346.1 + Passer Rating - 89.03 / 89.49 + Completion % - 65.57% / 62.79% - Passing Yds/G - 237.0 / 234.0 - Neg Pass Plays% - 8.32% / 7.39% + 3rd Down % - 38.97% / 41.67% + Rushing YPC - 3.96 / 3.87 - Rushing YPG - 90.1 / 112.1 + (Over a 20% increase in rushing yards per game) Turnovers - 26 / 18 + (Turnovers down almost 0.5 per game, INTs cut in half) Penalty Yds - 997 / 869 + Time of Poss - 30:13 / 31:22 + (Over a minute in TOP) The defensive performance was not as positive. Even though we improved in a couple of areas (Passing yards against down 50 yards), we regressed into the abyss in turnovers, which may be one of the biggest contributing factors to the overall performance of the defense. Only the Cowboys and Ravens (9) had less forced turnovers than our defense (11). The inability to not stop the run and get after the QB is still the Achilles heel of this defense. We need to be stout against the run, while also getting decent pressure, and forcing turnovers. None of which we do well right now. Points/Game - 27.6 / 25.1 + Yards/Game - 377.1 / 342.1 + DEF Passer Rating - 98.95 / 97.78 + Completion % - 65.82% / 62.84% + Passing Yds/G - 264.4 / 216.1 + (Almost a 50 yard drop in passing yards against per game) Neg Pass Plays% - 9.29% / 7.81% - 3rd Down % Against - 42.63% / 45.36% - Rushing YPC - 4.35 / 4.56 - Rushing YPG - 112.7 / 125.9 - DEF INTs - 14 / 7 - (Half as many INTs as last year) F-Fumbles - 15 / 4 - (Less than 1/3 for FFum from last year) Sacks - 39.0 / 30.0 - Passes Def - 55 / 43 - Other teams with 7 or less INTs: DAL, DET, NO, and BAL (CAR leads with 22) Other teams with 4 or less FFum: SF and DAL (CAR leads with 20 - Peanut anyone) With the holes in the Offensive Line, and the inability to stop the run and get pressure on defense, we need to upgrade the trenches early and often this offseason.

Merry Christmas!

Here is a list of most of the 3-4 DE's who will be UFA's after this season: Stephen Bowen, Jets (32) Red Bryant, Cardinals (32) Jared Crick, Texans (27) Vinny Curry, Eagles (28) Mike DeVito, Chiefs (32) Leger Douzable, Jets (30) Clifton Geathers, Steelers (29) Malik Jackson, Broncos (26) Jarvis Jenkins, Bears (28) Frank Kearse, Redskins (28) Ricardo Mathews, Chargers (29) Kendall Reyes, Chargers (27) Antonio Smith, Broncos (35) Damion Square (27) Cam Thomas, Steelers (30) Cedric Thornton, Eagles (28) Muhammad Wilkerson, Jets (27) Derek Wolfe, Broncos (26) I highlighted the two mentioned and Jenkins.

Even the numbers support the eye ball test. Timu looks a lot better than anything we have had inside most of the year. I still wonder about Mason Foster.....