adam

The Redskins and Rams are both 4-6. I agree with outcomes, we need MIN, IND, PIT, NYG, and HOU to win. We would be in great shape after this week with a home game against SF next weekend.

I would assume it was either for his coverage on punts, or he was not getting the ball to O'Donnell correctly, which was causing some bad Gould kicks (ie. laces in wrong spot).

Wow, Porter is balling:

According to over the cap we have about $58mil before re-signing anyone. (http://overthecap.com/salary-cap-space) That does not include the potential savings if we ditch Rolle ($3.0 cap savings) and potentially others (Bushrod - $4.3 cap savings, $4.4 dead money; Bennett - $5.185 cap savings, $1.125 dead money; Young - $2.5 cap savings, 666k dead money; Houston - $4.02 cap savings, $2.97 dead money). Houston, Young, Bennett, and Bushrod all seem like trade candidates if we were trying to get more cap space (if Bennett wants more money, if Houston/Young don't want to play in a 3-4). Going off AB's estimate, we would have at least $18mil after re-signing those players, and potentially somewhere in the 20's if Rolle was released. That would easily be enough for the rookie pool, 2 impact FA's and a couple more vet minimum guys.

Interesting numbers: Pre Bye 2-4 (.532 SOS) 120-179 (20.0-29.8 ppg) Post Bye 3-2 (.549 SOS) 111-85 (22.2-17.0 ppg) The offense has slightly improved, but the defense has been like night and day and against tougher competition no less. Those numbers also include return scores. The defense is averaging only 1.2 TDs allowed a game since the bye (not counting return TDs).

Right now we have MIN and GB ahead of us in the division and ATL, SEA and TB ahead of us in the Wild Card. Based on schedules going forward, it seems like ATL and MIN have the hardest paths. Week 12: ATL 6-4 vs MIN 7-3 TB 5-5 at IND SEA 5-5 vs PIT Week 13: GB 7-4 at DET MIN 7-3 vs SEA 5-5 ATL 6-4 at TB 5-5 Most realistic: MIN beats ATL, then loses to SEA, moving to 8-4 GB beats DET, moving to 8-4 ATL loses to MIN, then beats TB, moving to 7-5 SEA loses to PIT, then beats MIN, moving to 6-6 TB loses to both IND and ATL, and drops to 5-7 1. MIN gets ATL, SEA, ARZ, CHI, NYG, and GB. Of all the teams, they have the toughest path to the playoffs with us having the worst record at 5-6. They could lose all 6, but more than likely will win at least 2, which would put them at 9-7. If they went 1-5, we could sneak in at 9-7. For us the best scenario would be for them to beat ATL, then lose 5 straight. 2. GB has a fairly easier schedule, with DET, DAL, OAK, ARZ, and MIN left. At 7-4, they would have to lose 3 for them to get to 9-7. It ultimately depends on what team shows up, but it seems like they will win at least 2 and finish no worse than 9-7. DET and OAK beating them would be huge for us. 3. SEA has PIT, MIN, BAL, CLE, STL, and ARZ left. At 5-5, they are 2 losses from 9-7 and potentially 6-6 in the conference as well. They own the head to head against us, so we would have to beat them by record. With 6 games left, I would love to see them go 3-3. 4. ATL seems destined for 9-7 or 8-8 and probably 6-6 in the conference. We could potentially be tied with them at 9-7 and 6-6 in conference if we went 4-1 down the stretch. We should win the common games tie breaker if we could beat TB and WAS. So if tied, I think we would have the tie breaker against them. 5. TB seems locked in for 8-8 or 7-9 with games left against IND, ATL, NO, STL, CHI, CAR. We need to beat them to get the head to head tie breaker and common game tie breaker from ATL. So to me it looks like 9-7 won't cut it, but it does look like 10-6 would be enough to get in as one of the Wild Cards. There is a very small chance at the Division at 10-6, but it would require us to win out (possible), MIN to go no better than 2-4 (very possible) and for GB to go 2-3 (unlikely but possible).

Yeah, stfu McFatass. I am so sick of that guy, I hope they fine him. Did he even watch any of the game, every call was against the Bears and we still won. He is just butt hurt for losing and being 1-4 since the Dikta Curse.

I agree, but you make your own luck. Any of those coaches could've went somewhere else just as easy as coming here. Also, even with our first round pick out, we still have had 4 rookies starting games (Goldman, Amos, Langford, and Grasu) and at least play serviceable. Amos has started every game, Goldman has started 8 and played in all 11, Langford has started 2 and played in all 11, and Grasu has started and played in 4 games. Grasu has been the weakest of the bunch, but I am sure he will get better with more playing time. If White comes back and can become a legit #2, then that will be 5 contributors from a draft within one year. That is pretty good.

No prob, I just like tracking stuff like that as the guys move up the lists.

I agree, and if you consider the losses Cutler played in, we were extremely competitive or had a chance to win those as well. On Pace, it is hard to solely give credit to the coaching staff as the players have to at least be coachable. Also, regardless of coaching, you have to have some talent to play in the NFL, so I would say Pace is part of the success and the cultural change throughout the organization. We have won 5 games, matching last year's total with 5 games remaining. It is hard to see us not going at least 8-8, if not pushing for a playoff spot with 9-10 wins.

After Week 12: Jay Cutler (surpassed 30k passing yards in Week 11, 3 TDs from 200 in career) - 2,601 completions (36th, 53 from 35th and Ken Anderson) - 30,259 yards (42nd, 538 from 41st and Norm Snead) - 197 TD (T-40th, 2 from 39th and Phil Simms) - 1,155 Rushing Yards (4th for Bears QBs All-time, 129 from Jim McMahon) Matt Forte - 8,296 rushing yards (40th, 178 from 39th and Willis McGahee, 6th among active RBs) - 12,251 yds from scrimmage (55th, 35 from 54th and Jimmy Smith, 9th among active players) - 3,955 receiving yards (45 from 4k) - 469 receptions (2nd among Active RBs, 1 from 1st and Reggie Bush) Robbie Gould - 1,169 Points (40th, 39 pts from 39th and Kevin Butler) - 267 FG Made (33rd, 5 from 32nd and Pete Stoyanovich, 7th among active Kickers) - 368 XP Made (49th, 1 from 49th and Fuad Reveiz) Alshon Jeffery (Bears All-time Receiving Numbers): - 241 receptions (12th, 1 from 11th and Desmond Clark) - 3,526 yards (11th, 24 from 10th and Dick Gordon) - 22 TD (12th, 1 from 11th and Jim Keane) Martellus Bennett (Bears TE All-Time Receiving Numbers): - 205 receptions (3rd, 37 from 2nd and Desmond Clark) - 2,100 yards (4th, 539 yards from 3rd and Desmond Clark) - 14 TD (T-4th, 4 from 3rd and Desmond Clark) Marc Mariani (Bears Returners - All-Time) - 29 Punt Returns (29th, 2 from 28th and Billy Martin) - 169 Punt Return Yards (32nd, 3 from 31st and Billy Stone) - 35 Kickoff Returns (T-25th, 2 from 24th and Willie Gault) - 881 Kickoff Return Yards (24th, 4 from 23rd and Willie Gault)

It seems like older DC's have stayed in those positions longer than OC's. Dick LeBeau has been one forever, and no one has ever really thought of him as anything other than a DC. So fopefully Vic hangs around. For Gase, I think it will come down to what is available. The Bears just need to pay Gase and Fangio so there is less incentive to leave.

A little peek into the locker room, post game: https://www.instagram.com/p/-k7smcGqyS/

We went 2-1 against STL, DEN, and GB (with both wins coming on the road). We now have 5 games left, and all are winnable: vs SF (3-7) - At home with a couple of extra days of rest, this has to be a win vs WAS (4-6) - Another home game, Washington 0-5 on the road, this should be a win @ MIN (7-3) - Probably our toughest game remaining, with a win here, we really set ourselves up for a potential late season push for the playoffs @ TB (5-5) - this team is playing better, and this is a much tougher game than it once was vs DET (4-7) - if we somehow strung together 5 wins coming into this game, a Wild Card berth would more than likely be on the line

After Thanksgiving Day games: W L SOS 1 SD 2 8 0.490 2 TEN 2 8 0.500 3 CLE 2 8 0.500 4 DAL 3 8 0.520 -------------------------------- 5 BAL 3 7 0.490 6 SF 3 7 0.560 7 PHI 4 7 0.490 8 DET 4 7 0.570 -------------------------------- 9 MIA 4 6 0.470 10 OAK 4 6 0.480 11 STL 4 6 0.490 12 NO 4 6 0.520 13 JAX 4 6 0.540 14 WAS 4 6 0.570 15 CHI 5 6 0.530 -------------------------------- 16 NYJ 5 5 0.470 17 TB 5 5 0.470 18 SEA 5 5 0.530 19 HOU 5 5 0.540 20 KC 5 5 0.580

Yeah this was a signature win for the Bears, the new staff, and Cutler. Huge win and I would've loved to have been in that locker room right after the game. Hopefully this boosts their confidence because there really isn't another game on the schedule like this one. SF, WAS, MIN, TB, DET all seem like winnable games compared to this one. Cutler: I don't know what else this guy has to do to prove he truly has turned the corner. To win in Lambeau, and not have a single turnover speaks volumes to how far he has come. If you consider that the conditions were crappy, it was Brett Favre night, and he was playing without Bennett who has been his most reliable target to date, his performance was outstanding. He was inches from having 2 Passing TDs which would've boosted his QB Rating, and even without it, he still had a QB Rating of 90.8. He checked a bunch of plays at the line and seemed very confident in the game plan. You can tell he is in complete command of this offense. Oline: For how good Cutler played, you would've thought the O-Line played great, but they didn't. Too many penalties and pressure. They did not do well with blitzes and even missed simple blocks in the run game (which was odd). The fact that the O-Line didn't play well even further supports how good Cutler was last night. WRs: Alshon is a beast, but you can tell he still is not 100%. Mariani and Wilson were visible and made some big first downs, which is about all you can ask for from 4th and 5th WRs. Mariani seems better as a backup WR than a returner. Again, it will be awesome to see Alshon lining up across from White and Royal in the slot (someday). TEs: With Bennett out, Miller and Lee were the primary guys. Miller was targeted 7 times, but only caught 2 balls. The conditions didn't help on a few, but we need more consistent play out of the TE position. I was thinking Miller would have a huge game, especially when GB was applying extra pressure, but Miller never seemed to be the hot route. RBs: Carries were basically split, but Langford is clearly the better runner. Langford had another huge drop and he really needs to work on his pass catching in space (it seems like he is running before catching the ball). It was interesting to see Langford get twice as many touches down the stretch than Forte with the game on the line. No fumbles, which was huge in this game. I can see split duties for the rest of the season and unless Forte takes a significant pay cut, I think he is gone. Dline: I would like to see more pressure from this group, and some better gap control on runs. There seemed to be huge holes thru the line which allowed blockers and runners to easily get to the 2nd level. I could't tell if this was a D-Line problem or LB problem, but either way it needs to be fixed. OLB: Houston, Young, and McPhee are all starting to make splash plays, which is great to see. Acho even made a couple of nice plays as well. We need to clean up the offsides and neutral zone penalties. One almost cost us the game. ILBs: This group disappointed for the most part. Anderson made a couple of plays, but too many screen passes against a 3-4 for big gains. They are either making plays or way out of position. I would rather have a little bit of consistency here. The jury is still out on SMC, he seemed to regress a little bit and looked confused at times covering space where no one was at while RB's and TE's were wide open in the flat. DBs: As AZ said, by far the best group of the night. Porter, Callahan, Fuller, Amos, and Prosinski all played solid, if not great. Porter got called for a BS illegal contact, but otherwise, was huge in coverage and had the huge 4th quarter INT. I would love to have him back next year. Fuller seems to be gaining his confidence back every week, and Callahan might have had the hardest challenge (Cobb) and besides for a one slip, played solid all game. For Safety, Prosinski had the huge strip on Lacy which seemed to change the momentum of the entire game, and Amos had another strong, consistent game. This group seems to be gaining a lot of confidence, so if we can get some better D-Line and ILB play, this defense will continue to get better. Special Teams: We allowed another huge kick return (sounds like a broken record), punting started horrible but O'Donnell did put a couple inside the 20 late, and Gould could barely get the kickoffs into the endzone (which is a huge concern) which led to the long return. This whole phase of the game is losing us a ton of field position and taking points of the board. Mariani didn't fumble but did muff a kickoff that Thompson had to down in the end zone. Thompson looked solid on his one KO return. Coaching: One of the better coached games of the season, and Fox seemed to know when to take points and when to punt better than he did against Denver. Gase got some RZ TD's, but then laid an egg later in the game when a TD would've put the game out of reach. We need to do better when we have x and goal. I didn't like the conservative play calling late as it seemed we barely took any time off the clock and literally gave Rodgers 3 chances to win the game in the 4th quarter. 31 pass and 31 rush is about as good as you can get for balance, which I like to see. Officiating: The Bears are clearly a marked team. We get almost every call against us. From the Slauson trip, to the Amos DPI, to the Porter illegal contact. The DPI and illegal contact, just like offensive holding can be called on every play. I watched some of the Lacy runs, and they held at the point of attack every time (fist full of jersey) and were rarely called. The league is really putting a bad product on the field in regards to the officiating. This is by far the worst year I have seen for bad calls and the Bears have been on the short end more times than not. Thankfully it didn't cost us the game.

Yeah, respectable, no turnovers, over a 90 QB Rating, 1 TD, and only took one sack. He clearly outdueled Rodgers tonight.

Wow, I am speechless, the refs didn't call a BS penalty and we held them out of the end zone to win the game? Seriously? Rodgers throws the late pick (not Cutler)? We beat the Packers in GB on the night they retire Favre's number? Best regular season win in a long time.

Huge stop by the defense, can't believe how well they have played outside of two long Lacy plays. We really need a scoring drive, preferably a TD and put this game away.

Yeah, but I thought Forte had the TD if he stretched the ball out as he was going down. He kept it tucked. I would've rather have seen Langford there. Now we are all setup for the Rodgers TD drive (while injured, omg how great is he BS) to take the lead. We really need a stop.

Actually, the calls against the Packers were just finally called. They have been holding all game, and the DPI was clear when the DB has a hold of Alshon's collar.

GB better get some holding calls on the this drive because they hold on every freaking play.

Slauson for tripping really? Wtf refs. Freaking Bs. Killed the drive.

Yeah, Gould almost misses an XP, then Crosby hits a 50 yarder in those conditions.

Yeah, that dude needs to go. Directly contributed to 6 GB points, and indirectly to the other 7 (after O'Donnell's 37 yard punt). Defense has actually played pretty good. Green Bay is 0-5 on 3rd Downs, and 0-1 on 4th Downs. The offense seemed to find their rhythm on those two last scoring drives. I can't complain, we go into halftime with the lead and the ball to open the 2nd half.