adam

Happy Thanksgiving Talkbears/Bearstalk! Detroit is not looking very good lately, we might have gotten them at just the right time, or not.

At least we are not playing a good defensive line anytime soon

Yeah, as long as we draft to the value of our slot, I really don't care what order we go in. Take the best available of S, CB, OL in the first, then choose between the 2 remaining needs in the 2nd. For the 3rd, you could probably extend what positions we look at to LB, TE, and WR. Looking at our remaining schedule, as MadLith pointed out, we will probably lose our next 4 games and win against MIN to end at 6-10. If we do that, we should pick between 8th-10th. 7-9 will probably get us from 11th-14th, and 8-8 will get us 15th-19th. So even with a miracle win against DET, NO, or DAL, we will probably finish no better than 7-9. That gives us a top 15 pick, a 2nd round pick under 50, and a 3rd pick around 80. An interesting note that Emery is one of two NFL GMs to draft a Pro Bowler in the last 2 drafts (2012 and 2013). Minnesota has 3 (Kalil, Patterson, and Walsh). No other team has had more than 1x Pro Bowler drafted in those two drafts. Interestingly, Mosley (BAL), Martin (DAL), Barr (MIN), Evans (TB), and Watkins (BUF) all were drafted in the first, and Mosley and Martin were selected after Fuller in 2014. That would give MIN 4x Pro Bowlers in the last 3 years, wow.

Cutler is still 60th in Passing yards all-time with 26,762, and should pass Steve Grogan, Bobbie Lane and possibly George Blanda on Thanksgivging. Jay is now 50th in completions with 2,287 and needs 12 to pass Jeff George and 19 to pass Jim Harbaugh (48th). With 177 TDs, he is now in 54th all-time and is one from Babe Parilli, two from Ron Jaworski, and 3 from Rich Gannon (51st). Forte is now 53rd all-time rushing with 7,488 and is 119 yards away from tying Terrell Davis. Matt now has over 11k all-purpose and yds from scrimmage. His all-purpose yards have him 109th all-time and will pass Freeman McNeil (106th) and others on Thursday. For yds from scrimmage, he is now 72nd all-time and will pass Freeman McNeil and possibly MJD this week. With 40 Rushing TD's, Forte passed Gale Sayers for 4th on the all-time Bears list. Marshall is now tied for 33rd in receptions all-time (764) tied with James Lofton and Eric Moulds. He should pass Chad Johnson and Marshall Faulk (31st) on Thursday. With 9,668, Marshall is 332 receiving yards from 10k and is now 47th all-time. Brandon is 17 yards from passing Antonio Gates for 46th all-time. Brandon still has 65 Rec TDs, and is tied for 49th all-time with this epic group: Gary Clark, Henry Ellard, Michael Irvin, Charlie Joiner, Bobby Mitchell, and Sterling Sharpe. Alshon continues his march up the Bears record books. He is now 29th all-time in Receptions with 171, and now has Wetnight and Waddle in his sights. Jeffery has 2,571 yards, good for 24th all-time in Bears history. Forte is still #2, and BMarsh is in 8th. For Rec Yards, Forte is 10th all-time (34 yards from passing Dick Gordon) and Marshall is 11th. For Rec TDs, Marshall is tied with Conway and Morris with 31 (5th in team history). Jeffery and Forte are tied with Sweetness with 15 (t-22nd). Gould is still 40th all-time in FGs with 242 and is one from tying Jim Breech for 39th. Gould now has 349 XP for his career, good enough for 55th all-time. With 1,075 pts Robbie is now 46th on the all-time list. Gould is still 1 FG from tying Butler for the all-time Bears leader in FG's (with 50 less attempts). Jared Allen remains at 131.0 sacks and is 1.5 sacks away from tying LT and Leslie O'Neal for 10th all-time.

We really need an impact Safety if we can't get a franchise MLB. We have put so much into the D-Line in the last draft and Free Agency, that I would rather concentrate on the Defensive Backfield. Maybe S, CB, and OL in our first three picks.

I am trying to figure out exactly what they did to cater to him? Bringing in talent around him? Upgrading the Offensive Line? Giving him a big contract extension to solidify the position? If we kept Orton or re-signed McCown, and did the same free agent moves, would the Bears be catering to them? I get the perception, but I would think that is the normal way to build a team, start with the QB, then put in the pieces around him. What resources need to be shifted? Look at our major free agents signings this offseason: Allen, Houston, Young, Mundy, and we drafted Fuller, Ferguson, Sutton, and Vereen. All defense. I believe we have only drafted offense in the first 3 rounds (of the Emery era) twice, Long and Jeffery. How can you shift anymore away from offense. Our key offensive signing was DLP. The biggest problem is for some reason there has been no consistency on offense and the defense has been historically bad. Over the last two years, we have allowed, on average, 29 pts a game. Very few offenses in history could overcome that week in and week out. You couple that with some regression on offense and we are a 6-7 win team. What is crazy is we are essentially 1-2 plays away from being 7-4 (Buffalo and Carolina games).

Did he have a history of injuries in college? That would be the only case. Hardin had injuries problems and couldn't stay healthy. Fuller's knee injury doesn't seem to be linked to any pre-existing condition.

You skipped an entire year. This is Emery's 3rd year, Trestman's 2nd. 2013 looks pretty good, with all 6 still on the roster, and most contributing: Kyle Long Jonathan Bostic Khaseem Greene Jordan Mills Cornelius Washington Marquess Wilson I don't know what Emery was smoking in 2012, before and after Jeffery he whiffed: SMC Alshon Jeffery Brandon Hardin Evan Rodriguez Isaiah Frey Greg McCoy In 2014, he hit a HR with Fuller, and I believe made some safe picks with the next 5, but O'Donnell has been a huge disappointment considering we used a draft pick on a Punter and the guy we cut (Tress Way) leads the NFL in punting. Go figure. Kyle Fuller Ego Ferguson Will Sutton Ka'Deem Carey Brock Vereen David Fales Pat O'Donnell Charles Leno

Winning two games against crap teams is not really proving anything. We should be blowing them out and we won by one score. Looking back at the other games, the Carolina was the game would should've won. They are horrible on both sides of the ball this year. So just like against other good teams, we have to show up and beat someone. SF was our only quality win and we really only played a great half of football. The scary thought for me is 2x vs Detroit who has arguably the best defense in the league with a lot of front-4 pressure. They are ridiculous against the run only allowing 70 yards a game. So we are going to have to beat them in the air (which scares me). Then you look on the other side of the ball and we have to stop Megatron and Tate without Tillman and Fuller. That is going to be tough.

Well, we have back-to-back Thursday Night games, followed by a Monday Night game, so 3 prime time games in a row. Thanks schedule makers.

With wins the last two weeks, we are now in 13th for the 2015 draft. Interestingly, we have the 9th hardest schedule this season and only 3 teams in the top 10 of the SoS have a winning record. 1. OAK 1-10 2. JAX 1-10 3. TEN 2-9 4. NYJ 2-8* 5. TB 2-9 6. WAS 3-8 7. NYG 3-8 8. CAR 3-7-1 9. MIN 4-7 10. STL 4-7 11. ATL 4-7 12. HOU 5-6 13. CHI 5-6 14. BUF 5-5* 15. MIA 6-5 16. BAL 6-4*

I find these comparisons interesting. Cutler has comparable or better stats than every QB on this list. Look at some of those other TD:INT ratios and Comp%. Under 60% is horrible, and some of those guys barely have a 1:1 TD:INT ratio. Detroit, Baltimore, Cleveland, and Cincinnati are not winning because of their QBs. Just think how much worse those numbers would be if those QB's had to play from behind? NO 4-6, Brees 95.9, 69.5%, 307 Y/G, 7.4 Y/A, 19 TD, 10 INT MIA 6-5, Tannehill 93.4, 66.1%, 235 Y/G, 6.6 Y/A, 20 TD, 8 INT CHI 5-6, Cutler 93.0, 66.8%, 257 Y/G, 7.1 Y/A, 22 TD, 12 INT ATL 4-7, Ryan 92.6, 65.1%, 279 Y/G, 7.2 Y/A, 19 TD, 9 INT BAL 6-4, Flacco 90.7, 62.4%, 252 Y/G, 7.2 Y/A, 17 TD, 8 INT NYG 3-8, Manning 88.0, 62.3%, 258 Y/G, 7.0 Y/A, 21 TD, 12 INT CIN 7-3-1, Dalton 83.4, 62.4%, 219 Y/G, 7.1 Y/A, 12 TD, 10 INT CLE 7-4, Hoyer 82.3, 55.9%, 260 Y/G, 7.8 Y/A, 13 TD, 10 INT DET 7-4, Stafford 81.0, 58.8%, 268 Y/G, 7.1 Y/A, 13 TD, 10 INT CAR 3-7-1, Newton 76.7, 58.6%, 239 Y/G, 7.2 Y/A, 12 TD, 10 INT Cutler is to blame for his play on the field, but the plays we are calling don't seem to be using the strengths of our skill players. Jeffery or Marshall on the outside 1 on 1 is a matchup advantage for us. Same for Bennett. Without help, these should be easy pitch and catches. I watch other games, and teams do it all the time. The Safeties can't double everyone. Throw them the damn ball. Jeffery had 4 targets. The O-Line seems to be dictating what we do, and right now that is dink and dunk.

Detroit is essentially holding the 2nd Wild Card spot, and a win on Thursday brings us to within 1 game with 4 to play, the head-to-head tie breaker, and another game in Chicago to tie up the season record. We still have to win out to have a chance due to Seattle, SF, and Dallas, but this would be a huge win and get us to 6-6. We hold the tie breaker against SF, and with a win against Dallas (next Thursday), we would own that one too. None of this matters with a loss which would take us out of the playoff picture at 5-7. Detroit has lost their last 2 games, and won the 3 games before that by a total of 6 points. They could easily be 4-7 without last second wins in almost all those games (NO, ATL, and MIA).

Turnovers rule this league. You can look at any other stat and we should've lost this game. We allowed a 300 yard passer, 2x 100 yard receivers, our best receiver was 4-37, Forte's longest run was 13 yards, and Cutler had 130 yards passing with a fumble. We are 1-6 when Cutler throws even 1 INT, and now 4-0 when he doesn't throw any. That is the most glaring stat of all. For wins and losses, the turnover ratio is crazy, in wins we are 4-13 (+9), and in losses we are 17-5 (-12). We are 0-3 when we fail to force a turnover and 2-0 when we don't turn the ball over.

Wow, Tampa trying to outdo the Bears with ridiculously conservative play calls and no time management?

Freaking O'Donnell, how can you punt that bad?

He has looked worse than Cutler and against our defense, that is saying a lot. I like Josh, but he is not better than Cutler.

I think they are messing with me. The defense shows again and then we have a great play call. What the hell. We need to string some good series together, then games.

and just like that we are back to our crap ways.

What the hell? Now the defense comes alive.

What the hell? This is the offense we all expected, now do this for the rest of the season.

I don' t even know what to say anymore. How can Wilson have more targets (3) than Marshall or Jeffery with 2 each? Shutout again, at home?

Lovie is back in town with Josh at the helm. One team is going to leave with a 2-game winning streak (and worse draft pick). Both teams are 2-5 in their last 7 games, so this is going to be a closer game than most believe. TB is better on the road 2-3 than we are at home 1-3. If we can't beat another bottom feeder, the franchise needs to just fold. Bears 27-17

How credible is this? From what we have heard already, Jay was audibling out of runs into pass plays, which would be very similar to "throwing the way he wants to". So I don't know how big of a deal this is. I would expect him to be benched if he played bad vs Minnesota anyway.

I really feel like our team needs a defensive-minded HC with a great OC. Not the other way around.