adam

Last year we were historically bad on defense for numerous reasons. Obviously injuries, scheme, new coaches, loss of Urlacher, all took their toll. However, just looking at a few guys who we let go this off season tells you how bad we actualy were. 1. James Anderson, started 16 games and was our leading tackler? He also had 4 sacks. However, he looked as lost as Bostic and Greene half the time and didn't have their speed to recover. He seemed out of position a lot. He is now a Nickel LB in NE. To me, he was a big reason why we couldn't stop the run. 2. Major Wright, started 15 games. He has been hot and cold his entire career, but last year he was horrible. Replacing him with a tackling dummy would yield better results. So I see this as a huge upgrade, with either Mundy or Vereen. At best he will be TB's 3rd Safety behind Barron and Goldson. 3. Julius Peppers, started 16 games. He only had 7.5 sacks and was only disruptive when he wanted to be. He disappeared more last year than I can ever remember and his reputation for taking plays off really showed up. Replacing him with a younger Jared Allen who is very similar but with a motor that never stops is going to be an upgrade. GB says they will use him as an end, inside, and even at OLB. The OLB part is funny to me if Peppers is expected to drop into coverage regularly. 4. Zack Bowman, another on again off again player for the Bears, started 7 games. He is now in NY for CB depth. Fuller is a huge upgrade here in the Nickel. 5. Corey Wootton, started 15 games. He played half his snaps at DT, which is laughable. No wonder we couldn't plug a gap (270 lbs). The best part is Minny says they will use him both inside and outside. Good luck with that. Now you take those losses, and replace them with Allen, Houston, Young, Ferguson, Sutton, Fuller, Mundy, Senn, and Vereen with a converted SMC, and we are looking really good. If Wilson or Jennings pan out, even better.

Some other numbers that make you want to vomit: - The Bears allowed 20+ pts in every game, with 7 games over 30 pts, 4 over 40, and 1 over 50. It is actually amazing we ended up at 8-8 and had a realistic shot at 11-5 (MIN, DET, and GB games). What is crazy in all of that is we only lost by more than 10 pts twice. #offensivejuggernaut - The passing defense was decent, as we only allowed 2x 300 yard passers all year (Big Ben and Rodgers). That pass to Cobb put him over 300, ouch. #blowncoverage - We only had 4 games where we allowed less than 100 yards on the ground (3-1 in those games) #smcisnotade So we really have a lot of room to improve. If we can go from 30's to 15th in defense (seems like a lot, but I think we can even be better ~ 12th), we would shave 50 yards off a game against, and 6 pts per game. That is 4 wins (4 games that we lost by 5 or less).

That is a tough one, played before the internet and was not a star, I believe he is in this clip: https://archive.org/details/SuperBowlShuffle

Having us win a playoff game and losing to the eventual Super Bowl champs is not bad. I would rather have home field advantage and make SEA, SF, or NO come through Chicago. I am hoping for 12-4 or 13-3 with the defense exceeding expectations.

This is probably the best way to "predict" the records (by picking every game for every team) vs throwing up an arbitrary win number. To me the Cowboys, Lions, Bucs, and Chiefs seem a little low, and the Packers and Colts seem a little high. I see the Bears as a pretty accurate prediction, but I think we have a shot at the Division. NFC East Eagles 11-5 (4) Redskins 7-9 Giants 6-10 Cowboys 3-13 NFC North Packers 12-4 (2) *Bears 11-5 (5) Lions 4-12 Vikings 3-13 NFC South Saints 11-5 (3): Falcons 10-6 Panthers 7-9 Buccaneers 3-13 NFC West Seahawks 12-4 (1) *49ers 11-5 (6) Cardinals 10-6 Rams 10-6 AFC East Patriots 11-5 (3) *Jets 10-6 (5) Dolphins 8-8 Bills 3-13 AFC North Ravens 10-6 (4) Bengals 9-7 Steelers 9-7 Browns 6-10 AFC South Colts 13-3 (1) *Texans 9-7 (6) Titans 6-10 Jaguars 4-12 AFC West Broncos 12-4 (2) Chargers 8-8 Chiefs 4-12 Raiders 3-13 Wild-card round Patriots (3) defeat Texans (6) Ravens (4) defeat Jets (5) Saints (3) defeat 49ers (6) Bears (5) defeat Eagles (4) Divisional round Colts (1) defeat Ravens (4) Broncos (2) defeat Patriots (3) Seahawks (1) def. Bears (5) Packers (2) def. Saints (3) Championship round Colts (1) defeat Broncos (2) Seahawks (1) defeat Packers (2) Super Bowl XLIX Seahawks defeat Colts http://www.usatoday.com/story/sports/nfl/2...-colts/9767615/

You really think TB is going to do something in that division with ATL, NO, and CAR? Even if CAR is worse this year, they will still be a tough team to beat. TB also has a tough non-division schedule: BAL, CIN, PIT, CLE, GB, CHI, DET, MIN, WAS, and STL. They were 4-12 last year; at best, they make it back to 8-8, which still would be a huge success. The 2 WC teams last year had 12 and 11 wins, and the 5th best team by record was 10-6. So you are saying they are going at least 10-6, possibly 11-5? If they split their Division, they would have to win 7-8 games against those non-divisional opponents. That is pretty unrealistic. The problem with TB was their anemic offense, and they are counting on McCown, a rookie WR and TE to magically turn the team around. Who knows what McCown will look like in a new system not under Trestman. To me TB seems to be more in the 6-10 area than the 10-6 area.

Wilson has gained something like 23 lbs, mostly muscle I assume, which is crazy (184 to 207).

He needs to update his website: http://www.adrianwilson24.com/

To me it is Safety. Even if Briggs struggles or is out, we have Williams, Bostic, Greene, and SMC. Though not world beaters, they will be much better behind a strong DLine. My concern is still Safety because Conte, Mundy, Vereen don't invoke much confidence when Vereen, a rookie probably has the biggest upside and potential. The DLine is going to be a strength, and the game is won in the trenches; looking around the league, you can put up our OLine and DLine combined and we are comparable with some of the best teams in the league.

That is how you took that comment? To me he was saying the time to take vacation is when the season is over and not during OTA's or minicamps.

I would say the Izzy release is promising. That means we have a very solid and deep group.

Especially with the Gordon situation and Burleson injured. This is very surprising, but I doubt we pick him up unless someone else gets hurt.

To me it almost seemed like they told him to get in there and make plays. Instead of working in some type of framework of the defense. Also, with how bad the Defensive Line was, the LB's would look like they were out of position more than normal and would look to be recovering back to a gap that they thought was covered. I thought Bostic played ok given the situation and environment he was in. I expect him to take a huge leap this year.

From watching game tape from last year, James Anderson looked more out of place than any other LB to me. He was either: running the wrong way, into the play late, was knocked down, or was randomly in space away from the play not pursuing.

A pretty boring selection if you ask me. I doubt people are on the edge of their seats to see Matt Ryan behind the scenes or Steve Martin/Mike Smith doing a pep talk.

Another thumbs up for Trestman and Cutler.

I would be there.

With the draft complete, let's now look at the schedule and see how this is going to play out. To me the first half of the season is going to be what makes or breaks this team. There are some really tough games, but if we can get thru at 4-4 or 5-3 at the bye, it looks like we can make a sustained post season run in the second half. Week 1 - BILLS (WIN 1-0) - Bills used a lot to get Watkins, but they still have QB issues Week 2 - AT 49ERS (SUN NIGHT) (LOSS 1-1) - This is going to be a tough one in their new park, we can actually win this but right now they have the edge Week 3 - AT JETS (MON) (WIN 2-1) - Another tough game, but I think all around we are a better team, the coast to coast travel is my main concern Week 4 - PACKERS (WIN 3-1) - Short week for us, but at home, Packers playing back to back Divisional opponents on the road (played DET in Week 3) Week 5 - AT PANTHERS (WIN 4-1) - This team played over their head last year, expect a letdown with no WR's, coming from BAL (Steve Smith reunion) Week 6 - AT FALCONS (LOSS 4-2) - This is winnable, but I think we lose one of these two road games in Week's 5-6 Week 7 - DOLPHINS (WIN 5-2) - Playing at home after Miami played GB the week prior Week 8 - AT PATRIOTS (LOSS 5-3) - NE gets extra rest from Week 7 Thursday game Week 9 - BYE WEEK Week 10 - AT PACKERS (SUN NIGHT) (LOSS 5-4) - I think we split with the Pack this year, we have a decent shot at winning this one Week 11 - VIKINGS (WIN 6-4) - I think we sweep the Vikes this year handily Week 12 - BUCCANEERS (WIN 7-4) - Lovie reunion, at home we win, in TB would've been tougher Week 13 - AT LIONS (THURS) (WIN 8-4) - Detroit coming from NE in Week 12, I think we have the edge Week 14 - COWBOYS (THURS) (WIN 9-4) - At home with a normal amount of rest due to back to back Thursday games Week 15 - SAINTS (MON) (WIN 10-4) - Extra rest, at home, in the winter Week 16 - LIONS (WIN 11-4) - Lions out of their dome, in the winter Week 17 - AT VIKINGS (WIN 12-4) - Vikes playing outdoors after so many years as an indoor team, I think they struggle late 12-4 - Division Champion

damn

Current: Forte All-Time: Sweetness

What is a stupid idea? An older player coming back from injury a year removed from playing and making a comeback? Peyton Manning says hello. I really depends on what type of shape he is in, and if he is capable of being at least serviceable, though very unlikely at this point. We will have to wait for some YouTube workout videos to see. Maybe they would like a fresh SMC if he ends up behind Williams, Bostic, Briggs, and Greene on the depth chart.

lol, I mentioned this in another thread right after Lee went down. I highly doubt it, as there are some things in his favor (health), there are others working against him (age, rust).

I guess it would be a possibility, but it would have to make us better, and I can't see that being the case in the next 2 years unless they give us a 2nd. Forte and Marshall only have 2-3 good years left, so unless it would make us better now I would pass.

I don't think BM or Alshon can get any higher in fantasy because they will take away from each other's value a little bit, and add Forte and Bennett into that equation like Crackerdog said.

The initial Yahoo Fantasy Rankings is out. Here is how our favorite team fared: QB - Cutler - 14th RB - Forte - 6th WR - Marshall - 5th, Jeffery - 7th, Wilson - 86th TE - Bennett - 12th K - Gould - 11th DEF - CHI - 13th http://sports.yahoo.com/news/2014-fantasy-...-204748821.html To me, Cutler is a little low, I feel he should be from 8-12, Gould is low with this offense, easily top 10, and defense is probably a little high based on last year. Overall though, if they end up with these number, we have a really solid team.