adam

Here are my short recaps for this Sunday's games: NFC GB 30 - 20 STL, close until mid-4th, GB has no running game, Rodgers now with 2 straight games with QB Rating over 130, wow. GB a very one-dimensional team, surprised teams have not been able to exploit that yet. Leading rusher Green was 20-35 and that was with a 15 yarder. GB now 4-3. They will easily win next week vs JAX, but I can see ARZ the following week posing a threat with their strong Defense. Next week, STL welcomes NE into town. MIN 21 - 14 ARZ, Ponder with 58 yards passing and they still win (Grossman-esque vs ARZ), Skelton sacked 7 times and MIN defense scores on INT. ARZ defense still pretty good and kept them in the game. A very defensive-oriented game with AP the only real offensive player that stood out. ARZ had a 100 yard Rusher (Stephens-Howling) and 100 yard Receiver (Roberts), had more total yards (356-209), TOP (35:05-24:55), 1st Downs (21-11), 3rd Down Conv (5/14 - 1/10) and still lost. MIN now 5-2 and plays on a short week (THU) at home vs TB. ARZ gets SF at home on Monday Night. NYG 27 - 23 WAS, Washington scores with 1:32 left and gives up a 77 yard TD to Cruz? Manning is silly in the 4th. Why would you not have Safety coverage over the top? WAS should've won, but you will lose most of the time when you have 3 fumbles lost. NYG now 1.5 games up in division at 5-2. RG III is the real deal and if I am STL I have to be questioning that trade now. Next week, NYG goes to DAL, and WAS goes to PIT. DAL 19 - 14 CAR, both teams looked bad, Austin was DAL only bright spot and he fumbled, Romo was decent but team still seems out of sync. CAR is just bad, Newton was team's leading rusher but he just looks like a different player compared to last year. CAR playing for the 1st pick at 1-5. After starting his career with 3 out of 4 games with over 300 yards passing (2x with 400), Newton only has one other game with over 300 yards (Week 1 this season). CAR comes to Soldier Field next week, so hopefully this will be the same team that shows up. DAL gets NYG at home. NO 35 - 28 TB, Neither team believes in FGs, both defenses are brutal, Freeman and V-Jack went off, but NO wins a nail-biter. NO is all pass, just seems hard to defend with all their playmakers. Both teams now 2-4. Next week NO plays at DEN on Sunday Night and TB goes to MIN on short rest for THU Night football. AFC HOU 43 - 13 BAL, Baltimore looks lost without Lewis on O and D, HOU defense was stout (4 sacks, 2 INT, 1 TD). HOU now 6-1. BAL still 2 games up in their division though. NE 29 - 26 NYJ, either NE is overrated or NYJ is underrated, or both. NYJ scored with 1:37 left after another bone-headed play by Sanchez (took a sack that almost pushed them out of FG range). Then NYJ Defense allows Brady to go 50+ yards in a minute to allow FG to tie game. Sanchez had one of the worst INTs you will ever see by a pro QB in the 1st half killing a drive. He also kicked the ball out of the endzone after a failed handoff that resulted in a NE safety. TEN 35 - 34 BUF, both teams look bad on defense, CJ finally breaks out. Both teams now 3-4. IND 17 - 13 CLE, another ugly game, Luck with 2 Rushing TDs, Richardson 8 yards on 8 carries, ouch! Cleveland is playing for the first pick and in the lead at 1-6. OAK 26 - 23 JAX, who cares, ugly game with some excitement at the end. MJD hurt and McFadden pretty lackluster again. Gabbert got hurt too, and they probably win if he stays in the game. JAX playing for the 1st pick at 1-5. Also, here are the NFC division records after this week: NFC East - 14-12 NFC North - 16-10 NFC South - 11-13 NFC West - 16-12 NFC Current Playoff Standings: 1. ATL 6-0 2. CHI 4-1 3. NYG 5-2 4. SF 5-2 5. MIN 5-2 6. GB 4-3 7. ARZ 4-3 8. SEA 4-3

It was actually Briggs.

NE and GB are both 3-3 and should not even be in consideration. The top teams are the Bears, ATL, NYG, SF, and HOU. BAL would be in there, but those injuries on defense are going to hurt. For GB, we played at GB on a Thursday night game in Week 2. That is almost an automatic loss for any team. Just look at the last two weeks Thursday games: PIT loses at TEN and ARZ loses at STL. Home teams are 4-1 on Thursday Night games. Also, Forte got hurt, Urlacher was playing hurt, and they scored on a fake FG which was the only drive for them over 50 yards. NE is just not the same this year. Maybe they will get better with the return of Hernandez, but right now at 3-3, they are tied for first and last in their Division. In terms of ceiling, you don't think the Bears can get any better? We are 4-1 and not even playing our best ball yet. That should be scary for other teams, especially if Forte gets going and Cutler/Marshall stay hot. For the defense, just wait for the forced fumbles to start.

Injury to McManis:

Yeah, and Detroit has allowed no less than 20 and 44 to a bad TEN team 2 weeks ago. I see us scoring 30 again. Stafford has looked bad, they have no running game, and Megatron has the Madden Curse on his back. In regards to the article, I just like the fact that we are improving and had the Bye Week to get healthier. We should be 7-1 at the halfway point in the season. Looking at the games this week, SF and HOU now seem much more beatable than they did a week ago. Based on some metrics, the Bears are the best team in the league with biggest margin of victory. NYG would be #2, then SF, NE, and SEA. See SRS: http://www.pro-football-reference.com/years/2012/

http://blogs.suntimes.com/bears/2012/10/be...ridge_waiv.html Replace Bell with a blocking TE? Maybe Rodriguez's injury is worse than expected?

I only look at the first 3 rounds, because those are normally the picks that are expected to start. Rounds 4-7 are more for projects, backups, and ST. Now you can find gems in the later rounds, but the odds are increasingly against you as the picks get later. Just looking at the first 3 rounds since 2005, the Bears selected 6 DL and 2 OL. For the 2 years where the Bears selected OL, they also selected DL in the first 3 rounds. The picks like Dvoracek, Bazuin, Harrison, and Gilbert look really bad now, and weren't that great back then. Going forward, OL should be addressed annually in the first 3 rounds, with at least one pick.

Emery said he likes what he's got.

Congrats to Peanut, most defensive TD's in Bears history and tied for Interceptions! Briggs should get honorable mention. Image courtesy of http://www.fanskrit.com/

McClellin's spin move fails on waitress and he ends up with the entire bill: http://sports.yahoo.com/blogs/nfl-shutdown...22065--nfl.html

GB is struggling, and I would just like to see that to continue (forever). I thought GB were over-rated and were bound to come down to earth, especially after 15-1 last season. I could care less about Benson himself, but I believe he was actually one of the causes behind some of their problems on offense. Now with him gone, they may actually improve. I just hope the inconsistent running game makes them one-dimensional any easier to get to Rodgers.

Low? He already makes $6 million and is one of the highest paid coaches in the league. I believe the only coaches paid more are Belichick (7.5), Shanny, Fisher, and Carroll. I understand the point and it is the right thing to do for image sake at least.

Lovie negotiating high. Hopefully we don't tank and go 7-9.

I am not trading Marshall for a 3rd, sorry

Good or bad thing for the Bears? I thought he was essentially ineffective for them and gave them a false sense of security at the running game. He also didn't lose the ball much but that was only a matter of time before he did. I would think this is good for the Bears as the other RB's on GB are all unproven. Hopefully this makes them even more one-dimensional.

The biggest need is OL for sure, but then after that, I could see LB or DB. Interesting that I have seen a few early Mock Drafts having us take Manti Te'o in the first. If he can take over for Urlacher in a year or two, that would be a nice pick, but I don't think he will be there. Most of the mocks have us picking around 20, and I see us picking around 32. For the first round, I would look at: Chance Warmack, G David Amerson, CB Barrett Jones, G/C/OT 2nd round: Larry Warford, G Ricky Wagner, OT Terry Hawthorne, CB

Brian, I was thinking the same thing, lol. Will post mine at lunch.

True, but Hester needs a break, or some competition. I just see Hester as more of an outside deep threat than a slot receiver like Bennett is, or at least that is how it looks. Sanz seemed to be filling Bennett's role more than Hester was. I could be wrong though. For punt returns, Hester has been brutal the last 2 games, 5 returns for 16 yards. His long was 8 yards. Our Coverage units have played really good, I just want a little more out of our Punt Returns. We are not even getting the "Hester" advantage anymore where teams would kick away from him and give us good starting position. Our Avg starting position is currently 13th best, it was 24th last year, but was 1st the 4 years prior to that. With Hester we should be no worse than the top 5 starting field position.

Going back to the last 2 games in 2009, yeah that is true. That is a 16 game average record of 11.5-4.5. Not bad. Essentially a guaranteed playoff team every year. Even if you just count all of his games with the Bears, a 28-18 record is pretty solid considering how many different coordinators, schemes, Offensive Lines, and receivers he has had to deal with. Also, only 5 sacks allowed by the Bears in the last 3 games. One team concern is our Special Teams. Punt Returns have been brutal, Hester is ranked 20th, and Kickoffs haven't been that much better. Also, what is up with Podlesh? He is 2nd to last in Avg, and I understand that has to do with field position, but he is not lighting up the Inside the 20 kicks either. Besides Gould, we really need our ST to step it up. Weems should get some looks at PR, especially with Alshon out and Hester getting more reps at WR.

Bad news, that could be 5 games, but the Bye does help. If he is a fast healer, it could be only 3. At least he can still stay in shape. Can't imagine how he injured it. I wonder who this could be? Chad Johnson, Plax, Sims-Walker? How about someone like Cooley? He is a great pass catcher and blocker than Davis.

lemon, I looked at all your posts and do not see any underlined text or links, you might want to check/scan your computer.

So we go into the Bye at 4-1, which is one game better than I thought we would be at this point. That is the good news, and we should have some easier games the next couple of weeks before it really gets tough. Our next 3 out of the Bye are all games we should be favored in (DET on Mon Night at home, CAR at home, and at TEN). Then it gets really tough, we get HOU at home Sun Night, at SF Mon Night, at home vs MIN, at home vs SEA, at MIN, at home vs GB, then at ARZ to close out a brutal stretch of 7 games. I really hope we can get to 7-1 after the TEN game, because I could see us going 4-3 or 3-4 in the next 7, but I am hoping for at least 5-2. That would be 12-3 going into Detroit in Week 17. vs DET (Mon) 1-3 vs CAR 1-4 at TEN 1-4 vs HOU (Sun Nite) 4-0 at SF (Mon) 4-1 Win vs MIN 4-1 vs SEA 3-2 at MIN 4-1 vs GB 2-3 at ARZ 4-1 at DET 1-3 Also, GB could be 2-4 after next week when they play in HOU.

Going back to last season, we are 11-4 when Cutler starts. That is a pretty nice run. I almost don't want a Bye with how hot we are, but 2 games in 6 days and 2 road games is pretty tough for any team. Now we can get most players back to 100% because I am sure Urlacher and Co. could use a week to recover. Hopefully Alshon can be back by then as well. The Defense has now played their 3rd straight game out of their mind, and the GB game wasn't that bad considering 7 pts was on a fake FG. We also have the 2nd highest scoring differential in the league, and would've been #1 if SF didn't run up the score on BUF under 2 mins. 65 pts now scored in the 4th quarter, is the same amount Dallas and Jacksonville have scored all year! Wow.

Epic win following Monday's Night's win. Bad 1st half followed by one of the best 2nd half's you will ever see. Defense on all cylinders, Offense coming alive. Great game, and awesome way to go into the Bye. Add that to a GB loss = priceless.

Most 2nd half pts since 1941, wow.... 98-27 scoring in last 3 games, that's almost a 33-9 game average. Silly.