Week 8: Bears vs San Francisco - Sunday, Oct. 29th, 12 pm CT

[goonys evil twin]

I don't get the people who thought it would be a good idea to sit Rex for a series or two. What would be the point. This isn't college football. (Man, I sound like these announcers)

 

You don't treat pros like that. You bench pros and you really run the risk of losing them, and you guarantee that fans will start up an even bigger QB controversy.

 

 

Why can't people understand bad games happen and that Rex still does not have 16 starts as a pro? My lord. It's Rich Hill all over again.

Actually, I was one of those who wanted to see Rex replaced (in fact, if you look at the game thread, I was advocating bringing in Griese right before Hester returned the punt for a touchdown).

 

I don't really see the harm in bringing Griese when it is was apparently very clear that Rex wasn't going to lead the Bears on a game winning touchdown drive. At the very worst (best?), Griese leads them on a game winning touchdown drive and it reignites a QB controversy. That can pretty much be squelched by Lovie announcing that Rex is his quarterback and acknowledging that he was just having one of those games that even the best quarterbacks have from time to time.

 

I would not be too worried what it would do to Rex's psyche. If he couldn't handle it, he's not the right quarterback for the Bears anyway. My guess is that he would have handled it fine and I expect him to bounce back with a good game againt San Fran in two weeks.

 

Well at least you were calling for Griese. Not that I agree, but sensible.

 

There are still loonies out there that wanna see neckbeard in the game.

I pretty much agree with TOF. Grossman sucked... for that game. His stupid decisions only seemed to get worse. Pulling him late couldn't have done any worse for the team than the 6 turnovers Grossman had already given, and Lovie would have had no trouble silencing all the Tuesday morning quarterbacks and their talk of controversy. If Big Z gives up 5 runs in the first four innings and starts the 5th by walking the bases loaded, you can pull him without skipping his next turn in the rotation. The one bad game doesn't make him a bad pitcher by any means, but leaving him in is also stupid, especially when the Bears have a bunch of Izturises who really DO drive in runs with their gloves.

 

As raisin said, that's a terrible analogy. QBs aren't pitchers. QB's don't go 3 quarters and then get pulled at the end of the game.

 

You bench a pro QB during a bad game, and you run the risk of ruining the team, not just the QB's psyche. The 5-0 start provided the perfect cushion to live through the valleys of a QB's development, remember, he still doesn't have a season's worth of games, while still contending for a Super Bowl.

 

There was simply nothing to gain by inserting Griese. He's not a comeback kid or anything. He's just a good backup. And backups come in when your starter gets hurt, or when you decide that the backup is now the starter.

 

Football is not baseball. Backup QB's are not relief pitchers.

[badger1679666666]

My lord, people are dumb.

 

Person just came on to say Cubs manager job is the worst because ownership doesn't care. When it was pointed out that the dollars are there, the guy said, "but they aren't spending it on the right guys."

 

 

 

I like these hosts. They were screaming, "THAT'S NOT OWNERSHIP, THAT'S MANAGEMENT!!!!!"

 

 

I feel like these guys are channeling my thoughts.

 

Boers and Bernstein are the ONLY good announcers on the Score. And they are typically right on, 90% of the time. And Funny.

[soapy]

I will never understand people.

 

The kid has started what, 13 or 14 games? The majority of those games he has played well, with a few outstanding games sprinkled in (namely the beginning of this season). Give the guy a chance.

 

How anyone could advocate Orton over Grossman is simply astonishing to me.

[badger1679666666]

To anyone suggesting it is in anyway a good idea to have brought in Griese on Monday:

 

1) Is Rex Grossman this team's franchise QB? The Bears would argue that he is, he was drafted in the first round, they stuck by him through injuries, Lovie stuck by him through a rough preseason, and he is in their plans to be QB for the forseeable future.

 

2) Because point 1 is correct, you NEVER EVER EVER EVER bench him when you have 5-0 record. EVERY QB from Peyton, to Eli, to Troy, to Carson, to McNabb, to Steve Young had mediocre to bad "aggregate 16 game seasons". Rex is in his 12th game. He hasn't had alot of big games or pressure games. You need to let him struggle, fall flat on himself, even, gasp, lose some games so that he can grow and develop into the QB that he has clearly shown the potential and capability of being. Bringing in a backup not only would shatter Rex's confidence (causing him to ALWAYS be looking over his shoulder at the first sign of bad play), but it would rattle through the offense. This is professional football. You need to have a strategy and long term vision as well as trying to win the game.

 

3) Rex will lose us some games. Better now, than in the playoffs. How else is he gonna learn not to try and force the ball every throw? How else is he gonna learn to pick up blitz reads? How else is he gonna learn to take what every defense is going to throw at him? He struggles you pull him? That's just ridiculous.

 

4) I'm sure glad Lovie is this teams coach. Knee jerk reactions during bad games when you have a developing QB are the worst thing possible.

[CaliforniaRaisin]

TACKLING MACHINE: When the coaching staff got done watching the Bears pummel Arizona running back Edgerrin James as the Cardinals tried -- without success -- to run out the clock, middle linebacker Brian Urlacher was credited with 25 tackles, easily a career high. He had 20 at Tampa Bay in 2001

 

:shock:

 

Heh, ESPN was only crediting him with 19. He was a beast.

 

Again, the NFL Network is re-airing the game at 8 pm ET tonight.

[Magnetic Curses]

TACKLING MACHINE: When the coaching staff got done watching the Bears pummel Arizona running back Edgerrin James as the Cardinals tried -- without success -- to run out the clock, middle linebacker Brian Urlacher was credited with 25 tackles, easily a career high. He had 20 at Tampa Bay in 2001

 

:shock:

 

that's what happens when nobody is blocking him. seriously. the cardinals had a very basic blocking strategy against the bears. they didn't play max protect the whole game, but they played with a tight end and focused only on blocking the down linemen, which is why we didn't get many sacks. when we showed blitz, leinart simply checked down to the zero pass, which wasn't as difficult as the announcers would have you believe.

 

i wasn't particularly impressed with leinart, it was boldin who did most of the work. leinart just used his head, and the offensive coordinator made it very easy for him. they obviously had very few plays that they ran offensively in the game, either the zero pass, the medium-level slant, or the trap to edge between the tackles. the problem was that boldin was the EXACT type of player that would give our defense problems, quicker and faster than our linebackers and a man among boys against our DBs.

 

their strategy was just to get it to boldin, who would "post up" our CBs, or just run right by our linebackers, which he did often when he had the ball. there was little we could do to stop it. there isn't another receiver in the game like him, so i'm not worried.

 

when they ran the ball, the linebackers just ran up and tackled edge. any other running back with that amount of carries against a linebacking corp like the bears would have had 2-3 more fumbles.

 

as for what the bears did on offense, it's simple. they got behind early and just started flinging the ball. the cardinals didn't play the run at all, relying on the quickness of their nickles to stop the run if it happend, and it didn't happen much, stupid stupid stupid.

 

it appeared to me like the cards just ran the nickle and dime out there every single snap. rushing 5-6 linemen and dropping everyone else back into coverage. if the bears would have just been able to get into their regular, balanced offense, grossman would have had a better game. he was asked to do too much.

 

to insinuate that griese would have done significantly better than grossman is probably wrong, unless he would have handed the ball off more. grossman had no time to make any kind of decision and no receivers to throw to, it's that simple.

 

i wish that griese would have gone in, though, if for no other reason than to remove all question from the mind of those who think he's better than rex. how ridiculous. i honestly don't know what the hell is wrong with you people. rex is the QB, get over it. i'm sorry he dissapointed you when he got hurt and you hardened your hearts to him in much the same way you've hardened your hearts to prior and wood. i know you don't want to be hurt again, but you'll just have to take that chance.

[UMFan83]

^^ Excellent analysis. I had many of the game thoughts regarding the Cardinals offense moving against the Bears defense, but was unable to put it into words as well as you did

[Banedon]

their strategy was just to get it to boldin, who would "post up" our CBs, or just run right by our linebackers, which he did often when he had the ball. there was little we could do to stop it. there isn't another receiver in the game like him, so i'm not worried.

 

Isn't Steve Smith pretty similar? Carolina still worries me if we were to meet them in the playoffs.

[badger1679666666]

their strategy was just to get it to boldin, who would "post up" our CBs, or just run right by our linebackers, which he did often when he had the ball. there was little we could do to stop it. there isn't another receiver in the game like him, so i'm not worried.

 

Isn't Steve Smith pretty similar? Carolina still worries me if we were to meet them in the playoffs.

 

Carolina scares the out of me. They are the only ones in the NFC that do. Not the Iggles, the Giants, the 'Boys, the Rams, the Seachickens, nor the Aints. Just Carolina.

[cubweiser03]

Damnit about Mike Brown. The Bears are going to make the playoff without him but i sure want him IN the playoffs. Playoffs are like 11 weeks away so that gives him 3 months to recoup. If its close ill take the chance of not IR'ing this year (a good gamble as was the Rex one last year). Id like for him to play 1 or 2 games before the playoffs too, but that would be bonus.

 

I liked what i saw in McGowan last year and a fair amount in Harris too. I know T Johnson had that big hit, but i dont like him in pass coverage (at least i didnt last year). With this defense id prefer a better pass coverage guy than run support. Dont let the offenses get a big play and easy score, id rather they had to work for the Tds.

 

Im ready for Benson. Lovie isnt tied to veterans, we've seen that. If Benson can be in the game and make a huge spark thats all he needs. I think we will see more of him and hopefully he take advantage. If he can there is no looking back.

[Banedon]

Well Brown is on the IR for the rest of the season.

 

http://sports.espn.go.com/nfl/news/story?id=2632109

[TruffleShuffle]

Well Brown is on the IR for the rest of the season.

 

http://sports.espn.go.com/nfl/news/story?id=2632109

 

Not surprising... it's hard to carry a guy for an entire year on the hopes that he'll be back for the playoffs, when he might not be in top form even if he does make it back.

[CaliforniaRaisin]

TACKLING MACHINE: When the coaching staff got done watching the Bears pummel Arizona running back Edgerrin James as the Cardinals tried -- without success -- to run out the clock, middle linebacker Brian Urlacher was credited with 25 tackles, easily a career high. He had 20 at Tampa Bay in 2001

 

:shock:

 

Heh, ESPN was only crediting him with 19. He was a beast.

 

Again, the NFL Network is re-airing the game at 8 pm ET tonight.

 

Sorry, it's on at 9 pm ET. It's 2 hours long, so I guess one should tune in for the last half hour.

[Jon]

TACKLING MACHINE: When the coaching staff got done watching the Bears pummel Arizona running back Edgerrin James as the Cardinals tried -- without success -- to run out the clock, middle linebacker Brian Urlacher was credited with 25 tackles, easily a career high. He had 20 at Tampa Bay in 2001

 

:shock:

Wow. And just imagine what the total would have been if he didn't play like poop in the first quarter.

 

And I'm not sure how much someone would have to pay me before I rewatch the first 44 minutes of that game.

[Jon]

Todd Johnson will start for Brown against the 49ers. Who knows if McGowan could have won the spot if he wasn't suspended until next Monday.

[Balsa]

Bad, bad news about Brown.

 

How many points a game will this affect us?

[Soriano12]

Mike Brown was not playing at a pro-bowl level this season.

[UMFan83]

Mike Brown was not playing at a pro-bowl level this season.

 

No but you have to look at the intangibles. I have heard that he is the "leader" of the defense, over Urlacher, over everyone. As such, he is very useful to have a veteran out there with a mostly youthful secondary. I have heard stories where he is constantly putting the SS (Harris or Manning) in the correct position in the Cover 2. He is a smart smart player and even if he isn't playing Pro Bowl caliber, the loss has a ripple effect on the rest of the D

[TruffleShuffle]

Mike Brown was not playing at a pro-bowl level this season.

 

No but you have to look at the intangibles.

 

Suzy Kolber certainly would, especially for her fantasy draft!

[Soul]

The loss is huge because Brown was a great leader.

 

I'm thinking this is going to drop us a notch as a defense......for now.

 

Hopefully the bye week, combined with 2 home games against the 9ers and fins, will help Manning/Johnson/McGowan/Harris get into a bit of a groove. Certainly Brown can continue to mentor----his experience was expected to help Daneal to mature faster, and in the beginning of the season it was certainly helping.

 

I love Mike Brown, but it is true he wasn't playing like he used to---he's one of my favorite Bears, I'll never forget those two OT INTs in 2001. One of the most magical sequences in all Bear history.

[Balsa]

Is this really goodbye Mike Brown forever????

[ToupeeOnFire]

their strategy was just to get it to boldin, who would "post up" our CBs, or just run right by our linebackers, which he did often when he had the ball. there was little we could do to stop it. there isn't another receiver in the game like him, so i'm not worried..

 

This reminds me, I was having terrible flashbacks to the Carolina playoff game watching Anquan Boldin carve up the defense. This is what concerns me about Ron Rivera. Even during that 13-3 win, Steve Smith had a monster game. You'd think that Lovie and Rivera would have learned from that and would have placed special emphisis on covering him. Instead, we repeatedly witnessed Peanut Tillman being hung out to dry as Steve Smith torched the Bear secondary.

 

Listening to the Bear radio broadcast while watching the game, Tom Thayer pointed out several times how Boldin was being switched around at the line of scrimmage in order to gain favorable match-ups. Why wasn't the defense taking special care to cover him?

 

I'm worried that there is a certain hubris with this Bear defense. I get the sense that they might be too stubborn to alter their gameplan to account for a singular outstanding wideout. While I might be (am probably) totally off base with my concerns, I continue to worry about how the Bears will handle top recievers.

[Soul]

Rivera has already said he's not going to alter the defense for anyone. If they go up against Steve Smith again, it's going to be the same defensive alignment---count on it.

 

This scares me too, because Seattles' defense really isn't all that special, yet they shut down Carolina and Smitty with no trouble because, well....Carolina is a one-trick pony and can be easily stopped with a few defensive tweaks.

 

But we won't make those tweaks, so we struggle against some teams.

[Magnetic Curses]

their strategy was just to get it to boldin, who would "post up" our CBs, or just run right by our linebackers, which he did often when he had the ball. there was little we could do to stop it. there isn't another receiver in the game like him, so i'm not worried.

 

Isn't Steve Smith pretty similar? Carolina still worries me if we were to meet them in the playoffs.

 

not really. boldin is about 4 inches taller and about 40 pounds heavier. the announcers had it right on, he's a lot like sterling sharpe used to be, only faster.

 

steve smith is a guy that uses his elusiveness to find the holes in the defense. boldin will run right up to the DB, use his body to seal the defensive player off, catch the ball, break a tackle and run by everyone else. guys like plaxico burress, moose, keyshawn johnson, and randy moss all are big, but don't have the bulk, agility, or strength of an anquan boldin.

[Fred Hornkohl]

I'm worried that there is a certain hubris with this Bear defense.

 

Penicillin will clear that right up, no? :wink: