Chicago Bears Offseason 2012

[Magnetic Curses]

david carr was the first pick in an nfl draft, folks.

[Magnetic Curses]

also, paea didn't play tonight, he is a guy that eats double teams for the pass rush.

[Banedon]

Man I hope Urlacher is ok.

[Sammy Sofa]

put me in the shift carimi to the left side, move louis back to RT, c williams to LG.

 

 

Too late for that. Aside from the 2nd round pick and despite how early it still is, all indications are that this was an Angeloish type draft from Emery. We should have either done more free agent damage or drafted anyone but Shea at that slot.

 

All he preached was how he wanted to draft immediate impact players and his picks were the opposite of immediate impact. Even a rookie WR needs more time then other positions to develop.

 

i'm ok with the draft. i like jeffery and rodriguez a lot, i think hardin is a specimen. i'm not sold on mcclellin yet.

 

I love Jeffrey don't get me wrong. But rodriguez is a smallish TE (project), Hardin never played Safety in his life (project) and Shea is undersized, lacking strength and experience at DE (project).

 

i wouldn't call rodriguez a project just because he's not the starter, they will utilize him at a couple of positions this year to help immediately. hardin doesn't need to be an impact player because we have conte and wright as the starters. shea is a dude that they've been rotating on on third down to rush the passer and have an impact there. make no mistake, any pass rusher they drafted would have been utilized the same way.

 

there is a learning curve for every single rookie in the NFL, but just because that exists doesn't mean that every rookie is a project. the season hasn't started yet, easy there.

 

Nope, it's too late.

[cubbyvirus00]

also, paea didn't play tonight, he is a guy that eats double teams for the pass rush.

 

 

Ok I'm backing away from the edge......

[Sammy Sofa]

Lies.

[Careless]

This was the first preseason game I got to watch the first team in, and while I really appreciate the big receivers (really, a huge difference. Don't know how to describe it), meh. Bad Oline, poor Dline, still useless secondary. Cutler isn't 2003 Manning. Yes, I'm going on the record here at 8-8.

[Butterscup1679666578]

11-5 at worst.

[JonJayCutler]

I remember in 2010 when we looked like ass and went 0-4 in the preseason only to go 11-5 in the regular season. Point being that Lovie's teams have always seemed to struggle a bit in preseason, and I really think a lot of it is a matter of them not showing their entire hand. Then again I doubt any team really does. As it is, I'm not really worried at all.

 

With the schedule not looking too tough I don't see any worse than 10-6 barring injury. They were going to finish at least 11-5 last year before Cutler went down, probably 12-4 (end of schedule was cake, go to hell Hanie). This year's team is considered by most to be better. Maybe the defense will start to fall off a bit, but the offense should be strides better than the '10 and '11 teams, and should more than compensate for any decline by the defense.

[bukie]

Under Lovie, the D always shows almost nothing preseason every year.

[Magnetic Curses]

my concern was how off cutler was except for the touchdown drive.

[rawaction]

Lot and gloom and doom about last night around the web. I didn't think it was that bad. Obviously the team didn't play as well as they should nor as well as they can, but I thought the pass blocking was fine. Cutler took no sacks in 21 throws. He only got hit a couple times. Once in the endzone when Garza missed a blitzer and late in the half when Rachal and Williams (2 guys that may not be on the team this time next week) came into the game. The only time he got really hurried is when Williams missed block, and I think he would have run for the 1st down if it was a regular season game. I thought Webb did an adequate job pass blocking. Carimi was OK. The starting interior OL was OK.

 

Run blocking was pretty bad, but the Bears have never been a big, "blow you off the ball" type of running team. Even last year when the Bears did a pretty good job running the ball, it was done by getting to the edge and getting more blockers out front than the defense had there. Forte's 2 runs against the 2nd string D was an indicator of the run game's success from last year. The major problem last night was that Evan Rodriguez isn't a very good blocker. He consistently missed assignments or blew blocks from the Hback/FB position all night. Forte should be able to make 1 guy miss, but when you got a guy coming thru the hole the play is intended to go thru meeting you there behind the line of scrimmage, there's nothing you can do.

 

Cutler was pretty off on his throws last night. He went 9-21, with 2 of the completions being catches by 6'4" WRs with a CB draped all over them (both would have been pick 6's if Knox was out there and not Jeffery and Marshall). Bennett dropped one, but Cutler missed him wide open for a would-be TD earlier in the game. Cutler missed Forte open twice. He overthrew 6'7" Kellen Davis. Cutler's body language and shouting made it seem like the communication was off with the receivers, but he threw the ball terribly, that's not going to happen much in the regular season.

 

As for the defense, they've always had trouble vs. speedy RBs with quick-cutting ability (see Jahvid Best MNF last year). They shutdown anyone else who tried to run for the Giants. Tillman made 2 really bad plays vs. Barden by guessing fade on slant and slant on fade. The other PI call was bogus.

[minnesotacubsfan]

Brown played ok at LT, started slow then got into a nice groove. That helped Campbell a lot.

 

Jay said communication was off after the game. Didn't say who, him or the wrs

[KaiserCesar]

I think you hit on a a very good point that replacing Knox with Jeffery and Marshall will cut down considerably on INTs. The WR's showed some good abilities to fight for the ball in tight coverage and that should bode well for the offense and team in general.

 

Speaking of the WR's, Marshall, Jeffery, Bennett and Hester are a solid group, and Weems will also be on the team, but Rashied Davis looked pretty dreadful out there. If he isn't valued as a special teamer, then I think both he and Sanzenbacher will be cut. Could that open the door for someone like Joe Anderson, or will the roster space be taken by the tight ends that are in camp?

 

Did anyone have any thoughts on Booker and Allen? They both looked pretty decent catching the ball out of the backfield, and I don't think either did anything to differentiate themselves from the other.

[minnesotacubsfan]

Booker

[Magnetic Curses]

the thing about the offense with cutler is that it's always been so hard to predict, dangerous because it has potential but it still shoots itself in the foot a lot of the time. it's like a wounded animal, it will flop all over the place and then when you move in for the kill, it will bite you in the nuts and you will fall over and die. there will be like 2 false starts and then forte will run into chris williams and fall down for a 5 yard loss, cutler will badly over throw a receiver on the next play, then he would hit knox for a 30 yard gain for a first down, rinse, wash repeat. does anybody else see the same thing? it's odd.

[Wilson A2000]

Is Knox gone for the season? Any updates on him?

[Guest]

This was the first preseason game I got to watch the first team in, and while I really appreciate the big receivers (really, a huge difference. Don't know how to describe it), meh. Bad Oline, poor Dline, still useless secondary. Cutler isn't 2003 Manning. Yes, I'm going on the record here at 8-8.

 

I can't tell if this is serious or not.

[Guest]

Is Knox gone for the season? Any updates on him?

 

He's a long way away. I wouldn't expect to see him any time remotely soon.

[Banedon]

BradBiggs: #Bears will place 3rd round draft pick S Brandon Hardin on injured reserve a week after he suffered neck injury last Saturday vs. Redskins.

[Magnetic Curses]

This was the first preseason game I got to watch the first team in, and while I really appreciate the big receivers (really, a huge difference. Don't know how to describe it), meh. Bad Oline, poor Dline, still useless secondary. Cutler isn't 2003 Manning. Yes, I'm going on the record here at 8-8.

 

I can't tell if this is serious or not.

 

right, paea didn't play and neither did urlacher. that said, the defense did what it always does, bend not break. the first touchdown they scored on us should have been nullified as they fumbled the ball (something the defense is designed to force) a couple of plays earlier and the play was ruled dead because the refs are dumb--and cruz had a drop on third down that was ruled a catch and would have been overturned on replay.

 

the second touchdown was a special teams breakdown and not an indictment of the defense.

 

that said, the giants are a tough team with a pretty good passing attack and a beastly pass rush that won the super bowl last year. jay needs to tighten it up before the season opener for sure though.

[Banedon]

The Bears informed wide receiver Chris Summers, safety Trevor Coston and defensive end Derek Walker they will be placed on waivers, according to multiple sources. Two sources also say that offensive lineman Nick Peischel has a knee injury that will prevent him from making the squad.

[Magnetic Curses]

i have never heard of those

[Banedon]

Brad Biggs ‏@BradBiggs

 

#Bears will place DE Thaddeus Gibson on waivers

[Banedon]

i have never heard of those

 

Bigger camp rosters this year. Gonna be a lot of "who?" cuts going on.