Week 9: Bears at Bills Sunday noon? On fox

[Bertz]

One more win and we match our best season since 2013

 

Will be interesting to see how things play out now that the schedule gets tougher. Can we go 5-3 on the back end and finish 10-6? Let’s say they split with every NFC North team, that gives us 3-2 (since we already lost to GB), then wins over the Giants and Niners and loss to LAR. Seems very doable

 

Luckily, the schedule is still pretty light. The Lions, Giants, and 49ers are all in the bottom quarter of the league based on DVOA. And looking at everyone's remaining schedules, I think 10 wins is enough for the division. Like you said, split the NFC North games, and beat the Giants and 49ers, and that should do it.

[minnesotacubsfan]

I'd be stunned if 10 wins beats out the vikings unless 2 of those wins are against them

[Derwood]

I'd be stunned if 10 wins beats out the vikings unless 2 of those wins are against them

 

Minnesota's final 7 games are pretty brutal

 

2 vs. Bears

1 vs. Packers

1 vs. Patriots

1 vs. Seahwaks

plus the Lions and Dolphins

 

For 10 wins not to beat out the Vikings, Minnesota would have to win 5 of 7

[David]

Cohen really has to work on his instinct to run backwards. Seems to be immediate every single time he’s looking for no gain. 1 out of 5 times something good happens, the other 4 times he loses 5 yards

I'm not in favor of it, but didn't it work in our favor like three times today?

[Bertz]

I'd be stunned if 10 wins beats out the vikings unless 2 of those wins are against them

 

The Vikings have five wins, but only seven games left on their schedule. Four of those seven are on the road including @Seattle and @New England. Not to mention two games against the Bears and another against the Packers. Absolutely brutal schedule.

[David]

One more win and we match our best season since 2013

 

Will be interesting to see how things play out now that the schedule gets tougher. Can we go 5-3 on the back end and finish 10-6? Let’s say they split with every NFC North team, that gives us 3-2 (since we already lost to GB), then wins over the Giants and Niners and loss to LAR. Seems very doable

The bears are very good and should have a better first half record than 5-3. Yes, we can go 5-3 on the back end and should be better.

[Sosa21MVP]

Life is better when the Bears are a competent football team. :stickman:

[jersey cubs fan]

[Hairyducked Idiot]

 

What a time to be alive

[UMFan83]

[raw]

any interest in Bruce Irving?

 

I mean, he is another pass rusher. The Bears pass rush was actually pretty decent today, despite not any sacks before garbage time. Wasn't horrible last week also without Mack. Irvin would be worth it to add another pass rusher to the mix, maybe rejuvenate Mack for the 2nd half push, and to keep him away from other contenders.

 

But honestly, I don't think he's really necessary. Mack, Floyd, and Lynch are enough when added to a good 4-man rotation at DL (Hicks, Goldman, RRH, Nichols), and I'd like to see more of Isaiah Irving. But I won't complain about an upgrade at any position. Wouldn't claim him on waivers (and pay his $4M salary), but if nobody claims him I'd imagine the Bears would be a preferable spot for him.

[minnesotacubsfan]

any interest in Bruce Irving?

 

I mean, he is another pass rusher. The Bears pass rush was actually pretty decent today, despite not any sacks before garbage time. Wasn't horrible last week also without Mack. Irvin would be worth it to add another pass rusher to the mix, maybe rejuvenate Mack for the 2nd half push, and to keep him away from other contenders.

 

But honestly, I don't think he's really necessary. Mack, Floyd, and Lynch are enough when added to a good 4-man rotation at DL (Hicks, Goldman, RRH, Nichols), and I'd like to see more of Isaiah Irving. But I won't complain about an upgrade at any position. Wouldn't claim him on waivers (and pay his $4M salary), but if nobody claims him I'd imagine the Bears would be a preferable spot for him.

\

 

dont disagree at all. However, the idea of two former Raiders helping the Bears win the division as Gruden and co continue to spiral into hell would be sooooo much fun

[raw]

I stand corrected from earlier, Roquan actually had a pretty good game. He got lost in man coverage on 1 play (great play call against man), and missed a big tackle on the opening series to prevent a 3-and-out, but he was all over the place today. 13 tackles, a pass defensed, forced fumble.

 

Right now on the Bears defense: Fuller, Mack (when healthy), Hicks, Trevathan, Jackson and Callahan are playing like Pro Bowl players. Obviously, everyone on that side of the ball was great today against Peterman, who wasn't dreadful. I think an underrated aspect of this team that got lost against Miami and NE, is that this team can really cover on the back end. They also typically tackle well. I think Fangio dialed back some of the aggressiveness in coverage in those aforementioned games and the 2nd half vs. Green Bay. These are not guys that want to sit back in off man coverage.

 

Offensively, it wasn't pretty. Still can't get a decent run game going. Howard ran over a few people and Cohen ran around them to make any decent yardage. And I think the lack of time of possession didn't really help them get into a rhythm when Mitch looked like he was "on" early. Really disappointing to take that sack early to take the team out of FG range. Can't happen. Also really would have liked points after the Amos INT, though that drive was derailed by the 2nd inexplicable OPI flag on Burton. Still 190 yards of offense is not good enough, no matter how you slice it. 90 yards of pass interference calls though in the Bears favor. Penalties were bad. Leno, who has looked like the offense's only pro bowler so far had 3 false starts, including on back-to-back plays. Not a great game for him. No push from either guard in the run game.

[raw]

No. 3 point differential in NFL

 

This is actually pretty significant. Granted 70 of the +82 is from 2 games, but the top teams in each conference (actually have been 1 & 2 overall) have played each other in the Superbowl all but 1 time in the last 5 years. And that year, the Broncos beat the #1 AFC team in point diff. (Patriots) and faced Seattle (#1 overall point diff).

 

The Bears are behind the Rams (+99) though. So, some work to do there.

[BigbadB]

I think I heard that Stafford got sacked 10 times this week. The return of a hungry Khalil Mack and the first real appearance of Leonard Floyd should give the exhausted Lions OLine plenty to worry about. I'm all about adding Bruce Irvin if they can work it out. They are sitting in first place in their division and each game they lost were actually winnable games. They've been in every game so far and this is an easy add that doesn't cost you any players or draft picks. Irvin was extremely respectful on the news of his release, but I can guarantee you he will want to make Gruden look even worse than he already does for trading Mack before the season even started. Irvin will be a man possessed.

[David]

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[Brian]

Tarik will not tolerate Mitch slander

 

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[Wilson A2000]

Tarik will not tolerate Mitch slander

 

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Lombardi isn't totally wrong on the Bears though. They really haven't beaten a good team yet.

[WrigleyField 22]

Tarik will not tolerate Mitch slander

 

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Lombardi isn't totally wrong on the Bears though. They really haven't beaten a good team yet.

Yea but to be fair there are only like 3 good teams in the NFL.

[UMFan83]

Tarik will not tolerate Mitch slander

 

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Lombardi isn't totally wrong on the Bears though. They really haven't beaten a good team yet.

 

Can only play who is on the schedule. They've only played IME 3 teams that are decent, the Seahawks, Dolphins and Patriots. Beat Seattle, a couple of plays made the difference in a close loss at Miami and the Patriots-Bears game was decided on 2 special teams TDs and a hail mary to the 1. Not that we should be counting almost wins at this point, but the point is that its not like the Bears are getting dominated in their losses. They haven't been dominated in any game this year. Also I'm pretty sure Lombardi is a former PFF guy and PFF has the Bears as one of the best teams in the league.

[raw]

Tarik will not tolerate Mitch slander

 

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Lombardi isn't totally wrong on the Bears though. They really haven't beaten a good team yet.

 

Can only play who is on the schedule. They've only played IME 3 teams that are decent, the Seahawks, Dolphins and Patriots. Beat Seattle, a couple of plays made the difference in a close loss at Miami and the Patriots-Bears game was decided on 2 special teams TDs and a hail mary to the 1. Not that we should be counting almost wins at this point, but the point is that its not like the Bears are getting dominated in their losses. They haven't been dominated in any game this year. Also I'm pretty sure Lombardi is a former PFF guy and PFF has the Bears as one of the best teams in the league.

 

It's not like they have been overmatched against good teams. They beat Tampa when they were thought to be good. Beat Seattle who then became decent.

 

FWIW, Chargers are 6-2 with wins over CLE, BUF, TEN, OAK, SF, and Seattle. They had a shot at 2 of the top 3 teams and lost both by double digits. Minnesota's only win vs. a contender is a good win at Philly. The Eagles themselves don't have a quality win since the season opener vs. Atlanta, which only became a quality win as of Sunday. Nobody's talking about them not beating anyone, and those teams all have losses way worse than anything the Bears have.

[Wilson A2000]

Tarik will not tolerate Mitch slander

 

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Lombardi isn't totally wrong on the Bears though. They really haven't beaten a good team yet.

 

Can only play who is on the schedule. They've only played IME 3 teams that are decent, the Seahawks, Dolphins and Patriots. Beat Seattle, a couple of plays made the difference in a close loss at Miami and the Patriots-Bears game was decided on 2 special teams TDs and a hail mary to the 1. Not that we should be counting almost wins at this point, but the point is that its not like the Bears are getting dominated in their losses. They haven't been dominated in any game this year. Also I'm pretty sure Lombardi is a former PFF guy and PFF has the Bears as one of the best teams in the league.

 

Can only play who is on the schedule but they also haven’t beat anyone good on the schedule. Seattle was down a bunch of solid players at the time too. Beat the Vikings in 10 days and you can begin convincing those who question the Bears.

[Brian707]

In a league where 24 of the 32 teams will likely finish between 6-10 and 10-6, this soft schedule vs tough schedule stuff is nonsense.

[BigbadB]

In a league where 24 of the 32 teams will likely finish between 6-10 and 10-6, this soft schedule vs tough schedule stuff is nonsense.

 

People are touting the Chargers as some kind of special this year and their 5 wins were against the 49ers, Raiders, Browns, Bills and a one point win at home over the Titans. Congrats on that 5-2 record there Chargers. The only team that would have made this a softer schedule for them so far is swapping out the Titans with the Giants.