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Close C - Montero, Ross 1B - Rizzo, LaStella 2B - Castro, Coghlan SS - Russell, Herrera 3B - Bryant, Baez LF - Schwarber, Denorfia CF - Fowler, Jackson RF - Soler, Szczur Just for fun, how Id construct the second lineup LaStella Jackson Coghlan Baez Denorfia Szczur Herrera Ross pitcher If you combine the 2, you could get a couple decent lineups CF- Fowler 2B- Castro LF- Bryant 1B- Schwarber SS- Russell 3B- LaStella C- Ross RF- Szczur CF- Jackson 2B- Coghlan 1B- Rizzo RF- Soler C- Montero SS- Baez LF- Denorfia 3B- Herrera

Soler Power!

The bullpen extravaganzas are better than every non Arrieta/Lester start. I say make Travis Wood the 3rd starter in the playoffs.

Wherever the Bears end up picking, if they have their choice of Goff (QB), Stanley (OT), and Hargreaves (CB)....I'd literally flip coins to determine the pick.

Wow. So he really just sucks that bad at throwing now?

My biggest gripe of the offseason was that I felt like Pace missed the short term opportunities while looking at the big picture. The Bears aren't really in a much better position going into 2016 as they were going into 2015. Hell, the best players (Forte and Jeffery) are both free agents and Bennett is likely going to further complain about not getting re-signed after he suffers thru another disasterous season. Still have the Cutler situation out there. And while Goldman and Amos look to be decent-to-good players, the Bears had the opportunity to really add a couple more important pieces to the future than a #2 WR (White, if you re-sign Jeffery), a center, and while I like him as a player; Langford was probably an unnecessary pick as Forte is still playing 85% of the time and you can find RBs a dime a dozen. The one year contracts are nice, but they kinda reek of being unsure for a new GM. And they don't really solve any talent/depth issues for next year, other than give you more money to do it all over again. The only players added in the offseason that look like they will be around when the Bears are good again are Goldman, maybe Amos, maybe Langford, and McPhee as he's near the end of his contract. But I think it was pretty important that the Bears add a young edge rusher (wanted Beasley), and either a young CB or OT to potentially challenge (then) Jennings and Mills as starters and eventually develop into such. You can still get a RB to play 5-7 snaps, and a redshirt C in the late rounds, rather than 3rd and 4th rounds.

IU halfway to a bowl game. Wake is a big game for bowl hopes. Gotta win 3 of Wake Forest, Penn State, Maryland, Michigan, Rutgers, Purdue. The easiest games of those are on the road, this one included.

ARGH!!

Game needs more dongs. And Castro.

Kyle Long is terrible at tackle. Ducasse may be the worst lineman in the league. 4 false starts, 3 holds, 2 sacks allowed thru 7 quarters. Bushrod isn't very good either.

Jay out for the game with a hamstring injury. LOL. I'm calling [expletive].

No reason why Forte couldn't put his shoulder down and run right over someone for 1/2 a yard. Also, why the [expletive] wouldn't offsides on 3rd and 3 be an automatic first down? It is anywhere else on the field, but since it's half the distance inside the 10....the Bears get screwed for making the defense jump offside.

Forte's such a [expletive]. 220lbs, run your ass inside.

Good another FG.

I feel like it was precommenced Just bad before. Now, if Cutler is out for an extended period of time, it has a chance to be epically bad.

Commence disaster season.

I'll take it. 5 out. 5 straight.

Peralta swinging at a pitch a foot off the ground on 2-0. Thank you.

That'll work, Travis. 7 pitches.

Or Russell. Or Baez. Probably Soler too. Hendricks.

I wonder how he's going to run the playoff roster. I didn't pay much attention to his moves in Tampa, and they did have the DH, so it might not matter anyway. I just wonder how he's going to balance Bryant (3B/OF), Coghlan, Baez, Castro, Russell, Soler (does he even get a spot?), and the bullpen. Makes me think he won't keep 19 bullpen arms the way he has dominated with his bat flexibility this month.

Cubs lead every division in baseball......except their own.

Since I haven't seen him mentioned, I'll say Miguel Montero. After 2 seasons of struggling with the bat in a hitter's park, he's back right at his career averages with the bat, when I fully expected him to continue to struggle. He's also been good behind the plate (despite not throwing out as many runners as you'd like). He's been a leader. And he's been hilarious on Twitter.

I'm pretty sure Rodney is going to be looked at as the guy in the 7th or 8th inning in the Cubs pen in the playoffs. It was clear once he was acquired that if he pitched halfway decently, Maddon was going to trust him with a late inning role. He's done it before. He's done it in the playoffs. He's done it for Maddon. And I think Maddon values that and that late inning mentality, as witnessed by Motte being closer at one point this season. Hopefully, Rodney keeps up pitching the way he has.

The Bears will probably have the same gameplan on offense as they did last week. That's probably the blueprint all year. Control the ball. Establish Forte. But the key is going to be whoever can get big plays thru the air. The Cardinals like to go up top often. And they are prone to giving up the big play. A lot of pressure is going to be on the rookie, Amos. And the Bears have to get a pass rush going against a pair of mediocre OTs for the Cards (they can say the same about the Bears).