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Not only does he lack experience in the system, but it doesn't cater to him either. He doesn't have much of an arm and is immobile. He would do nothing but throw 5 yard slants and dump offs. To be fair, Kurt Warner was almost completely immobile and ran the Martz offense to perfection. And obviously, Martz doesn't mind immobility as he hand-picked Nathan Enderle to draft, and he can't run a lick.

I'm at work, so I have a minimally sized window. Didnt' scroll more than I had to.

I love this thing. If the team higher ranked in defense wins every game the rest of this year... Broncos finish 10-6 and win AFC West Lions finish 13-3 and get the #2 seed Packers lose out and get the 5th seed at 10-6 Seattle is the 6th seed at 9-7. I'm assuming Bears at 9-7 losing the tiebreaker to Seattle and on outside looking in.

He can't make all the throws, or at least he hasn't shown he can. He hasn't shown he can fit the ball in when his receiver gets very little separation. I think you will see the offense dumbed down a little for Hanie. He won't be asked to do as much as Jay is. 3rd and long is going to be a draw or screen down for at least the next few weeks. What Hanie can do is throw on the move and throw the corner route. Teams are going to be torched if they just expect him to dump it down to Forte or underneath WRs all game. I think he will pick his spots deep, and he will throw the 15-18 yard corner route all day if they let him.

I believe AJ Ratliff took one of those his senior year. I'm guessing this is what will happen. Creek is done playing basketball.

Why would you say this when you just witnessed our defense win a game vs. Detroit in exactly this fashion? Counting on the defense to score doesn't seem like a solid game plan, I hope I'm wrong. It's a bad plan to build a franchise around for the long haul, but it's not an absurd concept to rely on for a game or two, especially with this defense and special teams. They are designed to score. Exactly. If the Bears D and special teams aren't taking the ball away for scores or setting up the offense on a short field....then they aren't executing the way the coaching staff wants them to. Not that a defensive and/or special teams TD every week has to happen for them to win, but the Bears can and should count on getting points this way if they have to. That's how they are taught and coached. If not, they probably won't win most games regardless of QB.

Figured those would be the top 2 names. Rather have 1 of those guys than a Bulger or Garcia, who are more experienced and would be more likely to get rushed on the field over Hanie, and have the fans with them if Hanie struggles in the least bit.

Well, after a 5th straight 20+ point win, IU starts the real games. Butler, @ NC State, Kentucky and Notre Dame are 4 of the next 5 games. Kentucky is a blowout loss, but I would be really encouraged with 2 out of 3 of those other games. Butler isn't the same team that were back-to-back national runners up, but probably tourney worthy. NC State is a bottom 1/2 ACC team that probably won't threaten for a tourney bid. Notre Dame is a middle of the pack Big East team, and a borderline tourney team. 9-2 going into conference season would be nice, with 10-1 being amazing.

I can't see Heyward-Bay playing after being carted off, not with the newer tests. There's no way he plays. All the aftermath of his injury in statements by the Raiders have included the phrase "has movement in all his extremities". That's usually a good sign in the long-term, not for short-term.

I heard Cutler was seen last night hitchhiking. If he can put his thumb up to hitchhike the wuss should be able to play QB.

What play was it? That's so odd because everyone else is saying it was on the int return and it kinda looks like it if you watch the replay. We're they reporting as fact or just speculating on when it might have occurred? If that is when he injured it, I definitely makes me wonder why he can't play. He made some really nice throws in the 2nd half, which was his better and more accurate half of throwing the ball. I'm sure adrenaline helped mask the pain, but shouldn't be enough to overcome that sort of injury. No didn't say it as a fact, but they showed him make a throw, get hit on his thumb and then look down and start flexing it.

Good news is the Raiders haven't played 3 strong games in a row in about 8 years. Just beat the Chargers and Vikings. They are due for a bed-crapping. Of course, who knows what to expect out of the Bears. I don't think they'll be that bad in the short term. They've shown they can win with Cutler as a compliment rather than the focal point of the offense.

Patrick Mannelly probably tore his ACL too to throw salt on the wound.

Just showed on ESPN that Cutler hurt it EARLY IN THE SECOND QUARTER. So, clearly he played over 1/2 a game with it, and made some pretty major throws. The deep ball to Knox. The fastball to Davis for the TD. The corner route to Bennett on the sidelines. This is a weird situation.

I'd love to see them stick him there. He's playing wonderfully. I think he literally did nothing wrong today. Webb was getting beat pretty consistently. Cutler did a good job avoiding the pressure though for the most part. At this point, training camp next year looks like it could be fun. I'd let the best 2 play OT out of Louis, Carimi and Webb. And let the best 2 play OG out of Williams, Louis, Spencer. And the best 1 out of Garza, Spencer, and a draft pick (Peter Konz please).

Damn U! I started Bennett. Who put up 10.5. But had Harvin, Mike Williams, and Jerome Simpson on my bench with 20 point games. Also, you answered about Stafford when I said BRADFORD. Took Matt Moore out at the last minute. Give me those 20 points back and I'm only down 16 instead of 36 right now, with McCoy to play. I don't really blame you

THat was actually a fumble

Man, the Chargers offense looks a lot like the Lions offense. They like to spread teams out and run the ball with 7 in the box. Also not a lot of stuff going between the guards, even though they don't have a tiny RB like Best for the Lions. As for the passing game, the like to get their WRs down the field. Vincent Jackson is essentially the Calvin Johnson of that offense, though not as talented. The other guys can do some damage though if you focus too much attention to VJack. And if all else fails, Rivers obviously loves to hit Gates in the middle and dump off to the RBs. The Bears have allowed a bunch of receptions to RBs this year, but that has actually played right into the Bears hands as they do a good job of rallying to the ball and making tackles. Potentially making all of the above moot, is the fact that the Lions are starting 3 new OL. Brandon Dombrowski is starting at LT and gave up 4 sacks to Kamerion Wimberly after McNeill went out in the 1st quarter last Thursday. Julius Peppers should take his lunch money today. If not, they'll have to pay special attention to him and the rest of the DL can do some damage. Last week looks to be pretty good preparation for today. On offense, the Bears know the Chargers won't give Cutler huge problems. Watch for the deep ball to come back into the offense today. If Eric Weddle comes near the line of scrimmage, that leaves 2 CBs who are susceptible to the long ball alone. Gotta be able to run the ball first though. Wouldn't be surprised if the Bears did struggle running the ball a little today, as the Chargers will commit to stopping Forte first and foremost. Lot riding on this game for the Chargers. Bears still have to take care of business with the Cowboys nipping at their heels for the final wildcard spot and Atlanta clearly not out of it yet.

Yeah Williams only being considered because of GBs pass D being last or close to it in the league. What about my QB situation?

Vick is my QB, so I'm basically screwed. Do I go with my backup, Sam Bradford, who has done nothing this year? Or do I pick up someone, with the best available being Matt Moore, John Skelton, Vince Young, and Tyler Palko? Also, pick 2 of: Maurice Jones Drew @ Cleveland Mike Williams- TB @ Green Bay Percy Harvin vs. Oakland Earl Bennett vs. San Diego

It's already Week 11, best case scenario was Carimi comes back to practice Week 14. Gets in playing shape by Week 16, which is pushing it anyway. Better to get an actual live body in there, I think. Word is Jordan Black will be signed Monday. He's not that good, but hopefully we never have to see him play.

Damnit. DJ Moore sprained his ankle in practice and is not expected to play on Sunday. Bears will mix in Corey Graham at nickel (as they did when DJ got ejected Sunday and Corey got a pick) or they will put Zach Bowman on the outside, with Tim Jennings playing a lot of nickel. Guessing Graham gets first shot and then his playing time will be performance based.

Creighton's really good. Huge win if Iowa pulls it off.

Good stuff. With my naked eye, I can see that the Bears are an all or nothing running team. Martz has designed some pretty good plays, as they have broken a lot of big runs by getting more blockers than defenders in an area, typically on the edge of the OL. But when they try to run inside, they typically get stopped. I'll be interested to see how things go the rest of the season, because when the Bears tried to run outside vs. the Lions, the LBs were keying on the pulling linemen and firing in that vacated gap to disrupt the play. To show the eyes don't always lie. Of 166 carries that Forte has had this year, 84 of them (1 more than 1/2 his carries) have gone for 3 yards or less. Pretty amazing considering that Forte is averaging 5.2 yards per carry. Of those 83 carries under 3 yards, a whopping 46 of them have been for 0 or negative yards. That means of his 120 carries where he's at least made it past the line of scrimmage, he's averaging 7.2 yards per carry. 26 of those 120 have been carries for over 10 yards.

Ugly 2nd half, lots of fouls, lots of 1-on-1 plays by Evansville that were allowed to get to the rim. The announcers were raving about how good IU was. This was probably the best they can possibly play offensively. Very high assist-basket ratio. 5 players in double figures, and 7 players with at least 8 points. Butler should be a good test at the end of the month, but Butler lost to Evansville in OT. Can't complain about tonight, but this team is still a work in progress. Watford finally showed up to play. Jones has been very good taking care of the basketball so far. You would think the team had been playing with Zeller for 3-years instead of 3 games. Have no idea how to keep people from the paint when he's out. Going to get ugly when they face a team that gets very physical with Zeller and gets him in foul trouble. Just hoping we're better than people project. 1st IU road win in 2 years.