rawaction

[expletive] Major.

That wasn't that bad. But that should not have been a penalty. The Harper hit should not have been either, though.

SANZO!!!!

terrible call! Yes!

Good news is, Lovie can't use a challenge this half now.

Hope that's not a broken arm. Helmet right on it. Be nice to get in the endzone here.

Since I had no sound, a slight but awesome buzz and no way of recording the game from last week, can you tell me how the Bears rotated the guys in and out in the middle of the defensive line. Were Adams and Toeiana rotating at one spot with Melton and Okoye rotating at the other, or were there times that Melton and Okoye were lined up at the same time? Reed looked pretty good filling in behind Idonije as well, last week. He had such an impressive final preseason game, albeit against back ups on the Browns, but it's good to see someone play so well and get rewarded the way he did. He's not big, but he sure is quick. Mostly the way you said. Though, Melton and Okoye were on the field together late in the game on sure passing downs.

Indiana University's Tracy Porter inactive for today's game. By far NO's best CB. That's huge. Bears getting lucky again. lol

Well, last week Melton was the key playing against first time starters at RG and C. This time, he's playing against 2 probowlers at OG and a C who is nowhere near short on experience. Still as important for him to have an impact. I imagine the Bears will be in a lot of nickel and a lot of Cover 2 today, because Brees has struggled against the scheme. So Merriweather and Wright have to really stay disciplined in their halves today, with Harris out. Can't allow the big play in the middle of the field. Meachem, Graham, and Henderson are not as effective in the short passing game. With Colston out, a lot of burden goes on the LBs to stop Sproles underneath and to help out on Lance Moore, who has a huge strength advantage on DJ Moore in the slot. Everyone knows about Patrick Robinson and Roman Harper, being huge liabilities in the pass D for New Orleans, but Jabari Greer can also be picked on. Can also beat their LBs with the TE or Forte. Saints won't get much pressure from the DE position, but they will still attack the Bears OTs. Watch for a lot of CB or Safety blitzes from the edge. Watch for Earl Bennett to have a bigger game in the middle of the field. Screen game has HUGE potential today. Packers also ran the ball to the tune of 4.6 yards per carry vs. NO last week. Part of it is because they spread the field, but I think the Bears will have some plays in the run game even without spreading the field. So, defense....keep everything in front of them and gang tackle. Offense, slow down the pass rush by running the ball, getting it out quickly, and screen passes. Not any different from any other Bears game.

While not the end-all, be-all....lists like the top 100 players of 2010 and guys like Dhani Jones not including Urlacher on his top 10 list of LBs, I think is more the normal perception than not. There is a common perception that Urlacher is always injured and has lost a step. Living in Pittsburgh, I hear it all the time. "Is Urlacher going to stay healthy this year?" "You guys better draft a replacement for Urlacher soon." Yet, the facts are that the games Urlacher missed in 2009 were the only games he missed other than a handful in 2004. And that Urlacher played at an elite level last year. I think that will affect his HOF voting. If he gets hurt this year, misses games, gets cut for salary cap reasons, and floats around a couple teams for a few years....his bid will be iffy, IMO. Despite the fact that I agree his numbers put him in today.

I think he is, but he's gonna need a few more pro bowls (may not get that) and a bit more hype in his later career. I don't think the rest of the county hears as much about Urlacher after his first few years where he came out and was instantly one of the best linebackers in the league. He's had a quiet last 5 or so years since his DPOY. A Superbowl victory will help his case, certainly. :-" Yeah, a ring would probably seal it for him. But I also think he gets in if he has about 3-4 healthy seasons playing at a high level. I think his career intertwining with Ray Lewis may hurt him a bit, as Urlacher is not even the "standard bearer" (no pun intended) at his position for his generation. But I think the numbers are there. The injuries are overblown as he's only missed games in 2 seperate seasons, 5 years apart. But perception is what it is. If he can play at a high level until 36 like Lewis, I think he has to get in. NOt going to be a first ballot guy, but shouldn't take long if that's the case.

Here's an interesting stat. Jay Cutler in his career is 10-4 in September with a 94.1 QB rating. Indoors, Cutler is only 5-3, but has a 103.2 QB rating with 16 TDs and 6 INTs.

I am probably the biggest Cam Newton fan around. He made legit throws today. I figured Carolina would reel him in by having him throw a bunch of screens and dumpoffs with the occassional post route mixed in. But they seemed to dial up the whole playbook, and he made every single throw.

Williams missed 1 block and Forte was stoned for a 4-yard loss by Abraham, but other than that, they were great. Really impressed with Spencer who played most of the game at RG. Babineaux is a pretty good player that got nothing done today. FYI. Henry Melton's stat line today was: 5 tackles, 2 sacks, 7 qb hurries 7 of the 11 hits on Ryan.

Agreed at all points. The pick-6 was extremely frustrating since it was so unnecessary (plus the pressure put Cutler in harms way while the Bears were up 24 in the 4th). Carimi was bad but I figure there will be tons of improvement from him as he has the talent and this was his first NFL game. Webb, on the other hand, is what he is. And he was worse than Carimi today. I thought Webb outplayed Carimi until the holding calls in the 2nd half. Both OTs were below average. Really the only players that I would give a below average grade to today. But both will get better. Webb improved as the year went on last year, he will again. Carimi definitely will.

Potentially a huge injury. Hawley © and Reynolds (RG) have combined for 19 NFL games and 0 starts. Reynolds has only played in 1 regular season game other than special teams. And he was pretty bad in preseason from all reports, winning the job based on his upside. Melton and Okoye will see them all day, and they both have looked great getting after the QB this preseason. Throw in Peppers vs. Sam Baker, and I like our chances up front. Baker has been getting progressively worse after a strong start to his career. He has only seen Peppers 1 time, and held him sackless, but I like Pep this week. I hate to toot my own horn, but I called this [expletive]! Melton was the best player on the field today. Peppers was a close 2nd. Urlacher a close 3rd. I was fairly confident in this game. I don't know why people, Bears fans included, won't admit that this is a good team. Still not without flaws, but this is the most talented offensive team the Bears have ever had in franchise history at the skilled positions.

Potentially a huge injury. Hawley © and Reynolds (RG) have combined for 19 NFL games and 0 starts. Reynolds has only played in 1 regular season game other than special teams. And he was pretty bad in preseason from all reports, winning the job based on his upside. Melton and Okoye will see them all day, and they both have looked great getting after the QB this preseason. Throw in Peppers vs. Sam Baker, and I like our chances up front. Baker has been getting progressively worse after a strong start to his career. He has only seen Peppers 1 time, and held him sackless, but I like Pep this week.

NFL lets players wear pink for breast cancer for a month, but can't do anything for 9/11 victims? They should have the players that wear this stuff, donate it and give money to families of 9/11 victims.

Home Field in the NFC could be decided by Oct 9th. Packers will have played the Saints, Bears and Falcons. Falcons would have played the Bears, Eagles, Bucs (don't count them out), and Packers. Bears will have played Falcons, Saints, Packers. Saints will have played Packers and Bears. Eagles will have played Falcons and Bucs.

Not sure if I agree with that. Brady is the reigning MVP. Vick would have been MVP in most other years. Rivers is a perennial 4000 yard passer Brees is a perennial 4000 yard passer Rodgers is a 4000 yard passer and SB MVP Schaub, Cutler, Romo, and Eli have all had 4000 yard seasons in their careers and clearly capable of doing so again. Roethlisberger is a 3X superbowl QB Ryan, Bradford, and Freeman look to be true franchise QBs. Flacco and Cassel are legit NFL starters. That's 15 of the 32 QBs who are pretty good players. Not including Peyton Manning who's hurt. McNabb and Hasselbeck who are about 2-3 years removed from great seasons. Sanchez who has led his team to 3 straight AFC championships. Orton led the league in passing last year until he got benched for a team that was out of it. Stafford, a #1 pick who would be in the top group if healthy. Kolb who could join the top group with a strong year. Cam Newton, #1 draft pick making his debut this weekend. Names like Alex Smith, Rex Grossman, Jason Campbell, Chad Henne, and whoever the hell Jacksonville is starting are the exception. QB play is much stronger across the board than it was 5-6 years ago when guys like Joey Harrington, David Carr, Aaron Brooks, and Kyle Boller were starting QBS.

I have the Dolphins at 6 wins. Buffalo at 6-7. But again, there's plenty of examples of 1500 yard RBs with a poor OL. Matt Forte played behind a terrible line last year and cleared 1600. Mendenhall cleared 1400 behind a bad OL, and he doesn't catch the ball at all. I guess it's more of me having faith that Bush will be healthy and the focal point of an offense for the first time in his career. If he gets 180-190 carries, he'll be there. And I don't understand how the defense thing is not a valid reason. They bring back the same guys that only intercepted 11 passes and caused 8 fumbles last year. I understand that some players got some valuable experience last year and could/should be better this year, but it's not going to mean much if they are constantly on the field. In my opinion to have a playoff caliber defense (aka winning team) it doesn't matter if you stop teams from moving the ball. It's how you get the ball back to your offense. The Saints and Colts won recent Superbowls with opportunistic but bad defenses. Nobody has won with good defenses that don't take the ball away. The only teams to make the playoffs last year with less than 15 INTs were the Jets (who also had a great run D), Seattle (by default at 7-9), Indianapolis and New Orleans (fantastic offenses). The top 6, and 8 of the top 10 teams in INTs won 10 games last year. The Dolphins have neither a cupcake division nor fantastic offense. If they get lucky they can pull a "Jets", but that's clearly a longshot.

Another reason to keep 4 RBs. If Bell stays on special teams, the Bears are screwed at RB.

Didn't get McCown and Jackson Missed Rodgers, Schaub, Cassel, and Henne. Schaub, McCown, and Kolb I missed.

I think they could very easily be much, much better offensively. They're not running a hyper-conservative offensive system that castrates the team's QB and top receiver. They have added significant speed at all the skill positions. My biggest question mark is really the offensive line (particularly the right side...what were these morons thinking by signing Marc Columbo, let alone starting him, let alone moving a 7-year starting tackle to guard to start him?!), but it's a huge one. If it holds up, there's room for a massive jump. If it doesn't, it could just as easily fall apart. I think the Dolphins defense will be terrific, though, and has a legit shot at #1 in the league. What Bush having a good year doesn't mean the Dolphins will be good. Go ask Frank Gore. Okay...so why do you think the Dolphins will finish in the cellar while getting 1500 yards out of Bush? QB play, OL from the C to the RT, despite the defense being strong they are on the field a long time and don't create turnovers, tied for 10th toughest schedule in the league which is even harder if you think the Cowboys and Texans will be better than they were last year.

Before you get too excited about having our own Ed Werder...this is Josina Anderson: Hell to the yeah! Damn!