rawaction

Sadly, maybe both.

I had a bad daydream yesterday. What if the Bears don't upgrade the line? Hopefully, it's BS but all this stuff about the line just needing time together. But it really doesn't seem like it. The line has improved, and a lot of the credit is going to Garza being back at RG. Will he be brought back at 32-33 years old? He has 1 more year on his deal. Chris Williams is the team's highest regarded OL. Struggled at LT, but now is at LG when the OL is improving. Does he stay at LG? J'Marcus Webb has given the team plenty of reasons to bench him, but he's 22 and the team loves his upside. Does he stay at RT? Frank Omiyale is at LT, he played well enough to the coaches that Chris Williams didn't get a shot to get his job back. Does he stay at LT? If all those answers are "YES", then you only have Kreutz at C, who is a FA. I can't imagine them bringing him back, but an upgrade at C is not nearly enough for this OL.

Yeah, played really well in the 2nd offensively. Still gave up 45 on D though. Only 3 TOs in the 2nd half. Boarded better. Shot much better. Moved the ball much better (10 assists to 5 in the 1st half). Watford is much better than he was last year. Rivers is much more under control. Creek is coming back to form. Yeah our offense isn't going to be good enough to overcome terrible defense. That and if Hulls is going to play the way he did last night I don't think VJIII needs to be running the point anymore. His assist/turnover ratio is just bad. Dude is a scorer, let him run off screens to get some shots instead of handling the basketball. I do think VJIII is more dangerous scoring with the ball than off of screens. And Hulls is still deadly w/ the catch and shoot. But you can still go to that when necessary. The base offense should not be Jones running the offense. If you need some points and Watford isn't on the floor, then get the ball to Jones in the half court and isolate.

Yeah, played really well in the 2nd offensively. Still gave up 45 on D though. Only 3 TOs in the 2nd half. Boarded better. Shot much better. Moved the ball much better (10 assists to 5 in the 1st half). Watford is much better than he was last year. Rivers is much more under control. Creek is coming back to form.

No he's the 3rd. They also have Zac Robinson out of Okla St.

They project us losing the NE, Minny and GB games. But seriously, why is there a sentiment that the Vikings are all of a sudden a tough game? Because they dropped a whopping 17 on the Redskins? Coaching change. They think it's going to have the same results as it did in Dallas because the teams have similar talent. Of course, Dallas' momentum only lasted for 2 wins.

He's been wonderful this year. The Bears scouting giveth and also taketh away. Melton was a great find as a college RB, turned DE, who the Bears then bulked up and turned to a DT. Of course, that's the same draft they picked Jarron Gilbert.

Can't wait til Zambrano throws at his head. I can't imagine they were best buds in the Cubs clubhouse.

Same on CBSSportsline. For the sake of griping, I will gripe about the Steelers being ahead of the Bears. The common games between them and the Bears are Miami and Buffalo. Steelers beat Miami by 1 thanks to a ruling worse than the Bears win over Detroit. Took them til OT to beat the Bills. Bears beat the Dolphins 16-0 and the Bills by a TD. Also, I'd be willing to bet that the Bears don't get wiped out at home vs. NE as the Steelers did. Steelers only wins vs. teams above .500? Miami- see above Tampa- who is only over .500 because of their weak schedule. Fewer quality wins + less impressive common game wins = Bears should be ahead. Probably won't change much though...Steelers have a really light schedule left...Jets are really the only team worth a damn left for them. Didn't the Steelers make Atlanta look bad in week 2? Oh crap. Week 1. I forgot about that. That is a good win especially with Dixon as QB.

People are going to start claiming conspiracy if the Bears face another team with a major injury right before facing them.

After all that I would still bet on Pittsburgh if they faced off in a neutral site. Yeah, me too. Not a good matchup, but not really many teams have a better resume than the Bears at this point.

Actually, now that I look at their schedule.... New Orleans only has wins over Tampa and Pittsburgh. They were beaten by double digits at home vs. Cleveland and at Arizona. Carolina, Dallas, and SF also took them to the wire.

Same on CBSSportsline. For the sake of griping, I will gripe about the Steelers being ahead of the Bears. The common games between them and the Bears are Miami and Buffalo. Steelers beat Miami by 1 thanks to a ruling worse than the Bears win over Detroit. Took them til OT to beat the Bills. Bears beat the Dolphins 16-0 and the Bills by a TD. Also, I'd be willing to bet that the Bears don't get wiped out at home vs. NE as the Steelers did. Steelers only wins vs. teams above .500? Miami- see above Tampa- who is only over .500 because of their weak schedule. Fewer quality wins + less impressive common game wins = Bears should be ahead.

So, Denard Robinson was Big Ten POTY, but not named to 1st team all conference.

I'm not really arguing that we shouldn't seek a replacement for Dewitt if one is out there. I'm more questioning how confident we should be that Hudson constitutes enough of an upgrade to be worth the extra cost. Hudson signed a 1-year, $5 mil deal with the Twins last year and I'd say that's what we're looking at for him this year. Is a max of 2 wins worth $5 mil and can that money be used more efficiently elsewhere or for a different player? Exactly my point. DeWitt is not great (or desirable) by any means, but Hudson is likely going to be a very similar player offensively and while he will be much better defensively, it's not enough to pay him 4.5Mil more for it. Hudson wasn't good last year. Isn't going to get better at 33. Go with DeWitt, who could get better, or go with someone actually good if you have to pay for it.

Agreed. He's a wonderful player, but he has already had health issues. Doesn't seem like a wise move. This ain't the NFL. He can't hold out for a better deal. Why give him money just because you can?

Says who? Orlando Hudson is going to be 33 years old in 2 weeks and is coming off a season of a .338 OBP. And nearly all of his PAs came hitting in front of Joe Mauer. Hudson (2010)- .338 OBP, .372 SLG DeWitt (2010)- .336 OBP, .373 SLG They are almost literally the same player offensively. Hudson's strong defensively, but he also cost $5Mil vs. DeWitt at 410K.

And that MNF game comes off 10 days of rest following their Thursday game last week. If you are going to have a really good team come to Chicago, it's ideal to have them come to town on a shorter than normal week and a huge emotional game against a division or conference rival. Philly came off playing the Giants Sunday night.

Yes. I think DE is good, because Peppers and Izzy have been wonderful all year. You still have Wootton who you hope can contribute next year and Melton has flipped over there at times this year. At DT: Adams is a FA, Harrison is a candidate to be cut, Harris is overpaid and a candidate to get cut also. That leaves Melton and Toeina at DT. Even if you bring back Harris, I think you need a body at DT, and a top tier talent. Also, OL is still the #1 priority, but I still think interior OL is a bigger need than OT, and starting caliber interior OL can be had in the 2nd and 3rd rounds. Say what you want about Webb and Omiyale, but the team likes what Omiyale has done, and Webb is still just 22. And if any of them fail, you still have Chris Williams who's 24. Interior, you have Kreutz who's going to be gone. Garza who's up there in age. And Williams playing out of position. Backups are an undrafted guy and a converted college TE. If I go DT 1st, I'd probably go OG 2nd and OC 3rd or 4th. And wait til 1st round next year for a legit OT, because I really don't like this class of tackles. It depends on who is there when they pick but I would prefer going OL in the first round. The offensive line is still bad enough that I'd like to see them pull a 49ers and go OL with their first 2 picks. You also have to consider WR if they can get a big guy who can get separation - a guy like Baldwin or Blackmon might fall to them in the first round or a guy like Hankerson in the 2nd. I'm not a big fan of Baldwin. I know he has QB issues, but a legit #1 WR should take over games in college against a weak Big East. He doesn't demand the ball. He doesn't get good separation. He's a tall possession WR. There hasn't been too many successful 6'5" possession WRs.

Was thinking about this recently. I think if you include front 7's there's only a couple teams close to matching those 3. If you include all 11, there's more.

This is true. Heck, I'd almost rather have the 5th seed then win the division with the 3rd seed. Either way you are playing on the first weekend and either way, you are playing on the road in the next round and likely the next 2 rounds. I'd trade a home game against the Saints for a road game against the Rams or Seahawks anyday, and I don't care if both teams have good home records. Eh, I'm not so sure I'd hate to face New Orleans in Chicago in January. Actually, if the Bears are the 3-seed and have to play in the 1st round, they most likely won't be facing NO. They'd get Eagles, Giants, Packers in round 1 and then likely get NO in round 2.

This is not really a scary game in the sense that the Lions are an underrated team. It's more in the sense that they have some really tough matchups for the Bears. Suh is probably the best interior DL in the league right now. Avril back means they should be able to get pressure w/ 4, leaving everyone else to cover. Detroit is actually decent in pass D (18th). Run D sucks, but the Bears can't run the football (3 big runs yesterday not withstanding). I think the Bears D may come out a little too relaxed early (huge primetime effort vs. Miami, followed by chasing Vick down all day yesterday), and we will see a tight game in the first half. But I think when all is said and done, the D will make a play or Shaun Hill will help them out.

Yes. I think DE is good, because Peppers and Izzy have been wonderful all year. You still have Wootton who you hope can contribute next year and Melton has flipped over there at times this year. At DT: Adams is a FA, Harrison is a candidate to be cut, Harris is overpaid and a candidate to get cut also. That leaves Melton and Toeina at DT. Even if you bring back Harris, I think you need a body at DT, and a top tier talent. Also, OL is still the #1 priority, but I still think interior OL is a bigger need than OT, and starting caliber interior OL can be had in the 2nd and 3rd rounds. Say what you want about Webb and Omiyale, but the team likes what Omiyale has done, and Webb is still just 22. And if any of them fail, you still have Chris Williams who's 24. Interior, you have Kreutz who's going to be gone. Garza who's up there in age. And Williams playing out of position. Backups are an undrafted guy and a converted college TE. If I go DT 1st, I'd probably go OG 2nd and OC 3rd or 4th. And wait til 1st round next year for a legit OT, because I really don't like this class of tackles.

Brees, Big Ben, and Rivers all are similar to Vick in the aspect that they would rather throw the ball down the field. Rodgers does too, but not as much, and he will also take off and run. Brees and Brady are the only QBs that I think can have long-term success doing that (of the guys you named). That's my big fear too. It's what we saw in the Superbowl vs. the Colts. Colts took what the Bears gave them and were great in the redzone, so bend but don't break didn't work vs. them.

Yes, those are justifications for having doubts about the Bears, but they aren't justification for ignoring other quality wins and pretending they can't possibly be better than those games indicated. Oh I agree. No doubt. But the quality wins were always met with "BUT" - But Dallas turned out to be a bad team - But the Vikings turned out to be a bad team - But the Packers had 14 penalties. - But Miami was down to a 3rd string QB and backup OL It's all BS, but just playing devil's advocate.