rawaction

Tom Brady had the best completion percentage against vs. the Bears defense in the history of the franchise. 6 of the top 14 comp % games have come in the last 2 years (Rodgers, Brady, Dalton, Brees, Foles and yes, Tannehill). 4 of those 6 have come in the team's last 10 games. So, uh, F anyone bitching about run defense last year. It was and always will remain secondary to the secondary.

Green Bay looked like crap last night for the most part and Aaron Rodgers got hurt. Of course, he'll be 150% with the off week and they will probably figure out how to play some semblance of run D in the meantime and they'll beat the dog [expletive] out of the Bears.

Well, you never know.... Winston could get caught on camera killing a hooker and be suspended, though since it's FSU it would probably only be a couple quarters As long as he's not yelling obscenities at the hooker.

He has the room to add bulk to get to 230, while not losing speed. I actually think the benefits are greater with him at LB over SS. At LB, he's potentially a special player with more speed than most LBs in the league. At S, he could still be really good, but is just bigger than most safeties, which has some benefits (see Chancellor) but isn't a necessity. I think if you can find a legit SS and play him at LB, that makes your pass D even better as you now have a LB that can cover TEs, leaving an extra guy in the back 4 in the base defense. To add: even if you play him at SS in the base defense, he's going to be a LB in the nickel anyway or at least play underneath kinda like Chancellor is for Seattle. Also, I've seen Thompson listed as 231 in a few places. He's a lot like Shazier who went 15th to Pittsburgh this year and Shazier plays inside in a 3-4. I think Thompson could play SLB or WLB in the 4-3 or weak side ILB or OLB in a 3-4 if he had to.

Standing between IU and a bowl game are Michigan and Penn St. I never thought I'd see the day where IU could realistically win both of these games. However, with breaking in a new freshman QB who was absolutely terrible last week, there's about a 10% chance IU wins either of these, despite the fact they should have about 97 sacks combined in the next 2 weeks.

Still might have one in Marquess Wilson who should be back in the 2nd half. 1. They have one starting LB in Bostic. 2. Or a G and kick Long to RT. 3 & 5. Yes. 4. We might also have to worry about replacing Brandon Marshall's production if he spirals. But I agree that speed on the outside would do wonders for this offense. Hopefully Wilson comes back healthy and can make an impact. 7. Jennings hasn't been that great but CB is way too low on the need list. I find it weird that many members in the national media seem to think CB is the Bears' biggest weakness - they probably see that Peanut is done but Fuller was drafted specifically to replace Tillman. Yeah, I think Bostic gets 1 of the spots. Christian Jones probably with a good shot to be the SLB. I'd probably draft LB/S 1-2 depending on where the Bears pick. Shaq Thompson is the only LB I'd feel comfortable taking top 12-15 and he's a WLB, but I'd have a hard time passing on Landon Collins if he's there and Prewitt won't be there in the 2nd. If the Bears do their usual and just miss the playoffs picking 18-20, Bernardrick McKinney comes into play with the 1st pick. I don't know what I think about him, but he has great size and can run and can play Mike LB. If they somehow make the playoffs and pick in the 20s, Prewitt and Perryman are my top guys at S and LB. Could always go for a potential edge rusher though as there are a TON of those guys in this draft. Oversized, undersized, and prototype 4-3 DEs. As for needs, I'd rank them similar. 1. Athletic LB. Need to increase team speed on the back 7. 2. Safety. Conte on a 1-year deal maybe? Then let the rookie, Conte, Vereen, and Mundy (who may have broken a PFF record low this week based on the eye test) compete for 2 spots. 3. OT. 4. CB. This position isn't as deep as it was going into the season. Hayden got cut. Frey got cut. Tillman got hurt. It's Jennings, a special teamer (McManis), and 4 rookie CBs on the roster. I'd bring in a (young) vet that has experience playing the nickel. 5. I have 0 doubt the Bears are going to draft a return specialist/speed WR. Even if Wilson comes back and is good, he's not really a speed guy. Look for the mid rounds (3-4) for them to go after a Tyler Lockett, Philip Dorsett or Stephon Diggs. 6. DE. I'm looking for a pure pass rusher. The Bears need a consistent edge presence. Young has been good, but it seems like the more he's out there the less he's effective at getting to the QB. The Bears need a guy that is what Jared Allen is supposed to be. This has potential to go way up if the right person is available thru the draft or free agency. Or way down if Cornelius Washington or David Bass play really well coming in after Houston is almost certainly IR'd this week.

This needs to happen because [expletive] the Bears.

They just lost 4 points by not throwing to a real offensive player.

Damn. This sucks. Cardinal or not. Really liked his game. Hell, I traded for him in my dynasty league at the deadline this season I liked him so much.

That's an over simplification that also completely ignores how bad the special teams are, too. "The game" isn't just throwing out such a ridiculously lopsided team and hoping the offense carries it; the Bears are too deeply flawed for that to work. How many competitive teams go out there with one of the very worst defenses in the league two years running and without an elite QB (and apparently questionable, at best, coaching all around) and kick ass? I like Cutler and he can be damn good, but it's becoming more and more clear that he's got the guy to carry such a flawed team. The Bears have to be more balanced, and no, that's not saying the defense has to be amazing or even good, but both it and the ST can't be horrendous. Their offense can be fantastic, but it's set up where everything has to run perfectly. Marshall and Alshon can't be hobbled at all and the OL can't be injured. Cutler was knocked out last year and yet they were still able to succeed with the other offensive parts working. This whole team is a cobbled together mess. This can't just be chalked up only as the offense underperforming; the rest of the team being SO bad and not improving at all off of last year is crippling and inexcusable. You can't say I'm ignoring special teams when this is the first mention of ST in this conversation. I'm ignoring it because it wasn't a topic of discussion. I didn't say "the game" was to be a lopsided team. I said "the game" is not having a defense that can stop anybody, because those don't really exist much anymore due to the rules allowing offenses to do whatever they want. And I never said it was all on the offense. But it is the biggest reason. They've turned the ball over too much, they haven't scored enough. Again, the defense and special teams aren't why this team has lost most games. There's no team that could have beaten the Pats today or the Packers a month ago with that defense, but bad turnovers and not enough points is why the Bears didn't beat Buffalo, Miami or Carolina. Especially for a team that was supposed to be able to consistently score enough points when they brought back all 11 starters from a team that did score enough points if it would have had a non-disasterous defense. Hell, the fact that the offense knows the defense is the weak link of the 2 units and doesn't do enough to even keep them off the field is indictment enough.

Slauson likely has a torn pec. If so, he's done for the season. Banner year folks! Banner year. FWIW, Slauson and Houston probably out for the year after having missed 0 games in their careers before September.

Hugely disagree with that; we were expecting/hoping for a mediocre defense. The latter isn't what anyone (I hope) was expecting; they are literally dependent on the turnover and have absolutely no other way of stopping the opposing team. But one would assume the offensive talent is still there, unless we're just assuming they've forgotten how to play. The defense was garbage last year and has only gotten worse; that's far more concerning to me because there's not even a baseline of tolerable that we can hope they can back to since for a season and a half now they've shown nothing. An offense simply isn't going to carry a team if you've effectively abandoned half of the team based on the product you've put on the field. Well you were wrong hoping for mediocre. They brought back the same shitty LB corps. Got older at S and only improved at nickel with a rookie. With injuries, both units that were among the worst in the league last year got worse. The hope was the DL would hide the deficiencies, but they haven't, though the Bears have been solid against the run for the most part. They have NOT gotten worse. And that's pretty much how the game works now. Nobody can stop any good offense. You hope for a big mistake on the offense (turnover, blown protection for sack, penalty). And there are examples of teams who have basically ignored half the ball and been successful. Last year's Colts, SB winning Saints, etc. Their offenses have been elite though, and the Bears aren't there despite having all the tools to be there and some precedence for it to have happened this year by now.

This has not been anywhere near a middle of the pack defense. That is the crux of the issue. Yet and still, if the offense was living up to its end of the bargain by scoring points and stopping terrible turnovers, they'd be 5-3. Look, I'm not arguing the defense is good. But they've been about what is expected. Completely exposed by great QBs, completely dependent on the turnover. And frankly, for a team that has invested so much in the offensive side of the ball in talent, money and coaching the fact that they aren't good enough offensively is much more concerning.

We wanted lower middle of the pack defense, at least the realistic ones did. That's exactly what they've been. Maybe I did simplify it too much originally, but the defense has played well enough in 4 of 8 games that if the offense was playing the way it was capable, they'd have 1 more win. And it's well within the realm of possibility that they win the Miami game, especially since the defense gave up 10 of those 27 on a combined 27 yards due to that poor offense. Oh and what I said and what you are interpreting I said are 2 different things.

Wha? That's not how averages work. That's not a guarantee they're scoring 28 or more. I understand that. Point again...... That's not the 10th best scoring offense in the league. If the Bears were 10th per game, they'd probably have 5 wins instead of 5 losses. Maybe. Again, the defense is allowing scoring that even the best offense would have trouble consistently beating. The defense is now the glaring problem; even if they were putting up points like last year there's a good chance they'd only have one more win. The defense has been the glaring problem for 2 years now. But this team scored 28 points per game, brought back all 11 starters, and should be better. If the team is still blaming the defense, they're wrong. This team is built to score points. A lot of them. The way the season has gone, the Buffalo, Carolina and Miami losses are on the offense.

Wha? That's not how averages work. That's not a guarantee they're scoring 28 or more. I understand that. Point again...... That's not the 10th best scoring offense in the league. If the Bears were 10th per game, they'd probably have 5 wins instead of 5 losses.

Your point was ignorant if it ignores the contributions of the defense. That is the point. I didn't even mention the defense because I was disputing the fact that that is the 10th best offensive output in the league.

Good enough for 10th in the league in scoring...and now the defense...32nd in league in scoring. I was going to say that they're above average. 23 20 19 38 31 13 27 51 Yay defense? That's a 5-3 or 6-2 team with what is supposed to be an elite offense. 4 of those are going to easily trouble or trounce even an elite offense. They scored 28 per last year. If they score 28 this year that's 5 wins. Given how the Carolina game went that was also winnable.

Good enough for 10th in the league in scoring...and now the defense...32nd in league in scoring. Cant be 10th per game. That's all that matters. No, I'm pretty sure the defense matters too... Yeah because that was my [expletive] point

Good enough for 10th in the league in scoring...and now the defense...32nd in league in scoring. I was going to say that they're above average. 23 20 19 38 31 13 27 51 Yay defense? That's a 5-3 or 6-2 team with what is supposed to be an elite offense.

Good enough for 10th in the league in scoring...and now the defense...32nd in league in scoring. Cant be 10th per game. That's all that matters.

Assuming Houston has to miss time, the Bears will have Bushrod, Slauson, Allen, Garza and Houston who had combined to not miss a single game combined in the last 8 years....all miss at least 1 game.

Torn ACL? Hahaha. You [expletive]

I change my mind. Love making this offense play as many plays as possible. Keep them all out there for 60.

Wow.