raw

There are tons of stunt (lifting, flips) injuries in cheerleading.

The thing is.....if you play the game the right way, concussions should mostly be avoided. It's kinda like driving. If you drive within the law, your risk of an accident is much lower. Actually, a football collision and a car wreck are very similar in terms of effect. And the only worry is other people playing the game/driving in a way that is not within the rules. My son has played since he was 6. I made sure I coached when he was younger so I could make sure he's playing the right way. USA Football has required coaches (at all levels) to be certified for at least the last 5-6 years, which also teaches completely different tackling techniques that I was taught. I think that will help in the long-run when the USA Football taught kids are up at the higher level of football. The targeting and helmet use rules at the college and NFL level are starting to help as well. You no longer have the Steve Atwaters of the world destroying anyone over the middle of the field. And Atwater paled in comparison to a Jack Tatum. My son is 14 now and has never had a concussion. He's played LB every year too, so he has proven he can keep his head out of tackles. My nephew is in his 10th NFL season as a TE and never had a concussion, so he has proven he can keep his head up while running to protect himself. It's really not all that difficult to play the game safely. It's mostly stubborness with guys who can't give up the olden days.....just like it is with people who drive too fast and reckless.

My theory is every concussion is not created equal. And everyone has different effects. Like Tua literally looks dead every time. Brisker doesn't. IIRC, all Brisker's we have heard about after he's completed games, so he's getting delayed symptoms which can happen. Can also have a really bad headache caused with no concussion symptoms. My son's team had 4 kids have concussion symptoms in Saturday's game. 2 of them are playing this week, cleared today. 1 is out this week, at least. The other was life-flighted from the field is out for the season, but he was able to go to the homecoming dance the same night after being released from the hospital.

Partially yeah, but that's not actually the best or correct way to lower your target area. Best way is to run low with your head up and just drop your hips/bend your knees. If you need to lower a shoulder, you can, but there's ways to do that with your head facing forward as well.

Bears have a better record than 2 of those teams (with the caveat Philly has only played 4). Of course, Washington has a better record than almost all those teams. I also like looking at point differential, especially early in the year. It feels like that tells you how good teams actually are with all the varying data early. And right now only the Vikings, Commanders, and the 2-3 Saints have a better point diff than the Bears.......with the caveat that 26 of their 28 point diff happened Sunday.

They'll never consistently call that, because refs are creatures of habit. They already put an emphasis on it, so you will see it at times, but it'll never be enough to stop guys from lowering their head like that.

So Brisker is technically NOT ruled out yet. He didn't travel with the team last night, but he still has a chance to clear concussion protocol and catch a later flight to join the team before Sunday. He self-reported concussion symptoms. So I'm assuming he'll get evaluated today and tomorrow to confirm if there is a concussion or not. If it was just a migraine or something, he could still play. That being said, see you after the bye Jaquan.

Rodgers was cheeks yesterday. He looked like several other sure fire HOFers who have overstayed their ability to compete at a high level. Accuracy was always great for him. He threw several that weren't even close

Also apparently the Bears got pressure on 20 of 41 dropbacks, which ESPN reports as the highest % of pressures per dropback since it started being recorded.....which is odd because NFL next gen credited the Texans with over 50% pressures vs. the Bears.

2 things can be true.

So the blitz thing was actually what I logged in to talk about. The numbers vs the blitz are great. That's on Caleb and Waldron making adjustments. Part of the reason he's only seen 19 blitzes the last 2 weeks is the adjustment to go to the no-huddle. I LOVED the drive in the 2nd half yesterday where the Bears basically went no-huddle with an empty backfield every play and let Caleb throw 6 of 7 plays. The Panthers weren't capable of doing anything to stop it. But most importantly, the thing the no-huddle does is tire out defenders. Tired defenders naturally don't rush the passer as well when they aren't gassed. The underrated part though is in no-huddle, you are seeing basic defenses. The defense doesn't have time to matchup to personnel changes if there aren't any. And can really only run basic coverage shells. The DC doesn't have time to call in exotic disguises and blitzes when the offense is back at the LOS, because the LB turns his head to communicate to the rest of the D, and you have a RB running right past him for 10 yards (Bears were empty, but did have Swift in the game). Defenses only have so many things they can check into on the fly as well. And by play 4 or 5, you hear the 3-4 checks for the 2nd time, you know exactly what coverage the defense is in. This also works well in empty sets because the defense can have more checks when the run is a possibility as well. I'm pretty sure the drive I'm talking about specifically is the FG drive with the Caleb TD run called back. Just a masterful drive, even though it didn't end the way we hoped.

We'd be scraping Fields' corpse off the field if he was still here. But yeah, it's a nice change and it's even changed from Week 2 down in Houston. Of course, Houston not only had unblocked blitzers, they also had unblocked guys on the front 4, so I'm good with some excuses there, especially considering Caleb's 2nd game and all

Wow, this happened! And they actually still left points on the board. Clipping call took away 4 points. A botched 4th and short again and a DJ Moore drop late took away at least 3 points as well. A missed PAT, a missed 2pt conversion. The Bears were legitimately close to putting up a 50 burger. This is the way you beat teams like the Panthers. Edit: I guess the run game didn't have the efficiency. But to be fair, they had 6 plays where they needed and tried to get 2 yards or less. And typically, if you only try to get 1-2 yards, you will only get 1 or 2 yards at most (and obviously can only get 1-2 at the 1-2 yard line). If you take out those plays 6 carries for 3 yards and the 3 kneeldowns from Bagent, That takes them to 29 carries for 129, over 4 ypc, though that does include Caleb's yards.

If there was ever a game for the offense to have a breakout performance........it would have been the Colts game. Oh or the Rams game. Or this week vs Carolina. And if that doesn't work out, the offense is certainly due to break out in London vs Jacksonville, or coming off a bye vs Washington, or vs Arizona, or certainly against the Patriots. Obviously, this offense is a work in progress with a rookie QB learning his weapons. An offensive line learning how to block guys that either rush straight through them (Jones) or don't rush straight (everyone else). And an offensive coordinator learning his ass from a hole in the ground. But this is an unprecedented run of 7 straight games against bottom 10 defenses in EPA per pass play. Most are also bad against the run as well. In some ways, the Bears are getting close to looking like a legit offensive team. The Bears went from a 0 offensive TD game that they won, to score 1 TD and having a chance late despite 2 INTs, to a 395 total yard outburst....while only scoring 16 points, to a season's best 24 points all on offense.....while only gaining 265 total yards. But last week's 265 did feature a strong 4.7 yards per carry and a turnover free checkdown fest of efficient offense. Maybe it's something to build on going forward. Or maybe it's just another game in a choppy rookie season for a mediocrely coached team. The Panthers defense does nothing well. They have given up the 4th most rushing yards per game, the 5th most passing yards per game, and a whopping 32.3 points per game, easily the league's worst. They only have 4 turnovers in 4 games. They have 5 sacks in 4 games, with 3 of them coming with a loss of 3 yards or less. So, their 1 sack per game isn't even necessarily a drive killer. On offense, the Panthers are actually, low key, pretty tough. While their overall numbers aren't very good, it's worth noting that the change from Bryce Young to Andy Dalton has made a world of difference. They went from 120 yards passing, 175 total yards and 6.5 points per game to 270 passing, 400+ total and 30 points per game with the QB change. And certainly if the Bears allow them to play with the Dalton level offense, they will have a tough time winning this game. The Panthers spent a TON of money on the interior of their OL, and it's worked wonders. After Young got sacked 6 times in the first 2 games, they've only allowed 2 since, including 0 last week (though the Bengals have the worst pass rush I've ever seen). They are also running the ball pretty well with their top RB, Chuba Hubbard averaging a whopping 5.4 yards per carry, despite starting the season with a 6 carry, 14 yard Week 1 performance. The Bears have gotten a lot of good stuff from their interior DL of Dexter and Billings, but their work will be cut out for them this week facing like $200M worth of interior linemen. The DEs will have to squeeze inside on the run game and most importantly, the LBs will need to step up and make plays. This is obviously a game the Bears SHOULD win. They are at home, they are facing an inferior team. Said team is not as desperate as they would have been had they not gotten that Week 3 win. If the Bears can combine the opportunistic defense of Week 1, with the efficiency and run game of Week 4, and the big pass play explosion of Week 3....we can finally see the full potential of this team. But most likely, we will be frustrated by the first half and the halftime adjustments allow the Bears to squeak out a much closer game than this should be.

Yeah, he has a back injury that has been nagging him since camp started. There were concerns that it was becoming too much this week and there were plans discussed (Amegadjie at RT or Pryor at RT, Davis at RG) if he had to miss this past Sunday. He's definitely frustrated more with the playcalling than the QB. There isn't a ton of Caleb missing him on routes (he was open for a TD on the play Rome got held with no call in the end zone), but his route tree has been really lacking. They are using him like they should use a guy like Velus. A lot of screens and short stuff to let him make a play after the catch, when he's really good before the catch as well. Week 1 was heavily focused on Keenan as the 1st read. Week 2 was just a bloodbath from the OL. Weeks 3 and 4 was even more of the short stuff. I think after Getsy, DJ is just sick of terrible playcalling....hence the offensive captains meeting with Waldron last week.

The Bears will be favorites in 3 of those 5 games, I'm assuming. Maybe if they lay an egg vs Carolina and the Jags get a W vs the Colts that may change, but they also maybe get a boost by coming off their bye before going to Washington for Caleb's homecoming. Of course, Washington has a pseudo bye vs Carolina the week before.

LETS GOOOOOOOO!

This one wasn't in question. C said after the game the guard tapped him to snap it and it was too early.

The C snapped it before he was supposed to

I think this is actually a favorable matchup for the Bears. The Rams are another bad defensive team, but are traveling to Chicago for a 10am start their time instead of being home in a must win (for playoff hopes couldn't start 0-3) against a division rival last week. The Rams have been bad at stopping the run. Worse at stopping the pass. Of course, the Bears couldn't take advantage of the worst run D last week, but I do think you'll see a bit more success this week. The Bears should also be able to throw the ball against this team. The Rams do put decent pressure on the QB, with Jared Verse and Braden Fiske the top 2 rookies in pressures and Byron Young can also get after it. But they have combined for just 4 sacks at a team, so they are either getting pressure late in the snap or not finishing. Obviously, the Bears have made lesser defensive fronts look like stars in recent years, but the Rams are very young upfront, which can be manipulated by good pocket movement and keeping them off balance with enough run production. The Rams DBs aren't much to speak of. They have allowed a 100 yard WR every week so far, which include career games for all of Jameson Williams, Marvin Harrison Jr and Juwan Jennings. They have done a decent job holding down Amon-Ra and Aiyuk, but haven't been very tough on TEs either. With Keenan Allen likely back this week, I expect Caleb to have a plethora of weapons available at his disposal with 4 guys that should be able to win consistently, if given enough time to throw. Stafford is one of those good, pocket QBs that the Bears have typically struggled against under Flus. Stafford won't necessarily give the ball away like Levis or Richardson, but I have to think down his top 2 WRs and going against a really good Bears DB group will be enough to at least not let sit back there and pick the defense apart. The Rams OL also has quite a few injuries, so I'd like to think the Bears can generate some pressure with the front 4. LA's OL injuries have also led to a pretty slow start in the run game. Kyren Williams, last year's breakout RB, is down 2 whole yards per carry from last year's 5.0. They've had a tough time getting push up front and he's not quite the magician that Jonathan Taylor is at finding creases and breaking big runs. I'm not expecting a big breakout party for the Bears offense or anything, but I do think they have enough to beat a battered roster, at home, that's not particular good at anything, traveling 2 timezones for an early kickoff, that doesn't have the desperation that they had to win last week.

The scheme actually had Kmet AND Marcedes Lewis on that DE. Lewis was there and just pushed Latu to the outside which left Kmet alone, while also helping propel Latu to turn the corner and beat him for the sack.

Found this funny.......Only QBs with no INTs are: Josh Allen- early MVP favorite for 3-0 Bills Then there's: Jayden Daniels- a rookie not known for his accuracy who also leads the league in completion % Joe Burrow- of the 0-3 Bengals, who look mostly terrible as a team and his arm looks weak Jacoby Brissett- who is last in the league in passing yards per game for QBs who have started 3 games.

He threw a pick on Sunday. Tried to drill it in a tight window like 7 yards away and it bounced in the air and was picked by a defensive tackle, I believe. He has also fumbled 2 snaps, I don't think they lost either. IIRC, 1 was his fault, 1 wasn't

Yeah, when people were saying "oh he's just like Fields" when there was a debate on what the Bears should do with #1, I remember saying on Twitter, if they are the exact same QB at reading defenses and lack of anticipation (they aren't), that Caleb would be an improvement simply because his quicker release allows the ball to get there that 1/2 second sooner.

It was a joke. The OL has been fine blocking guys straight up (except for Darnell Wright vs the Texans), they just can't handle games or stunts up front. Coincidentally, the Colts didn't run any stunts that I remember?