raw

Been hearing all offseason how Trubisky wasn't good enough. Been waiting 8 months for this......and Trubisky isn't good enough tonight.

Yeah, thats about right.

Gabriel has to tap that right foot. No excuse. Mitch has actually thrown deep outside very well today.

But you didn't see the hold right at the QB?

Well, Trubisky's playing better. The other 10.....meh.

Oh Mitchell. Some good stuff on that drive, but the bad stuff cost them points.

Montgomery could have stayed on his feet. Ugly catch.

Cohen 3 touches, Miller 0, Gabriel 0.

F are you doing Nagy. Run the damn ball.

Floyd has like 60% of his sacks against Rodgers/Bakhtiari. It's really strange.

That's grounding.

Throwing the ball would have been nice too.

Bulaga has the most tackles in this game

Asking for trouble if you run against this defense. RRH is unblockable so far.

You got a RB that's broken at least 1 tackle on every play and you run up the middle with a WR.

They throw it up and get a TD. SMH

Yeah, this is annoying. He can't make that throw, decision, anything.

Playcalling is boring. Started a too cute, now too conservative.

Jonathan Bullard cut. Does not make the team the last year of his rookie deal. Nick Williams will be the 5th DL, may not be a 6th. Also, Alex Bars is whatever he wants to be guard, tackle, center.....I stand corrected.

Bars is not a tackle. He can do it in a pinch, and I'm sure Heistand can make him more than serviceable there. But he should be considered the future at whatever guard spot Whitehair is not playing.

This is much less true if Trubisky is legit, but yeah it does seem like teams that built a comparably dominant defence without a stud QB get a two year window. The first year is usually the bigger year for the defense too...OTOH I'm basing this mostly off the 2009 Jets who became the less dominant but very very slightly more balanced 2010 Jets, but I feel like this happened to the early 2000s Ravens too with them managing to pull out a SB win and then land Suggs in 2003 Yeah, on one hand, if Trubisky is even a slightly better Alex Smith (and Nagy similar to his mentor, Andy Reid), then the Bears window could be open for a decent amount of seasons (although it's debatable about how wide that window is open without a GREAT QB). On the other, the Bears have a lot of money tied into the defense (and soon to add Jackson), which will almost certainly get them in trouble as that's where performance can fall off after prime years.

My guess at 53-man roster: QB (2)- Trubisky, Daniel. No-brainer. Bray had a shot, and granted it's been w/ guys that aren't making the team, but he's been trash in games. A lot of Bears fans hate Daniel, but he's exactly what a backup QB is. A dude that knows the offense and can help by communicating well w/ the starter. But also a dude that you never want to actually play. If he does have to play, see last year. Short passes, gimmick plays, letting Cohen throw the ball. No reason to care about the #2 QB. RB (4)- Cohen, Montgomery, Davis, Whyte Jr. Top 3 set in stone. The 4th comes down to draft pick, Whyte vs. a UDFA, Nall. Whyte has uncoachable speed, and Nall can likely be kept on the practice squad. Outside chance of all 5 kept. Bears kept Howard, Cohen, Cunningham, Mizzell (as a RB), and Mike Burton (as a FB) last year. WR (6)- Robinson, Miller, Gabriel, Patterson, Wims, Ridley Marvin Hall has a shot to make the team, but he's not much of a route runner and didn't look like a good option to return kicks as a backup either. I honestly would dangle Wims as a potential trade target. If the Bears can get a potential guy for the pass rush rotation for their 5th WR, I'd gladly make that trade. TE (4)- Burton, Shaheen, Braunecker, Sowell Bears have some potential sleepers here in Ian Bunting, Dax Raymond, and Jesper Horstead, but all project as better receivers than blockers now and in the future. Sowell makes the team as he's the only of the 4 that can block adequately. 2 of the 3 above probably go to the practice squad. OL (9)- Leno, Whitehair, Daniels, Long, Massie, Larsen, Coward, Bars, Clemmings Starting 5 pretty well set. Larsen has the ability to back up OG or C so he's the 6th. Bars has been strong thru 2 preseason games, and is too talented to try to pass thru waivers. Kept a 2nd backup tackle because IDK Coward's status w/ the elbow injury. But if he can go, the 9th lineman would be a prime cut candidate when you need someone at another position. Would also watch for a released player as a swing tackle. Coward didn't look great week 1 of preseason. DL (5)- Hicks, Goldman, Robertson-Harris, Nichols, Bullard Top 4 are a great group, set in stone. Bullard probably stays as he does provide a decent rep or two per game inside, though not the best fit. I know they like Nick Williams too, but I elected to keep an extra DB over him for special teams reasons. If they could find a taker for Bullard for a 7th or for another player at the end of their roster, I think they'd do it. OLB (4)- Mack, Floyd, Lynch, Irving Not a deep position. Don't like the 4th and the 3rd has had health issues in the past. Good thing the best edge in the league is here. James Vaughters has looked good in the preseason, but more of a practice squad to me at this point. Fitts looks mostly talentless and shouldn't make the team just because he was drafted late last year. ILB (5)- Trevathan, Smith, Igeyibuniwe, Woods, Pierre-Louis Kwiatkoski is a FA after this year, and got a raise to 2Mil this year due to arbitrator ruling. He's not worth the money, as he can't be put on the defense. Can't cover at all. Woods is a former safety w/ athletic upside. Pierre-Louis is a better special teamer who's cheaper than Nick Kwit. CB (6)- Fuller, Amukamara, Skrine, Shelley, Toliver, Franklin III The Bears actually have some interesting guys competing for that 6th CB spot. Franklin, Joseph and Duck. The competition's losers are both practice squad possibilities. Franklin gets the edge for me because of his speed and probably projects as the best special teamer of the 3. Not sure how much Denmark has practiced, but looks like potential IR stash. Definitely shouldn't make the roster just because he was drafted. S (5)- Jackson, Clinton-Dix, Bush, McManis, Houston-Carson McManis and DHC both make it here for special teams. McManis has the versatility to play nickel, so he stays. DHC could be the odd man out if they elect to go with an extra player at another position. 4 of 5 are FAs after this year, so no long-term help here and nothing really worthy of a practice squad spot. ST- Pineiro, O'Donnell, Scales Obviously just cut Fry yesterday. I liked Pineiro better anyway. Accuracy seems to be similar, go with the bigger leg. Maybe bring in another guy here, but I think they might as well develop what they already have instead of someone else's cast off.

i know pineiro, in particulary, was supposed to have a very strong leg sidenote: patrick scales hasn't been around to long snap the last couple days. :-k If Scales comes back and the kicking starts failing, I'd cut him immediately. The Bears special teams was so bad last year, I would have done a full overhaul this offseason. New kicker was obvious, but I'd also gone out and found a new punter, long snapper, they already have to replace Bellamy, I'd probably make McManis a long-shot to make the roster. P and LS were free agents, had easy outs. Give me fresh blood at this point.

That is quite a nice throw

Agree with you. He's a baffling player. Who is better under pressure than they are with a clean pocket? I wonder how much of this is all the newness around him (receivers, scheme, etc). Kollman basically said he's best when he just lets it rip with confidence. My hope is that given this guy is by all accounts a very hard worker - as he gains confidence/comfort with his receivers and the system he'll do less thinking and more just playing. He couldn't do anything in that playoff game but when all the pressure was on him and he needed to put a perfect ball on Robinson to put them in position to win, he makes the throw of his life. Yet he's standing in a completely clean pocket in Miami and airmails a wide open Miller by 10 yards. Later that game he hits him in stride to put them ahead by a score with 3 minutes left. Just a baffling player, as I said. I'm really hoping that early in the season we'll see that he made a clear next step, otherwise, it's going to be a stressful season. This is pretty logical to me and I think it's exactly what it is. Clean pocket situations - he's in a brand new offense with brand new players and he's still learning. He should be much more sure of what's going on now, after a full season and a real full off-season with the offense. On the other hand, when horsefeathers breaks down and he's under pressure he is forced to freelance, he just lets his talent take over and lets it rip. Seems to be a classic case of a guy overthinking things, and the less he has to think about, the better he does. One thing I thought showed in the video is that he didn't make a ton of bad reads (though looks like some of them were simplified for him, with a clear 1st or 2nd read schemed open). As stated, his mistakes come when he has a clean pocket and for whatever reason simply doesn't trust his primary read. Also, seemed like Nagy really didn't open up the playbook at all, as a lot of those plays highlighted were the same play/concept over and over. That makes me skeptical on Mitch's intelligence (combined w/ not being able to execute the same exact play consistently vs. the same coverage). But I have hope that as he learns the offense more, he'll become more confident and just do his job, while not losing the ability to improvise when things break down. This will be the first year he'll have the same offense since college. We should see improvement, or at the least better consistency.