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Honestly, this team has all the elements. It seems like nobody had anything good to say about Trubisky this week, but the Bears offense is quietly up there with the elite offenses in the league. They are right at 30 ppg, which is elite. We already know about the defense. They may not be putting up historically elite numbers, but they are clearly as good as any defense in the league. They sack the QB, force turnovers, and stop the run. Today showed why they are a dangerous team. If they can execute early on offense, while getting a couple stops on D. They can get up early and allow the defense to pin their ears back. The NFL is a passing league, but the key is forcing teams to have to pass. It's how you get a pass rush, and that is how you get turnovers.

Lombardi isn't totally wrong on the Bears though. They really haven't beaten a good team yet. Can only play who is on the schedule. They've only played IME 3 teams that are decent, the Seahawks, Dolphins and Patriots. Beat Seattle, a couple of plays made the difference in a close loss at Miami and the Patriots-Bears game was decided on 2 special teams TDs and a hail mary to the 1. Not that we should be counting almost wins at this point, but the point is that its not like the Bears are getting dominated in their losses. They haven't been dominated in any game this year. Also I'm pretty sure Lombardi is a former PFF guy and PFF has the Bears as one of the best teams in the league. It's not like they have been overmatched against good teams. They beat Tampa when they were thought to be good. Beat Seattle who then became decent. FWIW, Chargers are 6-2 with wins over CLE, BUF, TEN, OAK, SF, and Seattle. They had a shot at 2 of the top 3 teams and lost both by double digits. Minnesota's only win vs. a contender is a good win at Philly. The Eagles themselves don't have a quality win since the season opener vs. Atlanta, which only became a quality win as of Sunday. Nobody's talking about them not beating anyone, and those teams all have losses way worse than anything the Bears have.

Twice in 11 days. Sent from my moto e5 supra using Tapatalk

Interesting twist on this game... Bears 5-3, losses to GB, Miami, New England Lions 3-5, wins against GB, Miami, New England. Lions have only beat the teams the Bears have lost to. So if the Lions win, the only thing we can determine is that the Bears will have beaten themselves. Sent from my moto e5 supra using Tapatalk

Flex sucks. Sunday night game followed by a Thursday noon game. Looking at 60 hours with travel between division games. Sent from my moto e5 supra using Tapatalk

This is actually pretty significant. Granted 70 of the +82 is from 2 games, but the top teams in each conference (actually have been 1 & 2 overall) have played each other in the Superbowl all but 1 time in the last 5 years. And that year, the Broncos beat the #1 AFC team in point diff. (Patriots) and faced Seattle (#1 overall point diff). The Bears are behind the Rams (+99) though. So, some work to do there.

I stand corrected from earlier, Roquan actually had a pretty good game. He got lost in man coverage on 1 play (great play call against man), and missed a big tackle on the opening series to prevent a 3-and-out, but he was all over the place today. 13 tackles, a pass defensed, forced fumble. Right now on the Bears defense: Fuller, Mack (when healthy), Hicks, Trevathan, Jackson and Callahan are playing like Pro Bowl players. Obviously, everyone on that side of the ball was great today against Peterman, who wasn't dreadful. I think an underrated aspect of this team that got lost against Miami and NE, is that this team can really cover on the back end. They also typically tackle well. I think Fangio dialed back some of the aggressiveness in coverage in those aforementioned games and the 2nd half vs. Green Bay. These are not guys that want to sit back in off man coverage. Offensively, it wasn't pretty. Still can't get a decent run game going. Howard ran over a few people and Cohen ran around them to make any decent yardage. And I think the lack of time of possession didn't really help them get into a rhythm when Mitch looked like he was "on" early. Really disappointing to take that sack early to take the team out of FG range. Can't happen. Also really would have liked points after the Amos INT, though that drive was derailed by the 2nd inexplicable OPI flag on Burton. Still 190 yards of offense is not good enough, no matter how you slice it. 90 yards of pass interference calls though in the Bears favor. Penalties were bad. Leno, who has looked like the offense's only pro bowler so far had 3 false starts, including on back-to-back plays. Not a great game for him. No push from either guard in the run game.

I mean, he is another pass rusher. The Bears pass rush was actually pretty decent today, despite not any sacks before garbage time. Wasn't horrible last week also without Mack. Irvin would be worth it to add another pass rusher to the mix, maybe rejuvenate Mack for the 2nd half push, and to keep him away from other contenders. But honestly, I don't think he's really necessary. Mack, Floyd, and Lynch are enough when added to a good 4-man rotation at DL (Hicks, Goldman, RRH, Nichols), and I'd like to see more of Isaiah Irving. But I won't complain about an upgrade at any position. Wouldn't claim him on waivers (and pay his $4M salary), but if nobody claims him I'd imagine the Bears would be a preferable spot for him.

Would really not like this trash team scoring multiple TDs against us. Even if it is garbage time against the #2s.

Nagy making no secret about trying to get his QB a TD pass.

1st rushing TD allowed comes after the Bears should have been off the field multiple times and weren't because of terrible penalty calls.

Kyle Fuller playing at a pro bowl level. 3rd INT he's caused today.

This game not going on the Roquan Smith highlight tape. Getting picked on quite a bit today.

Tampa Bay game it is!

Nevermind then.

Hahaha. That's a bad call.

Shitty OPI call

Bears may need a new punter next week.

Couple great throws 3rd down for Trubisky today. The middle of the field is there as I stated yesterday.

Definitely what I'm expecting with the injuries the Bears have. Don't have a great feeling about it, but my hope is Peterman plays like Peterman down the stretch if the game is close.

OSU is not very good.....UCF? Come on!!! Oklahoma and Georgia are not significantly better than Clemson, ND or Michigan. Never said they were significantly better. Just think they have a better shot at giving Bama a game. Oklahoma can obviously score with anyone. Georgia gave Bama a game last year, and has some athletes that could give Bama trouble. Clemson isn't terrible and has the athletes on both sides, but won by a combined 4-5 points over the only 2 halfway decent teams they've faced. I think Bama would beat ND and Michigan by 20+, though Michigan's defense is starting to put it together.

Ohio State won't even beat Michigan. They would lose by 50 to Alabama Yeah, I only included them because they'd likely be the team that has to beat Michigan. But yeah, rather see UCF try to "Boise St" their way into an upset. OU and Georgia would have to have everything go perfectly to give Bama a fight, they are so horsefeathering good.

Clemson, ND, and Michigan need to lose because none of them are anywhere close to being able to give Bama a game. Give me any combination of Georgia, Oklahoma, Ohio St, and UCF over all 3.

Bilal Nichols and Ben Braunecker did not make the trip, they are out. Mack and Robinson did, I'd imagine both will try to play at least a small role. I expect this game to go 1 of 2 ways, and both are games we've seen this season. 1. Arizona game. Not much is expected from Buffalo offensively. They have 2 TDs in their last 5 games (0 in their last 2). But they have a blueprint out there. Throw quick and short, make the pass rush moot, force the DBs to make tackles in the open field. Peterman could have success early if Fangio is stubborn and doesn't adjust to what every team is going to undoubtedly try against the Bears. Buffalo can play D though.....when they want to. 47 points to the Ravens in the opener. 6 to Vikings 2 weeks later. 37 to the Colts, but then 1 offensive TD to the Pats last week. If Trubisky isn't on his game, the Bills have some DBs (Poyer, Hyde & White) that can take the ball away. They can also get after the QB some, though Trent Murphy and Tremaine Edmunds are likely out. 2. Tampa game. Buffalo has rotated horrible, average, and decent/good games all year. This is the 3rd game of that pattern, but their only decent/good games were with Josh Allen at QB. He obviously isn't going to play. Nate Peterman is, and he's potentially the worst QB in the league. That being said, this team did get beat by Brock Osweiler....so I'd like to think they won't take the opposing QB lightly. The Bills don't really have the speed that Miami has on the outside with the exception of maybe Zay Jones. Benjamin is fat and lazy and at some point that will probably lead to a turnover for the Bears D. The defense is 6th in passing, but middle of the pack in run D. They are also susceptible in the middle of the field and have given up some stuff to TEs and slot WRs moreso than on the outside. That doesn't figure to be any better if Edmunds is out, and all fits what the Bears need to do. And if the Bears can sustain some drives, the Bills defense should be nice and worn down by the 2nd half if the offense continues to add to their league leading 3-and-outs. So, either way the Bears SHOULD win this game. With the nation mostly doubting Mitch, he has a good chance to silence a lot of critics with a good "eye test" game against one of the top passing defenses in the league. Whenever the media noise around Cutler was negative, he never really seemed to have that game where he put up to make them shut up. Mitch probably isn't doing that either. But a nice easy, turnover-free win would go a long way getting the media off his back.