raw

CLINCH DAY!

Brandon Graham and Conor Barwin are not bad at football either. Never said they were bad. They aren't big pass rushers though. Graham had a career high 6.5 sacks last year and has only averaged 5 per season in the last 4 years despite not missing a single game. Barwin's a little better, as he had 7 last year and has 2 double digit sack seasons under his belt, but those are mostly a distant memory and he also has 3 seasons where he's had less than 5. Granted Massie is bad, but these are ends that will beat the Bears by disrupting everything they try to do.

Should just award a team Cy Young. Lester, Arrieta, Professor all top 5 candidates IMO.

Need more guys on base.

That would be me (among others). This is a pretty interesting stretch of games for the Bears. As bad as the Texans matchup was for the Bears (dominant D front, pretty good OL), this next stretch of games are pretty good matchups for the Bears. As I said vs. the Texans, I expected the Bears tackles to struggle with Clowney and Mercilus and they most certainly did. But they actually a decent job vs. Watt on the interior. The next 5 games features teams that aren't huge pass rushing teams. Philly- not much pass rush other than Fletcher Cox. Dallas- their DL is a non-factor on passing downs Detroit- still do have Ansah on the edge, but can scheme against him and not have to worry about the rest Indy- best pass rusher is still Mathis, who just turned 107 Jax- spent a lot of money and picks on pass rush, still looking for results None of these teams are particularly good against the run either, as only the Jags gave up less than 4.3 yards per carry in the opener. The Eagles were gashed for 5.7 ypc against the Browns. The last 3 of those games are against teams who gave up at least 27 points, the last 2 gave up 450 yards to each other. Defensively, the Bears see 2 rookie QBs and then 3 turnover prone QBs. Not saying the Bears are in a better place than these 5 teams, but these are teams they don't have to be perfect to beat. And all these teams will probably be anywhere from the bottom of the top 10 in the draft to potentially competing for the last wildcard spot in their conferences. There were some encouraging signs against the Texans (1st half Cutler-to-Jeffery, 2nd half run D, decent enough coverage down the field), and I could see the Bears coming out with 3-4 of these 5 if they remember the home field is supposed to be an advantage this year. 3-3 would set the Bears up for an interesting 2nd half. 4-2 would give them a lot of momentum heading into GB in Week 7.

He probably doesn't mention Fred if the no-hitter was still on the table. Kyle gets my Cy Young for taking one for Big Fred.

SHOUTOUT!

horsefeathers

fwiw, both Rogers and Sharma have recently said he doesn't have a good chance based on what they've heard from writer/voter types. That said, a sub-2 ERA with a no hitter, might make him the favorite. I can see that being the case. But I always come back to.....if not him, then who? Edit: ugh Scherzer.

That was pretty legit to me. Great catch.

Every single pitch exactly where he wants it.

Their alternative is Peralta so........

I knew you and Fred became pretty good friends outside of here. And these are some cool stories. Sorry for your loss.

Greetings from beautiful (depending on the view) Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania !!

Yeah, this place is my sanctuary in all honesty. If it wasn't for you and this place I can't say that I'd really be that much into the Cubs anymore. 12 years away from the area. I could definitely see myself losing connection with the team, especially after losing WGN games and so forth. Never thought I'd be so upset by losing a fellow poster. Holding back tears because I'm in the office. But this sucks.

Damn. This sucks. I had the pleasure of meeting Fred (along with Yeti and CubmanPi) in Pittsburgh in the beginning of the 2008 season. Although he didn't know it, that was a really low point in my life. In the year and a half before, my wife and I had bought a house, gotten married, she finished her associates degree and I started my Masters. Combined with that, we went thru a brutal custody battle with her ex and in the process had a miscarriage of our 1st child together. After the stress of everything, my wife had health issues and was forced to leave/lose her job. I was working for a dead-end company, passed over for promotions several times and struggling to make ends meet as the only one working in a then family of 4, with a mortgage, student loans, and medical bills stacking up. Fred messaged me on here one day to let me know he was going to be here for the Cubs/Pirates series months before the game. I completely forgot. When the game time came, I was dead broke. He had already paid for the tickets, which he didn't ask for anything in return. I tried to back out of the game, but he insisted and even bought me food for the first game. I was able to scrounge up $20 so as to not look like a complete bum for the 2nd game. My wife and I were down to 1 vehicle. I believe I made up a story about my car being in the shop to save myself some embarassment. My wife needed the car for those 2 days for a dr's appt and an interview. But Fred came and picked me up from work, drove us to the game and drove me all the way home when I refused to allow him to let me take his car home after the game. But anyway, I never told him but I really appreciated everything he did and offered. I always wanted to return the favor if he ever came back out this way. And I know I wasn't myself or very fun when those guys were out here. But it says a lot about a person to be that kind to someone he didn't really know. So I can't imagine the heartbreak his family is feeling. God bless you, Cubman and family. #fuckcancer #fuck2016

Holy horsefeathers, Raiders just went for 2 instead of a tie with 47 seconds left and got it to take the lead on the Saints.

Stopped, but unfortunately, a FG probably ends this game.

The Bears need to scour the waiver wire for punters this week. Megapunt has been terrible for a while now.

That's on our conservative, bad head coach.

Pretty shitty call on Royal.

Not a good day so far for our top 10 picks.

Hopefully, that's not a take you just developed today. Been that way for 3 years now.

Affirmative.

Jay muthafuckin Cutler