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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

Oh now we're hitting deep fly balls 20 feet laterally from would-be HRs.

Tag game on fleek!

Baez tag and he's out.

Bad. Really bad.

That's because there's no such thing as bad brisket.

Deep dish pizza is better than life itself. Best deep dish I ever had, ironically enough, was in Phoenix, Arizona.

I've been in the goony frame of mind that, inside LB isn't an impact position. And while that is true, we shouldn't underestimate the playmaking ability of Danny Trevathan. He's a really good player. He's a factor in the pass game covering LBs. Obviously can stop the run. And though he didn't have to do it much with Miller, Jackson, Ware, Wolfe in front of him, he is a really good blitzer. Goldman may be pretty close to a playmaker this year. Floyd could be eventually, but obviously has a ways to go. Really would like it if Deiondre Hall turned out to be a playmaker. He showed some signs in preseason. I think the Bears should start him regardless of Fuller's/Callahan's status.

are you for serious? For one, Zach Miller had a couple good games. He's a middling TE. Kevin White has to be fantastic to make this an above average offense. There is no running game, the line remains a huge question. The offensive coordinator is a pud. The head coach is the most conservative coach in the league. I mean, they've had offenses with Forte, Jeffery, Bennett and Marshall struggle to achieve mediocrity. Miller had 4 good games. He can be a pretty good receiving TE. That being said, there's almost 0 chance he stays healthy. Last year, he played 15 games after playing 0 in the previous 3 years. He missed most of camp. He's not playing anywhere near 16 games. White probably won't be fantastic, but hopefully he takes some steps in that direction. The run game should be interesting. I think the Bears will definitely give the run game a college try. I think they'll make sure it doesn't work on a game-by-game basis before they abandon it each week. And I think they'll run all 3 backs and in a variety of ways to try to make it work. But yeah, I'm hoping for average. Average offense and slightly above average defense would make this an 8-8 team.

Whitehair has looked better each game (didn't play the last preseason game). Ironically enough, he didn't look so great as the 2nd team C in the preseason opener. But he has played and practiced there in camp, but I'm not sure how many reps he's gotten recently. Hopefully, he'll get every rep at C this week and they'll make him the starter. Larsen isn't very good. I thought Whitehair was a future stud LG, but he should be fine at OC too. Probably not a good look for Hroniss Grasu's future as a Chicago Bear. Could they give him a look at tackle? Im not super happy with either tackle right now. He was Pff's highest rated tackle prospect at one point, iirc. Nah. He doesn't have the build to play tackle. Doesn't have ideal height or arm length.

That was last year. I'm thinking 7 to 9 wins this year.

Eh, 2nd year. Pace still at least deserves some cautious optimism. My only real complaints so far is completing [expletive] up the White and now McPhee injury situations. I'm never going 100% like any GMs draft. I have no problems with the Marshall, Forte, and Bennett moves. I can't complain about the OL talent anymore, because the Bears just went from a "wait-and-see" OL to an above average group overnight. He's definitely made some questionable moves and we haven't seen much from his draft picks yet other than Goldman, but this was probably going to be a 3-year thing anyway. His regime will be made or broken based on the QB he chooses for the future. Do you think White was injured on draft day? No, but he was injured very early on in the offseason workouts and didn't have surgery until 2 months later. White losing a full season could have been prevented.

Bad matchup for the Bears offense. OL's first time playing together will be against the best defensive player in the league and I think they have a lot to worry about with Mercilus and Clowney on the edges. The Bears are going to have to have a running game going and get the ball out of Cutler's hands pretty quickly. On defense, if the Bears can stop the run game (and Houston has a good OL) then they pretty much only have to worry about Hopkins. They don't have much else established as receiving options right now. I'd expect a game similar to the Denver game last year (Osweiler start). Relatively low scoring. The Bears will have trouble protecting against a strong pass rushing group. Bears didn't have Jeffery in that game, and that combined with the upgrades on the OL and in the front 7 give the Bears a chance to come out on the other side of the matchup this time. Though, if I was a betting man, I'd put my money on Houston to win this game. Turnovers will be key. Houston historically protects the ball.

Whitehair has looked better each game (didn't play the last preseason game). Ironically enough, he didn't look so great as the 2nd team C in the preseason opener. But he has played and practiced there in camp, but I'm not sure how many reps he's gotten recently. Hopefully, he'll get every rep at C this week and they'll make him the starter. Larsen isn't very good. I thought Whitehair was a future stud LG, but he should be fine at OC too. Probably not a good look for Hroniss Grasu's future as a Chicago Bear.