Hester has been regarded as the primary receiver.  And, he is on the field a lot of the time. Running routes all over the place. He's being run into the ground.  Bears, make the change before he either gets decked or pulls a hammy.

Continue reading "Bears Need To Switch Hester to Special Teams ASAP"

Talk about nightmares, Cutler had a miserable game, and his play indicated his inability to read defensive schemes, and make a play under pressure.  Maybe he was feeling the weight of Chicago on his shoulders.  It's not the end of the world, but for Chicago Bears fans, it's close to it.  Welcome to the Bears Jay, now you're part of the team.

Continue reading "Oops My Bad Cutler Throws for 5 INTs in 10-6 loss"

The offensive line was atrocious. Jay Cutler wasn’t sacked all night, but he was constantly running for his life and hit six times. Matt Forte saw no rushing lanes whatsoever, racking up 41 yards on 20 carries. His lack of production caused Ron Turner to call 52 pass plays. Most of the Bears’ ten penalties could be attributed to the offensive line. Orlando Pace was on the sideline towards the end of the game and honestly, I never noticed when he went out. It didn’t matter. It was that bad. 

Continue reading "Penalties and Cutlers five interceptions doom Bears in San Fran"

The Bears should be beating San Francisco,  who at 3-5, seem a bit better than the Bears. And, Bears' fans, that's not saying much.  Now, it's Jay Cutler's turn to be a scapegoat. He has thrown an unacceptable 4 interceptions, which halted drives.

Four picks for this highly touted QB isn't going to get it done. But as the game wore on, you could see him sinking down the Bears' mediocrity.  He hasn't gotten better as a QB.  He's gotten worse. Only a Bears squad could turn a pro-bowl wunderkind into a player who has made great completions to the other team!

Continue reading "Now Add Cutler to Bears Woes 4 picks vs SF"

Welcome to a newly streamlined and revamped Gameday Preview! I figured the prior incarnation was just too filled with stats and useless analysis. From now on the preview will be more akin to extended Opening or Final Drive commentary. This week sees the Bears heading to San Francisco to take on the 49ers on Thursday Night Football. Let’s get to it!

Chicago Bears (4-4) at
San Francisco 49ers (3-5)

49ers tight end Vernon Davis recently made headlines with his bashing of the Bears’ once-vaunted defense. "I think we can destroy their front. The guys up front, I think we can destroy them. “I don't see anything spectacular about their front line. Their linebackers, I think we can handle them pretty well.” Hmm. While insulting as those comments may be, Davis is spot-on. The Bears haven’t pressured much of anybody and their pass coverage has been mediocre at best. They’re even being gouged by the run. Still, Niners QB Alex Smith can hurl interceptions with the worst of them, so I doubt another total domination is in the books.

Continue reading "Joes Gameday Preview Bears at 49ers"

The first half looked painfully similar to the first half of the Bengals disaster, with Chicago’s defense unable to provide opposition to Kurt Warner and the explosive Cardinal offense. With four first half touchdown passes (two to Larry Fitzgerald), Warner all but obliterated any chance of a second straight win for Lovie Smith. Chicago looked lost defensively, as if they did not expect Larry Fitzgerald to be Warner’s top target. Nice job guys. With Anquan Boldin a late scratch, Fitzgerald caught 9 passes, most of which were 8-12 yards in length. The Cardinals didn’t need Boldin, with Warner finishing the game with 5 TD’s through the air. What didn’t help was losing corner Charles Tillman and safety Al Afalava through the course of the game, leaving an already struggling secondary without key performers.

Continue reading "Bears cant catch up to Cardinals lose 41-21"

Probably the biggest surprise regarding New England’s draft class is that all 12 players made the final roster. Even DT Darryl Richard wasn’t visited by the turk.

It may take one to three years to find out if the whole draft class pans out or which ones get left on the side of the road. But how do the Pats rookies stack up against their peers?

The players have to get playing time in order to make these comparisons fair. It’s really a losing battle as it boils down to five against about 250 rookies. But New England’s newbies compare well overall:

Continue reading "Rookies vs Rookies"

Last night I watched one of ESPN’s 30 for 30 documentaries. It was “Without Bias: The Len Bias Story” or something like that. It didn’t blow me away as far as storytelling goes, but it was well done.

Near the end of the program, the documentary quickly reviewed what happened the year Bias died. In 1986, the New England Patriots were stomped by the Chicago Bears in Super Bowl XX. The Red Sox blew the World Series against the New York Mets. And though the Boston Celtics won the NBA Championship that year, Len’s June death began the 1986-87 season. A season the Celtics were unable to repeat as champions without Bias.

Not mentioned by the documentary was the Boston Bruins. The Black and Gold lost in the Division Semi-Finals in 85-86 and 86-87.

Continue reading "Deep 86-ed"

After exchanging a total of five three-and-outs to start the game, the Bears finally broke through on the scoreboard with a Robbie Gold field goal. An interception and a fumble on the two following Browns possessions lead to another field goal and a Matt Forte touchdown, putting the Bears up 16. A Browns score made it 16-6 early in the third, which was too close, even though I never felt like they were going to get the upper hand.

Continue reading "Cutler gets Jay-Roughed in Bears win over hapless Browns"

Jay Cutler said that the Bears offense needed to get going after the game. He said the team needed to make "big plays" in their mix.  That is true.  You can't depend upon a personal foul to get you close to the goal line. The Bears were the beneficiaries of such a penalty and Matt Forte punched it from the one yard line. Forte had 90 yards for the game. Which says, he is a pretty good runner against bad teams. Now, if you put him up against the Ravens, he might get stuffed.

To put it simply, the Bears are a decent to mediocre team and they need better talent at about five positions to become a good team. They need a strong, solid running back.  Like a Cedric Benson with his head on straight.  They could still use Forte as a back for screens and on short yardage plays.  The Bears need to bolster the offensive line with a young talented guard or tackle. They also need a quick, strong middle-linebacker.  Get one of those guys on Texas or Iowa.  Add on a reliable wide receiver and that would make what they have stronger. And allow Hester to return punts and kickoffs.

Continue reading "Bears Beat Browns 30-6 to go 4-3"