Thread: Mon bear practice and injury notes

Originally Posted by GeorgiaJeff

dabears54,

The air has been let out of my sails. Yesterday's loss was embarrassing. There's no way we should lose at home to the Seahawks. I thought we were the far better team. The reality is the Bears aren't as good as some of us thought they were. The o-line is holding the team back and the D is good, but not good enough as seen yesterday. Right now the only games I feel confident about us winning are Buffalo and Detroit, both road games. I fully expect to lose to Washington next week and be 4-3 going into the bye. I'll stick with my original prediction of 9-7.

I'm afraid the loss to Seattle as made me rather cynical about this Bears team and the 2010 season. The weaknesses on the team that concerned me before the season (o-line, d-line except Peppers and secondary) were exposed. Add to that Martz who makes the team one dimensional with his disportionate run/pass playcalling.

Book it, we're going to lose to Washington.

I wouldn't count on the Bears fixing the problem of unblocked blockers coming through (blitzes). Teams watch tape and Seattle saw what the Giants did and so will other teams. If the Bears didn't make any adjustments for the Seattle game I doubt they do for any other team either. Even if they try I doubt the players execute.

The Bears deserve any and all negativity from the media and their fan base.

I'm not a Negative Nancy, I'm a realist.

And that's yout opinion and nothing wrong with it. fortunately the bears( team), do not 'book' how they do on fans opinions, or we would be 0-16 each year : )

no Argument from me that yesterday was an awful loss, and in the 2010 year, seems all teams have these- its always easy to be a fan and Cheering for your team when Winning, and much harder when have a loss-and As usual IMo its getys too high on way up, and too low on way down by Many.

Originally Posted by dabears54

And that's yout opinion and nothing wrong with it. fortunately the bears( team), do not 'book' how they do on fans opinions, or we would be 0-16 each year : )

no Argument from me that yesterday was an awful loss, and in the 2010 year, seems all teams have these- its always easy to be a fan and Cheering for your team when Winning, and much harder when have a loss-and As usual IMo its getys too high on way up, and too low on way down by Many.

I don't disagree with that. Oh I'll be watching and cheering the remaining games like I always do. Bear fan through thick and thin.

bears/seattle highlights( lowlights?)

http://www.chicagobears.com/multimed...y_clip=Y&rn=10

Originally Posted by GeorgiaJeff

I don't disagree with that. Oh I'll be watching and cheering the remaining games like I always do. Bear fan through thick and thin.

yep.. been through the God-awful 70's( 1-13 ouch).. the great 80's.. the wanny/mmc dismantling and back to bad.. and the up/down of the last decade..So guess because of that seen BETTER AND WORSE than what we have now, so not as negative as some( and others that just live for the negativity)- But totally undertand the Fustration with this Current group- because it just doesn't seem to handle praise very well, and each time 'want" to fully get behind they go out and lay an egg( giants and seachickens)..Which understand how that leads to bitterness and wanting to give up- but that's just not my nature, nor seems yours..

the "silver Lining" is we are the ONLY team in the NFCN with the winning record and vikes play Packers next week, so with a "W" we can increase our lead int he divsion to either 2 or 3 games.Vikes were completely outplayed by dallas, so can't tell me they are to be feared ( farve only 118 yards?). Does it SUCK we let one get away yesterday and played awful?? OH YEAH... but with the Packers loss we didn't lose any ground on our lead..Time to take a breath, Let out the fustrations... and move on

BTW jeff- not sure if you saw either the vikes or miami game.. NEITHER team pplayed any better than bears..seifert had a good write up..vikes boo'ed off field at 1/2 time..

Survival of the least inept


MINNEAPOLIS -- If you like to watch football, every NFL weekend is living art. If you like to see football played well, I'm sorry. You're out of luck.

I'm starting a new blog policy. Yes, I'm going to stop pointing out how ugly some of the NFC North's so-called marquee matchups have been this season. And no, it's not just because the Minnesota Vikings were the beneficiaries in Week 6 of one of the dumbest approaches I've ever seen an NFL team take. Maybe we need to recalibrate our expectations for what qualifies as a winning performance in this league.

Let's face it. The Vikings took a 24-21 victory over the Dallas Cowboys for three reasons:

1. 
   
2. Percy Harvin returned the second-half kickoff 95 yards for a touchdown, pulling the Vikings even after the home crowd booed them off the field at halftime.
   
3. Middle linebacker E.J. Henderson, a strong run-stopper still rounding into shape after having a titanium rod inserted into his left leg last winter, doubled his career interception total by stepping in front of two Tony Romo passes. Those interceptions set up the Vikings' mostly anemic offense for 10 of its 17 points.

The Cowboys criminally ignored their receivers' mismatch against the Vikings' injury-depleted secondary, dumping 10 passes to tailback Felix Jones. Even Vikings players admitted they were surprised. According to ESPN's Stats & Information, 24 of the Romo's 32 pass attempts traveled five yards or fewer downfield. In-ex-plicable.
In a year when "parity" is a euphemism for "no one is any good," maybe that's all it takes to win: A kickoff return, a linebacker catching two passes and an opponent unable to get out of its own way. I give some credit to coach Brad Childress for recognizing the wholly unaesthetic nature of the day's proceedings.

"It's close to migrant work," Childress said. "You go where it is every week. So we bought one more week. There is parity. All you've got to do is look."

That's pretty much all Henderson did on his interceptions. In 97 career games over nine seasons, he had managed a grand total of two interceptions. Both came in 2006. For about half of his career, the Vikings have removed him in obvious passing downs because they thought he was slow in coverage.

His first interception Sunday came after Romo bounced a pass off defensive tackle Kevin Williams' helmet. The ball sailed high in the air, where Henderson grabbed it at its lowest point and returned it to the Cowboys' 16-yard line. Even a Vikings offense that would finish with 188 total yards couldn't avoid capitalizing, driving all 16 yards for a touchdown that tied the game at 7 on the final play of the first quarter.

I don't mean to diminish Henderson's performance, especially when you realize the fractured femur he suffered last December could (and maybe should) have been career-ending. Henderson isn't an emotional person, but it was still heart-warming to see him skip off the field after a second interception that was not only a smart play but also put the Vikings in position for Ryan Longwell's game-winning 38-yard field goal.

Henderson fooled Romo into thinking tight end Jason Witten would be open, taking several steps toward the line as if he were about to blitz. Recognizing the play all along, he peeled off late and snatched Romo's pass out of the air.

"Just stepped back and he threw it over the middle," Henderson said.

Said Childress: "He's a smart, smart, smart football player."

You couldn't say that about anyone in Cowboys' colors Sunday, be it player or coach. Romo threw two touchdown passes to receiver Roy E. Williams and a third to rookie Dez Bryant. Nickel back Lito Sheppard appeared to be the victim in each instance.

Were it not for injuries to cornerbacks Cedric Griffin and Chris Cook, Sheppard might not have even been active for this game. But even with Sheppard playing nickel and former dime back Asher Allen in a starting role, the Cowboys refused to capitalize on the mismatch.

Romo targeted Williams three times, Bryant twice and Miles Austin five times. They finished with a combined six catches. Tailback Jones, meanwhile, had 10 passes thrown his way. He caught all 10 for 61 yards.

I realize the Vikings hit Romo a few times on their opening possession. In fact, Vikings defensive end Jared Allen said: "You saw them change their game plan literally in the first series after we hit him about three or four times." But come on. You give up on your best weapons for large stretches of the game because of a couple early hits?

Vikings players seemed incredulous but thankful.

"That was fine with me if they didn't want to go upfield," nose tackle Pat Williams said. "They're trying to dump and throw screens and run draws. No problem here."

"I can't say we were prepared for that," defensive tackle Kevin Williams said. "We hadn't expected that."

Of course they didn't. What team in its right mind would throw all day to Felix Jones when it had Roy Williams, Miles Austin and Dez Bryant matched up against an opponents' No. 3 and No. 4 cornerback??!! I'm fired up not because the Cowboys did just as much to lose this game as the Vikings did to win it. It's that the oversight seemed outrageous even in this year's NFL. I'll leave the NFC East commenting to colleague Matt Mosley, but let's just say I would consider it a fireable offense if it were the other way around.

The Vikings were far from perfect themselves, and their offense seemed stuck in lethargy for far too long Sunday. Normally, I would say I saw few encouraging long-term signs from this victory. But in the NFL circa 2010, a winning performance consists of making fewer mistakes than your opponent. That, and three big plays, were enough to send Childress' "migrant workers" home happy after a full day's work.

I'd say the Dolphins played better.

Man, that game just SUCKED!! There will be those days however. I think we will get better, but I never belived this team to be great. I think we will have a wining record but it won't be pretty and we won't dominate like people think they should and that will result in hearling a lot of complaining about why they aren't.

They definitely need to make some changes in order to compete at a high level with that O line and Jay holding the ball looking deep every play. I did not get to see the game yesterday, but I can't for the life of me figure how Jay could be under 50% and over 290 yards. Throw the check down and the hot route for goodness sake. That is how you make teams pay for the blitz, not waiting for the 60 yard bomb to open up.

Originally Posted by jnastorer

Man, that game just SUCKED!! There will be those days however. I think we will get better, but I never belived this team to be great. I think we will have a wining record but it won't be pretty and we won't dominate like people think they should and that will result in hearling a lot of complaining about why they aren't.

They definitely need to make some changes in order to compete at a high level with that O line and Jay holding the ball looking deep every play. I did not get to see the game yesterday, but I can't for the life of me figure how Jay could be under 50% and over 290 yards. Throw the check down and the hot route for goodness sake. That is how you make teams pay for the blitz, not waiting for the 60 yard bomb to open up.

before the seaosn thought we would be 11-5 and if we got to the bye at 5-3 or 6-2 we would be fine, While agree 100% yesterday SUCKED!!.. still haven't seen anything to change my mind about the final record- they do as we have said all morning need to get the oline better AND the qb/wr on same page "if" they are not going well to get the hot rads and dump off's working to counter it

with the oline in constant dissaray and not looking good for the near future cause JA likes the players we have already yawn shouldnt screen plays be used often? I think that can make defenses back off on their blitzes. That oline isnt getting better no matter how many times they reshuffle it the talent just isnt there. I just dont get why they arent helped out. And Forte blocking isnt helping things either. What happened to that guy I used to be impressed with his all around game but his blocking has hit the shitsthis season