Full Court Press

It's not a good sign when a Bears game is bad enough to make me wish that a Blackhawks game was on instead.

*surfing the dial for some Championship Curling*

Too early to complain but with Griese getting knocked out what does Rex do on his first snap? He's on the sideline pumping up his linemen and he seem to be celebrating that someone had to get hurt so he could see the field. That look on his face is the reason that some people can't stand him. Team player? I don't see it. As long as "Huggy Bear's son"(Fargas) don't mack out on us it bodes well for us the rest of the way. D isn't too shabby if you take that one run out.

momentarily awakened from my game induced slumber.

hey look! it's Rex Grossman
hey look it's a completion DOWN field.
amazing.

I think it's telling of what the Bears ARE (thanks Denny Greene) that it's a 3-3 tie with what outside of the Dolphins is probably the worst team in the league.

so te Bears still have a pulse, weak as it may be it's still beating. they seem to be kind of like the monster that seems to have been killed at the end of the movie but suddenly gets back to it's feet for one more bloody scene. or maybe they're more like the annoying relative that keeps saying good night at the door for hours.

OK.. I'll admit that Rex does throw the long ball well. That wasn't my knock against him. It was the fact that he'd mess up way too many times to pat him on the back. Ced's inability to pick up a blitz is exactly what killed Griese and will kill Rex now that he's back starting. I absolutely LOVED the game that J.C. and whatshisname called. They were not afraid to call out the truth as they saw it. In this day and age it is refreshing not to have announcers kiss up to the players and pooh-pooh thrie mistakes. Although saying that Hillenmeyer and Briggs missed a tackle on Fargas when Briggs was blocked along with Urlacher and the missed tackle was purely HH's. This past week I was talking with a customer who is a huge BEARS fan and we were talking about how Wale hasn't done much since we got him from Miami and he turn around and shut us up. My biggest contributors in this win was Corey Graham on special teams, McBride, Briggs, Wale, Berrian ( who I still think is a wuss.When has he ever broken a tackle for extra yards?) and Rex with a couple of big-league passes. Even Rebecka Justice has to give it to him THIS week. Everyone else was fine and I don't have to mention Hester because we all have eyes and saw what he did. Maybe if this was a marquee game he would've busted more than one play that came back. You have to give it to Kiffin to have Hester wilt under that pressure that he put on him. GO BEARS!!!

Again we are saved by an offensive coordinator more inept than our own. Defense finally stayed full in the box throughout the fourth quarter but nothing else offered a glimmer of hope. Just like most of the teams in the league with 2 or 3 losses the turnover battle decides who comes out of the pack. Detroit and the Giants will take three steps back and I pray it is the Bears who take three steps forward. Unfortunately it has to be a ton of turnovers come our way, because even with the best of field position, we seem to find a way to shoot ourselves in the foot.

Teams who rely too heavy on the turnover waves are average at best on the other side of things. With the Bears, it's almost been a curse this year. I've seen too many a big play after a runner breaks from a potential Bear tackle after a feeble attempt to jar the ball loose. We need a 'sure tackle first' attitude the rest of the year and let the turnovers happen as they will. Trumaine McBride has jumped to another level with the experience he's gotten and it's time to blitz more often and load the box as much as possible. In other words, GET TOTALLY AGGRESSIVE AND LET THE DOGS OUT, period.

Our offense is so feeble this really is the best road to take.

I woke up in time to Rex fling one down field for a completion.
4th qtr TD.
The fact the Bears won finally.....Rex looked OK.
Defense played well.....hung in there the whole game.
Benson looking better each week....inch at a time.
Bears Win!!!

*sigh*

i'm already wincing at the article--saying Rex may have won his starting job back is more painful than the prospect of Griese being injured in a lasting manner.

really, I'm happy for the win--but it's just more of the same with Rex-mediocre-to-bad with glimmers of competence.

my prediction: Rex gets the start next week, completely bungles it on the road in Seattle, the bears force griese back in before he's fully healthy and the whole season goes to hell.

Game sucked rocks, but the Bears win and move to 4-5. Its official - Bears play to their competition. I cannot believe we beat Green Bay at home. Thats their only loss. No Bears postgame show. Dont like it. Ced is terrible. Just terrible.

Bears might as well do the following:

1) play Grossman at least several games to see how much of his early struggles were his and how many were fault of the nonexistent running game and crappy blocking. Griese only works if all the other aspects of your team are excellent and you merely need a carekeeper at Qb. The Bears thought that's where they were, and that's what they are, but Dennis Greene clearly knew differently.

1a) if I were them I'd give Rex an incentive laden contract offer if possible , (meaning he gets paid if he starts and plays well. if he sucks the financial drain is minimial). You can bet the Packers will try to sign him.

2) the need to either sign or find or draft another RB quickly. Ced doesn't have the skills/ talent to be a feature back. His future might be as a Ron Dayne, Reuben Droughns goalline type.

3) a Cleveland Brown like restructuring and rebuilding of the offensive line.

4) a darker and faster strong safety, a darker and faster/stronger LB to replace Hillenmayer

5) try to resign Briggs if possible.

Darryl. Um right there with you. What does that say for Orton. Get rid of the lot of them next year!!! And take this bust of a running back with you!!!!!!!11

that's how a team wins and takes a huge step backwards....

at least we're one hit away from a real QB...

RexandCed has reared its ugly head once again...

Oh how I love a quarterback controversy! Not a week goes by without one in this city. I cannot believe Rex fumbled the first snap he's seen in 7 weeks. Not a good sign. But he did play well enough to stir things up again, and that's just what we all need, right? A little intrigue in a season that we all know is still going nowhere.

BC, you gonna let anyone on that bandwagon of yours?

Please don't start that race issue with players. I can care less if a guy is white or whatever if he can play let him play. Archuleta and Hillenmeyer aren't great but there are some brothers out there who they can beat out as long as they compliment the scheme. And will you guys please let that Denny Green saying go. It didn't serve him well and he doesn't get a penny whenever someone says it. He didn't mean to corn a phrase like that guy from Will and Grace was always doing. Get over it already. I don't even drink beer and if I did I'd avoid whatever company that is that use old coaching post game interviews to sell their beer. It was funny at first but it is actually redundant now. It's silly on the lines of the old songs that used snippets of other songs to make a song. It's dead,man. Dead like the 70s and corduroy bell-bottoms. Come on guys, let's relieve ourselves of referring to Rex and the "deer in headlights" and the BEARS are "who we thought they were" saying. I know we are traditionalist but let's at least try to be more original with our assessments.

Roman responds: Why? I like those commercials, especially Denny's. Wannstedt's "PIeces in Place" still has legs, so why not Denny's. It's harmless.

I think those Coor's light comercials are funny, I was really trying to lay off and think "what could Bogey actually mean by Darker?" You used it twice...and if the first one was meant to be like a wizard or something....then you came back and meant color as opposed to archuletta, that would be funny(you know; a play on words). Otherwise, if you were who we thought you were----------uncool man.

The Bears did what they had to do in rushing the ball for 34 times (Benson 29 times), even though they averaged only 2.3 yards per rush. It was a good run-pass ratio... 34 rushes and 28 passes. The Bears are not going to win many games throwing 40 or more times, so that's why it's important that they stick to the rushing game, even if it might be a struggle all day. It keeps defenses honest, and should open things up for the passing game. If you look at NFL games, in the vast majority of games, the team with the most rushing attempts wins the game. Last week, in 12 of the 14 games, the team with the most rushing attempts won that game.

The WRs, Muhammad and Berrian, combined for 8 catches for 176 yards... pretty good. However, that was a critical penalty on Moose in the first quarter to nullify what would have been a first and goal for the Bears, and they had to settle for a field goal.

No turnovers on the Bears' part was really good to see. Also, credit to Grossman for finally making a big play in the closing minutes of a game to lead the Bears from behind.

Roman responds: Their best strategy is playing the Raiders.

I'm still predicting a 6-10 record (in preseason, I thought we would finish 10-6).

We beat a godawful team... "bearly."

Pathetic play calling.

No use of the tight ends, in particular Olsen.

Argggh.

We have regressed so much this season.

Oh well, it's mildly amusiing to listen to the Bears on the radio while I rake leaves.

I agree, I can't believe this Bears team beat the Packers.

If Griese can throw 12 picks in 5 games, or some insanely goofy number, then he is NO BETTER THAN REX.

Anthony, if we let the dogs out, they come back with fleas. To go all out, like Oakland did on that bomb, is inviting trouble, we should mix it up, did I actually see a stunt?, or did Anderson just decide to go behind the DT and swat a ball down. Briggs, do your thing, good timing. Manning, that is what I am talking about. Keep the D up, and we may have a chance to get back in the playoffs.

One more thing, about our playcalling? If you wanna hate about all the runs on first down, those runs set up the bomb to Berrian, the safety was looking in the backfield, and Berrian made a nice move to get separation. It also set up a bunch of other plays too. The problem is not totally the playcalling, but if you noticed, once Brown is done for the year, it seems like our pass blocking has gotten better, hmmmm?

"Our pass blocking has gotten better?"

Sure, against the Raiders -- the most demoralized, penalized, unorganized, pathetic team in the NFL.

We also must congratulate our defense, which put up a stellar performance against the Raiders "offense." There must be a number of defensive coordinators around the league in a cold sweat about how to stop Josh McCown and the Raiders offensive juggernaut.

Chuck, you are looking really, really hard for some positive news to come out of this game.

Take off the rose-colored glasses, dude. This was a boring game to watch. Our calls on third down were mostly horrendous. We got a penalty called on our bench?!?!?!

I'll take the win, because I'm a Bears fan. But this was a pathetic excuse for football.

Its more of a JazzQuartetWagon!!

Did someone say race??

Willy...what does "Corn a Phrase" mean?

-Anyone have any change? some loose coins?? anything??

Roman responds: Good one Culzie, since you never make typos.

Quartet is four. So you, me (iffy), Roman, and.......it's like the final pick in the draft. Who's it going to be?

*sigh*

i'm already wincing at the article--saying Rex may have won his starting job back is more painful than the prospect of Griese being injured in a lasting manner.

really, I'm happy for the win
Posted by: darryl m | November 11, 2007 07:28 PM
******************************

Thank you darry m for this post.
*******************************

What does that say for Orton. Get rid of the lot of them next year!!! And take this bust of a running back with you!!!!!!!11

Posted by: Keith Lifetime Southsider | November 11, 2007 07:59 PM
********************************
In total agreement with you Keith Southsider
********************************

Well coach Lovie Smith, what happen to your bold stance "Griese is STILL our starting quarterback unless he can't play next week".....the same as you did for 'Wreck Grossly-Lucky-Man, when injured or struggling??
Just wondering?

A previous Super Bowl team has coaches, middle management, uppper management AND OF COURSE ownership as a BUNCH OF MENTAL MIDGETS in control who are happy to barely beat a terrible Okland Raiders team in the waning minutes of a game....*Sigh*

for the record, i'd love to see Orton under center next week. or at any point in time, really. he deserves a shot, but he's not getting it.

oh well.

Uhhhmmm Seedy,

I'll keep it simple for ya, the pass blocking was better than it was last game. It was better than it was the game before. It was better than it was at any time this season, you people kill me. I didn't say it was good, I didn't say it was great, I said it was better. I don't wear rose colored glasses, although they do look well on my natural dark red skin. The game was boring, in fact, the only good game this season was last week's Pats-Colts game(that was some good football).

The Oakland Raiders are still an NFL team, and the Bears beat them. The Bears also beat 3 other teams, they are 4-5. This game next week is important.

This might be a little hard, but there is an old sports saying, you can play hurt, but never play injured. R. Brown was playing injured, and he put the rest of his teammates in jeopardy, his arm, was not all the way healthy. T. Metcalf is not a better option at RG, but he is healthy, and that means at least he will be able to use his whole body, and not just half of it.

There is your answer.

what I really meant to say is I want better, faster and stronger athletes at the Hillenmayer and Archuleta spots.

If they have similarly pigmented cousins that fit the bill or clones of Brian Urlacher without the arthritic back, that works fine for me. Or if you have a Bill Romanowski clone who can pass a drug test to insert at LB, that's fine by me as well. Hillenmayer reminds me of Jim Morrissey. Great guy, loved him but he survived because he studs around him, as does Hillenmayer by having Urlacher and Briggs.

that said, my eyes and my limited experience playing tells me such qualities will be far easier to find in people without a melanin deficiency so that's why I'm having some fun with it.

and as to the Denny Greene quote, hell it's like a fine wine just getting better with time! especially as it shows itself to be more and more prophetic!

I meant coin and I was gonna say corny at one time. Good catch Brian. You should've caught fare too. When it comes to typing I come from P.U. (Pecker University). I type so slow I usually don't go back and correct myself. And I think Hillenmeyer is better than Morrissey. At least HH never had a brain cramp and took a chance on wearing #51. If it wasn't retired now at least have the common courtesy not to wear a star player's #. Who among us thought that the NFL should've retired # 34 so no player on any team reminded you of Walter?

William would you please let me decide what it is I will be giving to anyone?

"Even Rebecka Justice has to give it to him THIS week"

Why? grossy had 2 fumbles, and an Int. if the Defender didn't have 'dropsies,' but the main thing I noticed was that he sure didn't come anywhere near attempting the pass as often as Griese has. Lets see if Turner can work a little magic and enable them to have a balanced attack against Seattle. Sure would be neat to see grossy try passing 40 to 50 times a game, with his 2.8 rating after 31+ Pass Attempts.

BB learned how to catch a ball? (Sure forgot how vs Detroit) Or is it just that he WANTS grossy back in there so MM won't get so much of the credit he feels should be his?

Roman responds: Welcome back. Wondering where you were. But you didn't even answer the question, should Rex start Sunday?

Chuck:

You're right.

I'm confused.

Marginal improvement is what we want from our o-line. This is a group that has played together for the better part of two seasons. They should know each other quite well by now. In fact, at the beginning of the season, they were viewed as the single most important advantage on our offense.

I certainly don't want them to dominate a game or a so-so defensive line that the Raiders put on the field.

So you're right, I will continue to look for marginal improvement in our o-line for the rest of the season. I will no longer expect domination much less control of the line of scrimmage.

I hope one of our QBs doesn't get decapitated while our o-line's performance gets marginally better.

As weird as it sounds Seedy, do you expect GREAT improvement from our ancient line? John Tait gets burned by a defender because he set his stance too early, and the man just went underneath him in the Detroit game. Bears' QBs are getting hit left and right. Our line is terrible, but, I cannot expect greatness from this line. Only marginally better, just good enough to win. Our o-line deficiencies have to be addressed in the offseason. Benson sucks, cannot expect great things from him either, only marginally better, that is the way to grow. In small increments.

Look, as much as I hate to say it, I still wish we had TJ(and I am not one of his fans.) I wish our line learned how to block, but it will not happen this year. I wish Rex could hit his receivers, and not the other team's players in the hands. Wish Brian could do the same thing too. I can only hope they do their best, and we win. We got so called Bears' fans wishing they lose so Rex Grossman can be benched. Then they call me a brain-dead. I have seen too many Rashaan Salaam's, Curtis Enis's, Raymont Harris', John Quinn's, Craig Krenzel's, CADE. hell, even Marty Booker took some snaps at qb. I am tired of them losing. I do not want them to play for draft position. I wanna see the best team out there, and unfortunately, for this season, Rex is the best qb on the team...Ced is the best RB...and our line is the best line we have THIS SEASON. If they blow this up after this year, I don't care.

You can't blow it up now because you are married to this team at least until the end of the season. Some fools on this post look at everything Grossman does as critical, I am not one of them. Sometimes it is better to throw it away than to have a pick. Sometimes it is better to not blame Bradley on two badly underthrown balls intercepted near the end zone. Sometimes it is better to NOT SAY how everyone needs to look in the mirror, and be a man and say I need to look in the mirror.

Selfishness is it's own reward.

Did anyone notice that Moose wasn't one of the players who was jumping out of his skin in celebration of Rex's return? Berrian gets his contract push going next week. I wouldn't sign the guy to diddly. Where is Bradley? Also, I should've known to curb my presumption towards anyone who has been around for close to 3/4 of a century. Sorry.

Roman responds: Yeah, I think Moose is a Griese guy.

Now...its becoming more like a "Brass Section Floatilla"!!

Chuck:

Good post (you're one at 7:11 p.m.).

I guess the frustrating thing about the Bears is that when several of us raised a flag of concern in the pre-season about the Bears' over confident "swagger" (read: arrogance) and Lovie's "I got in all under control" coolness, we were shouted down on this blog.

The Bears have now landed with a resounding "thud" and you know what, I'm a little peeved. I bought a product that is not performing in the way I expected. I was told to raise my expectations -- by the Bears.

Given the Bears' history of long, painful gaps between fielding good, playoff caliber teams, and the poor personnel decisions made by the Bears braintrust as they sent Harris, Jones and others packing while bringing in Archuleta, et. al., I'm not filled with a lot of confidence when it comes to "rebuilding" the Bears for 2008.

So, I want the current product to perform better than it has. And if it can't, then make changes. Marginally improving the o-line's performance is not enough. It's as if Lovie can't learn from his mistakes. Typical of a coach in his first head coaching job. Unfortunately, the season that was supposed to be, is no longer. So why hold to conventional wisdom?

Seedy....its a free country...you dont have to watch...you dont have to buy tickets...as a matter of fact, thats the best way to voice your dissdain for the McCaskey Familys piss poor ownership for the last 50 years or whatever.

Chuck is right on though. You play the best players you got, until you can find or cultivate something better.

I've seen lost causes transform themselves into stars.

Believe it baby!!

Thanks, guys. Hope we win this week.

You know what Chuck: if the BEARS did draft a QB a lot of people wouldn't want to show him any patience. Who would want to endure his mistakes? Rex was compared with Cade for a long time until he surpassed him with the mistakes and the negativity. Wanna bet that if a young guy was making "young guy mistakes" that the fans would chew him up as bad as Rex. Starting comparing him to Rex. I said last year that bashing him was a recreational sport. Now it's as American to Chicagoans as Apple pie and deep dish pizza. I think that he brought some of that on himself with the way he carries himself with the bravado. Nobody likes a fake and some times his bravado isn't real. Talent is one thing. We know that. But having a mental edge is getting better use of the talent. Maybe he'll have it this weekend. GO BEARS!!