The Bears head to Cleveland to face the Browns for their last “glorified practice” of the preseason and it’s not looking good for our Monsters of the Midway.
I keep trying to remind myself of Allen Iverson’s preseason philosophy:
That YouTube clip is playing on a loop in Lovie Smith’s office. There have been gaping holes on both sides of the ball yet despite that, don’t expect to see much from the guys you’ll actually see playing on Sundays.
Jay Cutler has already been ruled out. I guess 10 sacks in less than a full game’s worth of action was enough to convince Lovie that Jay knows how to take a fall. So you’ll get a steady dose of Todd Collins (if he survives). Lance Briggs won’t play and don’t expect to see Urlacher either. If you blink you’ll probably miss your other favorites, unless Jarron Gilbert is a favorite.
Speaking of Gilbert, rhe coaches will focus their attention on the bubble guys. Fans should focus on reruns of The Office because you ain’t gonna learn anything about this Bears team that you don’t already know. See you after practice!
The Bears have to cut their roster down to the 53-man limit by Saturday afternoon. If you’re hell-bent on watching the whole Bears game on Thursday night, you might as well watch some guys clinging to their NFL lives. Here are some bubble players that you should pay attention to on Thursday versus the Browns. By my count there are about 3-4 spots for these bubble guys.
Al Afalava
How quickly things change. The second year safety fell out of favor after playing in 13 games for the Bears last season and now he’s struggling to make the roster. The bad news? It’s not because they’re so much deeper at safety.
It’s the preseason for Bear Goggles On too, and we’re trying out a new segment: using a Madden 11 simulation to predict the games. Check it out and tell us what works, what doesn’t work, what we could do to improve the segment. I’ve got to give big props to Sam, his predication for the Chargers game was pretty damn close: he predicted 34-10 Chargers and the game turned out to be 25-10 Chargers but after missing on his Bears-Raiders prediction he bounced back with a pretty accurate prediction for the Bears falling to the Cardinals.
By my count, Sam is 2-1 in the preseason, which is more than I can say for the 0-3 Bears. Oh wait, I forgot, these don’t count so I guess our record is still 0-0. Lovie’s starting to get to me too I guess!
*Note, the sim was run before Brian Urlacher and Jay Cutler were officially ruled out of Thursday night’s preseason finale against the Browns.
We all know that the most meaningless of the meaningless preseason games is the last preseason game. The starters will play a series (if at all) and the biggest focus is getting out injury free. There’s been a lot of hand wringing about the 0-3 start and Bears fans are desperate for any kind of win to get even a smidge of confidence before the Detroit game in Week 1. I’m afraid our Madden sim prediction doesn’t show that to be the case.
It didn’t start off well for the Bears with the Browns opening up a 17-0 halftime lead behind a pair of short TD runs and a Phil Dawson FG. I guess the Bears can’t fool the Madden simulator.
But there were big plays to be had for the Beloved. In the 4th quarter Chester Taylor popped for a short 7 yard TD run:
After watching Saturday night’s debacle against the Arizona Cardinals, the Bears have their fans (including this one) out on the ledge. So far this preseason, the Bears have done very little put offseason concerns to rest. So I’m not going to beat around the bush, here’s the question: after watching three preseason games what concerns you more – the Bears offense or their defense?
A case for the offense
Jay Cutler has spent a significant amount of time getting a close look at the horrible Soldier Field turf.
I think we all realized that there would be some bumps in the road installing Mike Martz’s new offense but we didn’t realize that one of the bumps would be Jay Cutler playing the role of a speed bump for opposing defensive lineman.
One thing we thought we knew about the offensive line was Chris Williams. He had a nice dress rehearsal late last season after the Bears put Orlando Pace out to pasture, but so far this preseason Williams has looked pretty clueless. After a 5 sack performance by the Raiders in Week 2, the Cardinals sacked Jay Cutler another 4 times. The Cardinals who had 2 sacks in 2 games so far heading into their game with the Bears.
Jay Cutler hasn’t dealt with the pressure too well. If he didn’t have the past history of interceptions, I might not be too concerned. The fact is, it’s been hard to evaluate Cutler and the receivers while the offense has been so out of sync.
Mike Martz makes offenses better everywhere he goes. It’s a fact. In general, the offense is young, particularly at the skill positions, so there’s some upside there if the offense starts to click and Mike Tice can get his offensive line troubles worked out.
The Bears cut three of the five players that need to be cut before the August 31st cutdown to get the roster to 75 players. Most notable among those heading home is Matt Gutierrez, the backup quarterback that was brought in when Caleb Hanie first suffered shoulder injury in the first pre-season game.
Only after the second preseaon mess game, did the Bears realize that they needed a more credible backup and ponied up to get Todd Collins. Gutierrez never appeared in a game.
Other players cut were former Northwestern wide receiver Zeke Markshausen and defensive lineman Maurice Evans. Two more players will need to be dispatched between now and Tuesday afternoon. Any chance the could cut Lovie and Jerry? You can’t blame a guy for asking, can you?
This was my father, watching a small black and white TV, yelling and screaming at the top of his lungs. I was 7 or 8 years old, and you have to understand that my father NEVER yelled about anything. He was very consistent, very calm, and generally in complete control. To hear him losing his mind over something on the TV could only mean that whatever it was, it was important.
This was the beginning of my education about football. Love and hate mixed up into one emotion. I sat cross-legged on the floor, trying to figure out who was who, and slowly, over time, with him leaning down to explain a rule or a penalty, I began to understand the game.
I don’t think I’ll ever truly understand how he taught me to love a team he hated so much! LOL!
I am that crazy father now. I have 3 sons who sneak cautiously into the basement when the game is on, and cheer like crazy when they win, and growl at the tv (with their old man) when they screw up or lose.
I am not a sportscaster. I am not a professional blogger (are there professional bloggers?). I am probably not more knowledgeable on the Bears than any of you. But I am probably just as passionate, just as hopeful that this season (please let it be this season) is the one where they make the playoffs and maybe the Super Bowl. But, after decades of futility, don’t think for a second that I allow myself to be deceived into believing the hype or illusion of training camp.
The brain has a very thin gap between the section for love and the section for hate. Here’s hoping that my blog posts fit somewhere in between!
Just to show you that my sons love the game; here’s a very special video of my son as a running back on his little league team. (He has to love this game to put up with what is about to happen to him!). And yes I note the irony of the fact that the team he’s playing against wears Chicago Bears replica uniforms!
Steve Breaston dives into the endzone to make it 14-0. The Cardinals would go on to beat the Bears 14-9. (Photo courtesy of AP via NFL.com)
Things could not have gone much worse for the Bears in their 14-9 loss to the Arizona Cardinals to drop to 0-3 in the preseason. In the setup of the Open Thread, I outlined three main points for the Bears to follow for me to deem this game a success, regardless of the final score. None of them went according to plan:
Protect Cutler: FAIL
Cutler and the offense were out of sync all day. Cutty was dropped 4 more times and picked off twice for good measure. This O-line is brutal!!! Do you think Jay misses Josh McDaniels yet? I bet he would have gladly swallowed his pride and stayed in Denver if he had known he’d be protected by this revolving door of a offensive line.
Defense must get off the field: FAIL
The first string defense was bad. They allowed Arizona to convert 57% of their 3rd downs and most concerning were more 3rd and longs that were converted. And this was with Cardinals All-World receiver Larry Fitzgerald in the sidelines and Kurt Warner comfortably in a rocking chair enjoying retirement. This was Derek Anderson and Matt Leinart carving up your defense.
Get out healthy: FAIL
Lance Briggs left the game with an ankle injury. I even pointed to the linebacker position as getting thin. I think I put some bad mojo on them! I’m not overly concerned about the Briggs injury, but it’s these little sprains that can drag on and impair performance for weeks.
Now it wasn’t all bad. There were a few peanuts to be found in the turds.
Look for greats seats through OnlineSeats and get an amazing view with affordable Bears tickets. The site has sporting events of all kinds, from NFL tickets for another franchise to Cubs seats during the summer to Bulls tickets for the winter.
Blackhawk Up
Cubbies Crib
Pippen Ain't Easy
Southside Showdown
Fantasy CPR
Lombardi Avenue
SideLion Report
The Viking Age
Loading ...