Archive for August, 2011

The Bears looked like a team at the tail end of a three games in 11 days stretch rather than at the start of the busy week and a half as they dropped their second preseason game to fall to 1-1, losing to the NY Giants 41-13.  The score doesn’t matter in preseason, but some things stood out.  Most concerning on the offensive side of the ball were third down conversions and the Red Zone offense. The Bears could only muster a 3-15 third down conversion rate, going 0-6 in the first half (when it actually kinda mattered) with most [...]

It’s just preseason, but this game could be very telling for the Chicago Bears in a few key areas.  Here’s who and what I’ll be watching: Jay Cutler – will JC get more than a series?  He might not remember his last visit to the Big Apple, especially after 9 sacks in just a half of football.  We need to see him with some confidence and hopefully a relatively clean uniform. Lance Louis – of all the guys on the offensive line, he’s the biggest question mark.  There’s a clear and easy succession plan if he doesn’t get the job [...]

Do you remember watching a football game as a child?  Do you remember watching a football game before we had the internet?  What about what it was like watching a football game before you were concerned about how many yards your Cleveland Brown receiver got for your fantasy team? (we’ll ignore the odd fact about having a Cleveland Browns receiver on your fantasy team)  I want to ask you a question – can you still enjoy watching a game, particularly the Bears, as a fan and enjoy it? With the mass influx of data, talk radio, tweets, status updates, newspaper articles, [...]

Continuing my analysis of players to help you win your fantasy football league this year, I will take a look at the WRs.  The WR position can be tricky, but if you read my Know Thy Scoring Format post, you will remember that even WRs who don’t get into the end zone a lot can be valuable in PPR (point per reception) formats.  If you can get a WR who gets a lot of receptions and TDs, then you can really increase your fantasy prowess this season.  I will rank my WRs based on PPR scoring…on the other side…

The guys at Pro Football Focus are going around the league previewing teams for the upcoming season.  The Chicago Bears were recently featured and they weren’t necessarily complimentary.  Here are the highlights or reasons to be confident (we’ll get to the lowlights in a bit): They like Julius Peppers.  A lot.  What’s not to like? The Bears have versatility and depth at running back.  These are good things according to PFF. Good linebackers.  At least those first 2 guys.  After that, uh, not so much.  But Urlacher and Briggs trump a total lack of depth When Jay is good, he’s [...]

Matt Forte wants a new contract.  The Chicago Bears would like to give him one.  The problem?  The two sides are far apart on a new deal that puts the two sides on a collision course that could derail the 2011 season.  It’s time for these boys to work things out and get a deal done before the regular season is upon us. Bears GM Jerry Angelo has been making the rounds with the local media and his latest stop on Friday was with ESPN 1000′s Waddle and Silvy.  JA talked about a number of things and the Forte contract [...]

Tick tock…your draft is coming up and I’ve got you covered with the DeCon’s player rankings.  Let’s start with the trigger men, the ones that bring it home for your squad.  I am talking about the QBs.  If you are in 6pt for passing TD leagues, you shouldn’t sleep too long on your QB, because they will, by and large, score the most for your team this year.  I play mostly in 10 team leagues, so let’s have a look at my top 10 QBs for the 2011 season…on the other side…

Reports coming out of Bears camp on Thursday indicate that Chicago Bears linebacker Lance Briggs will sit out the Monday Night Football Game against the New York Giants.  Briggs sat out practice with what was initially reported as a “veteran’s day off” or “general soreness” but it turns out Briggs has a bruised knee. Expect special teams ace Brian Iwuh to get a majority of the snaps in Briggs’ place. It’s not too serious and I doubt that Briggs would sit out if this were a regular season game, but it points to a glaring weakness on the Bears that [...]