Bear Dawn: Matt Forte’s Knee
By John Vassar
The top stories from yesterday was Matt Forte‘s knee injury and Adam Gase sitting on everyone’s top HC candidates list.
First Forte. He has a sprained MCL and will be out at least two weeks. I suspect longer for knee injuries are tricky and he doesn’t want it injured to the point of surgery. I also think depending on how Langford plays will determine Matt Forte’s recovery. Coaches indicated that Langford will be the featured back like Forte was, so we can forget about RB by committee for now. Look for Langford to get 20-25 touches against the Chargers. Here is Kyle Longs comments on Langford.
“Langford’s a guy who can pick and choose from different guys’ repertoires,” right tackle Kyle Long said, via CSN Chicago. “He’s a guy who can run very hard downhill with surprising burst that you see on film. Once he gets through the line, he can just shoot out there.
“So I think from a linear standpoint, you’ll see a guy who’s running downhill, and I think Bears fans will like it. I know I like the guy a lot. He runs hard, and he’s a tough kid.”
Now to Adam Gase. As expected once the musical chairs begin with NFL HC opportunities his name gets bandied about. I am not so sure he will be a HC next season for I believe the Bears are grooming him to take over for John Fox in a season or two. We all realize John Fox is not going to stay on as HC for a long time. His mission is to right the ship and hand over the helm to a younger coach. The Bears historically promote within, Gase and Pace are both young and can build a dynamic organization together. There is also the Saints connection. Yes there is one. Gase is married to the daughter of the Saints LB coach, Joe Vitt. Vitt has been the coach in NO since 2006 so he knows Pace and am sure Gase and Pace crossed paths somewhere in the past. I don’t look for Gase to go anywhere.
Rosenthal over at NFL.com put out his weekly QB rankings and has Jay Cutler listed as 16th best. I can’t disagree too much with that, but think some of the others listed above him are suspect. Nonetheless, Jay is having an outstanding season.
There was no injury report from Halas Hall yesterday. I am sure Fox will hold a presser and will update on injury status.
On Tuesday, Kyle Long and Sam Acho held press conferences and if you missed them here they are:
For you Adam Hoge and Adam Jahns fans here is their podcast. Intentional Grounding
Then there is Jon Gruden, who last season brutalized Jay Cutler and now he says the Bears would be winless without him. Here is sound bite.