For the record (and this feels weird), I am still much more pessimistic about the season than this board. But I'm sure if they go 8-8 or something they'll turn into The Worst Team In The NFL Again and I'll be the loyal merryman clapping for Team Lovie.

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Fire Phil Emery

I must say, I'm really pleasantly surprised about today's game. I had no idea what to expect with this team, based on what we saw in the preseason. First and foremost, I thought the D-line was outstanding today. The defense was great, and I think that was largely predicated on their ability to rush 4 for most of the day; we all know that the secondary is a potential weakness, so by getting pressure with four, they can mitigate that weakness. Peppers continues to be a freak of nature. Urlacher was good today, and that interception he had was outstanding. Peanut Tillman is the best ball-puncher in the history of football.

On offense, I'm encouraged by what I saw. They moved the ball well, in general. Oddly, I thought the line was better at pass blocking than run blocking, when I expected the opposite. The line was better in general that I feared, but still gave up 5 sacks and there was frequent pressure on Cutler. But Cutler, for his part, was really good. I don't blame that interception on him, and outside of that, his numbers were really, really good. The announcers blamed Cutler entirely for missing Davis on that would-be touchdown, but failed to mention that Davis inexplicably froze when Cutler threw the ball; had that connected, his numbers would have been that much better. Still, they had their red-zone problems; they need to convert more red zone tries into touchdowns.

The special teams were good as well, which was a concern coming in.


All in all, I'm quite impressed. Glass half full, you hope the line gets better, and they get better in the red zone. If they can do that, and play D like they did today, they'll be a very good team.

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You can't see me because of internet.

The landowner effectively owns part shares in millions of part-time slaves called, "taxpayers." -Roy L
A Personal Relationship with Jesus?

Not exclusive to CSFMB, but I know what you mean.

Anger and frustration generate more response.

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And outstanding Doug & OB postgames.

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You can't see me because of internet.

The landowner effectively owns part shares in millions of part-time slaves called, "taxpayers." -Roy L
A Personal Relationship with Jesus?

Excellent point.

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Nice post

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Fare you well, fare you well
I love you more than words can tell
Listen to the river sing sweet songs
To rock my soul

Invigorating response.

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Could someone remind me why everyone keeps telling me the Bears were the luckiest team in the league last year? I mean, i remember the Lions thing in game 1... And they didn't really have any major long term injuries. And I thought there was something in the 3rd game against GB... But that was a close game anyway. They lost some games they should've won and won some games they should've lost, nothing crazy there. I'm not saying I thought they were great... That was one of the worst offensive lines I can remember for the last decade. But what am I forgetting? And why can't this year's team be just as "lucky"?

There are things you can bitch at. I thought Webb had bad game overall. He blocked ok, but had 2 holdings that wiped out first down plays.

Williams and Carimi did not play very well in the early part of the game, but I thought the OLine overall did pretty well.

That Sazenbacher playcall was an abortion. I have no idea what the hell Martz was thinking there. Same thing with the little screen to Roy Williams. I have no problem with the WR screen, but thats gotta be thrown to Hester or Knox...even maybe Bennet, not #11.

Up 30-6, you have the ball in the 4th quarter...and Martz is throwing. Really dude. At that point if you're throwing at all, it needs to be safe little passes, but at that point you should be handing off unless its 3rd and long. They go empty backfield and what happens- pick 6. Get those big TE's in there and hand off, even if you use Bell, just run time off the clock. The game was well in hand at that point.

I was very surprised at the offense more so than the defense, but they ended up getting 2 FGs when they really needed to get into the endzone. When the Bears play better teams (Packers, Philly, etc) they MUST get 6 instead of kicking 25-30 yard FGs.

I thought there were a couple of really ticky-tack flags thrown. One was on special teams (I think) against Atlanta for a hold that I never really saw. And then you had an obvious roughing the passer early in the game. Not just one guy, but you had 2 guys hit Cutler late and no flag. With the way they throw flags for roughing the passer now I thought that was a bullshit no call.

Atlanta did not look very good. They weren't really lighting up the Bears D with the no huddle, but they were moving the ball a bit. I don't know why they stopped doing that, unless thier OLine or whatever was gassed. BUt still....Atlanta was the #1 seed in the NFC last year and for the Bears to come out of that not allowing them an offensive touchdown, to be +2 on the turnover ratio, and to have moved the ball as effectively as they did was a very good start for them. Their first 5 games are really tough so if they end up 3-2 going into week 6 that's pretty good.

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I think its more a function of the Chat room

Without the chat this thing would be 10 pages.

I thought they needed a bigger flag for the 9/11 ceremony.

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I was overall really happy with the outcome. No major injuries (we'll see what comes back about Roy and Lance) and the Defense played great. The Offense is still a work in progress that I believe will get better as the season goes on. What I didn't like was Cutler throwing a pass with two Falcons in his face, Cutler not throwing balls away when a sack was inevitable, and Webb had a less than stellar game.

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RFDC thinks I'm retarded.

They really couldn't run when the wanted to run. That is a little troubling. I think they will get it going against the Saints as they will need something to keep the Saint offense off the field.

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O judgment! Thou art fled to brutish beasts,
And men have lost their reason.

Will comment more after I have watched it again. Couldn't really watch yesterday...from what I did see...the oline was better than I thought and the defense played better than I expected.