40 minutes or so to game time: what's everybody watching for tonight. Here's a few:

Can Benson show a little explosiveness out of the backfield? He has been consistently picking up around 4 yards a carry and converting short third downs, both of which are undervalued skills. However, he has not had very many runs of 6 yards or more- let's see if that changes tonight (one caveat- I expect that Benson is a better second half rusher, and that will not show up in preseason games, obviously.)

Can Mark Anderson defend when the ball is run right at him? He has been doing a fine job at chasing down the run from the opposite side, but his pass rish routes often take him far outside, leaving a gaping hole between the guard and tackle. Can he rein it in and not get pushed outside when need be?

Will Rex Grossman continue to make good decisions? That sounds weird, but his completion percentage really is everything you could expect it to be (although his ypp leaves something to be desired, to be sure.) I'm still not worried about the fumbling, but I am worried about decision making.

Will the tackles still be turnstiles? Robert Mathis and Dwight Freeney will do that to a lot of people, but that doesn't mean I can't sorry about Fred Miller.

How is Tommy Harris going to look? Is Tommy Harris going to play?

Which kids on the bubble are going to make contributions on special teams? Both the coverage and return teams looked far better in Indy after having a rough go of it in Houston.

Any other questions?

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Fire Phil Emery

You touched on most of them, I want to see how Daniel Manning and Ced Benson will do. Benson to me is really the biggest x factor to the season. Also it will be interesting to see how Rex does, as usual. See how he responds to last game. He really needs to quit this really good or really bad shit. He needs a bit of amnesia, after throwing a pic he needs to come back out confident he will make the next throw. As usual I am interested in the Bears young WR's. See Berrian, Bradley, Hester step up at all and help Rex out a bit.

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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

Im interested in the double TE too. JD was saying in training camp they had success with a double TE, Berrian and Hester wide, with Benson the lone setback. That would be a scary formation to face, with all that speed on the field

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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

id really like to see tommie harris on the field

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Im also interested in seeing how long the starters play. Since the Bears are an established contender, I would be cautious and not play them after halftime, but usually they go into the third

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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

I guess wait till week 1

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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

I cannot believe- I refuse to believe- that Mike Ditka was ever an intelligent football mind.

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Fire Phil Emery

Here's a perhaps stupid question: why practice extra points while the first team is on the field? Why not use it as an extra first-team opportunity on the goal line? I understand that you want the special teams to get adjusted as well, but why can't that be done on field goals and on PATs in the second half?

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Fire Phil Emery

David Hester is a cartoon. There is no Bear player I've ever had as much fun watching.

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Fire Phil Emery

Hes an injured cartoon now

_________________
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

Roon will be watching Rex get his pretty hand all nice and up in olins ass and rub bing gently. He is big into ticght ends. Because hie is all loose and tunnel like in hos big gaping ahole.
Mr. tooney, be my buddy. i will be nice to you. I will mix your maypo just the way you like it. With Bloueberry and KY.

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My Mother was a witch...she was burned alive
Thankless little bitch, for the tears I cried
Take her down now, don't wanna see her face.
All blistered and burnt, can't hide my disgrace.
Am I evil? Yes. I am.

Jesus- I might as well have just written JINX JINX JINX JINX Devin Hester JINX JINX JINX.

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Fire Phil Emery

It looks like Hester is OK- maybe just a nick stinger or something like that.

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Fire Phil Emery

Why is Ditka saying Hester needs to stay up when blocking? I understand his point about a knee injury but Hester is tiny. If he tried to stand up block he would be crushed

_________________
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

Overall the Bears look good so far. I know it is early but they look in sync and ready to go.

Damn

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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

It's because he's an idiot, and he doesn't understand what a chop block is.

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Fire Phil Emery

Fucking Grossman

Anyhow, blocking isnt always about flooring a guy, a player like Hester has to use the pursuers momentum against him, change his angle. Just a simple push.

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"Mattress technology has come a long way"

- Dan Bernstein, 2016

Dvoracek might be a very good player this year.

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Fire Phil Emery

God the 49ers look awful. Far cry from last years preseason game. It looks like my HS football team took the field against the Bears.


Of course Da Coach prescribes the problem as jet lag.... I think it just might be BearsLag

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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

ERRR.... that's either lazy, or a sign of stupidity by the announcers. If the play is called, it's because 1.) it's an offensive foul, or 2.) a defensive player made contact or drew someone offsides. If it is not 2, it must be 1. Why do so many announcers not realize this?

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Fire Phil Emery

Despite not coming back to the game, irish boy is right, Hester is fine. You arent laughing on the sideline if you are seriously hurt

_________________
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

So what are you drinking to get through this game, Farvefan?

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Fire Phil Emery

Ditka has good analysis but he is terrible in a booth. He belongs in a studio

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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

Bud Light

with a name like Irish Boy you better be drinking too

_________________
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

is rex the shortest starting QB in the league?

No he just has the shortest fingers

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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

I believe both Rex and Drew Brees are 6'0"

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Fire Phil Emery

Is this what the Redskins looked like when they lost 73-0?

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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

Do remember that Frank Gore isn't playing.

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Fire Phil Emery

Yeah but he doesnt play D. Nobody on the entire team has made one good play and its the end of the first quarter. If I was Lovie I would take all the starters out after the 1st quarter, no use risking injury in this game, they showed what they needed to in my opinion

_________________
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