Thoughts and Observations: Preseason Week 1

[Ej63090]

Great to see a thoughts/observations thread. Some of the best content on this forum.

Coward looks to need another year on the PS. Hope he proves me wrong. Love the CB depth for a position I thought would be sorely lacking depth.

I fear they are pigeon holed to resign Floyd after this season. They haven’t developed or drafted anything compelling behind him. Luckily they are cap strong and should be able to reinvest I’m the position in the offseason and likely near the top of the 2nd round if needed.

 

[E.F.Hutton]

Nice write up Windy. Pretty much describes how I saw the players. Four things I was looking at were;
1. Is the Whitehair/Daniels switch working out?
A. Yes it is. It's early but I would say both positions improved.
2. Is Montgomery as good as advertised?
A. Yes he is. I was a huge Jordan Howard fan, didn't like the trade, didn't like the way he was used last year, yada yada yada. Looks like I am going to be a huger Montgomery fan.
3. How does the backfield look once you get past the starters?
A. Very good. I am so glad it won't be me who decides who gets cut and who makes the team.
4. Will either kicker distinguish themselves?
B. Not really. Odds are good someone is going to be cut that is better than either of these guys.

What impressed me the most was the depth on this team. I remember when several of the Bears starters wouldn't make it as a backup on other teams. It wasn't that long ago either. How things have changed.

 

[dennehy]

Great to see a thoughts/observations thread. Some of the best content on this forum.

Coward looks to need another year on the PS. Hope he proves me wrong. Love the CB depth for a position I thought would be sorely lacking depth.

I fear they are pigeon holed to resign Floyd after this season. They haven’t developed or drafted anything compelling behind him. Luckily they are cap strong and should be able to reinvest I’m the position in the offseason and likely near the top of the 2nd round if needed.

How are the Bears cap strong?

They're almost certainly going to have to cut starters just to get under the cap next year.

 

[Bearly]

Great to see a thoughts/observations thread. Some of the best content on this forum.

Coward looks to need another year on the PS. Hope he proves me wrong. Love the CB depth for a position I thought would be sorely lacking depth.

I fear they are pigeon holed to resign Floyd after this season. They haven’t developed or drafted anything compelling behind him. Luckily they are cap strong and should be able to reinvest I’m the position in the offseason and likely near the top of the 2nd round if needed.

Great to see a thoughts/observations thread. Some of the best content on this forum.

Coward looks to need another year on the PS. Hope he proves me wrong. Love the CB depth for a position I thought would be sorely lacking depth.

I fear they are pigeon holed to resign Floyd after this season. They haven’t developed or drafted anything compelling behind him. Luckily they are cap strong and should be able to reinvest I’m the position in the offseason and likely near the top of the 2nd round if needed.

Sometimes it's simply a matter of live reps with getting their ass handed to them to see a noticeable improvement next time out. Bad outing but it's early. We're all a bit wishful on Coward but it's too early to place a guy with so few live T reps.

 

[dabears70]

Unfortunately, I think Irving has reached his full potential. Whenever I see him for extended periods of time he just seems to get swallowed by Offensive lineman constantly. If I was Pace, I would be looking at the cut downs for someone that might replace him. (I’m gonna go back and watch his snaps again to make sure I didn’t miss anything. )

Bullard isn’t really showing any improvement from last year’s outing... and this was against backups. I need to see something soon, or we should be drafting a replacement next year.

I think Irving is good for the times he gets in the games which is usually when the o-line has been working all day/night and they're on the tired side so he can use his speed but i'm as worried about our backups after A.Lynch as i was last year. I've been saying since after last years preseason that Fitts just didn't show me anything and now after the first preseason game i believe that even more. We need at least one of Irving, Fitts, Betts or Harris to step up for these next 3 preseason games or go free agent hunting when teams start making cuts.

D.Bush looks like a man playing for a new contract, which he is, and from the little i've seen when he took over for Eddie at the end of last year and in this first preseason game i think we should give him one while we can get him cheap especially if the coaches and Pace believe in this kid because they've seen much more then any of us have from last year and this TC and preseason game.

They were absolutely putting Bunting through a tryout in that game. Even when Dax Raymond did get in and made a play they still went back to Bunting. The kid made some mistakes, which is expected, but he'll have to clean that shit up but when it comes to his receiving and making things happen after he receives it, i'm a believer.

Ian Bunting improves stock in Chicago Bears preseason opener

Ian Bunting improves stock in Chicago Bears preseason opener. Ian Bunting was a surprise star of the Chicago Bears first preseason game

email.fansided.com

 

[dabears70]

I was quite happy with the first preseason game as a whole.
My primary concern at this point is about what seems to be the lack of a developing edge rusher. Fitts and Irving were disappointing.

I had to watch it on a stream because it wasn't on any tv down here in Florida but NFL Network is replaying it at 11:30 this morning so i can watch the 2nd have of the 3rd and the 4th quarter today cause that stream i had kept buffering and pausing about that time and i ended up getting sick of it.

 

[dabears70]

Great to see a thoughts/observations thread. Some of the best content on this forum.

Coward looks to need another year on the PS. Hope he proves me wrong. Love the CB depth for a position I thought would be sorely lacking depth.

I fear they are pigeon holed to resign Floyd after this season. They haven’t developed or drafted anything compelling behind him. Luckily they are cap strong and should be able to reinvest I’m the position in the offseason and likely near the top of the 2nd round if needed.

Cap Strong? The Bears? The Chicago Bears?

 

[Leomaz]

Cap Strong? The Bears? The Chicago Bears?

We do have 16 mil for now

 

[dabears70]

We do have 16 mil for now

We have some big names that are up or coming up to be re-signed though. E.Jackson, Trubisky, C.Whitehair, L.Floyd, D.Trevathan and i want them to re-sign D.Bush sometime soon so we can get him cheap.

 

[Leomaz]

We have some big names that are up or coming up to be re-signed though. E.Jackson, Trubisky, C.Whitehair, L.Floyd, D.Trevathan and i want them to re-sign D.Bush sometime soon so we can get him cheap.

Trevathan isn’t going to be the $30 million type of contract he signed before. Plus they will be adjusting the cap with players being cut. Prince will save us 8 mil. Patterson will save us 5 mil and so on. Don’t worry about next year when this season hasn’t started. ?

 

[dabears70]

Trevathan isn’t going to be the $30 million type of contract he signed before. Plus they will be adjusting the cap with players being cut. Prince will save us 8 mil. Patterson will save us 5 mil and so on. Don’t worry about next year when this season hasn’t started. ?

Well the conversation that was first started was about the future and how we're gonna be able to replace Floyd or get that legit pass rusher opposite Mack. I like to think more like a GM then a coach and every GM is already thinking about future moves. I want sustained success (Thanks Emery) not one year wonders or even two or three year wonders.

 

[Payton!34]

I know Roquan is most needed at ilb, but I would bet he could be a great olb, he’s built and has some of the traits Mack does and he’s not 16 feet tall which isn’t optimal for olb’s! Irving is a bust, as are all backups outside of a lynch who can’t stay healthy.

Mack is the best and he still shows the most hustle of anyone on defense? Coincidence, I think not. Shorter guys Are much more difficult to block than taller guys. Whatch how low and fast Mack is all be it he is a freak. I also don’t understand why olinemen are backing up losing all leverage, Mack just waits till they’re on their back leg and boom he bulldozes all of them! Technique! Some guys are just freakishly strong regardless of their weight room stats. It’s a combination of understanding kinetics and where to draw power from and then he has that motor. He gets 4-5 sacks a year bc he doesn’t quit.

One thing I didn’t like during the ore season game is how susceptible our defense was to the screen and dump offs to running backs which might be the only way to successfully move the ball against this defense, although; smith and Trevathan can cover a hell of a lot more ground than kwit who by his own right is a good football player just lacking the physical tools to be a starter

 

[Payton!34]

I have very long thoughts on our special teams coach. I know most of the guys won't be here, but they looked atrocious.

Achilles heel the last couple of years, especially on coverage and then penalties galore when we ran out with our fullbacks!

 

[Ej63090]

Cap Strong? The Bears? The Chicago Bears?

As of right now they have carryover, and increases. They will have to move on from some players, but largely have cheap replacements as depth. Maybe Cap flexible is a better phrase.

 

[pseudonym]

Great stuff, Windy. Thanks.

 

[Leomaz]

Well the conversation that was first started was about the future and how we're gonna be able to replace Floyd or get that legit pass rusher opposite Mack. I like to think more like a GM then a coach and every GM is already thinking about future moves. I want sustained success (Thanks Emery) not one year wonders or even two or three year wonders.

And thinking towards the future is good and all but you also have to be flexible because the future changes quickly. The cap will go up. You can release players. *



*in my opinion

 

[Chief Walking Stick]

Holy fuck... imagine caring this much about a preseason game lmao.

Did you watch the whole thing at least 3 times to make sure you didn't miss anything from the 5th stringers?

 

[Raskolnikov]

Give Nall a spot over Sowell. Ball could line up at different spots and be a threat running and catching. And he’s pretty tough to bring down. I would think he would be more valuable to Nagy than sowell. Even despite his versatility.

no...Sowell and nall and one and two parts of the same solution...

get big and be nasty to play against!!

They both deserve to be on the field in similar situations and that is when your WR's need to earn paycheck and bust the congested box.

Keep Nall/Sowell ... football players. Jettison Braunecker, Mizzell, Coward, Larsen, Kwiat before we lose actual useful guys on a football field, please Pace.

Consider trying to stash Whyte/m.Hall/Bunting all on the practice squad and put Ridley on PUP list if you can.

Is how I would handle the risk.

 

[Raskolnikov]

Ahhhh...

Bars will step up and be the swing tackle as Sowell and Coward couldn't before him. The thing that worries me is who the fuck in professional football decided it was a good idea to wasted two years on Sowell and Coward in the first place?

Bars being an actual legit NFL talent level RT has a clear path in front of him, even if he would have been better suited for and moved to RG on a typical NFL team that actually prepares a worthy swing tackle.

Truth is we have just been lucky at tackle thanks to Leno stabilizing the position and Massie being a wild hog, we never got seriously exposed and if Bars can stay healthy to be ready for a game or two maybe we will stay lucky.

 

[Raskolnikov]

Bars as a game or two emergency tackle, and Long as your actual plan B swing tackle for anything longer, would be a good enough plan for me.

But then Larsen or Bars is your RG.