W16@SF: Struggles at the Bay

   Close game win against the 49ers on the road doesn't really tells us much aside that the Bears seem to still struggle against them at their house for some reason.
   The offense played well enough despite making two turnovers, the last one coming at the final minutes of the game giving the 49ers the chance of taking the lead but they didn't get to do much and got shut down by the defense sealing the win for the Bears. So again the Bears defense has played at a high and consistent level, the absence of Eddie Jackson and Aaron Lynch didn't inflict much in the overall performance of the unit but it was against a average team, the good news is there is a big chance they both come back for the playoffs and even better is that Kyle Long already is back on the team and there is even a better chance he gets plunged in at right guard for the for game of the postseason just in time to gear up the running game. I have said like many others that Mitchell Trubisky is the key to the Bears going all the way, but Cody Parkey could have a saying in this, he missed another manageable field goal and the only thing that lowers my concern of his performance is that this season no kicker is a sure thing, still I am very afraid.

   The final game of the season is here as the Bears trave to Minneapolis to face a a Vikings team fighting for their playoff lives, they have their faith in their hands but if they lose then its up to the Eagles to they take advantage and win their game snatching the wild card seed away from the Vikings. the Bears get the slight chance of getting the two seed by beating the Vikings and waiting to see if the Rams fold against their division rival 49ers, its not likely but Matt Nagy already stated that the plan is to go all out this game to get the win, then its wait and see. At first thought this game wasn't worth the effort as they will be showing the Vikings their hand and will be in harms way for potential injuries and I still don't think the 49ers will beat the Rams at the Coliseum. Still I can understand why try and win this game and its that chance of maybe getting a by and eliminating a division rival from the playoffs as a bonus, getting rid of a team that already played you twice this year and then play you again in back to back games can be rather dangerous. Injury is what concerns me, they already lost Trubisky for two games against them, this is one of the key elements the Beas                managed to get in the post season because they took better care of their players health so just hope no one gets seriously hurt.

W15vsGB: Hibernation postponed

   This season is a definite step forward for the Bears organization topping it of with a win against the arch rival Packers with Aaron Rodgers leading it, resulting in a Division Title and a home game in this years post-season, just in time for Christmas. Although there is a slim chance this can get better and of course it can get worse as well, because karma I guess?

   Starting of with the man that can take this team to the promise land depending on his performance, Mitchell Trubisky flipped the script and played a very good game, nothing compared to his previous one, so maybe it was rust? One could only hope so, he did throw a pair of early passes before the receiver started his cut but no overthrown balls, no turnover although he did fumbled once but no harm came of it as the ball was recovered by his O-line which played pretty good as well, picking up a variety of blitzes and helped Trubisky escape the pocket when nothing was open. This type of performances make the Bears a Super Bowl contender but I have seen this hot and cold scenarios in the QB position before with Rex Grossman and Jay Cutler, differences? Grossman didn't have the type of elusiveness, its still to early to tell if Trubisky can make better decisions consistently, Grossman was a freaking roller coaster, Cutler not as much but was inconsistent with or without good receivers, the biggest thing Trubisky has that Cutler never had was the undeniable support of his teammates, accepting him as a leader even when struggling, this area hit Cutler hard on his job as a starting QB. Jordan Howard is getting the ball and doing his part, gushing thru the middle on one play resulting on a long touchdown run. Tarik Cohen was the player to watch on offense in this game, making great plays but then balancing his performance with some big mistakes of his own loosing a ball on the hand off to Howard on a wildcat play and then catching a short pass that could have resulted in his second touchdown but for some reason went out of bounds even before crossing the first down marker making the Bears go for a field goal instead. Still Cohen is a dangerous weapon to have and a key piece to the offense, the good things he did in this game showed that. Adam Shaheen appeared on this game with a pair of catches and watching him with the ball just wants me to watch more of it, he is massive and can push people around in the secondary. 

   Aaron Rodgers was a tad off on his deep throws, but the usual suspects on defense shined once more. I really liked Leonard Floyd's play and effort on this game, he look like he had something to prove playing hard and fast all over the field. It hurts not having Bryce Callahan but Sherrick McManis is a good job of replacing him, he looks to be a step slower than Callahan but has enough to stick to his man and making the tackles. One of the things that makes the Bears defense great is they their health, watching Aaron Lynch as a good rotational OLB and Eddie Jackson as the backfield cover safety hurts, Jackson's absence will hurt Kyle Fullers game more than anyone else in the field, his type of play is better when he can trust his safety to cover the deep routs, really hoping that Jackson can be ready for the playoffs. 

   Five Pro Bowlers later (just four on defense, should have been more), the Bears finish 7-1 at home losing only to the Patriots in a tight game. Getting home field advantage for the whole post season would be huge but the odds are against them, beating a re-surging 49ers team led by rookie QB Nick Mullens and a stingy defense, who play better in Candlestick Park, is the first step. This win is needed if they want to get a 2nd or even a 1st seed, even so a win would assure them the 3rd, a playoff game at Soldier Field, what a year. Playing in wild card week could be better for a Bears team that didn't play well when coming out their bye week this season, but if Jackson isn't healthy enough to play it may not be the best scenario, Deon Bush will be under the microscope in this game.

W14vsLAR: Opportunistic

This looked like the game against the Giants with biggest differences being that Eli Manning did turn the ball over as much as Jared Goff did, the Bears defense took what the Rams gave them and shut them down to only 6 points which is very impressive, what wasn't as the QB play on both teams.
   Mitch Trubisky did his best impression of bad Chase Daniel going for 3 picks on the game, two air balls and one on a bad decision, this could just be a result of him not playing in 2 weeks so he can get a pass this time but its a wait and see thing now. Jordan Howard got more involved this time and paid of getting to 100 rushing yards since forever, this makes me happy. The Rams defense didn't do that much and just received the gifts thrown by Trubisky, the only score by the Bears came on another creative play drawn up by Matt Nagy that look like last second plays you watch in sport movies. The key to the game was Chicago's defense getting into Goff's head and making him take bad decision, he looked uncomfortable all game and the Bears slowed down the little running game the Rams tried Still this game was too close and turnovers gave Bears the win.
   Next is the final home game and it will be against the Packers, winning gets the bears a home game in the postseason which would make the win even sweeter, it will not be easy just because its against Aaron Rogers but again, if they win this game it means even more by beating a team they have struggled to beat for a long time, lets see if the Bears came make this an even rivalry again.

W13@NYG: To be or not to be... a good QB

   So what was it Chase Daniel? Did you Oline under perform that you got pressured too often? Was the game plan to simple for the defense to figure out? Was it that the run game stalled again and to much was put in your shoulders? Was it the rain that made you perform like an inexperienced QB coming out of the bench mid game against one of the best defenses of the year? Or was it that I jumped to early conclusions that you were a more than dependable experienced backup QB when you just had a good game to then show one week later that you cant move in the pocket, you're accuracy is average at best in bad weather and you panic like the average QB when you cant find your first read open and pressure is coming, showing that you cant really put the offense on your back because of your lack of game inexperience. Yeah I may be going to hard on him,when I didn't have anything but good things to say about his performance against the Lions last week, but it was so awful to see him play against the Giants showing a 180º type of performance, only touch he showed was on the pair of throws to Tarik Cohen on the wheel routs. Some say that Matt Nagy didn't continue to run the ball as much on the second half because the Giants were expecting it but the way Daniel was playing, the conditions on the field and the number of blitzes the Giants made could have benefited for a couple of more run plays to be called, I don't see how mixing it up with Howard would have hurt. The defense could have taken the game in their hands but let a trick play go for a score and then couldn't stop them on 4th and goal for another score, even so the game wasn't lost because of them, they did enough for the offense to get them the win but didn't happen. 

   Mitchell Trubisky comes back to host the NFC first place Rams on Sunday night, this is the game that will grade the strenght of this Bears team before they can get to the playoffs, they will have all their starting players and still cant wait for this game to start. This will be Vic Fangio against Shane McVay, one with years of experience and the other, while still very young, has proven to have great creativity and has excellent control of his teams strenghts, Nagy can show he is as creative or more helping his defense win this game, just remember to watch out for Rams #99.

Just saw the end of the Dolphins vs Pats game.... wow. And whats up with the kickers this year right?

W12@DET: Resiliency

   What a great win by the Bears on the road on a really short weeks rest forced to play with the backup QB, it didn't really matter and won as a team against a bad Lions team that wasn't at their best without their lead running back and just one good receiver, even so the game was a close one and the Bears needed to play a solid game to get it done.

   Chase Daniel did what you expect from a backup and more, he started slow but didn't turn the ball over and threw for a pair of TDs, overall he did his part pretty good. Trey Burton on the other hand might just had his worst game of the season, coughing up the ball once and drawing and ending a potential scoring drive with an offensive holding, this might just be a bad day kind of thing. Who had a good day was Eddie Jackson who took one to the house reading Matthew Stafford like an open book and picked him for what would be the game winning touchdown, this got him the defensive player of the week and month of November recognition that could just maybe give him the attention of fans to get him to the Pro Bowl which I do believe he deserves. To win both games against the Lions and one against the Vikings is so great to see even better when with was one after the other, to win against you division opponents its what you expect from your team if they want to win your division, what the Bears demonstrated these three past games is huge progress and that they are a contending team at the least.

   The Bears go to New York to play a dangerous but bad coached Giants team, this team is a sleeping giant (pun intended) and you really don't want to wake him up, they got the weapons necessary to score on you at any moment with the receiving core they have and a rising star at running back. Eli Manning is good enough to hurt you but the Oline is shaky at best and there is were the Bears defense will need to take advantage of by getting into Mannings face and head while containing Saquon Barkley in the process. Daniel will have a second go at starting QB proving he can help the team win but if Akiem Hicks doesn't play and this gets out of hand, Daniel will have to play as good as he did at Detroit, if the Cowboys demonstrated something by beating the Saints Thursday night was that defenses still matter and that you cant get to confident that you are the better team just because, execution of the right game plan is everything, players and coaches need to get it right to get it done, I do believe that the Bears can pull this one off to continue their winning streak all the way to Los Angeles. Cant wait.