Bear down, Chicago Bears, make every play clear the way to victory.
Bear down, Chicago Bears, put up a fight with a might so fearlessly.
We'll never forget the way you thrilled the nation with your T formation.
Bear down, Chicago Bears, and let them know why you're wearing the crown.
You're the pride and joy of Illinois, Chicago Bears, Bear down

okay, with the eagles game starting in a little while, here are a few things i'd like to see:

*blitzing. lots and lots of blitzing. i know the eagles figure that they can get a ton of pressure from their front 4, but here's the thing, if all you do is bring those 4 lineman every play, that allows the opposing QB to get into a rhythm. you may still get pressure, you may still get sacks, but you won't get in that guy's head. on the other hand, if he never knows where the pressure is coming from, he's gonna have a long, long day.

*vick: 60 yards rushing. i hear a ton of talk about how they want him to be a pocket QB, but i think that's horseshit. him making plays downfield with his legs opens up a ton of room for the receivers, for the running backs, and for his arm. it also really neuters the opposing pass rush, since they'd have to maintain lane integrity to prevent vick fro gashing them on the ground.

*defense: 3 takeaways. with the way the rules are setup in the NFL now, there really is no way that you can consistently stop a great offense from scoring. the three most critical aspects of having a successful defense are limiting offenses to 3 points in the redzone, getting off the field on third down, and taking the ball away. since the eagles will almost certainly be terrible at those first two, i'm putting all my eggs in the third basket.

*mccoy: 100 yards rushing, brown, polk: 40 yards rushing combined. if you add vick's 60, to these two goals, that adds up to 200 yards on the ground. that might be a bit lofty as a goal, but it should be doable.

so far:

the eagles haven't sacked weeden, but they've also held him to 7/19 for 68 yards and 2 interceptions.

vick has run for 27 yards, but he really hasn't done a good job of breaking the pocket when there's pressure. he should really make much more of an effort to gain yards with his legs. in addition, he's done a somewhat better job of throwing the ball away when there's nothing open. his interception was an exception to that, and he's also made some questionable throws against the blitz. overall, he's played pretty well considering his lack of preseason exposure. 17/28 for 200 yards in the half.

turnovers: coleman and DRC with interceptions. vick was also intercepted and mccoy lost a fumble.

and mccoy has run for 50 yards on 7 carries. he actually touched the ball much more often than that, but those plays were negated by about a half a dozen holding calls.



also, kendricks and ryans look like real players. kendricks' hit separated the ball from a receiver on coleman's redzone interception, and ryans has been a beast stuffing the run.

very ugly start for the bears today

First punt of the day in kc came with 7 min left.

browns?

Blaine Gabbert just hit a 39-yard game winning TD.

edit: or not.

like i wrote

browns???

browns?

PHI: 5 turnovers
PHI: 12 penalties for 110 yards

Are all the INTs Vick's fault?

jj

i only saw highlights. one was a tip on what was a poor pass anyway. 2 looked to be poor decisions.

on the fumble the guy was going left and the pursuit was behind him and mccoy reversed field he ran right into the pursuit and the ball came loose

Lions doing what they do best under Stafford, playing ugly in the 1st half and coming back to win the game.

Are all the INTs Vick's fault?

pretty much.

weeden was just an absolute steaming turd. 12/35 for 118 yards with 4 interceptions. it's hard to imagine a worse possible line for a quarterback. 5.1 QB rating.

their running game was almost non-existent as well. trent richardson had 39 yards on 19 carries. again, terrible.

as pointed out above, the eagles turned the ball over 5 times, they were penalized 12 times for 110 yards. that's just an atrocious showing.

also of note, the eagles did not have a single rushing attempt in the 3rd quarter.

also of note, the eagles were credited with only 2 sacks. considering the overall dominance by that unit today, that's not a huge worry going into week 2, but i'd really like to see some gamebreaking plays from that front 4.


the turnovers and penalties were a continuation of the team's failings from last year, but one other troubling carryover is the offensive playcalling. they really were way too cute with their passing game, trying to do all of that timing based west coast ####. i know that's where reid's roots are, but with this offense, you need to stretch the defense vertically with maclin, jackson, and celek to open up room in the middle of the field for mccoy, avant, and celek. every play can't be a 75 yard bomb, but if you threaten the defense with that possibility every time vick drops back, the offense becomes unstoppable.


i guess we'll have to wait to see what happens next week against baltimore.

RGIII looked great, so did Albert Morris. The line is much better when Liechtenstieger plays. The defense played with spirit, especially Ryan Kerrigan. Can;t help but be really pleased as a Skins fan, even if they are still a year or two away.

RG3 really did have a nice game, but Brees has to be playing injured. Not taking away anything from the Redskin D, but Brees made a lot of unforced errors today. Lots of drops by the receivers, too.

As far as my upthread prediction that Carolina would win the South, y'all like Matt Ryan a lot more than I do. He looked good today against a banged up KC defense.

63 yard FG for Akers, that hit the crossbar and goes over? You've got to be kidding me.

Niners are catching a lot of breaks today. David Akers just kicked a 63 yd FG that hit the top of the crossbar and bounced over.

Is Weeden already the worst first round pick of all time?

Replacement refs are brutal in Pack/Niners.

Is Weeden already the worst first round pick of all time?

i'm not convinced that he was even the worst first round pick in this game. the eagles drafted brandon ####### graham ahead of earl thomas, while they're ####### loaded at defensive end, with cole, babin, hunt, and tapp, and carrying arguably the worst group of safeties in the NFL.


also, ryan leaf.

I thought Weeden was great today, he was the reason the Eagles won today. My 7-9 prediction is feeling optimistic right now.

The Packers should give up on this whole "running the ball" thing.

Replacement refs are brutal in Pack/Niners.

This is understating it.

So, how much will Harbaugh's fine be after the goes off on the refs after the game?

It's pretty remarkable when you can make me yearn for the days of regular NFL refs. Congrats, replacements!

don't know why harbaugh should be complaining. sure the packers committed a goodly amount but san fran procedure and holding were ignored several times

san fran should be pleased overall

In Arizona, the refs don't know how many timeouts Seattle has.

both wisconsin and green bay got exposed in line play this weekend

i don't know how coaches forget about this aspect of the game but you get reminded pretty quick when you cannot handle the line of scrimmage

san fran overwhelmed the packer o-line on that last series which i think is inexcusable

and the wisky o-line also got steamrolled

yuck

don't know why harbaugh should be complaining. sure the packers committed a goodly amount but san fran procedure and holding were ignored several times

The missed calls on the punt return for the TD made this game when it really shouldn't have been. It's a freaking joke that the league is using replacement referees.

San Francisco really has a lot of talent on both sides of the ball. They're least talented at QB, where a former first pick overall is the starter. I don't know if you can win in the NFL without a great QB but the 49ers sure are going to try. Smith did play well today and the Niners sure do have a lot more weapons this year than they ever have had before for Smith.

Smith is such a one read guy, he really just can't think on his feet. It's amazing when you consider he's a very bright guy off the field.

But this is the best receiving corps he's had since he joined the NFL, so his flaws will be covered like never before by guys who can actually get open. I don't know what the endgame is for that, but it's nice not being entirely reliant on Davis and Gore.

russlan

it would not have changed the outcome but..... and note i wrote it would not have changed the outcome.....but the niners had some obvious procedure penalties, one of the easiest calls to make, not called much earlier in the game.

and now you and others will ignore what i wrote and hound me for suggesting that green bay got robbed or some such nonsense.

and yes, i really hate what this site has become. a bunch of twerps desperate beyond understanding to not comprehend what was written and argue what was not stated

this is not directed at any one poster

but if folks are wondering why i take such an aggressive qualifying stance it is a vain attempt to cut off the useless digression

HW, I am just saying that the missed calls on the punt return TD are reason enough for Harbaugh to complain. It was a very poorly officiated game and both sides have reasons to be upset.

I quoted your post because you said that you didn't know why Harbaugh should be complaining.

The 49ers running backs appear to start at full speed way before they get the ball more than any other team. It gives them a lot more momentum as they hit the line of scrimmage.

russlan

he was griping long before the punt return.

it's pretty telling that when san fran chose to play they could stop green bay pretty handily

if i were packer leadership i would be mighty concerned

i don't know how coaches forget about this aspect of the game but you get reminded pretty quick when you cannot handle the line of scrimmage

It's great to have star players at skill positions but without good line play they get lost. New England is one team which works hard to draft offensive linemen.

That SF-GB game was a joke as far as officiating was concerned.

he was griping long before the punt return.

Oh, Harbaugh will do that.

I have to say that as a 49er fan, I am very pleased with just how much talent this team has right now. It says a lot to me that this team is considered a title contender even though of the 4 guys that they have drafted in the first two rounds of the last two drafts, only one of them is playing a big role for this team even though the guys they have drafted are still well thought of.

Is Jenkins still supposed to play a role? I thought reports were that he looked bad.

san fran overwhelmed the packer o-line on that last series which i think is inexcusable

and the wisky o-line also got steamrolled

Look around the league, there's a lot of weak offensive lines. And nobody has any real depth. Meanwhile many teams have talent and depth at defensive line.

and now you and others will ignore what i wrote and hound me for suggesting that green bay got robbed or some such nonsense.

The only thing that rivals the fake stories of manliness in the I-wish-this-guy-would-die-already hierarchy is your patented brand of preemptive whining.

Jenkins isn't likely to play an important role for the niners this year unless they have injuries. Their first picks this year won't play much this year.

I think to get a full count of the officiating blunders in the SF-GB game you would have to re-watch the whole thing. I suspect that the Niners got more no-calls in their favor, but the Packers got the two biggest. I think they got maybe 25% of the PI calls right, although I think (HOMER ALERT) that the one OPI call against the packers was correct.

What's really odd on that punt return is that the threw the flag -- then picked it back up. Officials miss/don't call blocks in the back on pretty much every return - but to call one then then pick it up?

Smith is such a one read guy, he really just can't think on his feet. It's amazing when you consider he's a very bright guy off the field.

I think that's only part of it. I think he is being specifically coached to play ball security. It's not only the 1-read throws, but he is constantly throwing the ball out of bounds or eating it when he gets any pressure -- which is not very dynamic play but it DOES minimize INTs and fumbles. Last year, when the Niners were trailing in games he went much deeper into progressions and avoided pressure more.

Or maybe he's just not very good.

So Peyton looked really good today and I can't help but think that the Niners would be pretty big favorites if he had signed with them this offseason. Not all of his throws were great but he had enough arm strength to make some difficult passes and he of course made excellent decisions.

it's pretty telling that when san fran chose to play they could stop green bay pretty handily

SF D is a bad matchup for GB because their ILBs can cover the best TEs. So they don't have to sub nickel as much as other teams, so you can't put in 3 WR and run the ball.

Rodgers probably kept the game close by avoiding 3-4 sacks with little scrambles. Green Bay was unstoppable 3rd and short.

The real problem for GB is their linebacking corps which is horrible. Niners got almost 6 ypc on the ground, that is exactly what they needed to open their passing game up (until the score was 23-7 and they went into turtle mode).

Fearless prediction, Bears win tonight.

meat

they should. the 49ers followed the giants blueprint which is go back to playing basic football because it finally dawned on folks that gb is constructed exclusively to play crazy ball.

i have been griping nonstop that gb would have a problem if teams just started lining up and punching them in the face because their d-line stinks and you can't defend with 2 down linemen consistently. the league figured it out.

the good teams are going to thrash gb save for when rodgers is spectacular and that is a lot to ask of any qb

plus if Jennings does play he wont be near 100% which will help the bears secondary

also the bears have a pretty good running game so they should be able to just smash them if the line holds up.

Weirdly, the Bears ran 42 times for 199 against GB last year (in Green Bay) and still lost. That was with McCown, not Cutler (nor Matt Forte!) though. Not sure the Bears have a good enough Defense to stop the Packers. But it's awfully early in the season.