sven233

Maybe it's because the 3 highest cap hits for this team this season are Diggs, Milano, and Miller. One isn't on the team, one is probably out for the year, and nobody knows if the other one who is 34 years old coming off a major injury will be able to even be a fraction of what he once was...... Maybe it's because out WR room is nothing but a big question mark with injuries mounting by the day. Maybe it's because the safety position which has never been in question for the last 7-8 years suddenly is completely turned over and the guys we were relying on to try to hold it down with have had more injury time than practice time. Maybe it's because we have the most physically gifted QB of all time who does everything in his power to throw this team on his back week in and week out doesn't get the proper help he deserves. Maybe it's because our head coach has yet to prove that he is ready for "the moment" and has made some of the worst coaching decisions of all time in the biggest games at the most critical times. Look...... I get it. It's frustrating to see the negativity around here. But, the fact is, a lot of it is warranted. We as a fan base want to win a Super Bowl so badly that it tends to consume us at times. Going into the last 3 seasons or so, we knew that we were good enough to win the thing and whether it be because of bad coaching, unfortunate injuries, or several other factors, we didn't get the job done even though I truly believe we were the best team in probably 2 of those seasons. I think the other part of the frustration is, while we will always have a chance to win the Super Bowl as long as 17 is healthy and playing for us, that this season just doesn't feel anywhere near as certain that we can compete as we have the last few years. Who knows.....maybe everything turns out OK and come January we will all in on this team. Maybe we somehow turn the injury luck around and go into the biggest games of the season fully healthy. Maybe this WR room by committee actually works and Allen has the best year of his career because defenses can't shift their focus to stopping one particular player or concept we're running. Maybe McDermott finally learns from his mistakes and coaches with common sense in the big moments. And maybe in the first season in a long time we have more questions and concerns than answers and belief, turns out to be the one where we achieve our ultimate goal. But, right now, I think it is understandable if everyone has a bit of negativity when it comes to our injuries and lack of true star power to help our unicorn QB win the last NFL game of the season. Hopefully, though, in about 18 days, we come out firing on all cylinders and turn some of these negative thoughts into optimism for the rest of the season.

First of all, I want to say I am as big of a fan as anyone of the old K-Gun no huddle offense. However, there are a couple of factors at play here. First and foremost, we have no idea what this offense is truly going to look like. For all intents and purposes, Allen hasn't played with the starters this preseason outside of a couple series and you can't learn anything from that. On top of that, they are not running their offense. They probably have 15-20 plays that they are running out there and none of them offer any sort of inclination of our philosophy on offense this season. We are basically running a high school offense right now as are most teams in the preseason. So, until we actually see what this offense is going to be, we have no idea if it needs help or not. Secondly, as much as I love me some no huddle up tempo offense, the days of running that for extended periods of time I think are pretty much over. Defenses are just too fast and too good these days. Also, all of these players today are pretty much elite athletes and take care of their bodies to such an extent that keeping up with offenses isn't as hard as it used to be for these guys. Back in the day, you wanted to use the no huddle to wear guys down and tire them out so they had nothing left com the 4th quarter. That isn't a thing anymore. So, I think if any team wants to try and run it as their base offense in today's game is going to be in trouble. That said, there are absolutely times to use it and it could be very effective. Use it as a one-off on a series in a game...... Catch a team off guard and try to take advantage of some confusion that may result because of it. You can use it to try to keep a personnel mismatch on the field. For example, if you have Kincaid absolutely abusing a LB down after down, get to the line and don't let them substitute that LB for another safety or CB. If you find yourself absolutely mauling a defensive line in the run game, absolutely get to the line to make sure they can't substitute. I am also a fan of not necessarily running a true no huddle, but just getting to the line quickly as to have more of an opportunity for Allen and Brady in this case to look at the defense and try and decipher what they are in. Brady can talk to Allen until like 25 seconds left in the play clock, so if you can have 5-10 seconds where Brady can talk to Allen and let him know what he is seeing up in the box, that could help too. So yeah.....all that said, don't panic yet. Let's see what our offense looks like before worrying. By all accounts, we are using a ton of motion and eye candy with guys lining up in so many different positions in practice that it is hard to keep up with sometimes. We have seen none of that so far in the preseason and I'm sure we won't. We all want this offense to be great, but worrying about how bad it is looking in preseason, especially with Allen not really playing, is not what anyone should be doing. But yes......during the season, we can absolutely use it in spots. It still has a purpose and can help at any point we decide to use it.

I think the other problem is in the short term..... This team still is a Super Bowl contender even with all the turnover we have had this offseason. It's one thing if Allen goes down for the season, but it is a completely different situation if he is out 4-6 weeks or something like that. Sure, if Allen goes down for the year, put a fork in this team because we're done, just as most good teams would be in this situation. However, if it is a shorter term thing, you need your backup to be able to come in and go at least .500 in the games that Allen misses. Right now, does anyone trust that any of the backups on this roster can win a single game, let alone 3 out of 6? This team will compete for a championship every year that Allen is healthy and the QB of this team. But, if he misses a few games, we will need a competent backup QB that can go at least .500 in the games that Allen misses. If we don't have that, this team can have all the talent in the world, all the Super Bowl aspirations you could ask for, but if the backup goes 1-5 or 0-6 instead of 3-2 or 3-3 and you end up missing the playoffs by a game, it doesn't matter how much other talent you have on this team because we'll be watching from home. I am not saying we need to invest 10 million in a backup QB, but man, it would be nice to have someone that inspires confidence because Mitch and the rest of these guys surely don't. The thing is, though, they were thrilled to get Trubisky back in the building. They love the way he practices and gives the defense looks during the week. Unfortunately, when forced to play, it just seems like he has no idea what he is looking at out there. The first series was such an eye opener to this. On third down, you could see what was coming on TV even before the snap. Anyone that knows anything about offense and the X's and O's of football knows that the RB leaking out there is the throw in that 3rd and short situation and yet, sure enough, Cook is wide open off the line and would have strolled for an easy first down. Instead, Trubisky doesn't see him.....not even sure he looked at him, and got buried for an awful sack. There were other plays in that game as well where he was just not seeing open guys or didn't know where to look. It was alarming how bad he was. But again, all of this is something we are seeing. I am sure they see it too. The difference is a lot of us want to do something about it whereas I think they may hope he just settles in and gets better. Regardless, I hope none of it ever matters and Allen plays 100% of the snaps this season. The only time I want to see Mitch or anyone else for that matter, under center is if Allen is in a baseball cap because we're up by 30.

Fields is going to keep it..... I knew it. This board knew it. Everyone in the stadium probably knew it. McDermott knew it. Nice play by the defense.

Unless a RB busts one, or we get a pick 6 or something like that, I don't think we are going to see another point out of our team tonight. Hoping MVS is OK.

Man, if you could ever make a team by playing a great half of a preseason game, Andreeson and Solomon would be locks. They have played fantastic football.

Maybe. I am just going by the initial watch since they decided not to show a replay. It was a bad throw, but I would like to think in a game that counts, we make that play. That said, if Allen throws the same ball, it is there in half the time and probably in a much better spot. Just would have been nice for the rookie to catch it.

That was a great route by Davidson. Coleman needs to catch that.

Andreessen and Solomon with great showings so far tonight.

Why is our starting line still out there? Come on now..... Mitch can get sacked with the backups in just as well as he can with the starters. For a guy so concerned about injuries in the field, McDermott is showing he doesn't give a crap about the line.

Groot has been a wrecking ball. Now take him out of the game, please.....

Why in the world are our defensive starts still out there? Not a fan of this. Just asking for trouble. This better be their last series.

OK.....whatever starters are left, get them out of there. They won't be able to do anything with Mitch out there and there is a good chance he will get one of our skill guys hurt. He looks like a guy that has never played in an NFL game before. He's so bad.

We don't have a real backup QB. He has no idea what he is looking at out there. Probably way too late to do something about that, though.

I have no problem with them choosing not to play Allen. Completely fine with it. That said, though, Mitch is so bad that there is no way you are going to be able to evaluate anything. So, I am all for sitting the rest of the starters on offense for sure. For him not to see Cook running wide open on 3rd and short is just inexcusable. Every NFL QB needs to know that the RB is the read there if the defense is coming. Just an awful sack. So yeah.....I'd have Kincaid and most of the line out of this game. No need for them to be playing, especially without Allen in there. UPDATE: It does look like Kincaid is out of there. That's good. Now get Shakir out of there too.

I have seen a ton of preseason games in my day, but this may have been one of the most vanilla that I have ever seen. It was so blah that we purposely kicked it into the end zone as much as we possibly could have so we wouldn't show how we were going to cover kicks. Even when returning kickoffs, guys were just finding the guy straight ahead of them trying to block them. I guarantee this will look totally different come opening day. That said, you saw glimpses of just how big Shakir and Samuel are going to be for this team. Even with the most conservative play calling possible, you can just see their talent level. Coleman showed OK for the chances he had, but nothing crazy. The interior offensive line, especially the left side, was dominated at the point of attack. Now, there was no game planning, but sometimes you want a man to just be able to move another man and, unfortunately, our men got handled. But it is what it is....we're not a power running team, so it is hard to gauge what any of this means. The fact remains, though, as long as Allen is playing is healthy and playing QB for us, we'll find a way to be competitive. If he misses any time, well, God help us because out backup QBs are not good. As for the defense, there is not much to take away there. A lot of the starters didn't play and even the ones who did, weren't out there long enough to feel anything too positive or negative. Quite honestly, I am not taking much away from this game at all......except one thing. John Parry could make a huge difference for us. McDermott's challenge record is downright embarrassing and has been since he took over as HC. Today, we were 2 for 2 and both challenges, especially the first one, needed to come fast and correct, and they did. Hoping that continues because that was a very positive thing. Of course, no major injuries is the most important thing to come out of the game. Lots of work to do, but this game was as basic as they could have played it.

The only person thrilled about the way the half ended was Bass because he didn't have to try a 55 yard FG with the swirling wind. No chance he would have made it.

I mean, there is no game planning, so he should be able to make some plays against any defense in the preseason, including ours. The question will be what happens when defenses key in on his strengths and takes them away when the real bullets start flying. I fully expect him to complete some passes today against us and he'll probably bust off a scramble or two. The Bears and their fans will get super excited and that's how it goes with most rookie QBs. Even Allen's first preseason action, while he didn't play great, he made a couple of plays and even had a "WOW" moment on the TD in the front corner of the end zone late that showed off that rocket arm. It was enough to get us excited and I am sure Williams will have a couple of those plays today. Will be fun to watch! Just hope nobody gets hurt.

The more the safety position gets depleted, the more I am sure Hyde will play for this team at some point this season. It will not obviously be during camp and the preseason but, unfortunately, it may be earlier in the season than would be desired depending on the length of these injuries. Hopefully these guys will be able to come back sooner than later, but one is a vet that has been out basically since he got here and hasn't had many on field reps and the other is, while a promising rookie, is still a rookie. They may need Hyde just to get them through a few games if the position turns into a liability. Frustrating injury start to camp at that position.

Perfect time to get Allen some reps with his new weapons without the worry of him taking a hit. Give him all the reps you want in this controlled environment and let him sit out the actual games where stupid things can happen.

Keon Coleman is so slow, he starts his pre-game warmups the night before.

I don't expect him to get double digit sacks this season. That's a lot for a guy his age and coming off the season he just had. He probably shouldn't have been out there as early as he was last season, if at all. But, while I don't see him getting to double digits, 8 would be a pretty good season.

People would see real quick just how many problems Allen masks on this team. We wouldn't be a Playoff team with Cousins.

Hopefully he finished signing before the ink in the pen ran out.....

It's Mini Camp. On top of that, the media has only been able to see 1 practice a week while not being allowed at the rest of them. So, we honestly don't know whether these offensive struggles are just a coincidence to be happening on those media days or if they have been plaguing us all camp. That said, it is frustrating as a fan to hear week after week on every media day about just how bad the offense looks. I believe the very first practice the media was there they said the offense looked good. After that, though, it's been pretty bleak. Obviously, we have to take it with a grain of salt because as stated, it is just Mini Camp and the media has only seen 4 practices total. That said, if the offense has been struggling day in and day out, it hasn't gone unnoticed by Beane. If the WRs are as bad as being reported, I would fully expect Beane to be watching the wire through Training Camp to see what vets might shake free or come available for trade. While we don't have a ton of cap space, we do have a little bit to play with if need be. Guess we'll have to wait and see what happens. We'll know a lot more in a month or so when camp starts and we can watch every practice for ourselves to see where things are at. The biggest thing I took out of today was Milano being back in the mix. That is great news heading into camp. Now we just need to find a way to survive the next month or so with nobody getting injured or arrested before they report to SJF.