Justin Fields first NFL start. Hopefully the first of many great ones. No idea what to expect this week. Browns... - Excellent run game. Chubb is always one carry away from a touchdown regardless of down and distance and position on the field. - OBJ returns. Overrated diva but still an impact player and has had some highlights against the Bears in his career. - Garrett and Clowney can be killers. Garrett is the best pure pass rusher in the NFL. - Browns also have really good pass catching TEs and Mayfield is completing 81% of his passes currently with only 9 incomplete passes. Although 2 of those 9 have actually been completed to the other team. - Browns have talent at every position on both sides of the ball. Bears... - Rookie QB making his first start in a state where he's never lost a game. 10-0 in the state of Ohio. Meaningless, yes, but you know the announcers will mention it Sunday. I'm just beating the unoriginal bastards to it. - Can Nagy call a gameplan for his Ferrari despite never being able to call one for all the Datsuns he's driven. - Can someone please catch a god damn ball. - Tashaun Gipson looks like he will miss this game. He also missed the last two despite being on the field. - Goldman practiced, then didn't, and is questionable. - Mario Edwards comes back from suspension to bolster the DL rotation. - Can the Bears stop the run? Or at least contain it? Can they force Mayfield to make costly mistakes? Great moments in Bears history......
Justin Fields scares the shit out of me. I've seen what QB's with his skill set can do against this Browns defense. We would have lost to the Texans had Tyrod Taylor not gone down. Justin Fields (even as a rookie) is better than Tyrod Taylor.
I honestly had no idea what we were getting when he was drafted. I don't spend a lot of time watching college football and usually play catchup after the draft watching highlight videos. Thanks to a friend of mind I was able to watch every snap Fields took in college in both broadcast mode and all 22. And I was pleasantly blown away by what I saw. There are certainly things he has to get better at but the building blocks for a really good NFL QB are in place. I am trying really hard to not get ahead of myself. This franchise has never had the type of QB that Fields could be. An actual game changer. But man...the way his teammates talk about him and the way his ex-coaches talk about him is hard to ignore. It's all there. I don't expect it to all be on display Sunday. It's not gonna be an easy game. But I feel a lot better about this game than I would have with Dalton, or any past Bears QB, playing. My biggest fear going into Sunday is Nick Chubb and the passing catching tight ends of the Browns. That is where this game could be wrecked.
So far the CLE defense has been awful. I expect the Browns to win, but not expecting any sort of cakewalk....I'm happy to see Justin getting is first start back in the Buckeye state and I'm certain it'll be a tougher chore for Cleveland than what Red Rifle would have brought. Looking forward to Sunday.
Great find bww! Mike Brown, such a legend, one of my fav Bears of all time. Unless Baker decides to throw 4 runbacks(not likely) i really feel the Bears will only go as far as their D-Line can take them in this game. Thats not some stunning revelation, but it feels particularly true this week given the opponent. I wouldn't bet on the Bears to shut down this teams running game even if lazy-ass Goldman was playing and at 100%, i certainly don't fancy them without him. But somehow someway they have to be stout enough to get the Browns into 3rd & Mediums and hopefully the odd 3rd & Long, and IF that can happen then the pass rush/coverage needs to have a day. Thats a lot of if's & maybes. Thats just the way it is. I have plenty of hopes regarding this game, they just don't really involve victory. I hope Fields can have a good game and come out of it still healthy. Hope Monty can continue on a path to a pro bowl. Hope the interior OL can settle down. Would love it if JJ can get another pick and continue that sharp upward curve. The Bears can beat bad teams, its the good ones that show them up. This opponent is most definitely the latter. The Fields X-factor could make it closer than it deserves to be but im expecting a margin of more than 1 score. I still don't get what took place re Fields and the draft. I asked irishdawg about him pre draft because he seemed to be dropping in every "expert's" rankings and yet everything i saw and read about him suggested he should be a lock to go anywhere from 2-6 or 7. I still think he was the 2nd best QB in that draft. But similarly to Deshaun Watson, its like you can almost have too much tape on some college QB's. Then there's guys with so little that have people projecting out the ass. Neither Watson or Fields even went top 10, yet you've got Trey Lance going 3rd overall. Its laughable.
Re the Browns, its hard to know what to make of that Texans game, especially this early in the season. Personally i expect it to be more of an outlier. There's undoubted talent on every level of that Defense, and yes, we've seen our share of talented Bears defenses wasted by incompetent DC's *cough*hewhoshallnotbenamed*cough*. But im putting week2 down to an opponent that EVERYONE talked down all offseason which could lead to a little complacency, plus the Texans not being as bad as expected ie Vets showing up, Tyrod playing well etc. The Bears are overmatched in multiple areas in this game inc some of the big ones. I hope "Snails" Pace watches this game and enjoys his visual lesson in how you build an O-Line. In terms of playcallers there's just no comparison. Stefanski may well put on a clinic for Nagy, not that i expect Nagy to notice. He'll be too busy burying his head in his Wendy's menu, errrr i mean playsheet, to notice. This week notwithstanding, it would be nice to be able to kinda pull for the Browns again. As someone who always liked the more blue-collar teams i often found myself pulling for the Browns against some other team over the years. But between things like Garrett being a POS human being and Baker being a run his mouth little shit whenever they got a lead the Browns became distinctly unlikeable 2-3years ago. That seems like it may have calmed down a bit tho. I wonder if that is Stefanski's influence.
I don't mean to derail your thread (or do I ...) but this is the stuff that keeps me coming back to this board, and this team. Utter and complete comedic gold here Bww. If I wasn't sitting I'd stand up and applaud you.
Of course! That's it! I wonder why I never figured that out all of these years ... thanks Bww. You're always there when no one needs you.
I'm in pretty much the same position as Ev - the Bears beat bad teams, but get reminded who they are by good ones. I'm just looking for the young stars to have good performances, and survive another game of this awful GM / HC. He also generally summarized my thoughts on the current Browns, given that I've always rooted for them when not playing Chicago. Cleveland is the better team across the board. But I'm not watching for the team game, I'm watching for Fields. Hopefully Nagy has literally at least one non-pocket play called this weekend.
In case the Browns' scheme looks familiar, its one that the bears see 2x per year--a solid OL, electric RB and QB who can look like a hall of famer when things go right/play action is moving or bad if you rattle him--but to Mayfield's credit--he doesn't have as many comically bad plays as Cousins. One of the reasons I feel confident in this game? Nagy with Fangio 2-0 against Stefanski in 2018 and Nagy/Chuckles 2-0 against him in 2019. Stefanski and the Vikes couldn't muster more than 20 points in 4 games within said 2-year span. You're going to need Hicks to have a game. Having Goldman would help immensely, but Angelo Blackson first 2 weeks has been solid against the run. If Stefanski wanted to be smart, he'd use him like his replacement in Minny did with Theilen by playing him predominantly out of the slot against a team with garbage at the slot DB position. Here's why I don't feel confident in the game and ultimately think the bears lose this game. Garrett, Clowney, and McKinley have been quiet on the stat sheet the first 2 weeks (1 sack between all 3). Mix that with a suspect OL, rookie not at home making his 1st start in an area he was a revered collegiate star, and complete fucktard visor calling plays and that may be just what they need to get on track and neuter Nagy's retarded scheme/gameplan.
Jesus, as well as Goldman, Hicks and Nichols have now appeared on the final injury report. Your clear 3 best D-Linemen, that is seriously bad news. The Browns have a couple OL's on their own report but perhaps not as serious. This potentially puts the Bears in a massive hole. If the Browns decide they're gonna run the ball down our throats, and really why wouldn't you, then this could look very one sided.
