
Let’s pray this doesn’t happen in a crucial situation. And no, I wasn’t trying to miss.
With the regular season upon us, it’s time, once again, for final thoughts. I will be at the game on Sunday and our old friend, Kyle Orton will be in uniform for the Bills. Like last year when he was on the Cowboys, I was in full meatball mode and even more when he came in late in the game. I will be in the same mode this Sunday for the return of Neck Beard (by Cracky).
Offense: All 11 starters are back. The Bears nearly went from worst to first in total offense with Trestman and Kromer at the helm along with fixing the offensive line. Kyle Long and Jordin Mills really excelled last year so you would think they would only get better. We all know that Trestman screwed up a few times when handling fourth downs and of course, that wonderful decision to have Robbie Gould kick a field goal on second down in Minnesota last year. Matt Forte finally has backups who seem to actually be good at getting a yard when needed. Two of them are rookies (Ka’Deem Carey, Senorise Perry) and the other has only been in the league for two years (Shaun Draughn).
The receiving core is stacked. First, with the receivers in Marshall and Jeffery. Then, Santonio Holmes and Josh Morgan are the backups there with Michael Spurlock being the last option. It appears that Spurlock will be handling returns along with Senorise Perry. And we can’t forget the tight ends with Bennett, Rosario and Matthew Mulligan, who is the newcomer.
Defense: The Bears defense can’t be any worse than last year, right? However, due to only one offseason to try to fix this side of the ball, it may take another year to add depth. Our friend CS basically summed it up in a sentence by saying that the Bears are an injury or two away from being just as shitty as last year. I pray he’s wrong because the Bears cannot afford to give up 40 points a game along with 600 yards. The offense can score but it’s not going to matter when the defense can’t stop anybody either. Ryan Mundy and Danny McCray will be starting at safety with (gulp) Chris Conte backing them up. Brock Vereen is also there but it appears he will be on special teams. As shitty as it is, Chris Conte will see the field this year. Good Lord.
So what is good? The defensive line. I wrote a bit about this after the draft but the Bears are indeed, stacked here. You would think Jared Allen has another year or two left in him. LaMarr Houston is finally going to be noticed by playing on a decent team and the rookies in Ego Ferguson and Will Sutton will be ready as well. Jay Ratliff is back as well so as long as the line can a force, the linebackers will be less as shitty as projected. Briggs is fat and old. McClellin is a huge question mark and D.J. Williams seems to be injured all the time. The only good thing that could happen is Christian Jones, who was undrafted but reported to be making an impact so far.
Special teams: The Bears have a new punter in rookie Pat O’Donnell. And of course, Robbie Gould is still there. Now that Robbie can “feed his family”, there shouldn’t be any issue with him missing big field goals in overtime.
Your thoughts in the thread.