Bears
- Rich Campbell at the Chicago Tribune states categorically that the Bears defensive linemen will play one-gap. But I’m reasonably certain that it will depend upon who the player is (e.g. Eddie Goldman Vs. Will Sutton) and what defensive alignment they are in. It will be interesting to see how they handle it.
- Campbell quotes defensive coordinator Vic Fangio on the defense’s lack of talent.
“We’re going to have to make our own building blocks. We need to make the guys that we have here better.”
I think that’s the way its done no matter how much talent you have. But it’s going to take some time.
- Patrick Finley at the Chicago Sun-Times unleashes this zinger:
“The early leader for Bears Quote of the Year came when outside linebacker Pernell McPhee was asked this week to describe Packers quarterback Aaron Rodgers.
“‘Hall of Fame,’ he said. ‘Two words.'”
- I suggested on Friday that head coach John Fox was laying in the weeds by characterizing his top three wide receivers as “questionable” despite the fact that they practiced all week. But consider this via Finley. Broncos with a questionable tag appeared in games only 35 percent of the time last year under Fox. It does make you think.
- Bears running back Matt Forte on the fact that his jersey, not Rogers’ is the best selling jersy in Wisconsin since the end of last season:
“There must be a lot of Bears fans in Wisconsin. Either that, or they’re buying it to burn it or something. I don’t know.”
Elsewhere
- RG3 has officially cleared the concussion protocol after much emotional (and dysfunctional) upheaval. He’ll be the #2 QB behind Kirk Cousins on Sunday. To my eye he shouldn’t even be that as Colt McCoy has pretty clearly outplayed him. Mike Florio at profootballtalk.com makes a pretty good case that RG3 should be released instead.
EDIT: NFL Media’s Jeff Darlington reports that McCoy will be listed as the Redskins’ No. 2 quarterback tomorrow behind Cousins.
- The Bengals are taking on the Raiders on Sunday and Bengals offensive coordinator Hue Jackson is apparently not looking forward to watching them face defensive lineman Khalil Mack. This is the first time I’ve ever heard a player referred to as “a rolling ball of butcher knives”.
- Brandon Boykin, who suggested that he was traded away from the Eagles because of racial motivations, disputes Eagles head coach Chip Kelly‘s claim that they hugged goodbye. I’m thinking Boykin should be more concerned by the fact that he didn’t play a snap in Thursday’s game.
One Final Thought
I don’t usually shill for anything but I’m going to make an exception and recommend that readers support Hub Arkush at chicagofootball.com by becoming a Pro Member at the site. Hub is the former publisher of Pro Football Weekly, a magazine that went down with the dawn of the Internet age. He’s not always right and I often don’t agree with him but he’s usually willing to say things that other people aren’t willing to. We need more like him.
This is an informative site largely focused on the Bears. It also doesn’t hurt that its easy to navigate (though I could wish that as a paying customer I wouldn’t have to sell myself to Google to read some of the articles). It’s a good, reliable source for fans who want to go above and beyond in their understanding of what’s going on with the team.