I think people who think we were looking for WR's are way off the mark. It was never an issue. No-one associated with the team thinks we need them.

I know general fan view (outside of Chicago) is we do, but they have to realise we have a handful of young receivers with some talent that we're looking for things from.

Knox: Who knows what he's capable of given what he did as a rookie.
Aromashodu: Has awesome size/speed. Good hands, excellent catch radius. A Cutler target if ever there was one.
Bennet is a dependable hands guy.
Hester, who knows if he'll make it, but he's still got sick speed/moves. And I'd have to think Martz is exactly the guy to get the most out of him.
Last years redshirt 3rd rounder, Iglesias.

Really who were we going to get from the 3rd round on that would be ahead of any of those guys as a rookie? No-one.

Besides we had other needs to address (FS, G/OL)

Wright is pretty key. He's what this draft is about for us. If he can be our Mike Brown then we can stop playing musical chairs at Safety, and shore up the secondary.

I don't like we didn't address the O-Line. We needed a Guard (or at least a Tackle) really with our 2nd pick.

The front office better be right when they say that the DE we drafted is much, much better value than any OL on the board then. They say "first round talent, dropped through injury last year". Yeh, well, he better be, because otherwise you just burned our 2nd pick.

This year we were always going to be lucky if the draft addressed one starter - hopefully it did in Wright.

It's all about the Martz-Cutler connection, our young WR's.
And a Defense getting the spark back with the addition of Peppers (+ Wright).

I'm dog-tired of Angelo. Dude has a f***ing jones for the DL. Him and Lovie.

Get this:
After Angelo's FIRST draft (when he took Marc Colombo in the first, and Metcalf in the third)
he waited FIVE YEARS to draft another OL above the 6TH ROUND.

How ridiculous is that? No wonder we don't have a f***ing OL.

He's too interested on burning 2nd rounders on DL that get released before they ever hit the field (Bazuin).

What would we be like if we'd spent some of those seconds and thirds on the Oline?

Pray for Jay, in Martz's 7-step-drop Offense.

I know it's a bit old news now, but our thoughts on Chris Harris returning to Chicago?

i have no ill will towards peppers (still one of my favorite players actually) and love me some cutlaaaaaah, so i'll be following da bears pretty closely this year. chris harris is a solid safety and definitely an upgrade

I'm happy about it.

He's the best Safety on the roster really (even if his first great year in Carolina has never been recaptured). Manning will never work out there now IMO. Payne didn't live up to expectations, and is therefore gone. Afalava did OK, but he's a 5th rounder, and more of a backup/developmental type.

I think Harris is a solid option as long as he's only at SS.
It allows Wright to hopefully play centerfield at FS. And if he plays well as a rookie then Safety finally won't be an issue.

CH also brings toughness, hits, and a good deal of leadership. Not to mention mentorship for the young Safeties.

Good move by Jerry.

Yea, I like the thought of a Chris Harris-Major Wright duo at safety, hopefully it works out.

tarheels is on board now, ain't nobody stoppin' this freight train now.

Well with one preseason game in the books I think it's about time to bump this thread.

I thought it was a pretty solid game overall. Realistically there is not a ton conclusions that can come from the first preseason game. Here are some of my thoughts though:

-Knox is still fast which is sweet. I think he will land in that 70-85 catch range and below a thousand yards.
-I don't know if it was just because he was against the 2nd unit but Kahlil Bell looks pretty damn fast himself. In 7 games last year he had 40 attempts for 220 yards. I hope he get some reps with the first team.
-Major Wright looks good too, good nose for the ball. I am optimistic about how he'll turn out as a Bear.

I'm with you on those thoughts.

I think Knox and Aramoashodu will really open some eyes this year (and Hester should put up good numbers).

One thing I noticed from this game: Martz's O really seems to get WR's open, which is something Turner's never did. I have a large amount of faith in our passing game. The only question is the OL, and they held up well against Rivera's "ridiculous for PS game 1" blitz packages.

Majorly concerned about our running game though. Primarily about the line.
As for Bell, he he looked pretty good. Bear in mind though his first pro carry went for 72 yards. Take that out and it's typical sub 4YPC Bears numbers.
2YPC for every back is ridiculously bad. We better start improving fast.

Defense
Wright seems a total ballhawk, which is awesome for us. Also a solid tackler. He could be a instant big upgrade from Manning. And maybe even our next Mike Brown.

I third the Knox and Aromashodu. The WRs were the strong point of this team last year and hopefully they will continue to grow.

Both of Cutler's throws were solid. I wish he was more on time with them, he still wants to see it and throw it, not read it and throw it.

Kind of like the defense. They are no longer going to be dominant, but if they can play solid get some pressure and hold teams to field goals the offense should score enough points.

The line is a work in progress. You have to be pleased with the pass blocking, especially on the second pass to Knox, though there were still no holes for Forte.

The special teams was god awful. Returns were bad, coverage was bad, Afalava just oleing the end rusher. That needs the most work.

where did hester line up? i remember reading that they were going to use him in the slot a lot

Our O Line blows. It will continue to be a problem the whole season.

Hester plays the Z position - i.e. the Flanker who lines up outside and off the line of scrimmage (same role Isaac Bruce played in STL).
Martz early on mentioned Hester for the slot, saying he could be "scary good". Lovie shot it down the next day, saying he'd play outside so he was on the field more. Money decision IMO, and to legitimize Hester being moved to WR. I think Martz had the right idea all along. Shame other agendas took priority.

Our Special Teams I'm not worried about. Toub has been the best coach on the team for years. He'll replace the lost ST guys, like he always does.

One can only hope.

So I got to see the Raiders game here in Los Angeles... I haven't watched more than 3 minutes of a preseason game in years. Someone please tell me that preseason doesn't mean anything and we won't have to win every game 35-31 (which would be a real shame because otherwise we could probably run the ball with Forte this year).

this bears teams looks brutal. not much of an improvement over last year. still the 3rd best team in the division.

I know it's the preseason, but I'm honestly getting worried about them.

They always treat this 3rd game like it's a real game (gameplanning etc.) and to lose 14-0 with the starters in is really concerning.

Notes so far:
Cutler just does not look right. He seems exceptionally jittery in the pocket, doesn't trust his OL. So he's moving too soon, into sacks, or forcing the ball out before receivers are ready. Look how poised rookie LeFevour looked throwing in the 2nd half...
Also Cutler's accuracy seems really spotty. He's getting it to the receivers, but the balls just aren't in good spots.

Running game. Outside of one Forte 89y run, and Taylor cutting backside for 40, the running game all season is like 2 yards a clip. That is going to kill the passing game, and the Offense as a whole.

Defense. Doesn't look bad, except the 3rd and long D is stupid bad (worse than ever and we were bottom 5 last year). If this doesn't get turned around the unit is going to get owned. Sick of the CB's giving inside position so the O can complete easy slants. Last years 8-yard cushion seems to have been replaced with this.

Sucks to have much of the optimism drained out this early. I mean we have to outdo the Vikings and the Packers. And this kind of effort/execution is going to see us buried in 3rd.

Damn glad we start with the Lions at home at least.

Lions @ home isn't an auto win. Stafford is prolly gonna eat your D alive.

Megatron prolly finishes with 2TDs atleast.

God, you know the Bears look bad when GREEAR is alreading trolling this thread.

I will not be at all surprised by an opening day loss at home to the Lions. This team really is very bad given the talent level.

agree with all.

our 3'rd down defense HAS to be kidding. Cutler looks like crap. our OL incredibly got WORSE from the 2nd game to the 3rd game.

If we are going to have any chance we need Forte to have a huge, huge year.

the bears sux

Preseason overreaction ITT.

Yeah, we look like s***. But it's the preseason. How many unbeaten PS teams look like cr** in the reg season. Or visa versa.

We'll have to go some to be worse than last year.
Forte was injured. Urlacher and Pisa out the whole year. Cutler playing his worst game, and running bad. moRon Turners Offense. Lovie juggling D and the team.

Martz's O has had ridiculous first year success. Even with crap like Detriot and SF.

And when the Lions aren't the Lions then we'll talk...

For reals. Jesus, yeah the line is terrible but saying we're as bad as the lions before a real down has been played is over reaction.

still expect da bears to beat us week 1 but I think it will be fairly close. All on how the D-Line (our strength) plays against your O-Line which I think is still the weakness (haven't watched a down of you this preseason).

Other than the D-Line the rest of our D is terribad so you should still be able to score a lot.

I think the thing that makes me so pessimistic is that the same mistakes are being made. Pressure from the d-line is intermittent and almost non existent on 3rd down. When they blitz on third down they don't cover well or don't get to the QB. All were problems last year, all are problems this year.

Lack of communication on the offensive line. Kreutz getting blown up and getting no drive. Not moving anybody off of the ball on interior run plays and getting stuffed. Tackles on islands getting run around like they are standing still. All were problems last year, all are problems this year.

Really if there were new problems I would feel better. But Lovie's mantra over the last few years has been to blame injuries. He never sees it as a coaching problem or a problem where a player has lost a step. It's always they had some sort of offseason surgery that now will make them perfectly healthy.

I want to be wrong so bad. But when you can't fix glaring problems because you refuse to. That just makes my blood boil.

line on bears wins has been set at 8...