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This is not a game thread, just wanted to discuss the game since the game thread makers are slow to make the thread.

A big story heading into Sunday night has to be the poor play of the defensive line other than Peppers. I honestly think they should consider signing Trevor Pryce who just got cut by Baltimore.

The offensive line improved a bit against GB, but still has a ton of work to do. I'm not sure Chris Williams return helps much, as they will be facing yet another great pass rush. And when is this team going to start running the ball? They got Taylor, but it seems like they've hardly used him out of the backfield.

Other questions:

Will Aromashadu get playing any time?

What are they doing to fix the putrid goal line offense?

Can Hester keep it going?

If I were the Bears I'd stop running the ball. Teams would still have to play us for the run, as long as we do a lot of screen passes. Our o-line is terrible at run blocking, but above average at running down the field and blocking. We've got Forte, Taylor, Hester, and Knox, all of whom excel at the screen pass.

Giants are at home, and they're got a better o-line and d-line than us...should be a good game.

charity stripe wrote:A big story heading into Sunday night has to be the poor play of the defensive line other than Peppers. I honestly think they should consider signing Trevor Pryce who just got cut by Baltimore.

Was it really that poor? We shut their run game down and the other guys had their moments. With the way the front 7 is playing as a whole, Cliff Levingston isn't worried about the D line sans Peppers.

charity stripe wrote:The offensive line improved a bit against GB, but still has a ton of work to do. I'm not sure Chris Williams return helps much, as they will be facing yet another great pass rush. And when is this team going to start running the ball? They got Taylor, but it seems like they've hardly used him out of the backfield.

Taylor is the clear second back and the Bears just didn't control the ball all that much on Monday night. Besides that, the Packers have a really good defense and our offensive line is undersized, so they're going to really struggle to open holes all year long.

It wouldn't be smart to try to run the ball down people's throats just to say that you did; this team cannot do that. We're going to need to rely heavily on the pass while using the run just enough to keep defenses honest. That means a lot of draw plays and runs to the edges where our fairly athletic offensive line can get some advantages on some more lumbering d linemen.

charity stripe wrote:Will Aromashadu get playing any time?

No.

charity stripe wrote:What are they doing to fix the putrid goal line offense?

In the case of Des Clark, catch the ball. Hopefully Martz decides to put a QB sneak in his playbook as well.

charity stripe wrote:Can Hester keep it going?

He's reminded people that he can still take punts to the house, so that'll be enough to give us some better field position on punts.

Aromashodu will not get any playing time apparently because of his reluctance to play in the slot.

Either he doesn't want to do it, or he's not smart enough to understand what's going on.

CjayC wrote:Aromashodu will not get any playing time apparently because of his reluctance to play in the slot.

Either he doesn't want to do it, or he's not smart enough to understand what's going on.

We should be playing DA on the outside with Hester in the slot. Hester has the quickness to destroy nickelbacks and safeties between the numbers. Although what we've got going right now seems to be working ok. Olsen is working the middle well with Bennett, and you've got Knox and Hester's blazing speed on the outside.

charity stripe wrote:
A big story heading into Sunday night has to be the poor play of the defensive line other than Peppers. I honestly think they should consider signing Trevor Pryce who just got cut by Baltimore.

You really think they are playing poorly? Right now I give that group an "A". We are leading the league in rushing yards giving up only 2.1 yards per attempt and have only given up 39.7 yards a game. That's crazy good - especially when you check what the teams we beat have gained against their other opponents. I understand that the linebackers have been key in containing the run as well, but IMO it has definitely started up front with the 4 down linemen. I think the D Lines has been the strength of this team. We don't have the sacks that everyone loves to see, but we have the production that we need. Anyway, sacks are fascist...stopping the run is more democratic. (ie Bull Durham)

emperorjones wrote:

charity stripe wrote:
A big story heading into Sunday night has to be the poor play of the defensive line other than Peppers. I honestly think they should consider signing Trevor Pryce who just got cut by Baltimore.

You really think they are playing poorly? Right now I give that group an "A". We are leading the league in rushing yards giving up only 2.1 yards per attempt and have only given up 39.7 yards a game. That's crazy good - especially when you check what the teams we beat have gained against their other opponents. I understand that the linebackers have been key in containing the run as well, but IMO it has definitely started up front with the 4 down linemen. I think the D Lines has been the strength of this team. We don't have the sacks that everyone loves to see, but we have the production that we need. Anyway, sacks are fascist...stopping the run is more democratic. (ie Bull Durham)

Against the pass, sans Peppers our defensive line has been very poor.

Romo had 374 passing yards against us, Rodgers had 316.

When we face teams with top o-lines, their QBs will have all day to throw against us.

Cliff Levingston wrote:

charity stripe wrote:What are they doing to fix the putrid goal line offense?

In the case of Des Clark, catch the ball. Hopefully Martz decides to put a QB sneak in his playbook as well.

I felt like that was on the quarterback. I know he's a pro tight end, but behind you and low when you are running away from the passer is a pretty tough catch for a big guy. Plenty of room for a nice pass there, but point taken that should have been a touchdown either way.

There has been a giant lack of pass rush from anyone not named Julius Peppers on this defensive line. That's half of what a d-line's job is, the other is the run. Being really good at one doesn't mean we can ignore being bad at the other.

NZB2323 wrote:Against the pass, sans Peppers our defensive line has been very poor.

Romo had 374 passing yards against us, Rodgers had 316.

When we face teams with top o-lines, their QBs will have all day to throw against us.

...and how many points have those two offenses scored against us? 13 and 17 respectively; two of the best offenses in the league. Points against is only stat that matters defensively; the rest are just eye candy. Rodgers' Packers have averaged 30 points a game with him as a starter, so we definitely did well against them on Monday.

The fact of the matter is that you want to stop the run, first and foremost. If you can do that, then you put a lot of pressure on the offense to routinely drop the QB back and put him harm's way, especially with Peppers in there. It puts a lot of pressure on the O line to hold up and keep their QB safe. It really limits their ability to chew up clock and opens them up to more turnovers (INTs and forced fumbles on receivers). On top of that, if you're able to get one sack or holding call, it puts the offense in a tough position to pick up the first down. The trade off is that you're going to give up some passing yards in the process.

It was pretty obvious what the Bears were trying to do and they executed it to perfection. GB's rushing stats look a lot better than they actually were due to that last Kuhn run. They couldn't run the ball for sh*t and kept all the passes in front of them. It allowed the often porous GB offensive line to buckle under the pressure of a man by the name of Julius Peppers who was allowed to pin his ears back and chase Rodgers without having to worry about the run going right by him. It obviously worked.

NZB2323 wrote:

emperorjones wrote:

charity stripe wrote:
A big story heading into Sunday night has to be the poor play of the defensive line other than Peppers. I honestly think they should consider signing Trevor Pryce who just got cut by Baltimore.

You really think they are playing poorly? Right now I give that group an "A". We are leading the league in rushing yards giving up only 2.1 yards per attempt and have only given up 39.7 yards a game. That's crazy good - especially when you check what the teams we beat have gained against their other opponents. I understand that the linebackers have been key in containing the run as well, but IMO it has definitely started up front with the 4 down linemen. I think the D Lines has been the strength of this team. We don't have the sacks that everyone loves to see, but we have the production that we need. Anyway, sacks are fascist...stopping the run is more democratic. (ie Bull Durham)

Against the pass, sans Peppers our defensive line has been very poor.

Romo had 374 passing yards against us, Rodgers had 316.

When we face teams with top o-lines, their QBs will have all day to throw against us.

Most of those passing yards were racked up underneath when the Bears go to their zone coverage(Or just underneath in general).

The Bears have yet to give up any huge passing plays. You can put up gaudy passing numbers all day. Heck Kyle Orton put up 400 yards passing last week, Minus the 48 yard TD pass given up, most of that stuff was underneath and yards that the receivers picked up after the catch.

If those gaudy numbers aren't accounting for many points the Bears must be doing something right.

I agree that we could potentially have problems down the line if we face a team that could shut down Peppers, but when that time comes, it comes.