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OK, first things first. the Bears are Super Bowl bound. That being said, every season when the Bears are a contender I find myself ultra nervous before the season starts - worried about every little thing. Of course injury is at the top, but thats uncontrollable. So I move to my other fears (not at all a reason to think the Bears are not SB bound btw). They are:

1. Cedric Benson. I'm a huge supporter of CB from draft day. But man his (and all our RBs) preseason performance has me nervous.

2. Def. Coordinator. We have a new first time DC. How are the gameplans going to be called. I was not impressed in the preseason, but that was just PS

3. AA at Safety. I love this acquisition, and I buy into eevry reason why he had a bad year in Washington, but he looked a step slow covering TEs in the preseason to me. We still have speed with Manning, but my fear is that Brown goes down and we have a slow AA and a not so good decision maker in DM left.

4. The O-Line. How long can these guys stay at this level. Our depth is untested/unproven here IMO.

5. Special teams - Yeah surprise. Our coverage on ST seemed terrible in the PS. Obviously our return game is premier, but poor coverage could really put the pressure on the D all season.


Now what I'm not worried about?

1. Rex Grossman. Couldn't be worse, will certainly be much improved.
2. Hester on Offense.
3. Lovie's coaching ability
4. Tommie Harris and the D-Line - He'll be a monster and as a unit they will be very strong

I had to write that down. I feel better already.

BEARS

Cliff Levingston's only concern in the line. Not only are they the oldest collective unit, but couldn't run block to save their lives in the pre-season. We need a good, healthy offensive line to have success on offense. If we don't, then it won't matter how good Rex or Benson are or aren't.

The defense is going to be insane so long as Mike Brown is healthy. Does any one player make as big a difference as he does?

My biggest fear? Well....I really hate spiders...

Oh for the Bears?

Injuries, losing to the Raiders/Lions. Jeez, I would be so pissed...

I fear Cedric Benson.
He had a horrible preseason although you could make a case that was the O-Line.

Injury.

Of course the biggest fear for any NFL team.

Besides that, heres my list.

1) The O-line. The oldest but the most experienced. Even they know they are on their last legs (i.e. Olin's defensiveness against any criticisms).

2) Tommy Harris. This guy is the key to any Super Bowl victory. I hope he is healthy and just receiving the LT treatment for the preseason, 'cause if hes not, then our d-backs will have a hard time this year.

3) Cedric lasting throughout the entire season. This guy was a workhorse in Texas. Played all four seasons and pounded the ball hard, all the time. The college season is shorter and BOOMS in the NFL are harder. I don't have a doubt about his running ability only his fatigue later in the season.

4) The defensive backs. I like them a lot but pair this one up with #2 and it could be trouble. If Tommy or any other d-lineman is out don't expect stellar things from the d-backs. Our defensive backs thrive off of fast attacks at the QB and lots of coverage sacks, hence Vasher "always being in the right place". Albeit, that coverage doesn't have to last as long as most teams in the NFL because our d-line is so quick.

If that isn't happening, especially if one or, god-forbid, two d-lineman are injured, look for every opposing QB to look like Peyton Manning. Don't get me wrong our d-backs our good, but not great, they only look better because our d-line attacks the QB so quickly.

5) Rex. Last and for a reason. Pretty bad last year but not many people see it as his rookie year. I do, he will improve.

Oye, where do I begin.

1.) Rex fumbling the ball a lot from the snap.
2.) Rex chuckin' it up for a INTs.
3.) Just Rex totally effing all up.
4.) Cedric Benson not getting 1K (or more) yards.
5.) Significant Injuries.
6.) Failing to make the playoffs.

NLK wrote:Oye, where do I begin.

1.) Rex fumbling the ball a lot from the snap.
2.) Rex chuckin' it up for a INTs.
3.) Just Rex totally effing all up.
.

I'm guessing you're not wearing a Grossman jersey these days?

emperorjones wrote:-= original quote snipped =-



I'm guessing you're not wearing a Grossman jersey these days?

Darn skippy! As soon as he start returning to his old habits, then I'll be wearing an Orton Jersey, and calling up Waddle & Silvy and/or Marc/Jurko/Harry.

emperorjones wrote:OK, first things first. the Bears are Super Bowl bound. That being said, every season when the Bears are a contender I find myself ultra nervous before the season starts - worried about every little thing. Of course injury is at the top, but thats uncontrollable. So I move to my other fears (not at all a reason to think the Bears are not SB bound btw). They are:

1. Cedric Benson. I'm a huge supporter of CB from draft day. But man his (and all our RBs) preseason performance has me nervous.

2. Def. Coordinator. We have a new first time DC. How are the gameplans going to be called. I was not impressed in the preseason, but that was just PS

3. AA at Safety. I love this acquisition, and I buy into eevry reason why he had a bad year in Washington, but he looked a step slow covering TEs in the preseason to me. We still have speed with Manning, but my fear is that Brown goes down and we have a slow AA and a not so good decision maker in DM left.

4. The O-Line. How long can these guys stay at this level. Our depth is untested/unproven here IMO.

5. Special teams - Yeah surprise. Our coverage on ST seemed terrible in the PS. Obviously our return game is premier, but poor coverage could really put the pressure on the D all season.


Now what I'm not worried about?

1. Rex Grossman. Couldn't be worse, will certainly be much improved.
2. Hester on Offense.
3. Lovie's coaching ability
4. Tommie Harris and the D-Line - He'll be a monster and as a unit they will be very strong

I had to write that down. I feel better already.

BEARS

here are my responses
1. benson is fine. preseason performance in running is irrelevant. they will dominate in the reg season, just maybe not at SD

2. def coordinator will be an improvement. i like the fact that he clearly is more in favor of the blitz than rivera. this is especially effective when the front four get pressure on their own as the blitz will less likely be picked up. this leads to turnovers and scores on defense.

3. safety is the same concern as always with brown. but we are in better shape by far going into this season than how we were in the second half of last season, and we made the superbowl with last years "problems"

4. o-line being old is a good thing in the NFL

5. dont worry about the best special teams unit in the NFL it is a strength of our team, you will see.

1. OL: We don't have depth. We have a group of quality veterans, but if someone like Tait goes down we're screwed. I think Garza could back up Kreutz with Beekman or Metcalf stepping in at OG, so we have a little depth at guard, but not much else.

2. Safety: I know Archuleta has the talent, but I'm hoping the last season was an abberation. Mike Brown staying healthy is probably the biggest key on D. McGowan and Manning have shown some flashes, but I'm not ready to rely on them.

3. Rex: I don't think he'll play worse than last year and believe he will improve in his 2nd full season. However, teams are going to be sending a lot of blitzes at him to rattle him so he better play smart.

4. Berrian staying healthy. I think Bradley might be the best WR on our team, but he's been hurt a lot and Berrian is our one legitimate deep threat that can help keep the D honest and prevent the line from being stacked up.

5. DE: Brown and Ogunleye didn't have a good year rushing the passer, but you hope Tommie Harris/Dusty/Walker will help that. Anderson was great, but it's a big jump going from 3rd down pass rush specialist to every down end.

I think Babich will be fine. He's a Lovie disciple so no worries there, plus Lovie will have a hand in the defensive play calling anyways. I think Benson will be fine if the OL stays healthy and Rex shows enough to prevent 8 and 9 man fronts.

My biggest fear is that, outside of injuries, I have no big-time fears.

I think Benson will be fine and possibly excellent.

I think Grossman will be very good, but if he isn't, we may have the best #2 and #3 QBs in the league and Lovie won't wait long.

For the first time since the mid-'80s, I like every single unit on the team.

Then again, I thought the White Sox looked great on paper coming into this season.

emperorjones wrote:So I move to my other fears (not at all a reason to think the Bears are not SB bound btw). They are:

1. Cedric Benson. I'm a huge supporter of CB from draft day. But man his (and all our RBs) preseason performance has me nervous.

My biggest fear was also Benson, I posted about it in the Season kick off thread on the Bulls forum. He averaged 2.5 or so in preseason, and I've never liked him as a draft pick either.

So far, he's done nothing to calm my fears, but this was a tough game that I think most fans didn't expect us to win, but just wanted us to show. Instead everyone is freaking out when we showed fairly well. Had we not had all the TOs we would have had a good chance. While I don't have a lot of faith in Benson / Peterson, I don't expect them to fumble once each a game, and touch on the punt return was kind of fluky. The interception was a mental mistake by Berrian.

I think those things are largely correctable. The defense looked dominant.

Yeah, teh defense is going to kill. The chargers are the leagues best offense right? They were totally frustrated through 3 quarters at home. I'm not freaking out - actually feeling pretty good about the defense. But the problem I have is that Peterson attacked the line and showed there were yards to be had. Benson did not. Thats a problem.

My biggest fear is now Mike Brown potentially being out for the year again.
I feel this guy has a ton of talent but has been limited by injuries the past few years and I really feel bad for him.

SportsWorld wrote:My biggest fear is now Mike Brown potentially being out for the year again.
I feel this guy has a ton of talent but has been limited by injuries the past few years and I really feel bad for him.

+1

I'm concerned if the offense doesn't get some rhythm soon (they better seize the day vs. the Chiefs), that'll put a humongous burden on our D, and tire them out by mid-season.

additionally, i did like what i saw out of AP (minus the fumble). He looked better than C.B.

My biggest fear is Mike Brown being out for the season. He is the only safety we have period! Archuleta sucks badly in coverage & Danielle Manning is too green & inexperienced!