Season Opener! Bills @ Bears - All Eyes on Mel

[RedBulls23]

Lovie was fired for making the playoffs once in a 6 year span. I thought that was common knowledge?

Common knowledge to everyone but bearadonisdna.

ENOUGH with the slam campaign.

General Manager Phil Emery and new head coach Marc Trestman held a joint press conference at 2:00 PM and here are a few quotes from their presser:

Phil Emery began the press conference congratulating the Chicago Blackhawks and saying: "My only sorrow is I didn't get to shake Ray Emery's hand" now that the backup goaltender has moved on to Philadelphia.

In his opening statements, Emery noted that: "Our organizational goal is to win championships. It's a long journey, but we are relentless."

Unbelievable. EVERY organizations goal is to win championships!!!!!

That statement isn't any proof of Emery saying that they are indeed Superbowl contenders. Interestingly enough, I noticed you ignored my post above with a direct quote from Emery.

[bearadonisdna]

Common knowledge to everyone but bearadonisdna.

ENOUGH with the slam campaign.

General Manager Phil Emery and new head coach Marc Trestman held a joint press conference at 2:00 PM and here are a few quotes from their presser:

Phil Emery began the press conference congratulating the Chicago Blackhawks and saying: "My only sorrow is I didn't get to shake Ray Emery's hand" now that the backup goaltender has moved on to Philadelphia.

In his opening statements, Emery noted that: "Our organizational goal is to win championships. It's a long journey, but we are relentless."

Unbelievable. EVERY organizations goal is to win championships!!!!!

That statement isn't any proof of Emery saying that they are indeed Superbowl contenders. Interestingly enough, I noticed you ignored my post above with a direct quote from Emery.

No i read it but it seems your trying to dispute that the bears had championship aspiration after firing lovie. Which is why i posted my quote.

[RedBulls23]

No i read it but it seems your trying to dispute that the bears had championship aspiration after firing lovie. Which is why i posted my quote.

Bears had aspirations of getting into the playoffs first which is my point. That is why they fired Lovie. Obviously the eventual goal is to win a Superbowl. I guarantee you that hasn't changed.

My disagreement with you is that you keep talking about how the Bears were contenders with Lovie and that's why they fired him. It was always about the playoffs. Anyway, this is my last post in regards to this conversation.

[NZB2323]

I completely empathize with the pessimism over our defense, and it improving to the lengths necessary for us to make the playoffs. ST was disappointing, but I'm putting little weight into it until I actually see at least a couple quarters of regular season play.

Until then, here are just a couple reasons why I am still optimistic about our D.

1) I am very confident about our secondary. I'm a HUGE Tillman fan from his rookie season, and Jennings from his first year with us. These guys aren't getting any younger, I know, but they are both incredibly savvy and reliable (long as they are healthy). One of them bring solid size, the other great speed and athleticism. Jennings can be placed on elite down-field/speed WR and Tillman on bigger/over-the-middle elite WR. Even though they're older than the Gilbert/Hayden Cleveland duo, they still bring us (IMO) a top 5 CB duo.

And especially considering we just added to that a young stud with Fuller (with both size/athleticism/speed). I'm really excited to see him use his raw ability and develop under the tutelage of Jennings/Tillman. He's not just insurance for their injuries (although he is great for that reason), but in a conference with GB and Det and many 3 WR sets, he give us an advantage that our opponents don't similarly when dealing with our offense.

I agree our cornerbacks will be good, but our safeties will be terrible. Yeah, our d-line will be better, but the fact that we have a bad defensive end starting at linebacker is a huge weakness.

Best case scenario, we have a top 5 offense and a top 20 defense, we win the division and lose in the playoffs in the 2nd round. Worse case scenario, Briggs and Tillman get injured and we have the worst defense in the NFL, while the offense fails to match last year's production. I think the best case scenario is more likely, but that's where we stand.

[CBS7]

Lots of preseason projections have "Clausen is no Josh McCown" as a reason why the Bears won't make the playoffs this year (along with the prediction that Cutler will miss a few games).

To be fair, Josh McCown wasn't Josh McCown until last season. Before that, he was a career journeyman mediocre backup that threw 7 more INTs than TDs in his career.

[RedBulls23]

Lots of preseason projections have "Clausen is no Josh McCown" as a reason why the Bears won't make the playoffs this year (along with the prediction that Cutler will miss a few games).

To be fair, Josh McCown wasn't Josh McCown until last season. Before that, he was a career journeyman mediocre backup that threw 7 more INTs than TDs in his career.

Who are these revisionists?

The only reason the Bears miss the playoffs is if the defense is God awful again.

[patryk7754]

Lots of preseason projections have "Clausen is no Josh McCown" as a reason why the Bears won't make the playoffs this year (along with the prediction that Cutler will miss a few games).

To be fair, Josh McCown wasn't Josh McCown until last season. Before that, he was a career journeyman mediocre backup that threw 7 more INTs than TDs in his career.

It seems like Josh McCown is now back to normalcy from what i've seen in the preseason (to be far i haven't seen that much). But anyone who thought McCown was capable of sending us to the superbowl is crazy. Clausen has shown better NFL talent than McCown anyway.

[City of Trees]

Bears run over the Buffalo Bills 42-27

Sent from my SM-G900T using RealGM Forums mobile app

[CBS7]

Dreamt 35-10.. but my dreams are never accurate.

[blumeany]

In defense of bearadonisdna - I recall the Bears specifically saying that Lovie not making the playoffs all those seasons was significantly decreasing their chances of winning a championship, which is their goal. So, yes, they expect to be in the playoffs each year, but they have repeatedly stated that their goal is a championship and Lovie's severe lack of playoff appearances was obviously trending away from that.

Back to the game and season at hand.

The real first test is going to be week 2, IMO, so we shouldn't get too high or too low based on this game. Of course, if the defense has trouble stopping the Bills from marching down the field, I wouldn't fault any of you for thinking the sky if falling. That's definitely not a good sign.

What do I expect from this game?

- Offense should be fine, 21-30 pts.
- The D-Line should get some good pressure on Manuel
- I expect the LBs to underwhelm us and give up a lot of yards
- I hope that the DBs can do a better job of making up for those LBs than they did last year

In the end, I expect the offense to look fine and the defense to look shaky.

Final Score

Bears: 27
Bills: 20

[blumeany]

Lots of preseason projections have "Clausen is no Josh McCown" as a reason why the Bears won't make the playoffs this year (along with the prediction that Cutler will miss a few games).

To be fair, Josh McCown wasn't Josh McCown until last season. Before that, he was a career journeyman mediocre backup that threw 7 more INTs than TDs in his career.

Exactly. Not enough credit has been given to Trestman and our WRs, quite frankly. And don't get me wrong, I still think McCown showed great leadership and was an awesome teammate - so it wasn't like he wasn't working hard. But I think you can see a guy like Clausen shine in this offense under Trestman's wing. Not to mention that he has some really good targets to throw to who can make a bad throw a great catch.

[CBS7]

Lots of preseason projections have "Clausen is no Josh McCown" as a reason why the Bears won't make the playoffs this year (along with the prediction that Cutler will miss a few games).

To be fair, Josh McCown wasn't Josh McCown until last season. Before that, he was a career journeyman mediocre backup that threw 7 more INTs than TDs in his career.

Who are these revisionists?

Just a bunch of random power rankings/season previews I've seen all over the place.

[fleet]

The Bears I think should come out running the ball to neutralize those pass rushers early, and protect Mills on the right side. Get him established firing off the line. Also some short drop quick release WCO ball control stuff. Then take some shots down the field later in the first half.

[johnnyvann840]

Good start so far. Run D looked good.

[johnnyvann840]

Touchdown Bears!!

[ChiTownJedi]

DJ Williams ripping off helmets.. I'll take it.

[chitownsports4ever]

Man they are running the ball down our throats

[GetBuLLish]

Bears getting every single thing they want on offense, so we decide to run a flee flicker...?

[GetBuLLish]

Absolutely no pass rush yet. How about a blitz?

[chitownsports4ever]

We need to run the ball a bit more