Early Bears Pre-Game Thread

[StumpHunter]

The Bears looked somewhat vulnerable to 4 WR sets when the skins started slinging it in the third.

Too bad we only have two WRs...

They did? What type of defense where they in?

Not a prevent defense if that is what you are getting at.

Their offense was struggling, and the Skins had just marched 92 yards to get the game within two scores with a quarter left to play, and only stopped the Skins on a drive that could have gotten them within one score after they bunched up on offense and tried to get 3rd and 4th and 1.

I am sure there was some letup on D after taking a big lead, but they were not in prevent D.

[Alaskan]

They did? What type of defense where they in?

Not a prevent defense if that is what you are getting at.

Their offense was struggling, and the Skins had just marched 92 yards to get the game within two scores with a quarter left to play, and only stopped the Skins on a drive that could have gotten them within one score after they bunched up on offense and tried to get 3rd and 4th and 1.

I am sure there was some letup on D after taking a big lead, but they were not in prevent D.

I wasn’t getting at anything. I stoped watching after Dix picked off Keenum for the second time early in the 3rd. The bears appeared to be sitting back in a soft cover 2 at the time. Pass rush was still causing problems. I can’t speak much to the subject as I wasn’t watching anymore because the skins suck, and I just didn’t see a come back in them. That being said, with the game so lopsided I feel its pretty difficult to determine weather or not the bears where actually vulnerable to 4wr sets or not. They won’t have to worry about 4 wide with the.Vikes anyway. That’s not who they are or who they are going to be.

[CharVike]

Put me in the camp that thinks Cook needs a good game. The problem is that the Bears know it. Cousins is going to have to show up to take pressure off of the run game. I'm not sure against Chicago he will. This is where I expect to see Cousins's roller coaster take a dive. If history is any indication he won't have what it takes to raise the offense to the level it needs to be to take on a defense like the Bears have.

Still early for so much gloom and doom though - and for a team with a winning record to boot. So on the more bright side, I think the defense matches up well against Chicago and if the offense can just get some momentum, make a couple of big plays, and the biggie - DON'T TURN THE BALL OVER, this can be a win.

The offense needs to be able to give the defense breathing room. If the defense can remain fresh they can handle Chicago no problem. If the defense doesn't get some time off the field it'll be very difficult to win.

It's week 4 and every division game is important so I'm excited. The Vikings have a lot to prove in this game and I hope they (and Cousins in particular) step up.

If anyone is looking for Cousins to win this for us then we shouldn't even make the trip. Rodgers put up 10 points. He's the best in the game. Cousins isn't close to that. My expectation is for us to do what has worked in our victories. Bang the ball and play great D. Will the Bears know we will run? Sure. They knew Rodgers would throw. They stuffed him. They will get after Cook and Matti and they might shut them down completely. If that happens it's over. To me the biggest key is our D needs to have a top level performance. Don't let them score much. Keep us in the game. If Zim decides to get cute and the Bears get up quickly we are done. They will bring too much heat and then we will turn the ball over. I said on another post I expect us to score 7. That's why our D needs to take it over. Don't let them move the ball. Just like the Pack did. That's are only chance. One good thing is they played Monday night. Maybe the Bears will be a little tired. Maybe.

[CharVike]

Put me in the camp that thinks Cook needs a good game. The problem is that the Bears know it. Cousins is going to have to show up to take pressure off of the run game. I'm not sure against Chicago he will. This is where I expect to see Cousins's roller coaster take a dive. If history is any indication he won't have what it takes to raise the offense to the level it needs to be to take on a defense like the Bears have.

Still early for so much gloom and doom though - and for a team with a winning record to boot. So on the more bright side, I think the defense matches up well against Chicago and if the offense can just get some momentum, make a couple of big plays, and the biggie - DON'T TURN THE BALL OVER, this can be a win.

The offense needs to be able to give the defense breathing room. If the defense can remain fresh they can handle Chicago no problem. If the defense doesn't get some time off the field it'll be very difficult to win.

It's week 4 and every division game is important so I'm excited. The Vikings have a lot to prove in this game and I hope they (and Cousins in particular) step up.

If anyone is looking for Cousins to win this for us then we shouldn't even make the trip. Rodgers put up 10 points. He's the best in the game. Cousins isn't close to that. My expectation is for us to do what has worked in our victories. Bang the ball and play great D. Will the Bears know we will run? Sure. They knew Rodgers would throw. They stuffed him. They will get after Cook and Matti and they might shut them down completely. If that happens it's over. To me the biggest key is our D needs to have a top level performance. Don't let them score much. Keep us in the game. If Zim decides to get cute and the Bears get up quickly we are done. They will bring too much heat and then we will turn the ball over. I said on another post I expect us to score 7. That's why our D needs to take it over. Don't let them move the ball. Just like the Pack did. That's are only chance. One good thing is they played Monday night. Maybe the Bears will be a little tired. Maybe.

I like that rookie TE. He looks impressive. He can stretch the field. Maybe he can bring something we can use and force the Bears not to bring people up. That actually could help our ground game and open up the play action the way it's suppose to be done.

[CharVike]

Matter of fact I would open in our heavy set and tell them get ready we are going to pound you all day. Sooner or later Cook will get a crease. That would be my game against this D. Keep pounding eventually they will have too much. Then it's ours with little risk.

Agree. If you have 4 wide receivers you are most likely going to have one on one with Mack and or Hicks so you better get it out fast. If you have lineman who can block them one on one you're going to win anyways.

This deal with getting the ball out fast is really a short passing game. Dink and dunk if you will. I don't see us ever getting into a 4 WR set. I don't know what the benefit is with that. Of course you get deeper into a Ds back field which could create match up problems.You better have a good pass blocking OL or it will create big time problems. We don't have that. I hope we stick we our 2 top WRs and get this young TE we have involved. I don't see a benefit with using 4 WRs. It makes no sense to me. Even if it's 3rd and 15 how does 4 WRs benefit? The ball needs to come out fast so the yardage won't be mad anyway. Just run it or throw a screen at that point.

[dead_poet]

If Cousins gets out of this game without a turnover it will be a minor miracle.

[VikingLord]

If Cousins gets out of this game without a turnover it will be a minor miracle.

You might be surprised. What if Cousins not only gets out of the game without a turnover, but ends up throwing the dagger that hits the heart of the Bears and ends the game?

I'd like to think he can do it.

[dead_poet]

If Cousins gets out of this game without a turnover it will be a minor miracle.

You might be surprised. What if Cousins not only gets out of the game without a turnover, but ends up throwing the dagger that hits the heart of the Bears and ends the game?

I'd like to think he can do it.

The data really doesn't support this. But I'd love to be surprised.

[mansquatch]

Ideally the defense puts up a decent game where we can win this only scoring 13 or so points. That is manageable and given the Bears' offensive woes, it should be an expectation.

This isn't a game where we are going to get up 14-0 by the 2nd quarter. IMO, the major theme of this game is ball security and our defense doing it's job. In a lot of ways it shouldn't be about what Cousins can do, but about what he doesn't do. Don't turn the ball over. I think if we are smart with our risk plays, play a good field position game, then we can take shots when it is opportune to do so and win with a few successful drives. As I said earlier this week: Pacing.

[VikingLord]

Ideally the defense puts up a decent game where we can win this only scoring 13 or so points. That is manageable and given the Bears' offensive woes, it should be an expectation.

This isn't a game where we are going to get up 14-0 by the 2nd quarter. IMO, the major theme of this game is ball security and our defense doing it's job. In a lot of ways it shouldn't be about what Cousins can do, but about what he doesn't do. Don't turn the ball over. I think if we are smart with our risk plays, play a good field position game, then we can take shots when it is opportune to do so and win with a few successful drives. As I said earlier this week: Pacing.

If you had told me the Packers would get up 21-0 in the first 16 minutes of the game at Lambeau, I wouldn't have believed it. Not with the way that offense had looked to that point, and not with the defense the Vikings have.

But there it was - the Vikings staring up at a huge deficit with just over a quarter of the game gone.

So while it isn't likely the Vikings (or Bears, for that matter) jump out to a substantial early lead, it could happen. For either team, I guess. I'm still not sold that the Vikings have a defense that can play consistently for 60 minutes, and they've shown a penchant for making Mitchell Trubisky look much better than he is in the times they've faced him.

Turnovers are a factor in the score as well. If it's a straight-up slugfest where both defenses play well and both offenses struggle, it's going to come down to which defense can create that key turnover or get the key stop.

While I don't expect it to happen, I could see the Vikings jumping out to a big early lead. I could also see the Bears doing the same. Both teams have the potential to do it as both teams have particular strengths and weaknesses that, if exploited, could create a lopsided outcome.

Most likely is a low-scoring game that more closely resembles the Packer-Bear game to start the season. In that kind of game, big plays will be at a premium and mistakes will likely determine the outcome.

[VikingLord]

The data really doesn't support this. But I'd love to be surprised.

I agree the data doesn't support it, but at some point Cousins has got to step up in a positive way. I think he's shown he can do it - last year the Vikings got down early in a lot of games and Cousins had to bring them back and he showed he could do it. I'd just like to see him manage to do the same in situations where the team isn't down and they don't need it per se, but he does it anyway.

But most of what Cousins is going to do and need to do is going to come down to the gameplan devised by Stefanski and Kubiak, and if that is substantially different from what we've seen to this point in the season it will be far more shocking to see than if Cousins suddenly goes off against the Bears this Sunday. The offense is clearly designed around zone run blocking and dynamic running with some play action passing thrown in for good measure. This has worked against every opponent the Vikings have faced so far, including Green Bay. It will continue against the Bears.

The one thing I'd like to see the Vikings try a bit more is hitting defenses deep. They managed it against the Packers on the Diggs TD, and Diggs was wide open on another deep attempt in that game. If the run and play action short-medium passing is effective, defenses are going to get drawn up. Aggressive defenses are especially going to get drawn up, and deeper routes will get open. There are "easy" scores to be had against defenses like the Packers and Bears if the OC plays his cards right. When he does play those cards, Cousins has to find those receivers and hit those throws.

[CharVike]

Ideally the defense puts up a decent game where we can win this only scoring 13 or so points. That is manageable and given the Bears' offensive woes, it should be an expectation.

This isn't a game where we are going to get up 14-0 by the 2nd quarter. IMO, the major theme of this game is ball security and our defense doing it's job. In a lot of ways it shouldn't be about what Cousins can do, but about what he doesn't do. Don't turn the ball over. I think if we are smart with our risk plays, play a good field position game, then we can take shots when it is opportune to do so and win with a few successful drives. As I said earlier this week: Pacing.

I feel the same way. The board seems to think this game comes down to what Cousins does. He's a piece for sure. Cook is our play maker right now. He needs to step up and have a great game. I don't see how anyone could expect us to put up more than 13 points. This Bear D is playing at a very high level and they are at home. If our D lets this stiff QB the Bears have look like a HOFer again we will get beat. They need to stuff that stiff for once. Very few are even mentioning our D. Let me tell all they need to play some ball and create some TOs. Give us field position. And when we do throw this OL needs to step up there game. We can't have guys all over the QB. I want to see what Rodgers had just stand there looking with nothing around him. The Cousins hatters will state that never happened. Well it's there. The 1st pass play. That's what our OL needs to do. Set the tone right off the bat. Let them know your not getting in. This is our QB. But can they do that? If not we can't pass at all and they should just pound the ball. Other wise we will get beat easily. We need to play well across the board to have a chance.

[CharVike]

You might be surprised. What if Cousins not only gets out of the game without a turnover, but ends up throwing the dagger that hits the heart of the Bears and ends the game?

I'd like to think he can do it.

The data really doesn't support this. But I'd love to be surprised.

It will come down to the OL blocking. If they let Mack do whatever he wants the ball will be on the ground. A QB who don't fumble like Case had how many fumbles and right from the start. This idiot OC we have better recognize that Mack can blow us up and adjust his micky mouse scheme to try an eliminate him from the action.

[TSonn]

This game starting at noon is a huge benefit to us since it takes away a significant amount of home field advantage. Plus this game being in September also helps us quite a bit. Looks like 60 degrees and about 50% chance of rain on Sunday so there could be a bunch of turnovers for both teams. All of that takes away from home field advantage quite a bit so hopefully we come in prepared and cut down on our mistakes.

Probably obvious, but if we don't beat ourselves (missed FGs, ill-timed turnovers) we can hang with and beat most teams.

[Maelstrom88]

The data really doesn't support this. But I'd love to be surprised.

It will come down to the OL blocking. If they let Mack do whatever he wants the ball will be on the ground. A QB who don't fumble like Case had how many fumbles and right from the start. This idiot OC we have better recognize that Mack can blow us up and adjust his micky mouse scheme to try an eliminate him from the action.

I was really dissapointed at the apparent lack of a plan last year to help the oline pick up Mack and Hicks. Hopefully Kubiak can help in that regard.