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Are the Chicago Bears Becoming a More Balanced Team?
November 15th, 2018 
Bryan Dietzler 
Posted in Bear Insight, Bear Necessities, BEARS Blitz, BuzzHype, Features, Inside The Bears, Main, Notes & Observations, Opinions
By Bryan Dietzler
Chicago Bears fans have a lot to be thankful for so far this season. Their defense is ranked, by some, as the best defense in the NFL. After years of struggle, that’s great news. And their offense isn’t bad either. They are getting great production out of the running and the passing game. Things look to be going much better for our Bears from now on. No longer does it appear that Chicago is the doormat of the NFC North.
If you hear the words Chicago Bears, what is the thing that you think of first? For some, it’s Walter Payton. For others, it’s George Halas. But, for a majority of the fans of the Bears, the word “defense” is synonymous with the team. Fans remember such guys as Dick Butkus, Mike Singletary, and Doug Plank as being the “heroes” of tough Chicago bear defenses.
Fans still think about the past and how great those defenses were.
But now, it’s time to look towards the present as the Bears have assembled a strong cast of characters to help bolster a defense that is one of the league’s best. Of course, we all know that Chicago’s best defensive player is Khalil Mack but they have several other guys that help make the defense a good one. Akiem Hicks, Danny Trevathan, and Kyle Fuller are just three of several guys that are making a big impact for the Bears. Almost every single guy on defense has made some kind of positive impact for the Bears and it shows in the numbers they are putting up as well as in the win/loss column.
Granted, this defense isn’t sticking it to teams like the defense of the 1985 Bears but they are doing things their own way and getting good results. If the defense can stay healthy then you can expect them to remain one of the top defenses in the NFL and be a reason why the Bears have a good year or, and this is not a stretch of the imagination, even make the playoffs.
But defense isn’t the only thing that the Bears are boasting these days. They have an offense that, despite the fact it still has some work to do, is effective. Chicago has been scoring a lot of points lately and even though some of those points have come from their opportunistic defense, their offense is putting up some strong number as well.
They should not be overlooked.
Leading the charge on offense is quarterback Mitchell Trubisky. Trubisky, a second-year player who started last season and hasn’t looked back, he has provided the Bears with the spark that they need to score points on offense and move the ball down the field.
Couple his play with fairly good health all around and the Bears offense could be one of the more dominant in the league for seasons to come.
Trubisky is really starting to come into his own. Granted, he’s had some issues but we must keep in mind that he is still young. He has a lot of learning left to do. Look for him to continue to learn and grow in an offense that will help him get better and will eventually help him get the Bears to the playoffs.
Not only is Trubisky working well in the offense but some of the other weapons they have are doing well. Their running game is solid and their receivers are not that bad. They are getting a lot of production out of the tight end position. When Trubisky can get it out to his receivers, they are catching the ball and making plays.
It’s all starting to come together for the Bears and it’s happening on both sides of the ball.
If there is a part of the team that could be considered a weak point, it’s special teams. We all saw the breakdowns on that unit in their game against the New England Patriots. Had they not have made those mistakes on special teams, Chicago would have won the game. They need to get better there or else they could lose a few more games.
Special teams and, yes, the quarterback position are still two points of weakness on this team that need to be addressed. The quarterback position will be addressed by allowing Trubisky to grow in his role and improve. We have already seen massive improvement in him already, he just needs to fine-tune his game. It’s possible that he could become one of the greatest quarterbacks in Chicago Bears’ history.
So is this a balanced team? Yes, it is. Are they going places? Yes, they are.
When it’s all said and done, it appears as if Bears’ management finally got things right.
Bears QB Mitch Trubisky Wins the NFC Offensive Player of the Week Honor
ChicagoTribune
It was another huge week for Bears second-year QB Mitch Trubisky, and Wednesday he was rewarded for his big effort against the Lions with being named the NFC Offensive Player of the week.
Steelers QB Ben Roethlisberger took home the AFC honors.
Trubisky was on fire against Detroit, throwing for 355 yards and three scores in the win, and he also ran in a touchdown for the Bears.
Chicago will be at home this week in a Sunday night Nationally televised game against Minnesota.
Offensive Players of the Week (Week 10):
AFC: @Steelers QB @_BigBen7
NFC: @ChicagoBears QB @Mtrubisky10 pic.twitter.com/Zypf9lT3Eo— NFL (@NFL) November 14, 2018
Bears at Bills NFL Week Nine Inactives
Here are today’s inactives for the Bears and Bills matchup in Buffalo
Bears
TE Ben Braunecker
CB Marcus Cooper
OT Rashaad Coward
LB Khalil Mack
DE Bilal Nichols
WR Allen Robinson
WR Kevin White
Bills
QB Josh Allen
QB Derek Anderson
OG Ike Boettger
LB Tremaine Edmunds
OT Conor McDermott
DE Trent Murphy
WR Cam Phillips
The Rise of Mitchell Trubisky
October 31st, 2018 Bryan Dietzler Posted in Bear Insight, Bear Necessities, Features, Inside The Bears, Main, Notes & Observations, Opinions 
By Bryan Dietzler
If you have been a fan of the Bears for any length of time, you should know that their history with quarterbacks is less than stellar. In order to find a quarterback that actually performed well for a decent amount of time with the Bears, you have to go back to the mid-80’s. There you will find Jim McMahon, the last great quarterback in Chicago Bears’ franchise history.
Even McMahon was not without his faults. He ended up missing quite a bit of time with injuries. There are some that say if McMahon hadn’t had missed so much time, the Bears might have won another Super Bowl or two.
Ever since McMahon last graced Chicago’s locker room the Bears have been looking for that franchise quarterback. They thought that they had their “quarterback of the future” when they drafted Cade McNown but that didn’t pan out. Then, sometime down the road, came Rex Grossman. Just recently, Jay Cutler was supposed to be the answer at the quarterback position but we all know how miserably that turned out.
Mike Glennon succeeded Cutler but only for short amount of time. His disastrous four-game stint gave way to the man we see at the helm now, Mitchell Trubisky. Some say it was about time for Trubisky to take over while others feared he would be “ruined” by the sudden start getting thrown into the action where he was sure to drown.
However, Trubisky managed to keep his head above water enough last season to show some promise. He came into this year with a lot of hype and a huge list of expectations to follow and through the first few games, up until the Tampa Bay game, there were some that didn’t think that he was doing as well as he should have been. There was a lot of disappointment among fans and some were even calling to have the Bears’ coaching staff bench Trubisky.
Then, all of that changed when the Bears met the Buccaneers at Soldier Field just a few short weeks ago. Trubisky looked like a man possessed hitting receivers on long passes while making smart decisions.
He looked unstoppable.
But is he really going to be able to keep this up? We will find out but for now, it looks like the Bears’ may have found themselves a quarterback.
Looking back at the history of Chicago Bears’ quarterbacks, we talked about McMahon who was a decent quarterback but not the lights out guy that he could have been had he been able to stay healthy. You had guys like Sid Luckman who some feel is the greatest quarterback in Bears’ history. Luckman helped lead the Bears to four NFL championships way back when and lit up the record books at that time. He was pretty much “it” until McMahon came along.
But after McMahon left, the Bears entered what many consider to be a rut at the quarterback position. Depending on who you talk to, they got out of that rut when Jay Cutler came to Chicago. “He who shall not be named” or “Smoking Jay” as I like to call him, had an up and down career. He was paid way too much and Chicago got too little in return. Cutler does hold a few Bears’ passing records but he’s one of the most vilified players in Bears history after never having lived up to his contract or what the Bears gave up to get him.
Now, after a short stint with Glennon, we have Trubisky. Will he be the next Sid Luckman or will he be the next Jay Cutler? For a while, we thought he would end up being like the latter but he’s starting to turn things around. Granted, we can’t judge him off of just one or two good games. However, if he can keep his outstanding play up, the Bears will win a lot more games.
Saying that we want Trubisky to be more like Luckman is a stretch. We need Trubisky to be himself, whatever that may be. He needs to be able to develop his own identity and make a name for himself. He will want to win but he will want to do it in his own way.
The future is bright for this star of the Bears passing game. Sure, he is bound to get himself and his team into a bind at some point. Trubisky may even regress just a little bit. Trust me, he’s going to end up being a star in the league someday. He just needs the experience and the fine-tuning necessary to develop into a solid quarterback.
Trubisky is going to get better and will eventually be one of the best quarterbacks in Bear’s history.
You can bank on that.
NFL Inactives Week 8 – Jets vs Bears
Here’s today’s inactives as the Jets get set to take on the Bears:
Jets
WR Robby Anderson
OG Dakota Dozier
WR Quincy Enunwa
DT Folorunso Fatukasi
CB Trumaine Johnson
CB Derrick Jones
LB Kevin Pierre-Louis
Bears
FB Michael Burton
CB Marcus Cooper
OT Rashaad Coward
OG Eric Kush
LB Khalil Mack
WR Allen Robinson
DE Nick Williams
Bears Coach Matt Nagy Says Team Needs to Do a Better Job at Finishing Games After Loss to Packers
After Sunday’s patience-testing 24-23 loss to the Packers at Lambeau Field, Bears coach Matt Nagy returned to Halas Hall on Monday morning to review his team’s performance. Nagy says the Bears have to develop a finish mentality, Dan Wiederer of the Chicago Tribune reports.
“So we’ve got to really have that finish mentality,” Nagy said. “We can’t talk about it. We’ve got to do it, everybody included. I think our guys need to understand that close isn’t good enough, which they will. They know that and they understand it’s a long season. Nobody wanted this game more than we did. It definitely hurts, like I said last night. It stings. But we need to use this. We need to go ahead and use this to get better. If you have the negative pessimistic approach to it then that’s all wrong. We’re not going to have that.”
“Being in a game like that on a Sunday night and against a big rival, I like the way our team went about the whole week of practice,” Nagy added. “I thought they came out and played well in the game. We didn’t finish it. So I’m about to learn where we’re at as a staff, where I’m at as a coach and where they’re at as players. That’s the most challenging part and that’s why they bring me in here — for these type of situations. It is not going to be rosy the whole time. It’s not. We’re not going to lose our confidence at all, I promise you, from this game. We’re going to learn from it, stick together. It’s going to make us stronger and hopefully we’re all sitting here at the end of the season and we can look back and reflect and say, ‘This helped us more than it hurt us.’”
