The Bears Den: October 21, 2014 - Chicago Bears week 8 news & Bears-Dolphins notes

Bears sadly lacking identity, leadership - Barry Rozner: Some teams win with great defense, a fabulous running game or a Hall of Fame QB. Others have dynamic coaching. The Bears have none of the above and completely lack an identity.

Marc Trestman needs to ‘fix it’ - Brian Hanley: Bears head coach needs to stop coddling and take control of his locker room starting this week, a sure tipping point if the Bears still think playoffs are possible.

Trestman has to get much tougher on his underachieving players - Rick Morrissey: There’s more to the game than X’s and O’s. There’s the matter of dealing with large, talented human beings who, because they have been coddled their entire lives, believe they can do anything they want. It takes a real leader to tell them they can’t.

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Chicago Bears 14, Miami Dolphins 27

What we learned in loss to Dolphins - Larry Mayer identifies four things he learned in Sunday's disappointing 27-14 loss to the Dolphins at Soldier Field.

Trestman: Ground game suffered due to lack of plays - Jeff Dickerson: Held to an abysmal 54 first-half total net yards of offense on Sunday, the Bears completely abandoned the ground game in the opening 30 minutes.

Trestman: We put our Defense in ‘bad place’ - Marc Trestman is tracing the team's struggles largely to an offense that had big expectations and is scoring at a rate below league average [with Audio].

Trestman cuts down on Cutler’s decision-making: Are big changes coming? - Patrick Finley: Halfway through the game Sunday against the Dolphins, the Bears decided that less of Jay Cutler was a good thing. They scrapped the run/pass options at halftime, taking some decision-making away from the QB.

Ominous signs point to NFL figuring out Bears' 'razzle-dazzle' - Moon Mullin: The NFL has had 23 games to learn Trestman. Based on comments that players don’t usually make and scoreboard math, the NFL has.

[Video] - Is- and Not-Hub Arkush break down what went wrong on the defense during the 27-14 loss at home vs the Dolphins.

Game review - Dan Durkin's impressions from Bears-Dolphins.  It's not pretty. Too many miscommunications, miscues.

Game review - Greg Gabriel's positives and negatives from Sunday's loss.

Game review - Adam Hoge on whether the league is adjusting to Trestman's system [the TCO - Den], highest- and lowest-graded Bears from Sunday, and more observations from the game.

Game notes - Adam L. Jahns: Jordan Mills' tough day, Chris Williams' return, LB shuffling.

Stats & Info - (CBS): Fast facts from Bears-Dolphins.

Injury news - Jeff Dickerson: Kyle Fuller is not expected to need surgery on his broken hand, but he failed to finish the Dolphins' game because of the injured hip.

Game grades - James Neveau on the offensive struggles and defensive lapses that led to Sunday's loss.

Game grades - Brad Biggs' film review.

Game grades - Patrick Finley's Bears stock watch.

Game grades - The Sun-Times with a delightful little slideshow. [I'll be honest, I can never be bothered to click through slideshows unless it's for the weekend Den.]

[Video] SportsTalk Live - Bears among the most inconsistent teams in the league. [KAPCON: 4]

[Video] - Charles Tillman reacts in wake of Bears' loss to Dolphins ... Why the Bears struggle against the read-option ... Is Trestman to blame for Bears' struggles?

[Video] - Olin Kreutz weighs in on Bears' loss to Dolphins.

[Video] ChicagoBears.com - All the action on the Bears' sideline from their Week 7 match-up against Miami.

[Video] ChicagoBears.com - Brandon Marshall was mic'd up for Sunday's game.

Photos - ChicagoBears.com from the sideline ... in the locker room ... photo journal.

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BrandonMarshalllockerroompostgamerantleadershipvoidgate

Cohesiveness not a concern for Trestman - Larry Mayer: Marc Trestman doesn’t feel that the frustration some players expressed after Sunday’s loss is an indication the Bears’ cohesiveness is in jeopardy.

Trestman accepting of Bears' anger, melodrama - Dan Wiederer: Should that tirade from a mercurial playmaker with a history of emotional outbursts really register as remarkable?

Trestman: Marshall didn't call out Cutler - Michael C. Wright: Given the duo's closeness, Marc Trestman acknowledged Jay Cutler and Brandon Marshall might have a unique relationship that affords them the ability to be critical of one another behind closed doors.

[Video] ESPN - Eric Allen discusses Marc Trestman's comments disputing the notion that Brandon Marshall called out Jay Cutler following the Bears' loss.

Tillman explains Bears' postgame locker-room drama - Charles Tillman joined SportsTalk Live and dismissed the notion that there are larger issues plaguing the Bears on a more big-picture basis. [Video] SportsTalk Live.

Gould downplays Marshall rant - Dan Wiederer: During a radio appearance with Patrick Mannelly and Matt Spiegel on WSCR 670-AM, Robbie Gould downplayed Brandon Marshall’s postgame theatrics – though the city of Chicago isn’t likely to follow his lead. [Audio]

Bears locker room is fine, but why is Marshall making all the noise? - Is-Hub Arkush: The emotion and raised voices are most likely much ado about nothing. but can it really be a good thing for the Bears that Brandon Marshall is making most of the noise?

'No Noise' Marshall makes noise for leaderless Bears - Steve Rosenbloom: The mouthy Marshall is drawing the spotlight in the kind of fake leadership he offers, but it wouldn't happen if the team had a player who was an actual leader or a head coach with gravitas.

It's a good thing Marshall spoke out - Mike Imrem: Too many people are tired of hearing from Brandon Marshall on so many subjects, even well meaning ones like his BPD, but someone on the Bears had to stand up and shout like he cares about the team's performance.

Which 'leaders' do Bears turn to? - Chris Boden: Right now, it's equal-opportunity credit and equal-opportunity blame at Halas Hall. But when the Blame Game is running the risk of taking over the season, who's supposed to step up and steer this ship?

[Video] - Dan Hampton says Bears need one set of captains.

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Bearsss

10 thoughts - Mark Potash: Bears have a leadership void in their locker room; is something wrong with Alshon Jeffery?

[Video] - Adam L. Jahns, Dan Durkin break down what's ailing the Bears.

Kyle Long: Wrong to criticize fans for booing - Michael C. Wright: Kyle Long criticized fans at Soldier Field for booing as the team trotted into the locker room down 14-0, but on Monday admitted it was wrong for to point fingers at the fans.

Team notes - Bob LeGere: Matt Forte too important to ignore; Kyle Fuller day to day; looking at potential changes in the starting lineup at linebacker and RT.

Team notes - Bob LeGere: Marc Trestman and some of Brandon Marshall's teammates downplayed the significance of the WR's posgame venting; Trestman not sensing any rift between Marshall and Cutler; injury and Soldier Field notes.

Bears always have an excuse for why they don’t win - David Just: Everything is awful.

[Video] ChicagoBears.com - Head Equipment Manager Tony Medlin announces the start of the 26th Annual Chicago Bears/Jewel-Osco "Coat Drive".

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Ditka

[Audio] - Ditka talks about Peyton Manning's record-breaking performance, the Bears' struggling defense, and the Browns' disappointing loss.

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Polish sausage

...will return tomorrow.  You just can't have Bearsss and Ditka without following with some Polish sausage.

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