The Bear’s Den, October 5, 2018

BEAR DOWN, CHICAGO BEARS, BEAR DOWN!!!!

BEARRRSSSS

Finley: Why Matt Nagy could do more with Bears’ Tarik Cohen than Chiefs star Tyreek Hill - Chicago Sun-Times - With Tarik Cohen in the backfield, defenses must make a choice.

Finley: Bears’ Khalil Mack named NFC Defensive Player of the Month - Sun Times - The NFL recognized Thursday what the Bears have known in the one month and one day since they traded for Khalil Mack: the linebacker is a beast.

Where Bears team, players rank in the NFL - ChicagoBears.com - Take a look at where the Bears stack up both as a team and individually in the NFL rankings heading into the bye week as they prepare for the Dolphins in Week 6.

Kush named Bear in "1 Player Every NFL Team Must Bench Immediately" list - Bleacher Report | Latest News, Videos and Highlights - The old saying goes that the person who graduates last in his or her medical school class is still called doctor...

Stankevitz: Trial by fire - How Khalil Mack is helping Bears right tackle Rashaad Coward learn a new position - NBC Sports Chicago - Rashaad Coward is trying to learn how to play right tackle while going against arguably the NFL's best edge rusher in practice every day at Halas Hall.

Stankevitz: Khalil Mack named NFC Defensive Player of the Month - NBC Sports Chicago - Khalil Mack on Thursday was named the NFC's Defensive Player of the Month for September, as expected.

Chicago Bears: State of the Bye Week - The Bears Brothers Podcast - Da Bears Brothers never need a bye week. In this episode, they take an in-depth look into all three phases, explain how they fared so far and project expectations for each positional unit for the remainder of the season. Plus the guys peek at the remaining schedule and answer voicemails Live on-air.

Biggs Bears Q&A: Is the 6-touchdown game the ceiling for Mitch Trubisky? What would make for a successful season after a 3-1 start? - Chicago Tribune - Brad Biggs answers your Bears questions weekly. Is Mitch Trubisky's six-touchdown game the ceiling for the quarterback? What would constitute a successful season now that the team is off to a 3-1 start? Will James Daniels start at left guard? Plus much more.

Kane: When will the offense be as legit as the defense? - Chicago Tribune - Quarterback Mitch Trubisky put together his best effort in a Bears uniform against the Buccaneers on Sunday before the team headed into its week off, so things are looking up for coach Matt Nagy’s offense as they evaluate their work at the quarter pole.

Potash: Khalil Mack Effect - Bilal Nichols, Roy Robertson-Harris, Bryce Callahan becoming playmakers in Bears rising defense - Sun Times - But the residual impact of his fast start has been obvious. The Mack-fueled rise of the Bears’ defense has made everybody a potential playmaker.

Chicago Bears Podcast: Hoge & Jahns live from Cortland's Garage - Sun Times - Where do the Bears fit in the NFC North and the rest of the league after four games?

NFL playoff odds 2018: Bears emerge with 3rd-highest probability - Sun Times - The numbers look good for the Bears to end their playoff drought after a 3-1 start to the season.

McNeil & Parkins Show: Allen Robinson - Bears' Breakthrough On Offense Wasn't Surprising - 670 The Score - "We had a lot of stuff that was in the making," Allen Robinson says.

Mike Ditka: What Bears Are Doing Now Is 'Pretty Special' - 670 The Score - The Bears have garnered renewed attention amid a strong 3-1 start.

Deion Sanders says Khalil Mack is the NFL MVP - 247Sports - "Khalil Mack, first and foremost, he's the league's MVP right now," Sanders said. "Let's just get that straight. I know you offensive guys want to give it to the quarterback, but this man has really given this city hope, this team hope. He's sealed the dominance of this defense. This man is flat out balling and we've got to take these guys [the Bears] serious. If Trubisky can do what he's doing, and just not turn the ball over the way, the way his defense is playing they can make it to the playoffs."

Emma: Bears Clicking As They Break For The Bye Week - 670 The Score - The Bears rank in the top 10 in scoring offense and defense through four games.

Matt Nagy implored Mitch Trubisky to keep foot on the gas in win - 247Sports - The Chicago Bears know all too well what it is like to give up a big lead. The team dominated the Green Bay Packers back in Week 1 in the first half but had no answers for quarterback Aaron Rodgers in the second half. When Chicago took on the Tampa Bay Buccaneers in Week 4 at Soldier Field, head coach Matt Nagy was not going to let that happen with signal-caller Mitch Trubisky.

Emily: Rounding Up the Division Rivals (And Looking Slightly Into Their Futures) - Da Bears Blog - Four games in the books, which means we’re a quarter of the way through the regular season, and it’s time for the first edition of “Rivals Round Up”. This is a new feature wherein I’ll take a look at how things stand in the NFC North.

Medina: Khalil Mack and Mitch Trubisky Have the Same NFL MVP Odds … Huh? - Bleacher Nation - Is there a future MVP on the Bears roster? It's a long shot, but worth keeping an eye on.

Mayer: Mack named NFC defensive player of month - ChicagoBears.com - Bears outside linebacker Khalil Mack has been named the NFC defensive player of the month for September for his performance in the first four games of the season.

Fans name players central to continued success - ChicagoBears.com - As part of our Wednesday weigh-in feature, we asked Bears fans to let us know who else, besides Khalil Mack and Mitchell Trubisky, needs to step up for the Bears to continue their success.

Chalk Talk: Will Cohen be featured back? - ChicagoBears.com - Senior writer Larry Mayer discusses how Jordan Howard and Tarik Cohen will share the workload in the backfield, if James Daniels will continue to rotate into games at guard and Bears who have won a Defensive Player of the Month Award.

POLISH SAUSAGE

With Raiders coming to town, Chargers practicing for crowd noise at home – ProFootballTalk - In the week before a road game, NFL teams blare crowd noise over the speakers on their practice fields. For home games, dealing with crowd noise is usually not an issue. But it’s an issue this week for the Chargers.

QB Index, Week 5: Mahomes sizzles, Big Ben fizzles - NFL.com - With one quarter of the season complete, Gregg Rosenthal reveals his ranking of the 32 quarterbacks who have played the bulk of the snaps for their respective teams.

KNOW THY ENEMY

Medina: Aaron Rodgers Threw Some Serious Shade at His Head Coach (After A Win), But Downplays the Beef - Bleacher Nation - Aaron Rodgers seemed to fire shots at Mike McCarthy on Sunday, but seems to have backed off since.

Only 1 team has allowed fewer QB hits than the Detroit Lions - Pride Of Detroit - There’s at least one positive thing the Lions are doing right now.

Week 5 injury update: Green Bay Packers could be missing top 3 receivers vs. Lions - Pride Of Detroit - The Packers’ receiving corps is decimated by injury.

Vikings fans are taking their 2018 season harder than Lions fans - Pride Of Detroit - The bigger they are, the harder they fall.

Minnesota Vikings Rivals: Bears, Packers, Lions: News and Notes, Week 5 - Daily Norseman - Packers Lions Bears news and notes

APC Week 5 NFL Picks: Packers should improve to 3-1-1 with win in Detroit - Acme Packing Company - Despite the offense’s struggles recently, APC and Packers fans are pretty optimistic about this Sunday’s game against the Lions. Ken's Note: Packers fans are so damned arrogant. Go Lions (just this week only, though).

IN CASE YOU MISSED IT ON WINDY CITY GRIDIRON

FanPulse: Who is the NFL MVP after 4 weeks? - Windy City Gridiron - Welcome to SB Nation FanPulse — a survey of fans across the NFL, powered by SurveyMonkey. Each week, we send 32 polls to 100+ plugged in fans from each team. Bears fans, sign up HERE to join...

Berkes: First Quarter Statistics Review - Bears looking good on important metrics - Windy City Gridiron - There are a lot of statistics out there. Some of them are useful, some are not. There are a few statistics that are worth looking into every so often to see how the team is performing, and I plan...

Zeglinski: Chicago Bears’ Mitchell Trubisky named FedEx Air NFL Player of the Week - Windy City Gridiron - After a breakthrough performance, the Bears young quarterback has been rewarded for his efforts.

Wiltfong: Bears’ fans confidence is highest in the NFC North - Windy City Gridiron - Welcome to SB Nation FanPulse — a survey of fans across the NFL, powered by SurveyMonkey. Each week, we send 32 polls to 100+ plugged in fans from each team. Bears fans, sign up HERE to join...

Windy City Gridiron officially launches their 2018 season Chicago Bears podcast lineup - Blog Huddle - Bears fans, rejoice! We’re joining 7 other SB Nation team podcasts launching today.

Khalil Mack’s dominance, explained in 5 plays - SBNation.com - We used the Expected Points Added stat to try and pinpoint the value that Khalil Mack brings to the Bears.

Zeglinski: Chicago Bears’ Tarik Cohen and Taylor Gabriel highlight PFF Team of the Week - Windy City Gridiron - Two of the smallest Bears have rightfully been recognized for their sizable performance against the Buccaneers.

Leming: Chicago Bears first quarter report card - Windy City Gridiron - The Bears are a quarter of the way through the 2018 with a 3-1 start. Just how good have they been?

Wiltfong: Bears’ Khalil Mack wins NFC Defensive Player of the Month - Windy City Gridiron - Through four weeks, the Chicago Bears‘ Khalil Mack has been the best defensive player in football. For some strange reason though, he never picked up any defensive player of the week awards. That’s...

Duerrwaechter's Fan Challenge: the final vote! - Windy City Gridiron - We’re down to our three finalists as we get set to name our dominant defense.

WCG CONTRIBUTORS BEARS PODCASTS & STREAMS

2 Minute Drill - Website - iTunes - Andrew Link; Steven’s Streaming – Twitch – Steven Schweickert; T-Formation Conversation - Website - iTunes - Lester Wiltfong, Jr.; WCG Radio - Website - iTunes - Robert Zeglinski

THE RULES

Windy City Gridiron Community Guidelines - SBNation.com - We strive to make our communities open and inclusive to sports fans of all backgrounds. The following is not permitted in comments, FanPosts, usernames or anywhere else in an SB Nation community: Comments, FanPosts or usernames that are intolerant or prejudiced; racial or other offensive epithets; Personal attacks or threats on community members; Gendered insults of any kind; Trolling; Click link for full information.

The Bear’s Den Specific Guidelines – The Bear’s Den is a place for Chicago Bears fans to discuss Chicago Bears football, related NFL stories, and general football talk. It is NOT a place to discuss religion or politics or post political pictures or memes, and any posts that do this will be deleted and the poster will be admonished. We do not allow comments posted where the apparent attempt is to cause confrontation in the community. We do not allow gender-directed humor or sexual assault jokes. The staff of WCG are the sole arbiters of what constitutes “apparent attempt to cause confrontation”. We do not allow the “calling out” of other members in any way, shape or form. Posts that do this will be deleted on sight. Bottom line, it’s fine to debate about football, but personal jabs and insults are strictly prohibited. Additionally, if you keep beating the same dead horse over and over and fail to heed a moderator’s warning to stop, you will be banned.

Click on our names to follow us on Twitter:

WCG Contributors: Jeff Berckes; Patti Curl; Eric Christopher Duerrwaechter; Kev H; Sam Householder; Jacob Infante; Aaron Lemming; Andrew Link; Ken Mitchell; Steven Schweickert; Jack Silverstein; EJ Snyder; Lester Wiltfong, Jr.; Robert Zeglinski; Like us on Facebook.