AZ54

With all the changes we are going through on the offensive side of the ball I'm glad we're not the dumpster fire that is the Cleveland Browns. That teams also came into 2019 with playoff and even Superbowl hype and just fell apart. Even though some here are calling for a full house cleaning as Cleveland did I'm of the opinion that minor course corrections will serve the organization better. I'm glad we're not the failure that is the Dallas Cowboys. However bad we were their failures with their talent level was worse. Who among Bears fans wouldn't trade our Oline for the Cowboys? RB? How about their division opponents? Oddly Jerry Jones still hasn't made a decision on firing the HC. KC's offense is still performing at a high level but they have elite NFL talent at TE/WR but not like last year. The Eagles and Bears struggled quite a bit at times this season. Has the league caught up to what we are trying to do? Read option were a big thing in 2018 but this year it seems every team if fully prepared for it. Meanwhile in Baltimore they don't have a good passing QB but they just went back to the old school formations with 3 TEs and go run first. We can't even get one TE over 100yds receiving. I give Jim Harbaugh credit for adapting to his QBs strengths. https://www.theringer.com/nfl/2019/11/15/20965903/baltimore-ravens-offense-lamar-jackson "Utilizing tight ends Mark Andrews, Hayden Hurst, and Nick Boyle (plus fullback Patrick Ricard), Baltimore leans on “heavy” personnel sets to blow defenders off the ball in the run game and open up lanes for the team’s runners. But along with the explosive Brown on the outside, Baltimore’s run-blocking tight ends are also dynamic in the passing game. The Ravens are lapping the field this season in pass-catching production from the tight end position, with that group combining to catch league highs in receptions (83) and yards (949) through 10 weeks." ------- When we run WR screens why do our players always run to the wrong side of the WR block? The play might be designed to get outside but if the defender already has outside leverage on the WR block then take it upfield inside the block. It doesn't matter if it's Cohen, Miller, ARob we just run right into the defender. This is stuff that kids figure out in back yard football.

(Pace on Nagy)

We did use Patterson on some jet sweeps. It's just that when there is no inside running game there is nobody to fool and they were easily defended.

Floyd is a league average player, just not as a pass rusher. I think he's actually above average on run defense and pass coverage. Ironically his run defense was supposed to be his huge weakness during the draft. It's the only thing he does well with his length to gain leverage. Pay him for first and second down and go find someone for 3rd downs.

He learned that from Nagy. It's great to see his emotion coming out there.

I like this idea.

https://twitter.com/adamjahns/status/1212077072962785291?s=21 Jahns says Helfrich and Hiestand were responsible for the running game. Over on Reddit folks are talking about who was responsible for the mid-season switch to some Power-I formations that were successful. It just adds some intrigue but doesn't change the fact Nagy too often didn't even call running plays.

I hear ya on Nagy. I said it very early in the season with his play calling and just how poorly the offense was overall had a lot to do with him. I still think he's better head coach than OC. I still love his creative play calling at times and I actually want to keep a bit of the mad scientist stuff. It's hard to know for sure but Nagy came here all confident in his play calling and was clear from day 1 this is his offense. I'd say for that reasons he had a bunch of "yes men" in the game planning room. Nagy needs to have a different voice in the Offensive room and on the head set on game days. Someone who has the balls to tell him what he needs to do to protect him from himself. Someone who also knows how to get a good running game going. Then Nagy has to be willing to merge what he's been doing with those concepts. Then Pace has to go get the Oline and TE to make that work. Would we go back to a FB on the roster? Do we keep Holtz in the existing H-back stuff and expand on it?

Always keep this in mind when considering Callahan vs. Skrine. It's really rare, if ever, for Callahan to play in 16 games. I think when healthy Callahan was the better player but availability wins the day here IMO. https://www.si.com/nfl/broncos/news/denver-broncos-place-cb-bryce-callahan-on-injured-reserve-activate-tim-patrick

It was always clear in my mind that Pace and Nagy would be back, along with Mitch. The fact they didn't criticize Mitch in a press conference is 100% the right thing to do. Mitch showed a lot of good and a lot of bad but there is absolutely zero to gain by throwing him under the bus publicly. Even if they want to bring in some competition. I'm surprised but pleased they cleaned house on the offensive side. Pace went full in with Nagy's hires when he came on board (as he should have done IMO) but it didn't work out. I believe Nagy was told you are young inexperienced OC and you need help. That he needs to find an OC to balance against his traits. The fact guys like Hiestand and Gilbride were sent packing tells me they plan to give the new OC more control over things. That starts by getting his input on his top assistants. I don't think Ragone is definitely staying either. They probably felt positive enough about him to keep him around for now but he might have been told he needs to interview with the new OC to keep his job. The one asst coach I did like was WR coach Mike Furrey and I'm glad he's still here. The RB coach London ...can stay or go but to be fair his group had nothing to work with in terms of blocking and even then Montgomery finished with 887yds but just a 3.7ypc. Amazingly Montgomery had 399 yards after contact with a 2yd average before contact. I don't know how that compares league wide but to me it seems like he was doing much of the work himself.

Let's just consider the fact that even the great Bill Belichick couldn't get Patterson to handle the TE position. In reality with all his athleticism he has never been a very productive receiver. There's a reason for that. Just like there's a reason teams use him as an expert in returns and coverage, and as a gadget player and part time receiver. Patterson is the player we saw on the field this year. While he could probably handle a few snaps out of the TE position it would still just be the occasional gadget play to give the defense something else to think about. If he's on the team next year I'd still do that with him because at a minimum it makes defenses have to prepare for it, and it makes it a bit harder to know the plays when he's in the substitution package coming onto the field.

Leno put on a show today as he was clearly applying for a new job. I'm not even sure how Trubisky is supposed to look downfield first. I'd be looking over at Leno to see if he'll actually block someone, then I'd look downfield.

We're in a good spot to get two players who can contribute next year. What positions will depend on how the draft falls but we have needs all over.

I still have zero regrets and I'd make the same deal in a heart beat.

Yet he can get off these blocks to defend the run all day long. He just doesn't have enough strength to hold up as he works around a blocker.

This was the game where we scored 16pts?

There is a lot of angst out there after a disappointing season, myself included, but I believe this team is much closer to being a winning, and even Superbowl contending roster, than most people think. For one, if we just returned to having a good running game we would have likely won 3 more games this year. Pick 3 among.... Packers week 1, Raiders week 5, Chargers week 6, Eagles week 9, Rams week 11 and it's easy to see a 9-10 win roster. Starting from there changes our perspective a bit. Add in Akiem Hicks who made a very noticeable difference early on in the Packers game, and/or Roquan Smith/Trevathan, and it's not hard to see 3 wins among those 5 games. Even with the defensive players being available we might be a 9 win team right now, so 10 wins isn't that much of a stretch if we can fix a couple issues. We have glaring needs are at RG, OT, and TE, and pass rusher. Lesser needs at WR (gotta get some speed on the field), CB and S. We'll have to make some decisions at ILB too. But we don't have a top QB so we have to get a running game to support Mitch. CB: IMO in his limited play Tolliver looks ready to take over for Prince next year so I view that as a wash because it's not like Prince played great this year. I like Duke Shelley and he should be a solid backup for us next year at both slot and outside positions. Need to add 1 more for depth/competition. We'll have a hole to fill at SS but HHCD has been the average player we expected him to be...a bit better in pass coverage than Amos and a bit worse in run support. We should be able to find someone to get similar play either in the draft or lesser FA if we choose. We won't get everything we want but we can certainly fill several of these positions this offseason with players who can contribute. Rumor is that Coward is injured. I hope we get to see Bars, a likely 3rd Rd selection in 2019 before his injury, this week and get a feel for what he can do at RG. Same for Tolliver. There is some good potential in the two young TEs we have on the roster. Not enough to fully rely on them as starters but they should only be better next year. I expect the Shaheen and Sowell experiments will come to a close and we'll draft someone. Assuming Bars fills the gap at RG, then edge rusher, TE, and good OT depth are the key positions we should focus on. Finding additional pass rush mitigates the needs at CB/S and even some of the transition risk from Trevathan to Kwit/KPL. I rank them in that order too. https://www.chicagobears.com/video/j-p-holtz-shows-versatility-vs-chiefs-thayer-s-playbook

I"m not sure Bars at LT is a best case scenario. He's a bit too slow to be out on an island in the NFL IMO. A little preseason work out there against 3rd stringers isn't enough to change my mind. He'd be serviceable as a backup, and likely a better fit at RT. Besides that, we really need help inside and that's where his best fit is. Round peg meet round hole. IMO fixing the interior of the Oline is far more important for both the running game and passing game. Love him or hate him we have a very mobile QB who can evade the edge rushers who get past Massie or Leno, as long as he can step up and get outside the pocket. It's the inside rushers like Kenny Clark that killed so many plays this year. I'd like to see Montgomery running off some of these pancake blocks inside...

Sums up the season nicely.

I agree but if we're doing that why not just put him on IR and use the roster spot to get someone else experience?

I hope they move Coward back out to OT, ideally give him reps at LT all offseason and see what happens. Lucas has been ok at RT as a backup. If it doesn't work out for Coward to take over for Leno then we have Coward/Lucas competing for backup OT. Or all the work in a different stance helps Coward become one of those backups who can fill in at 4 positions which is very valuable. From there I'd give Bars the first crack at winning the RG spot. Then we add two in the draft: OT and OG We still have Mustipher but he's got some physical limitations to his game in that he's not very nimble in space which won't help him on blocks at the 2nd level in the NFL. Blocks at the 2nd level is one of the biggest issues our Oline has today. I see him ending up on the practice squad again next year.

I don't see us taking a QB in the 2nd Rd this year. For one we're picking so late it's not likely we'll get a good player in the middle of Rd 2 and we'd definitely be skipping over talent that could help us win games in 2020. We have to accept we'll be in Trubisky's final tryout year and we should focus on getting him as much help as we can via Oline/TE/RB. That yields two likely scenarios: First Trubisky fails miserably and our record is poor therefore we're drafting in the top 15 in 2021. That's a much better place to be to go after a QB than the middle of Rd 2. In this case you now have a young rookie QB who will also benefit from having a better Oline/running game/TE scenario than we have today. Second: If Trubisky continues to play as he has done for more or less the last 5 games then he's a QB we can win with not unlike Garoppolo, but we've added talent that further helps us in the playoffs in 2021 and beyond. Third less likely option: It all clicks for Trubisky and he's the QB we've been waiting for. Regardless of where you fall on the possibility of this happening we'd still be better off adding more talent other than QB to the roster.

Adding Williams would be huge for the Oline. On the option of moving Leno inside while I think that might be a better fit than LT IMO he doesn't have the strength needed to hold up inside.

Ha, just posted that in the other thread. I agree completely.

I've watched the highlight above, read numerous threads about Oline play, and watched Dr. Phil's The Tape Never Lies and it's clear the Oline is in serious need of fixing. That's been clear all season Long (pun intended). On the play Rosenfels highlighted it's seems to me one of the two Olinemen on a double team are supposed to come off that initial block and get to the ILB Martinez. That's either Daniels (most likely IMO) or Leno. These guys can't do that. I'm not sure it's Hiestand's issue either because we had highlights of Bars in the preseason doing exactly that. He had to learn that while at Notre Dame. Bars would block the man with one arm to assist his teammate getting setup for the block, and then peel off to the LB. Maybe Dr. Phil is right and Daniels is just too weak to handle this because he's always got his arms bent all the way in when blocking (meaning he's using his body weight on defenders). Same thing goes for Leno. I'm not an expert on Oline play so that's just what I've observed watching clips this season. Whatever the reason is, this has to be fixed. Defense don't care if we run even with 6 in the box because they know they will have unblocked players.