AZ54

Over the years I've always watched the national broadcast games at home so my kids can are properly educated in how to enjoy a Bears game and what it means to be a Bears fan. They have also learned, as has my wife, that you CANNOT interrupt me during a game. Then as they got older they watched with me. Now years later they go to the bar with me to watch the games. Of 4 kids I've only lost one to the Cardinals.

If a guy doesn't have enough confidence in himself and his system that he has to worry about failing as an OC then I don't want him. Good quality people who are motivated to move up realize you don't get many opportunities and you are much better off getting the experience at the next level sooner rather than later. I realize we aren't offering an ideal situation but regardless walking away from opportunities tells other teams something about Chud too!

He took some pretty good shots from the Bears D as well. By the end of the season it was becoming obvious those big OTs protecting Favre had trouble stopping quicker DEs from getting around the corner. Once teams gave up defending AP (not the home run threat he used to be) they just decided to come after Favre. I enjoyed that.

The logic about Chud wanting a HC position doesn't make sense. The reality is if he comes here and turns around the Bears offense in one season he's on everyone's list around the league just like that. Not saying he'd be at the top of the list but he'd have everyone's attention and then if Lovie was still around for another year (likely because of Chud's offense) then in his second year he'd again be on the HC candidate lists. It can happen fast look at Todd Haley who was our WR coach not too long ago and Arizona went to the Superbowl (a small miracle) and just like that he's a head coach.

For those with a good memory you'll recall that many years ago I said I wanted Plank to come in a few years down the road as our DC. That was back when he was in the arena league and he started out right here in Arizona. Back then I liked his attitude and I liked the fact he actually got the Rattlers to play some defense, that's saying something in the arena league. I don't know what it was but when I listened to his interviews I liked his presence and they way he talked about how defense should be played. I figured he needed some seasoning in the NFL before he'd be ready for us but you know what, he's done that and it appears in a successful way. Something about him has the ability to get his guys to play well and that's something I always look for in a coach: ---------------------------------------------------------------------- http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Doug_Plank In 2001, Plank began his coaching career as a defensive coordinator in the Arena Football League for 3 seasons under Danny White. In 2004, Plank was hired by Arthur Blank to be head coach of the Georgia Force, the Arena Football team he owned in addition to the Atlanta Falcons. Plank was named the AFL's Coach of the Year in 2005 and 2007 as he led Georgia to the playoffs each year and ArenaBowl XIX in his first year at the helm in 2005. In 2008, he was a seasonal assistant on the Falcons staff. In 2009 he served as the assistant defensive backfield coach for the New York Jets under head coach Rex Ryan, the son of Plank's former defensive coordinator, Buddy Ryan. On January 25, 2009, Rex Ryan announced that Plank's contract would not be extended, effectively ending his tenure with the Jets.[1] --------------------------------------------------------------------- We're just not in the position to get quality veteran coordinators given Lovie's short leash. I figured we'll have to find either a young up and coming coach and take a chance on him or a veteran who wants to get back in the league. IMO Plank fits the up-and-coming role so he deserves an interview. Besides, his middle name is Walter, that has to bring good karma when it comes to the Bears.

Brett won't be back next year and here's why. He was really roughed in the last few games, not just the Saints game. Recall the Bears Vikings game where the ref had to help him up off the turf. He's tough but all those hits were having a cumulative effect and that won't be easier to handle next year. Bu the #1 reason he won't be back is because his wife couldn't stand to see his asx get planted all over the Superdome turf with him unable to get up afterwards time and time again. How many times did they show her and whoever was sitting next to her covering their eyes as he rolled on the ground? Now if it was me out there and I was making $10mil/season my wife would have me back out there with a walker.

This is awesome for Knox and I'm really glad for him. For a 5th Rd pick to come in from Abilene Christian and make the Pro Bowl, even if he was first alternate or whatever, is just something you don't see too often. I hope it gives him confidence to work and build on his good first season.

With Chud and now Zampese backing out it seems clear we're having trouble keeping recruits interested. That alone is never a good sign but then I always figured this was going to be a challenge given Lovie's short leash.

Not a thread killer, we're just stunned by your brilliance. Kidding aside, your info on salary cap and finances is always first rate, much appreciated, and usually doesn't leave much to question. Just felt like taking a moment to give you some props.

I don't think Wolfe can be a fulltime RB either I was more focusing on the point that Turner didn't use his players effectively. I do think Wolfe can and should have given Forte more of a break in the first part of the season. I said that early in the year and I'm even more convince it should have happened now that we know of Forte's knee injury. At this point it's all water under the bridge because Turner is gone so I'm just venting. I hope our new OC has a better eye for talent and a better idea how to develop it. Everyone focuses on the draft and FA players in terms of what the GMs does but too often we leave out the coaches development of players as a factor. Fortunately that doesn't get past the members of this board and it's been discussed here regularly. This should be a topic of discussion in the OC and DC interviews.

What have you seen out of Anquan Boldin to make you think he's a #1 WR? Last year I pointed out issues with him versus the contract he wants. I love the way he plays the game and he'd definitely fit into the Bears persona. He'd even make our WR corps better...but he's not a #1 WR. He's too slow and without a true #1 deep threat opposite him those underneath routes he works aren't going to be worth too much. I haven't seen anyone struggle to keep up with him all year. He does make people miss tackles but that comes at the expense of injuries every season. He again missed the playoffs due to injury. All this puts him in the solid #2 category for me. We have enough of those guys on our roster at a much lower cap hit. I'd rather keep the upside of a young Iglesias in the mix versus the downside of Boldin at the end of his career and his $9million cap hit. That money will have a lot better effect on wins if it's spent on fixing the Oline or Dline.

I'm pretty certain the last time we were good at 3rd and long was the Superbowl season. After that it's been downhill.

Nfol is right, we see this every season with an offensive player. I don't recall seeing it on the defensive side of the ball but there could easily be someone out there. I lump it all into Turner and his inability to run the offense. Between sticking with Ruben Brown, Tait, Forte, etc. all hurt and unannounced there clearly was some deception going on. For whatever reason Turner just didn't manage his roster well, and didn't develop the bottom of his roster. How many times did he state he needs to get Wolfe in on more plays? Yes, that Garrett Wolfe with the 5.5ypc average this past season. Someone will say it was only 22 attempts and I'll say what else must a guy do to get more attempts? Average 6ypc? Regardless you can't say his 5.5ypc was hurting the offense more than Forte's 3.5ypc. Goodbye Ron I won't miss ya.

A couple days after Lovie said his new DC would be running his scheme he came out and clarified things. He said he wanted a guy to run a similar scheme but that didn't mean it couldn't incorporate some new twists. ---------------------------------------------------------------------- http://www.suntimes.com/sports/football/be...-bear08.article 'The person that is coming in, I would like for him to have some of the similar beliefs that I have,'' Smith said Tuesday. ''But at the same, as you evaluate what you are doing, with the new year, you want to bring in new ideas. ''That's what I am excited about, bringing in some of our new ideas, getting some of our old players back.'' ----------------------------------------------------------------------- His last line there makes no sense whatsoever but I think this is an admission that the new DC will have some autonomy to call the plays and adapt the scheme to their preference. There's no doubt this will come out in the discussion during the interview.

I thought we settled this once and for all: Lovie runs a cover-0

Hell no. With his miserable season Cutler threw for 3666 yds and 27 TDs and of course a lot of INTs. That was done with a weak supporting cast and weak OC. I see no reason we can't improve from there even if we did nothing but keep everyone together in the same system (thankfully we aren't).

I hate to say this but given our situation and limited options I think we should sit with what we have and perhaps throw a few darts at the situation with some late Rd picks. We need a new DC and I think between him and Marinelli we'll try to work this out with the existing roster. In other words, I think our best option for winning games next year is to focus on the offensive line.

I've been waiting for a thread to popup with complaints about Kreutz hiring Tice.

I have watched nearly every AZ game this season and there is one OC and his name is Whisenhunt. That's exactly what he said he was going to do after Haley left last year. Yes, he has two guys who "coordinate" the run game or the pass game but Whisenhunt is calling the plays and the shots on offense. Saying AZ has two OCs would be like saying they had two head coaches because Grimm also has the title of Asst Head Coach. Then again, Rod Marinelli is our Asst Head Coach whatever that's worth. In neither case does this alter my feeling that there must be one person in charge at the top a clear line of authority. Doesn't mean assistants can't have significant input on decisions.

Mays will drop much further than he'd have been chosen last year because his play at FS was pretty weak this year. Despite his speed he was often late in coverage. Funny how much different he looks when the front seven aren't as good as they were the year before. I guess that QB pressure makes a big difference to DBs. There's no doubt his athletic ability makes him a first round pick but his coverage skills don't.

It's not the time it takes us to hire someone that bothers me, it's the refusal of some to interview that worries me. The longer this process drags out the more tainted it appears. That could dissuade some good candidates from interviewing. This is an uphill battle hiring coaches when the head coach might be gone next year. Now if JA has the authority I believe he has if Lovie leaves next year he could very well force the new head coach to keep certain assistant coaches he likes. The flipside of this one year experiment is that you get some former head coaches like Tice who might see this as potentially leading to another shot at being a head coach.

See Ron Turner and Harry Heistad

Big difference between thinking we'll still be losing by keeping Lovie around and wanting to lose because he's around. I have no problem if Lovie takes us to the Superbowl next year and I was one of the proponents of firing him. I'll say this about the Bears: we have returned to the organization that put us into the Superbowl. Angelo built that team (I know some players were around from prior years) and staff. It was Angelo that hired Rivera, not Lovie. It was Angelo that hired Shea but it was Angelo that fired him and then worked to bring in Turner. I know Lovie had input into all those decisions as well but I believe Angelo had final approval on them. Then we won the Superbowl and Lovie got himself some personnel authority and this team went downhill, fast. Personnel decisions as well as coaching decisions haven't worked well for the last few years. I know there are all sorts of variables that went into this as well including player injuries so don't mistake my statements as a vote of confidence in JA because I have my doubts. I'm just stating that from an organizational standpoint we have gone back to what built the NFC Championship team and that had JA giving final approval to all personnel decisions related to the football team. The hiring of Tice as Oline coach tells me we're back to that because in no way do I think Lovie would step on the toes of his new OC by forcing him to work with someone he didn't hire but we all know JA has done that in the past. I think trying to revamp coordinators with a coach on a one-year hotseat is a big gamble by the Bears. I hope it works but I'm not very confident it will. As far as Cutler having some input on who he works with: When we gave up all those picks for him we made him the centerpiece of the team. There is no point in hiring an OC, or a scheme, he is not comfortable with. At my job we involve our supervisors when we interview to fill a supervisor position and the supervisors know they aren't making the final decision. I think it's the right move having him involved in the process but nobody should think he's making the decision. I guarantee you JA is asking all the OC candidates how they will handle Cutler when he makes mistakes. Do you think Cutler is asking the same question? Point is they are approaching the interviews from different perspectives.

I find this move interesting in that we're bringing in an Oline coach before we hire our OC. You would think that whoever the OC is he'd want control, or at least input, into who he has to work with. This certainly doesn't seem like a Lovie Smith way of doing things, more like Angelo, especially with the change in technique from what we were doing. Heck I doubt Lovie even knew the details of what our Oline were trying to do. Why would an Oline take a step back on a running play when the idea is to go forward? Aside from the loss of momentum it also takes away the advantage you have of knowing the snap count. I'll puzzle over that one all summer long. It does bring up an interesting question: Is this why Omiyale had so much trouble coming off the LOS? If Omiyale has always been firing off the line at the snap and then suddenly along comes some brilliant line coach who says, hey buddy, step backwards before you go forward. I'm sure that brought up more than a few WTFs.

Two-headed monsters never work in any business. Hire someone to be the OC, if he wants an assistant to help more on one aspect of the game then that is the OCs decision...period.