AZ54

Chico was using quite a bit of the cover 2 scheme IIRC.

Key point #1: The article clearly states you must have CBs who are jamming WR at the LOS to prevent the quick pass. We simply don't do that. Key point #2: The Dline must get pressure on the QB, this is to handle the 5 and 7 step drops that lead to longer pass routes that will be open in the zone scheme. We've let our entire defensive coaching staff go except for the guy calling the shots, Babich. In terms of placing blame that's about as damning as you can get except it makes absolutely no sense that you'd still leave Babich in place. All the managers I know would look at an underperforming team or group like that and make changes starting with the guy at the top. I don't want Marinelli as our DC but because of the above situation I still feel he was offered more than just a Dline coaching job. Lovie may not want to let go of Babich yet unless he has Marinelli on the staff. IMO that would be a stupid approach for Lovie because if he truly thinks Marinelli will do a better job as DC then he should have fired Babich and clearly offered Marinelli the job. That brings things back to JA versus Lovie and who is calling the shots on the coaching staff. Lovie may be holding out on Babich at the risk of losing his job after next season and JA may be pushing for Marinelli to take over as DC now. It seems like we're headed for a middle ground where we give Babich one more shot with a new staff while JA tries to bring in Marinelli as Dline coach/Asst Head Coach so he's waiting in the wings to take over next year. This also gives Lovie a way out in mid-season if Babich hasn't found a clue, he can make the change after 4 or 5 games before all is lost. Like I said, it's not what I want but IMO it's how it appears to setting up.

Hester actually ran pass routes this year and it was a big improvement over what he did in 07. Expecting him to work from 3 different positions on the field is too much to ask of him at this point. Perhaps next season we slide him around a bit but I don't think that would have worked well for him this year. We have to walk before we run with this guy.

If Lovie pulls for his buddy Babich to stick around then JA may very well tell him that if it doesn't work out next year he'll be gone too. Now that would make me smile but getting through next season with Babich will be emotionally difficult. As they say, no pain no gain.

Our best player on blitzes was DManning and we just fired his coach. Unless you count the fact that Lovie had to personally mentor him all year. We play a cover 2 style of D with the personnel to go with that, lighter quicker DTs, lighter quicker DEs. We should not need to blitz like we do to get pressure. Behind that we're playing our DBs way back off the WRs so it's a QBs dream. LB are in tight blitzing or faking a blitz we leave the quick slant open all day. I'll gladly take that job. Point is if this style of defense is broken up front nothing behind the front four is going to save it. I'm on board with firing Babich and I'm beginning to suspect that Marinelli was offered more than just a Dline coaching job.

Maclin has speed but he's not a one trick pony. He's much bigger than a guy like Desean Jackson and he makes tough catches in traffic.

Tell me why Mike Holmgren wouldn't accept a job as a draft consultant just evaluating QBs? He still loves the game and this is a low stress way for him to keep in touch with things while still enjoying his retirement.

Before the season started Arizona stated they were going to redo Boldin's contract this year. I believe they will make an effort to do that. The bigger problem is that they gave Fitzgerald $10 mil and if Boldin wants that and holds out for it he won't get it. I can see him getting $7-8/yr. If they can't get a deal done then I believe they'll try to work out a trade for him. However, given that they'll try to rework the contract I wouldn't be surprised if that trade happens well after the draft so instead of thinking about 2009 picks it's more likely we'd be trading 2010 picks. If we've picked up good players to fill our voids at S, Oline, DE through either draft or FA this offseason then we might get in the hunt.

I like Maclin a lot and he's a great kick returner. You know how JA feels about guys who play special teams.

Of course I'd love to have either guy running our offense. For now I'm just looking for a guy to help evaluate QB talent because we can't do that very well. I'd gladly pay Shanahan to evaluate the FA QBs, second string QBs (ala the Matt Shaub's out there) and the draft.

The Bears have proven over and over they cannot evaluate QB talent. Mike Holmgren has retired here to Arizona but I think the Bears should pay him to be a QB consultant for them in the upcoming draft and/or FA. Holmgren's track record finding QBs. Or if there's anyone else out there with similar credentials get him to help. We shouldn't sit back and keep hoping we make a good decision.

Like I said when the trade was made, we already had Rex Grossman on our team to throw INTs so we didn't need Favre. He (Favre) backed up my prediction with his outstandingly bad play at the end of the year. Two Jet's players have thrown him under the bus, he won't return to the NFL and he won't get that $20 million from Green Bay to sit at home.

If it was the head coach who allowed it to happen all season long can we fire him too? Urlacher is being flat out stupid with his comments. His play is clearly not at the level where it used to be no matter what scheme or position he is used in. I haven't talked to anyone nor read anything putting the blame for our defenses woes solely at his feet. It would be nice for him, as a captain, to at least take blame for things he could have done better. Other players such as Mike Brown, Alex Brown have done this, Lance Briggs, Tommie Harris have not. Briggs continues to believe he's playing on the best defense in the league thus proving that lots of money can make you stupid.

We got to go up against Detroit twice, the 49ers played Seattle twice, StL twice, and Arizona twice. None of them have a defense worth a damn.

Lining up and concepts like formation are the job of the DC, Babich. If Wilkes was making those calls then Babich should have been fired halfway through the season. I'm thinking Wilkes should be teaching techniques needed within that system. Things like...there's only 9 seconds left and they need to complete a 20 yard pass and get out of bounds, just drop deep at the snap and keep everything in front and inside of you.

I'll stay in the crazy category. I don't see the value of giving up Turner's 26th ranked offense for Martz's 23rd ranked offense. Kurt Warner is NOT coming to Chicago, if he doesn't retire he will resign with the Cardinals because even he knows that is where he has the most value. Warner is also smart enough to know that throwing to Larry Fitzgerald, Anquan Boldin, and Steve Breaston is a hell of a lot better than throwing to ... we don't even know who he'd be throwing to. Shanahan I'd take in a heartbeat but he's not coming here to be an OC, he'll be a headcoach somewhere. Not to mention that the Bears will not fire Lovie after this season if for no other reason the money they'd lose.

No way do I want Mike Martz in here as OC. We cannot run a pass happy offense in December much less in home playoff games in January.

I believe Shanahan had control over the personnel decisions and that may have played a factor into letting him go. Word is that the owner wants to get back to a separate GM - coach setup.

If the question is can Hanie average 170 yards passing per game as Orton did in his last 7 starts then I'd be willing to bet yes. I wouldn't blame JA if he went hard after a guy like Cassel. He's had nothing but a merry-go-round between Grossman and Orton and other QB drifters that have come through town. He just watched a guy like Matt Shaub, who was a backup in Atlanta, light up his defense. I'd hate to spend all that money on a guy who's only done it in less than a full season. Is JA willing to draft another QB high and then wait for him to develop or does he now feel it's best to just go get a guy who has already done some good things in an NFL game. From his press conference he seems to be leaning toward the latter.

Turner did more with less while Babich did less with more. I'm not a big fan of Turner but he had little to work with this year yet the offense was adequate, better than anyone expected. The D was a colossal failure especially considering the money we spent in the last two years.

Tommie has another year IMO to get healthy and get his head on straight. This also gives us some time to see if Marcus Harrison can take over that spot. I agree with the issues surrounding our use of the LBs up close to the LOS. The most frustrating part of that for me was all the inside slants we gave away game after game after game. The cover 2 is all really about the front 4 and if there's no pressure from those guys on both run downs and especially passing downs then you will always be in trouble. We had no pressure up the middle all year long and occasional pressure from the outside.

Reports were that Mangini likes to call out players in front of the team for poor performance, even showing film clips of bad plays they made to everyone. Because of that I suspect there's a bit more to him getting fired than just missing the playoffs. I have no problem with accountability but some people take the negative feedback too far and put players in a position where they are playing not to make a mistake. Everyone starts playing to cover their own ass and you start to lose some of the team concept. I wonder if that's part of what's happened in the locker room. Anyway, my main point is that this coaching style does not fit in with Lovie's "everything's ok" philosophy so I don't expect Mangini to talk to anyone in the Bears organization. On the other hand you look at the way Marinelli has handled all the issues in Detroit and I can see Lovie getting some pompoms ready for him.

I agree Tommie gets his bonus next year but if he has a repeat performance in 09 look for the Bears to cut him and move on.

Again we lay out the problems with this coaching staff. We have a young guy Bennett who can't crack the lineup of nearly worthless WR we had yet we're supposed to rely on him for the future? I should go with the odds that the coaching staff is wrong once again and assume Bennett is a good WR. Regardless I'd still like to see Housh, Maclin, Hester as our top 3 WR next year with Bennett and Davis #4/5. Let Maclin learn for a few years and then take over as our #1.

Thanks for observations Nfol. Mark me down for ROT and WR in Rd 1/2, just take best available with our first pick and then the other in Rd 2. You were right about the Bears fans showing up, even the TV crew made mention of how many there were and the cheering was evident when we scored.