AZ54

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.

I agree with Hester not having the speed he showed in his first two seasons. Booker... I was one of the few who wanted to cut him in preseason. I would have preferred to see what Rideau could do during the season than what we got out of Booker. Lloyd, good feedback on the route running. Considering the fact he is one of those rare people who can piss off Lovie Smith I'd say he's gone no matter what. Davis...he dropped too many balls but because we have nobody else to speak of at WR he'll be here next year. The question is how far down the depth chart will he be? Hopefully we've upgraded enough that he's near the bottom. Bennett...he has his work cut out for him but should be on the roster next year as I expect we'll add two new WR. Housh in FA and there's an explosive WR named Maclin that we need to take a serious look at in the draft.

No dream draft yet but I'll say that if a guy name Jorvorski is going to play in the NFL it needs to be for the Bears. I actually prefer that we pickup our future ROT in Rd 1, resign St Clair and have him start at RG next year and remains our backup OT, and then let the rookie compete with Tait to start. If he sits for a year fine but I would expect him to beat out Tait. Then Tait remains our backup OT and he can backup both spots too. I let Buenning, who had promise his rookie year, see if he can't compete to start at LOG for us and at least be a better backup OG than Metcalf. We need a WR so if someone like Maclin is there for us at #16 then I'll take him and draft the RT in Rd 2. RD 3 is for QB and FS. One big need remains and that is DE. I'd survive next year with the same trio if our DTs would step and start collapsing the pocket up the middle. Expect a DE drafted in Rd 4.

I brought that up way back at midseason. Just get the guy 5-7 snaps per game.

When the sorry ass WR are wide open and Orton misses them it's not hard to make a judgment on where the problem is. How many times does he have to underthrow Hester deep? For those who think Turner is leaving there's no way. He got something out of nothing with this offense. Orton was at best average this year, he had one good 3 game run but besides that did nothing noteworthy. Nobody outside of Bears fans can name our WR other than Hester. Forte is a stud but everyone knows he's the only guy they have to stop and that's not all that hard to do with our Oline.

For that underneath stuff to work we need a passing game that makes safeties worry about more than 15 yards off the LOS. For those deep routes to work we'll need a QB that can throw the ball to him.

I'd love to see Mike Brown back but not as a starter. He'd be excellent depth for us at Safety and his knowledge of the game and leadership can still be utilized on the sidelines and in practice. If he has to fill in for a few games he should be able to handle that.

Sign TJ in FA. Resign Mike Brown, given all the other needs he's our best option for now. I will add that Steltz pissed me off one his first play in the game when he got run over and gave up a TD. However, later in the game he took on an OG block and stood the guy up and then went on to make the tackle Resign Kevin Jones at RB. A year removed from his surgery and dropping his playing weight will get him back to the explosive runner we knew, and need. His willingness to play special teams late in the year proves he can be the backup RB we need. All the chatter about how trading Thomas Jones and watching him head to the Pro Bowl neglects one aspect; the Jets spent a ton of money fixing their Oline. Jones is the beneficiary of that effort. With our QB situation in doubt once again we must pursue this path and build one of the best running games in the league with Forte. Resign St. Clair and tell him he's the starter at RG. Let Garza be our backup or Beuning whoever wins the spot. Please please cut Metcalf! Keep Beekman at LG for now, he will be our C in the future. Rd 1 draft ROT of the future. Let him compete with Tait for starting job. If Tait loses he's our backup OT. Rd 2 best available between WR/DE. Rd 3 draft WR/DE. Rd 3a (Berrian comp?) draft a QB. At a minimum we need a 2nd QB but more importantly we need some competition for Orton who may at best be a stopgap. Rd 4 lots of different directions here but I think it's got to be a FS, OG is a possibility too. Rd 5-7 best available.

Losing Gage doesn't really bother me since he hasn't done much since he left. What bothers me is that we let an average receiver leave and only replaced him with average receivers, if that.

This season our offense is based on one guy...Matt Forte. We need another guy to take some of that focus away from him. We have good TEs who help a lot in the passing game but no WR that anyone has to worry about, including Hester. I'm in favor of pursuing Chad Johnson if the deal is right. We have nowhere else to turn and hoping the draft will provide a solution is nothing but hope.

I suspect there was some effort to reduce Forte's carries due his injury. At least I'm telling myself that to keep from pulling my hair out.