Mongo3451

This just in. Omiyale still sucks. 3rd and goal and he gets blown 2 yards back. Completely unnacceptable. Good to see a nie opening drive though.

Anyone remember how good of a coach Dick Vermiel was?

Pix - I think your post speaks volumes. When, in the past 5 years, have we worried this much about a season opener? At home? Against the Lions? Bear nation as a collective has lost faith in the leadership/direction of this team. Now, the only thread of hope we have left is that this group of leaders sandbagged the pre-season??? Really? I don't believe for a second that any of them other than Martz has that much balls. I look for our team to be a middle class competitor this year. I think we beat Detroit, but have a very real chance of starting the season 1-5.

I think it's actually that JA has struck out on too many DL. He knows that's the one position the "Lovie Two" needs to succeed. He continually tries to re-invent the wheel. IE: find the next Rice and Sapp. His failure to hit on anything other than Tommie Harris has cost us dearly in drafting other talent. It also doesn't help that Lovie couldn't motivate a goose to shit.

Kinda sucks we've been begging for that.

Ihope you Brad are right. I'm just not a believer. Big Toub fan. Not much of a Martz fan. I do like Martz's coaching style. He was asked if he talked to Cutler about picks and his response struck chord with me. It was something along the line of "we don't want to teach second guessing into a player". He almost won me over as a teacher. I just don't like the scheme.

The part that concerns me the most is Cutler. I have yet to him look instinctive. Martz's offense is dependent on the QB's ability to anticipate. From what I've seen in my years as a football fan is, a QB either has that ability of not. So far far all I see from Cutler is gunning to an open reciever on talent alone and not leading or anticipating. Martz and Cutler may be a marriage made in hell. This is the stuff 5-11 seasons are made of.

You forgot to add... "Chris Williams is our left tackle." Lovie It reminded of the days of Rex. LOL. I really am done with Lovie. Win or lose. I'm afraid it will be the latter.

It's pretty bad when we are looking for good things to say about the OL. At this rate Cutler may not make it out of the pre-season. It takes a long time time for an OL to gell. Add to that, we have a new OL coach, new OC and an average to below talent pool on OL. It does not look good. I potentially see us at 2-4 to start the season. Don't get me started on the defense. We can only hope they are sandbagging for the beginning of the season.

Both

It's just a one in a million thought is all. I want to get it, but just can't. No lost respect, though.

You point to DL, but isn't/wasn't Marinelli supposed to fix that last year into this season? Marinelli was more heralded than Johnson. I think it goes to the DC putting the DL in winning situations and talent of the DL. Ours have been down the last couple of years.

And you gotta get there to win it! Ask a player if they would rather go home than lose the game? They would look at us like we were crazy.

Agreed. Roach was a tackling machine last year. The experience he gained was huge for his development. We can't go qrong with either guy.

Agreed. Outdated yes, extinct no. NYJ used many variations of the 46 last year to great success.(Ryan) They will likely take it far into the playoffs this year. The Colts(who coincidentally knocked the Jets out) through Jim Caldwell, upgraded their version of the cover 2 with great success, despite a decimated secondary. I think a healthy Dwight Freeney wins the Colts the SB last year. So, with the peices we have in place their is a chance the cover two will work. Just not the Lovie two.

Agreed. Damn.

This season, the middle should be open for the backs. There will be no more stacking the box as it was in the past. We may finally get to see the the versatility of Wolfe. And yes, I'd run him up the gut on draws and traps. I think he can be a weapon in this new offense.

My issue with that optimism is that Omiyale is the only drive blocking type of starter we have on the OL. Garza, Kruetz and Beekam are all undersized for the dfirve blocking task. My only optimism is that Hiestand is NOT the OL coach and that Williams and Omiyale will move toward their upside.

I think it was Pharma grade. Like the syrup they use to make the cough medicine.

Read that too. I love the way Thayer breaks down film, but don't know how sold I am on some of his commentary. Being paid by the Bears will keep him from having an impartial opinion. Always enjoy his pieces though.

Here's my take on our OL situation. Williams - played at his natural position and looked good toward the end of what really was his 1st season as a player. Add the fact that he was injury free was a a huge plus. Entering year three, I look for him to be a big upgrade over last year. Beekman - Still young and developing. He has remained injury free. Entering year 4 he should continue to get better. Kreutz - Injured for the most part of the last 2 years. He's reportedly feeling pretty good, but how good can someone with that much wear and tear feel? He feels good, but his career is aging in dog years now. I call him a push on the high side and most likely will continue to decline. Garza - Push on all categories. Omiyale - Playing at his natural position, young and improving. I look for him to upgrade as well. His growth should likely be between Williams and Beekman. Tice - Compared to Hiestand, Tice is actually a credible coach. I like the scheme and the experience he brings. The unknown is how he will mesh with what Martz requires. Thank goodness it's him, not Harry though. Huge upgrade. Maleuma - Huge upgrade as blocking TE's are concerned. Martz - Could jeopardize everything by forcing an undertalented line to hold blocks longer. Martz is a known QB maker and killer all in the same package. He scares the crap out of me, but we all know Turner had to be the scapegoat for last year. So here we are are. Individually, we are stronger and improving over last year, but collectively Martz is the swing vote to which will be a mystery untill it's not.

What's the figure if you include Vasher?

It is still possible - IMO. Releasing Brown for monetary reasons was to avoid overpaying for a position, when Brown wasn't due to play a prominant role. If you look at our safeties, they don't make squat. Adding Otogwe would change that of course. And if you look at our team, we have weak corners with still no proven cover safeties on the roster. Wright may end up being that guy, but who knows. Anyway, Wright could learn from Otogwe and be valuable insurance. He could also replace Harris in passing situations to provide flexibility in coverage. Manning needs to move back to nickel anyway. Not having a 1st or 2nd rounder saved us a ton of money this year. If we have the money, I say do it. I wonder where we are, in theory, to the cap if it were present??

One would think. That's warefare 101. JA and Lovie have figured out a better path to victory.(sarcasm) Hope all our vets have a great Memorial weekend. Thanks guys!

I consider the sidelines part of the playing field in regard to his behavior. On that, he has had several issues with team mates and coaches.(on national TV and replayed and debated on the halftime shows and ESPN) It's well documented. I will say that they do try to enhance the story, just because it's TO. But, in all reality, he's done more to deserve the attention than anyone else. C'mon, that just reeks of desparation. I addressed that in another post. We agree what they have done is NOT to our philosophy, but I think they have felt their plan should have been more successful. Mike Gandy has started as LT for the Cards for years. He's not the greatest thing, but a starter on a playoff team and better than anything we had the last few sesons.