jason

Precisely. They should have learned...and I don't think Urlacher is that over the hill. He will have a resurgent year this year.

One of those guys will probably be there. Most likely it's Johnson or Cooper. The staff would be crazy not to pick either. If one of the guys before that are still there, they should be literally committed to an insane asylum if those players are not selected.

I believe that has a lot to do with the worst part of the team over that same stretch of time. He does not need a TD hog. He needs the same thing this Offense has needed the entire time: an OL. Hard to get the tough yards when you lead the league in getting hit in the backfield.

Agreed. Sounds like a Fred Miller situation. If they do grab Moore, they still need to place a high draft pick on his eventual replacement.

If that's the case, the ink should be drying shortly. Even if Urlacher's side does budge, that is a reasonable contract for the face of the franchise. He's not trying to break the bank; he's trying to retire a Bear.

Especially if he gets a hold of the deer antler spray that Ray Lewis used. Apparently that stuff can repair an injury in approximately 1/10th of the time it would normally take.

Hell, I thought the way the thread started was pretty dead-on accurate. Didn't matter that the Bears added toys...the OL, regardless if they improved from atrocious to bad, held the toys back.

BINGO!!!! I didn't really think the move was that good either. Well, it was a great business move for the Bears, because it handcuffed Forte who was thinking of holding out, but it wasn't that great because I didn't think he'd get many carries/stats, it would piss Forte off (which it did), and the role could have been filled for much cheaper.

HAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA...Check out these thoughts from before last season. Aren't we the optimistic bunch? Turns out having a bunch of talented weapons doesn't matter as long as the OL sucks. Who'da thunk?

Hindsight is 20/20. If he were traded after 2007, virtually everyone on the planet would have called it a stupid move. Eleven return TDs in the first two years?! That's ridiculous. This board would have exploded, and I'm sure at least one or two would have had heart attacks. On top of that, we would have been talking about how the trade was probably bad in retrospect because of his six subsequent return TDs.

I'd be a little upset if I were him, too. Imagine being in his situation. He knows he has skill. He knows he has an arm. He wants desperately to prove himself, to put up stats. He finally got a WR he loves throwing the ball to. But every single year he's been here the OL has been horrible. And it has barely got a sniff of attention. And THEN, when he toughs it out, when he gets battered worse than probably any Bear QB in Chicago Bears history, he gets ripped for being a upset and for chewing out teammates? Fans calling him out for making poor mistakes when all he's trying to do is make good throws and win games, only he can't because at this point he doesn't know if he has a whole second to throw the ball (and he certainly doesn't have time to go through reads). It'd make me even more pissed off if I were him.

Did Spencer suck? Yes. Are we glad he's gone? Yes. Maybe when the Bears signed him to be a replacement at Center he should have been used, oh, I don't know, at Center? It's likely he would have still been in the bottom half of the league, but he would probably have been better.

First, let's clarify the "we" in your first sentence. "We" means "the Chicago Bears organization." As for we (i.e. this board), the same type of praise wasn't out there. And the promotion to OC was disapproved of by the majority of this board. What all that tells you is that the Bears front office doesn't/didn't know how to hire/promote coaches, and Lovie Smith was a large part of the problem. The rest of your post I agree with. We have 3 LBs, one of which is above average even in his "senior years" (Urlacher), another is a pro-bowler (Briggs), and the other is average (Roach). Meanwhile, out of 5 OLinemen, only two are average overall (Louis/Garza) and one of those guys is coming off a season-ending knee surgery. The others consist of a guy who can run block but can't pass block (Carimi), a player who just two years ago was called the worst OLineman in the NFL - and still is below average (Webb), and a bunch of camp fodder who may or may not make the roster because of how bad it is. Nobody is turning that mess into a success. Yet people want to upgrade the LB position?

I think the thing that's frustrating to those of us in the anti-Webb camp is that you're so vehement in his defense, despite the fact that we all watched the games and know he wasn't average. No matter how many PFF "stats" get pulled out, the eye test tells a different story. And in that story, Webb was below average. He wasn't the worst starter in the league like previous seasons, but he still wasn't average either. And since it's just you, Webb's Mom, and probably a handful of people worldwide that are actually defending him, you're battle is drastically uphill.

My favorite part: To properly evaluate Cutler in this new offensive system, he'll need to be better protected than he was in 2012. Been saying it for years.

This. It's not like you hit 30 and suddenly your joints and muscles decline drastically. I just think Hester is a guy who has phenomenal athletic ability and limited mental (both intelligence and psychological) ability. Lessen his burden and he can produce.

Maybe because they believe, like I do, that if all the other roles are taken away from him, his physical abilities are so extraordinary that he can still be one of the best return men in the NFL, if not the very best. Just look at his stats. Pre-WR duties, he tears up the league. Post-WR duties, he declines. It seems like a pretty obvious correlation.

This would be a coup for the Bears organization. It was keep a long-time fan-favorite, who also happens to be the best return man in history. It would restructure money for the salary cap (I think). And it would signify a move away from Hester as a WR, and a return to where he is best (KR/PR). Alternately, it would be good for me because it would mean the Bears are less likely to get a WR high in the draft because they'd view Hester as a WR for roster purposes.

True. True. But that's like saying a broken leg will get better with a sturdier shoe and lots of pain killers. The leg's still broken.

Let's hope the same thing happens this year. Let's hope Warmack takes a Decastro-like fall, and he is there at 20. If Warmack were available at 20, and the Bears didn't draft him, it would be unfathomable to me.

I didn't record the games. I wish I had. But I did watch every single game more than once. The second time was devoted to OL play. There is no doubt Webb matured and improved, but he was still bad. No PFF stat can convince me otherwise. And all the explanations for why/how Webb didn't really do that poorly, because of play x or play y, could just as easily be pushed the other way. For every reason why Webb shouldn't be credited with a sack, hurry, etc., I'm sure there are multiple reasons why Webb should be credited with one but currently isn't. That's why it's always eye of the beholder on things like this. Even if you try to talk about specific plays it's difficult because most people don't want to put the time into watching the game with a keen eye on specific players on the OL, and then understand what's going on in that protection scheme. We had a long discussion about this in the preseason, and I still believe a play in which nothing negative happens can be used as a negative against a player (i.e. Webb gets destroyed but the play just happens to be a sweep to the right side).

Occam's Razor. Simplest answer is best. Play Rodriguez at TE like he should be. Pick up an UDFA FB workhorse to plow the road for the running game. Way less money spent. No draft picks wasted.

Statistically speaking, yes, it would help the Bears to do all those things. And you just can't add .07 to a statistic that is already proven lacking to come up with an equally lacking statistic. You get far too hung up on these PFF stats. I admire what they're trying to do, but most of what they do leaves a whole lot to be desired. And I'm saying the stats you keep using for comparison are not nearly explanatory enough to actually be used for comparison. It's like saying I took 30 minutes to drive to work today, and you took 10 minutes, yet nothing about route, congestion, car type, construction, time of day, etc., is factored in. Simply because you drove for 20 less minutes doesn't mean you're a faster or better driver, or that you took a better route. There are a ton of extra details that are not explored, and that is the exact methodology of the PFF stats: incomplete data attempting to paint a complete picture.

Minter wouldn't be a reach. Never said he would be. But I wouldn't like the pick because I don't think he's really 1st round material. And I'm not keen on one of the second tier TEs. Either nut-up, get one of the two big boys of the draft, or address it later since the team already has Rodriguez. As for your nightmare draft...I also hate it. Rhoades? No. Barkley in the 2nd? Yeah, might as well mark Cutler down for "I don't give a damn." That would be a bad draft.

No trades. Make it somewhat realistic (i.e. no kickers in the first round). 1. Kevin Minter, ILB, LSU. The Bears pass on multiple OL prospects for a LB. He is potentially overrated because of the skill level in front of him at LSU, and because of his questioned speed. 2. Vance McDonald, TE, Rice. Ertz and Eifert go early and the Bears panic. Could be McDonald/Escobar/Kelce, but it still ends up being a really bad reach. 4. Stedman Bailey, WR, WVU. A smaller, bad fit WR who would do next-to-nothing to improve the offense, and will most likely have a hard time translating his skills to the NFL level. 5. JC Tretter, OG, Cornell. The OL issues are recognized, but the coaches get too cute with a small-college guy, thinking they can transform him into a pro-bowler. Flashbacks of Tice and Webb flood our minds. 6. Stefphon Jefferson, RB, Nevada. This would be a wasted pick, and it would piss Forte off. That would be a nightmare draft. What's your nightmare draft?