jason

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?

Agreed. This draft is absolutely loaded with premiere OL talent. It can't be screwed up this year. Wait too long at your own peril. Adding a TE, WR, or LB in the first would be a huge mistake when there is a virtual guarantee that either Johnson, Cooper, or Fluker will be available when the Bears select.

Never feel bad for a guy who's getting an average of the top players at his position and he's getting paid millions upon millions to play a game.

Very interesting question.

Completely agreed. I believe the problem with DJ Moore's play this year is directly related to his playing time. Play-makers can't just turn it on every play. Play-makers need opportunity.

According to PFF. You say it like the statement is fact, when, it obviously is not. Otherwise people would be talking about Webb being as good as Bushrod, which, aside from you and Webb's momma, they aren't.

It isn't that they don't know how to use a stopwatch. It's that they make completely ridiculous stats like the one you posted. Think it through... West coast offense + 200 more passes than the Bears + Pistol formation integration + quicker release from QB = a much lower number in the "Time to Throw" category. It's a misleading stat for a variety of reasons. Even simple mathematics says their number would lessen with more snaps in a WCO. Find me the following three stats and then we can talk: 1) Time to throw when the QB takes a 3-step drop 2) Time to throw when the QB takes a 5-step drop 3) Time to throw when the QB takes a 7-step drop

Yes, that's the case. Out of necessity. Although, maximized might be a bad word considering how poorly the Bears offense did. The Bears simply didn't have a ton of deep drops because they had to make sure Cutler didn't get murdered. You probably couldn't look through the entire year's game film and find more than about 20 such plays (i.e. 7-step drops without pressure); I'd reckon. It simply wasn't possible because Cutler rarely had time to make a second read, much less drop back 7-steps. Brees, on the other hand, dropped back VERY frequently. It's not even difficult to find plays displaying this concept. Although, there is a bit of apples/oranges here because Brees often lined up in the pistol and then dropped back another 3 or 5 steps. Either way, he had a ridiculously greater amount of time in pocket than Cutler.

VERY good points. I am not inclined to do the research, but I'm willing to bet the percentage of 3/5/7-step drops for each team would point to more deep drops for the Saints (percentage-wise), and less for the Bears simply because the Bears could almost never actually execute a play requiring a 7-step drop.

I couldn't find Webb's penalty stats, and I wasn't about to crunch the numbers on when they happened. Bushrod either. As for the difference of opinion, it's only based on the fact that the Bears' offense and OL sucked, and the Saints offense and OL was great. That leads me to believe while the metrics used were close to the same, there were a far greater number of plays for the Bears that could be debated.

The reason you got murdered is because the statistics are far too simplistic for a variety of reasons, the first two of which are frequency and severity. The latter is not easy to quantify, but what constitutes a hurry, hit, or sack? The first two items are not as easily defined as going into the stat book for sacks and just summing the totals. Similarly, the severity of all three matters. Does the hurry come on 3rd and 8, in the 4th quarter, while the Bears are driving for the tie? Does the hit jar a pass, hurt the QB or otherwise make him tentative? Does the sack do the same? As for frequency, that's easy enough. Take the number of dropbacks for each team, divide each stat into that number. Add the percentages. Webb screws up 9.45% of the time. Bushrod is 8.66%. I'd say once you factor in severity, penalties (he's a leader in this department), and a difference of opinion on a variety of plays, Webb is probably closer to screwing up at least 15-20% of the time. Bushrod's number probably stays close to 10% or the Saints offense wouldn't have been nearly as prolific. Also, FYI, the Saints QBs dropped back 200+ more times than the Bears' QBs. If Cutler dropped back an extra 200 times last year we'd be spending the entire offseason talking about his recovery from surgery and whether the Bears need to reach for a QB in the first round.