jason

I'm just telling you how things look from an officiating perspective. He's a good announcer, but he honestly doesn't know what goes into the rule book in his own game. None of the announcers are nearly as versed as they'd like you to think. There are countless hours that go into officiating at the NFL level. Those guys usually have video review on the plane home after their game. They are graded very harshly. All that and more is why they have to have legitimate reasons for throwing flags, or they stop working NFL games. The result is that they rely on key signs, developed through a nearly unlimited film review, that says "when DPI happens, it is usually because of..." and "when OPI happens, it is usually because of..." If the officials see those criteria, they know the flag should be thrown. All of this is stuff that Aikman and other announcers aren't privy to, aren't aware of. It's the precise reason why guys like Pereira and Gerry Austin have been brought into the broadcast booth as advisers.

So two guys, side by side, where one ends up putting both of his hands on the opponent, and the opponent ends up on his back, and the result is a TD, happens every game?! I don't think so.

I don't see how you can say that. It's craziness. With 5 blockers and 2 rushers he should feel confident he can sit in the pocket as long as it takes to find an open receiver. Period. He shouldn't have to get outside the pocket because the pocket should never be threatened. He shouldn't have to run for the exact same reason. Taking the sack is something he should not have done, but under the situation I don't see what the alternative was. Throwing it away would have been colossally ignorant considering the score, field position, and game clock. So now he's back to either running or throwing. Running is also a dumb decision considering the score, field position, and game clock. The only possible chance the Bears have of actually pulling off a play that can get them the score is a deep pass. Therefore, he had to basically wait for a receiver to break open. While doing so, he had two choices: 1-wait in the pocket, 2-wait outside the pocket. Either way he should never have seen a hint of pressure.

1. He shouldn't have had to get rid of the ball when there are 3 more blockers than defenders. 2. Why should he get rid of the ball when it's one of the last two or three plays of the game and they're down a score? That would have been a horrible decision. He 100% should not have just gotten rid of the ball in that situation.

1. They whiffed big time on the non-call against Jeffery. That should have been a DPI. But that doesn't mean the OPI calls were incorrect. 2. You misunderstand what I'm saying. He probably knows more about football than most of the refs, but he doesn't know more about the rules than most of the refs. That's fact. Players and coaches are notoriously ignorant about the intricacies of the rules, and the officials out there are virtual rule books. They've literally got 99% of the rules memorized. So when he comments about what an official should see, should throw a flag on, etc., he's got no leg to stand on. He simply doesn't know what it means to be an official, and he almost certainly doesn't know the rules as well as the officials.

The third one, from an officiating perspective, was probably the easiest one. He clearly made contact with his hand, extended his arm, and that extension is what gave him the separation.

Exactly. Typical Lovie. Watch, next week the Bears will officially be removed from the playoffs, and they'll win the very last game of the season while playing all of their starters. Same as the last two, damn years.

I, too, felt the calls were very one-sided. It seems like it's always that way against the Bears. The Raji hit on Cutler absolutely has to get called. The DPI against Jeffery absolutely has to get called. As for the Peppers hit, it was borderline. There are timing mechanisms each official uses, and if the hit is afterwards then it's a foul. Simple. Whether the officials yells out, "Ball's away!" or counts, it's ultimately judgement that I have no problem with. Peppers could have easily stopped. Granted, I wish they would let players play football a little more, but that's what the NFL is becoming.

First, they have to allow some chicken-fighting or there would be a flag on every play. Unless there is some restriction, however, they're not going to call it. Maybe they could call illegal contact on one of those, maybe all of those, but they don't call illegal contact for minimal touching. As for the first one, it doesn't take a bunch of strength to toss someone down when they area already running that way. Was it a bit of acting? Maybe. But that same play is going to get called 99.9% of the time. As for the other one you mentioned, let's get one thing out of the way: Aikman is a dumbass who knows next to nothing about officiating. The reason the BJ threw the flag was that he had a different angle on the play. Simple as that. And, trust me on this, he would not have gone "fishing in someone else's pond" if he wasn't absolutely sure his call could be backed up by video review. This happens a lot on arm bars and arm restrictions, when the side or field judge sees two players running side by side, but from the middle of the field the back judge can see a foul.

The thing that gets me about the final play is, Cutler should have had ten minutes to sit back there and wait on a WR to open up. Sure, the Packers were in prevent, and there is no way the play would have resulted in a TD, but five OLinemen against TWO FREAKING RUSHERS is just ridiculous. Those guys should have NEVER sniffed Cutler. They should have been getting pancaked all over the place. But the fact remains that 2 rushers beat the Bears' five OLinemen. For the math geniuses out there, 5-2=3. That's THREE extra blockers. Cutler should have been able to tie his shoe and pick his nose back there, much less look for an open WR (there were none, apparently). To reiterate: 2

Thank you. All the Rodgers vs. Cutler comparisons are ridiculous for a variety of reasons that have been stated over and over again. But let's not let that get in the way of everyone bashing Jay. Do I like his attitude? No. Do I like his frantic behavior under pressure? No. Do I like his once a game horrible throw? No. Is he the best QB the Bears have had since McMahon? Absolutely. And the Bears have done nearly nothing as an organization to maximize Cutler's talents. The OL, OC, HC, WR, TE have all been shit the entire time he's been here. And some on this board don't like the RB. So, tell me, which QB would do well in this offense? The answer is none. Some may do better, but I wonder if those guys last the season.

Like it or not, the three calls on Alshon were legit offensive pass interference calls. What's more, they should be a damning enough reason to fire Drake's non-coaching ass. Allow me to explain... When one of the deep officials (Field Judge, Back Judge, Side Judge) look for offensive pass interference, they look for three specific things: 1. Push off (with arm extension makes it much easier to see) 2. Blocking while the ball is in the air 3. Driving through a defender I can honestly say I've never seen one WR get three OPI calls on him in a single game, but all three fall into one of the above categories. When those officials get graded, they are asked to categorize each of the fouls they call. This is not some secret knowledge. The NFLRA tells the teams what is going on. So the Bears should know what is going to get a flag. Hell, they have preseason scrimmages/meetings where the NFLRA tells the teams what they are looking for. And that's why it's so frustrating that not only did Jeffery not correct his play, but that Drake didn't begin to tell him what he was doing wrong. OPI #1 - He clearly man-handled the DB. There is no question about it. If you disagree - and believe me, I understand because I'm a die-hard Bears fan - you should take off the rose-colored glasses. That dude went flying. Category #1: push off. OPI #2 - He extended the arm. Easy call, easy to categorize. Category #1: push off. OPI #3 - This one was even easier than #2 because his arm was fully extended. Sure, it's one of those back shoulder throws where there is always separation, but the simple fact is he extended his arm. Category #1: push off. So where was Drake in all of this? Why wasn't he telling the young WR to be a little more subtle with his contact? Having said that, the Bears got screwed by the fact the DPI wasn't called on the last throw to Jeffery. The DB definitely grabbed jersey and hindered the WR's movement.

I'm glad there appears to be a near 100% consensus. Lovie Smith absolutely has to go. Let's start a "Reasons Lovie Smith should be fired" string. Shouldn't be hard to get to 20 items pretty quickly. Here's an easy five. 1. Bad talent evaluator 2. Atrocious in-game coach 3. Blindly loyal to underperforming subordinate coaches 4. No player control over poor decisions made by subordinate coaches 5. Spineless offenses almost the entire time he's been in Chicago

And that sequence, right there, is why the Bears should be investing in OL every year instead of a backup RB every year. I don't give a shit which RB you put back there if you open a hole for him. There were zero holes on any of those runs. Forte's only choice was on one of the runs to bounce it outside...but it sure wasn't where the play was designed to go.

It's not "just" that...but he certainly didn't help the situation. But I'm sure it would have been a lot easier to punch it in from 1 or 2 yards if the OL opened up ANY hole whatsoever. Instead, the only "holes" Forte seems to ever have are cutback lanes. It'd be nice to see the OL actually just assert their will, open a hole where it's designed to be, and see Forte fly up the middle untouched...ya know, like the Packers have done three or four times this game against the Bears. Related note: That is the type of offensive play-calling that should get Tice fired. That was utterly ridiculous. How about a play-action call dumbass?! How about some sort of confusion, misdirection, something?

C'mon man. Let's be honest. That was a brutal OPI. Jeffery pushed him with both hands. There was 0% chance that wasn't going to get called.

Nodding. (edit: about the philosophy...not the throw. That was almost certainly on Cutler, not Hester) Sometimes it's as if people think that any time the Bears attempt to do something on offense it's a bad thing just because this is Chicago. I would love to have a high powered offensive attach in Chicago. We haven't seen the Chicago offense really scare opponents since Crowton first came to town.

This just in: THE PACKERS ARE GOING TO RUN THE FREAKING SLANT!!! How many damn years in a row do we have to watch the Lovie Smith defense give up the inside shoulder for an easy slant that inevitably extends a drive for GB?

Huge reason why I want Lovie gone: 3rd and long for the opponents means the Lovie Smith defense is going to conservatively rush four, go into zone, and let the opponent make a completion. This is something like 99% of the time. Virtually no surprise. Which is why when the Bears do send someone - like the Briggs' delayed blitz and DJ Moore's edge blitz - it catch the opponent completely offguard.

Good post. Another interesting point about the first set of teams is that, aside from Indy who had a horrible year without Manning, the other teams are teams that have consistently been a threat to win it all. The Bears have consistently been a threat to make the playoffs, but the majority of the time nobody was really worried about the Bears running the table.

This is a chicken-and-egg thing. Does he take the hits because he scrambles, or, does he scramble because he takes the hits? I contend that it's the latter. This OL has sucked the entire time he's been in Chicago, and I'm sure it has affected him considerably. Whereas before he might have seen a little pressure and thought, "My guy can hold that off the extra half-second I need to throw this pass," now he sees it and says, "Oh shit, better run."

That's ridiculous and you know it. The Vandy stuff is a non-starter because he played at Vandy against crazy better talent. He had to scramble. I know this because I went to some of the games at Vandy. And the offense was different at Denver by design, with more movement, but it wasn't like he got a solid pocket and said, "screw it, I'm running." When he has a pocket, he sits down and throws or he moves within the pocket and throws (i.e. the Denver pic you posted).

WHO ISN'T INJURED? My goodness this is ridiculous.

1. Agreed that a new HC would likely make this team worse, but I'm willing to take one quick step back in order to go two forward. 2. All first rounders on the OL, something even I am not asking for, would certainly make the OL better. To say otherwise is just ignorant. 3. "And if Brady needed it, he stood there" is what allows Brady the freedom to do what he wants. There is no rush because he knows he's safe. It's why he feels comfortable dumping it off or waiting on a longer route to develop. His quick release only accentuates that fact. 4. I agree to some extent with your closing comments regarding Cutler's style, but I think even Fran Tarkenton's scrambling was spawned from pressure. Any QB in the NFL aside from maybe Vick would much rather sit in the pocket for 5-seconds and comfortably find the WR breaking open. I'm sure if the Bears' OL protected Cutler from potential concussion for an entire game, and then sustained that protection over the course of a few games, he's start to trust more, his mechanics would get better, and he'd be more comfortable in the pocket. BTW - The reason he scrambled at Vandy was because he was playing for Vandy and against actual SEC talent; that was scrambling out of necessity more often than not.

Exactly this. Tice is not good, but he hasn't been the worst guy in the league either. He's been worse than Martz, however, and that wasn't supposed to happen according to all the Martz haters. And it sure wasn't supposed to happen since he has better options than Martz had overall. 2011: Total yards 24th, Passing yards 26th, Rushing yards 9th 2012: Total yards 28th, Passing yards 27th, Rushing yards 10th Just for fun...the guy who got fired by the Ravens has the following on his resume: 2012: Total yards 18th, Passing yards 16th, Rushing yards 17th