jason

Agreed.

Again...Williams > Webb. Webb may impress 5 plays a game, but he shits the bed 10 plays a game. The Bears would benefit much more from Williams consistently average play. If he throws in a good play here and there, so be it.

As long as he continues to get destroyed by defenses across the NFL, I don't have that much problem with him reaming teammates. Bumping is over the line, and kind of childish, but every OLineman he chews out deserves it.

My point was, Kolb has a different approach because he's not the leader of the team, hasn't put in the necessary work, doesn't have the required clout, doesn't have the background stats, to start barking at people. He needs to cover his own ass before he starts calling out others. Jay Culter, on the other hand, is unequivocally the leader of the Bears offense, and has the history to back him up.

Call me when Kolb takes the same beating for multiple years in a row while his team's front office does next to nothing to improve the situation. Aside from that, Kolb is not doing it because he's an elite QB, or because he's trying to be an elite QB. He's doing it because his lack of experience and his stats are about on par with a rookie QB who has just finished a season or so. Not to mention the fact that this is only his second year in Arizona, and the first year was VERY disappointing. Kolb knows his place is to play ball and lead by example (not necessarily a bad M.O. in general), and if he complained or tried to chew someone out he'd likely get told to STFU.

Please stop with this unequivocally false horseshit. It's been proven time and time again that he has NOT had a high rated defense every year. This is his ninth year, and in his previous eight years he has had three good seasons. The others have been mediocre or worse. End of story. Look it up if you don't believe me. http://www.pro-football-reference.com/teams/chi/ This notion that because people say he's a defensive guru, that automatically makes him a defensive guru, is absolutely infuriating. The same goes for Rod Marinelli and his supposed ability. The same goes for Tice and his "brilliance" on the OL. During Lovie's tenure we've seen the same problems over and over and over again, and he's fixed nearly nothing. The same problems exist on the defense of today that existed when it was first implemented. And if weren't for the fact that he had one of the best MLBs in history for his entire tenure, the defense would have been even less consistent than it was.

Agreed with absolutely everything, and have agreed for multiple years.

It sounds like we kind of agree but you are misreading me. Cutler played poorly against the Packers once he lost confidence. He lost confidence that his OL would protect him, and just broken down in terms of mechanics and decision-making. That's what the Cutler without confidence does. So, in terms of whether Cutler's confidence matters, it unquestionably matters. It's crucial to the team's success.

Completely disagreed, Mad. Webb sounds like he's getting coached by Lovie Smith, not just on the field, but also for the press. It's all blah, blah, blah, my focus is still on, blah, blah, blah. It's like the Bull Durham scene where Crash teaches Nuke how to talk to the media. If Webb really "got it" more than Cutler, he would have started out the post with "I've been horrible the entire time I've been a Bears starter, ranked the worst OLineman by some publications that do analysis, but it's not like I'm not trying. I really am. I desperately want to protect my QB and help my team win. I'm just not good enough right now. I need to put in more work in the weight room, in training, doing footwork, with hand positioning, and with mental preparation. I will keep trying to improve as long as I have this opportunity." Something like that would have been great.

Agreed. In terms of who doesn't get it, it's has to be Webb. Defining "it" is where things get difficult. There are multiple things Webb doesn't get, whether they be psychological, mental, or physical.

That's what we thought for about the last 5 years. There is no doubt Marshall and Jeffery were upgrades, and I'm happy the Bears have them, but the fact remains that as long as the OL sucks, the Bears never really know what they have with their WRs. The WRs could possibly have done much better, developed much more, but we just don't know because they were never given time to actually run a successful, professional, passing offense. They probably weren't great, but we'll never know. Muhsin Muhammed was right, "Chicago is where receivers go do die."

Agreed. When a team with a good pass rush plays against the Bears, the Bears should do something to combat that pass rush. Whether it be more runs, screens, slants, max protect, or whatever, they need to do something that directly battles against the blitz. HOWEVER... An NFL team, and an NFL coach, probably has some expectation that their players will be able to amount to something in one-on-one battles some of the time. They have to expect some sort of competency. A team shouldn't have to do something to support the weak link the entire game. A team should FIX the weak link. And therein lies the problem. Right now, the Bears and their coaches seem to want to perpetually use bandaids for gunshot wounds.

The other difference, of course, is that Rodgers' OL actually improved their play and protected him. The Bears' OL never really did; they just continued to suck the entire game.

Precisely. Fix WR before OL, and you never really know what the WRs can do. Fix OL before WR, and you can properly analyze the abilities of the WRs because they have time to go through their routes.

For the last couple years there has been a split on this board about what the Bears offense needed. One side said big WR, the other side said OL. Well, I know it's early, and this may be a bit premature, but I believe the question appears to have been answered. The Bears have the WR talent that some were alredy saying was potentially one of the best in the league. Most would say the WR talent is top ten. What did top ten WR talent and franchise QB do yesterday with horrible OL play? It doesn't matter how many toys you give Jay Cutler if you can't protect him. This is true for any QB, but it's particularly true with Cutler.

It was me. But like I've said elsewhere, it'd be great if the OL held up every once in a while and allowed Jay to go to his 2nd, 3rd, or 4th read. As it stands now, if his 1st read isn't open, he is probably going to get sacked or pressured. Does he need to do a better job of making decisions? Yes. Does he need to avoid the throws into coverage late? Yes. But I feel for the guy. He's trying to do something. Anything. And the OL just won't let him. He sets his back foot, looks downfield, and when that guy isn't open, Cutler is in trouble shortly thereafter.

I care. You better care if you want the Bears to do well. Cutler without confidence is what you saw last night. Cutler with confidence is what you saw against the Colts. I prefer the latter.

Good post. So, after you've broken down film, you agree that the OL deserves more of the blame. 4 is greater than 3. And in terms of the coverage/play sacks, I think that's a sack that goes on multiple players. Good OLs allow a QB to get to the second and third read. Cutler rarely has time for the second read. I agree Jay has to make better decisions, and the WRs have to do a better job of getting open, but the OL has to perform excellently every once in a while so that the flaws by the QB and WRs aren't ALWAYS accentuated. Every once in a while it'd be great to see the OL hold up to pressure, give Jay all day to throw, and see him sit in the pocket Peyton Manning-style, hitting the third or fourth guy because he just has a ton of time.

To a certain extent, I agree. But if the OC continues to build game plans that protect the weak links in the chain, and make no mistake, there is more than one weak link, then it's an excuse for Lovie and the front office to ignore OL YET AGAIN. At some point you have to sink or swim in one-on-one situations as an NFL player.

Problem is, they'll try to "solve" this by giving Hester end-arounds and/or bubble-screens, both of which can be seen from orbit. Of course, the easy answer to this is a quick slant, but for some reason the Bears refuse to utilize this route more than once again, despite the fact that the Packers have been ripping the Bears a new asshole for over a decade with the exact same route.

I never absolved Tice of the responsibility or blame. I didn't like the inside-hire, and after two games he appears to possibly be in over his head. Most of the people on this board could have called a better game than Tice last night.

Watching the game again, I can see where the early frustration about this defense comes from. In the first quarter alone, I counted three plays where the DL had decent pressure, but not enough that Rodgers was unable to simply wait it out and find a guy sit down in the cover-2 zone. Two times it happened pretty obviously with Jordy Nelson. Then they started off the second quarter with another play that exploited the cover-2, but Finley just straight-up dropped it. Later in the 2nd quarter, Cobb had a key 3rd down catch that was directly attributable to the cover-2. I believe the Bears D played pretty well, but I also believe the Bears were very fortunate to not have given up many more points.

Ordinarily I'd agree, but it's been given time. It's been given years. That should be plenty of time. May protect should not be necessary on every play.

How is Cutler's inability to set his feet his problem? I agree with the thoughts about taking him out of the elite category, mainly because he doesn't handle pressure like an elite QB, but the problem is, his problems are almost exclusively a result of pressure. And unfortunately, it's oil and water, because this OL allows enough pressure to turn coal into diamonds.

Until the following changes, I forsee the same problems we saw tonight. 2012 - DL: 1, OL: 0 2011 - DL: 2, OL: 1 2010 - DL: 4, OL: 7 2009 - DL: 3,4, OL: 7 2008 - DL: 3,7, OL: 1,7 2007 - DL: 2, OL: 4, 7 2006 - DL: 3,5, OL: 6 That's two first round LTs, one of which was an injury question mark coming out of college. Otherwise, OL is pretty much disregarded by this franchise. But DL? Every single year it gets attention. And that's just the draft picks! Don't forget about Gaines Adams. But, yeah, let's solve the problem by trading next year's 7th rounder for another OLineman. That'll work.