jason

very-near-future Center problem That means it's not an immediate problem. But it's certainly going to become a problem; Garza can't play forever. And you may be able to find cheap Centers in FA or late in the draft, but you get what you pay for. If you look at the previous post I think thet left side of the line needs priority over Center....as well as a few other positions. Center is not a need right now, but give it two years.

This is bad for the Bears because the replacement, Green, is apparently a player most GB fans love. He's almost certainly faster and more explosive than Benson. Probably catches out of the backfield better too.

Wouldn't you also say they have a LG problem? And a very-near-future Center problem?

Yes, I HAVE. Which is why it makes sense to continually draft a position for success. Which is why the DL is doing well. The comment I made is not a disagreement with the notion that continuously drafting players for a specific group is likely to create success. That's just common sense. The problem is when other positions are neglected at the expense of the the "favored" position. Which is also why the inverse of the drafting strategy is true (i.e. don't draft it that much and it likely will not succeed), and why the OL has sucked for five years.

Seething hate. No LT despite it being a banner year. Although, I do likc Warmack. Your draft, despite frustrating me, looks like a Lovie Smith draft. I know this is very unlikely, but I'd love to see the Bears go OL in rounds one and two. Even more unlikely, I'd love to see the picks come from the same team. 1. Travis Frederick, OG, Wisconsin 2. Ricky Wagner, OT, Wisconsin Wisconsin is known as an offensive line factory, the Bears already have Carimi (who looks promising despite his two False Starts this past week), both of the positions on the left side need to be fixed, the cohesion between the two Wisconsin guys (really three) would go a long way towards assuaging the difficulties often associated with rookies, and it gets the Bears set for several years. But you're probably right, no way Lovie passes on DL help in the first three rounds. God forbid the offensive line get the same attention.

Word is that he's practicing catching some machine-launched footballs while wearing the cast. Despite the difficulties, they have analyzed film to see his technique and success-rate, and the surprising thing is that when lined up against game film of Dez White, the winner is Alshon every time.

That was the most fun I've had watching a single half of football in maybe the entire time I've ever watched the Bears. Maybe the Cardinals debacle beats it, but this game was a complete beat-down in the second half, and I loved it.

And yet again...

We've heard this song on more than one occasion. Webb is probably a practice or weight-room warrior, and that's what continues to wet the coaching staff's panties. Which is why your second sentence ("It's hard to fathom how this is even possible, given how bad our current starting LT is.") is probably the one that rings the most true to me. Just because person A gets a start over person B, doesn't make it the right decision. It wouldn't be the first time this staff, or many other staffs, made the wrong decision in terms of personnel. They are certainly not above criticism in this regard. I, like you, find it hard to fathom that Williams is worse than Webb and Scott. It's something else.

Direct result of the cover-2. It may produce results in the red-zone, and has its moments in the turnover battle, but 3rd and long is not its friend. If the front-4 doesn't get pressure, the QB just waits it out and finds a soft spot in the zone. What's not surprising is that the 3rd and long that got stopped short of the first down was the one that wasn't a zone scheme, and, instead, a blitz. The result? Gabbert has to throw quickly, to a read that's short of the first down. Bend but don't break...what's new?

You can't possibly know how well Williams would do, or can do, at LT, because he has never been given a stretch of time significant enough to evaluate. OL talents translate different to different positions, and from the small sample size at LT we've got, Williams is not all that bad. Besides, if he is, in fact, bad, he's still better than Webb.

Good post, good thoughts. I also have to wonder why Williams has never been given a fair shot at LT. Maybe you're right? Maybe it is something personal? Maybe he's just in the doghouse forever. What I know is he has never been given a fair shake at the position. Let's recap (as we have before): 2008 - Started out injured, never started as a result 2009 - Moved to RT to accomodate Pace, when Pace sucked Williams got moved into LT, where he did OK 2010 - Started at LT, then got injured, then Tice inexplicably moved him to LG after injury. This just doesn't happen. And that's despite the fact that Williams did adequately at LT previously and Omifail was the LT option he chose instead. Williams was at the very least average as LG, some would even say he did well. 2011 - Starts at LG while Webb gets gifted the LT spot, which is crazy because Carimi was drafted as a RT because Webb sucked so bad at RT. Yeah, because LT is so much easier. Good thinking Tice. My take on this is that Tice thought he was using his players as best as possible, and the leftside combo of Webb-Williams was better than Williams-XYZ. Still a bad choice. 2012 - Webb, despite sucking something serious at LT in 2011, and facing "competition" from Williams for the LT position, "wins" the LT position battle again. Oh, big surprise, he's still not good this year. And if there ever was a year for a LT, this is the year. Luke Joeckel - Stud Jake Matthews - Pedigree Barrett Jones - Versatile

Very true. If someone had told me in the preseason that the Bears would be 3-1 and asked, "Do you care how it happened?" I would have answered, "No, as long as there are no major injuries."

Wow. That picture is a pretty incredible indication of Jennings' ability to jump. Considering Avery is 5'11", a couple inches off the ground, and not quite erect, that has to be about a 40 inch vertical.

It's still funny that, because of how bad it's been, something Cutler considers a slow start is actually considered a good start by most of this board.

Actually, I disagree on that. The defense is almost always at a disadvantage in terms of what will happen. Ignoring schemes for the moment, the offense always knows the defense will try to tackle the guy with the ball. The offense always knows the DL will try to hit the QB. The defense, on the other hand, doesn't know if it's a run or a pass, if the players will cut left or right, etc. Having said that, since I'm not a fan of the OL, I definitely think they need help, and I was happy it was done. But pointing out that 5 almost beat 7 really accentuates the problems with the Bears OL. They held up well for this game, and I commend them for it, but I will remain pessimistic about them until it becomes a trend.

HA! Yes, obviously. I was going to make a connection to the fact that we have not had stability in the safety position, but with CB he may be our next Peanut, and that the deep balls were really a problem with the safeties, but I got called away to work and cut the post short without the proper copy/paste movements.

The dude keeps playing well, keeps putting in the effort, and I'm ecstatic about his performance this year. Against the Cowgirls he was the defensive player in tight coverage when Ogletree let the ball ricochet high in the air. The ball was gone before Jennings touched him, but I'm sure the coverage affected the play. Briggs' INT doesn't get returned for a TD if not for Jennings. He flew in to help out, giving just enough support for Briggs to waltz into the end zone. And on two of the three missed Cowboy bombs, it was either Conte or Wright who should have had coverage. I don't remember the other. The Bears may have found a long term (edit: cornerback).

I drank the kool-aide last night. It was a blast watching the Bears destroy the Cowgirls on MNF. But I'm not going to get too excited about one game when it's very out of the ordinary and the opponent made just as many mistakes as the Bears made good plays. I'm cautious. EDIT: On Hester's TD, there were 7 guys blocking. SEVEN. And the Cowboys still got late pressure with only five guys rushing.

Great game overall. Maybe the best game the OL has played in 5 years. Cutler looked great. The play-calling was nearly perfect. But now that the celebration period is over, I don't want to let this game get us too happy. -The Cowboys missed three bombs (two overthrows, one drop) that were wide open. A good QB, like Manning in the SB, doesn't miss those passes. -The Bears were very fortunate with the turnovers. Aside from the Melton pressure and the Moore INT, the others were more a matter of the Cowboys making mistakes than the Bears forcing mistakes. -Romo went 31 for 43, for 301 yards against the Bears defense. The pass defense was soft, and displayed perfectly why many hate the Lovie-2. He was picking and choosing his targets at will. And don't even get me started on that pussified approach they took to end the first half. I'm really happy with how the game turned out, and I enjoyed watching the beatdown, but I feel like this is a setup game. The same game played against the Packers is a loss, because Rodgers completes one or two of those bombs, and they probably convert on the drive that ended with Ogletree straigt-up gifting an INT to the Bears in the Red Zone. I can't find any stats to prove this, but a 16 point lead is not that much against a team that gives you five interceptions. I'd expect a five interception game to result in a bigger disparity. This game should have been much more worse. Tread carefully...

Bingo. Look what happens when the Bears OL plays the best game they've played in maybe five years. Problem is, I don't think we can't expect it with regularity.

Yet he continues to start. We're going to find out years from now that Lovie Smith is his 2nd cousin, great uncle, or god-father.

Completely agreed. Especially regarding Irvin and Sapp.

My perspective is that at least the following goes into whether a QB does well: 1. Sacks 2. Pressures 3. OL inability to act cohesively 4. Perceived Pressure 5. Receiver inability to get open 6. Poor offensive gameplan All six items can make a QB rattled. The more of the six that are bad, the more likely the QB will be rattled. Where the Packers succeed and the Bears fail, at least in the last several years, is not #1 - becaus, as you pointed out, Rodgers has been sacked a lot - but the others. Cutler gets pressured more. The Bears OL is not cohesive; it doesn't screw up the same time. The Packers game against Seattle is a perfect example. The entire OL was screwing up in the first half, and then they all got their acts together in the second half. The Bears OL would have been half-and-half. Number 4 should probably be 3a, and is probably dependant somewhat on the QBs mental makeup, but Cutler is probably less confident because of all the other items that are done so poorly. Number 5 is big, and why so many have argued for WRs for so long. Of course, I told them it wouldn't matter much if the OL sucked ass, and thus far I appear to be correct. Number 6 is probably the biggest difference in regards to your question. The QBs have had a great offensive gameplan for quite some time. They kill the Bears on slants and screens (might be just as much a product of #5 as #6). The Bears, on the other hand, have not had good gameplans for as long as I can remember. Tice, Martz, Shea, Shoop. The last guy who really tried to confuse and attack the defense was Crowton, who most hated. While I'm much more in the Martz/Crowton camp, I can value the appeal of others (disagree though). With that said, none have done a great job. And it has directly affected the Bears' QBs. I'm not saying all of the items are necessary, but the Bears have to fix one or two in order for Cutler not to feel like he's being chased by a town full of people holding pitchforks.

This game worries me. I don't think the Bears come out with a victory. Demarcus Ware is going to give the OL fits, and unless he's doubled the entire game, I expect him to get 2-3 sacks and a couple other pressures. And throw in an anticipation False Start by an OT while we're at it.