jason

Interesting thoughts. And I hadn't really thought of it that way. Maybe instead of tooling to fit into the ever-diminishing window for the D, the Bears should steer a majority of their focus and steer into the Cutler/Forte window? Maybe it's time the Bears actually became an offensive team? You know, like most of the rest of the NFL has attempted. I'm not saying ignore the D entirely, but wouldn't it be great if the new GM said, "Screw it, we have studs on both side of the ball, but the studs on O are younger. Let's build an offensive dynasty through the draft!" That would excite me. I'd much rather win 35-28 than lose 17-10. With that in mind, what if the new GM signed a key piece or two on D (e.g. Avril and Finnegan) then came straight out and went for O in the draft with something like the following? 1 - Peter Konz, C, Wisc. 2 - Marvin McNutt, WR, Iowa 3a - Nick Toon, WR, Wisc. 3b - Nate Potter, LT, Boise St. 4 - LaMichael James, RB, Oregon 5 - Ladarius Green, TE, Louisiana-Lafayette 6 - Chris Rainey, WR/RB/KR/PR, Florida Or 1 - Michael Floyd, WR, ND 2 - Kelechi Osemele, OG, Iowa State 3a - Dwight Jones, WR, UNC 3b - Nate Potter, LT, Boise St. 4 - Ben Jones, C, UGA --or-- Michael Brewster, C, OSU (whoever falls) 5 - Case Keenum, QB, Houston 6 - Cody Johnson, FB, Texas Ignore the D for now. Just draft Offense and try to follow the NFL trend of outscoring your opponent.

You beat me to it.

You had me at first, and then started going off the deep end (i.e. get rid of Lovie even if the Bears go to the SB - that will never happen). Are they close? Yes. Absolutely. With Cutler, Forte, and Carimi coming back, add in a healthy draft pick or two and a FA or two, there is no reason why they're not right there competing. Hell, getting in the playoffs is the key, because any team can get hot. Are they close for a long period of time? No. As you mentioned, age is going to start affecting the team. Depth isn't great. I see a two or three year window.

Look, I realize you're on board with improving the OL, but can we quit with this revisionist history BS already? How many times does it have to be proven that the OL is still a major flaw? They unequivocally did not improve enough or consistently perform well enough to be put on the back burner. However you want to try to prove it, the deed has already been done. We've run this course numerous times already on this board. It's nonsense to believe OL isn't at worst need 1B, and in my opinion 1A. As it stands now, LT is a mess with Webb, C is a position of need because Garza doesn't have a ton of time and the staff appears to not trust Spencer enough to start him, Louis is at best underwhelming at RG, and Carimi/Williams are both injury concerns. Please, enough with this nonsense that they were doing well. Improving during the winning streak, yes...but that's because they were atrocious before that, and there wasn't anything else to do other than get better. They actually regressed after the winning streak and finished the season as one of the worst OLs in the NFL. Make no mistake, an overhaul is still needed. And MadLith, I saw your post.

Dude, read the whole post! There is a ton of OLB depth this year, and plenty of quality guys would be there in the 4th. As for Potter, I don't know why he's an NFL LT. He has the speed, hands, footwork, and the frame to put on a little more weight. His only "flaw" is that people really don't know if he can blow defenders off the ball. This is because of Boise State's lack of attention to running, and Potter's size. I have no doubt he could be a starting LT, and I know for a fact he's better than Webb.

Very interesting. Seems a bit odd considering the lack of correlation to sacks and hits, but since I obviously can't/haven't broken down every game, it's not something I can cleanly dispute.

I've been seeing lots of mocks where LaMichael James from Oregon is falling into the third and fourth round. Would be prudent for the Bears to spend a late third on him if other issues have been addressed? For instance, what if the Bears had the following: 1: Michael Floyd, WR, ND 2: Janoris Jenkins, DB, UNA 3a: Nate Potter, LT, BST 3b: LaMichael James, RB, OR If that happened, I see three potential first day starters, and a great RB who could either fill in for Forte to give him a break or potentially replace him if the contract never gets sorted out. Add in the fact that there will be a ton of OLB depth available in the fourth round, and it sounds like a recipe for success to me.

Fair enough, and we can agree to disagree. If the Bears sign a long in the tooth veteran, I'd rather them spend less money on a guy with more talent who I believe will do better than Ochocinco anyway. But I think we can all agree that if they sign a vet, we'd rather see a Vincent Jackson/Dwayne Bowe type of vet.

Yet again, your memory fails you. The VERY FIRST LINK that shows up on google when you type in "Bears"+"Chris Spencer"+"Center" provides this article. They may have planned what happened all along, but there is no doubt Center was first priority and OG was #2 during the signing. The Trib even mentions that he could play OG if the staff feels Garza knows the system better, but later in the season Spencer straight up said he wasn't accustomed to playing guard and got very few snaps. What's more, the signing happened the day after the Olin talks broke down. Hell, the Sun Times didn't even mix words about it. The Daily Herald said, "Spencer is expected to line up as the first-team center, enabling Roberto Garza to move back to right guard." This is not an individual opinion about what was being talked about during training camp. I could go on all day, but I think you get the point. To call this a "depth move" and not a legitimate attempt to fill Olin's shoes is simply incorrect. The move was intended as a replacement. Period.

Where did you get this stat, flea? Since the hits and sacks are usually the smoke to pressure's fire, I have a hard time believing that Eli was pressured anywhere near the percentage that Cutler was.

Dude, if the tryout was a laughing stock, your comment about Ocho being better is a comedy show. Ocho has never been better than TO. As for 5 or 6 TDs and 700 yards next year (which I doubt will happen), TO eclipsed those numbers two years ago in less than a full season. In fact, he eclipsed Ochocinco's numbers for that season as well. If TO were on the Bears this year, do you honestly think he wouldn't have been able to get 5 or 6 TDs and 700 yards on pure God-given talent alone? 15 catches and 1 TD from Ocho this year?! Behind the curve my ass. TO may not be the same guy he was a decade ago, but he would have put up better numbers on the Pats, and if TO is washed up, then Ochocinco's washed up. Hell, TO didn't even play in the NFL this year and nearly had the same stats as Ocho.

You're right, he was never deemed the starter. But when the move was made, it certainly had that appearance. It didn't take a genius to piece together a missing center with the acquisition of a free agent center implied that he was probably brought in to be a center. I doubt the move was made strictly for depth. I think it may just may be a leftover FA failure from JA's regime. They probably thought he was the replacement, found out he wasn't as good/prepared/strong/whatever as they thought he was. And then Garza became the default starter the entire year. Spencer's ability to be a spot-starter at C and G is definitely a positive, but he was brought in with the idea that he'd fill Olin's shoes until a Center of the future was acquired.

Agreed.

I agree that the DL of the NYG has a lot to do with their success, and I would like to see Mario Williams on the opposite side of Peppers, but I actually think the key to the NYG offense is the, surprise surprise, OL. They give Eli a ton of time to throw on a consistent basis. TONS. Quick comparison... Eli: 589 attempts, 72 hits, 28 sacks Jay: 314 attempts, 87 hits, 49 sacks On the surface that's ridiculous. Eli dropped back almost twice as much as Jay did, yet was hit less, and sacked nearly half the number of times. If attempts + sacks is the total number of throws, that means Eli was hit on 12% of his dropbacks and sacked on 5%. By comparison, Jay was hit on 24% and sacked on 13%. Jay Cutler was sacked with more frequency that Eli was even hit. Read that again. And the sad part of this is, we don't have any reliable statistic on "number of times pressured," because we know that number would be off the chart.

I still disagree on the TO talk (he'd help), but Ocho Cinco is beyond washed up. He played THIS year and didn't make an impact.

Then it's yet another example of poor front office and coach player management. If the hole was at C, then either choose plan A. Move Garza or plan B. Get Spencer. Otherwise the Spencer pickup seems somewhat pointless.

Which is still kind of baffling when you think about it. A first round C playing G and a G playing C. I thought the entire reason the Bears grabbed Spencer was because he could be a stop-gap for Olin's departure. Guess intent and execution are different.

If that happened, the Lions would come off like gangbusters. All three will start in the NFL, and the first two have a shot of becoming all stars. Stafford would be able to take a dumb and read the paper before throwing 20TDs a year to Megatron. I pray that doesn't happen. Their offense will become dominant. For the Bears, however, I don't completely like it. I would prefer LT, WR, C, since I think Chris Williams will man LG well enough and if the Bears get a rookie Center with serious talent (more Konz than Brewster) that means Garza gets to move back to his more familiar role at RG.

Like: Walterfootball (both), Kiper, Bleacher, Rantsports, Draft Countdown, Draft Site Hate: McShay, Draftek

I agree with most of your post, but I was just pointing out that the "sounds like Webb" talk is way off base. There are very few things that Webb and Martin have in common other than size. Webb may be a bigger man by 2 inches and 30 pounds, but this is equally about the "dog in the fight" and the "fight in the dog." If it's down to Floyd and Martin, for me it ultimately comes down to whether the Bears think Martin is a LT or RT. If he's LT material, then I'd pick him. If he's RT material, we already have one, and Floyd is the guy.

It would appear that most of this thread, and probably most Bears fans, disagree with you. The older uniforms, the traditional uniforms, and specifically the Bears uniforms, look much better than the pseudo-Arena League jerseys that are being created nowadays.

What do you mean "worked extremely well" and "brought Illinois into the modern world"? The first part is completely a matter of opinion and up for debate, and the latter part is nonsense. Just because something is newer doesn't necessarily make it better. This is one of those situations. If the Bears changed to that different style that seems less about "modern world" and more about an unnecessary change driven purely by cash and an overeager graphic designer.

Except Webb never sniffed the first round. The only true comparison is in measurables. If Webb were coming out this year we would be reading something like this (minor changes to CBS read about Adams): Pass blocking: Tall, long, questionable pass protector. Generally gets out of three-point stance slowly, stiffly, but with a wide base. Improving his ability in nearly every way, particularly to use his hands to redirect rushers and late blitzers away from the pocket, but mostly because starting at the bottom floor only allows for upward movement. Power rushers probably draw even on most battles, sloppy anchor in close quarters, like his fingers are caught in one of those Chinese finger traps. Stops his size 22 feet after initial contact at times, moves them like his shoes are cemented down, instead relying on length but allowing defender to get the corner or spin inside. Especially the corner. Prone to false start and hold when under stress. Run blocking: Solid but inconsistent positional run blocker who flashes some nastiness. Attacks his man when necessary, though he won't consistently dominate him and will lose his balance by overextending. Molasses feet, can get inside of tackle (when the tackle chooses an outside rush) to wall off inside and nearly never reaches linebackers at the second level adeptly. Nice punch which he uses to knock down smaller defenders with one extension. Like a school yard bully, battles against smaller opponents are the only battles won. Height a detriment in short-yardage plays, defender can get under his pads to hold the line. Flashes the ability to move his man with his hands, but is not yet consistent in this area.

Interesting. I think finding a LB replacement is INCREDIBLY easier than finding a DE that is actually worth a damn. OLBs are the RBs of the defense; get a guy with a lot of athleticism, a good blend of speed/size, and you have a decent chance of making a LB.

That doesn't sound like someone who fails to check boxes. So, at least in that small regard, it's a step up.