jason

Agreed completely. What's more, I don't believe - and nobody can convince me otherwise - that there is a defense in the league that can stay with the team speed the Bears have on offense. This offense should be producing massive plays like the Philly offense does. Knox, Hester, and Olsen? With those three on the field, there IS a matchup problem for the opposing defense. Add in the possession WR in Bennett, who is quietly having a very nice season (thanks for playing him last year Turner!), and I just don't see how the Bears don't produce. And, oh yeah, Forte tore the league a new a-hole last year, so we know he's good (despite what the OL, his stats, and a possible injury would have people believe). This is a coaching problem. How many times do the Bears need to mismanage an offensive weapon, or not play him at all, before people realize this is coaching. I've been saying it for a long time. Turner is not a good OC. This is not up for debate. He may be a nice guy, but the product he puts on the field, the calls he makes, the adjustments (or lack thereof), none of it makes an opposing defense in the league scared. Not remotely.

Ditto the Bingo. If everyone under Lovie is fired, who the hell are the Bears going to hire?

I would. But I would have fired Lovie and staff before the season began and brought in someone who understands how to run an offense. I honestly don't think the players are as bad as they appear. Further, I think there is considerable talent on this team. This is 75% coaching, IMHO.

Gimme a break. Suppose you buy a hot rod car, and then put it in the garage. Every once in a while you rev the engine, and once a month you drive it a mile to get groceries. How do you know if it runs well, or can go cross country, or can win a race against some punk on a deserted street? You don't. The pick isn't as bad as the mismanagement of the pick.

It would have been yet another busted first rounder for the Bears. He would have been in his hippy pot smoking phase, and then would have had to get cut/traded/etc. in order to open his eyes (ala Benson). Lucky for us.

I love this article because it's brutally true, and reiterates what I've been saying, albeit better constructed, for multiple years.

I agree that Cutler is the only apparent change, but not the only logical change. There simply has to be more to it, because he's not doing so much more on screen passes than Orton/Grossman...and the RB screen NEVER worked when they were here. Maybe it has to do with the defense showing more respect to Cutler, or perhaps it has to deal with the speed of the Bears' WRs occupying the opposing DBs more. I just don't know. But I refuse to believe that it's so much of Cutler vs. other QBs thing, because there isn't much of a visual difference between how he executes the screens and how the others did.

This is the key to your entire statement...and I agree wholeheartedly. I honestly believe that Turner really doesn't understand how to get an offense to flow. He may know verbiage, and he may have been doing it a while, but he makes far too many stupid calls, stupid substitutions, and lacks the ability to adjust midgame.

I still wish he was on the Bears, and I think he'd be better than any of the Bears' current safeties...despite his coverage difficulties.

Probably when Maynard is in there.

Which is why I was so opposed to drafting Benson. It seems like this stuff is cyclical. Bears have Thomas Jones. Bears don't need RB. Bears draft Cedric Benson. Bears get rid of Thomas Jones. Bears don't need RB. Bears get rid of Cedric Benson. Bears draft Matt Forte. Bears don't need RB. What's next? For some odd reason, I think the Bears are going to get rid of Forte before he's had time to truly show his worth, and it'll be because this OL stinks.

My point exactly. It has less to do with Cutler and Forte with this year's sudden improvement in the RB screen. It has more to do with the fact that the DL is fooled so easily because the Bears' OL lets them through on every play.

The "decade" talk it hyperbole on my part. But, suffice to say, the Bears haven't been good at a screen pass in a long time. The only real change is Cutler, and I refuse to believe he's simply that much better at throwing a floater for ten yards to set up the screen.

I disagree. Hester and Olsen are weapons, and while they may not be 30.06 caliber, they are still 7.62 or 5.56 caliber. Either way, small bullets are better than none in your firearm (i.e. Cutler), and you don't completely reload until you have your next batch of ammo ready.

Is it not possible that Pace got the wind knocked out of him hard enough that he had to miss the rest of the game? After all, Urlacher dislocated his wrist and was gone for the year. (part joking, part serious) Doesn't matter...this team is soft, and under Lovie Smith it's as soft as a fur coat covered in feathers and marshmallows.

Other "good guys"...who shouldn't be coaches:

BWAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA. Like we didn't see that coming from Stonehenge.

Good QB + Good OL = Weapons created by association This is as obvious as water is wet. I don't know why the oh-so-mighty front office of the Bears can't figure this out.

QFT

Odd that you mention that. It's very similar to my thoughts from the past two years when I advocated keeping Benson and using high picks on offensive linemen.

While Rex Grossman made some bonehead mistakes, and Cutler has made a few during his short term with the Bears, it's hard to argue with Grossman's dad. The team refuses to focus on building not only a passing game, but a dominating offense. For some reason the defense and the running game get the majority of the focus, and they probably always will. Getting Cutler was a step in the right direction, but now the follow through is required. There needs to be coaching and player changes to take the next step.

Why? Look, I like the guy too...but he won't help. 1] The OL will still stink 2] He will be at best the 5th WR 3] Cutler won't have time behind this OL to throw more than a few passes that aren't 3-step drops Adding Haas does nothing for this team at the moment.

I seem to recall several of us screaming for a massive, hole-making FB in the draft this year. But we were wrong, obviously. The coaches were right, and McKie is the answer. The funny thing about it is, someone here mentioned that McKie is like having another opponent on the DL. When he goes through the hole, he plugs it. He doesn't open anything up; he just stops the first option for Forte. Anyone know what that Javorskie Lane is doing nowadays?

I got to thinking about how excited everyone was about the RB screen. It was successful, looked great, and had my jaw on the floor the entire game. I'm sure that every Bears' fan was pumped to see this play, one that has NEVER worked, be so successful. Here's the problem: it's a sign of the Bears' failure. Why does a RB screen usually succeed? The offensive gameplan is successful enough that the OL can almost toy with the DL. The DL rushes in, almost oblivious to their newfound success at getting to the QB. The RB and OL scoot through, set up things, and the RB screen is successful. Why is this a problem, you ask? The Niners' DL was so used to blasting through the Bears' OL that when the Bears' OL "let the Niners through," there was nearly no surprise at all. This allowed the Bears to set up the RB screen, and the rest is history. The Niners defense wasn't surprised; they were complacent. Teams don't suddenly get good at the RB screen, and the Bears have been bad at it for a decade. This is a short-lived source of cheering for us, and it will be quickly sniffed out. The real question is: Since it's obvious to EVERYONE who has watched the Bears this season that the OL is horrible, why hasn't Turner figured out a way to put in more RB screens and RB draws, plays that are typically called to slow down a rush?

I agree that the end result is on Cutler, but this series of calls from Turner was inexcusable. Cutler should have thrown it away, agreed. But when you give a guy a knife in a gun fight... We'll agree to disagree on this one. This was the right pass, the right route, and it was well covered; HOWEVER, it was not completely covered, and the WR had the step. In the NFL, that's all you can ask for. You can't blame Cutler on this one. Yes, like I said, it was all Cutler's fault on the last one. But it's easy to understand how a guy who clearly has the city of Chicago football on his shoulders, who has been asked to be the first franchise QB since McMahon, who has been asked to rejuvinate an offense that has been stagnant for quite some time, would try to do a little too much. It's not an excuse; it's an understanding. I don't disagree that there were other bad passes...but the INTs in question were the subject.