BearFan2000

The Bears are and always will be my team. Being upset, disappointed, embarrassed, or whatever adjective you want to use to describe the general sadness you get from watching your team struggle is a sign of loyalty. If we didn't care that our team's success or lack of it or only rooted for our team when things are going well then we wouldn't be much of a fan base. We all want to see the Bears become a force in the League and right now they are closer to a farce but I'm still going to be a fan continue to pull for the Bears to get this mess straightened out. Not to say it hasn't been maddening through the years and at times thinking maybe I should root for another team that has their crap together. But mostly that's just being jealous of fans who's team is doing well. It's tempting to look at other teams who seem to turn it around and become viable again and then look at our team who seems to stumble onto viable and becomes inept by default. But those thoughts are fleeting as I can't bring myself to not pull for the Bears and invest in a different team. The NFL is a lot like the stock market you can jump to a different team while they are doing well but sooner or later the bottom falls out and they plummit then you are faced with the same situation you had when you switched teams and likely to jump to who ever is doing well at the time. A good example is the Patriots while I'm sure they have a large fan base of fair weather fans. After Super Bowl 20 how many bet that New England would be the first to return to the super bowel the way we tore them apart. The Patriots got to super bowl 20 with an insane amount of turnover from a very opportunistic defense. Well the Patriots not only beat the bears back to the big game but have rings to show for it. NE was mediocre for a long time before they got good again and have ridden that wave since. The same can be said for the colts, they were one of the jokes of the NFL for as long as I could remember till the got this kid named Payton Manning and started to build a team around him. They have been a force for a while now. That is the kind of revival we all hope to see with the Bears. Not just a once in every few years a fluke season where the stars align and all the balls bounce our way. Each fake wave leaves us feeling empty and jaded to the point where now when we see success we're already thinking in the back of our minds.... ok how long will this last. It makes it hard to fully enjoy the ups when were focused on the downs that we are expecting around the corner. But no matter how bad it gets, I won't trade in my Bears badge for some other team. We all make fun of our team but like the quote from animal house its a coping method.

Something like this

well, the feeling's mutual

"people may scoff but if we win out we will be 9-7" to which I kept saying .....and? or .......so what?, Has he been told or it's been implied that if we win out and finish above 500 it will make things alright and he gets to keep his job? 1. that is a pipe dream, we barely beat the hapless Rams by 8 points (who more beat themselves than we beat them) so now we think that we can beat GB, Balt, Det, and Minny. Dream on Smith, we will get 1 win maybe two if we can somehow beat Balt (Even Minny's scrubs could probably beat us.). 2. to what point and purpose would be accomplishing 9-7 in covering the fact that there are major holes to fill on this team including coaching that we have played like crap for most of the season. Is this an attempt to silver cloud or sugar coat that we suck? I think so. 3. We finished 9-7 last year and looked bad doing it too. Didn't make me all warm and fuzzy inside while I watched as other teams were in the playoffs while ours was home licking its wounds. 3 years since our blown super bowl and we haven't sniffed the playoffs. 3 YEARS!!!! and we're supposed to feel good about "well, we finished 9-7" Another comment that I had to LOL at was one the comentators I think Trent Green but on either a penalty or it might have been when Bell forgot to be on the field forcing the time out on the punt team but anyway what he said was priceless. "And you can see the dissatisfaction on Lovies face" or something to that effect and I just had to laugh.... what expression. Whether he's happy, sad, mad, confused, annoyed he has but one expression, the 1000 Yard Stare which is why I think he wears sunglasses so you don't see the obvious deer in the headlights look. If Trent Green can truly differentiate than he's a better man than I.

You can't ignore his flaws because they are a part of his coaching abilities as HC it's his staff. Only if he's made to or pressured to will he cut ties with the guys he's loyal to. Why is it that we seem to get the coaches who have a problem with blind loyalty. DJ had shooper pooper, Lovie has Turner and Babich. I voted F.... but in all honesty he doesn't even deserve an F.

something about freezing my keister off watching a pop warner team get reamed repeatedly by an NFL Playoff team especially one of the teams I hate the most.

I am selling my Monday Night Football tickets and canceled my hotel reservations, so now they will win that game.

we could also be 2-9 two of our 4 wins were close ones as well. IMO Coulda, whoulda, shoulda... Reality is inescapable we are 4-7 and are fortunate to be that. If we had decent coaching and the players played like the gave a crap sure we could have a better record could be a better team.

So what's new. Favre playing to chase records..... naaaaaaaaaaaaa I thought they should have taken prior to his last series. Once Minny took the lead the game was out of reach.

After the game they're praising Favre for spreading the ball around having a great game throwing..... well no shit sherlock, when everyone's wide open and no defender within a 10 yard radius or more and a line that is giving you all day (albeit with legalized holding) he'd be a sucky QB if he couldn't have spread the ball around and gotten all those passing yards. Even Cade McNothing could have had a career day against our D. Why is anyone bragging on the Vikings for dominating us... we suck they should dominate us. If they didn't that would be an indictment on them. first thought after the game was woo hoo another blowout loss. This team is just pathetic, and that's being kind. So when the season ends and we are 4-12 (after being 3-1 after 4 games) They need to sack the entire staff except for Toub. Lovie and his staff need to go, Jerry needs to go, hell let's even replace Ted Phillips. The whole culture needs to change in Chicago. This franchise needs to be a football first franchise that is dedicated to winning. Chicago already has a lovable looser and that's the Cubs. I want to see the Bears franchise to step up and do what is needed to correct this sinking ship. Virginia that means you, your father would be appalled at the crap that is masquerading as an pro football team. It is just sickening. I haven't seen a Bears team this inept since the 90's (my memory doesn't go back much further than the mid 80's) IMHO this is an Epic Fail of a team. That said we do have some players we can build around but we need better builders. It feels like we've entrusted the contract to build a skyscraper to someone who can't even master Lincoln Logs. 1. We have a Franchise QB and you can throw out the stats the guys doing the game today nailed it there's no running game, there's no protection, Jay is being expected to do it all. I don't care who you are or how good you are but when you have to make up for the lack of quality play of the 10 other players around you and expected to make it happen no matter what that is unrealistic. He has made some bad decisions but it is not as bleak as it's being made out to be. 2. We have some talent at WR, Bennet has proven to be a reliable target, Knox has been a pleasant surprise this year, Hester will never be a true #1 but he can be a serviceable WR and has done better at it than I thought he would. DA has looked good when we've let him play. Olsen has been up and down which is disappointing, he either cannot block, or doesn't want to (could be a little of both) he is basicallya receiving TE and Davis could be a weapon in the red zone if we decided to throw to him. 3. RB Despite the lack of production I'm ready to label Forte as a bust. There is rarely any holes to run through. I have to think that his lack of burst has something to do with the hamstring issue he had in camp along with the fact that they had him put on more weight this offseason. The whole weight thing irritates me, IMHO a player should stay at the weight that allows them to be effective no more no less, I think that all players have an ideal weight for their individual talents and skill set. Why do we feel we have to tinker with that? I'm not ready to anoint Bell but I do like how he hit the hole with power. With our O-Line i'ts like Russian Roulette you never know which play will actually produce a hole to run through. More often than not you get a dud of a play and there's only defenders where the hole should be (part of that is lack of creativity, the Defense knows where we're going to try to create the hole, and easily fill it). The only way we surprise the D is by surprising them that we are that stupid. No need to bring up FB because I don't think we have one. 4. OLine...... where to begin who here doesn't suck........ no one's coming to my mind. This has start over written all over it. Kruetz is done, Pace should have retired last year, Omyi'mbad is a waste, Beekman's ok, Williams is still learning, Garza is probably one of our best lineman and that's not saying much. It's really hard to say how much of this is total lack of talent and how much of it is predictable and unimaginative play-calling. When your O-Line is marginal at best and you couple that with play calling that is both predictable and unimaginative. Our line sucks bad, don't get me wrong but our offensive scheme and play calling doesn't help either. If we can call the plays as fans with out the benefit of studying film you know the defense knows what we're going to run and therefore knows our blocking scheme (what an oxymoron) it makes it even easier to negate it. Like taking candy from a baby.... only easier. 5. D Line, there is a severe lack of discipline we jump offsides, and line up in the neutral zone far to regularly. Offsides you can say is over anxious but how is it that we so often have guys lined up in the neutral Zone. That is football 101 that they teach in little league. I don't mind once in a great while jumping offsides, it happens that's just the nature but to have it happen regularly. Complain about the refs all we want but our own stupidity and lack of self control kills us repeatedly. Aggressiveness is an asset but aggressiveness without self-control is asinine. This group is disappointing I admit I was drinking the Marinelli kool-aid this offseason but what has his group done? I didn't expect miracles but I did expect improvement and I don't really see it. 6. LB incomplete we are working with backups outside of Briggs and Urlachers absence from the D is very tangible he knew everyones assignments and was calling the plays and getting guys in position. Sucks that he was as healthy as he'd been in years and gets a fluke wrist injury. But that's the nature of the NFL injuries like that do happen. and you need guys to step up. Hillenmeyer has done a decent job filling in at MLB Roach was totally lost in his stint at MLB but neither are as good as Brian. Briggs is the best LB on the active roster and from there on it goes downhill quickly. When we get Urlacher back next year I have to wonder if Roach is good enough as the 3rd LB or do we need to concider options to upgrade, I think the day is coming when we'll need to replace Urlacher I'd rather start grooming the guy who will step in when Url does hang them up. 7. Secondary..... wow, just bad. but again how much of this is scheme and how much of this is bad players? I'm tired of watching the easy pitch and catch, it's like watching the QB and his receivers doing passing drills in practice with no defenders. The Cover 2 has holes but if executed properly the holes aren't nearly as gaping as ours are. I know we're not always in cover 2 but play a lot of zone. No matter what defense you use if it's not coached properly and not executed properly it will fail. We have safeties not coming over to pick up the WR, we have WR's passing off the WR to where the safety should be rather than staying with his man when the safety doesn't do his job. We don't press at the line (which is scheme) so we allow WR's a free release and not just the stars but anyone. How many times have we seen a 3rd and 8 only to have our DB's give the WR a 10 yard cushion. We can stop teams on first and second down but no matter how long 3rd down is we give them the yardage they need and then some. Our 3rd down D particularly 3rd and mid to long (passing situations) our secondary always seems to give up the first down with little resistance. I think it's bad coaching that the players are continually out of position and look lost, but it's also players who don't understand fundamentals like tackling, pass coverage, etc.... shouldn't these things have been learned in HS and College?. Somehow our players get dumber the longer they play here. 8. Coaching...what can be said that hasn't already been said. this staff needs to go yesterday. They have lost this team completely Lovie, and Ron are useless. Ron's system may have worked at one time but the NFL has changed since then and it's clear that he neither has nor possesses the capacity to change with the times.. Lovie has has run his course, when he took over and we saw the Bears improve and even make it to the SB it seemed that we were finally heading the right direction... since then it has been a steady and rapid decline. I can remember the last time we were this bad but even then it seemed like the players played with more heart but just couldn't get it done they would always fight hard. This Bears team not only sucks but does it with apparent apathy. Outside of a few players I see little emotion, little evidence that they care. I could be wrong and I hope I am but it sure doesn't show. They look like they mailed it in after the Cincy game. At the start of the season I was irritated that we wouldn't play a full game that we'd sleep through the first half but step it up in the second half and 3 out of the first four games we made it competitive at the end winning 2 of them and losing the opener, 1 of those games was against the hapless Lions. Little did I realize that this stretch would be the only bright spot from our season. Lovie taking over the defense has not helped. We blitz more but because we don't show much variation in our blitzes they are easily negated. No one's fooled by the crowd the line and drop into coverage. When we do blitz we rarely get anywhere and further expose a bad secondary. I have to think film study for opposing offenses is considered comedy night. Our D looks stupid enough watching the game once imagine analyzing that as an opposing team's players and coordinators. They probably leave film study thinking if only we could play the Bears 16 times. But what better to balance a sucky defense than with a bland and inept Offense. Even when the defense does it's job the offense does little to hold up their end. Our Red zone offense has gotten worse each week. Only we can take a 70 plus yard return to open a half to start a drive first and goal at the 8 and go backwards 12 yards to settle for a FG. it's like whenever it seems we'ere in position to score I'm not thinking that we'll score but wondering how we'll inevitably screw it up. Will it be an INT, will it be a Fumble, will it be penalties, will it be sacks, will it be dropped passes or over/under thrown passes or a combination of these.... the possibilities are endless.

should have been pass interference Bennet was held well before the ball gets there..... but no flag instead they give Minn the ball and now they just score the TD. Tired of seeing every advantage given to our opponents while we seem to draw every ticky tack foul. Not that that is why we suck but it makes it harder to take.

Lovie challenges the ones he can't win and ignores the ones he should challenge...... up is down and down is up... I think lovie's challenged in a mental area.

just to be different I say the Bears win it in a shocker (ok so I'm avoiding the inevitable) Bears 28 to 17

Exactly what I was thinking. I catch myself thinking they'll never do it but prior to last offseason I thought they'd never go after a franchise QB. Despite the stats and record Jay is a franchise QB. We made the mistake of thinking that bringing him here would instantly make all our problems go away. But back to the point there's always a first time for everything. IIRC didn't Jauron have seasons left on his contract extension when the Bears canned him? Now that's not the same as what we're talking here but still they bought out his contract and brought in Lovie. Maybe this time around they will take the next bold step and buy out the contract for Lovie and possibly Jerry's and bring in a real proven coach. IMHO what the Bears do with Lovie this offseason will tell me a lot about this franchise's dedication to winning. Lovie and Angelo aren't getting it done. The oldest proudest franchise needs to step up and do what's needed to turn the Bears into a dominant franchise.

That is a good point and for the most part Cowher understands the concept of utilizing the talent he has a concept which seems foreign to the current staff. Cordella was a running QB and a crappy throwing QB but he built the offense around what Stewart could and could not do well. Pittsburgh has been a run oriented team because they've had some dam good RB to hand off to. If you have a bulldozer with speed in Bettis and a good change of pace back in Parker why wouldn't you feature the run? Ben is also a very big and mobile QB who can hurt you running the ball. He struggled early in his career in the passing game but didn't exactly have a ton of good targets early. Being a rookie they didn't want to put too much on his plate too quickly. The fact that he has developed into a better passer makes him a more versatile weapon, and shows that Pittsburgh knows how to develop talent. In Chicago we can't develop anything other than apathy. We take marginal guys with potential and ruin them, we bring in talent and waste it. The fear of getting a guy who's previous team was a run oriented team may be a reflex reaction to our "we get off the bus running" bait and switch in which we actually get off the bus stumbling and sleepwalking. We are talking about the difference between a legit coach and an imitation one. Ever since Ditka we've been going from nobody to nobody giving guys their first gig as HC and what do we have to show for it? a handful of mildly successful seasons contrasted with many horrid seasons and one blown Super Bowl appearance. It's time to bring a legit coach in here. Sure we'd have to buy out some contracts and then pay a new coach/GM but like AZ54 pointed out "For his part, Cowher is no dummy he sees a team with the QB and some good talent already on the roster. On top of that our salary cap situation is pretty good and the organization has shown a willingness to spend money. This is a good job to get!" Despite the state of the current product on the field there is talent there to build around we don't have coaches outside of Toub that know how to make good use of it. We bring Jay in and are trying to convert him from a mobile gunslinger to a statue QB behind a horrid line. He probably wakes up in the middle of the night with nightmares of walking to the line of scrimmage to realize he's the only one at the line and on the other side are snarling drooling D-linemen licking their chops. Ron is playing to Jay's weaknesses and avoiding his strengths and wonders why it won't work. IMO if we continue the route of hiring guys who have no experience as HC just be cause they are cheap and are friends with your GM or someone in the org. We will continue the path of wasting high dollar high level talent, not developing young talent, and being out coached regularly. It's time to pay the piper, take the hit, and do what's best for the team. Bears fans deserve better than a staff assembled to the lowest bidder. Us die hard fans who have ardently followed this team and supported it by attending games and buying merchandise deserve to have something worth cheering for.

Amen to that. I'd love to see him roaming our sidelines. He would likely bring in good coordinators. I vote yes x infinity. What as nice Christmas present that would be.

I gained more respect for Donavan after the game. I can't read lips but seeing him seek out Jay and take him aside to talk to him to me shows a lot of class. It was hard to make out what he was saying but I like that he made it a point to talk to him and look to encourage him. It's good to remember that the players really do look out for one another at the end of the day.

Wouldn't mind them giving Toub a look either. He gets results with whoever is in there. It seems like whoever we put back there to return kicks does well. That is a system that works more than it is finding great players. The converse to this is that Special Teams guys are mostly fringe players on your roster they are guys fighting to keep their roster spot and hoping to play well enough to get an expanded role on the team. So the motivation is different. But that in no way diminishes what Toub has done. His Special Teams aren't just good ever few years or so but they are one of the top units every year. That's the mark of a guy who has the players he's given playing at a high level. Which gives me the impression that he knows how to get the most out of all 11 guys on the field. When that is a rotating cast as ST often are it makes it even more impressive that they not only do well but excel.

This is the type of thing that makes these picks so aggravating. We reach for a guy who we have a wonderful (in theory) plan A for him. When that doesn't happen we're caught with our pants down and now we have to figure out a way to find a spot for him by attempting to force a square peg in a round hole and pray he pans out so we don't look totally stupid. Problem is we often look totally stupid. When you draft a guy for a specific purpose you have to consider contingencies.... and I don't mean special teams. I've questioned before and continue to question the logic of the Bears "brain trust" on draft day. It seems like every draft there is 1-3 players that I look at and think What??? It's like Jerry thinks he's so darn clever that he sees what no one else sees and either drafts a guy that makes no sense when you look at team needs or reaches on a guy that could likely have been had later while passing on guys that could make more of an impact. Hindsight is always 20/20 but I know I'm not the only one who is scratching their heads on draft day.

IMO a good friend will be brutally honest when he needs to be. Good friends don't just tell their "friends" what they want to hear or just not say anything in order to not offend. That is a coward and not a friend. Now a friend won't intensionally be hurtful but will be honest. We have a coach who doesn't hold anyone accountable that I'm aware of as a coach you need to be brutally honest with your players criticism is never something someone wants to hear but if you don't push your players to be better then you get what you deserve a team of softies that that don't have the tenacity and grit to be successful in this league or any level for that matter. Looking back I had coaches that at the times I hated their guts but I'll be dammed if they didn't make me better by pushing me. We don't need a screamer or a tantrum thrower but you need a guy who the players respect because they know without a doubt he's in charge that he demands a the best out of each and every player, and not a coach who is more concerned about if his players like him and in doing so looses respect from his players as he is trying to be on the players level by being nice. Sure players like playing for a coach who doesn't ride them or doesn't require them to work to hard. But that's a coach that doesn't care enough to push them to be better.

in hind sight it makes more of a case that he was the bigger problem the rash of fumbled snaps that Rex had which didn't end when Rex was no longer under center. I like Kruetz he's been a beast and has been the identity of the OL for a long time but his skills are slipping and his quickness is gone. It's time to accept this that his career is quickly winding to an end. If we see Beekman is the guy to take over then let's start getting him reps in practice and if possible in game. We need to see if he's ready and so this coming offseason we can either focus on working him into the the starting lineup or finding someone who can take over. I feel like Olin has one maybe two years left.

Every down already feels like 11 vs 4 or 5

Agree and I think his vision more noticeable when there when when there's something there. When your handed the ball and the first thing you see is a defender or the line of scrimmage moving your direction quickly it's hard to visualize anything. It's easy from my fans perspective to see a play and say "Why doesn't he bounce it outside but from his point of view on the field that may not look like a good option. Most run plays we have are doomed from the get go cause we are constantly loosing the battle up front and the opposing Dline is re-establishing the line of scrimmage on our side of the ball. By the time he receives the ball he's one to two steps from being wrapped up. So the question I ask is why do we keep calling the same run plays.. why not design plays to the outside where Forte can find more room. Why not take advantage of teams just collapsing the middle of the line. Use more tosses, sweeps, pitches and off tackle runs. They were talking about Forte on the post game and the points they made were that and I agree he doesn't seem to have the same burst and speed, too often he gets caught from behind when last year he would have taken some of those plays to the house. Is he 100% healthy is the hammy still bothering him and he's not able to fully open up? They also pointed out that they had him put on some weight which could also slow him down. Is it just me or do we do a lot of jacking around with guys weight having players put on or take off weight etc. What's wrong with leaving things alone if the player is effective at their current weight? If Forte was told to put on weight I have to ask, why? He was effective last year weighing less so why beef him, is that supposed to make him tougher, durrable?? We seem to fix what ain't broken and ignore what really is. I think part of the reason our line is doing so poorly is our play-calling. We have a mobile QB but most times we call straight drops and he only rolls out when he's forced to scramble. When we call our run plays we most often run between the tackles. This is what teams have on film so teams know they can concentrate their efforts straight up the gut because thy know that most of the time that's where Jay or Forte will be. Taking advantage of our play calling to exploit already questionable line play. It's bad enough to have bad Line play it's even worse to allow teams to key on that by our own play calling.

The officiating in that game against AZ was horrible Jay had every right to be upset his receivers getting held and interfered with regularly our D Line regularly getting held regularly, and he himself getting hit late often. What irritated me was not that Jay stood up for his team and let the Ref's know it is that I don't ever see Lovie get upset with a bad call or get in the officials ear he just sits there with that blank stare (which is why I believe he wears the sunglasses now so you can't see how lost he looks by his eyes) The Flag I'm iffy on I see players jaw jack refs all game long and nothing but Jay does it once and it's a penalty..... you get screwed by the refs you call them on it and you get flagged. I'm tired of the league officials doing a horrible job in any game you can turn on any game and see crappy officiating they are allowed to get their fat arses in the way of a play that robs teams of a good play or even causes a turnover but that's all good. The min a player gets on them for this crap or makes incidental contact (shoving or hitting I do see as justified) can get fined or flagged. Just seems to be a double standard when they suck a their job and someone calls them on it it's the person who points it out who's in the wrong and should be punished. These officials who are getting hit durring plays IMHO that's the risk you take plus you should be aware of your surroundings and do what you can to avoid being hit or getting in the way. From what I have observed most seem to make little effort to get out of the way and the are surprised when the get hit. I've seen a few where the were nailed from behind while running I think one inparticular durring the Vikings Packers game where it may have been Allen trailing the play and he blatanty pushes the official down. Oddly no flag or fine. In a lot of ways they are like the cop who can speed past you without lights or follow on your bumper for miles but if the roles were flipped you'd get pulled over and ticketed. IMO the league doesn't do enough to keep these clowns accountable for the quality of officiating in the league and at the same time makes it clear that they one one even imply that they are doing a bad job. Players and coaches can be fined for even implying that the officiating in a game was bad, get into too heated of an argument (ie if the Ref doesn't like the argument) can throw the flag and by doing so brings attention to it and can later result in a fine.

Part of the reason we don't stretch the field is because Jay is often running for his life before he can do a three step drop and set his feet. One of the early plays that stood out to me was a play where Chris Williams and a couple other linemen were practically over run and only two linemen held a block. I think a lot of good QB's would struggle here there simply isn't much support around him. But that said he simply needs to do what he can to protect the ball and I'd rather see him take a sack than attempt to throw while he's being plowed. He needs to be aware of the situation with teams not respecting our run game the are just going to play cherry pickers. He tries to squeeze balls into tight places but our receivers don't exactly show much "fight" for the ball. I hate to say it but teams are playing him like they played Rex. Put heat on and rush him into mistakes. Jay needs to be smarter than that.... I thought we were getting a QB who is smarter than that.... and I'm kind wondering if we really did.