selection7

If you're the big man on campus, you don't settle for some internet girlfriend you've never met for years on end. There's something else going on here. At the least Manti is either incredibly stupid or he has some sort of emotional/mental problem. Normal people do not do what Manti has allegedly done. Even the posters on here talking about the stupid things they once did would never have done something like this. In fact, normal people of any age wouldn't do such a thing period, much less ones who are also in the public eye and with so much to lose. If I'm GM, I'm going to be very careful that I'm not drafting a flake, especially at a high pick. I will agree that though that if he was in on it, he didn't do it to try to win the Hesiman. As possible as that seems in hindsight, beforehand that would have seemed incredibly hare-brained to anyone also clever enough to pull it off.

I think what's really in question here is Marinelli as a DC. And his worst year was still better than the best year of the guy before him. While I can agree that having Tillman, Urlacher, Peppers, and Briggs on your D makes your job easier, to have the kind of success Marinelli has had (plus, guys like Melton and Timmy Jennings developed under his watch) is plenty good enough to suggest that anyone who thinks that he'll be easily replaced is taking the success of our D for granted. Still, "a significant loss" might be more appropriate than "huge, huge issue", especially since we ought to be able to attract a pretty good DC.

I thought Melton had already made the Pro-Bowl? What do you mean by "drop off"? EDIT: hehe, oops, this is for All-Pros, not the Pro-Bowl. ...little bit of a reading-comprehension snafu there.

For the record, I usually come down on the side that defends Jay's attitude. So Jay aside, it's not 7th round draft pick Jamarcus Webb's fault that he may be the best we have to offer at LT. Or that we traded away a crazy amount of value that could have been used to obtain OL. That was on Jerry Angelo, and obviously he didn't get a return on his investment quickly enough to save his own job, so you can't say no one's been held accountable either. I want to add that Jamarcus didn't all of a sudden start playing worse than usual after that spat (as some suggested he might), and Cutler didn't show any lingering signs of anger towards him. Apparently we're the only ones who can't let it it go.

I know what you mean, but let me throw in that we've yet to see sustained success from that QB style of play. Cam did well but still came back down to earth this year in the sense that he had the same number of turnovers but managed 7 less TDs. Vick bombed (as he did years ago). RGIII may never be the same after his injury (the one that effectively ended the Redskins' season). I'm not sure I can forsee the NFL's paradigm shifting such that QBs get used up and traded in for a newer model like RBs currently are. We'll have to wait and see if these QBs can take the punishment year after year.

I remember back when Rodgers was being hyped to no end like he'd been to 6 Super Bowls. I made a comment on here about how hard it is to get to the big game, much less win it, and that it wouldn't shock me if Rodgers never wins another Super Bowl. I didn't get much response and I imagine most people saw that comment as a stretch, but now you see what I was talking about. He's a great QB, but it takes some good fortune, not just talent, to finish a career with multiple rings, and it's not going to get any easier for the Packers any time soon.

RGIII probably felt pressured to stay in and be a "leader". Cutler didn't give a crap what anyone thought (so much so that he didn't even bother looking injured). Sometimes there are advantages to the latter style of leadership.

I'm not saying we shouldn't draft a replacement if it's the right guy, but I think some of you are counting out Urlacher a little too early. Remember a couple of seasons ago when he got injured and people were talking about trading him and how his career was winding down? The next year he put up one of his best seasons. Last year was a pretty good year too. He may not be what he used to be, but when healthy he's still better than any rookie. We never win more games than we lose when Urlacher is out, and this season was no exception. I wouldn't be in such a hurry to expedite his exit.

Just depends how blatantly we're going into rebuilding. He's our best DE, without doubt. Double digit sacks and is a playmaker. We would need to find a team that is decidedly not rebuilding and needs a playmaker right now.

According to those stats, Lance Louis is our best pass blocker, Carimi is our best run blocker (overall - passing = running), and either Webb our Lance Louis is our best lineman overall. Not sure I trust those stats, but it's interesting.

Yeah, that occurred to me. 2nd rounders aren't automatic starters. Relistening to the interview, what Emery actually says is "there were no left tackles taken during that time that came out better than Jamarcus". "During that time" is vague, but does seem to refer to what was available when it was the Bears' turn to pick in the 2nd round. So he doesn't address the idea of trading up, nor does he justify the 1st round pick, though he says he'll talk about it later if anyone asks him about it. That Tribune site link just grinds for me and ChicagoBears.com doesn't have the end of the press conference, so I don't know what he eventually said about that 1st round pick. Anyway, while Emery can't prove that any tackle taken at our 2nd round pick would not have been a better pick than Alshon, no one can prove there was a tackle that would have been a better pick either...at least not at this point in time, and that's a plus for Emery. Had Emery passed on some kid that ended up getting some offensive line rookie award on another team, that would've looked really bad.

According to Emery, using the stats website he used for evaulation, you can check it yourself. He said no player drafted from our second round pick down graded out better than Jamarcus after these last 16 games worth of play. And only one graded out ever so slightly better than Carimi. I'm too lazy to check myself but I'd be curious to read about someone else fact checking him.

Just for the record, I didn't really care either way. Lovie is a class act and I hate to lose him. But there's a chance we'll replace him with someone who can coach defense and offense. How I'll feel when it's all said and done will all depend on who we replace him with.

That may be the toughest schedule I've seen us play in a long time. Cleveland is the only easy game, though possibly Philly could implode this offseason rather than regroup.

Obviously the Super Bowl is more important. But the Super Bowl comes with an asterisk if you not only don't win the head to head matchups with them in the regular season but also lose the division. ...best team in the league...but second best in your division. Not cool. In a sense, that's not just a hypothetical, though the roles were reversed. If you remember, the year the pack won the SB, we actually won the division. They can say it doesn't bother them, but I haven't forgotten, and it makes it worth a little less when you know you left something for your rivals to hang their hat on. Just as importantly, Lovie came into Chicago with his first goal to beat Green Bay. He started off great, but these days he rarely beats them. Acceptable if we were contending for Super Bowls, but we're not, so what's he left with? If that's your goal, then you'd better have some level of success at it. Simple as that.

Dave Wannstedt got fired after going 10-6 in his last full season. And he had been averaging over 10 wins per season and had made the playoffs twice in his past 4 years. Of course it took going 1-8 midway through the very next season, which hopefully we won't have to endure here in Chicago.

It's a weird thing for me. This season it's been like "so that's what it's like to have a blue chip WR on your favorite NFL team." Often, I can tell when it's Marshall who has caught a pass without even seeing his jersey number yet because of his body language...namely, the athleticism and decisiveness with which he competes for and secures catches.

I never saw the talent on the field either. But, then again, 17 passes thrown his way in his second season on a staff that was clearly not pushing him. I'd bet Marshall's been targeted that much in one game. So there's no way you or I could know much about him really. Even blue chip talents often come out of the draft and struggle before eventually succeding. Guy's like him don't get much of a chance, much less coddled like the 1st round talents do.

...for trying real hard! But, yeah, either for lack of talent or because our staff was mostly apathetic towards him, he didn't really have a future here. He might be better off with a change of scenery.

Hmmm. It even says we have the NFL's #1 defense. So do people agree DVOA is a good stat for doing "power rankings" (so-to-speak)?

Jennings and Melton...both playing great, but it's so hard to make the Pro Bowl unless you have a previous reputation, I'm still very surprised.

[edit: misread you] Hey, man you're basically repeating everything I said. You have the right and he has the right. That's not profound. And you dont' have to stay home on game day and Urlacher doesn't have to retire over it...and there you go. It's the reaction to his reaction that bothers me. Not only is it his right, he is right. There's too many other players that think it but won't be sincere because they're scared. Stand behind your convictions, I say. Well, upon further thought, I take exception with you on two levels. Like I said before, you dont' cheer him on as a favor, so don't pretend like you do. Also, he's only told you to "stick" your opinions in one very specific situation...when you're booing at their home field the home players who just played their hearts out and are sick over losing. Almost every other way you express your opinions he is not telling you off over. That's more than reasonable.

I, too, was starting to wonder if Jeffery had lost his mind. It was like he thought maybe the rules didn't apply to him, even in the face of getting flagged over and over. Maybe if he hadn't been the cause of interference so many times earlier, the refs would've given him more credit on that last non-call.

I don't have a problem with any of it. In fact, I'm kind of happy he has the balls to say it. Fans don't respect the way the players play the game? That's their prerogative. Players don't respect the way the fans express themselves when times are rough? That's their prerogative. We don't cheer them on as a favor and they don't play for us as a favor. Anybody doesn't like it? Tough. It's the way it is. For me, the thing that smacks of arrogance is telling Brain Urlacher he can't be pissed about getting booed by his own fans for playing hard. Any player that has even an ounce of pride in his fans should expect more out of us than that, and I'm glad he does. In reality, that doesn't mean we're always going to behave with character, just like reality is he's not always going to play well. That's life in the big city (of Chicago).

I didn't say Cutler hasn't had it tough here. And I certainly know that his best bargaining chip is that we don't currently have any other option. What I was saying is essentially that if he manages to get paid like an elite QB (his insinuation), then he'll be on track to be the first QB in history to go a whole career both getting talked about...and paid like he's elite while only showing it on the field once in a blue moon. Because for whatever Cutler's reasonable excuses may be, plenty of other QBs have had reasonable excuses through the years, and it didn't change that once the honeymoon period is over, ultimately this league expects results...either team or personal, if not both...but certainly not neither. Cutler's a respected starting QB in th NFL, of course it'll be a big contract. But I think Cutler could have said he'll give a hometown discount without the insinuation that his contract could merit some sort of salary cap buster, even if slightly in jest. On a related note, I do like that he's said he's refraining from becoming a big commercial pitchman (he's done a couple here and there) until he's proved himself more in Chicago. So I'm not saying anything negative about his general attitude, just that one comment. Anyway, at least for myself, I'm tired of "wait until next year" to see Cutler take that leap. He's a very good QB, and I'm satisfied with that. We don't need a new one, and I enjoy watching him. But I'm not expecting much more. We need to add more pieces. We're basically an offense with one star player, a couple of very good ones (Cutler and Forte--who I would've called a star before this current season), and a bunch of middling to poor players. I'm pretty sure at this point Cutler isn't going to have some magical effect on his teammates and bring everyone around him up a notch like the elite QBs do.