defiantgiant

Yeah, the guy can't play center at all, but he's a nasty guard. I'm OK with that - the Bears need a guard worse than a center anyway.

I don't know. I don't think he's the best head coach in the world, and that non-challenge on Cutler's goal-line dive was incredibly stupid, but it's hard to argue that his defense isn't working. They're top-10 in basically every important statistical category: #3 in rushing yards, #8 in total defense, #4 in points allowed, #5 in third-down percentage, #1 in forced fumbles, #6 in interceptions. They've gone against some explosive offenses (Giants, Packers, Lions) and held them to 17 points or fewer. Buffalo hung 34 points on the Ravens' D, but they only scored 19 on the Bears. I haven't been the biggest Lovie fan in the world, but I can't knock his defense so far this season. They're doing what the Tampa-2 is supposed to do: get turnovers, end drives, and prevent scores. The defensive line is finally playing well enough to make Lovie's scheme work, and they're only doing it after Lovie and company purged all of Angelo's draft picks from the starting lineup. Angelo's obsessed with drafting d-line, and the coaches have finally owned up to the fact that they have basically nothing to show for it. THAT'S what makes me say that Lovie is succeeding in spite of Angelo.

I've heard some of the knocks on Jones, and you basically named them all. Kinda inconsistent hands, not the brightest guy, doesn't run the best routes. They're definitely concerns, but those are basically the same problems that people had with Brandon Marshall. I see Jones as Marshall without the laundry list of character issues. However, if AJ Green or Michael Floyd or Jon Baldwin are around when the Bears pick, I could see going with one of them instead of Jones. Oh dude, I totally agree. In a lot of games, Cutler absolutely looked like a quarterback who's staring at the rush, not looking downfield. He's anticipating getting hit, because he usually will. But I think a LOT of that has to do with Martz's offense. He wasn't sacked NEARLY this much last season, behind a line that was at least as bad as the one we've got now. Omiyale is not good, but Pace was the worst left tackle I've ever seen. And Cutler only took 35 sacks all last season, compared to 28 sacks through 7 games this year. I think the difference is movement. Turner, for all his faults, let Cutler roll out of the pocket and escape the rush. Martz keeps him in the pocket WAY too much. And, surprise surprise, when Martz remembers that bootlegs exist (like in the Dallas and Buffalo games,) Cutler does way better. Cutler's really mobile, and just from watching him, you can tell that he's more comfortable when he knows he can get away. Look at the game against Buffalo. It's not just that he didn't get sacked as much: you could see that he wasn't feeling the pressure or making bad decisions. I think if you let Cutler buy time with his feet and give him a go-to WR, he's not going to get rattled by the rush as much. If you add in some checkdowns to Olsen and Forte, so much the better. If we could get all that in place, there's only so much harm Omiyale could do. Sure, the guy's mediocre on his best day, but it'd be possible to live with him for another year, while we wait for a draft with some better tackles in it. And who knows, maybe Webb or Williams will actually develop under Tice, and we can just replace Omiyale with them.

I don't know that it's that clear-cut. I was absolutely against drafting WR before the season started - I wanted Day 1 to go something like tackle-guard-guard, then worry about everything else. But this season, even on the snaps when the protection has held up, the passing game has had real problems. Cutler's taken a lot of sacks from linemen whiffing on blocks or getting blown up, but you can't overlook the coverage sacks he's taken because no one could get open, or the interceptions he's thrown (like 3 of Hall's 4) where his receiver wasn't in the right spot or didn't fight for the ball. Cutler is what he is. I'm not convinced that he's ever going to turn into Kurt Warner. He's been able to rely on his arm strength his whole career - it allows him to throw the ball later and wait longer for his guy to come open. I think that's made it so he never had to develop great timing or anticipation. And we know that he's more than willing to throw into coverage. So he is what he is, but that didn't stop him from being successful in the past. Clearly, Shanahan was able to build an offense around what Cutler can and can't do. So I think the Bears need to look at what made him successful in Denver. Better protection? Sure, especially his last year there. A scheme that used his mobility? Definitely. But he also had a 6'4" 230-pound receiver who is maybe the best in the league at making contested catches. How many of Cutler's completions came because Marshall bailed him out? He had a Johnny Knox/Devin Hester type receiver in Eddie Royal, and they definitely made some big plays down the field, but who did he look to the majority of the time? He threw to Royal a healthy 129 times in 2008, but he threw to Marshall a whopping 182 times. I'm not saying the Bears don't need better protection. They definitely do, especially on the interior line. But they also need to get Cutler back into a scheme that fits him. Stop trying to make him Kurt Warner, let him be Jay Cutler. Put him in an offense that includes all the rollouts and bootlegs that Denver used. Move the pocket around to slow down the rush. Let him buy time with his feet until his guy comes open, and get him a big, strong receiver who can make the tough catches in coverage. That's the formula that made him a Pro Bowler, and there's no reason why it couldn't work in Chicago. There are three or four receivers who fit that Brandon Marshall mold in this year's draft, and they'll probably all be gone before the second round.

Totally agree. Carolina's headed for a major regime change, and Cowher's already hinted that he'd like to stay close to home. Singletary could still end up being a good head coach, but I don't think he was ready from an Xs and Os standpoint. If Lovie gets the axe, I think it'll come down to Toub, Harbaugh, Rivera, Frazier, and maybe Fewell. I'm not optimistic that Frazier will be available, though - I don't see Childress lasting the season, and promoting Frazier to head coach just makes too much sense for Minnesota not to do it. I'd love to get Harbaugh, but he's probably going to have a chance to go somewhere like Buffalo or San Francisco, where he could pick high enough to draft Andrew Luck. Every head coach wants to bring in his own guy at QB; I think Harbaugh might want to go to a team that has a shot at Luck. Still, I'd be happy with Toub or Rivera or Fewell running things. Any of those guys would do a great job.

Is there a reason that it would be ignorant and horrendous? What position do you think they should pick in round 1? EDIT: Before this season started, this is exactly the draft I would have wanted to see. But even when the protection has held up this year, there have been so many miscues between Cutler and the receivers...I think he just needs a go-to guy. Plus, I'm not really thrilled with the crop of tackles this year. It seems like there are knocks on all of them, with the possible exception of Derrick Sherrod, who'll probably be gone by the time the Bears pick. Meanwhile, it's a once-in-a-decade draft for wideouts. If the Bears are sitting at #15 or #16 overall, I could see them having to pick between a top-10-caliber wideout and a 2nd-round-caliber tackle. I'd rather take the receiver, keep Omiyale as a band-aid for the time being, and try to get either Williams or Webb to play up to their potential. In any case, an upgrade at guard (especially if we could get Pouncey - that guy's a beast) would make a world of difference. Also, I've gotten to watch a bunch of UVa games, and it would be awesome if the Bears got Dowling. I don't know if he'd fall all the way to the fourth, even with the unbelievable depth at CB this year, but it'd be sick to get him. I think some team that plays a lot of press-man is going to snap that kid up.

So let's go down the list of likely candidates, according to that article's source: - Dave Toub - Bill Cowher - Leslie Frazier - Ron Rivera - Jim Harbaugh - Mike Singletary ...that's an awesome list. With the exception of Singletary, who I think may not be head-coach material just yet, I'd be happy with any of those guys running the show. Especially Toub: he's done a consistently excellent job with special teams, despite losing tons of his star players to offense/defense/trades/free agency. If he can keep his unit playing at a top-5 level with that much turnover in talent, he's a good candidate for head coach in my mind. Another point: how good is that Philly coaching tree? The article mentions that Toub, John Harbaugh, and Steve Spagnuolo all came up through the Eagles' pipeline, but they should have listed Frazier and Rivera, too. It seems like, with the exception of Childress, every guy who was a coach under Andy Reid and Jim Johnson turns into a pretty good coach himself.

It was DA for like two games. I've never been a believer in that guy. Over half his yards last season came in a single game, one where the Vikes assigned a 5'9" corner with a broken foot to cover him. He's not a total scrub, but he's FAR from consistent, and the Bears really need some consistency at receiver. Give me somebody with DA's size, but who won't drop passes and is always in the spot he's supposed to be.

Yeah, they are. The Bears gave up their 7th to get Unga, but they got a 7th from St. Louis for Kevin Payne. I think it could have conditionally turned into a 6th, but then he got hurt. Yeah, I thought about that once it was all done...I originally had Ben Ijalana from Villanova in the 3rd, instead of Marvin Austin. But given the choice between looking for a FA guard and still having no inside pass rush, I think I'd go with the former. If Tommie or Melton or somebody can get the job done, that pick is another guard for sure. Likewise, if DJ Moore or Josh Moore is the long-term developmental CB they're looking for, then that pick in the 4th could easily be another o-lineman.

Hey man, I'll own up to it - I thought the Bears were going to be fine at receiver as long as they got the o-line straight. Looks like I was wrong. Now, the line's been a giant problem, but everybody who said we didn't have a go-to WR was definitely right. This season has convinced me that Cutler needs a WR who can win some jump balls and fight off DBs when Jay rockets one into double coverage. Check out my mock draft thread if you need any further proof.

We're at the halfway point now, and there are some pretty obvious holes in the Bears' roster. It's always possible that some of them will be filled by season's end: Chris Williams could learn to play guard, one of our receivers could make the jump to a legit #1, Tommie Harris could reemerge as a great interior pass-rusher. At this point, though, none of that seems too likely. So if the season were over next week, who would you want in the draft? Here's my ideal scenario. 1) Julio Jones, WR, Bama - Cutler needs a go-to guy. I didn't buy it before this season, but now I'm convinced. As good as he is, he's always going to force a couple of passes into coverage, so he needs a receiver who can make contested catches. Julio Jones is that receiver. If he's around when the Bears pick (which is possible) they've got to pull the trigger. He's great over the middle, a huge target in the red zone, and has a ridiculous vertical to go up for jump balls. Plus, he's harder to bring down than any other receiver in this year's draft, and he has a stiff-arm like T.O. or Brandon Marshall. This is a guy who could make Cutler look like a Pro Bowler again. 2) Marcus Cannon, OT/OG, TCU - Huge left tackle who'll probably have to move to the right or inside in the pros. Is surprisingly good in pass protection for a guy who goes 6'5" and 358 pounds. Is a total bulldozer in the run game. In Chicago, Cannon could move to left guard, kicking Chris Williams back out to tackle where he belongs. With a guy his size on the interior line, the Bears might be able to establish a running game again. Failing that, he could take Garza's spot at RG, if the staff feels like Williams/Omiyale/Garza can get it done at LG. Cannon and Webb would make for a hell of a road-grading right side. Either way, he'd give the Bears a lot more power up front and some good positional flexibility. 3) Marvin Austin, DT, UNC - Similar to Tampa's Mike Williams, Austin is a 1st-round talent who looks primed to freefall after getting kicked off the team for unspecified violations of team rules. Comes with concerns about his maturity and character off the field, as well as his instincts and consistency on the field. That said, if he falls all the way to the top of the 3rd, the Bears need to make a move and get him. Athletes like Austin don't come around that often. He has unreal speed and agility for a 6'2" 310-pound man, and he's powerful enough to play over the nose (although he'd be more valuable as an under-tackle in Chicago.) Needs to work on his technique in several areas: he can play too high, his spin move isn't exactly Dwight-Freeney-esque, and he sometimes doesn't seem to know where the play is going. Moving from UNC's read-and-react defense to a one-gap penetrating scheme should help with his mental errors, and Marinelli can train him up on his technique. The bottom line: Lovie's Tampa-2 needs a pocket-collapsing interior push to go with the edge rush from Peppers. Austin can definitely provide that. 4) Marcus Gilchrist, DB, Clemson - Peanut has been an awesome corner for years now, but he's starting to wear down. He may have another good season left, but he'll be 30 when the draft rolls around. Time to start developing somebody behind him. Gilchrist offers average size (5'11" 190) with well-above-average speed and athleticism, having been timed as fast as 4.38 in the 40. He's racked up a ton of tackles for Clemson (which is essential in the Tampa-2,) but he can also man-cover, which is important when the Bears go to one of their Cover-1 blitzes. On top of that, he's versatile - he has played corner, nickel back, and free safety at Clemson, and he returns kicks too. His best fit is in the NFL is probably at corner, where the ridiculous bumper crop of 1st-2nd round prospects this year will push him down in the draft. In an ordinary year, he might be a high 3rd-round pick. 5) Lawrence Wilson, OLB, UConn - he's a little undersized for most defenses, but not for the Tampa-2. Plus, he's been a tackling machine on the weak side for Connecticut. At a minimum, should be a valuable special teamer. At best, could potentially develop into Lance Briggs' successor. 6) Zane Taylor, C, Utah - Kreutz isn't going to last forever, and there's no clear replacement waiting in the wings, now that Beekman's off the team. Edwin Williams has some experience at center, but he's been pretty underwhelming when he's been on the field. Taylor could develop into a starting-quality center with some tutelage from Kreutz and Mike Tice. At 6'2" 300 pounds, he's not much bigger than Kreutz, but he's a lot stronger than his frame would seem to indicate (41 bench reps, squats 565.) He's tough and plays through the whistle, and he's a smart guy, too. 7) Robert Hughes, FB/RB, Notre Dame - he goes 5'11 and 245 pounds, and rotates in at halfback when he's not playing fullback. He could give the Bears a real lead blocker to help Forte (who generally does MUCH better running behind a fullback) and should be able to solve their short-yardage problem to boot. Plus, he's a local Chicago kid.

Even if we'd gotten TO and Moss, Jerry (or whoever's running the draft in April) would still need to get help at receiver. By the time the draft rolls around, those two combined will be 71 years old. It's pretty incredible that they've stayed productive this long - you can't build for the future on guys who only have a year or two left. Getting Moss and TO might have helped this season, but if we're talking about the effect on next year's draft and beyond, they would have hurt the Bears a lot. Much better to get a good long look at Knox/Hester/Bennett, figure out what we've got, then go get somebody like AJ Green or Julio Jones in the draft.

Yeah, I have no problem if Lovie gets this team to the playoffs and saves his job. I can't say the same for Angelo, on the other hand. If the Bears do get into the postseason this year, it'll be in spite of Angelo's drafting, not because of it.

Yeah, going 4-4 in the second half is about the best we can expect, I think. Could easily be more like 3-5 or 2-6. As for Martz's offense, I think it's clearly still relevant in the NFL. If anything, it's getting more relevant as time goes on: the rules changes to protect quarterbacks and receivers just keep increasing the incentive to throw the ball. That said, I think his offense is kind of like Lovie's defense - you need a couple of All-Pro-caliber players and a couple more Pro Bowlers in order to run it. Martz made his name when he had Orlando Pace, Kurt Warner, Isaac Bruce, Torry Holt, and Marshall Faulk. Lovie and the rest of the Tampa-2 guys had Warren Sapp, Simeon Rice, Derrick Brooks, Ronde Barber, and John Lynch. Their systems made the best use of their players' skills, for sure, but they each had a ridiculous collection of talent in the first place. In my mind, the measure of a good coach isn't how he uses a borderline-Hall-of-Fame player, it's how he uses everybody else. That's what's so impressive about Bill Belichick: he keeps pulling guys out of nowhere and turning them into contributors. His scheme changes almost every year, because he's always adapting to the personnel he's got. I think that's the real reason that Martz was out of a job: Detroit and San Francisco made it pretty clear that he thinks he can run his same scheme regardless of the players he has.

I don't think you can argue that Rice was purely a product of Montana and Young. He was a phenomenal route runner and he was famous for beating double coverage...those don't have anything to do with the quarterback. In fact, if anything, having a guy who can run great routes and make catches when he's doubled will make your quarterback look better. On the other hand, clearly receivers benefit from having great QBs. It's a chicken-and-egg problem - there's no way to say whether Rice helped his QBs more than they helped him. That said, I don't think anybody would argue that Rice was a system receiver. In fact, he was so dominant in college that they built their system around him. Check out this old film of Mississippi Valley State running what they called the "Satellite Express". Right away, the formations look really weird - you'll see three or four receivers in a stack or bunch formation to one side, and one guy split to the other. That one guy is Jerry Rice. He was such a threat that he drew double- and triple-teams on every single play, so MVSU just put four receivers to the other side and threw it to the uncovered guy every play. When teams finally did single-cover Rice, he'd burn them. I mean, I'll agree that Payton and Brown were obviously doing it all themselves, much more so than Rice. But running back is just a more do-it-yourself position. There's no top-10 list for the best quarterbacks at handing it off. And if greatness means getting the ball every snap with no help from anybody, then clearly the #1 spot belongs to Barry Sanders. Brown and Payton had less help than Rice, but Sanders had less help than anybody I can think of, and it's not even close. Let's put it this way - if they had picked Payton or Brown over Rice, I'd probably think it was a good pick. But I can't come up with a strong argument AGAINST picking Rice, either. When you're choosing between the 4 or 5 best players to ever suit up, it's just a really close call.

That's the frustrating thing. Clearly Martz CAN BE smarter, more creative and less predictable than Turner was...he proved that in the Cowboys game and the Panthers game. But he goes right back to the air any time he thinks he's got the game in hand. With Turner, it just seemed like he wasn't smart enough to call anything except "run inside, run off tackle, play action pass, punt." Whenever he tried to change up his gameplan, his adjustments were a joke. Remember the inside-out set with the TEs split wide and the receivers in the slot? Or all those incredibly obvious bubble screens to Hester? Using Olsen as a goal-line fullback, or running Wolfe up the gut? Every time Turner tried to change his predictable old gameplan, he came up with something stupid and ineffective. That's what frustrates me so much watching Martz call plays. He clearly CAN switch up his gameplan, and when he has to get creative, his adjustments usually work, which is more than you could say for Turner. But if the game's in reach, he won't adjust, because he'd rather bomb it downfield on every single snap. He won't run when the Bears are leading. He won't run when they're down 3 and within field goal range. He won't call halfback screens or quick hitches when the pass protection sucks. The guy's clearly competent sometimes, but mostly his playcalling just has no relationship with reality. If Ron Turner needed 3 yards on 3rd down, he'd call a fullback dive and get 1, then punt. If Martz needs 3 yards on 3rd down, he calls a deep in/post combo and gets Cutler sacked. Turner's calls were too conservative, but Martz's calls are insanely aggressive, often when they don't need to be.

I can see Jerry Rice being #1. Nobody's ever come close to Jerry Rice's records for receptions, receiving yards, or TDs. I don't think anybody's going to get close, either. Isaac Bruce was about 7500 yards short of Rice when he retired. T.O. just moved into second place ahead of Bruce, but even if he were to start putting up 100 yards a game, EVERY game, he wouldn't break Rice's record until Game 1 of the 2015 season. He'd be 41. I don't think that's happening. Same thing for touchdowns. That record's a little more reachable, but the #2 guy (T.O. again) is 48 touchdowns behind Rice. Again, he'd probably need 4 or 5 more seasons of top-level production to catch Rice. That's not happening. Marvin Harrison retired more than 400 receptions short of Rice. The closest active player is (again) T.O. and he's almost 500 receptions short. So it seems pretty clear that T.O.'s not going to be the one to catch Rice, and I don't know that any other active player is going to do it either. But suppose there's some up-and-coming receiver like AJ Green, some guy who isn't in the league yet but is going to be the next big thing. Let's suppose AJ has a nice long career - say 15 years, playing until he's 38. He'll need to put up 104 catches for 1527 yards and 13-14 touchdowns every year for his whole career to pass Jerry Rice. He'd need to average 6.5 catches for 96 yards and a TD per game and NEVER miss a game in 15 years. That's ridiculous.

If that happens (and god knows it could) Martz needs to get fired before he gets on the plane. If Martz won't run the ball 20 or 25 times against the worst run defense since the '08 Lions, he's too stupid or stubborn to call plays in the NFL. The dude calls every play like it's the two-minute drill and he's down three scores.

Couldn't agree more. The Bears desperately needed to stack a couple of wins against Washington and Seattle. That was, by far, the easiest stretch of their schedule - they needed to be at least 5-2 coming out of the bye. It's going to be hard to get to a winning record now, unless the offense miraculously starts playing like the '99 Rams. As for the rest of the schedule, I think I'm a little more optimistic than you are, but not much. I see it like this: Buffalo W Minnesota W Miami W Philly L Detroit L NE L Minnesota W Jets L GB L Minnesota looks uncharacteristically mediocre on defense and their passing game is a mess. There's no telling if Harvin will be ready for the first Bears-Vikes game, and when the second one rolls around Sidney Rice may be less effective, since he's coming off hip surgery. I don't know about you, but Berrian and Greg Camarillo don't scare me much. Plus, Childress is losing control of that locker room and Favre doesn't look like he'll last the season. I could see the Bears sweeping, if everything goes their way. Miami's playing decently well on defense (which I'd expect under Mike Nolan) but on offense, they're just not putting up points. They've struggled to score on some creampuff defenses (Patriots, Bengals, Bills) and the Bears are the #3 defense in points/game. I think that'll be a 14-10 kind of game, but a win for Chicago nonetheless. Detroit is just too good on offense and on the d-line to lose another game to the Bears. They're trending upward in a BIG way, and the Bears barely squeaked by them the first time around, even after knocking Stafford out of the game. Detroit has the highest-scoring offense in the NFC, and they've done it playing with a career backup at quarterback. With Stafford back in the game, that's an even more dangerous offense. Plus, I saw what Suh and company did to the Redskins' o-line...I don't like Cutler's chances. As for the rest of the schedule, I just don't see any more wins. The Jets are average on offense, but they're a brick wall on D. New England's D is bad, but they're putting up nearly 30 points a game. The Packers and Eagles are strong on both sides of the ball. I just don't see the Bears beating any of them. ...so, at the end of the year, I think Chicago goes 8-8, splits with two of three division rivals, misses the playoffs again, and everybody gets fired. It's a shame: it looks like they've finally gotten the defense sorted out, but they're wasting yet ANOTHER season because Angelo refuses to invest in an offensive line. I only hope that Angelo doesn't manage to pin it on the coaching staff and save his own job; he's more to blame than Lovie is.

Eh, the problem with Anderson was never his speed. It was always that he didn't have anything other than that outside speed rush. If he starts pulling some Dwight Freeney spin moves in Houston, THEN I'll be pissed.

Brad Childress jumps to mind.

I'd bring him back if he'll sign for the vet minimum. Idonije's playing too well to give up the starting spot, but he and Pep have to get a breather sometimes, and I'd rather have Wale coming off the bench than Barry Turner.

Yeah, I can't make any rational argument for it. Turner's been a beast in Atlanta, and our short-yardage/goal-line offense would definitely be better with a guy his size running the ball. Turner and a 2nd is better value than Forte, no question. But if it were me pulling the trigger, I just couldn't bring myself to not pick Forte; he WAS the offense his rookie year, and that was so awesome to watch. Just one of those irrational sports-fan things.

This is right on the money. Lots of teams in the league could benefit from having an elite deep-ball specialist. The Bears aren't one of them. Moss gives up on routes, he doesn't fight for the ball over the middle, he has lapses in concentration...all the things the Bears' existing receivers have been struggling with. And sure, he's an upgrade over Knox and Hester for go routes, but that's not where the Bears need to upgrade. Moss doesn't bring the things to the table that the Bears are missing. They'd be much better served with a reliable over-the-middle WR like Anquan Boldin or Brandon Marshall than a straight-line guy like Moss. Moss' other big value is as a coverage magnet, but I'm not sure that would help the Bears either. Sure, teams will roll extra coverage to him, and they'll play more guys in deep coverage to take away Moss as a home run threat. But you need to capitalize on the room he frees up underneath with lots of short, quick throws. The Pats did that with Welker, and the Vikings were doing it with Harvin before they cut Moss. But Martz has never incorporated a Welker/Harvin role into his offense. There's no way he's going to dial up shallow crosses and slants 20 times a game. Hell, he even sends his running backs on posts and fades. I just don't see it.