defiantgiant

Have to disagree with this one part. I think the Jets are likely to have an excellent defense this year. They've got a sick group of 3-4 LBs with the addition of Bart Scott, and Lito Sheppard-Darrelle Revis is a great corner tandem. Their d-line might not have one individual player on Haloti Ngata's level, but they're a good unit. Kris Jenkins is no slouch and Shaun Ellis is a beast. I wouldn't be surprised at all if the Jets had a top-10 defense under Rex Ryan. Probably not top-5, but they should be a lock for the top 10.

From the Sun-Times: Cutler passes on chance to lobby for Plaxico Burress, Brandon Marshall Jay Cutler is ready to roll with the wide receivers he has on the roster right now. Really, what else could the Bears' new quarterback say Wednesday afternoon when the team completed its offseason program. Players will show up Thursday, but the final day is usually reserved for a bowling outing. There will not be any more work on the field. "I'm 100 percent comfortable [with the wide receivers],'' Cutler said. "I think we added some depth with some younger guys and then some of the older veterans are stepping up and playing well. So I think we've got more than enough to compete.'' It's easy to link Cutler with his former teammate Brandon Marshall, who has made it public he would like to be traded out of Denver. The Bears would seem more likely to pursue a guy like Plaxico Burress. With the Broncos already holding the Bears' first-round pick in 2010, the Bears don't have a lot of ammunition to trade. Then, they would have to hand Marshall the contract he's seeking that has him upset in the first place. Marshall has had more off-field trouble than Burress, who faces gun charges in New York. "I haven't talked to Brandon Marshall,'' Cutler said. "He's a great player, Brandon is, and I played with him for three years, put up a lot big numbers with him, and wherever he ends up, obviously he's going to be successful. Whether or not it's here, that's up to the guys upstairs, but as of right now, I'm 100 percent happy with what we've got." Cutler placed a call to Burress shortly after he was traded to the Bears, and the Bears have touched base with Burress' agent Drew Rosenhaus about the player. "If it [the Bears land Burress], it happens,'' Cutler said. "I'm not going to speculate on whether or not we're going to go get him or not. The guys we have right now, I'm 100 percent confident in and comfortable with. We'll just have to wait down the road and see what happens with that.'' Devin Hester and Earl Bennett spent most of the time with the first team at practice. Brandon Rideau and Rashied Davis were also worked in. "I think we've got one,'' Cutler said when asked if the team had a No. 1 wide receiver. "I think we've got one in Devin, and I think Earl is going to be dangerous on the back side as well."

Right - I'm pretty sure that in Florida you have to prove that the DUI directly caused the victim's death in order to find someone guilty of DUI manslaughter. If Stallworth hadn't taken a guilty plea in exchange for a lighter sentence, they might have had a tough time convicting him, since his attorneys may have been able to argue that he could not have avoided hitting the victim even if he had been sober. It's a technicality, sure, but I bet the prosecution didn't want to risk Stallworth getting off on a technicality. I'm not trying to make excuses for what he did, but I'm pretty sure that's why he was able to avoid significant jail time.

Stallworth took a plea deal. Simple as that. If Plax had taken the plea deal his lawyers worked out for him, he'd already be out of jail. Also, Stallworth's plea wasn't just 30 days. It's 30 days in jail, two years of house arrest, 10 years of probation, and he can never drive a car again for as long as he lives.

I don't agree. A good Tampa-2 should be close to the top of the league in yards, as well. The one worrisome thing about the Tampa-2 is that it's sort of boom-or-bust. The defense is predicated on creating opportunities to stop an opponent's drive with a turnover, so it relies on an extremely high level of execution to be successful. Basically it calls for defenders to reliably strip ballcarriers, intercept passes, or sack the QB. If they can't do that, the Tampa-2 just turns into a defense that gives up yards. When a Tampa-2 defense is working at an elite level, it allows very, very few points and should be close to the top of the league in turnovers. It should also be allowing relatively few yards. When something goes wrong (like we saw in 2007 and 2008) then a Tampa-2 gives up both yards and scores. The 2005 Bears were 2nd in the league in picks with 24, 9th in sacks with 41, 12th in forced fumbles with 26, and 5th in passes broken up. In 2006, they ranked 2nd, 8th, 3rd, and 1st in those respective categories. The 2005 Bears led the league in scoring defense, and the 2006 Bears were 3rd. But here's the thing: in 2005, they were 2nd in the league in yards allowed, giving up only 281 total yards per game; in 2006 they were 5th. So when this defense was successful, it was BOTH a great scoring defense and a great yardage defense. The problem is just that the scheme requires such an elite performance from the players that things go downhill badly when just a couple of guys can't do their jobs.

PFT says there are "rumors" that Cleveland is interested in sending Josh Cribbs and draft picks for Brandon Marshall. The speculation is that acquiring Marshall would allow them to deal Braylon Edwards. If that's all true, then the Bears don't need to deal for Marshall, we need to deal for Edwards. Even more so than Marshall, Edwards would get this team right back to the playoffs. Plus, we wouldn't have to worry about Edwards getting arrested every season.

Well, they'd have a pretty explosive offense if they brought Burress on board. Antonio Bryant and Burress at wideout, Kellen Winslow and Jerramy Stevens at TE, and a RB platoon of Derrick Ward, Earnest Graham, and (if he can get healthy) Cadillac Williams. Tampa's got a very good o-line, too. Even with Byron Leftwich under center, that would be a very solid offense.

OK, I think I understand you a little better now. But you pointed out that the whole thing for a head coach is the team's success, and I think that's very valid. Like you said, Billick got a pass for his crappy offense, because Rex Ryan's defense was winning them games. But here's the original post from nfo that started this whole discussion off: "Just a thought, but what happens if our offense is actually solid this year, but our defense (w/o significant injuries) sucks." All my posts were addressing what I thought we might do if the offense brings us some success while the defense stays mediocre. Let me get this clear: if we go 6-10 or whatever this year, I think Lovie's in danger of losing his job. Three disappointing seasons in a row is generally a problem for a head coach. But in my previous posts, I was trying to say what I thought we should do if Lovie is a reverse-Brian-Billick: if the Bears do well despite the defense that he was hired to run. If that's the case, you're at least doing something right, and it's not the time to fire your head coach. If you have one underperforming unit on a successful team, you bring in a new guy to help that unit out. Basically, I think you hire or fire coordinators based on how their individual units are performing. I think you hire/fire head coaches, regardless of whether their background is offense or defense, based on whether your team is winning and getting to the playoffs. If Lovie's defense sucks but we still win games and make it to the postseason, like Billick and the Ravens' offense, then I think it's time to get Lovie a good DC, not time to fire the guy.

You're kind of begging the question here. You're ignoring the contributions of all those coaches' respective defensive coordinators, then trying to use that as evidence that the head coach is solely responsible for his defense. It sounds like you're basically saying "a defensive coach is hired to build a good defense. If the defense is bad, the coach gets fired. Therefore, if the coach wasn't fired, the coach built a good defense." But to make that argument work, you have to ignore any other factors (like a great DC) that contribute to a good defense and therefore to the defense-oriented HC not getting fired. Which is silly. Seriously, you can't say that Dungy would have had a good defense in Tampa "Kiffin or not," because he never coached the Bucs without Kiffin as his DC. It's totally possible that the Bucs wouldn't have been a great defense without Kiffin. In fact, it's more than possible - look at Dungy's defenses in Indianapolis, when he had defensive coordinators who weren't on Kiffin's level. Were they pretty good? Sure. Were they at the level of the Dungy/Kiffin Bucs? Not even close. I'm not saying Lovie didn't screw up by letting Rivera walk, or that Babich wasn't a failure as a DC. I'm saying that if he can't build us a dominant defense by himself it doesn't mean he's a bad coach, it just means that we need to bring in another good DC. Lovie/Rivera was potentially a combination like Dungy/Kiffin or Tomlin/LeBeau. I think it's perfectly OK to hire a head coach who specializes in defense and also give him a great DC to work with, in fact, if that's going to get our defense back to the 05-06 level, I'm all for it. I'm hoping that Rod Marinelli can take over the Rivera role: a guy who doesn't have exactly the same approach that Lovie does, but who can be a good complement to Lovie's style and elevate our defensive play. Marinelli definitely brings an edgy quality to the table that Lovie doesn't have. Every clip I've seen of him, he's stalking up and down the field yelling his head off. We need some of that on our defense.

Yeah, and it's got to be great for kids with diabetes to talk to him, especially since Jay's a young guy who just got diagnosed pretty recently. I'm sure he can relate to what they're going through, and it sounds like he was really emphasizing how it hasn't stopped him from being great at what he does. Great thing to do on his part.

Just because Lovie was a defensive coordinator and defense is his background, that doesn't mean he has to be solely responsible for the defense. It also doesn't mean he doesn't have other strengths as a head coach. Look at Mike Tomlin: he was a defensive backs coach, then a defensive coordinator, then got hired to be the Steelers' head coach. He's a defensive-minded guy, sure, but Dick LeBeau runs that defense. The two of them working together are arguably better than any one guy at running a tough defensive football team. Same story with Tony Dungy: he was a DBs coach, then a defensive coordinator, then got a head coaching job with the Bucs based on his reputation as a defensive guru. Despite being hired for his D prowess just like Lovie, Dungy still had a big-shot coordinator, Monte Kiffin, running the defense. In fact, the Tampa 2 that they put together in those years is at least as much Kiffin's blueprint as it is Dungy's. I could go on: John Fox had Jack Del Rio running his defense. Jeff Fisher had Gregg Williams and Jim Schwartz running his. Bill Cowher gets a lot of love (and rightly so) on these forums, but his last couple of years in Pittsburgh he had Dick LeBeau running the defense, the same as Tomlin does. These guys are all defensive-minded head coaches, but it doesn't mean they can't have a powerful defensive coordinator in the picture. In fact, I'd argue that there's pretty good evidence that the two-heads-are-better approach is a winning one: just look at the defenses fielded by the Bucs, Panthers, Titans, and Steelers. Or, for that matter, by the Bears in 05-06. Pairing a defensive head coach with a great DC isn't an indictment of the coach, it's a formula for a top-10 defense.

I'd tend to agree. We have Devin Hester, who's still on the rise, and then four very promising young receivers who haven't had a chance to show us what they can do yet (five if you count Rideau.) At this point, I'd like to see the Bears take the shotgun approach to that #2 receiver spot: throw as many guys as possible at it and hope that you get a hit or two. Between Bennett, Iglesias, Knox, Kinder, and Rideau there has to be one receiver who can step up and contribute. As far as acquiring a veteran via trade or FA, the main thing I'd be looking for is a young guy. To justify giving our young receivers less of a shot, in my mind, would take another young receiver who's proven what he can do. That's why I mentioned Braylon Edwards: he's only 26, and he showed in 2007 that he can be a #1 receiver. If we could get a guy like that, I could understand shortchanging Bennett and company. If it's going to be Plax on a one-year deal or Boldin for a couple of years before he really goes downhill, I don't think that's worth it.

If the offense is solid and the defense underperforms badly, then I think the Bears have to bring in a new DC. The defense worked great in '05 and '06 with Lovie as head coach and Rivera as DC. Lovie's contention, after the Super Bowl, was basically that he made it great, not Rivera. Thanks to injuries in '07 and ineptitude from Babich in '08, it's very difficult to evaluate whether Lovie was right about that. If the defense struggles in '09, under Lovie's direct control and without injuries, then I think we can safely say that he was wrong. In that case, I think we bring in a new DC and give him at least as much control over scheme/playcalling as Rivera had. I could see keeping Lovie on as head coach, though. He's legitimately very good at that, and the players love him and play hard for him.

Well, Plax's legal problems aren't THAT minimal, but in my book he'd still be the most desirable of the three. If Brandon Marshall the player weren't Brandon Marshall the person, he'd be number one with a bullet. I'm on the fence about making a play for Boldin. If he were to become available for a 2nd-rounder, I might be in favor of it. Then again, it's hard to evaluate how he'd do with the Bears. He looks great in Arizona's receiver-friendly spread offense where teams have to double-cover Larry Fitz all day long, but how's he going to look when he's the main receiving threat on a team that runs the ball first? I'm not saying that Boldin wouldn't be a major upgrade to our receiving corps. He'd be a proven target for Cutler, which none of our current receivers really are. I'm sure he'd be good for at least 70, maybe 80 receptions. But I wouldn't be at all surprised to see him dip under 1000 yards in Chicago's offense. And is it really worth a second-round pick to get a guy who turns 29 this year and puts up 800-900 yards a season? Honestly, there are very few big-name wideouts (of the ones who're actually available) that I'd be in favor of giving up a high draft pick for. Braylon Edwards might be the exception, but it looks like the Browns are going to hold onto him after all. If they started shopping him, though, the Bears would have to make it happen. Cutler throwing to Edwards and Hester would give us a lot of big plays for the next 6, 7, maybe 8 years.

Yeah, I'm not in favor of making a trade offer for Marshall at all - I was just trying to point out that we might not have the ammunition, even if we did want to bring him in. I think Marshall to the Ravens makes a ton of sense, especially since they failed to get any receiving help in the draft. If they don't make a move, they'll be counting on Mark Clayton and Demetrius Williams to step up. Derrick Mason is still amazingly productive for a guy who's been in the league since 1997, but he's 35 and he's more of a steady, move-the-chains kind of receiver. Adding a big-play threat like Marshall would give the Ravens arguably the best receiver tandem in the AFC North and would make life a lot easier for Joe Flacco in his second year. EDIT: One other worrisome thing about Marshall. By his own reports, he's been dealing with persistent numbness in his right hand since his McDonald's-bag incident. From Sports Illustrated: "Marshall caught 104 passes for 1,265 yards and six TDs last season. But he dropped 18 on-target passes, something he blamed on the nerve damage in his right arm, which he said he put through a television set while horsing around with his brother a year ago in the offseason."

Most of our defensive linemen couldn't make the switch to a three-man front. Tommie Harris is a pure under tackle; he's not stout enough to play the nose and he doesn't have the length to play end. Not to mention that turning him into a run-stopping 3-4 DE would be a huge waste of his skills. Alex Brown and Ogunleye are both OLBs in a 3-4, as is Mark Anderson, and Denver is stacked with 4-3 DEs turned 3-4 OLBs. The best bet would be Idonije, who could potentially add weight again and play 3-4 DE. But even Idonije plus our 2009 second-round pick isn't really enough value for Marshall. Apparently there are rumors that Marshall's headed to Baltimore, which would make a ton of sense. They need another receiver opposite Derrick Mason, and they run a 3-4. They could send Kelly Gregg and a pick, then move Haloti Ngata to nose tackle full-time.

Plax is only going to play for the one season, at the most. Marshall could easily play at a high level for the next 5 or 6 years. So that makes Plax a lot less attractive for a team with a lot of young building blocks on offense, like the Bears have. At the same time, you'd only be taking on Plax's off-the-field problems for a single season, which is a lot more attractive than 5 or 6 years of dealing with Brandon Marshall's ever-growing rap sheet. If I'm choosing between the two, I'd have to take Plax, if only because Marshall's track record is so distasteful to me personally. But really, I'd like to see what we have in our current group of receivers. If Bennett/Knox/Iglesias really don't pan out this season, maybe we draft Arrelious Benn in 2010 or wait two years and draft Julio Jones. But for right now, I'd like to see what we have.

Yeah, I didn't think of it that way - what he's saying about Knox is the opposite of what he did with Earl last year. I guess the difference is that last year he had veteran wideouts on the roster, they just turned out to be ineffective. This year he's not in a position to keep anyone on the bench who can contribute. Even if Knox only knows one play by September, I want to see him on the field when they run that one.

I'll agree to that. I think Smith definitely deserves the benefit of the doubt, given his successes thus far and the external factors that contributed to the losing season in '07, but I think he's got to get us back into the postseason this year. The same goes for Turner: he doesn't have the road-grading offensive line that he did in 05-06, but the line should be solid enough and he has an exceptional group of young, talented skill position players. He's been given all the tools, now he needs to show what he can do with them. If the Bears go 7-9 again this year without some kind of catastrophic wave of injuries, then I think Lovie should be worried about his job. Unless and until that happens, though, he should have every opportunity to show that he's the same coach who took us to the playoffs in '05 and '06.

Well, Marshall was a fourth-round pick, but he's played better than a lot of first-rounders. I would guess that the starting point to get it done would be a #1. We don't have one in 2010, so unless we want to give up our first in 2011, I'd say we'd be looking at our 2009 2nd and at least one player, were we to try and trade for Marshall.

If Denver decides to honor his trade request, the Bears, Bucs, and Jets will all definitely be in play. But really, a lot of teams could use a receiver of his caliber. I could see him going to the Redskins or the Giants: both teams are in need of a proven wideout. Honestly, I would love to have Marshall's production on the field. But if we're talking about this really happening, I couldn't get behind the move unless it really seems like he's going to turn it around as a person, get in counseling or some kind of anger management program, etc. I'm not a puritan or anything: I don't have any problem with football players who smoke pot or whatever. But a guy who beats his girlfriend isn't somebody I want on my team. I remember reading an article about Marshall that mentioned that the sheriff's dept. out in Denver had fielded 11 calls from his house since sometime in 2006. He's got a handful of domestic violence arrests/charges stemming from incidents with both of his last two girlfriends. That's something that would keep me from cheering for a guy.

I'm a little worried about D.J. Moore's report - the conspiracy theorist in me thinks it sounds like it came from inside the Bears organization, rather than from a reporter observing OTAs. I hope there aren't any problems with Moore; the Bears will be counting on him heavily if Vasher can't return to form. Clearly he's an exceptional talent (some evaluators had him ranked right after Alphonso Smith, who was a high second-round pick) but it sounds like he could have some attitude/work ethic problems. If something's up with him, I hope he sorts it out sooner, rather than later.

Yeah, absolutely. Orton and Rex have totally opposite skillsets. Orton's great under pressure, makes good decisions, and is accurate on short-to-intermediate throws, but he struggles pretty badly with deep-ball placement. Rex gets rattled by pressure, forces throws into coverage, and doesn't have much touch or accuracy on his short passes, but he's got a cannon and usually puts his deep passes right where they need to go. The thing that makes me the most hopeful about Cutler is that he doesn't appear to have any glaring holes in his game. Grossman and Orton each hamstrung the offense in certain situations, because they each had at least one particular area that was a major weakness. Kyle's weaknesses are much more limited in scope than Rex's, but each guy has certain throws you just shouldn't expect him to make. Cutler doesn't have any of those. That alone should make him an upgrade over any of the QBs we've had before.

This is all from Jeff Dickerson at ESPN Chicago. I went ahead and combined the rookie and vet lists: Stock Up Craig Steltz -- The former fourth round pick appears to have the inside track to start at either of the safety spots. On the surface, Steltz seems to lack the speed to cover the deep middle of the field, but coaches feel Steltz possesses the necessary athleticism to play outside or inside in the box. As we've stated before, only time will tell if that assessment is accurate, but for now, Steltz ranks very high in the secondary hierarchy. It also doesn't hurt to have the support of the front office. Israel Idonije -- Now that Idonije received his contract extension, he looks to be in pretty good shape considering, Adewale Ogunleye and Mark Anderson (pending a new CBA) are entering the last year of their respective deals. No doubt that Idonije envisions an increase in playing time in the near future, and that could very well happen. Plus, he's always been a terrific special teams player. I bet Darren Sproles still has nightmares about the hit he took from Idonije in the opening game of the 2007 season. Zack Bowman -- Bowman quietly has elevated his game this offseason and, if Corey Graham sticks at safety, should seriously challenge for the third cornerback spot. He is an outstanding athlete, who made a big impression before an injury ended his rookie season. Injuries will always be a red flag with Bowman, but if he stays healthy, I still believe he could make a big splash this summer in Bourbonnais. Kevin Malast --If the Bears keep seven linebackers, the final spot could go to either Malast or fellow undrafted free agent Mike Rivera. By all accounts, both players have performed well during OTAs, with each receiving increased reps this past week due to minor injuries to Brian Urlacher and Nick Roach. Plus, fellow linebacker Joey LaRocque has missed time, opening the door even wider for the two rookies. Malast seems to be a fast learner, and has been helped out in part by the fact Rutgers runs a similar defense to the one employed here in Chicago. Woodny Turenne -- Another undrafted free agent making the most of his opportunities, Turenne has displayed some impressive athleticism and toughness. Although he's behind Charles Tillman, Nathan Vasher and Zack Bowman, he's put some pressure on Trumaine McBride, D.J. Moore and Marcus Hamilton for the fourth cornerback slot. Even if he doesn't make the final 53-man roster, Turenne appears an ideal candidate for the practice squad, a nice honor for any undrafted rookie. Johnny Knox -- Knox can flat-out fly. He might be labeled a "small" receiver, but this rookie is put together and surprisingly strong for a guy his size. As I've stated before, let's wait until the pads come on to make our final evaluations, but up to this point, Knox has been the best of the rookie receivers. Stock Down Hunter Hillenmeyer -- A consummate professional, Hillenmeyer battled an assortment of injuries last season, eventually giving way to Nick Roach at strong side linebacker. The deck now seems stacked even higher against Hillenmeyer with the addition of Pisa Tinoisamoa. Plus, the former starter is still working his way back on the practice field, limited so far this offseason because of a sports hernia. But let's be clear about something; Hillenmeyer still has value, and could always play middle linebacker if called upon. Nobody's technique is more sound than Hillenmeyer, so to think that Hunter's playing days are over is inaccurate. I just don't know if Chicago is a good fit anymore. Kevin Payne -- Until the Bears decided to move Payne to free safety mid-way through last season, I thought he was playing the best football of anybody on that defense. But moving Payne out of the box exposed some limitations with regard to awareness and quickness. Playing with a bad shoulder didn't help Payne's cause either, preventing the safety from wrapping up in several tackling situations. He now appears to be in a battle with Josh Bullocks, but since the Bears view safety as interchangeable, there's no guarantee either of those two will start. Lovie Smith will likely go with the two best overall safeties, and right now, Payne looks to be the number three, at best. Rashied Davis -- Davis falls into this category strictly because Johnny Knox has played so well during OTAs. If Knox continues to make strides, the rookie might push Davis for some playing time in the slot. It's still way too early to expect significant contributions from Knox, but Davis' average 2008 season has opened the door for some competition. I still feel Davis is an excellent special teams contributor, but the Bears need better play from their wideouts -- end of story. If it can come from a rookie, so be it. D.J. Moore -- Moore is a very talented player who is still figuring out how to be a professional. Sometimes rookies fail to understand the desire and attitude necessary to succeed in this league. The good news: Moore is surrounded by excellent coaches and savvy veterans. With such a solid support system, Moore has a good chance of learning the proper way to approach his new job. Juaquin Iglesias -- Iglesias looked slow coming out of his breaks earlier this week. Just from observing a few workouts, it seems he's having a hard time getting open, a common problem for receivers still trying to adjust to the speed of the NFL. Regardless, all the buzz that Iglesias generated during draft weekend seems like a distant memory. Maybe strapping on the equipment this summer will help Iglesias, who was known as a physical player at Oklahoma. You can't hit anybody during OTAs.

I'm definitely excited for Knox. I think he could potentially fill a Nate Washington type of role for the Bears: a 3rd or 4th receiver, but a legitimate deep threat from the slot or out of a bunch/4-wide formation. If he can equal Washington's first-year production (35 receptions, 624 yards, 4 TDs) I'll be very happy. That said, it'll be unfortunate if Iglesias continues to struggle separating from DBs.