adam

Game Summary: That was another epic failure across the board. We stay competitive for about a quarter, just like last week, then the wheels come off. It was 7-7 in the 2nd quarter with 1:14 left, and DAL has a 3rd and 15 from their 47. We somehow allow an 18 yard pass to Witten for a first down, and a few plays later, they score and go into the locker room 14-7. Then we come out of halftime, we get the kickoff, after a decent return by Mariani, on the 3rd play Forte fumbles after a long gain. Drive killer. Game over. 3 plays later, another TD. So what do we do on the next drive? A 3 and out with a penalty that negated a first down. Then MegaDork O'Donnell gets off one of his massive 32 yard punts and if not for a Dallas penalty, they would've returned on for a TD. It didn't matter, 4 plays later DAL scores again to a wide open TE in the back of the end zone after giving up a 43 yard bomb to Bryant (why would we guard him). So in a matter of minutes we are down 28-7. On the next drive, we get the expected penalty on the kickoff pinning us back deep (thanks Special Teams). On this drive, we get a first down (woo hoo), by penalty, and then we go 3 and out. O'Crapnel gets off a 31 yard bomb of a punt pinning DAL back to their 32. The defense does better this time and makes DAL have 6 plays before scoring again. Now we are down 35-7 and it is officially over. So with the game over and no pressure to perform, the offense decides to start playing and actually scores in 2 minutes. However, not to be outdone, the Special Teams allows an Extra Point to get blocked. DAL overloaded our right side and we did nothing to stop them. They had 2 free runners. Pitiful. We then fail on an onside kick, give DAL a short field, and then allow another 40 yard play to Murray. We hold DAL to a FG (small victories) and are now down 38-13. With 12 minutes left, and us in a semi-hurry up, we take 5 minutes off the clock and eventually score making it 38-21 (making a 2pt conversion). On the next onside kick we actually recover (amazing). 4 plays later we score again, but because of the DAL FG, we are 3 scores behind anyway and kick the XP. Now down 38-28 and 6 minutes left, we have zero faith in our defense to get a stop. So we try another onside kick and give DAL another short field. We immediately give up a 20+ yard run to Murray (even though we knew they were running). They burn off some more clock, but we hold them to another FG, keeping it to within 2 scores with 3:41 remaining. So we get a decent return from Mariani again, march down to the DAL 10 yard line with 1:29 left. At this point Cutler had been pretty good with the ball all night, and then bad Jay appears, throwing a drive/game/season ending INT in the endzone into double coverage, underthrown, to Josh freaking Morgan. Not Alshon Jeffery, Matt Forte, or Marty Bennett. It was a bad pass. We still would've lost, but it is plays like that, that can change a season. Marshall left with a broken back/rib injury after getting knee'd in the back (don't know how that is legal), and Bennett got his ankle rolled up on but kept limping out there. I really give him credit. Cutler's entire night will be judged by that one stupid INT, is that not his entire career or what? Forte was not elusive at all, he broke like 1 or 2 tackles all night and I believe one of those was on his fumble. Marshall made an awesome one handed catch and then followed that up with a clutch 4th down catch when he got hurt. Bennett was targeted 15 times and was a machine. Jeffery got going after BMarsh went down and had a sweet TD catch. The defense is the worst I have ever seen a Bears team. It is worse than last year. Our LB's were in the wrong gap every play. They looked horrible and uncoached. They had no clue what they were doing. Conte is not a starting Safety in this league. Whoever defended him before, watch this game. He is horrible. He was late to every play and got overpowered by Rudy to allow a TD, and then couldn't time his jump to defend a ball on a 2nd play. The defensive line for the most part had no pressure. Allen is a joke and over the hill. I don't think he got off his block once. The LT had him locked down every play. The Corners played ok, but they don't seem to know the situation and for the most part the receivers were open on every play. Whatever Zone Failure we are playing is embarrassing. It almost seems like a practice where all the defenders are just lined up in a spot and they don't move. The Special Teams was truly special. O'Donnell has to be off roids, because he can barely crack 40 yards and got one partially blocked. We also had a blocked XP, which is tough to allow, even if you were trying. Our return game had the token penalties that took away any positives, but I don't mind Mariani back there. The coaching staff is horrible and there is zero emotion. I actually hate our coaches now. They all just stand on the sideline like they are not even part of the game. I see Peanut doing more coaching on the sidelines than Tucker. Emery, next time don't hire any coach from a bottom feeder, if you get another chance. Another concerning thing about Cutler, the announcers mentioned how winning is contagious and how Cutler mentioned "so is losing". Almost like once they start losing, they expect to lose. That is the wrong answer. If that indeed is the case, he needs to go. No way can we have a leader on the team with that attitude. Everyone should be pissed as hell that they lost and holding others accountable.

Lets add a blocked XP to our list of complete failures. Who gets an XP blocked?

How do you leave Murray open for 9 receptions?

Wtf is up with O'Donnell? Can he kick any worse?

Yeah, they are playing for 3 and outs. I have no clue what the defense is doing either, this is hilarious.

This is our season, Marshall hurt, Forte fumbles and our entire team sucks. Offense cant buy a first down against a bad defense, the defense plays zone and double teams open space, and special teams cant even get a punt off.

He just needs to be cut, seriously. He lets Cole Beasley get 5 yards after contact for a TD? Then he jumps too early and allows another TD against Beasley.

Dallas hasn't been that great lately, they are 2-3 in their last 5, and those two wins were against JAX and NYG, and it took a last second drive to win against NYG. Also, they are 5-0 away from home, which is odd, they may be due for a slight correction down the stretch. I know it is a complete long shot, but if we were to somehow win our last 4 (very unlikely), DAL and DET somehow went 1-2 in the other 3 games they have remaining, and SF goes 2-2 with all of us ending at 9-7, we would actually get in. This is assuming PHI, GB, ARZ, and SEA are the other playoff teams. I am assuming SEA ends better than 1-3, but if they did go 1-3 against (PHI, SF, ARZ, STL), they would also be tied with us. So we need a lot of help, but if we are to even have a chance, we need a win tonight. However, if this is the same team that has shown up for the other 12 games, then we will more than likely see one or two good drives on offense and defense, and that's about it.

For those that are actually watching the game. A win keeps our slim playoff chances alive (winning out and having DET and DAL both go 1-3, and SF 2-2). Otherwise a loss eliminates us from the playoffs and keeps are draft position intact.

We all were fooled. Crazy to think the other candidates (Arians and McCoy) would've probably been better options. Who knew?

Are you sure about that now?

Well how is that Trestman guy working out, lol. Just kidding.

I would say any of these teams would at least consider him: NYJ, BUF, JAX, TB, ARZ, WSH, STL, TEN, and MIN.

1. OAK 1-11 2. JAX 2-10 3. TEN 2-10 4. NYJ 2-10* 5. TB 2-10 6. WAS 3-9 7. NYG 3-9 8. CAR 3-8-1 9. NO 5-7 10. STL 5-7 11. MIN 5-7 12. CHI 5-7 13. HOU 6-6 An interesting note assuming Miami wins tonight, no teams will have 4 wins, and only Houston will have 6. This pretty much locks us into picks 9-12 as CAR, WAS, or NYG would have to win 3 out of 4 just to reach 6 wins (and we have tougher SoS than all of them anyway). Houston has the easiest remaining schedule, so I figure they will end with 8-9 wins. So that essentially leaves STL, MIN, and the loser between ATL and NO. NO has a super easy schedule and will end up with at least 8 wins to win their division. #9 MIN - NYJ, @DET, @MIA, CHI = 6-10 (win against MIA) #10 CHI - DAL, DET, NO, @MIN = 6-10 (win against MIN) #11 ATL - @GB, PIT, @NO, CAR = 7-9 (wins against PIT, CAR) #12 STL - @WAS, ARZ, NYG, @SEA = 7-9 (wins against WAS, NYG) Even with 2x wins, we really won't do any worse than #12. So 9 to 12th it is.

Emery inherited Cutler, and made some nice moves to add playmakers (Marshall trade, Alshon, Long draft, Bennett signing) around him. Not much changed, so he brought in Trestman to "fix" Cutler. I believe that Trestman's pitch for fixing Cutler was why Emery went with him. After last season, it looked like we were primed for an awesome offensive display this year. So with the belief that things would be better, I think Emery "bought in" to Trestman and an improved Cutler and locked him up. Then this season happened, and now he looks like an ass for that ridiculous contract. Trestman has lost all his backers (Gannon, Young, etc) and seems like he is just finishing out his time. In the end, I think Trestman and Cutler get one more year, and if they don't produce, ie. playoff berth, both will be gone after next season. However, to show some action, Tucker and DeCam are gone in about a month.

Here are the names I mentioned in the other thread: 1. Pep Hamilton, Indy OC, former Bears QB Coach 2. Teryl Austin, Det DC, #1 Defense, Division knowledge, we don't have to face him 3. Bob Sutton, KC DC, Great Defense, works with Reid 4. Todd Bowles, ARZ DC, Great Defense, works with Arians 5. Tom Clements, GB OC, Great Offense, Division knowledge, we don't have to face him 6. Pat Shurmur, PHI OC, Great uptempo offense, football genes 7. Adam Gase, Den OC, questionable due to Manning, and probably too young, but similar to McDaniels without the baggage I am not really impressed with Darrell Bevell and Seattle's offense. If not for Beast Mode and an opportunistic Russell Wilson, that offense would be terrible. Also, I really think we need a Defensive-minded Head Coach as the offense seems to be built around the QB anyway (most great offenses have great QBs). I would take Harbaugh in a heartbeat, but that SF offense looks about as bad as ours right now.

MIN, STL, and HOU all helping the cause right now. Wins for them will really help our draft position.

If he is willing to play for $1-2 million, someone will pick him up.

Watch, Cutler will get a phantom injury (groin, high ankle sprain) in the next 2 weeks and Clausen will play out the season and win out for us to get us to 7-9. You heard it here first.

I don't buy it. All teams have injuries, and some even had bigger injuries than ours and still have winning records. Cleveland did not have their top player (Gordon) for 10 games and lost their perennial Pro Bowl Center a month ago and they still win games. I could go on and on. Bostic, Greene, and SMC should not get fooled by Play Action after their 2nd and 3rd years in the league. The stats you listed are deceiving for the Cardinals and Ravens because those teams have good to great defenses and are playing with a lead so teams will inherently pass more and get garbage time yards. Look at a better stat like QB Passer Rating Against. Teams with an opponent QB Rating over 100: 1. NYJ 109.4 2. WAS 103.5 3. CHI 101.1 4. OAK 100.0 5. TB 100.0 6. JAX 99.1 I just listed JAX to show how bad the teams are in that list. Besides us, those other 5 teams have 9 combined wins. We have allowed a league high (which is bad) 40.8% of 1st Downs when passing. That means teams get a 1st Down 41 out of every 100 pass attempts (not completions). If you count completions, they get a first down 41 out of every 66 completions (62% of the time). That is beyond bad. So teams didn't run because they didn't have to. Once you are over 50% in that second value, you can run once (if you want to), then pass on 2nd and 3rd Down, and you will have a first down almost every time. Our Defensive Line is actually pretty good, but our LB Corps and Defensive Backfield has to be the worst in the league. Like I have said in almost every game thread, our defense doesn't actually cover anyone. On every play 2-3 receivers are wide open and we are guarding empty space. Sometimes we even double that open space.

He was great in his prime, but things went south once Urlacher left. Briggs was not the same and his attitude (and actions) soured on a lot of people. He was a great player and that player will be missed, but he just was not the same player the last two years. Announcing this now is a signal that he will not be back.

With all the recent changes to the league, you just have to look back to our post 2006 Superbowl numbers to see how bad we really have been. From 2007 to this year we are 65-59, just a hair better than .500, and our point differential is +4 in those 124 games. We are 5-12 against GB and 2 of those wins were in 2007 (3-12 since 2008). Basically Forte's entire career we have been average. What a waste. Can you believe Forte has only played in 2 playoff games his entire career? 2012 really hurts because on paper, we had a great team. Looking at overall team ratings, since 1985; 1986, 1988, 2006, and 2012 were our best teams. That 18 year gap from 1988 to 2006 was brutal. Thank god for the Bulls during that run.

Mongo, Definitely needs to start from top down, but if you do that, you can't put any conditions on that move like "Trestman and Tucker stay for another year." You just let Polian work his magic. I think Trestman is over his head as a HC and his play calling is too passive for the NFL. It works in Canada with more players, a bigger field, and different rules, but not in the NFL. I like his attitude and he seems to be a very intelligent guy, but we need a competitor. For Defense, Tucker has to go, we catered to him bringing in just about everything but a great Safety, and the defense is arguably worse than last year. We are dead last in pts allowed and our entire defense seems to be out of sync. I would definitely let Briggs walk, but I would actually bring back Peanut for one more year. Do it the right way. He still can contribute and with fresh legs, who knows, he may be even better than last year. He had a freak injury to an odd muscle, so I would offer him a one-year deal to redeem himself. You know he doesn't want to go out like that. We can't cut Houston, his cap hit is too big next year. Let's chalk it up as a bonehead move. SMC is someone to consider For Special Teams, DeCamworthless needs to be fired already. I think the organization is just keeping him because the season is already lost. We need a new coach, and a couple of ST studs. This phase cannot be overlooked like it was this year. Overall, we under-achieved. I thought on paper we had a top 12-15 team capable of at least competing week in and week out, yet we are 5-6 and have only 1 win against a winning team. TB has 5 losses by 5 or less. ATL has 2 losses by 3 total pts. 6 of OAK losses were by 10 or less. All those teams have worse records than us, but played competitive. 5 of our losses are by 13 or more. That is ridiculous. We were essentially not competitive in 5 games. BLUF: Pay Polian whatever he wants, give him as much control as he desires, an open checkbook, and let him go to work without restrictions.

Fuller seems to be strictly a Slot Corner. He can't handle the bigger receivers like Peanut did. We need a bigger corner. Vereen is also under-sized. We definitely need to get bigger. For the LBs, they are great in run support, but bite every time on play action and didn't handle the screens very well. The D-Line played pretty good for stretches, then disappeared for others. Sutton was mentioned several times. Overall I agree that we are really running a lot of younger players out there, but it is still football and at some point these guys (like Bostic) should get it. Look at Borland in SF, rookie in the middle, in on almost every play.

I just have a feeling that this is going to be brought up at some point. They will point to the injuries on the O-Line to Slauson, Mills, DLP, and Britton, and on the D to Peanut, Briggs, Houston, Conte, Ratliff, Fuller and say that those were the reason this team struggled all year with consistency. I hope not, but I see it coming.