Bears4Ever_34

Emery pretty much said Shea McClellin would move to LB'er next year.

His play and the money they gave him for it doesn't match up, in my opinion. That's where I'm at. I do think his erratic decision making has plagued this team in the past and it will moving forward.

Over the course of a career, 1 playoff appearance in 8 years is difficult to do if you really are a great quarterback. Especially at quarterback, where you have a greater impact on winning than any other position on the field. His numbers suggest that he's a slightly above average quarterback, which I would say is pretty accurate. Glad you brought that up. His durability remains a huge question mark, which makes all that guaranteed money look even less appealing. I could say the exact same thing about the excuse makers. Letting him go was probably never a realistic option. However, that doesn't mean they made the right decision to sign him to the $ they gave him. TBD. Nobody is disputing this.

Where did I say we missed the playoffs this year because of Cutler? In his entire career, both in Denver and in Chicago, he has made the playoffs once. That is Tony Romo territory, except Romo is statistically the better quarterback. What I'm saying is that it's a crap load of money to throw at a quarterback who really hasn't done anything significant his entire career.

Those teams would be idiotic, just like the Ravens were when they paid Joe Flacco all that money. I don't think he has done anything in his career to warrant the contract the Bears just handed out to him. He's 30 years old, and has only been to the playoffs once in his career.

You think Cutler has proven that he's worth 54 million in guaranteed money?

This is a HORRENDOUS contract. 54 million guaranteed?? Are they freakin insane??

It's looking like a bad deal from most reports I've seen, but his cap number is probably lower than it would have been if he'd been franchised.. So there's that.

Fire Mel Tucker already! If you're going to run a hybrid or a 3-4, hire a proven coach who knows how to do it, like Wade Phillips or Ray Horton. Personally I'd go with Phillips because Horton will be a head coach in the near future. Phillips has no chance to be a head coach anymore, meaning he will be here for a while.

mediocre hire for Tampa. Not a bad hire, not a good hire. They will be what the Bears were for years-- The epitome of average. Lovie needed to go to a team with an established QB, and an offense that already had it going like Detroit.

I don't like signing Cutler to the long term. He did not earn a long term extension IMO. Would have been better to franchise. I hope this doesn't deter the Bears from drafting a QB either. They need someone they can develop. McCown is 35.

This is how Emery should tell Mel Tucker the news: Mel,

I don't know if the Bears would do this, but what about adding both Byrd and the Alabama safety with the 1st round pick? You'd have two superstar safeties that would solidify the back end of the defense for years to come.

Mel Tucker's 6 years as D coordinator, his team rankings in sacks: 30th, 32nd, 30th, 25th, 32nd, & 31st. I honestly don't know why this guy was hired in the first place. His track record is terrible, and it's no coincidence he was horrible here. People so casually like to use injuries as the main excuse but then also casually forget how bad the defense had looked prior to the injuries. They showed signs as early as Game 1 against the Bengals when they let AJ Green catch 40 yarder after 40 yarder seemingly uncovered 90% of the time, and then let guys like Eiffert and Gresham run all over them after 1st contact because they couldn't tackle. They let Ben Roethlisberger throw for over 400 yards in Game 3 and Reggie Bush still gashed them in the 1st Detroit game with all their LB'ers still healthy. The fact of the matter is, he's just a terrible coach. It really pisses me off when I hear people use injuries as an excuse. You are basically saying that no matter how poorly the defense played, Mel Tucker was not liable to take blame for it. In other words, there was nothing he could have possibly done to lose his job. All you have to do is watch the defense play and you can see a poorly coached team. Cincinatti dealt with more injuries on defense than almost anybody this season and did they become an abomination? No. It's because they have a defensive coordinator who's worth a damn. If Mel Tucker is not replaced next season, Marc Trestman's seat should go from luke warm to scorching hot if they fail to make the playoffs again because of a shit rotten defense.

2010 by far for me. Even if we had made the playoffs this year, the team wasn't going to go any further than a 1st round exit once they got matched up against SF. They were too beat up on defense to even get close to a Superbowl. In 2010, they had a semi-elite defense and a slightly above average offense. Not to mention the conference was considerably weaker. The Bears had a legit shot to win a Superbowl that year and blew it against GB.

If he is gay, and he actually came out of the closet, it would be great for sports.

Jairus Byrd is a must in free agency. He should be priority #1 when the clock hits midnight.

In other news-- Water is wet, the sky is blue, and Brandon Marshall supports Jay Cutler. I expect him to either be here on a reasonable long term deal or get franchised. I would try to get a 1st or 2nd round pick for him if possible (I'm not sure how that works, franchise tag wise). At best you franchise him and keep him for at least one more trial season to see what he can do. Draft a QB in the 2nd round for insurance in the future. I'd look at it like a Colin Kaepernick/Alex Smith situation. Draft a QB with the intention that he's your future, but also leave yourself open to the idea of sticking with Cutler if he plays great and takes the team deep into the playoffs. It's a win/win situation. I'm also open to the idea of just letting him go all together and taking a QB with the 14th pick. It's the most risky strategy though.

Add Ray Horton to the list of potential D-Coordinator replacements for Mel Tucker if he's fired. Rob Chudzinski got fired by the Browns today. Horton is one of the best defensive minds around. He and Wade Phillips would be at the top of my list.

Did anyone see if Jon Bostic played at all today, or were the Bears in nickel coverage for the entire game?

I really hate the notion that the Bears are still a 4-3 defense. Right now, they both literally and figuratively don't have a defense. Pretty much everybody but Briggs, McClellin and Wooton are free agents or are candidates to be waived like Chris Conte, Major Wright, and Julius Peppers. They don't have to hamstring themselves anymore by force feeding a 4-3 cover 2 coach down their throats if they don't want to. It sounds like Rex Ryan is now going to end up staying in New York, though that remains to be seen. Wade Phillips would be the next best candidate out there, assuming he is out in Houston with Kubiak fired.

It's more of a luxury, but the depth at the position is scary bad. If Bennett finds himself on IR this year, the Bears offense becomes much worse. Wouldn't be at the top of my list, but it'd be next after the positions I named previously.

They need two new safeties, a new corner, a new LB'er, 3 new defensive lineman, a center, and another pass catching TE. Good luck.

Perfect way to end a pathetic season on a blown coverage by Chris Conte. Had the game in the bag and we blew it. This was a bad team, and they deserved to lose.

What a freakin choke job.