scs787

So should every other team needing a DC but yet he didn't get a call....from anyone.

Phillips. I'm as confused as he is about him not even getting a call, from any team, to be a DC.

Not sure of your question. I'm talking about Wade taking the DL job since, for whatever reason, nobody wants to give him a DC job.

http://profootballtalk.nbcsports.com/2014/...ng-against-him/ Wonder if he'd bite the bullet and take a DL coaching job here. If he helps to fix the DL here he's sure to get some more attention next year.

If we move to a 3-4 I wouldn't mind the Bears drafting Smallwood (that name had to suck growing up) in the 2nd or 3rd . I'm loving what I read about him. One scouting report likens him to a Navorro Bowman because of how "tremendous" he is against the run.

Also worth noting that Yawin Smallwood is expected to be picked in the first couple rounds, so that's back to back years he produced an LB that was drafted in the first few rounds (Sio Moore was drafted 68th overall). In his first year at UConn Lawrence Wilson was drafted in the 6th round....He was a backup LB for our Bears.

The usual suspects haven't confirmed this yet but the score and wiki seem to think it's true, so I'll throw out my thoughts..... I like it. From what little I've read on him he seems to be very Trestman-esque. He has a book out about teaching (youth) football, and I've read that he considers himself a teacher. That bodes well for a team that just drafted 2 LBs. What's really interesting is that he ran a 3-4 all 3 years he was a DC in the NFL, and looking at highlights of Sio Moore (first name that popped in my head when I thought recent UConn LB) the Huskies looked to have played a mix of both 3-4 and 4-3. As you can see there the UConn D mixed it up. I now expect the Bears to run at least some sort of hybrid 3-4 if not a full on 3-4.

har har har stinger. I was of course speaking of the Tucker argument...Which once again much like last year when my argument was that a certain player was slightly below average with the potential to be above average this year I never called what Tucker did good but I believe he has the potential, with the right cards to get this defense to where it needs to be. Lets face it though...This board would be dead in the offseason is it weren't for a lot of horse beatings lol.

Fun fact, D gave up 102 running YPG before Briggs got hurt. 102 would have been 8th in the league......So they're going to make that switch before it was clear that they were gonna be god awful against the run? DJ Williams got hurt the week before Briggs, Bostic was just drafted to be an MLB. Are you gonna move Bostic out of the position he was drafted for before even giving him a fair shake to prove himself?

Does the Briggs injury not happen in this scenario?

Ya, it really was a "perfect storm" so to speak.

Amen...I fear I've backed myself into another offseason long argument that will get old yet I wont be able to back away from....More news couldn't happen any sooner

But what exactly is he supposed to do? How should he have adjusted schematically? You guys keep saying this without backing it up with any logic. How do you maximize the players he had to work with?? Should he have shifted to 3-4 midseason even though he didn't have the parts? How do you max a team who is running out Peppers-Wootton-Paea-SMC as their best 4 guys. How can you possibly make that look good. THE SAINTS HAD GOOD PLAYERS THAT PLAYED ALL SEASON, THE BEARS HAD BEAR POO.

Peppers hasn't been near a pro bowl level the last 2 years, even last year under Lovie Smith. Tillman only played half the season and was dealing with injuries in a few of the games he did play. Even the almighty Lovie Smith got nothing out of SMC so he's pretty much a bust I'll give you Bostic, he was out of position more often than not, and that looks like a knock on him coming out of college too... Weaknesses Thickly built chest and shoulders but quickness is lacking. Won't be able to makes wasted moves after first step due to lack of burst. Has difficulties consistently get off better offensive lineman blocks and can be stiff-armed by longer ballcarriers. Hits with shoulder too often against the run, allows him to get sucked into offensive lineman's block rather than being able to make a play on the football. Overrun plays at times, lacks elite change of direction ability to recover. Closing speed to the ball is average, quicker ballcarriers elude his advances through the hole and mobile quarterbacks can run away from him. Almost gallops in the open field, won't catch pro backs and receivers from behind without help. Cut blocks at the second level give him issues. His eyes move faster than his feet can in terms of diagnosing the play and reacting. Mel wasn't able to fix that, but maybe that's because he was a DBs coach previously, and that is why the LB coach got the axe.

Fantastic argument here. A whole lot of irrelevant references. And if it "reeks of Lovie" isn't that a good thing since ya know, everyone wishes Lovie was still here calling the D? What system best fits a team that ran out a DL of an aging/declining Julius Peppers, an undersized Corey Wootton playing DT, Stephen Paea who was dealing with turf toe issues, and SMC who not even the almighty Lovie Smith got shit out of? Should they have switched to a 3-4 mid season? Has that ever even been done??

Like I previously said, they still had play makers on the field week in and week out. David Hawthorne, a pro bowl caliber LB, played every game. Curtis Lofton, a pro bowl caliber LB, played every game. Cameron Jordan, a pro bowler, played every game this season. Junior Galette, who Saints fans are calling a pro bowl snub, played every game. Keenan Lewis, another guy Saint fans are calling a pro bowl snub, played every game. Kenny Vaccarro, their first round pick, only missed 2 games. And those guys aren't random guys off the street that Rob Ryan turned into gold, they're all really good players.

Good post People tend to forget that we held 4 of our first 5 opponents under 4 ypc, that included Peterson, 3.8ypc, if you take out his 36 yard run that number goes down to 2.4 on his 25 other carries. Saints averaged 2.2 ypc on 29 rushes. Bengals benefited from a 14 yard end around but sans that the Bears only gave up 2.4 ypc that game. In the Steelers game Dwyer had a 25 yard rush, the other 20 carries went for 2.7ypc. They were suspect to a big play once a game but overall they were very solid up until Collins went down late in week 5. That was the point where they had to play an undersized Wootton inside and forced to play SMC, who even Lovie got nothing out of, more at DE. It should come as no surprise that they started to struggle from then on.

Again, show me a team who suffered the types of injuries the Bears have and tell me how good they were. Yes injuries happen and they have happened to other teams, but to the extreme that the Bears went through??? Again, for the Tampa 2 to be successful you HAVE to get pressure from your front 4. When that goes in the shitter like it did for the Bears it makes every other unit on the field look bad. And you can't say he hasn't done ANYTHING because we truly don't know how much he was doing in 2011 when he was calling plays on a horseshit Jags team and made them a top 5 defense. If you wanna be naive and think that it was all JDR even though all reports say it was Mel then fine. As for firing the DL and LB coach, ya you do have a point there. FWIW before being a DC Mel was a DBs coach so maybe they feel he needs better help in the DL and LB area. All I know is that there is obviously something about him that the Bears like. Trestman had no problem firing people in Canada so I don't think it's a "Oh Trestman is just too nice to let him go" type situation. If you look back at the Green Bay game when we had Ratliff and Briggs out there the run D was MUCH better. Yes, they gave up 2 big plays for 58 yards, but once you eliminate those 2 (I know I'm cherry picking here) they only gave up 3 ypc the other 32 carries.

Maybe, but he was doing something right because he was in the hunt for the head coaching job after the year. I just can't imagine anyone being able to turn what we put out on the field look any better than what they were. I'll reiterate the fact that for the better part of the year our DL consisted of an aging and declining Julius Peppers, and undersized and out of position Corey Wootton, a guy dealing with a turf toe injury Stephen Paea, and a guy that even the beloved Lovie Smith got nothing out of Shea McClellin. That just has disaster written all over it no matter who the coach is. Da Coach was on ESPN1000 and brought up a good point. Coaches devise a game plan and the players execute. We can't put all of the Bears execution woahs on Mel because like Ditka said, at the end of the day it's the players who have to execute.

Pretty bad, but he's at least shown the ability to have a good defense. Look I don't wanna make it out like I'm a big time supprter, because I'm not, I was pretty much on the fence about him, I'm just trying to throw some reason into the discussion. Give him a chance to show what he can do with a healthy team, if he fails then ya it's time to let him go.

See my post above. In 2011 he was calling the shots and the Jags finished 4th defensively.

It was brought to my attention that Mel is apparently highly thought of in the coaching ranks. He was up for the head coaching job in Jacksonville in 2012 but ultimately didn't get it. Also, per wiki, "In the 2011 season head coach Jack Del Rio put Tucker in charge of defensive play-calling, and the team quickly became the fourth highest rated in the NFL.", so no, Del Rio wasn't calling the shots the year the Jags were good defensively. Trestman went through a new DC almost every year in the CFL so he's obviously not afraid to move on. There just has got to be something good about this guy that we as fans are not seeing on the field. I, as a fan, realized long ago that the key to a cover 2 D is the DL, and know it's damn near impossible to run the damn thing when you're lining up a declining Julius Peppers, an out of position Corey Wootton, a banged up Stephen Paea, and SMC who was garbage under Smith as well, as your stating front 4. To me you can't say "Ya we had injuries but", there is no but to me.

Ya, that part is rather surprising. There were 4 games where they allowed fewer than 14pts. At the end of the day, even through injuries, they still had play makers on the field. Hightower, Spikes, Ninkovich, and Chandler Jones all played every game, and when Mayo went down they were able to replace him with a 2R pick in Jaime Collins(who I wanted so bad over Bostic, but that's not on Mel). Who did the Bears have healthy that were on those guys level? Peppers was healthy all year, but he's been on the decline, wasn't even that good last year. Jennings was healthy all year, but the pass defense isn't what's in question. Anderson was about the only guy that stayed healthy and put together a good year.

They were still just a single yard away from being a bottom 5 D in terms of yardage. But whatevs, he's here whether we like it or not. Give him some talent and hope they stay health.

Why do people keep bringing up the Pats??? They gave up just 20 less YPG than the Bears did.