What would it take?

[ASHKUM BEAR]

What would it take to make the Bears Super Bowl contenders? I don't consider this coming season a great possibility, but lets say 2016 working within realistic means. Come draft day and FA, what moves would bring Chicago the Lombardi? What players need to emerge?

 

My thoughts:

Long transcends to OT and the oline play improves

Cutler emerges with his surrounding talent and becomes a top 10-12 QB

Chicago develops a strong running game behind Forte and Langford

Defensively, they have the biggest hill to climb but Ego, Goldman, and Ratliff become a solid front

McPhee was a hidden gem and becomes a monster in the pass rush

Fuller builds on a solid rookie campaign and gets pro bowl considerations

and safety play is not noticed because they are not screwing up

 

Bears get the 15th pick and select LB Scooby Wright, the next Luke Kuechly to lead the pack

2nd round Dadi Nicholis OLB, and 3rd rd Eddie Murray CB...he stayed in school. These 3 picks fill out the D

Free Agency the Bears find another S and G too with starting capabilities and the rest of the draft is developmental positions in QB, TE, 3-4 DE, and oline.

 

I think if Gase gets Cutler under control, they can draft missing links. Cutler falters and we are in a 2-3 window a

[AZ54]

That's lot of wishful thinking. Defensive questions aside, the key here is that Cutler finally plays within the offense we have and we are able to establish a successful running game. If we have to go find our next QB in 2016 all bets are off because no matter where you draft it's a crapshoot. No matter what we do over the course of the next 12months our D will still have question marks but there are pieces in place for the offense to be the strength of the team...depending on Cutler. We could add a couple pieces to strengthen the Oline or TE positions over the next year.

[Stinger226]

What would it take to make the Bears Super Bowl contenders? I don't consider this coming season a great possibility, but lets say 2016 working within realistic means. Come draft day and FA, what moves would bring Chicago the Lombardi? What players need to emerge?

 

My thoughts:

Long transcends to OT and the oline play improves

Cutler emerges with his surrounding talent and becomes a top 10-12 QB

Chicago develops a strong running game behind Forte and Langford

Defensively, they have the biggest hill to climb but Ego, Goldman, and Ratliff become a solid front

McPhee was a hidden gem and becomes a monster in the pass rush

Fuller builds on a solid rookie campaign and gets pro bowl considerations

and safety play is not noticed because they are not screwing up

 

Bears get the 15th pick and select LB Scooby Wright, the next Luke Kuechly to lead the pack

2nd round Dadi Nicholis OLB, and 3rd rd Eddie Murray CB...he stayed in school. These 3 picks fill out the D

Free Agency the Bears find another S and G too with starting capabilities and the rest of the draft is developmental positions in QB, TE, 3-4 DE, and oline.

 

I think if Gase gets Cutler under control, they can draft missing links. Cutler falters and we are in a 2-3 window a

If all of those come to pass,or even 3/4, we would make the playoffs this year.

The three things that will matter the most: The Oline is healthy and consistent. That will make Cutler and the running game work.

Cutler ends his streak of being a turnover machine.

We develop a pass rush which makes every phase of the defense better.

 

[Alaskan Grizzly]

What would it take to make the Bears Super Bowl contenders? I don't consider this coming season a great possibility, but lets say 2016 working within realistic means. Come draft day and FA, what moves would bring Chicago the Lombardi? What players need to emerge?

 

My thoughts:

Long transcends to OT and the oline play improves

Cutler emerges with his surrounding talent and becomes a top 10-12 QB

Chicago develops a strong running game behind Forte and Langford

Defensively, they have the biggest hill to climb but Ego, Goldman, and Ratliff become a solid front

McPhee was a hidden gem and becomes a monster in the pass rush

Fuller builds on a solid rookie campaign and gets pro bowl considerations

and safety play is not noticed because they are not screwing up

 

Bears get the 15th pick and select LB Scooby Wright, the next Luke Kuechly to lead the pack

2nd round Dadi Nicholis OLB, and 3rd rd Eddie Murray CB...he stayed in school. These 3 picks fill out the D

Free Agency the Bears find another S and G too with starting capabilities and the rest of the draft is developmental positions in QB, TE, 3-4 DE, and oline.

 

I think if Gase gets Cutler under control, they can draft missing links. Cutler falters and we are in a 2-3 window a

 

I'm surprisingly optimistic about next season. Mostly due to John Fox's success at turning teams around on a relatively quick timeframe. In Carolina he took a 1-15 team the year prior and managed a 7-9 record in 2002. The following year (2003) he was able to lead Carolina to the Super Bowl. In 2011 he was hired in Denver to take over a team that had finished the year prior at 4-12 and took the team to an 8-8 record which was good enough for the playoffs. Something to note was that Fox did that mostly with (or should I say 'despite') Tebow as his staring QB. His measured success for the remaining three years in Denver could be more to the success of having Peyton Manning on the team...or could it?

 

I have huge doubt that Cutler is going to find the proverbial 'fountain of QB ability' and suddenly rise up as you suggest. What I believe will happen is that Gase will work some magic of his own and design an offense less reliant on QB play and more dependent on the other skill positions. That's why I think Forte, Langfor, Carey, M. Bennett, and probably Royal will all have hallmark years. Cutler (I hope) will be relegated to a Kyle Orton-esque game manager. If he deviates from that design we'll see Jimmy Clausen starting.

 

Chicago is too loaded with talent on offense to not do better. Fox has done more with less and I'm fairly certain he'll once again lead the Bears to a great turnaround this upcoming year. Probably better than most of us have expected.

[ASHKUM BEAR]

I'm surprisingly optimistic about next season. Mostly due to John Fox's success at turning teams around on a relatively quick timeframe. In Carolina he took a 1-15 team the year prior and managed a 7-9 record in 2002. The following year (2003) he was able to lead Carolina to the Super Bowl. In 2011 he was hired in Denver to take over a team that had finished the year prior at 4-12 and took the team to an 8-8 record which was good enough for the playoffs. Something to note was that Fox did that mostly with (or should I say 'despite') Tebow as his staring QB. His measured success for the remaining three years in Denver could be more to the success of having Peyton Manning on the team...or could it?

 

I have huge doubt that Cutler is going to find the proverbial 'fountain of QB ability' and suddenly rise up as you suggest. What I believe will happen is that Gase will work some magic of his own and design an offense less reliant on QB play and more dependent on the other skill positions. That's why I think Forte, Langfor, Carey, M. Bennett, and probably Royal will all have hallmark years. Cutler (I hope) will be relegated to a Kyle Orton-esque game manager. If he deviates from that design we'll see Jimmy Clausen starting.

 

Chicago is too loaded with talent on offense to not do better. Fox has done more with less and I'm fairly certain he'll once again lead the Bears to a great turnaround this upcoming year. Probably better than most of us have expected.

The key is offensive line improvement. If they can establish a run game that commands respect, I think the rest will take care of itself. I am not saying Cutler needs to be all pro, but if the rest of the offense is working without having to take risks downfield, Cutler should still put up decent numbers. The offense needs to step up to their talent level and allow the team time to retool the defense. I was a bit shocked with last draft spending 3 out of the 4 first picks on offense. We will need to see more pieces soon on D.

 

[Alaskan Grizzly]

I was a bit shocked with last draft spending 3 out of the 4 first picks on offense. We will need to see more pieces soon on D.

 

I think a lot of that is due to the young players already on Defense. Fuller, Bostic, Jones, Sutton, Ferguson, Vereen and added Goldman and Amos this year. And throw in the 'marquee' signing of McPhee and adding respected veteran Rolle you don't have much more that really is needed. The youngsters from last year I don't think had a fair assessment due to Tucker's inept ability so this will prove a test for Fangio and his relatively high rating in the coaching world to see if he can bring it all together.

[ASHKUM BEAR]

I think a lot of that is due to the young players already on Defense. Fuller, Bostic, Jones, Sutton, Ferguson, Vereen and added Goldman and Amos this year. And throw in the 'marquee' signing of McPhee and adding respected veteran Rolle you don't have much more that really is needed. The youngsters from last year I don't think had a fair assessment due to Tucker's inept ability so this will prove a test for Fangio and his relatively high rating in the coaching world to see if he can bring it all together.

I hope you are right. It seems we either majorly struck out on drafting D lately or the coaching/scheme was the culprit. I think the later has more to do with it. We will still need another CB in the mix next season, unless one of our short term prove it deals works out.