Early season thoughts

[50england50]

What are your thoughts on the biggest disappoint this year.

 

Mine is the offense and especially the offensive line. I understand the Cutler concerns and it depends on everyone's position i.e. Are you a Culter or a hater. My position is that I felt he has the physical tools and hoped he would gain the mental apptitude to play the position however his salary this year is guaranteed so if you can't trade him do you cut him and take the $16 million + cap hit. I wouldn't. Should we have drafted a QB in hindsight yes but the ones drafted this year could regress.

 

In relation to the oline I feel this is the most important piece and could still change our season. We have committed draft picks recently i.e. Long, Grasu and Whitehair and felt that considering his reasonably above average performance that Leno Jnr was serviceable. We have invested a lot of money for instance contracts for Long, Sinton and Massie with the view that this should be our strength. On paper I think the oline should be better than last year but it has been shocking. Play calling from Logins hasn't helped but I have seen the dline of the Texans, Eagles and Cowboys far too often in our back field. Until this improves the play of the skill positions won't show us what they can be especially an evaluation of Kevin White who I feel has improved week to weak.

 

If the line doesn't get there act together then we could end up having a 0-16 season and I feel we are currently the 32nd team in the NFL and will have the 1st pick in the draft.

 

Or do we feel the defense has been the biggest reason for the appalling start to the season. We are definitely missing McPhee and you can't always plan in the draft and free agency for this because you already have money invested in the position and possibly hope someone will step up. Personally I have been concerned with our strength at NT which I believe was a strength in the draft. I would have liked more depth behind Goldman if you look at the good defense such as Houston they have a massive presence i.e. Vince Wilfork in the middle and with a player like that it makes the rest of the front seven stronger. If you negate runs up the middle you play to the strength of our defense i.e. Quicker at linebacker..

 

Or is it the secondary is the weakness have we not invested enough their. We have drafted players who are now getting a chance at concern and safety. There seems to be a concern regarding the concussions at this position. Are they tackling properly?

 

Whatever happens this season I don't know if I want to see another sacking of the GM and head coach. If we knew what we knew now would we have still moved away from Angelo and Lovie because the last 4 years have been terrible to watch and for the charter franchise this is unacceptable..

[AZ54]

I didn't expect to go anywhere this year but the poor start is still disappointing. I think the D was good until Goldman, Trevathan, and Callahan left the field. The offense hasn't done them any favors at all. In terms of players my biggest disappointment has to be Bobby Massie. I knew he'd struggle in pass protection because he always struggled in pass protection in AZ. I expected he'd be good at run blocking especially lined up next to Kyle Long. That hasn't happened. If Massie doesn't improve very quickly we might be a week or two away from seeing Adams at RT. If the Oline and running game got going we'd be ok with Hoyer.

 

Injuries have certainly impacted us since week 2 and the biggest loss is probably Goldman and Trevathan right behind him. That leaves a big gap up the middle and Will Sutton is not ever going to be a good NT because he gets moved around too much. So you are correct we don't have enough depth but we all knew that going into the offseason. We were a team looking to get decent starters much less better depth players.

 

When I isolate on some of the younger players many seem like they belong on the field but they just have to learn how to play in the NFL.

 

I like that Floyd has held up physically better than I expected on run plays but he's at least a year away from having the strength needed to play OLB, maybe he'll need a couple off-seasons. While we wait to see sack production for now, even with his rookie mistakes, he still offers more in coverage than any of the other options we have at OLB.

 

Whitehair may be the stud of this last draft class and I think he will develop into a very good player for us. Bullard has to learn how to play with better leverage and he does not have the strength needed if he takes a mis-step. Kwiatkoski flashed on a couple plays in the Cowboys backfield but otherwise he easily blocked or lost on assignments. Still I'm glad coaches put him out there and I hope we get to see more of him this week. Jordan Howard has a better feel for the running game than Langford and I think he'll be more productive for us.

 

Each week Kevin White looks more comfortable running his routes. I think his confidence grew last week and you see his emotions. He'll be working to make some more big plays at home this week.

 

There are now players in starting roles that I was hoping wouldn't even be on the roster: OLB/ILB Christian Jones, S Prosinski, and ILB Anderson (he's gone now replaced by Timu who is a better football player but he's slow), and McManis (who is still good on special teams and not good in coverage).

[ASHKUM BEAR]

What are your thoughts on the biggest disappoint this year. Mine is the offense and especially the offensive line. I understand the Cutler concerns and it depends on everyone's position i.e. Are you a Culter or a hater. My position is that I felt he has the physical tools and hoped he would gain the mental apptitude to play the position however his salary this year is guaranteed so if you can't trade him do you cut him and take the $16 million + cap hit. I wouldn't. Should we have drafted a QB in hindsight yes but the ones drafted this year could regress. In relation to the oline I feel this is the most important piece and could still change our season. We have committed draft picks recently i.e. Long, Grasu and Whitehair and felt that considering his reasonably above average performance that Leno Jnr was serviceable. We have invested a lot of money for instance contracts for Long, Sinton and Massie with the view that this should be our strength. On paper I think the oline should be better than last year but it has been shocking. Play calling from Logins hasn't helped but I have seen the dline of the Texans, Eagles and Cowboys far too often in our back field. Until this improves the play of the skill positions won't show us what they can be especially an evaluation of Kevin White who I feel has improved week to weak. If the line doesn't get there act together then we could end up having a 0-16 season and I feel we are currently the 32nd team in the NFL and will have the 1st pick in the draft. Or do we feel the defense has been the biggest reason for the appalling start to the season. We are definitely missing McPhee and you can't always plan in the draft and free agency for this because you already have money invested in the position and possibly hope someone will step up. Personally I have been concerned with our strength at NT which I believe was a strength in the draft. I would have liked more depth behind Goldman if you look at the good defense such as Houston they have a massive presence i.e. Vince Wilfork in the middle and with a player like that it makes the rest of the front seven stronger. If you negate runs up the middle you play to the strength of our defense i.e. Quicker at linebacker.. Or is it the secondary is the weakness have we not invested enough their. We have drafted players who are now getting a chance at concern and safety. There seems to be a concern regarding the concussions at this position. Are they tackling properly? Whatever happens this season I don't know if I want to see another sacking of the GM and head coach. If we knew what we knew now would we have still moved away from Angelo and Lovie because the last 4 years have been terrible to watch and for the charter franchise this is unacceptable..

 

The writing was on the wall at Lovie/Angelo's last few years as those players were aged with no replacements behind them. They also traded away many high draft picks on Cutler, Marshall, Adams etc. That was the beginning and continued with Emery spending his first draft getting players Lovies front office scouted.

 

The offense and defense are both problems right now with the 0-3 start. The defense gives 10 minute drives and the offense goes 3 and out.

 

The defense needs to be able to pressure the QB, that is almost non existent. They also cannot stop the run, even with the additions of Freeman/Trevathan/Hicks etc. Once the team falls behind, it limits the offense as they need to score quick and takes out our run game.

 

The offense's biggest problems to start was having a reshuffled oline. They get penalties too often bc they are not up to speed yet. Massie is also a liability and his pass blocking was known before they signed him. Hopefully they can gel and improve there. Fox needs to stop deferring when they win the coin toss and get the offense on the field asap and run the ball.

[madlithuanian]

Really well thought out AZ...I like your assessment.

 

Some of my broad brush stroke thoughts mimic a lot of yous.

 

GM - concerned. Wasn't before as I was giving him the benefit of the doubt. Now, Floyd and White can certainly still come through. But they need to be stars, not just guys. We've seen flashes. So, there is some hope. I really would like to see/need to see some development there...hence...

 

Coaches - concerned. Wasn't before, other than potentially OC Loggains. Well, I am not concerned across the board. Loggains I think is completely a fail. He really has no history of ever being good, so the expectation isn't there. So far, Fox and Fangio have been very disappointing to say the least. However, their track record still gives them the benefit of the doubt this season. They are bereft of talent, but good coaches should be getting more out of this bunch than they are right now.

 

Players - mixed bag. It's all over the map, from horribly disappointed (Massie, Leno, Cutler, Langford) to perennial injury worries (McPhee, Houston, Fuller) to development (White, Floyd) to current injury worries (Long, Trevathan, etc), to pleasant surprises (Hall, Amos, Bullard, Freeman, Howard). But we are simply lacking real talent and real stars. We need some. Soon.

 

I didn't expect to go anywhere this year but the poor start is still disappointing. I think the D was good until Goldman, Trevathan, and Callahan left the field. The offense hasn't done them any favors at all. In terms of players my biggest disappointment has to be Bobby Massie. I knew he'd struggle in pass protection because he always struggled in pass protection in AZ. I expected he'd be good at run blocking especially lined up next to Kyle Long. That hasn't happened. If Massie doesn't improve very quickly we might be a week or two away from seeing Adams at RT. If the Oline and running game got going we'd be ok with Hoyer.

 

Injuries have certainly impacted us since week 2 and the biggest loss is probably Goldman and Trevathan right behind him. That leaves a big gap up the middle and Will Sutton is not ever going to be a good NT because he gets moved around too much. So you are correct we don't have enough depth but we all knew that going into the offseason. We were a team looking to get decent starters much less better depth players.

 

When I isolate on some of the younger players many seem like they belong on the field but they just have to learn how to play in the NFL.

 

I like that Floyd has held up physically better than I expected on run plays but he's at least a year away from having the strength needed to play OLB, maybe he'll need a couple off-seasons. While we wait to see sack production for now, even with his rookie mistakes, he still offers more in coverage than any of the other options we have at OLB.

 

Whitehair may be the stud of this last draft class and I think he will develop into a very good player for us. Bullard has to learn how to play with better leverage and he does not have the strength needed if he takes a mis-step. Kwiatkoski flashed on a couple plays in the Cowboys backfield but otherwise he easily blocked or lost on assignments. Still I'm glad coaches put him out there and I hope we get to see more of him this week. Jordan Howard has a better feel for the running game than Langford and I think he'll be more productive for us.

 

Each week Kevin White looks more comfortable running his routes. I think his confidence grew last week and you see his emotions. He'll be working to make some more big plays at home this week.

 

There are now players in starting roles that I was hoping wouldn't even be on the roster: OLB/ILB Christian Jones, S Prosinski, and ILB Anderson (he's gone now replaced by Timu who is a better football player but he's slow), and McManis (who is still good on special teams and not good in coverage).

 

[ChileBear]

My early season thoughts, admitadlly after two (?) martinis, and seeing them twice, is we are a terrible team. This is not your grandfather's Bears. They suck in all aspects of the game. I'd rather not watch them anymore this season than to see them be the bottom feeders they are.

[Alaskan Grizzly]

My early season thoughts, admitadlly after two (?) martinis, and seeing them twice, is we are a terrible team. This is not your grandfather's Bears. They suck in all aspects of the game. I'd rather not watch them anymore this season than to see them be the bottom feeders they are.

 

I'm with Chile on this (and I'm without the liquid levity). It is embarrassing to be considered as possibly the worst team. I keep holding out hope that they'd 'get it' but suddenly they find themselves missing half the team due to injury and any ground gained previously is lost.

 

The conspiracist in me always wonders if there really are that many injuries or is there some sort of silent protest going on? Or does our team have that bad of luck?

 

If it were practically any other coach than John Fox I'd have thrown in the towel but if for no other reason I still have a glimmer of hope that the team will somehow manage to at least look respectable at some point this year.

[madlithuanian]

Harsh.

 

But, I can't disagree!

 

I cam a glutton. For good BBW during Sundays and punishment watching the Bears. I will continue to watch, but only out of curiosity to see the young guys hopefully get better.

 

My early season thoughts, admitadlly after two (?) martinis, and seeing them twice, is we are a terrible team. This is not your grandfather's Bears. They suck in all aspects of the game. I'd rather not watch them anymore this season than to see them be the bottom feeders they are.

 

[madlithuanian]

One possibility is that Pace is telling Fox anyone remotely injured gets shelved...tank the season. Doubt it though.

 

I'm with Chile on this (and I'm without the liquid levity). It is embarrassing to be considered as possibly the worst team. I keep holding out hope that they'd 'get it' but suddenly they find themselves missing half the team due to injury and any ground gained previously is lost.

 

The conspiracist in me always wonders if there really are that many injuries or is there some sort of silent protest going on? Or does our team have that bad of luck?

 

If it were practically any other coach than John Fox I'd have thrown in the towel but if for no other reason I still have a glimmer of hope that the team will somehow manage to at least look respectable at some point this year.

 

[Alaskan Grizzly]

One possibility is that Pace is telling Fox anyone remotely injured gets shelved...tank the season. Doubt it though.

 

Not for nothing but Pace doesn't appear to be holding up to well (at least in pics/still shots I've seen lately). I saw a Twitter post of he and Joique Bell during Bells signing and Pace looks like a shell of his former self. Also saw some shots during the game last week with Dallas and again he just seems out of it. I'm guessing the strain of the teams lackluster performance is getting the best of him. I wonder aloud if we don't see him gone this year especially if things don't look up. I wouldn't say I agree with the thought, just that I think it possible.

[madlithuanian]

Depending on how the rest of the season plays out, a complete house cleaning could happen. But, I think there's more fo a chance that a 1-15 season would result in more coaching changes than GM. After year 3...all bets are off.

 

Not for nothing but Pace doesn't appear to be holding up to well (at least in pics/still shots I've seen lately). I saw a Twitter post of he and Joique Bell during Bells signing and Pace looks like a shell of his former self. Also saw some shots during the game last week with Dallas and again he just seems out of it. I'm guessing the strain of the teams lackluster performance is getting the best of him. I wonder aloud if we don't see him gone this year especially if things don't look up. I wouldn't say I agree with the thought, just that I think it possible.

 

[killakrzydav]

I think we've been horrible. Honestly, we look like we don't have any talent at any level besides ILB.