Daventry Posted December 1, 2016 Report Share Posted December 1, 2016 https://www.theguardian.com/sport/blog/2016...ing-seasons-nfl Interesting read.... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AZ54 Posted December 2, 2016 Report Share Posted December 2, 2016 Easy stuff to write. He can talk about all the negatives of losing but doesn't acknowledge any of the positives such as a defense that is still ranked 11th in the league. An Oline that despite losing 3 starters still managed to put together a decent run game and pass protection against Tenn. It's not all roses that's for sure. Yet there are some positives out there especially considering the M.A.S.H. unit that gets weekly work in the locker room. Offense: 16th in total yards per game despite using 3 QBs this season including one who wasn't even in training camp. 5th in the league rushing yds/attempt. How do you do that with the Oline and WR turnover (they block too) we've had? Howard a part of it but he's part of the glass is half full story too. 15th in passing yds/attempt and passing yds/game. 10th in sacks given up. While we can move the ball, we're absolutely horrid at scoring, 31st in the league. Defense: 10th in yds/play 13th in pts/game 7th best in rushing yds/attempt 10th in passing yds/attempt (not even sure how we pulled this off with the musical chairs in the secondary) 12th in passing yds/game 15th in sacks We're 18th in pts/game. I understand that stats can sometimes be manipulated to be what you want to see. Certainly there are categories where we rank near the bottom. Given the train wreck this team is supposed to be we're still not a pushover for our opponents. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ChileBear Posted December 2, 2016 Report Share Posted December 2, 2016 Easy stuff to write. He can talk about all the negatives of losing but doesn't acknowledge any of the positives such as a defense that is still ranked 11th in the league. An Oline that despite losing 3 starters still managed to put together a decent run game and pass protection against Tenn. It's not all roses that's for sure. Yet there are some positives out there especially considering the M.A.S.H. unit that gets weekly work in the locker room. Offense: 16th in total yards per game despite using 3 QBs this season including one who wasn't even in training camp. 5th in the league rushing yds/attempt. How do you do that with the Oline and WR turnover (they block too) we've had? Howard a part of it but he's part of the glass is half full story too. 15th in passing yds/attempt and passing yds/game. 10th in sacks given up. While we can move the ball, we're absolutely horrid at scoring, 31st in the league. Defense: 10th in yds/play 13th in pts/game 7th best in rushing yds/attempt 10th in passing yds/attempt (not even sure how we pulled this off with the musical chairs in the secondary) 12th in passing yds/game 15th in sacks We're 18th in pts/game. I understand that stats can sometimes be manipulated to be what you want to see. Certainly there are categories where we rank near the bottom. Given the train wreck this team is supposed to be we're still not a pushover for our opponents. Agree totally. I lived through the teams of the late 60' and into the 70's. It's a bitch, and then there were the mid 80's. I live with the hope that every year we can do better but I'm getting old. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Daventry Posted December 3, 2016 Author Report Share Posted December 3, 2016 Easy stuff to write. He can talk about all the negatives of losing but doesn't acknowledge any of the positives such as a defense that is still ranked 11th in the league. An Oline that despite losing 3 starters still managed to put together a decent run game and pass protection against Tenn. It's not all roses that's for sure. Yet there are some positives out there especially considering the M.A.S.H. unit that gets weekly work in the locker room. Offense: 16th in total yards per game despite using 3 QBs this season including one who wasn't even in training camp. 5th in the league rushing yds/attempt. How do you do that with the Oline and WR turnover (they block too) we've had? Howard a part of it but he's part of the glass is half full story too. 15th in passing yds/attempt and passing yds/game. 10th in sacks given up. While we can move the ball, we're absolutely horrid at scoring, 31st in the league. Defense: 10th in yds/play 13th in pts/game 7th best in rushing yds/attempt 10th in passing yds/attempt (not even sure how we pulled this off with the musical chairs in the secondary) 12th in passing yds/game 15th in sacks We're 18th in pts/game. I understand that stats can sometimes be manipulated to be what you want to see. Certainly there are categories where we rank near the bottom. Given the train wreck this team is supposed to be we're still not a pushover for our opponents. That is all true, but the article was really about how the original football team, the Chicago Bears, have sucked for many years. The lack of attention to the QB position is the identified issue in the article basically IMO....and I think we held on to Cutler way too long. With all of the excuses, look at the wins and losses. Maybe there was other issues that contributed, but his demeanour did him no favours and his turnovers hurt time and again. It is hard to believe we never at least drafted a young guy to develop or signed a solid and young FA who could be the long term answer in how many years? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AZ54 Posted December 3, 2016 Report Share Posted December 3, 2016 That is all true, but the article was really about how the original football team, the Chicago Bears, have sucked for many years. The lack of attention to the QB position is the identified issue in the article basically IMO....and I think we held on to Cutler way too long. With all of the excuses, look at the wins and losses. Maybe there was other issues that contributed, but his demeanour did him no favours and his turnovers hurt time and again. It is hard to believe we never at least drafted a young guy to develop or signed a solid and young FA who could be the long term answer in how many years? That's all true but to be honest we had many years when we couldn't draft good players at any position much less QB. That led to many years where he to fill a lot of needs each draft and, as bad as Cutler has been at times, QB never rose to the top 3 rounds of needs. Such is life when coaches and front office personnel work in a league demanding short term success instead of a long term franchise view. Fans on the other hand are in it for decades and are sometimes more willing to have a long term view. We've seen that here on the board at times with posts that say they don't care what it costs just go get a QB, and keep trying until you get it right. Then again sometimes fans don't want to go through a full roster rebuild. You can find those threads here today. Drafting a QB early is more often than not the fastest way to get fired. Given the crap-shoot success rate of 1st Rd QBs I prefer to build a defense, a running game, and an offense an average QB can run well enough to score 20 points a game. I'm ok with what Pace has done so far and in his first draft he didn't have his scouts and organization in place. in his first draft what, or who, was he supposed to trust among the existing scouting department in terms of going all-in on a QB? There wasn't a single fan on this board who trusted that scouting department. Today both fans and team are at the same juncture where there's enough time on the career clock (for Pace) to get a shot at the next QB. Meanwhile we're deep enough into the rebuild process that even if Cutler leaves it won't make that much difference next season. In fact his cap space can be used to make our defense and running game better. Pace can't afford to go through another season like this without the hopefulness a young signal caller brings to the team. That'd be true even if it were Goff sitting on the bench. "There's a future over there..." Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Alaskan Grizzly Posted December 4, 2016 Report Share Posted December 4, 2016 I understood the article to read the way you intended it. The Bears, for all the history and pride., haven't been much better that high average. It always forever seemed they just needed that 'one last piece'. Over the years that piece seems to be a true franchise QB. Something we've lacked for quite awhile. Not all that long ago we were stringing together winning seasons (sprinkled with some losing ones) under Lovie. We had what was needed; a decent running game, a consistently dominant (or top tier) defense and an 'ok' OLine. Heck Jay even did good in a few of the years when Lovie coached. Then the bottom fell out. There really hasn't been much pride associated with the Bears in the last few years due to the consistent and unfortunate turns of bad luck and bad timing. Now that the Cubs have won a world championship, the Bears are the longest non-championship professional sport team in town. Sad to say. (You think Theo Epstein could be contracted out to advise Pace on some off season strategy?). Like AZ pointed out, I think we are on the precipice of doing something great again. Maybe not win the SB, but start competing again. Surely we can't have the same luck we've had this year with injuries and suspensions. Jay will more than likely be gone next year (FINALLY!!) and we'll have one (perhaps two) QBs that will give us a fighting chance to not at least throw away a game or two for us. Fox has got the team pointed in the right direction and is saying and doing the right things. Even if he's not telling US what it is. For the time being; I for one am excited to see how Barkley does tomorrow and the following few games. Hopefully everyone has had a chance to remember how to catch a football. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Alaskan Grizzly Posted December 4, 2016 Report Share Posted December 4, 2016 Easy stuff to write. He can talk about all the negatives of losing but doesn't acknowledge any of the positives such as a defense that is still ranked 11th in the league. An Oline that despite losing 3 starters still managed to put together a decent run game and pass protection against Tenn. It's not all roses that's for sure. Yet there are some positives out there especially considering the M.A.S.H. unit that gets weekly work in the locker room. Offense: 16th in total yards per game despite using 3 QBs this season including one who wasn't even in training camp. 5th in the league rushing yds/attempt. How do you do that with the Oline and WR turnover (they block too) we've had? Howard a part of it but he's part of the glass is half full story too. 15th in passing yds/attempt and passing yds/game. 10th in sacks given up. While we can move the ball, we're absolutely horrid at scoring, 31st in the league. Defense: 10th in yds/play 13th in pts/game 7th best in rushing yds/attempt 10th in passing yds/attempt (not even sure how we pulled this off with the musical chairs in the secondary) 12th in passing yds/game 15th in sacks We're 18th in pts/game. I understand that stats can sometimes be manipulated to be what you want to see. Certainly there are categories where we rank near the bottom. Given the train wreck this team is supposed to be we're still not a pushover for our opponents. One other thing I didn't see in your compiled stats. On average how many points are the Bears losing by? It doesn't seem like there have been as many blow outs as I recall a few years ago. I know last year there were a couple squeakers that could of put us closer to 'better than .500' if the only the game had swung our way. That right there is a testament of where the team is. Not getting blown out with as young a team (and Cutler as QB) as we have. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AZ54 Posted December 4, 2016 Report Share Posted December 4, 2016 One other thing I didn't see in your compiled stats. On average how many points are the Bears losing by? It doesn't seem like there have been as many blow outs as I recall a few years ago. I know last year there were a couple squeakers that could of put us closer to 'better than .500' if the only the game had swung our way. That right there is a testament of where the team is. Not getting blown out with as young a team (and Cutler as QB) as we have. That's probably not too good. I know we got blown out by the Cowboys but beyond that I think we've been in every game. While Hoyer was running the show we couldn't score points but despite all that the D has generally kept us in every game. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jason Posted December 4, 2016 Report Share Posted December 4, 2016 One other thing I didn't see in your compiled stats. On average how many points are the Bears losing by? It doesn't seem like there have been as many blow outs as I recall a few years ago. I know last year there were a couple squeakers that could of put us closer to 'better than .500' if the only the game had swung our way. That right there is a testament of where the team is. Not getting blown out with as young a team (and Cutler as QB) as we have. For the most part, your post is the thought that makes me feel promise about this season. Tons of injuries, a team in transition, and relatively competitive. The added bonus is, of course, a bunch of losses that puts the team in great draft position. It's an almost perfect for a perpetually stagnant franchise. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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