11 seconds

[AZ54]

http://www.nfl.com/gamecenter?game_id=2960...=tab_gamecenter

 

If you can handle the emotions again watch the video at that link.

 

They say football is a game of inches but for a couple months now I've been thinking about what a difference 11 seconds can make for a team. If we won that game against Atlanta we would not have seen anywhere near as many changes as what we had this offseason. I believe that's for the best. If we win this game against Atlanta it's likely we:

 

1) Made the made the playoffs but lost in Rd 1. That would have been enough for JA and Lovie to sit tight and just tweak things a bit instead of the wholesale changes we had.

 

2) Don't make major changes in the coaching ranks. Maybe we make a change or two but Babich might have gotten another shot. There were multiple issues throughout the season that proved our D was struggling due to coaching limitations but nothing stands out like this failure. Giving up the only viable passing play leads to wholesale changes in the D coaching ranks and Lovie, for the first time in his tenure, takes over the reigns as D coordinator. I believe all of this was needed as the team appeared to be complacent too often, there was no passion on D, players weren't performing to their ability, and the scheme often left us out of position to make plays.

 

3) Don't make the push for Marinelli as we did; let me explain. I think in one way Lovie and JA would have made sure Marinelli had a job no matter what in case nothing else worked out for him. Had we made the playoffs past loyalties to coaches indicate to me that we would not have fired our Dline coach and brought in Marinelli to replace him, or perhaps we would have tried to bring in Marinelli as an asst. DC? I know the official line was that Brick Haley decided on his own to go back to LSU but I have to believe he had some incentive for finding another job. I don't think Marinelli would have accepted the asst. DC job as he was intent on getting back to his roots. JA made it clear the Dline was all his and perhaps with Lovie taking over we agreed to give him significant input on the defensive game plans at least for the front seven.

 

4) Still have Kyle Orton as our QB. That come back victory would have been cited quite often during the offseason as reason for optimism, along with the fact he played through pain with a bad ankle. While I like Kyle and his work ethic last year, he was limited in the throws he can make. Without this 11 second failure we would not have made the huge push for Cutler because the thinking would have been that all we need to do is upgrade the D, upgrade the Oline a bit, and upgrade some WRs.

 

After some introspection JA came out with his now-famous "it's the QB who makes the WR" change in philosophy after years of going with mediocre QBs and strong D as the formula. I believe he is right in this assessment and most importantly, he lived up to those words when he went after Cutler with a "we're in it to win it philosophy".

 

 

5) still have Mike Brown. I still say this one play ended his tenure with the Bears. People say he was great at lining up his teammates and making sure everyone knew what to do on plays, yet on this ONE play he failed to help a benchwarmer get into position. Worse, he was so slow in recognizing the deep out route (the only route that could stop the clock for ATL) and he was so slow in getting to the outside to prevent the reception. I'll always respect Mike Brown for the player he was in his prime but in one play we saw a guy who was but a shell of his former self. He later got put back in the box as SS.

 

Safety continues to be a concern for the team but we finally moved on from Mike Brown and I think in some ways this is good because the competition in camp is clear that they all have an opportunity to earn the job. The downside is we don't have any obvious starters.

 

6) Continue with the same Oline philosophy. Instead we get a significant change, where we now look for OT who can play guard (Omiyale). I know we'd have had new Oline players but would we have gone out and changed our philosophy? Would we have pursued three OT FAs like we did or would there have been an OG in there? The benefits of this change remain to be seen but I'm not against it as I think it should help in pass protection.

 

7) Continue with vet FA WRs augmenting our young WRs. I think the failure of the vet FA WR last year and the lack of playing time for Bennett led to a change in philosophy here. This remains a bit of speculation based on tidbits of reporting and also based on the fact that we have a very inexperienced WR corps yet we've been a bit coy in signing a vet FA to join the group. We danced a bit with Tory Holt but we wouldn't give up the farm for him either. Lately, despite Marvin Harrison being available and a couple others, we still are sticking with what we have. I believe some of that has to do with the surprising performance of Johnny Knox in OTAs but nonetheless we didn't make a huge push for the FA WRs before the draft, and that surprised everyone myself included.

 

8) Continue with the same draft philosophy. Instead we alter it significantly. JA said that we'd re-evaluate medical flags and give them greater weight before the draft. We've had issues with several players who had a poor medical history in college the biggest of which was Chris Williams back injury. Again, JA stuck to his word and drafted early round players without medical issues. Chances will still be taken in the later rounds (ala Kinder Rd 7) but that's a more acceptable risk reward ratio.

 

9) We can't underestimate the effects of the single move in trading for Jay Cutler. Despite all the other changes already made in the organization prior to this I believe this message was loud and clear...we will not stop working to make this organization better. I think it was well received throughout the team, front office included.

 

You won't meet many people in high level management positions who are willing to completely change their philosophy towards their business as JA has done this offseason. After all, doing what they do is how they got to the top, why change now? Changing the approach, methods, philosophy or whatever you want to call it, is in some way an admission that you were wrong. Yet JA rose above that and admitted his mistakes, if not in print, he did so by the changes he made within the organization. He said the QB makes the WR and then went out and got a Pro Bowl QB to back up his words and gave up a popular player in exchange. JA even managed to give Orton credit for being a good QB who the Broncos wanted. Even if this deal fell through he'd have been able to say "the Broncos wanted Orton and we had some interest in Cutler but in the end it wasn't worth it for us".

 

Since this deal you've seen virtually no conflicts within the Bears organization. Think about that. None. Everyone is at the OTAs. Coaches are all working hard, Marinelli is running the Dline through more work than they've ever done yet no complaints. Of course all the contract extensions from last year played a role here but still don't you think a guy like Corey Graham who played well at CB last year wouldn't be upset with his position change? Jamar Williams fights for playing time? Beekman losing his role with the starters before training camp or preseason games? Vasher not bitching about being called out? Credit goes to these players for their professionalism but I think the majority of credit goes to JA and to a lesser extent Lovie for saying you need to get it done on the field.

 

I'm not big on making predictions as far as W-L but I think this all culminates in a team that fights much harder for each yard, fights harder to get to the QB, fights harder to get off the block and make the tackle. In other words, we're going to see some passion for the game, a passion that's been lacking for a couple seasons. I'm ready for it, are you?

[Mongo3451]

YES!

 

Best post I've read in a LONG time!

[BearFan2000]

YES!

 

Best post I've read in a LONG time!

 

Second that, well thought out and well written it's very true that sometimes what seems like the worst of situations becomes the turning point to bigger better things. The point at which you realize and admit that maintaining the status quo will not get the job done. It takes humility to admit that your philosophy needs to be re-examined and be willing to make major changes. I think you are correct had we hung on and won that game and made it to the playoffs regardless of the results in the postseason it would have likely been enough to justify staying the course. Which would just be rewarding flawed thinking and flawed execution.

 

We as fans may have not thought much of it as we've come to expect this and to an extent bought into the idea that we are only a few minor pieces away. While we'd love to see major moves and wholesale changes in philosophy we would likely be content with the minor upgrades that you mentioned. Problem with that thinking is that for that philosophy to work you need everything to go your way for it to work, the perfect mix of players, and many things need to go your way in games and in the course of the season. Injuries, tough breaks in games, etc. It doesn't take much to poke holes and collapse your plans and what seemed like a good enough plan falls well short. As it turns out we as Bears fans have seen things other franchises have done over the years but have never seen a the Bears do, we had an offseason I don't think many here expected I can still remember when the trade was made thinking holy shnikies, tell me this isn't a sick april fools joke, but it was real we did just go after and acquire a pro bowl QB. We didn't stop there. The Bears were very aggressive and smart with their decisions. Rather than doing just enough to say "we tried" they went all out and were determined to make some things happen. As a fan I'm excited to see how that reflects on the players. If I was on the team I'd be excited and re-energized because we are focused on making the necessary changes to win I'd be motivated to work harder and push higher.

 

Insanity is doing the same thing over and over again expecting a different result. The Bears were never going to be better than a team with potential who once in a while made some noise with the occasional dream season. Those dream seasons or anomalies were just enough to justify plotting along the same course of action. One could argue that one of these dream seasons could result in a SB win (one of them very well could have). But the chances are higher of ending up with what we usually get, which is disappointment and the typical "maybe next year". While we could continue playing gridiron lottery and hope we hit the jackpot it was time for a change of strategy. It's exciting to see what the future holds. I'm so used to not expecting much and hoping for the best and justifying in my own mind that this years team will get it done. Cautiously Optimistic was my stance, this season could change all that this season could be the year we as Bears fans begin expecting excellence. I know I keep saying to myself don't expect to much too quickly we've been wounded before and disappointed before to the point where we don't allow ourselves to fully be excited about our team because experience has taught us to be syndical.

 

My Pledge as a Bears Fan

 

I hereby throw off the shackles of mediocrity and I will come out and say it I expect big things this year. I expect the difference to be night and day and I expect a serious run at a championship. I will to the best of my ability fight any negative impulse to lower my expectation. I understand that there will be ups and downs but I expect the ups to be higher and the downs to be shallower, short lived, and temporary. I expect players in every phase of the game to play at a higher level. From the water boy on up to the QB and the coaches and front office. I expect this team to become a perennial force and I expect this team to be a regular in the playoffs and have regular representation in the pro bowl. Am I expecting too much? I say no, I'm tired of expecting nothing and clinging to what decent results we get. I'm tired of being a pessimist watching a team hoping for a good effort and a win but but expecting much less. I will walk the line of being a homer but not crossing it. If we don't succeed I expect us to shuffle the deck as necessary to get the cards we need. I believe this once proud franchise can live again.

[BigDaddy]

Good post. I agree, a 10-6 record would have gotten this team to the playoffs but then what? I think Angelo has done everything we could ask of him (Of course, not phucking up so many 1st rounders would have certainly endeared him to me alot more, but...) in moving this team in the right direction. The 64,000.00 question is, what happens if we lay an egg. 8-8 or 9-7 without a playoff appearance? What does he do then? Everyone knows my feeling about lovie Smith but just to reiterate, if we were to go 8-8 or 9-7 and no playoffs, my hope is they would launch him but this time, bring in an offensive minded HC that can relate to Cutler (psssst...Shanahan). This organization has improved it's talent this off season. There is simply no excuse for not winning. I don't care about the real or perceived WR deficiencies, this offense has gotten significantly better and we did what we did with orton at QB. I expect a winner. Not neccesarily a SB, but a winner and strong playoff showing.

[Pixote]

AZ54, this is an outstanding article. This is one of the better reads I have had about the Bears in many many weeks. I hope DBDB or someone familiar with the news page publishes this article for all to read on the main page. Well thought out, good structure and organization, intriguing topic well supported and argued.

 

I think the only thing in the article I would disagree with is that I think Mike Brown's departure had nothing to do with this game directly. His play had deteriorated over time due to injuries. I just think management felt it was time to accept the fact that his injury history dictated a need to move forward and develop younger safeties to contribute. He would be in a KC uniform today even if we had won this game, IMO.

[defiantgiant]

I think the only thing in the article I would disagree with is that I think Mike Brown's departure had nothing to do with this game directly. His play had deteriorated over time due to injuries. I just think management felt it was time to accept the fact that his injury history dictated a need to move forward and develop younger safeties to contribute. He would be in a KC uniform today even if we had won this game, IMO.

 

I'll agree with you here. Mike Brown has been on the way out for a while. We drafted Danieal Manning to be his eventual replacement back in 2006; that didn't work out, but it's clear that Angelo and Lovie started looking for a successor to Brown several years ago. It's awesome that we got one last good season out of him, and it's hard for me to believe that he wouldn't offer some value as a backup, but I understand why they couldn't start him any more. I think that the writing was probably on the wall for Mike, even had the Bears made it to the playoffs last season.

 

I definitely agree with the OP that most of the other changes wouldn't have happened had the Bears made it to the postseason. I think Orton would have kept his job as the starter, even with Cutler available for trade. Babich, much to the team's detriment, probably would have kept defensive playcalling responsibilities.

 

I'm not sure we would have pursued a veteran wideout, however. Jerry's on record saying that we were going to go after a receiver in the first round had we not sent that pick to get Cutler. I think that if the Bears had made the playoffs last season, we'd probably be looking at Hakeem Nicks or Kenny Britt lining up opposite Devin Hester this year.

[madlithuanian]

Great read!

 

I'm ready!

 

 

 

http://www.nfl.com/gamecenter?game_id=2960...=tab_gamecenter

 

If you can handle the emotions again watch the video at that link.

 

They say football is a game of inches but for a couple months now I've been thinking about what a difference 11 seconds can make for a team. If we won that game against Atlanta we would not have seen anywhere near as many changes as what we had this offseason. I believe that's for the best. If we win this game against Atlanta it's likely we:

 

1) Made the made the playoffs but lost in Rd 1. That would have been enough for JA and Lovie to sit tight and just tweak things a bit instead of the wholesale changes we had.

 

2) Don't make major changes in the coaching ranks. Maybe we make a change or two but Babich might have gotten another shot. There were multiple issues throughout the season that proved our D was struggling due to coaching limitations but nothing stands out like this failure. Giving up the only viable passing play leads to wholesale changes in the D coaching ranks and Lovie, for the first time in his tenure, takes over the reigns as D coordinator. I believe all of this was needed as the team appeared to be complacent too often, there was no passion on D, players weren't performing to their ability, and the scheme often left us out of position to make plays.

 

3) Don't make the push for Marinelli as we did; let me explain. I think in one way Lovie and JA would have made sure Marinelli had a job no matter what in case nothing else worked out for him. Had we made the playoffs past loyalties to coaches indicate to me that we would not have fired our Dline coach and brought in Marinelli to replace him, or perhaps we would have tried to bring in Marinelli as an asst. DC? I know the official line was that Brick Haley decided on his own to go back to LSU but I have to believe he had some incentive for finding another job. I don't think Marinelli would have accepted the asst. DC job as he was intent on getting back to his roots. JA made it clear the Dline was all his and perhaps with Lovie taking over we agreed to give him significant input on the defensive game plans at least for the front seven.

 

4) Still have Kyle Orton as our QB. That come back victory would have been cited quite often during the offseason as reason for optimism, along with the fact he played through pain with a bad ankle. While I like Kyle and his work ethic last year, he was limited in the throws he can make. Without this 11 second failure we would not have made the huge push for Cutler because the thinking would have been that all we need to do is upgrade the D, upgrade the Oline a bit, and upgrade some WRs.

 

After some introspection JA came out with his now-famous "it's the QB who makes the WR" change in philosophy after years of going with mediocre QBs and strong D as the formula. I believe he is right in this assessment and most importantly, he lived up to those words when he went after Cutler with a "we're in it to win it philosophy".

 

 

5) still have Mike Brown. I still say this one play ended his tenure with the Bears. People say he was great at lining up his teammates and making sure everyone knew what to do on plays, yet on this ONE play he failed to help a benchwarmer get into position. Worse, he was so slow in recognizing the deep out route (the only route that could stop the clock for ATL) and he was so slow in getting to the outside to prevent the reception. I'll always respect Mike Brown for the player he was in his prime but in one play we saw a guy who was but a shell of his former self. He later got put back in the box as SS.

 

Safety continues to be a concern for the team but we finally moved on from Mike Brown and I think in some ways this is good because the competition in camp is clear that they all have an opportunity to earn the job. The downside is we don't have any obvious starters.

 

6) Continue with the same Oline philosophy. Instead we get a significant change, where we now look for OT who can play guard (Omiyale). I know we'd have had new Oline players but would we have gone out and changed our philosophy? Would we have pursued three OT FAs like we did or would there have been an OG in there? The benefits of this change remain to be seen but I'm not against it as I think it should help in pass protection.

 

7) Continue with vet FA WRs augmenting our young WRs. I think the failure of the vet FA WR last year and the lack of playing time for Bennett led to a change in philosophy here. This remains a bit of speculation based on tidbits of reporting and also based on the fact that we have a very inexperienced WR corps yet we've been a bit coy in signing a vet FA to join the group. We danced a bit with Tory Holt but we wouldn't give up the farm for him either. Lately, despite Marvin Harrison being available and a couple others, we still are sticking with what we have. I believe some of that has to do with the surprising performance of Johnny Knox in OTAs but nonetheless we didn't make a huge push for the FA WRs before the draft, and that surprised everyone myself included.

 

8) Continue with the same draft philosophy. Instead we alter it significantly. JA said that we'd re-evaluate medical flags and give them greater weight before the draft. We've had issues with several players who had a poor medical history in college the biggest of which was Chris Williams back injury. Again, JA stuck to his word and drafted early round players without medical issues. Chances will still be taken in the later rounds (ala Kinder Rd 7) but that's a more acceptable risk reward ratio.

 

9) We can't underestimate the effects of the single move in trading for Jay Cutler. Despite all the other changes already made in the organization prior to this I believe this message was loud and clear...we will not stop working to make this organization better. I think it was well received throughout the team, front office included.

 

You won't meet many people in high level management positions who are willing to completely change their philosophy towards their business as JA has done this offseason. After all, doing what they do is how they got to the top, why change now? Changing the approach, methods, philosophy or whatever you want to call it, is in some way an admission that you were wrong. Yet JA rose above that and admitted his mistakes, if not in print, he did so by the changes he made within the organization. He said the QB makes the WR and then went out and got a Pro Bowl QB to back up his words and gave up a popular player in exchange. JA even managed to give Orton credit for being a good QB who the Broncos wanted. Even if this deal fell through he'd have been able to say "the Broncos wanted Orton and we had some interest in Cutler but in the end it wasn't worth it for us".

 

Since this deal you've seen virtually no conflicts within the Bears organization. Think about that. None. Everyone is at the OTAs. Coaches are all working hard, Marinelli is running the Dline through more work than they've ever done yet no complaints. Of course all the contract extensions from last year played a role here but still don't you think a guy like Corey Graham who played well at CB last year wouldn't be upset with his position change? Jamar Williams fights for playing time? Beekman losing his role with the starters before training camp or preseason games? Vasher not bitching about being called out? Credit goes to these players for their professionalism but I think the majority of credit goes to JA and to a lesser extent Lovie for saying you need to get it done on the field.

 

I'm not big on making predictions as far as W-L but I think this all culminates in a team that fights much harder for each yard, fights harder to get to the QB, fights harder to get off the block and make the tackle. In other words, we're going to see some passion for the game, a passion that's been lacking for a couple seasons. I'm ready for it, are you?

 

[madlithuanian]

Good qeustions...

 

I do honestly think that if we fail to make the playoffs, we just may see a new HC. It would somewhat say that JA did his job and Smith did not.

 

I'm simply hoping that the light goes off for Smith and he learns and improves.

 

Good post. I agree, a 10-6 record would have gotten this team to the playoffs but then what? I think Angelo has done everything we could ask of him (Of course, not phucking up so many 1st rounders would have certainly endeared him to me alot more, but...) in moving this team in the right direction. The 64,000.00 question is, what happens if we lay an egg. 8-8 or 9-7 without a playoff appearance? What does he do then? Everyone knows my feeling about lovie Smith but just to reiterate, if we were to go 8-8 or 9-7 and no playoffs, my hope is they would launch him but this time, bring in an offensive minded HC that can relate to Cutler (psssst...Shanahan). This organization has improved it's talent this off season. There is simply no excuse for not winning. I don't care about the real or perceived WR deficiencies, this offense has gotten significantly better and we did what we did with orton at QB. I expect a winner. Not neccesarily a SB, but a winner and strong playoff showing.

 

[lemonej]

AZ54 great post! All of us long time Bear fans have grown increasingly tired of this organization putting just a temporary bandage on things.This was the first bold move JA has made since trading for Ogunleye and giving up Marty Booker. Count me as one of the fans that felt that it was time for Mike Brown to go. In fact I thought he should have been gone sooner because of his injuries. This team and sometimes us fans hold on to players past glory a little too long. Mike Brown was one of the most exciting play makers at the position in Bears' history so he can take his place along side the likes of Whitsell, Pettibone,Plank, Fencik and Todd Bell in our minds as hard hitting turnover creating safeties.

 

Big Daddy you never waste an opportunity to promote your dump Lovie dialogue which is entertaining on slow news days but realistically thinking that the Bears would go after Shanahan and outbid the Cowboys who are rumored to be a player for his services if Wade Phillips fails. The Redskins,Chargers and Jaguars may all be on a short list to need a new coach if their seasons are not up to par. In this economy do you think this family owned team would get into a bidding war for a coach? Shanahan and Bill Cowher will be the top two candidates teams will seek with Holmgren following closely. Since Papa Bear retired as coach, this organization has never brought in a former NFL head coach to run the team and have predominately pick defensive assistants to run the team with the only two exceptions being Abe Gibron and Mike Ditka. Jim Dooley,Jack Pardee, Neil Armstrong, Wannie, Jauron and now Lovie all defensive assistants and all the candidates on their first head coaching jobs. The top candidates would probably want final say over personnel which would be JA's job and that wouldn't fly unless he is gone also. The type of candidates we would be picking from would be headed up by guys like Les Frazier, Ron Rivera and Russ Grimm. If the family had any influence in the process Jim Harbaugh would be a surprise candidate. Do you really want to go through another botched interview process? I can remember vividly the Dave McGinnis fiasco netting us Jauron and Nick Saban turning us down netting us Lovie. I'm sorry but I don't want to see nothing but success for this group because I dont want to chance another rebuilding process.

[Connorbear]

AZ54, this is an outstanding article. This is one of the better reads I have had about the Bears in many many weeks. I hope DBDB or someone familiar with the news page publishes this article for all to read on the main page. Well thought out, good structure and organization, intriguing topic well supported and argued.

 

I think the only thing in the article I would disagree with is that I think Mike Brown's departure had nothing to do with this game directly. His play had deteriorated over time due to injuries. I just think management felt it was time to accept the fact that his injury history dictated a need to move forward and develop younger safeties to contribute. He would be in a KC uniform today even if we had won this game, IMO.

I agree wholeheartedly with you Pix. Great initial post AZ54 - thanks.

 

Peace

[AZ54]

Thanks for the props. I can agree that Mike Brown would have been gone regardless of this one play because quite honestly there were other plays he didn't make that also stood out during the season. If I see that highlight of Adrian Peterson spinning him around as Brown runs away from him on that long TD run one more time I'm gonna throw something at my TV. That is the downside of NFL Network. We put Brown back at FS to help his durability yet he just didn't have the speed, he was flat out slow on the field and sometimes even appeared tentative in his play. We put him back in the box and he makes some good plays then gets hurt again.

 

He's a good guy, maybe one day I'll get to meet him in sports bar around town (he comes back to Scottsdale often) and I'll be more than happy to shake his hand and thank him for a lot of great memories.

[CrackerDog]

Thanks for the props.

 

No, no, no! Thank you for reminding me why I still read this board. Every once in a while, someone writes something outstanding. Awesome job man.