Smith deserves majority of blame for loss

[madlithuanian]

Yep, the players f'ed up. Bad decisions were made and poor execution was abound.

 

However, the buck stops at the coach. Bottom line, this team did not look prepared to play. He did get the defense going, but Smith did not have this club ready to play at a high level.

 

He needs to right that wrong, and get this team motivated next weekend.

 

He's got all of this season to prove me wrong, but I still don't feel he is good enough to get this team to the promised land.

 

 

[BigDaddy]

Yep, the players f'ed up. Bad decisions were made and poor execution was abound.

 

However, the buck stops at the coach. Bottom line, this team did not look prepared to play. He did get the defense going, but Smith did not have this club ready to play at a high level.

 

He needs to right that wrong, and get this team motivated next weekend.

 

He's got all of this season to prove me wrong, but I still don't feel he is good enough to get this team to the promised land.

 

From a Lovie Smith basher, the ONLY culpability Lovie has with last night is he listened to the dipshits upstairs on the last challenge and THIS defense, aside from nathan vasher was ready to play. Our offense was not. THAT is on Cutler and Turner.

 

[madlithuanian]

Fair enough.

 

But that team was not ready to play on O. And even though Smith is calling the D, it doesn't mean as HC he can ignore the O. As much as it's on Turner, Turner is on Smith's watch.

 

From a Lovie Smith basher, the ONLY culpability Lovie has with last night is he listened to the dipshits upstairs on the last challenge and THIS defense, aside from nathan vasher was ready to play. Our offense was not. THAT is on Cutler and Turner.

 

[CrackerDog]

Fair enough.

 

But that team was not ready to play on O. And even though Smith is calling the D, it doesn't mean as HC he can ignore the O. As much as it's on Turner, Turner is on Smith's watch.

 

I agree 100%. What were they running on scout team this week? Did they not expect to see what they saw? They sure seem to have been able to adjust at half time! Why not sooner? Or better yet, why not arrive at the stadium with an actual plan? Cutler looked like a rookie out there.

[Pixote]

The defense looked great last night IMO. Yes, Vasher needs to take a backup role, and I am sure Lovie knew this (before last nights game) and once Tillman & Bowman are ready 100%, my guess is Vasher is demoted.

 

Let's wait and see how it pans out before we jump the ship.

[brletich]

The defense looked great last night IMO. Yes, Vasher needs to take a backup role, and I am sure Lovie knew this (before last nights game) and once Tillman & Bowman are ready 100%, my guess is Vasher is demoted.

 

Let's wait and see how it pans out before we jump the ship.

 

Yes Vasher got beat bad and his struggles are well known here. But the fact of it is Lovie called a D designed to stop a run play and got burned. I do not blame Vasher on that play (other than for general suckiness) to be honest because his coach did not put him in position to be successful, with no support on top vs one of the better WR's in the game. Lovie called a great game until that call. You may say how good that is, but in the NFL, 1 or 2 plays determine the outcome of a game, and their OC beat our DC on that one.

[madlithuanian]

I'm just constantly baffled by this coaching staff...

 

I agree 100%. What were they running on scout team this week? Did they not expect to see what they saw? They sure seem to have been able to adjust at half time! Why not sooner? Or better yet, why not arrive at the stadium with an actual plan? Cutler looked like a rookie out there.

 

[madlithuanian]

I hear ya. Stats are nice and all, and it's great to play well for most of the game. But when the game is on the line, we played awful. By playcall or by playing. It matters not. Big teams win big games. We're not a big team at the moment.

 

Yes Vasher got beat bad and his struggles are well known here. But the fact of it is Lovie called a D designed to stop a run play and got burned. I do not blame Vasher on that play (other than for general suckiness) to be honest because his coach did not put him in position to be successful, with no support on top vs one of the better WR's in the game. Lovie called a great game until that call. You may say how good that is, but in the NFL, 1 or 2 plays determine the outcome of a game, and their OC beat our DC on that one.

 

[DABEARSDABOMB]

Yep, the players f'ed up. Bad decisions were made and poor execution was abound.

 

However, the buck stops at the coach. Bottom line, this team did not look prepared to play. He did get the defense going, but Smith did not have this club ready to play at a high level.

 

He needs to right that wrong, and get this team motivated next weekend.

 

He's got all of this season to prove me wrong, but I still don't feel he is good enough to get this team to the promised land.

I must say, Lovie called a gem of a defensive game. They had nice blitz packages and generated pressure without agressively blitzing. As a whole the defense played a phenomenal game and this is coming from the guy that has bashed the D heavily ever since we went to the Super Bowl.

 

Offensively I expected growing pains and I think the preseason raised peoples offensive expectations. The reality is we have a young and inexperienced WR corps and what as of now is a terrible WR corps. We also have a QB learning new personell and a new system so growing pains should really be expected.

 

The only thing I'd really hammer Lovie for is that Fake Punt if he had anything to do with it.

[azbearsfan]

Yep, the players f'ed up. Bad decisions were made and poor execution was abound.

 

However, the buck stops at the coach. Bottom line, this team did not look prepared to play. He did get the defense going, but Smith did not have this club ready to play at a high level.

 

He needs to right that wrong, and get this team motivated next weekend.

 

He's got all of this season to prove me wrong, but I still don't feel he is good enough to get this team to the promised land.

 

 

You are wrong.

[jason]

Yes Vasher got beat bad and his struggles are well known here. But the fact of it is Lovie called a D designed to stop a run play and got burned. I do not blame Vasher on that play (other than for general suckiness) to be honest because his coach did not put him in position to be successful, with no support on top vs one of the better WR's in the game. Lovie called a great game until that call. You may say how good that is, but in the NFL, 1 or 2 plays determine the outcome of a game, and their OC beat our DC on that one.

 

BINGO!

 

Great gameplan on defense. Great play on defense. All ruined by a horrible defensive playcall that left Vasher on an island, and pulled in the safety for run support, when it should have never happened in the first place. The call was a bush-league call, something that is difficult to explain to anyone who understands football strategy.

[madlithuanian]

And you are entitled to your opinion.

 

You are wrong.

 

[madlithuanian]

fair enough...

 

I must say, Lovie called a gem of a defensive game. They had nice blitz packages and generated pressure without agressively blitzing. As a whole the defense played a phenomenal game and this is coming from the guy that has bashed the D heavily ever since we went to the Super Bowl.

 

Offensively I expected growing pains and I think the preseason raised peoples offensive expectations. The reality is we have a young and inexperienced WR corps and what as of now is a terrible WR corps. We also have a QB learning new personell and a new system so growing pains should really be expected.

 

The only thing I'd really hammer Lovie for is that Fake Punt if he had anything to do with it.

 

[BearFan PHX]

BINGO!

 

Great gameplan on defense. Great play on defense. All ruined by a horrible defensive playcall that left Vasher on an island, and pulled in the safety for run support, when it should have never happened in the first place. The call was a bush-league call, something that is difficult to explain to anyone who understands football strategy.

 

I really have to differ. I know you'll agree that calling a game is like playing rock / paper / scissors. Pulling a safety for run support on a critical 3rd and 1 is a very normal thing to do. But, 10% of the time, the offense can play action and find single coverage deep. As to when to do that, thats a matter of rhythm and timing, and Lovie got beaten on that one, and we lost because of it.

 

But you can't say that calling rock when a pro switches from scissors to paper is bush league.

 

The fake punt was worse. It was idioitic. And if Manelly was freewheeling making it up off the top of his head, he should be cut immediately. And he won't be, because he wasn't making it up. There must be some idiotic strategy that says that if you can catch 'em with 12 in, then go for it. I won't detail all the things that are obviously wrong with that gambit (and there are TONS) bu it's completely nuts, and it's on the coaching staff.

 

And that IS on Lovie.

 

And we lost as a team too. All the WRs and TE contributed to Cutler's awful first half. The OL looked awful. And Cutler went there too.

 

I think a million things were more determinative and telling than getting burned on a gutsy 3rd and 1.

[nfoligno]

Disagree.

 

Look, I have never been a Lovie supporter, and most would call me a pure basher, but I can't bash him for last night. Sure, he made some questionable calls, but so does every HC. You talk about prep, but a big part of what a coach does is put players in position to make plays and win. Like Ozzie says, he can't go out and hit for the players.

 

The OL was a sieve like I have never seen before. Especially the left side (Pace/Omiyale), they barely slowed down, much less stopped the other team. Receivers (TE and WR) cut off their routes and dropped balls left and right. Think about getting ready for a test. You can tudor a student day and night, and prepare the student as best you can, but at the end of the day, it is the student that has to take the exam. If that student chockes and forgets everything tought, you can't really blame the tudor.

 

And how about what he did on defense. This was supposed to be an elite offense. Prior to that late 50 yard TD, our D flat out shut that offense down. They only TD came after an int return set up GB on the 1. Another FG came after that Mannally head scratcher. The DL that was absent last year harrassed Rodgers all day. We had two CBs that missed the last month of practice, and the 3rd just stinks, and yet their WRs did little damage. We lost one starting LB in the first series, and our pro bowl MLB in the 1st half, yet GB was not able to run the ball.

 

I love to bash Lovie. Its a favorite past-time. Yet I can't really bash him for last night. At some point, players have to accountable. At some point, players have to execute.

 

Yep, the players f'ed up. Bad decisions were made and poor execution was abound.

 

However, the buck stops at the coach. Bottom line, this team did not look prepared to play. He did get the defense going, but Smith did not have this club ready to play at a high level.

 

He needs to right that wrong, and get this team motivated next weekend.

 

He's got all of this season to prove me wrong, but I still don't feel he is good enough to get this team to the promised land.

 

[DABEARSDABOMB]

Disagree.

 

Look, I have never been a Lovie supporter, and most would call me a pure basher, but I can't bash him for last night. Sure, he made some questionable calls, but so does every HC. You talk about prep, but a big part of what a coach does is put players in position to make plays and win. Like Ozzie says, he can't go out and hit for the players.

 

The OL was a sieve like I have never seen before. Especially the left side (Pace/Omiyale), they barely slowed down, much less stopped the other team. Receivers (TE and WR) cut off their routes and dropped balls left and right. Think about getting ready for a test. You can tudor a student day and night, and prepare the student as best you can, but at the end of the day, it is the student that has to take the exam. If that student chockes and forgets everything tought, you can't really blame the tudor.

 

And how about what he did on defense. This was supposed to be an elite offense. Prior to that late 50 yard TD, our D flat out shut that offense down. They only TD came after an int return set up GB on the 1. Another FG came after that Mannally head scratcher. The DL that was absent last year harrassed Rodgers all day. We had two CBs that missed the last month of practice, and the 3rd just stinks, and yet their WRs did little damage. We lost one starting LB in the first series, and our pro bowl MLB in the 1st half, yet GB was not able to run the ball.

 

I love to bash Lovie. Its a favorite past-time. Yet I can't really bash him for last night. At some point, players have to accountable. At some point, players have to execute.

Nfo...I'm glad your around today cause you've been spot-on all day long

[nfoligno]

This has been a wierd year. Angelo is my new BFF and I am actually defending Lovie.

 

What next? I defend the business practices of Mike McCaskey?

 

Nfo...I'm glad your around today cause you've been spot-on all day long

 

[CrackerDog]

This has been a wierd year. Angelo is my new BFF and I am actually defending Lovie.

 

What next? I defend the business practices of Mike McCaskey?

 

THEM'S FIGHTIN' WORDS!

[nfoligno]

Like I said, just a messed up year. I mean, this is biblical messed up.

 

Fire and brimstone coming down from the skies! Rivers and seas boiling! Forty years of darkness! Earthquakes, volcanoes... The dead rising from the grave!

 

Human sacrifice, dogs and cats living together... mass hysteria!

 

And then, after all this, Crackerdog and I will agree.

 

Oh God, take me now

 

THEM'S FIGHTIN' WORDS!

 

[nfoligno]

Actually, we didn't stack 10 in the box. We did in fact have a safety, Afalava, but he bit on the playfake. Afalava was back outside the box, and would have been in a position to help Vasher, but he bit on the play action and Vasher slipped, thus a wide open 50 yard score.

 

As for the fake punt, how is that on Lovie. That was 100% on Mannelly, who thought he saw something (wrong) and called an audible. There isn't a whole lot the coach can do on the sideline when a player audibles out of the play the coaching staff send in.

 

I really have to differ. I know you'll agree that calling a game is like playing rock / paper / scissors. Pulling a safety for run support on a critical 3rd and 1 is a very normal thing to do. But, 10% of the time, the offense can play action and find single coverage deep. As to when to do that, thats a matter of rhythm and timing, and Lovie got beaten on that one, and we lost because of it.

 

But you can't say that calling rock when a pro switches from scissors to paper is bush league.

 

The fake punt was worse. It was idioitic. And if Manelly was freewheeling making it up off the top of his head, he should be cut immediately. And he won't be, because he wasn't making it up. There must be some idiotic strategy that says that if you can catch 'em with 12 in, then go for it. I won't detail all the things that are obviously wrong with that gambit (and there are TONS) bu it's completely nuts, and it's on the coaching staff.

 

And that IS on Lovie.

 

And we lost as a team too. All the WRs and TE contributed to Cutler's awful first half. The OL looked awful. And Cutler went there too.

 

I think a million things were more determinative and telling than getting burned on a gutsy 3rd and 1.

 

[adam]

This loss is not on Lovie. The Bears made some nice adjustments and had a winnable game with 5 turnovers. However, you have to believe he is on the hot-seat if we have a sub .500 season.

[BearFan PHX]

Actually, we didn't stack 10 in the box. We did in fact have a safety, Afalava, but he bit on the playfake. Afalava was back outside the box, and would have been in a position to help Vasher, but he bit on the play action and Vasher slipped, thus a wide open 50 yard score.

 

As for the fake punt, how is that on Lovie. That was 100% on Mannelly, who thought he saw something (wrong) and called an audible. There isn't a whole lot the coach can do on the sideline when a player audibles out of the play the coaching staff send in.

 

I saw Afalava cheating down radically before the snap. He may not have been all the way into the box, but he was damned close. He was certainly no where where he could play the receiver anymore. The other safety rotated over to the middle too - not far enough, but evidence that the Afalava in run support was in the call, and not something the player did.

 

And to the main point, yes Lovie lost a round of Rock / Paper / Scissors, but that's human. Had we executed better all game, the single call wouldn't have been determinative.

 

overall we lost this game as a team, but there were some bright spots to build on, and the offense was better in the second half. They'll need to establish rhythm, but they are a young group, and they'll get better, The defense wasn't bad, and like it or not, both squads mads good halftime adjustments, which is something we've been screaming for a long time around here.

 

One of the great things about football is that way that EVERYTHING has to be working for the whole thing to move. It's a true team sport. The weakest link in the chain ruins everything. So yes, we didn't perform overall very well, but I did see improvements in areas that have been weak in the past. I still think this team is about to be pretty good.

 

I hope the injury to Urlacher doesn't open up a new wound as we close up some of the others.

[DABEARSDABOMB]

I saw Afalava cheating down radically before the snap. He may not have been all the way into the box, but he was damned close. He was certainly no where where he could play the receiver anymore. The other safety rotated over to the middle too - not far enough, but evidence that the Afalava in run support was in the call, and not something the player did.

 

And to the main point, yes Lovie lost a round of Rock / Paper / Scissors, but that's human. Had we executed better all game, the single call wouldn't have been determinative.

 

overall we lost this game as a team, but there were some bright spots to build on, and the offense was better in the second half. They'll need to establish rhythm, but they are a young group, and they'll get better, The defense wasn't bad, and like it or not, both squads mads good halftime adjustments, which is something we've been screaming for a long time around here.

 

One of the great things about football is that way that EVERYTHING has to be working for the whole thing to move. It's a true team sport. The weakest link in the chain ruins everything. So yes, we didn't perform overall very well, but I did see improvements in areas that have been weak in the past. I still think this team is about to be pretty good.

 

I hope the injury to Urlacher doesn't open up a new wound as we close up some of the others.

This is from Lovie Smith on the play

 

Lovie Smith said veteran cornerback Nathan Vasher could have played better Sunday, but the Bears coach did not point the finger solely at Vasher for Aaron Rodgers' winning 50-yard touchdown pass to Greg Jennings in the Packers' 21-15 victory.

 

The Bears apparently were playing a version of quarter-quarter-half, with each cornerback responsible for a quarter of the field and the free safety responsible for the middle half. Strong safety Al Afalava came up on Rodgers' play fake, then Vasher anticipated help as he covered his zone down the left side.

 

"Can't give up a deep ball late," Smith said. "Nate wasn't the only one that was a part of that."

 

Smith was asked to detail what happened on the play.

 

"Al was coming down in support, which he should have done," he said. "Someone else should have been back deep in the middle of the field -- not Al."

 

That someone else was the free safety, Kevin Payne.

[Lucky Luciano]

This is from Lovie Smith on the play

 

i have to ask.... how many times have we seen this during the last 4 years? to play soft zone defense in the last 5 minutes of a game only to get beaten by nearly impossible plays?

[madlithuanian]

Too damn many...

 

i have to ask.... how many times have we seen this during the last 4 years? to play soft zone defense in the last 5 minutes of a game only to get beaten by nearly impossible plays?