Invasion Of The Body Catchers

[lemonej]

I think the only reason the OL has not been part of this discussion is, while many hoped they would be improved from last season, I don't think many expected them to be great, especially early on. Forte last year was great, even w/ a poor OL. And expectations, especially after Marinelli was added, were very high too for Harris.

 

On the OL, we are talking about

 

(a) Pace, who many felt was about done, but we hoped he had a bit left. As I recall, his only other offer was Baltimore, who thought he could only play RT at this point in his career.

 

( Omiyale, here is a guy who had limited playing time at OT, and we were playing him inside where his experience was less.

 

© Williams, who missed his rookie season w/ injury, and had a so-so camp.

 

I agree this unit has been weak. Heck, I have said a lot worse than that. But the only reason I think others were placed ahead is due to expectations. I just don't think this group should have been expected to be great, or even that good, particularly early on.

 

One person I really hope begins to be looked at more critically is Harry Hiestand, our OL coach. I got my wish when Babich was demoted and our DL coach fired, but Harry was another I wanted gone. IMHO, our play in the first two games only continues to reinforce my campaign against this guy. We will see this week against a 4-3 defense, but I really think a huge aspect has been playing against a 3-4 scheme. Far too often, our OL simply didn't look prepared. Its one thing if you are facing a 3-4 scheme midseason , w/ little time to prepare, but we played a couple 3-4s in preseason, and started the regular season with two in a row. We should have been very prepared for this scheme, but I just do not feel we were. That has to reflect on coaching.

Nailed it NFO. This is Turner's hand picked guy who was with him at Illinois and for the lif of me besides Tony Pashos I don't recall any other player that he developed that made it to the NFL as an O-linemen.

He along with Darryl Drake are the guys I am wondering how they are keeping their jobs.

 

[nfoligno]

Some might try to say Beekman, but I wouldn't. If our staff had their way, Beekman would have never even been given an opportunity at OG last year. the only reason he was looked at was due to numerous OL injuries which forced the issue.

 

So yea. What OL can we point to and say Harry has developed? Granted, it isn't like we have spent many picks in the draft on OL, but none? You look around the league and see so many teams w/ late 2nd day picks (OL) that develop into starters, and yet we struggle w/ our 1st rounders.

 

At WR, I can at least, maybe, a tiny bit, see the argument that it is hard to develop WRs when you don't have a QB. I mean, look how quickly the development takes place now that we have Cutler. Does anyone honestly believe Knox would have anyone excited if Orton were starting? With that said, I still have to agree on Drake. While we may blame stats and production on the QB, our WRs even today still make too many of the same mistakes we have complained about w/ every WR for years.

 

Nailed it NFO. This is Turner's hand picked guy who was with him at Illinois and for the lif of me besides Tony Pashos I don't recall any other player that he developed that made it to the NFL as an O-linemen.

He along with Darryl Drake are the guys I am wondering how they are keeping their jobs.

 

[lemonej]

Some might try to say Beekman, but I wouldn't. If our staff had their way, Beekman would have never even been given an opportunity at OG last year. the only reason he was looked at was due to numerous OL injuries which forced the issue.

 

So yea. What OL can we point to and say Harry has developed? Granted, it isn't like we have spent many picks in the draft on OL, but none? You look around the league and see so many teams w/ late 2nd day picks (OL) that develop into starters, and yet we struggle w/ our 1st rounders.

 

At WR, I can at least, maybe, a tiny bit, see the argument that it is hard to develop WRs when you don't have a QB. I mean, look how quickly the development takes place now that we have Cutler. Does anyone honestly believe Knox would have anyone excited if Orton were starting? With that said, I still have to agree on Drake. While we may blame stats and production on the QB, our WRs even today still make too many of the same mistakes we have complained about w/ every WR for years.

Right now Beekman and Williams are his pupils but it has been JA's customary practice to bring in vets instead of trying to develop someone as a draft pick. If we could get someone that has some significant talent and some significant years left like guys that have come free over the years like Faneca or Hutchinson we may not be having this discussion.

[selection7]

He got the wind knocked out of him. Apparently you've never played a physical sport and have no idea what it's like to not be able to breath.

Where did that come from? You must have misinterpreted me. Granted, he probably got the wind knocked out of him (which I recognized when it happened, thank you), but he's a pro athlete...and an enormous one at that. He's not going to spend the rest of the game playing like a scared little girl because of it. No, he was definitely compensating for the rain and having not held on to that earlier pass. Smart playing.

[defiantgiant]

Nailed it NFO. This is Turner's hand picked guy who was with him at Illinois and for the lif of me besides Tony Pashos I don't recall any other player that he developed that made it to the NFL as an O-linemen.

He along with Darryl Drake are the guys I am wondering how they are keeping their jobs.

 

I do wonder about Hiestand. The couple of linemen drafted by the Bears who turned out to be decent (Olin Kreutz, Marc Colombo, Mike Gandy) were all before Hiestand's time. You have to ask, though, who have we drafted for him to develop? In Hiestand's time, we've only taken TWO offensive linemen in the fourth round or higher: Josh Beekman and Chris Williams. The other six guys we've drafted were all 6th or 7th rounders with no real expectations on them: Lance Louis, Kirk Barton, Chester Adams, Tyler Reed, and then a couple of scrubs I've never heard of. The jury's still out on Williams, but Beekman doesn't look half bad. I'm not saying Hiestand's a good coach, but I think there's too little evidence to say that he's bad.

 

Drake, meanwhile, I will totally stand up for. The Bears consistently put him in a difficult position, since they almost exclusively draft incredibly raw wide receivers, based solely on their physical potential. Here are the young guys we've drafted for Drake to develop (excluding this year's rookies, since we've only seen three games) since he's been here:

 

The Good-or-at-least-OK

Justin Gage - has developed into a perfectly good possession receiver.

Bobby Wade - average, if unspectacular, slot receiver.

Bernard Berrian - pretty good deep threat. Has some drops and isn't great going over the middle, but is very good at what he does.

Devin Hester - already looks like a pretty decent receiver, definitely still developing, very impressive for never playing WR in high school or college.

Earl Bennett - looks promising as a #2 guy.

 

The Bad

Mark Bradley - constantly injured, still too raw when he was on the field.

Airese Currie - constantly injured, never played.

Marcus Monk - also injured, was out of football for a year, just got resigned by the Panthers.

 

Really, most of Drake's pupils have turned out at least OK. Bradley is the only real blemish on his record, since he was a high 2nd-round pick who went nowhere. Other than that, Drake has had two late-round fliers fizzle out, compared to the 2nd, two 3rds, and two 5ths who all turned out at least as well as could be expected. I think he's a pretty decent WRs coach, all things considered.

[nfoligno]

I question how much credit Hiestand gets for Beekman. Remember, the coaches flat said he was too small to play OG, and the ONLY reason he was looked in the first place was due to the injuries we suffered last year. If not for those injuries, he would have never seen the field.

 

I agree we have not given him a ton to work w/, at the same time, even when we bring in veterans, it is on him to work w/ the OL. The reality is, our OL continues to suck, and I just can't see how he doesn't take more blame.

 

I do wonder about Hiestand. The couple of linemen drafted by the Bears who turned out to be decent (Olin Kreutz, Marc Colombo, Mike Gandy) were all before Hiestand's time. You have to ask, though, who have we drafted for him to develop? In Hiestand's time, we've only taken TWO offensive linemen in the fourth round or higher: Josh Beekman and Chris Williams. The other six guys we've drafted were all 6th or 7th rounders with no real expectations on them: Lance Louis, Kirk Barton, Chester Adams, Tyler Reed, and then a couple of scrubs I've never heard of. The jury's still out on Williams, but Beekman doesn't look half bad. I'm not saying Hiestand's a good coach, but I think there's too little evidence to say that he's bad.

 

Drake, meanwhile, I will totally stand up for. The Bears consistently put him in a difficult position, since they almost exclusively draft incredibly raw wide receivers, based solely on their physical potential. Here are the young guys we've drafted for Drake to develop (excluding this year's rookies, since we've only seen three games) since he's been here:

 

The Good-or-at-least-OK

Justin Gage - has developed into a perfectly good possession receiver.

Bobby Wade - average, if unspectacular, slot receiver.

Bernard Berrian - pretty good deep threat. Has some drops and isn't great going over the middle, but is very good at what he does.

Devin Hester - already looks like a pretty decent receiver, definitely still developing, very impressive for never playing WR in high school or college.

Earl Bennett - looks promising as a #2 guy.

 

The Bad

Mark Bradley - constantly injured, still too raw when he was on the field.

Airese Currie - constantly injured, never played.

Marcus Monk - also injured, was out of football for a year, just got resigned by the Panthers.

 

Really, most of Drake's pupils have turned out at least OK. Bradley is the only real blemish on his record, since he was a high 2nd-round pick who went nowhere. Other than that, Drake has had two late-round fliers fizzle out, compared to the 2nd, two 3rds, and two 5ths who all turned out at least as well as could be expected. I think he's a pretty decent WRs coach, all things considered.