Let me explain the pessimism

[CrackerDog]

Pix - Please note these aren't my positions on these matters but I think I can sum it up...

 

1.) While most realists expected 10-6 a solid year for this team, most football fans may pretend to be realists on the outside but deep down everyone hopes for perfection. Seeing a team from last year with a 9-7 record only improve 1 game to this year after adding Cutler just wasn't enough for most fans. Urlacher and Tommy were supposed to be MUCH better this year due to health.

 

2.) Our one loss was to the Packers and we lost in a very disappointing fashion. It made a lot of people think of last season and how we found ways to lose.

 

3.) Many saw Forte as a sure thing stud, regardless of the line. Nobody bought into the idea that he could have a slow start, particularly with a QB who could produce 100+ QB ratings. Forte ought to be seeing wide open spaces as D's back off and play the pass... Or so the logic goes.

 

4.) There are people out there like me who still aren't sold on Ron Turner as an O Coordinator. Others feel the same way about Lovie, ownership or Jerry Angelo. For those people, the start to the season vindicates their own prejudgements. In my own case, I'm still not in love with what Turner is doing but have to admit the W's are still there despite some flaws I perceive in his performance. I can nail, for example, 90% of his play calls based on formation and down and distance. If a novice like me can do that, professional defenses are all over it. And this, IMO, causes some of failed plays that would be much more successful with a more creative, imaginative and unpredictable scheme.

 

5.) The loudest and shillest voices you hear are those that scream on talk radio and parrot those opinions here. It's easy, it sells papers and it brings more listeners. Hey, don't forget, everyone on Bearstalk is a friggen expert!

 

Those are my initial thoughts.

[nfoligno]

My take.

 

1) While Cutler is looking like the strong armed QB we hoped, the OL and run game are far worse than feared. The OL worked on in the offseason, but thus far, two additions (Pace, Omiyale) have been awful, and our 1st round pick now at RT has not been much better. And Forte, who as you said entered the season w/ huge expectations, has been pretty flat. So as good as our offense may have been overall, questions of our OL and lack of run game put many in fear how long we can continue to win w/ a one dimensional offense.

 

2) The defense is an enigma. Watching the game, you just feel like we are getting owned. It feels like opponents move the ball at will. Wrs are wide open and RBs find big holes. Then you look up at the score board and the defense simply has not given up the point is feels like, but that feeling of a weak defense is hard to dismiss, despite the score board.

 

3) That first game is just hard to get passed. You mentioned this yourself. Before the season, if someone said 2-1 after 3, most would have agreed. Few would have predicted a 3-0 record w/ games @ GB, against the superbowl defending champs and in Seattle, maybe the toughest house to play in. Nothing wrong w/ a 2-1 record, but the manner in which we lost that first game is hard to get out of minds.

 

IMHO, at the end of the day, the biggest reason is a feeling we lack individual parts, despite the team as a whole winning. When you watch the defense, few individuals stand out, but as a whole, we just do not allow many points. On offense, the OL and RB have been so weak, that even the excitement of our passing game can cary only so far.

 

We have won two games, but when you go through and grade individual areas, it just seems like you end up w/ a lot of below average grades. So the individual parts just do no seem strong, but the whole ends up stronger. Its just hard to get past the perception of those individual units.

 

Pix - Please note these aren't my positions on these matters but I think I can sum it up...

 

1.) While most realists expected 10-6 a solid year for this team, most football fans may pretend to be realists on the outside but deep down everyone hopes for perfection. Seeing a team from last year with a 9-7 record only improve 1 game to this year after adding Cutler just wasn't enough for most fans. Urlacher and Tommy were supposed to be MUCH better this year due to health.

 

2.) Our one loss was to the Packers and we lost in a very disappointing fashion. It made a lot of people think of last season and how we found ways to lose.

 

3.) Many saw Forte as a sure thing stud, regardless of the line. Nobody bought into the idea that he could have a slow start, particularly with a QB who could produce 100+ QB ratings. Forte ought to be seeing wide open spaces as D's back off and play the pass... Or so the logic goes.

 

4.) There are people out there like me who still aren't sold on Ron Turner as an O Coordinator. Others feel the same way about Lovie, ownership or Jerry Angelo. For those people, the start to the season vindicates their own prejudgements. In my own case, I'm still not in love with what Turner is doing but have to admit the W's are still there despite some flaws I perceive in his performance. I can nail, for example, 90% of his play calls based on formation and down and distance. If a novice like me can do that, professional defenses are all over it. And this, IMO, causes some of failed plays that would be much more successful with a more creative, imaginative and unpredictable scheme.

 

5.) The loudest and shillest voices you hear are those that scream on talk radio and parrot those opinions here. It's easy, it sells papers and it brings more listeners. Hey, don't forget, everyone on Bearstalk is a friggen expert!

 

Those are my initial thoughts.

 

[BigDaddy]

Pix - Please note these aren't my positions on these matters but I think I can sum it up...

 

1.) While most realists expected 10-6 a solid year for this team, most football fans may pretend to be realists on the outside but deep down everyone hopes for perfection. Seeing a team from last year with a 9-7 record only improve 1 game to this year after adding Cutler just wasn't enough for most fans. Urlacher and Tommy were supposed to be MUCH better this year due to health.

 

2.) Our one loss was to the Packers and we lost in a very disappointing fashion. It made a lot of people think of last season and how we found ways to lose.

 

3.) Many saw Forte as a sure thing stud, regardless of the line. Nobody bought into the idea that he could have a slow start, particularly with a QB who could produce 100+ QB ratings. Forte ought to be seeing wide open spaces as D's back off and play the pass... Or so the logic goes.

 

4.) There are people out there like me who still aren't sold on Ron Turner as an O Coordinator. Others feel the same way about Lovie, ownership or Jerry Angelo. For those people, the start to the season vindicates their own prejudgements. In my own case, I'm still not in love with what Turner is doing but have to admit the W's are still there despite some flaws I perceive in his performance. I can nail, for example, 90% of his play calls based on formation and down and distance. If a novice like me can do that, professional defenses are all over it. And this, IMO, causes some of failed plays that would be much more successful with a more creative, imaginative and unpredictable scheme.

 

5.) The loudest and shillest voices you hear are those that scream on talk radio and parrot those opinions here. It's easy, it sells papers and it brings more listeners. Hey, don't forget, everyone on Bearstalk is a friggen expert!

 

Those are my initial thoughts.

 

 

Interesting take but it certainly doesn't explain why we can't tackle. If you know 90% of the plays Turners going to call based on the formation, our problems just became 100 times larger with our offense. I don't think Forte is starting slow, I believe he is hurt and I believe he has been hurt for awhile. Maybe people would be so disappointed in his performance if they knew he was hurt, something this organization hasn't seemed interested enough to want to address publicly. You look at how he's running and I think it's obvious, something, maybe that hamstring injury that he suffered in OTAs is bothering him. Let's not forget that Urlacher heard that same POP when he hurt his hamstring a few years back only to wind up on the IR a few games after the season started.

 

I'll only add that this board and others like it are really about avid football fans discussing their favorite teams and voicing their pleasure or displeasure. Those that take it too seriously, regardless whether you are a naysayer or an eternal optimist are just more passionate about their views. I'm good with both of them.