Nothing against Cutler, but he was not the answer

[DABEARSDABOMB]

Offensivly, sure. Fix the OL and the offense could be pretty great.

 

On defense, I love the glass half full, but you are really (a) assuming some best case scenarios w/o any evidence to date and ( you make no mention of the scheme.

 

(a) You throw out there a ton of young players we have drafted in recent years on defense, and while that is true, before you start to count on them for the future, I think we need to see something from them now. I can go along w/ Afalava, as he has shown some nice things and quick development in a short amount of time. The rest though? Staff likes Bowman, but so what. They love McKie too.

 

DE - We got Gaines, but what has he shown thus far (I mean career) to make you think he is a player we can count on. And don't even get me started on Melton.

 

DT - Harrison has only shown he knows how to find a buffet table. Gilbert can't even get active on game days.

 

LB - Roach and Williams have been getting their share of opportunities to step in and step up this year w/ the injuries to Urlacher, Pisa and Hunter, but thus far, I think our depth has not lived up to some hopes.

 

S - I'll give Afalava, but DM has not seemed to develop at FS any more than previously seen. Payne just isn't very good, and I am not sure Steltz even makes the team. Dude sucks.

 

CB - Yea, we got Bowman. Yea. He has been able to stay healthy so far, and has been burned pretty good. Moore? I read so much about this guy who should have been taken in the 1st round, and he can't even get active on game day. Graham is a player I really like, but the staff sure doesn't seem to share my opinion.

 

Yea, I get that we have more youth on the defensive side, but w/o more evidence of that youth developing, I question how much we can expect, much less count on.

 

( Frankly, it is my opinion that w/o serious changes at the coaching level, and scheme, there is little reason to hope for the defense moving forward.

I did mention that we needed new coaching too. I'm 100% on board the Lovie needs to go camp. And I'm not saying those moves make our defense a top 10 defense....but right now, we don't even have the talent of a top 20 defense to be honest.

 

But if you can give Cutler a top 20 defense or just a solid one, and get a solid oline together, the Bears can win while they work on developing that defense again (cause right now we got an aging, mediocre defense without the players capable of running this scheme.

 

The Cover 2 doesn't work if you don't have a dominant pass rush. If you have a dominant pass rush, the cover 2 works well, but than again so does pretty much every other scheme.

[madlithuanian]

Hey! I coined Zombie Smith last year! I'm calling the copyright infringement guys!

 

I'll give you credit though...I will now refer to Lovie Smith as Zombie Loathie.

 

[jason]

Hey! I coined Zombie Smith last year! I'm calling the copyright infringement guys!

 

You may have coined "Zombie Smith," but I've been saying "Zombie Lovie" for a while (may have gotten that from someone on this board as well).

 

The other term was Loathie Smith.

 

Well, I combined them...so you only get partial credit.

 

Zombie Loathie is the new way of referring to the Chicago Bears' current coach.

[Mongo3451]

Have you been watching the games? The Bears may need a #1, stud WR, but that is about 10th on the list of needs.

 

If the Bears had concentrated on OL they'd DEFINITELY be winning now, because the QB/WR/TE combo looks pretty good behind a completely terrible OL, and the RB looked pretty great last year when the OL did more that imitate five zombies from a cheap B-flick.

 

I'll give you credit though...I will now refer to Lovie Smith as Zombie Loathie.

You know what pisses me off the most, is that they had the money to sign better players(OL in particular) and passed OL again in the draft. I was very happy with the Pace, Omiyale and Shaffer signings, but didn't have the scouting intell our staff was privy to.(which I guess was shit)

[madlithuanian]

You can send my royalties to the "Help the McCaskey's Pay for Smith's Contract and Get a Real Damn Coach" fund!

 

...and I'm sure somehow we all owe George Romero a few cents!

 

 

You may have coined "Zombie Smith," but I've been saying "Zombie Lovie" for a while (may have gotten that from someone on this board as well).

 

The other term was Loathie Smith.

 

Well, I combined them...so you only get partial credit.

 

Zombie Loathie is the new way of referring to the Chicago Bears' current coach.

 

[nfoligno]

Mongo,

 

Your barking up the wrong tree. Jason just doesn't see the value of the OL. He things we should have added stud WRs and they would make the OL look better.

 

Just joking Jason

 

I was never on board w/ the signings of Pace or Shaeffer, and wasn't a big fan of Omiyale either. I liked that we were addressing the OL, but not so much how we were doing it.

 

Pace - I just never understood this one. Nearly no team in the NFL wanted him, and lets not pretend OL is an area every team is loaded with. That right there was a red flag. And the one other team that did show interest viewed him solely as a RT. We were the only team in the NFL that felt he was still an NFL LT. That should have sent up fireworks rather than a red flag. When your staff believes they are smarter then the rest of the league, you just have to wonder.

 

I was never a fan with the idea of playing Pace at LT and moving Williams to RT. And I am not even a big Williams fan. But the kid was drafting in the 1st round to play LT. That is what our scouts felt he was. And we were moving him to the other side, which didn't seem a natural fit.

 

So we were moving our 1st round pick to RT (out of position) in order to play a veteran at a position no other team in the league felt he could still play.

 

Shaeffer flat out stunk. I mean, that team thought St. Clair was an upgrade to Shaeffer. Whether that was the case or not, that their team thought so little of him should have sent up red flags. Nope. Again, we are just smarter than they are.

 

As for Omiyale, it isn't that I didn't like his potential. What I didn't like was (a) we gave him a contract more in line, IMHO, w/ a player more proven than he was and ( we were essentially going to put him at LG, and there was never much of a competition. The battle was a joke, as most felt Beekman won, but Omiyale starting proved there was never a legit competition. Its one thing if we are talking about a more proven veteran addition, but Omiyale is a player who should have to earn/win the job, not be handed it.

 

 

 

You know what pisses me off the most, is that they had the money to sign better players(OL in particular) and passed OL again in the draft. I was very happy with the Pace, Omiyale and Shaffer signings, but didn't have the scouting intell our staff was privy to.(which I guess was shit)

 

[NAMEDSONPAYTON2]

Mongo,

 

Your barking up the wrong tree. Jason just doesn't see the value of the OL. He things we should have added stud WRs and they would make the OL look better.

 

Just joking Jason

 

I was never on board w/ the signings of Pace or Shaeffer, and wasn't a big fan of Omiyale either. I liked that we were addressing the OL, but not so much how we were doing it.

 

Pace - I just never understood this one. Nearly no team in the NFL wanted him, and lets not pretend OL is an area every team is loaded with. That right there was a red flag. And the one other team that did show interest viewed him solely as a RT. We were the only team in the NFL that felt he was still an NFL LT. That should have sent up fireworks rather than a red flag. When your staff believes they are smarter then the rest of the league, you just have to wonder.

 

I was never a fan with the idea of playing Pace at LT and moving Williams to RT. And I am not even a big Williams fan. But the kid was drafting in the 1st round to play LT. That is what our scouts felt he was. And we were moving him to the other side, which didn't seem a natural fit.

 

So we were moving our 1st round pick to RT (out of position) in order to play a veteran at a position no other team in the league felt he could still play.

 

Shaeffer flat out stunk. I mean, that team thought St. Clair was an upgrade to Shaeffer. Whether that was the case or not, that their team thought so little of him should have sent up red flags. Nope. Again, we are just smarter than they are.

 

As for Omiyale, it isn't that I didn't like his potential. What I didn't like was (a) we gave him a contract more in line, IMHO, w/ a player more proven than he was and ( we were essentially going to put him at LG, and there was never much of a competition. The battle was a joke, as most felt Beekman won, but Omiyale starting proved there was never a legit competition. Its one thing if we are talking about a more proven veteran addition, but Omiyale is a player who should have to earn/win the job, not be handed it.

Maybe Williams is a better LT than Pace (quicker) and Pace a better RT than Williams (experience). Williams needs to be tried at LT, because Pace cannot handle it.

[Mongo3451]

Mongo,

 

Your barking up the wrong tree. Jason just doesn't see the value of the OL. He things we should have added stud WRs and they would make the OL look better.

 

Just joking Jason

 

I was never on board w/ the signings of Pace or Shaeffer, and wasn't a big fan of Omiyale either. I liked that we were addressing the OL, but not so much how we were doing it.

 

Pace - I just never understood this one. Nearly no team in the NFL wanted him, and lets not pretend OL is an area every team is loaded with. That right there was a red flag. And the one other team that did show interest viewed him solely as a RT. We were the only team in the NFL that felt he was still an NFL LT. That should have sent up fireworks rather than a red flag. When your staff believes they are smarter then the rest of the league, you just have to wonder.

 

I was never a fan with the idea of playing Pace at LT and moving Williams to RT. And I am not even a big Williams fan. But the kid was drafting in the 1st round to play LT. That is what our scouts felt he was. And we were moving him to the other side, which didn't seem a natural fit.

 

So we were moving our 1st round pick to RT (out of position) in order to play a veteran at a position no other team in the league felt he could still play.

 

Shaeffer flat out stunk. I mean, that team thought St. Clair was an upgrade to Shaeffer. Whether that was the case or not, that their team thought so little of him should have sent up red flags. Nope. Again, we are just smarter than they are.

 

As for Omiyale, it isn't that I didn't like his potential. What I didn't like was (a) we gave him a contract more in line, IMHO, w/ a player more proven than he was and ( we were essentially going to put him at LG, and there was never much of a competition. The battle was a joke, as most felt Beekman won, but Omiyale starting proved there was never a legit competition. Its one thing if we are talking about a more proven veteran addition, but Omiyale is a player who should have to earn/win the job, not be handed it.

We are pretty much in agreeance on this one. I think we all clamored for various upgrade scenarios before Pace and Shaffer were signed. I think what we got were leftovers. My main mistake was buying the Pace hype that the staff and media put out. They showed that he had good stats in the passing game last year, but as the saying goes, "The greatest lie of all is the truth cleverly told." We decided quantity was more important than quality. Unfortunately, it has yet to payoff.

[jason]

Mongo,

 

Your barking up the wrong tree. Jason just doesn't see the value of the OL. He things we should have added stud WRs and they would make the OL look better.

 

Just joking Jason

 

I was never on board w/ the signings of Pace or Shaeffer, and wasn't a big fan of Omiyale either. I liked that we were addressing the OL, but not so much how we were doing it.

 

Pace - I just never understood this one. Nearly no team in the NFL wanted him, and lets not pretend OL is an area every team is loaded with. That right there was a red flag. And the one other team that did show interest viewed him solely as a RT. We were the only team in the NFL that felt he was still an NFL LT. That should have sent up fireworks rather than a red flag. When your staff believes they are smarter then the rest of the league, you just have to wonder.

 

I was never a fan with the idea of playing Pace at LT and moving Williams to RT. And I am not even a big Williams fan. But the kid was drafting in the 1st round to play LT. That is what our scouts felt he was. And we were moving him to the other side, which didn't seem a natural fit.

 

So we were moving our 1st round pick to RT (out of position) in order to play a veteran at a position no other team in the league felt he could still play.

 

Shaeffer flat out stunk. I mean, that team thought St. Clair was an upgrade to Shaeffer. Whether that was the case or not, that their team thought so little of him should have sent up red flags. Nope. Again, we are just smarter than they are.

 

As for Omiyale, it isn't that I didn't like his potential. What I didn't like was (a) we gave him a contract more in line, IMHO, w/ a player more proven than he was and ( we were essentially going to put him at LG, and there was never much of a competition. The battle was a joke, as most felt Beekman won, but Omiyale starting proved there was never a legit competition. Its one thing if we are talking about a more proven veteran addition, but Omiyale is a player who should have to earn/win the job, not be handed it.

 

 

The real question is this:

Did the staff also see the huge potential for issues, like many of us, or did they honestly think that this group would suffice at the OL?

 

If it's the former, then I have some respect for them.

If it's the latter, then it's yet another instance where the tons of information, tons of money, tons of experience, scouting department, etc., etc., didn't make them any smarter than the average Joe fan who just happens to be hard-core dedicated to the Chicago Bears.