madlithuanian Posted November 19, 2009 Report Share Posted November 19, 2009 http://www.suntimes.com/sports/football/be...sman-19.article 6 reasons why the Bears' franchise is inept November 19, 2009 Even if Rex Grossman's dad is wrong, does that make the Bears right? Whether or not the Bears failed Rex Grossman or Rex Grossman failed the Bears, the point is still the same: the Bears haven't had a "franchise" quarterback since Sid Luckman. In fact, the Bears haven't even had an offense that ranks higher than 15th in the NFL in Jerry Angelo's nine seasons as general manager. They've been 26th or lower in seven of his first eight full seasons. Sorry, but that's a far bigger problem than Dan Grossman. The Tribune rushed to the Bears' defense a day after their own Fred Mitchell wrote a column in which Dr. Grossman, the father of Rex, blasted the Bears for their "black hole" at quarterback. Frankly, though it wasn't flawless, it was as cogent an argument as any of the defenses for the Lovie Smith, Ron Turner or anybody with the Bears that I've read in any local papers. Did Rex Grossman fail the Bears, or did the Bears fail Rex Grossman? But that's not the point. The point is that Jay Cutler's obvious regression this season is yet another sign of systemic problems that start at the very top and run to the very bottom of the Bears' organization. How many years do the Bears have to be in the bottom seven of the NFL in offense to not see that? And until they solve them, their best hope to become a factor again is to wait for everybody else to come down to their level. They are headed in the wrong direction. Here's why: 1. An inability to identify offensive talent. If Rex Grossman is to blame for his failure as the Bears' quarterback, whose fault is it that he was here in the first place? The Bears not only thought Rex Grossman was their quarterback, they thought Cedric Benson was their running back. They thought John St. Clair could replace John Tait. Their current No. 1 receiver was drafted as a kick returner and defensive back. In seven seasons, Jerry Angelo has yet to draft an offensive player who had made the Pro Bowl. With Angelo draftees Greg Olsen, Josh Beekman, Chris Williams, Matt Forte and Earl Bennett starting in an offense with a Pro Bowl quarterback, the Bears just scored six points against the 19th-ranked defense in the NFL last week. But it's not just the draft. The Bears thought Orlando Pace still had something left. They thought Frank Omiyale was good enough to start. Only one offensive player acquired by Jerry Angelo has made the Pro Bowl, and Ruben Brown (who made it in 2006) already was an eight-time Pro Bowl player when he came to Chicago. 2. An inability to develop offensive talent. What Bears players have become stars in this offense? And even more indicting, how many players have shown flashes of ability and never been able to sustain it? Rex Grossman, Cedric Benson, Justin Gage, Mark Bradley and it won't be long before we can add Matt Forte, Devin Hester and Johnny Knox to that list. Hester's second catch ever as a wide receiver went for an 81-yard touchdown in 2007. He had three plays of 55 yards or more in his first 52 catches. In his last 67 catches his longest play is 42 yards. On Thursday night he had seven catches for 48 yards, 6.9 yards per catch. That was a bad day for David Terrell. Bernard Berrian is the shining example of a "breakout" player drafted by the Bears. He never had more than 71 catches, 951 yards or six touchdowns. The Chiefs' Dwayne Bowe beat that as a second-year player last year (86 catches, 1,022 yards, 7 TDs) with Tyler Thigpen throwing to him. And now we have Jay Cutler, who after throwing five interceptions against the 49ers last week has a career-low 76.0 passer rating -- 24th in the NFL. In his last five games, Cutler has thrown six touchdown passes and 12 interceptions. He's thrown 17 interceptions in nine games this year -- one less than he threw all of last season with Denver. If that's not regression, I don't know what is. 3. The Bears struggle to rehabilitate injured players. Maybe it's because Lovie Smith doesn't have his team hit very much in training camp or maybe it's not, but the Bears seem to have more than their share of injuries and an inordinate amount of early injuries -- 21 players have gone on injured reserve by Sept. 30 in Smith's six seasons -- including Urlacher after Game 1 this season; Brandon McGowan after Game 2 in 2008; Dusty Dvoracek and Mike Brown after Game 1 in 2007; Dvoracek after the last preseason game in 2006; and Mike Brown after Game 2 and Rex Grossman after Game 3 in 2004. Maybe it's just coincidence, but Brown and Brian Urlacher had played 65 consecutive games for the Bears when Smith became head coach in 2004, suffered injuries early in the 2004 season and have struggled with injuries ever since (though Urlacher has done a great job of playing through them). But it's not just the amount of injured players, it's what happens to them after they get injured. Players who get hurt almost always get hurt again (Brown, Urlacher, Harris, Grossman, Dvoracek, Vasher, McGowan and Pisa Tinoisamoa); and injured players rarely, if ever, are as productive when they come back (Harris, Urlacher, Bradley, Vasher, Dvoracek). Urlacher and Brown both had Pro Bowl seasons after their initial injuries, but that's a rarity. Both were injured again and never the same. Even less significant injuries have long-term repercussions: Kyle Orton was 11th in the NFL with a 91.4 passer rating when he suffered an ankle injury against the Lions in Week 8 last year. He returned after missing one game but was never the same. He had a 70.3 passer rating in the final seven games and finished at 79.6, 25th in the league. And maybe worst of all, other teams seem to have better luck with the Bears' injured players: Marc Colombo couldn't recover from nerve damage after a devastating injury when he was with the Bears. He started 59 consecutive games for the Cowboys before he suffered a broken leg last week; Mike Gandy was cut by the Bears when he was slow to recover from a hamstring injury. He's started the last 77 consecutive games for the Bills and Cardinals; McGowan was primarily a special-teams player who couldn't stay healthy with the Bears. He's now a starting safety with the Patriots and tied for the team lead in tackles. The Bears are given a pass for giving up on Cedric Benson by many experts, who rationalized that Benson was a dog who paved his own way out of town with a bad work ethic. It turns out at least part of his lethargy was due to Celiac Disease, a form of gluten-intolerance that saps the body of protein and causes fatigue. Benson adjusted to a gluten-free diet, has lost weight and now feels better than he ever did in Chicago and is sixth in the NFL in rushing. He reportedly was diagnosed just before he was cut by the Bears. Bad luck, bad timing, I guess. 4. Lovie Smith has mismanaged his coaching staff. From the odd hiring of Terry Shea as offensive coordinator when Smith became head coach in 2004 to firing Ron Rivera in favor of Bob Babich after the 2006 season, Smith has had a coaching staff made up mostly of coaches who have little or no experience at their position in the NFL. He brought in Ron Turner after Shea was fired in 2005, but that has produced little. The Babich-for-Rivera trade was a bust. He recently upgraded the staff by taking over the defensive play-calling from Babich, hiring Rod Marinelli as defensive line coach and John Hoke as defensive backs coach. But after an initial boost from the defensive line in the first four games of the season (14 sacks), those moves appear to be futile -- overwhelmed by organization-wide, bigger-picture problems. 5. Poor player management. In the 2006 Super Bowl season, rookie defensive end Mark Anderson had 12 sacks. Most of them were in optimum pass-rushing situations -- third-and-long or in games that where the Bears had a big lead. But the Bears thought they had their pass-rusher and made Anderson the starter in place of Alex Brown, who only had seven sacks in 2006, but also 71 tackles. two interceptions, three forced fumbles and two fumble recoveries. In 2007, Anderson had five sacks, 36 tackles (five tackles-for-loss), no interceptions, one forced fumble and no fumble recoveries in 14 games before suffering a knee injury. In a reserve role in the same span, Brown had 2 1/2 sacks, 47 tackles (five tackles-for-loss), no interceptions, one forced fumble and one fumble recovery. In two starts after Anderson was injured, Brown had nine tackles, two sacks, an interception, four pass-breakups, four quarterback hits, a forced fumble and a fumble recovery. The Mark Anderson experiment was over. That might be the most egregious player-position misjudgment, but not the only one. Lovie Smith chose Rex Grossman over Kyle Orton, Cedric Benson over Thomas Jones, Adam Archuleta over Chris Harris ... even Frank Omiyale over Josh Beekman has been a bust this season. The Bears just don't seem to know who their best players are. They gave Brian Urlacher and Tommie Harris big contract extensions, even though both were injured, yet played hardball with Lance Briggs, who is clearly their best defensive player. 6. The Bears have nobody who can identify systemic problems. Perhaps the biggest problem the Bears have is that they're a family-oriented organization that thinks everybody is doing a heckuva job. Lovie Smith raising his voice to his team at halftime is considered "accountability." From top to bottom, the Bears hierarchy is the Peter Principle run amok. Team president Ted Phillips is a director of finance/contract negotiator. Jerry Angelo was a director of player personnel. Lovie Smith was a defensive coordinator. They' were all new to their present job when they were hired. It was easy when the Bears reached the playoffs in 2005 and the Super Bowl in 2006. But with a likely third consecutive payoff-less season, somebody needs to see that the arrow is pointing straight down. But who? It takes a complete disaster for Lovie Smith to acknowledge an underpeforming player -- he still thinks the Bears are a running team. How long will it take Jerry Angelo to acknowledge an underperforming coach? Or Ted Phillips to acknowledge an underperforming general manager. And if you think the McCaskey's are going to be able to quickly acknowledge an underperforming team president, you have more faith in the Bears than I do. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
madlithuanian Posted November 19, 2009 Author Report Share Posted November 19, 2009 I see the author is now up... BY MARK POTASH | Commentary Kudos to Potash for telling it like it is... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
NAMEDSONPAYTON2 Posted November 19, 2009 Report Share Posted November 19, 2009 I see the author is now up... BY MARK POTASH | Commentary Kudos to Potash for telling it like it is... It sounds like "If you give me some of your candy, I'll be your best friend" or "If your not nice to me I won't let you play with me". Ditka and Buddy didn't get along,but still made me happy. Who does Lovie bring in, Adam Archuleta and Orlando Pace, both busts and both former St Louis players that shared their candy. Lovie will take take an ok player/friend over a better player that's not as tight. That's why he never gets in anybody's face when they mess up, you don't do that to friends. Why is Lovie rated so high to play for? Football is a tuff sport and the Bears need some tuffness. Seems to me, that all teams have leader thats vocal or 2, one on each side of the ball. I hear so many times on this board alone that we have no such player. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
madlithuanian Posted November 19, 2009 Author Report Share Posted November 19, 2009 That's why they always say to keep business and friendship seperate... It sounds like "If you give me some of your candy, I'll be your best friend" or "If your not nice to me I won't let you play with me". Ditka and Buddy didn't get along,but still made me happy. Who does Lovie bring in, Adam Archuleta and Orlando Pace, both busts and both former St Louis players that shared their candy. Lovie will take take an ok player/friend over a better player that's not as tight. That's why he never gets in anybody's face when they mess up, you don't do that to friends. Why is Lovie rated so high to play for? Football is a tuff sport and the Bears need some tuffness. Seems to me, that all teams have leader thats vocal or 2, one on each side of the ball. I hear so many times on this board alone that we have no such player. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jason Posted November 20, 2009 Report Share Posted November 20, 2009 I love this article because it's brutally true, and reiterates what I've been saying, albeit better constructed, for multiple years. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
madlithuanian Posted November 20, 2009 Author Report Share Posted November 20, 2009 Yep. It's good to see it out and about... I love this article because it's brutally true, and reiterates what I've been saying, albeit better constructed, for multiple years. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BearFan2000 Posted November 21, 2009 Report Share Posted November 21, 2009 That's why they always say to keep business and friendship seperate... IMO a good friend will be brutally honest when he needs to be. Good friends don't just tell their "friends" what they want to hear or just not say anything in order to not offend. That is a coward and not a friend. Now a friend won't intensionally be hurtful but will be honest. We have a coach who doesn't hold anyone accountable that I'm aware of as a coach you need to be brutally honest with your players criticism is never something someone wants to hear but if you don't push your players to be better then you get what you deserve a team of softies that that don't have the tenacity and grit to be successful in this league or any level for that matter. Looking back I had coaches that at the times I hated their guts but I'll be dammed if they didn't make me better by pushing me. We don't need a screamer or a tantrum thrower but you need a guy who the players respect because they know without a doubt he's in charge that he demands a the best out of each and every player, and not a coach who is more concerned about if his players like him and in doing so looses respect from his players as he is trying to be on the players level by being nice. Sure players like playing for a coach who doesn't ride them or doesn't require them to work to hard. But that's a coach that doesn't care enough to push them to be better. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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