Since I decided to write about how I think the AFC wild card teams will turn out I decided to follow it up with my NFC predictions. This list is not how I think will make it to the playoffs, but who has the best chances of not winning their division but still earning a wild card birth.
1) Detroit Lions
I think the Lions are the clear cut favorite to earn at minimum the 6th seed
Pro
The Lions easily have the best defensive line in the NFL led by Donkey Kong (Ndamukong) Suh with Cliff Avril, Kyle Vanden Bosch, Corey Williams, and the now healthy rookie Nick Fairley. When you have the best D-line in the game you set yourself to have a great defense. Even though the Lions back seven is pretty shaky, their line pressure more than makes up for it. In fact, the Lions are second in the NFC in terms of points per game allowed (first is San Fran).
Not only can the Lions stop teams from scoring but their offense is electric with Matthew Stafford and Calvin Johnson scoring points left and right.
Listen, the Lions are a good football team and no matter what, if you're a good football team you're going to win games and thus earn a playoff birth.
Con
The Lions can be beat
Detroit has some great strength (i.e. their passing game and their D-line) but they do have weaknesses which teams like the 49ers have exploited.
The Lions have a great passing D (6th in the NFL in yards allowed) but a terrible run defense (third to last in rushing yards allowed) and despite how good that front line is, they can be beat by quick passes. They have Aaron Rodgers (twice), Drew Brees, Philip Rivers, Cam Newton, and even Jay Cutler left on their schedule which all have the ability to find holes in their defense. Plus running backs like Adrian Peterson, Matt Forte, Darren Sproles, and DeAngelo Williams/Jonathan Stewart to rush all over the Lions. I'm not saying the Lions aren't good enough to adjust their defense to neutralize all these offenses, they absolutely are (except for maybe Green Bay's) but those offenses aren't a walk in the park either.
The Lions are also extremely one dimensional on offense. It's Matthew Stafford to Calvin Johnson and that's it. And if you shut down Calvin Johnson then you shut down down the entire Lions offense. Again, no easy feat, but something that can very easily be accomplished.
The 49ers and Falcons showed the league a blueprint on how to beat the Lions- something I'm not sure teams had when the Lions started off 5-0.
Lastly, their schedule is not the easiest. They still have to face Green Bay twice, the Chicago Bears at Soldier Field, the New Orleans Saints in the Superdome, and get the San Diego Chargers at home. None of those games are slam dunks to me and three are division games.
2) Philadelphia Eagles
While Eagles certainly have a chance to win their division I think they dug themselves in too much of a whole to win it.
Pro
The Eagles have a top five offense. Right now they are 9th in the NFL (5th in the NFC) in terms of points scored and now that Michael Vick has stopped turning the ball over so much, the Eagles are using RB LeSean McCoy more (and better) and Jeremy Maclin and Jason Avant are stepping their game up, this offense looks great. Even though DeSean Jackson has essentially been a no-show all season, this offense can both run on you and pass on you.
The Eagles also have history on their side. Say what you want about Andy Reid but he just wins down the stretch. Remember a few years ago when Donovan McNabb went out and Jeff Garcia won like eight straight games in a row? The Eagles are one of the few teams that I trust to go undefeated the rest of the year.
Con
I think last week was the first week in which Michael Vick finished a game healthy. I like Vince Young and Mike Kafka as back ups to start a game or two but it gets hard to force these guys into crunch time week after week.
The Eagles also have a tough schedule on their plate. They still have the face the Bears (4-3), Patriots (6-2), Jets (4-3), Giants (5-2), and the Dallas Cowboys in Arlington.
Lastly, while the Eagles have really good defensive players on their team, their defensive coordinator is terrible and does not utilize his players effectively. That's what you get when you hire your former offensive line coach to be your defensive coordinator and have nobody showing him tapes on Nnamdi in Oakland on how to use him correctly.
3) Chicago Bears
Call it bias, but be honest, you can not name another team in the NFC that I haven't already named or will win the division.
Pro
Matt Forte. 'Nuff said.
The Bears are actually running a more efficient offense since their debacle in Week Two against the Saints where the blitz friendly Saints D destroyed Cutler. Since then Mike Martz has introduced a heavy dose of Matt Forte in both the passing and rushing game and Cutler has not thrown an interception in three weeks.
The other thing the Bears have on their side is an easy schedule. They still haven't played anyone from the weak AFC West yet, they get the Chargers and Chiefs at home (the former I still believe as a good team and the latter who has one of the best home field advantages- Arrowhead), the Denver Broncos who will probably be led by Brady Quinn, the Oakland Raiders (who will be led by Carson Palmer and watch how terrible Palmer will be the rest of the year), the Lions and Packers at home and Seattle and Minnesota. The only game that scares me is the Packers and the Bears play the Packers very well at Soldier- even against Aaron Rodgers.
Con
It's still turnover prone Jay Cutler. While he's been good of late he still has the potential for 4-5 turnovers every week.
Plus, I don't think the Bears are as good of a team as either the Packers, Lions, Giants, or Eagles which puts them in a disadvantage to try and earn a wild card spot. I think the Lions are guaranteed to get a wild card spot and if I'm picking the Eagles versus the Bears, I'll pick Philly. Especially considering I think the Eagles defeat the Bears this upcoming Monday at Lincoln Field. The Bears are not in the driver's seat to control their own destiny (even though the Bears are currently the 6th seed in the NFC as of the writing of this post).
Neither their offense or defense has been amazing and I don't think either have top five potential. They have not been *that* good at putting pressure on opposing quarterbacks or stopping the run and if any team shuts down Matt Forte then their offense is done.
4) Atlanta Falcons
If the playoffs started today, Atlanta would finish 8th (Tampa Bay would be 7th because they defeated the Falcons once this year)
Pro
Atlanta's offense still consists of Matt Ryan, Michael Turner, Roddy White, Julio Jones, and Tony Gonzalez. If I'm an opposing defense there's not a single player that I want to say "OK, you try and beat me" like a Kerry Collins led Tennessee Titans with (good) Chris Johnson. The team also has a pass rush (soon to come) of John Abraham and Ray Edwards. The team just came off of a win of the Lions in Detroit and they look like a team finally putting it together.
Con
First losing to Tampa Bay and the Bears, the teams directly ahead of them in the playoffs standings doesn't help them. Secondly, while they have a boatload of talent, they're just jot utilizing it properly. Their offense ranks 17th in points scored per game and 20th in points allowed per game.
Even when this team was clicking (like it was last year when they went 13-3 and earned the first seed in the NFC) I didn't trust them. Matt Ryan for his career has a low YPA (this year, even with Julio Jones, Ryan ranks 26th of all active quarterback behind the greats like Curtis Painter, Joe Flacco, Tarvaris Jackson) and no one on their defense truly scares me either. Clay Matthews scares me. Donkey Kong Suh scares me. Julius Peppers scares me. No one on Atlanta's defense scares me and I said that last year.
5) Tampa Bay Buccaneers
Defeating division rivals New Orleans Saints and Atlanta Falcons always helps with both winning a division and playoff births but this team just looks terrible. Last year, the Bucs won nine games because of the emergence of Josh Freeman, Mike Williams, and LaGarette Blount. All three of those guys have taken a step back this year. Blount had been injured, Williams looks terrible and looks like the third best receiver on his team, and Freeman looks like he reverted back to his rookie season rather than improving on his sophomore season.
Tampa just had their bye so we'll see if they fixed their problems but until they show me that they can play like they did last year, then I believe their chances of earning a wild card spot is low.
6) Dallas Cowboys
Pro
Well, they dooooo have the same record as the Philadelphia Eagles, so theoretically it's possible
Con
They have Tony Romo starting at quarterback and they're currently not in first place.
7) St. Louis Rams
OK, here me out. I know they have the worst record in the NFC and only have one win, but if they win their next 9 games they can go 10-6!
There's no amount of money or odds you can give me that I would bet on about the Rams making the playoffs, but coming into the season you could see how front loaded their schedule is (although he all thought San Fran would be just as terrible at the rest of the NFC West).
To me, the Rams are the best worst team and they still get to play Seattle and Arizona twice and the Cleveland Browns. That's five games right there that's winnable and if the Rams do win all those game then they're 6-6 and potentially in the hunt.
Unfortunately they do have to play San Francisco (twice), the Cincinnati Bengals, and Pittsburgh Steelers which would put the Rams back at 7-9 again, but hey, a boy can dream can't he?
Showing posts with label Chicago Bears. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Chicago Bears. Show all posts
Scouting From Bears Training Camp
For all four loyal GOI fans, you know it's been a tradition for the authors to go to Bears training camp. In the past its always been a excursion. Something planned out a month ahead of time that's full of adventure, excitement, and wonderment. OK, I may be exaggerating a bit but it really is a good time. This year The 'Bright' One, Cubsfan, and myself planned to keep the tradition alive. The Bears held a family day special training camp at Soldier Field and we payed ten bucks to go see them. Unfortunately the Bears players were being little bitches on that day and the field was a tad too wet for their taste so an hour before training camp started they all hoped on a bus and drove down to Bourbonnais, Illinois- where they normally hold training camp- to practice. Even though we had already wasted train and taxi fare to get down to Soldier Field and were essentially at Solider when we heard the news, the Bears players were inconsiderate jerks and left all us fans high and dry. When team President/CEO Ted Thompson started address the fans he was rewards with a stadium full of boo's. However, the concession stands at Soldier Field gave us free food and all three of us still had fun in Chicago on a Friday night, but still, we had missed our chance to see our beloved Bears at a training camp.
But I would not be deterred.
A friend of mine from college was going up with her family to see the Bears play in Bourbonnais a few weeks later (it ended up being only her and her sister) and I seized this opportunity so I could say I at least went to *one* training camp and my tradition of going for four straight years is still in tact. While this year was not the same as it was in years past- hanging out with my boys, getting there early, discussing football for hours on end- it was still a good time and I still got some valuable tidbits. However, because this trip was really not the same as years past, my scouting report for this year is a bit limited. I didn't see any defensive players practice until the 11 of 11's at the end of training camp and for the first hour of the two hour training camp I was by myself because my friend was stuck in traffic and the second hour was spent catching up with my friend and not paying that much attention to the practice because I hadn't seen her in a few months.
But here is what I can report:
Wide Receivers
I spent the majority of training camp scouting the receiving corps. Even with the addition of Marion Barber, I still knew how essentially the running backs would be used. Our quarterback is set and I didn't want to focus on offensive lineman in drills because, let's face it, how hard is it to look good when all you're up against is a 50 year old man with pads on his arms? So I focused on the receiving group for two reasons. First, I wanted to see how Johnny Knox and Roy Williams will be used and second, I wanted to see if I could find something to give me an advantage like I had done in years past. Two years ago we discovered Devin Aromashodu and last year I had discovered how much the Bears hated Devin Aromashodu and even though everyone was touting him as a fantasy sleeper, I was the only one screaming from the rooftops that Johnny Knox would have a better season than D.A. I was right.
- This year, I noticed that Roy Williams looks awesome. Granted, I know it's only practice and a two hour one at that, but the Bears seem to like Roy Williams and R.W. looked really good at practice.
- I think the target split between Williams and Johnny Knox will be split about evenly with Williams probably getting a little bit more. I'd say a 55/45 split. The only difference is that Knox still doesn't have the greatest hands (which was evident in practice) and which means I think Williams is going to get many more catches than Knox.
- Devin Hester didn't practice as a wide out and I hope he's getting phased out as a receiver because I think he best helps the team as a returner. But Hester didn't practice at all last year and he still was our starting wide receiver so I'm not putting too much stock in the fact he didn't work out. Plus, Johnny Knox and Khalil Bell (4th string running back) took essentially all of the kick returns. (We'll get to kick returns later)
- Earl Bennett looked good for the limited amount of time he was on the field but he's going to be a 4th receiver at best. It's a shame because I still love him as a slot guy.
- The one no name receiver that looked good was also a number 19- like Devin Aromashodu. He's a 6'1" rookie receiver from TCU by the name of Jimmy Young. But he's not going to make the team. Just saying though I thought he looked good.
Red Zone Offense
- The Bears ran about four red zone plays so take what I report with a grain of salt.
- Three of the plays were to tight ends. The first one was a fade to Kellen Davis (whom the Bears seems enamored with), the second was a designed play to Davis, and the third was a pass up the middle to tight end Matt Spaeth.
- Matt Spaeth is 6'7" and looks like a men among boys compared to the other players on the team. This dude is huge but he doesn't look that fit and the Bears seem to like Davis more than him (based upon press releases I've seen) but it wouldn't shock me if he got like 5 touchdowns.
- The fourth red zone play was a designed running play for running back Marion Barber. Any Bears fan can tell you how awesome Matt Forte is but he's terrible at getting 3rd and short and 4th and short. I don't have the exact statistics in front of me but I know Matt Forte the past few years has been really high up there (I wanna say top 5) in red zone carries but he's only average to below average in the total rushing touchdowns he gets. He's terrible at converting what he should and I think the addition on Marion Barber will help the Bears convert what they couldn't before. Marion Barber looks good and I could see him getting 10 rushing touchdowns this year. Kind of like the Brandon Jacobs role for the Giants last year (or his role a few years ago with Julius Jones in Dallas). Look to see Matt Forte come out of the game when the Bears get close.
Extra Notes
- This offense line still looks terrible and might be worse than it was last year. I saw this line struggle versus the Bears second team defense and Jay Cutler hurried a lot.
- Speaking of Jay Cutler, in practice he looks amazing and we all got to see his cannon of an arm in action. The Bears receivers were running drills on either end of the sidelines. The receiver would run out 40-50 yards and the quarterback would throw them a bomb. Jay Cutler threw three of these passes. The first to Roy Williams, the second to Johnny Knox, and the third to Earl Bennett and all three were beauties. All three were in the exact same spot and got there with precision and accuracy. Then you saw Caleb Hanie and third stringer Nathan Enderle try to do the same thing on the other sideline and you realized why these guys aren't starters and Jay Cutler is.
- A group of young high school or junior high kids were standing next to me during some of the practice and were looking through a program they had. This program had a list of every player and their number. These kids got to Ricky Henry whose number is "69" and giggled like little school girls. I didn't laugh once. God, I'm getting senile and hardened in my old age.
- While the receivers and quarterbacks were doing these drills, the running backs were doing some catching drills on their own. Running backs Matt Forte and Chester Taylor went first, caught their balls with ease (hahahaha) and then turned their backs to me and my side of the field to watch the other running backs in action. First, Marion Barber is not nearly as good of a pass catcher as the first two and second, both Taylor and Forte look exactly alike from the back.
- I texted TBO that Forte and Taylor looked exatly alike and he texted back "#racist"
- The Bears ran about twenty minutes of kick off return drills. As mentioned earlier, Khalil Bell, Johnny Knox, and I believe CB D.J. Moore took a majority of the returns while Robbie Gould kicked off. This new rule where kickers get to kick off from the 35 pisses me off as a Bears fan because most, if not all, of Robbie's kicks went past the endzone and this hurts a strength the Bears have had in recent years. However, when that happened a guy on the sideline threw an extra ball to the returner and then the team ran a kickoff drill as if the returner had caught the ball. This blocking team looks awesome as always but the Bears are going to be severely hurt by this stupid kick off rule.
TMZ-style Interviews
I went to a 7:00 pm practice so training camp didn't end until nine which means these guys were tired after a long day. Luckily I was able to get a few interviews and autographs. Players came my way thanks to this kid standing in front of me. He couldn't have been more than 13 or 14 years old and was calling every player under the sun to give him an autograph. Now after going for four years now I realized that you only care about getting the starters autograph and not about the back ups. But this kid was bright-eyed and bushy tailed and didn't care if you were the fifth string safety, he wanted your autograph. Now while the back ups always make for the best interviews (see: Caleb Hanie blasting Jay Cutler) I didn't have a program so I could tell who these back ups actually were and I really didn't want their autograph.
One way this kid tried to get some of these players autographs was to say that they were on his fantasy team. When old timer TE Desmond Clark walked by he used this tactic. At first, I thought he was just saying that to lure the players over, but it turns out he actually did draft all Bears players (except for some reason Jay Cutler) and did actually draft Desmond Clark.
There was this dick behind me (believe me, after two seconds of talking to this guy you’d say to yourself, “Wow, what a dick”) who added his two cents. He said, “Really? Dez Clark is your tight end? You should go for someone solid like Brent Celek.” I turned to the Dick and said, “Really? Brent Celek? You could have done better than someone like Celek. Michael Vick didn’t look to him at all last year.” He tried to convince me that he was in a PPR league so Celek got him like 9 points every week. 1) A tight end who’s good in a PPR format is not necessarily going to help this 13 year old out 2) There were much better TE’s than Celek last year (although I wouldn’t have faulted you for drafting him high) and 3) I wasn’t going to sit there and argue with the Dick. I had better things to do. Like getting backups autographs. Moral of the story: I want to go to training camp just to start a fantasy football league with these guys. I haven’t won in a while. [Eds note: Celek was 18th among tight ends last year- and this was in a year where essentially every TE got injured]
Anyways, on with the interviews!
DE Vernon Gholston
Me: How many sacks are you going to have this season?
VG: I don’t know as many as I can
Me: Are you going to have over 15?
VG: *laughs* I dunno
I probably should have asked him his role in the system because Peppers is obviously starting and right now Israel Idonije is the other starter on the Bears website.
University of Florida alum safety Major Wright
Me: Who is that guy? (he wasn’t wearing his pads)
13 year old kid in front of me: That’s Major Wright
Me: Ooh, he’s a starter, I want his autograph
Me: How many interceptions are you going to get next year?
MW: haha Good question
Me: Are you happy you choose the correct Florida school?
MW: (angrily) Sure * quickly walks as far away from me as possible *
Again, I missed another golden opportunity. I should have asked him about how awesome his name is. His name is Major Wright! Come on, I'm jealous. Also, for those of you who don't know, that last question was a reference to the recent major allegations against the University of Miami.
C Roberto Garza
Me: I have your face from last year
[Eds Note: This is actually true. Every year for training camp they give out these cheap paper masks of a certain player with a long popsicle-esque wooden pick to hold it up. The purpose of them is to hold the stick so the cheap, paper face covers your face but everyone just uses them as fans. Last year when I went they gave out Roberto Garza masks.]
RG: * laughs *
Me: Do you have one?
RG: Yeah, I got one last year
Me: Was that your Halloween costume last year?
RG: haha no, * something inaudible *
Me: Are you sad to see Olin Kruetz go?
RG: Yeah man, absolutely.
Me: But you’re the better block than him, right?
RG: Nah, man
Garza seemed completely sincere and saddened by the departure of Kruetz. While Kruetz couldn’t block ME to save his life a lot of what it takes to be a good offensive line is chemistry and, this pains me to say this, intangibles. Maybe we shouldn’t have let him go? Wait, what am I saying? Players on the field don’t think. ALL STATS BABY!
Punter Spencer Lanning
I actually didn’t know who this guy was but he had a jersey with the number 1 on it with him and he was a small, skinny white guy, so he had to be a kicker.
Me: Who’s the better kicker, you or Robbie Gould?
SL: haha, Robbie Gould for sure
Me: What!? I don’t believe that. It’s definitely you!
SL: * laughs again * I mean this seriously, Robbie Gould is the best kicker I have ever seen. The best.
One Last Note Before I Go
You can stop reading now if you want to, I understand. It's been a long article and your boss is probably pissed at you for not working for the past 20 minutes. But if you would like to stick around, I thank you.
Also, I'm about to step on my pedastal
As I mentioned earlier, the guys who tend to sign autographs are the back ups or guys who who don't immediately recognize. Now me personally, I always cross reference the player's number on their jersey with a list I print out of everyone on the team and their number so I know which player is which so I know which player's autograph I'm getting (versus this year because my printer ran out of ink I asked the kid ahead of me of who's autograph he was getting in which he replied back to me with no sense of subtlety the guys name). But there was this old dude next to this kid who asked a few players what their name was before asking for their autograph. He had some program with every player listed and would ask, "Now, who are you again?" If I was a player I would walk away because that seems rude, but I guess I'm pety like that. But these players would kindly tell this dude their name, sign their autograph next to their picture, and move on. But for future reference, if you go to any training camp, have a way to figue out who you are talking to before you ask for their autograph, not during or after. What this old guy did seemed really rude and disrespectful.
Anyways, I'm done. Off my pedestal.
That is all. And we... aRE... OUT!
But I would not be deterred.
A friend of mine from college was going up with her family to see the Bears play in Bourbonnais a few weeks later (it ended up being only her and her sister) and I seized this opportunity so I could say I at least went to *one* training camp and my tradition of going for four straight years is still in tact. While this year was not the same as it was in years past- hanging out with my boys, getting there early, discussing football for hours on end- it was still a good time and I still got some valuable tidbits. However, because this trip was really not the same as years past, my scouting report for this year is a bit limited. I didn't see any defensive players practice until the 11 of 11's at the end of training camp and for the first hour of the two hour training camp I was by myself because my friend was stuck in traffic and the second hour was spent catching up with my friend and not paying that much attention to the practice because I hadn't seen her in a few months.
But here is what I can report:
Wide Receivers
I spent the majority of training camp scouting the receiving corps. Even with the addition of Marion Barber, I still knew how essentially the running backs would be used. Our quarterback is set and I didn't want to focus on offensive lineman in drills because, let's face it, how hard is it to look good when all you're up against is a 50 year old man with pads on his arms? So I focused on the receiving group for two reasons. First, I wanted to see how Johnny Knox and Roy Williams will be used and second, I wanted to see if I could find something to give me an advantage like I had done in years past. Two years ago we discovered Devin Aromashodu and last year I had discovered how much the Bears hated Devin Aromashodu and even though everyone was touting him as a fantasy sleeper, I was the only one screaming from the rooftops that Johnny Knox would have a better season than D.A. I was right.
- This year, I noticed that Roy Williams looks awesome. Granted, I know it's only practice and a two hour one at that, but the Bears seem to like Roy Williams and R.W. looked really good at practice.
- I think the target split between Williams and Johnny Knox will be split about evenly with Williams probably getting a little bit more. I'd say a 55/45 split. The only difference is that Knox still doesn't have the greatest hands (which was evident in practice) and which means I think Williams is going to get many more catches than Knox.
- Devin Hester didn't practice as a wide out and I hope he's getting phased out as a receiver because I think he best helps the team as a returner. But Hester didn't practice at all last year and he still was our starting wide receiver so I'm not putting too much stock in the fact he didn't work out. Plus, Johnny Knox and Khalil Bell (4th string running back) took essentially all of the kick returns. (We'll get to kick returns later)
- Earl Bennett looked good for the limited amount of time he was on the field but he's going to be a 4th receiver at best. It's a shame because I still love him as a slot guy.
- The one no name receiver that looked good was also a number 19- like Devin Aromashodu. He's a 6'1" rookie receiver from TCU by the name of Jimmy Young. But he's not going to make the team. Just saying though I thought he looked good.
Red Zone Offense
- The Bears ran about four red zone plays so take what I report with a grain of salt.
- Three of the plays were to tight ends. The first one was a fade to Kellen Davis (whom the Bears seems enamored with), the second was a designed play to Davis, and the third was a pass up the middle to tight end Matt Spaeth.
- Matt Spaeth is 6'7" and looks like a men among boys compared to the other players on the team. This dude is huge but he doesn't look that fit and the Bears seem to like Davis more than him (based upon press releases I've seen) but it wouldn't shock me if he got like 5 touchdowns.
- The fourth red zone play was a designed running play for running back Marion Barber. Any Bears fan can tell you how awesome Matt Forte is but he's terrible at getting 3rd and short and 4th and short. I don't have the exact statistics in front of me but I know Matt Forte the past few years has been really high up there (I wanna say top 5) in red zone carries but he's only average to below average in the total rushing touchdowns he gets. He's terrible at converting what he should and I think the addition on Marion Barber will help the Bears convert what they couldn't before. Marion Barber looks good and I could see him getting 10 rushing touchdowns this year. Kind of like the Brandon Jacobs role for the Giants last year (or his role a few years ago with Julius Jones in Dallas). Look to see Matt Forte come out of the game when the Bears get close.
Extra Notes
- This offense line still looks terrible and might be worse than it was last year. I saw this line struggle versus the Bears second team defense and Jay Cutler hurried a lot.
- Speaking of Jay Cutler, in practice he looks amazing and we all got to see his cannon of an arm in action. The Bears receivers were running drills on either end of the sidelines. The receiver would run out 40-50 yards and the quarterback would throw them a bomb. Jay Cutler threw three of these passes. The first to Roy Williams, the second to Johnny Knox, and the third to Earl Bennett and all three were beauties. All three were in the exact same spot and got there with precision and accuracy. Then you saw Caleb Hanie and third stringer Nathan Enderle try to do the same thing on the other sideline and you realized why these guys aren't starters and Jay Cutler is.
- A group of young high school or junior high kids were standing next to me during some of the practice and were looking through a program they had. This program had a list of every player and their number. These kids got to Ricky Henry whose number is "69" and giggled like little school girls. I didn't laugh once. God, I'm getting senile and hardened in my old age.
- While the receivers and quarterbacks were doing these drills, the running backs were doing some catching drills on their own. Running backs Matt Forte and Chester Taylor went first, caught their balls with ease (hahahaha) and then turned their backs to me and my side of the field to watch the other running backs in action. First, Marion Barber is not nearly as good of a pass catcher as the first two and second, both Taylor and Forte look exactly alike from the back.
- I texted TBO that Forte and Taylor looked exatly alike and he texted back "#racist"
- The Bears ran about twenty minutes of kick off return drills. As mentioned earlier, Khalil Bell, Johnny Knox, and I believe CB D.J. Moore took a majority of the returns while Robbie Gould kicked off. This new rule where kickers get to kick off from the 35 pisses me off as a Bears fan because most, if not all, of Robbie's kicks went past the endzone and this hurts a strength the Bears have had in recent years. However, when that happened a guy on the sideline threw an extra ball to the returner and then the team ran a kickoff drill as if the returner had caught the ball. This blocking team looks awesome as always but the Bears are going to be severely hurt by this stupid kick off rule.
TMZ-style Interviews
I went to a 7:00 pm practice so training camp didn't end until nine which means these guys were tired after a long day. Luckily I was able to get a few interviews and autographs. Players came my way thanks to this kid standing in front of me. He couldn't have been more than 13 or 14 years old and was calling every player under the sun to give him an autograph. Now after going for four years now I realized that you only care about getting the starters autograph and not about the back ups. But this kid was bright-eyed and bushy tailed and didn't care if you were the fifth string safety, he wanted your autograph. Now while the back ups always make for the best interviews (see: Caleb Hanie blasting Jay Cutler) I didn't have a program so I could tell who these back ups actually were and I really didn't want their autograph.
One way this kid tried to get some of these players autographs was to say that they were on his fantasy team. When old timer TE Desmond Clark walked by he used this tactic. At first, I thought he was just saying that to lure the players over, but it turns out he actually did draft all Bears players (except for some reason Jay Cutler) and did actually draft Desmond Clark.
There was this dick behind me (believe me, after two seconds of talking to this guy you’d say to yourself, “Wow, what a dick”) who added his two cents. He said, “Really? Dez Clark is your tight end? You should go for someone solid like Brent Celek.” I turned to the Dick and said, “Really? Brent Celek? You could have done better than someone like Celek. Michael Vick didn’t look to him at all last year.” He tried to convince me that he was in a PPR league so Celek got him like 9 points every week. 1) A tight end who’s good in a PPR format is not necessarily going to help this 13 year old out 2) There were much better TE’s than Celek last year (although I wouldn’t have faulted you for drafting him high) and 3) I wasn’t going to sit there and argue with the Dick. I had better things to do. Like getting backups autographs. Moral of the story: I want to go to training camp just to start a fantasy football league with these guys. I haven’t won in a while. [Eds note: Celek was 18th among tight ends last year- and this was in a year where essentially every TE got injured]
Anyways, on with the interviews!
DE Vernon Gholston
Me: How many sacks are you going to have this season?
VG: I don’t know as many as I can
Me: Are you going to have over 15?
VG: *laughs* I dunno
I probably should have asked him his role in the system because Peppers is obviously starting and right now Israel Idonije is the other starter on the Bears website.
University of Florida alum safety Major Wright
Me: Who is that guy? (he wasn’t wearing his pads)
13 year old kid in front of me: That’s Major Wright
Me: Ooh, he’s a starter, I want his autograph
Me: How many interceptions are you going to get next year?
MW: haha Good question
Me: Are you happy you choose the correct Florida school?
MW: (angrily) Sure * quickly walks as far away from me as possible *
Again, I missed another golden opportunity. I should have asked him about how awesome his name is. His name is Major Wright! Come on, I'm jealous. Also, for those of you who don't know, that last question was a reference to the recent major allegations against the University of Miami.
C Roberto Garza
Me: I have your face from last year
[Eds Note: This is actually true. Every year for training camp they give out these cheap paper masks of a certain player with a long popsicle-esque wooden pick to hold it up. The purpose of them is to hold the stick so the cheap, paper face covers your face but everyone just uses them as fans. Last year when I went they gave out Roberto Garza masks.]
RG: * laughs *
Me: Do you have one?
RG: Yeah, I got one last year
Me: Was that your Halloween costume last year?
RG: haha no, * something inaudible *
Me: Are you sad to see Olin Kruetz go?
RG: Yeah man, absolutely.
Me: But you’re the better block than him, right?
RG: Nah, man
Garza seemed completely sincere and saddened by the departure of Kruetz. While Kruetz couldn’t block ME to save his life a lot of what it takes to be a good offensive line is chemistry and, this pains me to say this, intangibles. Maybe we shouldn’t have let him go? Wait, what am I saying? Players on the field don’t think. ALL STATS BABY!
Punter Spencer Lanning
I actually didn’t know who this guy was but he had a jersey with the number 1 on it with him and he was a small, skinny white guy, so he had to be a kicker.
Me: Who’s the better kicker, you or Robbie Gould?
SL: haha, Robbie Gould for sure
Me: What!? I don’t believe that. It’s definitely you!
SL: * laughs again * I mean this seriously, Robbie Gould is the best kicker I have ever seen. The best.
One Last Note Before I Go
You can stop reading now if you want to, I understand. It's been a long article and your boss is probably pissed at you for not working for the past 20 minutes. But if you would like to stick around, I thank you.
Also, I'm about to step on my pedastal
As I mentioned earlier, the guys who tend to sign autographs are the back ups or guys who who don't immediately recognize. Now me personally, I always cross reference the player's number on their jersey with a list I print out of everyone on the team and their number so I know which player is which so I know which player's autograph I'm getting (versus this year because my printer ran out of ink I asked the kid ahead of me of who's autograph he was getting in which he replied back to me with no sense of subtlety the guys name). But there was this old dude next to this kid who asked a few players what their name was before asking for their autograph. He had some program with every player listed and would ask, "Now, who are you again?" If I was a player I would walk away because that seems rude, but I guess I'm pety like that. But these players would kindly tell this dude their name, sign their autograph next to their picture, and move on. But for future reference, if you go to any training camp, have a way to figue out who you are talking to before you ask for their autograph, not during or after. What this old guy did seemed really rude and disrespectful.
Anyways, I'm done. Off my pedestal.
That is all. And we... aRE... OUT!
NFL Free Agency Thoughts. Part I.
Maybe this will be like History of the World and not have a Part II. Or maybe this will be like Kill Bill. Who knows. Either way, Part I is awesome.
Was it in the new CBA that 50% of your roster in 2010 was not allowed to be on your roster in 2011? I understand there was a lockout and everything but I can't remember an offseason being this crazy. Ever. Who isn't a free agent? Or got traded? Or flat out released?
New England Patriots
- Chad Ochocinco reminds me a lot of another disgruntled Cincinnati Bengals player who went to New England and transformed the Patriots offense- RB Corey Dillon. Both Dillon and Ochocinco were great players who got bad raps unfairly. Dillon, like Ochocinco, was just upset at being in Cincy and just wanted out. Maybe he shouldn't have created a fuss in the press but ultimately he got his wish- a trade and a playoff ring. But Corey Dillon was 29 and still in his prime when he got traded. Chad is currently 33 and has looked really bad in the past two seasons. Dillon was just injured in his last season in Ohio. What's Ochocinco's excuse? Although having the great Tom Brady can do wonders for a person's career.
- On a recent podcast, Cubsfan said he's rank Braylon Edwards a top 5 wide out in fantasy if he signed with New England. I assume he'd feel pretty strongly about Ochocinco as well. I still don't trust it and won't draft Ochocinco, but I'm risk averse. I"m sure he'll be the next Randy Moss.
- DT Albert Haynesworth has always had the talent to be a top 3 DT in the game since leaving Tennessee. Washington tends to do that to players though- bring out the crapiness in players (Although in Rex Grossman's case, there was nothing to bring out. It was already there). In Belichick we trust. However, I do find it strange that Haynesworth threw a stink when he was forced to play nose tackle in the 3-4 scheme under Shanahan. I really hope Albert knows the Pats play in a 3-4 scheme. Plus the Pats have one of, if not the best, nose tackles in game in Vince Wilfork. This moves seems really strange.
- The Pats mold for winning championships was always having the best offense and defensive lines, linebackers who were hungry and versatile enough to play in Belichick's scheme and Tom Brady to win on the very last drive because the team really wasn't that good throughout the first 3.75 quarters. Didn't the Patriots learn from Adalius Thomas! Paying for free agents will always backfire in your face!
Philadelphia Eagles
- Two years ago Dominque Rodgers-Cromartie was a top two cornerback. Last year he wasn't even close to the mediocrity that his cousin (Antonio Cromartie) was. Gotta think he'll be back to his top self playing next to Asante Samuel. Although he'll still be like his cousin was last year in the sense that quarterbacks will still be targeting him because he's the second best CB on his team. However, very few teams can have the privilege of having the caliber and talent of a guy like ARC as their *number two* corner.
- The sun will rise tomorrow. Bill Belichick will give the most boring press conferences in the world. And Michael Vick will get hurt in 2011. If it was just for draft picks, the Eagles shouldn't have traded QB Kevin Kolb because they will absolutely need him for games next season. However, you could not have passed up a deal like what Arizona gave them.
- DE Jason Babin was one of the best pass rushers (if not the best. How often do you think I can say that phrase in this post? My over/under is 5. I'm at 2 now) in the game in 2010. However, he was on his 5th team last year and had his break out season at age 31. This is also his second go-around with the Eagles. I don't trust him moving forward and thought that was a dumb move signing Babin by the normally smart Eagles.
Quarterbacks
- If Washington Redskins fans hated Donovan McNabb boy they are going to love Rex Grossman
- Kevin Kolb can hit the broad side of a barn. He can throw a ball into the ocean and it will actually hit water. Sounds easy right? Well it was something Derek Anderson, Max Hall, and John Skelton could not do in 2010. Larry Fitzgerald is now a top ten fantasy wide out and will most likely go to the Pro Bowl in 2011. It looks like Early Doucet will play opposite of Fitzy which I don't like as much as if Steve Breaston was there. But hey, Steve Smith and Jake Delhomme went to a Superbowl and Pro Bowls together with less. (Less meaning Jake Delhomme was in the equation)
- McNabb and Christian Ponder both probably have the same skill set right now. McNabb's skill is declining while Ponder's skill is rising and right now they're meeting at the exact same spot. However, both suck and will suck long term. Have fun being in the cellar for the next couple of years Minnesota!
- Matt Hasselbeck will do his best Kerry Collins impression in Tennessee.
- Matt Leinart choose to stay in Houston as opposed to go to Seattle and be reunited with his college coach Pete Carrol. He claims he wanted to have a starting job and with Tavaris Jackson there that shot is lost. It makes sense because Matt Schaub is not even close to what Tavaris Jackson is. Matt Schuab wishes one day he could be Tavaris Jackson. Leinart had/has the talent to be a damn fine, if not great, starting quarterback (Three?). Instead he wants to be a perennial back up so he doesn't actually have to do shit and still gets to say to chicks that he's a professional football player to fuck them. It's a pussy-shit move on Leinart's part and of many in the storied career of the Heisman winner.
- In a post I wrote in February and re-wrote in last July, the best quarterback available this offseason is Kyle Orton. He has proven how good he is in both Chicago and Denver and can adapt to your system. I find it hard to believe that it's difficult to pry him away from Denver right now.
Chicago Bears
- This comes from a facebook status of a friend of mine:
- I actually don't mind getting rid of Greg Olson, it's what we got back that upsets me. Once I saw him get full playing time I started to grow weary and disdainful of him. TBO ragged on me for that for the past two years. Apparently the rest of the league knew what I knew as he gets traded only for a 3rd round draft pick. That's a bit ridiculous.
- With Olson gone I don't know who Jay Cutler is going to have butt sex with now. Is he going to have secret trysts, Brokeback Mountain style, to North Carolina? Maybe breaking up with KC was premature.
- The Bears do not need Olin Kruetz. He's way past his prime and he's 34 years old. He has not been good for years and the Bears do not need him. Being in Chicago I keep hearing the Bears do. ESPN radio host here in Chicago Carmen DeFalco was upset because the Cardinals signed center Kyle Sendlein (???) and he was to be the fall back plan if Kruetz doesn't sign with us. The Bears can trot out right now as an offensive line this year- Gabe Carimi, Chris Williams, Roberto Garza, J'Marcus Webb, and Frank Omiyale and it will still be better than our porous O-line from last year because we have Carimi. Either Webb or Garza an play center just as well as Kruetz did the past few seasons. So can you.
- A sidenote to my previous point- the New York Giants just released center Shaun O'Hara and G Rich Seubert. Both would be upgrades over what Chicago has now. Center Jonathan Goodwin (formerly of New Orleans) is also still available. Plenty of O-lineman still out there for the Bears to get.
- There are plenty of great wide outs still left as well. The Bears will not get any of them. The Rams should get a few if they're smart.
I know there are many, many, many, many more free agent stuff to talk about but I had to delete the word "quick" from the title of my post because this mofo is like three hours long. If I have time maybe some thoughts on guys like Reggie Bush, Takeo Spikes, and Sidney Rice. But for another time.
Was it in the new CBA that 50% of your roster in 2010 was not allowed to be on your roster in 2011? I understand there was a lockout and everything but I can't remember an offseason being this crazy. Ever. Who isn't a free agent? Or got traded? Or flat out released?
New England Patriots
- Chad Ochocinco reminds me a lot of another disgruntled Cincinnati Bengals player who went to New England and transformed the Patriots offense- RB Corey Dillon. Both Dillon and Ochocinco were great players who got bad raps unfairly. Dillon, like Ochocinco, was just upset at being in Cincy and just wanted out. Maybe he shouldn't have created a fuss in the press but ultimately he got his wish- a trade and a playoff ring. But Corey Dillon was 29 and still in his prime when he got traded. Chad is currently 33 and has looked really bad in the past two seasons. Dillon was just injured in his last season in Ohio. What's Ochocinco's excuse? Although having the great Tom Brady can do wonders for a person's career.
- On a recent podcast, Cubsfan said he's rank Braylon Edwards a top 5 wide out in fantasy if he signed with New England. I assume he'd feel pretty strongly about Ochocinco as well. I still don't trust it and won't draft Ochocinco, but I'm risk averse. I"m sure he'll be the next Randy Moss.
- DT Albert Haynesworth has always had the talent to be a top 3 DT in the game since leaving Tennessee. Washington tends to do that to players though- bring out the crapiness in players (Although in Rex Grossman's case, there was nothing to bring out. It was already there). In Belichick we trust. However, I do find it strange that Haynesworth threw a stink when he was forced to play nose tackle in the 3-4 scheme under Shanahan. I really hope Albert knows the Pats play in a 3-4 scheme. Plus the Pats have one of, if not the best, nose tackles in game in Vince Wilfork. This moves seems really strange.
- The Pats mold for winning championships was always having the best offense and defensive lines, linebackers who were hungry and versatile enough to play in Belichick's scheme and Tom Brady to win on the very last drive because the team really wasn't that good throughout the first 3.75 quarters. Didn't the Patriots learn from Adalius Thomas! Paying for free agents will always backfire in your face!
Philadelphia Eagles
- Two years ago Dominque Rodgers-Cromartie was a top two cornerback. Last year he wasn't even close to the mediocrity that his cousin (Antonio Cromartie) was. Gotta think he'll be back to his top self playing next to Asante Samuel. Although he'll still be like his cousin was last year in the sense that quarterbacks will still be targeting him because he's the second best CB on his team. However, very few teams can have the privilege of having the caliber and talent of a guy like ARC as their *number two* corner.
- The sun will rise tomorrow. Bill Belichick will give the most boring press conferences in the world. And Michael Vick will get hurt in 2011. If it was just for draft picks, the Eagles shouldn't have traded QB Kevin Kolb because they will absolutely need him for games next season. However, you could not have passed up a deal like what Arizona gave them.
- DE Jason Babin was one of the best pass rushers (if not the best. How often do you think I can say that phrase in this post? My over/under is 5. I'm at 2 now) in the game in 2010. However, he was on his 5th team last year and had his break out season at age 31. This is also his second go-around with the Eagles. I don't trust him moving forward and thought that was a dumb move signing Babin by the normally smart Eagles.
Quarterbacks
- If Washington Redskins fans hated Donovan McNabb boy they are going to love Rex Grossman
- Kevin Kolb can hit the broad side of a barn. He can throw a ball into the ocean and it will actually hit water. Sounds easy right? Well it was something Derek Anderson, Max Hall, and John Skelton could not do in 2010. Larry Fitzgerald is now a top ten fantasy wide out and will most likely go to the Pro Bowl in 2011. It looks like Early Doucet will play opposite of Fitzy which I don't like as much as if Steve Breaston was there. But hey, Steve Smith and Jake Delhomme went to a Superbowl and Pro Bowls together with less. (Less meaning Jake Delhomme was in the equation)
- McNabb and Christian Ponder both probably have the same skill set right now. McNabb's skill is declining while Ponder's skill is rising and right now they're meeting at the exact same spot. However, both suck and will suck long term. Have fun being in the cellar for the next couple of years Minnesota!
- Matt Hasselbeck will do his best Kerry Collins impression in Tennessee.
- Matt Leinart choose to stay in Houston as opposed to go to Seattle and be reunited with his college coach Pete Carrol. He claims he wanted to have a starting job and with Tavaris Jackson there that shot is lost. It makes sense because Matt Schaub is not even close to what Tavaris Jackson is. Matt Schuab wishes one day he could be Tavaris Jackson. Leinart had/has the talent to be a damn fine, if not great, starting quarterback (Three?). Instead he wants to be a perennial back up so he doesn't actually have to do shit and still gets to say to chicks that he's a professional football player to fuck them. It's a pussy-shit move on Leinart's part and of many in the storied career of the Heisman winner.
- In a post I wrote in February and re-wrote in last July, the best quarterback available this offseason is Kyle Orton. He has proven how good he is in both Chicago and Denver and can adapt to your system. I find it hard to believe that it's difficult to pry him away from Denver right now.
Chicago Bears
- This comes from a facebook status of a friend of mine:
Busy sports day! Getting rid of Maynard, Olsen, Manumaleuna, losing Daniel Manning, and possibly kreutz is not what worries me. What worries me is that many of the players that the Bears initially went after had no interest in the Bears. I think its time for the Bears to do a little Self-reflection and figure out why?Well, we know why- the Bears are a shit organization right now filled with shit leadership going all the way to the top.
- I actually don't mind getting rid of Greg Olson, it's what we got back that upsets me. Once I saw him get full playing time I started to grow weary and disdainful of him. TBO ragged on me for that for the past two years. Apparently the rest of the league knew what I knew as he gets traded only for a 3rd round draft pick. That's a bit ridiculous.
- With Olson gone I don't know who Jay Cutler is going to have butt sex with now. Is he going to have secret trysts, Brokeback Mountain style, to North Carolina? Maybe breaking up with KC was premature.
- The Bears do not need Olin Kruetz. He's way past his prime and he's 34 years old. He has not been good for years and the Bears do not need him. Being in Chicago I keep hearing the Bears do. ESPN radio host here in Chicago Carmen DeFalco was upset because the Cardinals signed center Kyle Sendlein (???) and he was to be the fall back plan if Kruetz doesn't sign with us. The Bears can trot out right now as an offensive line this year- Gabe Carimi, Chris Williams, Roberto Garza, J'Marcus Webb, and Frank Omiyale and it will still be better than our porous O-line from last year because we have Carimi. Either Webb or Garza an play center just as well as Kruetz did the past few seasons. So can you.
- A sidenote to my previous point- the New York Giants just released center Shaun O'Hara and G Rich Seubert. Both would be upgrades over what Chicago has now. Center Jonathan Goodwin (formerly of New Orleans) is also still available. Plenty of O-lineman still out there for the Bears to get.
- There are plenty of great wide outs still left as well. The Bears will not get any of them. The Rams should get a few if they're smart.
I know there are many, many, many, many more free agent stuff to talk about but I had to delete the word "quick" from the title of my post because this mofo is like three hours long. If I have time maybe some thoughts on guys like Reggie Bush, Takeo Spikes, and Sidney Rice. But for another time.
The Bears Wide Receivers From The 2010-2011 Season
Before the season started everyone thought with the new Bears pass happy offense orchestrated by Mike Martz that Jay Cutler would throw for a ridiculous amount of yards on the season spread out to a few receivers. This was because the Bears had no number one receiver so it seemed feasible that the Bears could have a few receivers hitting the 1,000 yards plateau on the season. With the regular season in the books let’s take a look at how the Bears receivers did stack up this season. Coming into this season we didn’t know who would emerge as the Bears number one wide receiver. Some thought it could be Devin Hester, Jonny Knox, and even Devin Aromashodu.
Well Knox emerged as the Bears number one receiver with 960 yards. He had 100 targets and averaged 18.8 yards per catch. He ranked 21st overall among wide receivers at the position. Not very good in the Martz pass happy offense. Knox showed this season he is never going to be a DeSean Jackson who ranked 12th among wide receivers with 1056 yards or Mike Wallace who ranked 5th among WR with 1257 yards. He is not a complete wide out like either of the mentioned elite players. Knox showed he is a one dimensional player who can run the deep route. This makes him a good second receiver, but not a number one.
Earl Bennett surprised most people by his strong play this season. Before the season started Sexy Rexy and I both agreed that Bennett was a good third receiver because he is solely a possession receiver, but he performs that job well. He emerged as a favorite target of Jay Cutler building off of the Vanderbilt connection and had 46 catches on 70 targets for 561 yards. Bennett came on in the 2nd half of the season, so his numbers next year should be better over the entire season.
When Mike Martz came he said he envisioned Devin Hester in a 3rd down role Lovie Smith quickly rejected that. However, in the long run Martz got what he wanted because it was best for the team. Hester is not a receiver and will never be a good one. He is fine on 3rd downs, and as a backup, but not as a Bears top three receiver. Hester caught 40 passes on way too many targets of 73 for 475 yards.
Two other Bears that were big in the receiving game were not wide receivers- tight end Greg Olsen and running back Matt Forte. Olsen caught 41 passes on 70 targets for 404 yards. Forte had slightly better numbers of 51 receptions on 70 targets for 547 yards with an average of 10.7 per yard.
My love for Devin Aromashodu is well documented. I thought he would emerge as the number one receiver if the Bears gave him the chance. The Bears wanted DA to play the slot and there is some controversy if he just wasn’t good in the slot or if he didn’t want to play it, but either way he lost the little respect the coaching staff had for him and got buried deeper on the bench. His chance of ever being good as a Bear is over so they may as well cut him so he has a chance to sign on with another team before his career is over before it ever got started. That makes me sad because he has tremendous talent.
Thus, the Bears have very good number two and three wide receivers in Johnny Knox and Earl Bennett. All they are missing is that number one receiver which hopefully they will find in free agency. That is a recap of the Bears wide receivers from the 2010-2011 season.
Well Knox emerged as the Bears number one receiver with 960 yards. He had 100 targets and averaged 18.8 yards per catch. He ranked 21st overall among wide receivers at the position. Not very good in the Martz pass happy offense. Knox showed this season he is never going to be a DeSean Jackson who ranked 12th among wide receivers with 1056 yards or Mike Wallace who ranked 5th among WR with 1257 yards. He is not a complete wide out like either of the mentioned elite players. Knox showed he is a one dimensional player who can run the deep route. This makes him a good second receiver, but not a number one.
Earl Bennett surprised most people by his strong play this season. Before the season started Sexy Rexy and I both agreed that Bennett was a good third receiver because he is solely a possession receiver, but he performs that job well. He emerged as a favorite target of Jay Cutler building off of the Vanderbilt connection and had 46 catches on 70 targets for 561 yards. Bennett came on in the 2nd half of the season, so his numbers next year should be better over the entire season.
When Mike Martz came he said he envisioned Devin Hester in a 3rd down role Lovie Smith quickly rejected that. However, in the long run Martz got what he wanted because it was best for the team. Hester is not a receiver and will never be a good one. He is fine on 3rd downs, and as a backup, but not as a Bears top three receiver. Hester caught 40 passes on way too many targets of 73 for 475 yards.
Two other Bears that were big in the receiving game were not wide receivers- tight end Greg Olsen and running back Matt Forte. Olsen caught 41 passes on 70 targets for 404 yards. Forte had slightly better numbers of 51 receptions on 70 targets for 547 yards with an average of 10.7 per yard.
My love for Devin Aromashodu is well documented. I thought he would emerge as the number one receiver if the Bears gave him the chance. The Bears wanted DA to play the slot and there is some controversy if he just wasn’t good in the slot or if he didn’t want to play it, but either way he lost the little respect the coaching staff had for him and got buried deeper on the bench. His chance of ever being good as a Bear is over so they may as well cut him so he has a chance to sign on with another team before his career is over before it ever got started. That makes me sad because he has tremendous talent.
Thus, the Bears have very good number two and three wide receivers in Johnny Knox and Earl Bennett. All they are missing is that number one receiver which hopefully they will find in free agency. That is a recap of the Bears wide receivers from the 2010-2011 season.
The Chicago Bears 2011 Offseason Needs
1) Offensive Lineman
In 2010, the Chicago Bears had the worst offensive line in the NFL. Any Bears fan or even my mother could tell you, just by watching Chicago games, that this line were letting people pass them through them faster than Paris Hilton. Football Outsiders agrees with what we fans see with our eyes- as Da Bears actually did rank dead last in offensive line blocking.
Cubsfan and I were looking at the free agent pool for 2011 and there are some quality offensive lineman on the market. This is actually surprising, considering that most great O-lineman are found through the draft and not via trades or free agency. But with two great Patriots lineman (Matt Light and Logan Mankins) this years crop is pretty good.
I personally would love it, if every single one of the Bears draft picks, were spent on an offensive lineman- just because all of the current offensive lineman blow more donkey balls than a Tijuana hooker.
I have watched Jay Cutler throughout his two years in Chicago, and it seems to be his biggest fault (more than his mechanics) is the fact that he can not stay upright. In 14.5 games last year- he led the NFL with 52 sacks. And not only to help Cutler, a much improved line will help Matt Forte. It's really hard to run through the tackles to gain positive yardage, when the tackles are being squished together by defensive lineman every single down.
2) Defensive Tackle
The Bears are no need of defensive ends. Julius Peppers looks like a men among boys and even though Chicago lost their top four ends last year (Alex Brown, Wale, Mark Anderson, and Gaines Adams) Isreal Idonije looked amazing. However, both Peppers and Idonije only ended up with eight sacks. That wasn't because of a lack of talent or production, but mainly because of a lack of inside line support. Tommie Harris looks old and ineffective and I can't even name the other starting defensive tackle. An improvement in the middle of the line not only helps the ends, but will have a domino effect to the other seven players behind the defensive line.
When Brian Urlacher was named to the Pro Bowl, Anthony Adams (Oh, that's the other defensive tackle!) joked that the only reason Urlacher looked so good, was because of the line ahead of him. There's a lot of truth in Adams' statement and I'm sure if you asked any defensive lineman from the '85 Bears what made Mike Singletary so good, they will credit themselves (and rightfully so).
3) Number One Wide Receiver
I personally sort of like the Bears receiving corps. Johnny Knox is young and seemingly getting better and Earl Bennett looks really good in the slot as a possession guy. But the Bears top two wideouts are Knox and Devin Hester- guys who don't really strike fear in defensive backs' eyes. However, I think a number one wide out could help push all the Bears receivers back into their rightful positions.
This year has an amazing crop of free agent number ones. Normally, you're lucky if there is even one legitimate number one receiver out there- but this year we have three or four- with Vincent Jackson leading the list. During Game Of Inches' wide receiver rankings, Jackson ranked no lower than the 13th best wide out in the game right now with Cubsfan ranking Jackson 8th and myself ranking him 9th.
This year also has Sidney Rice has a free agent along with New York's Steve Smith, and to a lesser extent Terrell Owens and Randy Moss. Hell, I'm all for signing Shooter McShooty Plaxico Burress to a minor league contract.
4) Cornerback
A greatly improved defensive line really cures all woes. It improves the linebacking corps and thus in turn improves the corners. So while the Bears actually have some fine corners in Peanut Tillman and Tim Jennings and they can get away with being average to above average, however neither of them are a shut down long term solution. Peanut's getting up there in age and we'll see about Jennings, but there are still great options in the free agent market.
The biggest name being Nnamdi Asomugha- who is a long term solution and a shut down corner. There are still some other great names out there like Antonio Cromartie and Jonathan Jospeh- all would be upgrades for who Chicago has now.
5) Linebackers
OK, right now the Bears linebackers are amazing. There's a reason Brian Urlacher and Lance Briggs are Pro Bowlers. And during the few plays that Tino Pisoismoa is on the field (when the Bears aren't running nickel and dime sets) he looks pretty good as well. But the main reason the it wouldn't hurt the Bears to draft LB's is because Urlacher and Briggs are no spring chickens. Lovie's Tampa-2 scheme runs best when he has a Brian Urlacher-type guy in the middle linebacker slot. It wouldn't hurt for the Bears to look for guys like that within a year or two. Plus, as good as Brian Urlacher looked this year, I also saw the dude get juked in an open field by 6th round rookie James Starks in the playoffs. 2006 Brian Urlacher never would have let that happen.
6) Safeties
If the Bears are going to draft a safety in the 6th round like they always do, then I say screw it for this year. The Bears have a stable group of safties in Chris Harris, Daniel Manning, and 3rd round rookie Major Wright. But I'm not convinced on how well Harris can stay this good as he's getting closer and to being on the wrong side of 30. Safety is not a huge area of concern for Chicago this year, but it's not not 100% stable either.
In 2010, the Chicago Bears had the worst offensive line in the NFL. Any Bears fan or even my mother could tell you, just by watching Chicago games, that this line were letting people pass them through them faster than Paris Hilton. Football Outsiders agrees with what we fans see with our eyes- as Da Bears actually did rank dead last in offensive line blocking.
Cubsfan and I were looking at the free agent pool for 2011 and there are some quality offensive lineman on the market. This is actually surprising, considering that most great O-lineman are found through the draft and not via trades or free agency. But with two great Patriots lineman (Matt Light and Logan Mankins) this years crop is pretty good.
I personally would love it, if every single one of the Bears draft picks, were spent on an offensive lineman- just because all of the current offensive lineman blow more donkey balls than a Tijuana hooker.
I have watched Jay Cutler throughout his two years in Chicago, and it seems to be his biggest fault (more than his mechanics) is the fact that he can not stay upright. In 14.5 games last year- he led the NFL with 52 sacks. And not only to help Cutler, a much improved line will help Matt Forte. It's really hard to run through the tackles to gain positive yardage, when the tackles are being squished together by defensive lineman every single down.
2) Defensive Tackle
The Bears are no need of defensive ends. Julius Peppers looks like a men among boys and even though Chicago lost their top four ends last year (Alex Brown, Wale, Mark Anderson, and Gaines Adams) Isreal Idonije looked amazing. However, both Peppers and Idonije only ended up with eight sacks. That wasn't because of a lack of talent or production, but mainly because of a lack of inside line support. Tommie Harris looks old and ineffective and I can't even name the other starting defensive tackle. An improvement in the middle of the line not only helps the ends, but will have a domino effect to the other seven players behind the defensive line.
When Brian Urlacher was named to the Pro Bowl, Anthony Adams (Oh, that's the other defensive tackle!) joked that the only reason Urlacher looked so good, was because of the line ahead of him. There's a lot of truth in Adams' statement and I'm sure if you asked any defensive lineman from the '85 Bears what made Mike Singletary so good, they will credit themselves (and rightfully so).
3) Number One Wide Receiver
I personally sort of like the Bears receiving corps. Johnny Knox is young and seemingly getting better and Earl Bennett looks really good in the slot as a possession guy. But the Bears top two wideouts are Knox and Devin Hester- guys who don't really strike fear in defensive backs' eyes. However, I think a number one wide out could help push all the Bears receivers back into their rightful positions.
This year has an amazing crop of free agent number ones. Normally, you're lucky if there is even one legitimate number one receiver out there- but this year we have three or four- with Vincent Jackson leading the list. During Game Of Inches' wide receiver rankings, Jackson ranked no lower than the 13th best wide out in the game right now with Cubsfan ranking Jackson 8th and myself ranking him 9th.
This year also has Sidney Rice has a free agent along with New York's Steve Smith, and to a lesser extent Terrell Owens and Randy Moss. Hell, I'm all for signing Shooter McShooty Plaxico Burress to a minor league contract.
4) Cornerback
A greatly improved defensive line really cures all woes. It improves the linebacking corps and thus in turn improves the corners. So while the Bears actually have some fine corners in Peanut Tillman and Tim Jennings and they can get away with being average to above average, however neither of them are a shut down long term solution. Peanut's getting up there in age and we'll see about Jennings, but there are still great options in the free agent market.
The biggest name being Nnamdi Asomugha- who is a long term solution and a shut down corner. There are still some other great names out there like Antonio Cromartie and Jonathan Jospeh- all would be upgrades for who Chicago has now.
5) Linebackers
OK, right now the Bears linebackers are amazing. There's a reason Brian Urlacher and Lance Briggs are Pro Bowlers. And during the few plays that Tino Pisoismoa is on the field (when the Bears aren't running nickel and dime sets) he looks pretty good as well. But the main reason the it wouldn't hurt the Bears to draft LB's is because Urlacher and Briggs are no spring chickens. Lovie's Tampa-2 scheme runs best when he has a Brian Urlacher-type guy in the middle linebacker slot. It wouldn't hurt for the Bears to look for guys like that within a year or two. Plus, as good as Brian Urlacher looked this year, I also saw the dude get juked in an open field by 6th round rookie James Starks in the playoffs. 2006 Brian Urlacher never would have let that happen.
6) Safeties
If the Bears are going to draft a safety in the 6th round like they always do, then I say screw it for this year. The Bears have a stable group of safties in Chris Harris, Daniel Manning, and 3rd round rookie Major Wright. But I'm not convinced on how well Harris can stay this good as he's getting closer and to being on the wrong side of 30. Safety is not a huge area of concern for Chicago this year, but it's not not 100% stable either.
Caleb Hanie Still Thinks Jay Cutler Sucks
Some comments from my YouTube page today
HAHAHA, I'm not even a Bears fan but this qb gets my respect. This guy came out to win. He should have earned a spot as the starter with that type of performance. Cutler is a heartless joke. I've been saying it for years, and this 3rd stringer proved it.
Hanie should be a starter
Props to Hanie for stepping up in the NFC championship game. It was a pretty close comeback
Fucking Cutler is so bad
Well judging by the way Cutler wussed out on his team against the packers for the NFC championship imma say Hanie was right, he is better, Big Props to Hanie gained a lot of my respect
LOL, I'm a But I got to say that some of the bear fans are in denial. Cutler was playing like **** even before the so called knee injury. And if his knee was that bad with torn knee ligaments, than how was he able to stand and walk perfectly fine? He walked over to rodgers pretty damn quickly to give him a hug. If his knees really had torn ligaments than he wouldn't even be standing if it was that bad, much less walking fine!
stud!
The Greatest Football Game Ever Played
* in my opinion, and that I can remember
For those of you who follow fangraphs and sabermetrics pretty extensively, you know what WPA is. For those of who you do not, WPA stands for Win Probability Added. Let me try to explain this in extreme layman's terms. During the start of a baseball game, the exact odds one of the teams will win the game is 50%. I don't care if it's the Pittsburgh Pirates facing the New York Yankees, at the start of the game, the Pirates have a 50% change of winning that individual game. But throughout the course of the game, the odds a particular team wins the game changes. If Derek Jeter is the first batter of the game and he hits a home run, the odds of the Yankees winning the game slightly improve. There are still 27 outs for each team to work with so the Yankees don't get a huge edge at that point in the game, but their odds do increase and the score is becomes 1-0.
However, if the score is tied, it's the top of the 9th, and Derek Jeter hits a home run to lead off the inning, well the odds that the Yankees will win the game increase dramatically. In both instances the Pirates are down by one run but the odds they can come back to win the game are different because of the amount of outs they have to work with.
The odds a team wins the game is how to determine WPA. According to Fangraphs, the definition of WPA is
In 1988, Bob Carroll, John Thorn, and Pete Palmer became the Bill James of football. That year they published and released the book The Hidden Game Of Football which was the world's first introduction to advanced statistics for football. This book sets the foundation for websites like Football Outsiders and Advanced NFL Statistics.
In the book, they talk about the odds a team most likely is to win a game. In baseball, all you have is 27 outs per team to score as many runs as possible. Therefore, the three main factors to determine WPA are: how many outs are there left in the game, how did you get on base/ who is already on base, and what the score of the game is. However, in football, you not only have to deal with the clock, but you also have to deal with downs. Therefore, there are five main factors that goes into football WPA: what the score of the game is, how many downs are left, how many yards did the last play gain, where you are on the field, and how much time is there left to play.
In baseball, a home run to lead off the game has a far less impact on the WPA of the game that a home run to break a tie in the 9th inning. In football, a 20 yard pass to start the game has a far less impact that a 20 yard pass to start your last drive on the game in a tie. Along similar lines, a three yard rush on 1st and ten has a far less impact on a team's WPA than a three yard rush on 3rd and two. Along more similar lines, the aforementioned play has less of an impact than a three yard rush on the second to last play of the game allowing your kicker to kick a 47 yard field goal as opposed to a 50 yard field goal to win the game.
The Hidden Game Of Football laid out in detail the odds of scoring points. Plus, basic logic says it's a lot harder to drive 99 yards down field to score a TD than 49 yards. In fact, it's this logic that's it's not necessarily a bad idea to go for a TD on 4th and 1. Because if you don't convert the 4th down to score, you still have a pretty good chance to score again due to the fact that it's EXTREMELY hard for your opposing team to score so most likely you have have great field possession on your next drive to score again. For anyone that saw Week One Bears vs. Lions, this happened. Matt Forte and the Bears failed to convert 4th and 1 so the Lions got possession of the ball on their own one yard line. They failed to make a first down to the Bears got great field possession on their next possession. In fact this happened for like three straight drives- this back and forth. (I'm sure this has happened at least once to every NFL franchise and/or it's opponent)
Now that I have briefly explained what WPA is, I will now show you what I think is the greatest football game I have ever seen: and that was the Week Six game between the Chicago Bears and Arizona Cardinals in 2006. This also led to my favorite post season rant of all time. "The Bears are who we thought they were!". Here is the WPA for that game:
At halftime, the Arizona Cardinals had essentially locked this game up. With 5:53 left to play, the Cardinals were winning 23-10. At this point, the Cardinals had a 99.97% of winning this game. Then, 42 seconds later, Brian Urlacher recovers an Edgrerrin James fumble and scores a touchdown. However, at this point, the Cardinals still had a 66% chance of winning this game (as the score was still 23-17 in Arizona's favor). Then with 3:17 left to play, Devin Hester returns a punt for a touchdown giving the Bears their first lead of the game 24-23. Within a matter of about two minutes, the Cardinals go from a 66% chance of winning down to a 66% chance of losing. But Arizona got the ball back and marched down field. At the 1:04 mark, that 66% chance of losing rose to 78% chance of winning. Even if Arizona doesn't get a touchdown, they still get an easy field goal to win the game 26-24. But as Neil Rackers kicked a 40 yard field goal with 52 seconds left to play, the ball went wide left and the field goal attempt was no good. And with that kick, Arizona's 78% chance of winning the game went to a 2% chance of the winning the game. And 52 seconds and a few kneel downs later, that 2% diminished to 0%.
Now those two numbers in the bottom right corner indicate the's game Excitement Rating (out of 10.0) and Comeback Rating (out of 100). According to the WPA, the excitement rating was just below average, but the comeback rating was perfect. So you can make the argument that this wasn't the greatest game ever, but just the greatest comeback. Sure, you can make that argument.
Source of WPA and a the WPA chart: Advanced NFL Stats
EPILOGUE
Now I hope this post also gave you a great introduction into WPA- for both players and teams. In baseball, we don't use WPA to determine who the best player is, we use a great stat called WAR- which takes into account the quality of a player's offense and defense and compounds it into a nice round number for us. But football does not have that statistic and it probably never will. As Bill Bramwell, co-author of Football Outsiders, says on the Freakonomics blog:
And let's face it, all we want are results. We want to see our team's offense drive down the field to score points and we want to see out team's defense stop the opponent from scoring points. We don't really care how that result occurs (although we love to argue about it) as long as it does. And that's why I think WPA is a great step in the right direction to help isolate how players have performed.
But like I said, WPA is not the end all, be all. Advanced NFL Stats also has a stat called EPA (Expected Points Added) and Football Outsiders have some great stats called DVOA and DYAR. I also don't think this has a very good predictive element at all so I wouldn't use it for fantasy purposes or for predicting statistics the year after. But I think they are great statistics for helping you explain the past.
For those of you who follow fangraphs and sabermetrics pretty extensively, you know what WPA is. For those of who you do not, WPA stands for Win Probability Added. Let me try to explain this in extreme layman's terms. During the start of a baseball game, the exact odds one of the teams will win the game is 50%. I don't care if it's the Pittsburgh Pirates facing the New York Yankees, at the start of the game, the Pirates have a 50% change of winning that individual game. But throughout the course of the game, the odds a particular team wins the game changes. If Derek Jeter is the first batter of the game and he hits a home run, the odds of the Yankees winning the game slightly improve. There are still 27 outs for each team to work with so the Yankees don't get a huge edge at that point in the game, but their odds do increase and the score is becomes 1-0.
However, if the score is tied, it's the top of the 9th, and Derek Jeter hits a home run to lead off the inning, well the odds that the Yankees will win the game increase dramatically. In both instances the Pirates are down by one run but the odds they can come back to win the game are different because of the amount of outs they have to work with.
The odds a team wins the game is how to determine WPA. According to Fangraphs, the definition of WPA is
the difference in win expectancy (WE) between the start of the play and the end of the play.And how each player does to affect the odds of his team winning the game helps goes into determine his indivudal WPA. According to Fangraphs:
That difference is then credited/debited to the batter and the pitcher. Over the course of the season, each players’ WPA for individual plays is added up to get his season total WPA.Here's an example Fangraphs gives to help quantify this:
In Game 4 of the 2007 World Series, the WE for the Rockies started out at 50%. When Jacoby Ellsbury doubled off Aaron Cook in the very first at-bat in the game, the Rockies WE declined to 44.2%. The difference or WPA was .058 wins (5.8%). Ellsbury was credited +.058 wins and Aaron Cook credited with -.058 wins.This same exact approach can also be applied to football.
In 1988, Bob Carroll, John Thorn, and Pete Palmer became the Bill James of football. That year they published and released the book The Hidden Game Of Football which was the world's first introduction to advanced statistics for football. This book sets the foundation for websites like Football Outsiders and Advanced NFL Statistics.
In the book, they talk about the odds a team most likely is to win a game. In baseball, all you have is 27 outs per team to score as many runs as possible. Therefore, the three main factors to determine WPA are: how many outs are there left in the game, how did you get on base/ who is already on base, and what the score of the game is. However, in football, you not only have to deal with the clock, but you also have to deal with downs. Therefore, there are five main factors that goes into football WPA: what the score of the game is, how many downs are left, how many yards did the last play gain, where you are on the field, and how much time is there left to play.
In baseball, a home run to lead off the game has a far less impact on the WPA of the game that a home run to break a tie in the 9th inning. In football, a 20 yard pass to start the game has a far less impact that a 20 yard pass to start your last drive on the game in a tie. Along similar lines, a three yard rush on 1st and ten has a far less impact on a team's WPA than a three yard rush on 3rd and two. Along more similar lines, the aforementioned play has less of an impact than a three yard rush on the second to last play of the game allowing your kicker to kick a 47 yard field goal as opposed to a 50 yard field goal to win the game.
The Hidden Game Of Football laid out in detail the odds of scoring points. Plus, basic logic says it's a lot harder to drive 99 yards down field to score a TD than 49 yards. In fact, it's this logic that's it's not necessarily a bad idea to go for a TD on 4th and 1. Because if you don't convert the 4th down to score, you still have a pretty good chance to score again due to the fact that it's EXTREMELY hard for your opposing team to score so most likely you have have great field possession on your next drive to score again. For anyone that saw Week One Bears vs. Lions, this happened. Matt Forte and the Bears failed to convert 4th and 1 so the Lions got possession of the ball on their own one yard line. They failed to make a first down to the Bears got great field possession on their next possession. In fact this happened for like three straight drives- this back and forth. (I'm sure this has happened at least once to every NFL franchise and/or it's opponent)
Now that I have briefly explained what WPA is, I will now show you what I think is the greatest football game I have ever seen: and that was the Week Six game between the Chicago Bears and Arizona Cardinals in 2006. This also led to my favorite post season rant of all time. "The Bears are who we thought they were!". Here is the WPA for that game:
At halftime, the Arizona Cardinals had essentially locked this game up. With 5:53 left to play, the Cardinals were winning 23-10. At this point, the Cardinals had a 99.97% of winning this game. Then, 42 seconds later, Brian Urlacher recovers an Edgrerrin James fumble and scores a touchdown. However, at this point, the Cardinals still had a 66% chance of winning this game (as the score was still 23-17 in Arizona's favor). Then with 3:17 left to play, Devin Hester returns a punt for a touchdown giving the Bears their first lead of the game 24-23. Within a matter of about two minutes, the Cardinals go from a 66% chance of winning down to a 66% chance of losing. But Arizona got the ball back and marched down field. At the 1:04 mark, that 66% chance of losing rose to 78% chance of winning. Even if Arizona doesn't get a touchdown, they still get an easy field goal to win the game 26-24. But as Neil Rackers kicked a 40 yard field goal with 52 seconds left to play, the ball went wide left and the field goal attempt was no good. And with that kick, Arizona's 78% chance of winning the game went to a 2% chance of the winning the game. And 52 seconds and a few kneel downs later, that 2% diminished to 0%.
Now those two numbers in the bottom right corner indicate the's game Excitement Rating (out of 10.0) and Comeback Rating (out of 100). According to the WPA, the excitement rating was just below average, but the comeback rating was perfect. So you can make the argument that this wasn't the greatest game ever, but just the greatest comeback. Sure, you can make that argument.
Source of WPA and a the WPA chart: Advanced NFL Stats
EPILOGUE
Now I hope this post also gave you a great introduction into WPA- for both players and teams. In baseball, we don't use WPA to determine who the best player is, we use a great stat called WAR- which takes into account the quality of a player's offense and defense and compounds it into a nice round number for us. But football does not have that statistic and it probably never will. As Bill Bramwell, co-author of Football Outsiders, says on the Freakonomics blog:
We’re nowhere near the point of valuing a player as being worth a number of wins, because we’re light-years away from quantifying all the things a player does. I doubt we’ll ever have a reliable “wins” metric because there are too many interactions between positions that we can’t account for in football. Take a quarterback, for example: even if we were to develop a measure of performance that stripped out the effects of his receivers and offensive line and placed his passing performance in a perfect, league-average context, we’d have to account for how he read defenses and called audibles at the line, how effective he was in setting up defenses on the play-fake, whether he had any impact on the running game versus an average quarterback … it’s not a realistic goal.WAR can help determine exactly how many wins a particular player contributes to his team in baseball. But because of the dependent nature of football, we will probably never get to that point. However, WPA comes really close. Although we can't account for the audible a QB makes to switch from a pass play to a run play so his RB can gain ten yards, we can account for actual results that occur.
And let's face it, all we want are results. We want to see our team's offense drive down the field to score points and we want to see out team's defense stop the opponent from scoring points. We don't really care how that result occurs (although we love to argue about it) as long as it does. And that's why I think WPA is a great step in the right direction to help isolate how players have performed.
But like I said, WPA is not the end all, be all. Advanced NFL Stats also has a stat called EPA (Expected Points Added) and Football Outsiders have some great stats called DVOA and DYAR. I also don't think this has a very good predictive element at all so I wouldn't use it for fantasy purposes or for predicting statistics the year after. But I think they are great statistics for helping you explain the past.
The Amazing Chicago Rushing D
I was originally going to title this post "Bench Ahmad Bradshaw In Week Four" but I thought I'd give props to the Bears defense instead.
Through three games, the Chicago Bears leads all NFL teams with the least amount of rushing yards given up (119) which is 44 yards less than 2nd place (While 44 may not seem like a like put this into perspective: the difference between 2nd and 3rd place in 16 yards and the difference between 3rd place and 4th place is 6 yards)
Here's what backs have done against Chicago this year:
- Jahvid Best: 20 yards on 14 carries (1.4 YPC)
- Felix Jones: 7 yards on 7 carries (1.0 YPC)
- Marion Barber: 31 yards on 11 carries (2.8 YPC)
- Brandon Jackson: 12 yards on 7 carries (1.7 YPC)
- John Kuhn: 31 yards on 6 carries (5.2 YPC)
The more successful backs against Chicago are the pound-it-up-the-middle backs like Barber and Kuhn, but I still don't trust really YPC numbers when a back only gets 6 carries. Call it confirmation bias, but I still don't like any running back to do well (real or fantasy) against the Bears.
Not only do the numbers back it up, but if you watch the Bears, those linebackers (especially) just look amazing against the run. They seem to know what play is going to happen before the offense knows it- and they actually execute.
So if you asked me to predict which Giants running back would do well against the Bears, history would tell you the more physical back (Jacobs) would do better against the more "finesse" guy (Bradshaw) but Jacobs has looked AWFUL since the beginning of 2009 and (if) he plays against the Bears, I don't care what his "skill set" is, he sucks.
In Week Four, in one league I own Ahmad Bradshaw, the only reason I'm starting him is because I only have four backs (five including my stud's handcuff- Anthony Dixon) and my fourth back is Felix Jones- on a bye. This week I ranked Bradshaw as the 31st best RB. I would only start Bradshaw if you're like me and you're back ups are on bye. But otherwise, i would bench Bradshaw and any other RB facing the Chicago Bears. That it until Brian Urlacher and/or Piso Tinoisamoa get hurt.
Through three games, the Chicago Bears leads all NFL teams with the least amount of rushing yards given up (119) which is 44 yards less than 2nd place (While 44 may not seem like a like put this into perspective: the difference between 2nd and 3rd place in 16 yards and the difference between 3rd place and 4th place is 6 yards)
Here's what backs have done against Chicago this year:
- Jahvid Best: 20 yards on 14 carries (1.4 YPC)
- Felix Jones: 7 yards on 7 carries (1.0 YPC)
- Marion Barber: 31 yards on 11 carries (2.8 YPC)
- Brandon Jackson: 12 yards on 7 carries (1.7 YPC)
- John Kuhn: 31 yards on 6 carries (5.2 YPC)
The more successful backs against Chicago are the pound-it-up-the-middle backs like Barber and Kuhn, but I still don't trust really YPC numbers when a back only gets 6 carries. Call it confirmation bias, but I still don't like any running back to do well (real or fantasy) against the Bears.
Not only do the numbers back it up, but if you watch the Bears, those linebackers (especially) just look amazing against the run. They seem to know what play is going to happen before the offense knows it- and they actually execute.
So if you asked me to predict which Giants running back would do well against the Bears, history would tell you the more physical back (Jacobs) would do better against the more "finesse" guy (Bradshaw) but Jacobs has looked AWFUL since the beginning of 2009 and (if) he plays against the Bears, I don't care what his "skill set" is, he sucks.
In Week Four, in one league I own Ahmad Bradshaw, the only reason I'm starting him is because I only have four backs (five including my stud's handcuff- Anthony Dixon) and my fourth back is Felix Jones- on a bye. This week I ranked Bradshaw as the 31st best RB. I would only start Bradshaw if you're like me and you're back ups are on bye. But otherwise, i would bench Bradshaw and any other RB facing the Chicago Bears. That it until Brian Urlacher and/or Piso Tinoisamoa get hurt.
My Quick Thoughts On The Chicago Bears
- Jay Cutler looked awesome. The interception was his fault (he under threw the receiver, which I believe was Aromashodu) and one of his two TDs was all Matt Forte (if you saw the game you know which one), but Cutler still looked good. He looked very mobile, made great decisions (something he didn't do last year), took the sack/hit instead of trying to make a play, and overall looked awesome. But we need to take this game in stride, it was against then Lions. Also, Cutler needs to do what no other QB in Bears history has seemed to do- create scoring drives. Putting up stats is all fine dandy but at the end of the day I need him to throw TDs and not play awful when he smells the red zone.
- Matt Forte was like my abusive boyfriend. Every time he hit me (i.e fumbled, made a bad play) he does something to make me fall back in love with him (i.e. 151 receiving yards and 2 TDs)
- Speaking of Forte, in his 2 years in Chicago he has NEVER been able to get that one tough yard on the goal line to get a TD. In fact, last year Forte was third among backs getting carries inside the opponents 10 (36) and 5th among back getting carries inside the opponent's five yard line (19). Yet Forte only ended up with FOUR rushing TDs. Last year, Aaron Rodgers had more rushing TDs than Forte. At this point I blame Lovie Smith for sticking with Forte
- SIDENOTE: I LOVE the fact that Lovie went for it on 4th and goal. It sucks that the Bears didn't get away with any points, but I love the cahones.
- Chester Taylor looked awesome as well. I wanted him to get more touches but with Forte being so awesome, I'm conflicted
- This offensive line is pure garbage. I'm extremely concerned Cutler doesn't play more than 8 games because he's taking his lumps.
- I'm done with Greg Olson. I can handle fumbles (sort of) when you play like DeSean Jackson. But you can't play poorly AND cough up the ball.
- Cutler seems to be looking for D.A. a lot and I'm thinking my prediction of Knox being a better fantasy WR than D.A. won't come true. But as a Bears fan I'm glad. D.A. could be a legit #1 wide out and he needs the targets like a legit number one.
- This rushing defense looked amazing. I know Best had 2 rushing TDs but only 20 yards on 14 carries. And the D looked awesome.
- I might have been a bit premature on calling Brian Urlacher done. Again, it's the Lions, but Urlacher looked really good along with this linebacking corps.
- I don't know what to think about this passing D. Shaun Hill looked AWFUL, but he's also Shaun Hill. Stafford didn't look THAT much better but he's also Matthew Stafford. Calvin Johnson could have and should have (and did on his TD) had his way with Chicago's defensive backs because he's so much taller, faster, and stronger than all of them. This worries me when guys like Greg Jennings, Brandon Marshall, Randy Moss and Miles Austin come to town. I still have a little faith in Zack Bowman. But very very little.
Forbes NFL Team Valuations
Last week Forbes evaluated the value of each NFL franchise heading into the 2010-2011 season and showed the public how much each team is worth. I could break down each team and provide in depth analysis, but who would be kidding with me breaking down the economics of football. I just thought it was interesting to see where each NFL team was ranked and wanted to share it with you if you haven't see this story yet.
Here are the rankings according to the article by Forbes:
1 Dallas Cowboys
2 Washington Redskins
3 New England Patriots
4 New York Giants
5 Houston Texans
6 New York Jets
7 Philadelphia Eagles
8 Baltimore Ravens
9 Chicago Bears
10 Denver Broncos
11 Indianapolis Colts
12 Carolina Panthers
13 Tampa Bay Buccaneers
14 Green Bay Packers
15 Cleveland Browns
16 Miami Dolphins
17 Pittsburgh Steelers
18 Tennessee Titans
19 Seattle Seahawks
20 Kansas City Chiefs
21 New Orleans Saints
22 San Francisco 49ers
23 Arizona Cardinals
24 San Diego Chargers
25 Cincinnati Bengals
26 Atlanta Falcons
27 Detroit Lions
28 Buffalo Bills
29 St Louis Rams
30 Minnesota Vikings
31 Oakland Raiders
32 Jacksonville Jaguars
A few of the teams that stood out to me as being surprisingly high were: Washington Redskins at number 2, Houston Texans at 5, Baltimore Ravens at 8, Carolina Panthers at 12, and Cleveland Browns at 15. It was good to see these franchises so high.
Some of the teams I was surprised to be so low for the market or success of the team was Chicago Bears at 9, Green Bay Packers at 14, Pittsburgh Steelers at 17, Tennessee Titans at 18, Arizona Cardinals at 23, San Diego Chargers at 24, and the most shocking was the Minnesota Vikings at number 30! These teams I would have expected to be higher.
The Chicago Bears at number 9 had to be the most disappointing and I am not saying that as a Bears fan. Chicago is one of the biggest markets and it doesn't have two teams like New York. For these two reasons it should be higher. Thus, it should be in the top 3, or the top 5 to say the least.
Other great teams and storied franchises like the Green Bay Packers, Pittsburgh Steelers, San Diego Chargers, and Minnesota Vikings I would have thought to be much higher.
If you go to the article you can click on a team and read more about the appraisal for the team.
Here are the rankings according to the article by Forbes:
1 Dallas Cowboys
2 Washington Redskins
3 New England Patriots
4 New York Giants
5 Houston Texans
6 New York Jets
7 Philadelphia Eagles
8 Baltimore Ravens
9 Chicago Bears
10 Denver Broncos
11 Indianapolis Colts
12 Carolina Panthers
13 Tampa Bay Buccaneers
14 Green Bay Packers
15 Cleveland Browns
16 Miami Dolphins
17 Pittsburgh Steelers
18 Tennessee Titans
19 Seattle Seahawks
20 Kansas City Chiefs
21 New Orleans Saints
22 San Francisco 49ers
23 Arizona Cardinals
24 San Diego Chargers
25 Cincinnati Bengals
26 Atlanta Falcons
27 Detroit Lions
28 Buffalo Bills
29 St Louis Rams
30 Minnesota Vikings
31 Oakland Raiders
32 Jacksonville Jaguars
A few of the teams that stood out to me as being surprisingly high were: Washington Redskins at number 2, Houston Texans at 5, Baltimore Ravens at 8, Carolina Panthers at 12, and Cleveland Browns at 15. It was good to see these franchises so high.
Some of the teams I was surprised to be so low for the market or success of the team was Chicago Bears at 9, Green Bay Packers at 14, Pittsburgh Steelers at 17, Tennessee Titans at 18, Arizona Cardinals at 23, San Diego Chargers at 24, and the most shocking was the Minnesota Vikings at number 30! These teams I would have expected to be higher.
The Chicago Bears at number 9 had to be the most disappointing and I am not saying that as a Bears fan. Chicago is one of the biggest markets and it doesn't have two teams like New York. For these two reasons it should be higher. Thus, it should be in the top 3, or the top 5 to say the least.
Other great teams and storied franchises like the Green Bay Packers, Pittsburgh Steelers, San Diego Chargers, and Minnesota Vikings I would have thought to be much higher.
If you go to the article you can click on a team and read more about the appraisal for the team.
Free Agents Don't Come Cheap: Evaluating The Bears Free Agent Signings
FREE agents, CHEAP, get it? Whatever
Anywho, so the biggest player in this early NFL free agent market is clearly the Chicago Bears signing former San Diego TE Brandon Manumaleuna, former Baltimore and Minnesota RB Chester Taylor, and the big daddy of them all former Panthers DE Julius Peppers.
Here's some of my recent GOI tweets and facebook statuses to help you get a better idea of where I was coming from before the NFL free agency period begun
March 4th on Twitter:
March 4th on Facebook:
1) Julius Peppers for 6 yr/ 91.5 million dollars. OK, so after listening to sports talk radio this entire afternoon, I think I've changed my mind on Julius Peppers. After the Bears traded for Jay Cutler this past off season, I initially got really angry because I thought they gave up WAY too much. But then I thought, the Bears need a QB, and they don't efficiently use their draft picks anyway, so what the hell. Analogously, when I draft in fantasy, I know which players I want to make the best team, I don't really care about which round or "value" I'm getting the player, as long as I have the best team. That's sort of how I feel about this Peppers signing.
The Bears are in desperate need for a pass rusher. Wale is getting old, Alex Brown is fine but nothing special, Mark Anderson hasn't shown anything since his wonderful rookie season, and Gaines Adams is deceased. The Bears needed someone. They weren't going to get anyone in the draft because all the good pass rushers will be taken by the time the Bears pick and there's no one else really of value, other than Peppers in the FA pool. Peppers is by far and away the Bears best DE and he WILL make the team better. I've heard everyone complaining that the Bears need a safety, but guess what, an improved defensive line makes the linebackers better which in turn makes the defensive backs better. Remember in 2006 when Nathan Vasher was a pro bowl? Yeah, he went to the Pro Bowl not because he is a good talent, but because Tommie Harris and the D-line got a lot of pressure on the QB.
The one problem I've always had with Peppers is that he's extremely lazy. You talk to any Carolina Panther (although I wouldn't talk to Jake Delhomme or John Fox right now, I don't think they'd be in the mood), they'd tell you Peppers took many plays off and that he never really played to his potential towards the end of his contract. I want to convince myself that he's just like Corey Dillon and just needs a new scene and team to play better. But I'm just worried that Peppers will be more like Brian Urlacher and Tommie Harris- guys who played well in the past, got a huge contract from Jerry Angelo, and then produced nothing on the field.
Again, the MASSIVE contract doesn't bother me as much because it was not like the Bears could have gotten another DE that has Peppers' talent and I'm sure many many many other teams were also courting Peppers- so the Bears, I'm sure, had to offer Peppers as high of a contract as they did in order to sign the Pro Bowler.
ESPN has a program that will make you depressed called Salary Crunch. You type in how much money you make and it tells you what Peppers has to do to earn your yearly salary (i.e. if you make $30,000 a year, all Peppers has to do to earn that much is play in .03 games which will produce about .08 tackles, .02 sacks, and .01 forced fumbles)
2) Chester Taylor for 4 yr/ 12.5 million. I love Chester Taylor. His biggest problem is that he's never gotten consistent playing time. Taylor has only gotten over 160 attempts once (303 in 2006) and in that season- he gained 1216 yards with a 4.0 YPC. Taylor has a career 4.3 YPC. Taylor is also really good at catching the ball out of the backfield. But best of all, he's a damn good backup to help the Bears running game and to take pressure off of Matt Forte. Now, the BEST solution to improve the Bears running game is to improve the offensive line. But the second best solution is Taylor. I was a big fan of the Bears getting Taylor a few days ago, and I'm a much bigger fan now than the Bears got him. In fact, I almost like this signing more than the Peppers one.
3) Brandon Manumaleuna for 5 yr/ 17 million. Apparently, in Mike Martz' offense, the purpose of the TE is to mainly be a blocker and rarely be a pass catcher. And from what I'm told, Manumaleuna is a very good blocker- which is a good thing because the Bears O-line sucks. He's only getting $6 million guaranteed so why not?
I've heard rumors that the Bears are thinking about trading Greg Olson. Good. Greg Olson sucks. I don't care about this whole "Mike Martz system" excuse, the Bears need draft picks and Olson is not good. Good riddance.
SIDENOTE: The Ravens gave up a third and a fourth pick for Anquan Boldin. Even without a first and second round pick, I would gladly give up a 3rd and 4th round pick for Boldin.
Anywho, so the biggest player in this early NFL free agent market is clearly the Chicago Bears signing former San Diego TE Brandon Manumaleuna, former Baltimore and Minnesota RB Chester Taylor, and the big daddy of them all former Panthers DE Julius Peppers.
Here's some of my recent GOI tweets and facebook statuses to help you get a better idea of where I was coming from before the NFL free agency period begun
March 4th on Twitter:
The most underrated FA this offseason will be Chester Taylor. He'll be cheap and he's really good. I hope the Bears sign him.
March 4th on Facebook:
I hope the Bears don't get Peppers. He's good, but his contract will be too big and they won't get Pro Bowl Peppers. They'll just get better-than-Wale&Brown&Anderson-Peppers
1) Julius Peppers for 6 yr/ 91.5 million dollars. OK, so after listening to sports talk radio this entire afternoon, I think I've changed my mind on Julius Peppers. After the Bears traded for Jay Cutler this past off season, I initially got really angry because I thought they gave up WAY too much. But then I thought, the Bears need a QB, and they don't efficiently use their draft picks anyway, so what the hell. Analogously, when I draft in fantasy, I know which players I want to make the best team, I don't really care about which round or "value" I'm getting the player, as long as I have the best team. That's sort of how I feel about this Peppers signing.
The Bears are in desperate need for a pass rusher. Wale is getting old, Alex Brown is fine but nothing special, Mark Anderson hasn't shown anything since his wonderful rookie season, and Gaines Adams is deceased. The Bears needed someone. They weren't going to get anyone in the draft because all the good pass rushers will be taken by the time the Bears pick and there's no one else really of value, other than Peppers in the FA pool. Peppers is by far and away the Bears best DE and he WILL make the team better. I've heard everyone complaining that the Bears need a safety, but guess what, an improved defensive line makes the linebackers better which in turn makes the defensive backs better. Remember in 2006 when Nathan Vasher was a pro bowl? Yeah, he went to the Pro Bowl not because he is a good talent, but because Tommie Harris and the D-line got a lot of pressure on the QB.
The one problem I've always had with Peppers is that he's extremely lazy. You talk to any Carolina Panther (although I wouldn't talk to Jake Delhomme or John Fox right now, I don't think they'd be in the mood), they'd tell you Peppers took many plays off and that he never really played to his potential towards the end of his contract. I want to convince myself that he's just like Corey Dillon and just needs a new scene and team to play better. But I'm just worried that Peppers will be more like Brian Urlacher and Tommie Harris- guys who played well in the past, got a huge contract from Jerry Angelo, and then produced nothing on the field.
Again, the MASSIVE contract doesn't bother me as much because it was not like the Bears could have gotten another DE that has Peppers' talent and I'm sure many many many other teams were also courting Peppers- so the Bears, I'm sure, had to offer Peppers as high of a contract as they did in order to sign the Pro Bowler.
ESPN has a program that will make you depressed called Salary Crunch. You type in how much money you make and it tells you what Peppers has to do to earn your yearly salary (i.e. if you make $30,000 a year, all Peppers has to do to earn that much is play in .03 games which will produce about .08 tackles, .02 sacks, and .01 forced fumbles)
2) Chester Taylor for 4 yr/ 12.5 million. I love Chester Taylor. His biggest problem is that he's never gotten consistent playing time. Taylor has only gotten over 160 attempts once (303 in 2006) and in that season- he gained 1216 yards with a 4.0 YPC. Taylor has a career 4.3 YPC. Taylor is also really good at catching the ball out of the backfield. But best of all, he's a damn good backup to help the Bears running game and to take pressure off of Matt Forte. Now, the BEST solution to improve the Bears running game is to improve the offensive line. But the second best solution is Taylor. I was a big fan of the Bears getting Taylor a few days ago, and I'm a much bigger fan now than the Bears got him. In fact, I almost like this signing more than the Peppers one.
3) Brandon Manumaleuna for 5 yr/ 17 million. Apparently, in Mike Martz' offense, the purpose of the TE is to mainly be a blocker and rarely be a pass catcher. And from what I'm told, Manumaleuna is a very good blocker- which is a good thing because the Bears O-line sucks. He's only getting $6 million guaranteed so why not?
I've heard rumors that the Bears are thinking about trading Greg Olson. Good. Greg Olson sucks. I don't care about this whole "Mike Martz system" excuse, the Bears need draft picks and Olson is not good. Good riddance.
SIDENOTE: The Ravens gave up a third and a fourth pick for Anquan Boldin. Even without a first and second round pick, I would gladly give up a 3rd and 4th round pick for Boldin.
Sox 5 percent more annoying than Cubs
I'm a little surprised the Bears are not higher on the list. I guess people simply stopped complaining after Jay Cutlers 3rd 4-interception game of the year
Ron Turner Is Fired!
SHA NA NA NA
SHA NA NA NA
Don't be afraid to sing along now!
SHA NA NA NA
HEY HEY GOODBYE!
Today Ron Turner along with essentially everybody with "offensive" in their title in the organization was just sacked today. GOI has long advocated for the firing of Turner and it is glorious that the day has come. I'm still worried that the shitty McCaskeys will just go ahead and hire another shitty coordinator, but Turner's firing is a step in the right direction.
This firing was also bittersweet because Turner was the only one fired. As much as we all wanted Lovie Smith gone, we all never should have expected it because he has a huge backloaded contract and he was owed a shit ton of money. But there is absolutely no reason to keep Jerry Angelo on the team. Yes, the Cutler trade was awesome, but the reason for this teams lack of talent is mainly because of Angelo. He is awful at drafting and guys like Greg Olson, Chris Williams, and Tommie Harris are all first round picks that are just average at best. He gave Urlacher a lot of money recently and all Urlacher has done since that contract was be crappy or sit on the sidelines.
Many expected Rod Marinelli to be promoted to defensive coordinator because it is clear that Lovie can not coach this defense but that didn't happen either.
This organization is awful and while they took a step in the right direction today, they NEED to overhaul this entire team if they want long term success.
SHA NA NA NA
Don't be afraid to sing along now!
SHA NA NA NA
HEY HEY GOODBYE!
Today Ron Turner along with essentially everybody with "offensive" in their title in the organization was just sacked today. GOI has long advocated for the firing of Turner and it is glorious that the day has come. I'm still worried that the shitty McCaskeys will just go ahead and hire another shitty coordinator, but Turner's firing is a step in the right direction.
This firing was also bittersweet because Turner was the only one fired. As much as we all wanted Lovie Smith gone, we all never should have expected it because he has a huge backloaded contract and he was owed a shit ton of money. But there is absolutely no reason to keep Jerry Angelo on the team. Yes, the Cutler trade was awesome, but the reason for this teams lack of talent is mainly because of Angelo. He is awful at drafting and guys like Greg Olson, Chris Williams, and Tommie Harris are all first round picks that are just average at best. He gave Urlacher a lot of money recently and all Urlacher has done since that contract was be crappy or sit on the sidelines.
Many expected Rod Marinelli to be promoted to defensive coordinator because it is clear that Lovie can not coach this defense but that didn't happen either.
This organization is awful and while they took a step in the right direction today, they NEED to overhaul this entire team if they want long term success.
The Break Out Game For Devin Aromashodu
All GOI readers should know by now that since I went to Bears training camp I have been a fan of journeyman wide receiver Devin Aromashodu. A few weeks ago when the Bears receivers weren't doing much I lobbied for him to get more playing time. I said
After Devin Aromashodu saw some action I thought he would get more playing time. Cutler has always said good things about him and likes him because he is a big, fast target, who has good hands. Then DA had a good game which I thought would get him more playing time but I wasn't sure because Lovie Smith wasn't big on him. With Hester out and Knox getting injured DA had more playing time in the game on Sunday against the Minnesota Vikings.
DA did get a lot of playing time on Sunday and showed why he should be out there even when Hester and Knox are healthy. He caught seven passes for 150 yards and had one touchdown catch to win the game! He looked liked a number one receiver. I don’t know if he will be that good, but he has a chance to be that on the Bears, and sure looks better than any other Bear receiver. I like Knox and his speed, but DA can go up and get the ball or stretch out using his length.
The Three big catches by DA:
I am excited to see the Bears play Detroit next week and see what DA can do against them. I am finally excited about the Bears for the first time since the season started thanks to him and Cutler!
I wish we would see more of Devin Aromashodu though. He was injured to start the season so he wasn’t given a chance. Devin Aromashodu was supposed to be ahead of Jonny Knox of the depth chart before his injury. He missed a few weeks, but has been back for a while. Now there is no playing time for him. I saw Devin Aromashodu at training camp and he looked good. He is tall at 6-2, fast, and seemed to have very good hands making some hard catches on the day I went. He has been on a few teams now for a reason, but I think if he was given a few throws his ways, he would wow Chicago fans. For now it is up to Devin Hester, Johnny Knox, and Earl Bennett to carry the load though.
After Devin Aromashodu saw some action I thought he would get more playing time. Cutler has always said good things about him and likes him because he is a big, fast target, who has good hands. Then DA had a good game which I thought would get him more playing time but I wasn't sure because Lovie Smith wasn't big on him. With Hester out and Knox getting injured DA had more playing time in the game on Sunday against the Minnesota Vikings.
DA did get a lot of playing time on Sunday and showed why he should be out there even when Hester and Knox are healthy. He caught seven passes for 150 yards and had one touchdown catch to win the game! He looked liked a number one receiver. I don’t know if he will be that good, but he has a chance to be that on the Bears, and sure looks better than any other Bear receiver. I like Knox and his speed, but DA can go up and get the ball or stretch out using his length.
The Three big catches by DA:
I am excited to see the Bears play Detroit next week and see what DA can do against them. I am finally excited about the Bears for the first time since the season started thanks to him and Cutler!
Making Light Of The Chicago Bears Season
This is making light of the Bears season. I did not write this or feel this way towards any of the Bears players or the Team. Someone sent this to me and I thought it was funny.
Too much truth here.........................
Q. What's the difference between the Chicago Bears & the Taliban?
A. The Taliban has a running game!
Q. What do the Chicago Bears & Billy Graham have in common?
A. They both can make a stadium full of people stand up & yell "Jesus Christ."
Q. How do you keep a Chicago Bears player out of your yard?
A. Put up goal posts.
Q. Where do you go in Chicago in case of a tornado?
A. Soldier Field - they never get a touchdown there.
Q. Why doesn't Rockford have a professional football team?
A. Because then Chicago would want one.
Q. Why was Lovie Smith upset when the Bears playbook was stolen?
A. Because he hadn't finished coloring it.
Q. What's the difference between the Chicago Bears & a dollar bill?
A. You can still get four quarters out of a dollar bill.
Q. What do you call 47 people sitting around a TV watching the Super Bowl?
A. The Chicago Bears.
Q. What do the Chicago Bears & possums have in common?
A. Both play dead at home & get killed on the road.
Q. How can you tell when the Chicago Bears are going to run the football?
A. Forte leaves the huddle with tears in his eyes.
Disclaimer: This was sent to one of the contributors of Game Of Inches and I thought it was funny. This is not true and entirely meant for entertainment purposes.
Too much truth here.........................
Q. What's the difference between the Chicago Bears & the Taliban?
A. The Taliban has a running game!
Q. What do the Chicago Bears & Billy Graham have in common?
A. They both can make a stadium full of people stand up & yell "Jesus Christ."
Q. How do you keep a Chicago Bears player out of your yard?
A. Put up goal posts.
Q. Where do you go in Chicago in case of a tornado?
A. Soldier Field - they never get a touchdown there.
Q. Why doesn't Rockford have a professional football team?
A. Because then Chicago would want one.
Q. Why was Lovie Smith upset when the Bears playbook was stolen?
A. Because he hadn't finished coloring it.
Q. What's the difference between the Chicago Bears & a dollar bill?
A. You can still get four quarters out of a dollar bill.
Q. What do you call 47 people sitting around a TV watching the Super Bowl?
A. The Chicago Bears.
Q. What do the Chicago Bears & possums have in common?
A. Both play dead at home & get killed on the road.
Q. How can you tell when the Chicago Bears are going to run the football?
A. Forte leaves the huddle with tears in his eyes.
Disclaimer: This was sent to one of the contributors of Game Of Inches and I thought it was funny. This is not true and entirely meant for entertainment purposes.
Are the Bears A Running Team?
Lovie Smith was hired by the Chicago Bears in 2004. It is hard to beleoieve that he has already been here for six years. Since Lovie Smith has been head coach of the Chicago Bears he has said were going to be a running team. So I decided to look at how many Yards the Bears have rushed for each year since he has took over and see how they have ranked overall. The Bears still have two more games left for this 2009 season, but I think the sample size is large enough.
Year Yards Ranking
2009 1237 30th
2008 1673 24th
2007 1330 30th
2006 1918 15th
2005 2099 8th
2004 1624 25th
As you see the only years where the Bears have been a running team under Lovie was the 2005 season. All of the other years they have ranked near the bottom in running the football. The Bears were terrible rushing in 2004, Lovie's first season in Chicago. Then they did run in 2005 and they made it to a NFC divisional game. They continued to get worse in 2006 but they made it to the super bowl. After the super bowl appearance they got really bad and have been ranked among the bottom since. So the Bears have only been a running team for two years under Lovie Smith. So if he still says were a running team, then we need to get a coach who doesn’t live under a rock. The Bears could be a good competitive team if they did run the football like they did in 2005 and 2006, but they don't.
Year Yards Ranking
2009 1237 30th
2008 1673 24th
2007 1330 30th
2006 1918 15th
2005 2099 8th
2004 1624 25th
As you see the only years where the Bears have been a running team under Lovie was the 2005 season. All of the other years they have ranked near the bottom in running the football. The Bears were terrible rushing in 2004, Lovie's first season in Chicago. Then they did run in 2005 and they made it to a NFC divisional game. They continued to get worse in 2006 but they made it to the super bowl. After the super bowl appearance they got really bad and have been ranked among the bottom since. So the Bears have only been a running team for two years under Lovie Smith. So if he still says were a running team, then we need to get a coach who doesn’t live under a rock. The Bears could be a good competitive team if they did run the football like they did in 2005 and 2006, but they don't.
Who Had Brandon Marshall In Fantasy?
I did! In fact, I had Marshall and Texans stud Andre Johnson going for me in the first week of fantasy football playoffs. The duo combined for 32 catches, 394 yards, and 4 TD. 63 points from the receiver position is basically good enough to win even if Jake Delhomme is your QB.
But the bigger story was the performance of Brandon Marshall. The Terrell Owens wannabe just broke TO's 10 year old record of 20 catches in a game. On the last play of the game, with the Broncos deep in their own territory on a 4th and forever, Josh McDaniels did the classy thing and called a short route for Marshall to finish out the game. That was his 21st catch and 200th yard of the game. The amazing part was that Marshall's longest reception of the game was only 23 yards, meaning that he was incredibly consistent by accumulating numerous 10 yard passes on his way to a 200 yard game.
I vividly remember Owens' 20 catch game back in 2000. I recall it so well because it happened against the Bears. And yes, their secondary was even worse that year than it is this year. Jeff Garcia fed the ball to TO, in Jerry Rice's last game with the 49ers, as Owens was too fast and strong for the Bears to handle. Marshall shares many of Owens' great attributes, particularly an incredible combination of speed, strength, and creativeness. Too bad it came in a loss
But the bigger story was the performance of Brandon Marshall. The Terrell Owens wannabe just broke TO's 10 year old record of 20 catches in a game. On the last play of the game, with the Broncos deep in their own territory on a 4th and forever, Josh McDaniels did the classy thing and called a short route for Marshall to finish out the game. That was his 21st catch and 200th yard of the game. The amazing part was that Marshall's longest reception of the game was only 23 yards, meaning that he was incredibly consistent by accumulating numerous 10 yard passes on his way to a 200 yard game.
I vividly remember Owens' 20 catch game back in 2000. I recall it so well because it happened against the Bears. And yes, their secondary was even worse that year than it is this year. Jeff Garcia fed the ball to TO, in Jerry Rice's last game with the 49ers, as Owens was too fast and strong for the Bears to handle. Marshall shares many of Owens' great attributes, particularly an incredible combination of speed, strength, and creativeness. Too bad it came in a loss
Who Do You Blame For The Bears Problems?
The McCaskey Family
I was having a discussion about this with my dad. He blames the McCaskey family, the owners of the Bears. He blames their cheapness and lack of knowledge for the problems of this team. His argument is that the owners are the ones who determine the front office. They are the ones who hired Ted Thompson the Bears CEO/President and Jerry Angelo as GM. Thompson was an accountant that worked for the organization that the McCaskey's promoted to run the organization. They also were the ones who hired Jerry Angelo. Angelo was a former football player who had little to no experience being a general manager, but who was also within the organization and again, also cheap. He points to guys like Jerry Jones and Dan Snyder who "would never let this happen". Obviously Jones and Snyder have HUGE problems, but I think it's the idea more than the actual example that you should focus on. He also points to their cheapness for hiring guys like Ron Turner and the scouting department.
However, I don't totally but this argument completely. Certainly, there is a problem with all sports that hire former players to run their organization. Teams are more likely to hire a Kenny Williams than a Theo Epstein because of the "experience". Obviously, it's frustrating when a team does this, but I don't know that I'd put the blame on them. Next, I'm not 100% convinced that it's because of the McCaskey's cheapness that we have a poor coaching staff and scouting department. You can be cheap and still have a functional team- as long as you have smart people around you. But are we going to completely take the blame off the people you hire? Maybe hiring Angelo and Smith and Turner was dumb, but are they completely off the hook? If you're bad at your job, then you should be held responsible for your poor performance- and not pass the blame off.
Jerry Angelo
The guy gave huge contracts to an injury prone and on the decline Brian Urlacher and Tommie Harris. The guys went out and got a Orlando Pace in order to "improve" the offensive line. And in the draft, the guy ultimately making the decisions on who to draft is the GM. And since Angelo has been here, we have made some awful awful AWFUL draft choices. You can make the argument that a lot of the people on the field are because of the GM.
However, I believe a lot of the players Angelo gets is not his decision. Bringing in guys like Adam Archelta and Orlando Pace were mainly because Lovie Smith knew them during his stint in St. Louis. It seems to me that Lovie has his system and he tells the GM who to go out and get for his specific system. Sure the GM is the official guy who goes and signs players, but with Angelo, it seems that Lovie has this job more than the guy who has the title. And Aneglo did go out and get Jay Cutler, who is just amazing.
Lovie Smith
You can read the paragraph above as well as a previous post I wrote, chronically my hate of Lovie Smith.
To play devil's advocate, you can say that Smith does have a good system and proven in 2006, but the players on the field are just god awful. And the players on the field are the result of the GM.
The Players Themselves/ Jay Cutler
1) There are arguments of why Cutler is the reason for why this team is bad, but those arguments are flat out wrong. 2) If we're going to hold the coaching staff responsible, then we should hold the players responsible for going out on the field and being and at their job as well
I was having a discussion about this with my dad. He blames the McCaskey family, the owners of the Bears. He blames their cheapness and lack of knowledge for the problems of this team. His argument is that the owners are the ones who determine the front office. They are the ones who hired Ted Thompson the Bears CEO/President and Jerry Angelo as GM. Thompson was an accountant that worked for the organization that the McCaskey's promoted to run the organization. They also were the ones who hired Jerry Angelo. Angelo was a former football player who had little to no experience being a general manager, but who was also within the organization and again, also cheap. He points to guys like Jerry Jones and Dan Snyder who "would never let this happen". Obviously Jones and Snyder have HUGE problems, but I think it's the idea more than the actual example that you should focus on. He also points to their cheapness for hiring guys like Ron Turner and the scouting department.
However, I don't totally but this argument completely. Certainly, there is a problem with all sports that hire former players to run their organization. Teams are more likely to hire a Kenny Williams than a Theo Epstein because of the "experience". Obviously, it's frustrating when a team does this, but I don't know that I'd put the blame on them. Next, I'm not 100% convinced that it's because of the McCaskey's cheapness that we have a poor coaching staff and scouting department. You can be cheap and still have a functional team- as long as you have smart people around you. But are we going to completely take the blame off the people you hire? Maybe hiring Angelo and Smith and Turner was dumb, but are they completely off the hook? If you're bad at your job, then you should be held responsible for your poor performance- and not pass the blame off.
Jerry Angelo
The guy gave huge contracts to an injury prone and on the decline Brian Urlacher and Tommie Harris. The guys went out and got a Orlando Pace in order to "improve" the offensive line. And in the draft, the guy ultimately making the decisions on who to draft is the GM. And since Angelo has been here, we have made some awful awful AWFUL draft choices. You can make the argument that a lot of the people on the field are because of the GM.
However, I believe a lot of the players Angelo gets is not his decision. Bringing in guys like Adam Archelta and Orlando Pace were mainly because Lovie Smith knew them during his stint in St. Louis. It seems to me that Lovie has his system and he tells the GM who to go out and get for his specific system. Sure the GM is the official guy who goes and signs players, but with Angelo, it seems that Lovie has this job more than the guy who has the title. And Aneglo did go out and get Jay Cutler, who is just amazing.
Lovie Smith
You can read the paragraph above as well as a previous post I wrote, chronically my hate of Lovie Smith.
To play devil's advocate, you can say that Smith does have a good system and proven in 2006, but the players on the field are just god awful. And the players on the field are the result of the GM.
The Players Themselves/ Jay Cutler
1) There are arguments of why Cutler is the reason for why this team is bad, but those arguments are flat out wrong. 2) If we're going to hold the coaching staff responsible, then we should hold the players responsible for going out on the field and being and at their job as well
