How Bout Dem Bears?

Oat23

Idiotic from Briggs & Hayden. More points going on the board now because of it.

padraig_f

Oatesy23 wrote: »

Idiotic from Briggs & Hayden. More points going on the board now because of it.

Yeah it was bad, he was never gonna get the first down. Probably need to score here the way the Lions are moving the ball.

Badabing

C'mon defense, massive 4 mins now

Oat23

Phew. Had a bad feeling about that heading into the 4th Q.

Go pack go..

Guffy

qb knee should be outlawed!!

Oatesy23

Oatesy23 wrote: »

Go pack go..

Louder! We can't hear you!

kennyb3

Really enjoyed that game - very nervy.

We all know our offensive problems, but you gotta love watching our D.

Forte had a particularly decent game and good to see the other receivers stepping up.

Davis really could have cost us - we badly need a proper tight end who hasn't got the dropsies

Oat23

I hate AP so much right now..

Oat23

Balls

padraig_f

Feck. It was no real way to go to the playoffs anyway, having to rely on someone else to win. I wanted to be in of course, but it would've been window-dressing, it wasn't a team capable of winning a Super Bowl, and they likely would've been knocked out in the first round by the 49ers.

Rented Mule

Lovie Smith stated three things at his first press conference after he was hired: 1) Beat Green Bay 2) Win the Division 3) Win the Super Bowl. He has failed miserably at all three. Based purely on his measures of success, I would say that it is time to let him go.

Badabing

2013 Fixtures Home:Packers, Vikings, Lions, Giants, Ravens, Cowboys, Bengals, Saints. Away: Eagles, Redskins, Browns, Steelers, Rams, Lions, Packers, Vikings. Not in that order btw Very tough i have to say.

Realt Dearg Sec

Badabing wrote: »

2013 Fixtures Home:Packers Vikings Lions Giants Ravens Cowboys Bengals Saints. Away: Eagles Redskins Browns Steelers Rams Lions Packers Vikings. Not in that order btw Very tough i have to say.

Horrible. On the plus side we should be on tv a lot...but our defense, as good as it is, will not be able to shoulder all the work with a schedule like that. All the more urgent that the offense stands up. Rumors on bears fan sites are all over the place, but general consensus seems to be that tice will go.

Oat23

Lovie has been fired.

Jay is on the air doing his radio show now, after this commercial will be interesting!

kennyb3

Just seen that, any idea who might be in line for the job?

Might have given it one more season with a draft full of offensive players, but still 1 playoff in 6 years isn't something you can argue with really.

Paully D

Devin Hester considering retirement because of the sacking of Lovie Smith, according to numerous NFL reporters.

Oat23

Paully D wrote: »

Devin Hester considering retirement because of the sacking of Lovie Smith, according to numerous NFL reporters.

Probably won't be back. His salary cap hit will be around $3m and it's the last year of his deal. He isn't going to get near his current deal in Chicago when it comes to getting a new one.

Basically been retired the past two seasons anyway.

mayordenis

Disappointed to lose Smith and will be sad to see Hester go, the way things went from a 7-1 start to not making the playoffs mean this had to happen, but at 10-6 it's something I'm not totally behind.

padraig_f

Wow, didn't think they'd do it. Have some sympathy for him personally getting fired after going 10-6, but probably the right decision. Pattern of mediocrity for a few years, and this year the same....beat bad teams, lost to pretty much any good team they played. Had he stayed on, you could see the same thing happening next year.

I imagine they'll go for an offensively minded coach, which would be pretty exciting. The offensive design was pretty painful to watch this year, given the talent level. When you think back to the better offensive plays, it was invariably Cutler heaving it up in the air for Marshall to pull down. They made some spectacular plays between them, but that's not a scheme you can take to the playoffs.

padraig_f

Couple of more thoughts on Lovie Smith firing…

Looking at the brutal schedule the Bears have next year, reminded me of something: the schedule this year was pretty damn soft, so the 10-6 is a little bit of an illusion. Any good team the Bears played, they lost to. Best team they beat…probably the Cowboys, which isn't saying a whole lot.

While NFL schedules are unequal, there's one very fair thing about them: everyone in your division plays pretty much the same schedule, which reinforces the emphasis on winning the division games. This year the Bears went 0-2 against the Packers and 1-1 against the Vikings, not good enough.

Mike Ditka came out and said Lovie wouldn't have been fired if the Packers beat the Vikings, but actually I think he probably would've been. The timing, the day after the last regular season game, suggested it was a move they had pretty much decided on in advance. Had the Packers beat the Vikings, and the Bears lost to the 49ers (which was likely), I think Lovie still would've gone.

A couple of days later, I'm more sure it was the right decision.

padraig_f

I'm a big fan of the articles on Football Perspective. They use advanced stats that give them a different, and usually better, angle than the mainstream media.

They have one today saying Brandon Marshall was the best receiver in the NFL this year:
Examining the seasons of Calvin Johnson and Brandon Marshall in a different light

I'm not gonna bang the drum for Marshall being better than Calvin Johnson, they're both great players, and it'd splitting hairs a bit. But I do think Marshall had an awesome season, as good as Johnson, but he didn't get the credit he deserved because of the Bears' misfiring offense.

The Bears finished the season 29th in passing-yards, and Marshall finished the 3rd overall in receiving yards. That's pretty remarkable.

Realt Dearg Sec

padraig_f wrote: »

I'm a big fan of the articles on Football Perspective. They use advanced stats that give them a different, and usually better, angle than the mainstream media.

They have one today saying Brandon Marshall was the best receiver in the NFL this year:
Examining the seasons of Calvin Johnson and Brandon Marshall in a different light

I'm not gonna bang the drum for Marshall being better than Calvin Johnson, they're both great players, and it'd splitting hairs a bit. But I do think Marshall had an awesome season, as good as Johnson, but he didn't get the credit he deserved because of the Bears' misfiring offense.

The Bears finished the season 29th in passing-yards, and Marshall finished the 3rd overall in receiving yards. That's pretty remarkable.

The acquisition of Marshall was one of the factors that made Smith look a little better than he was. Without him the entire offense would have amounted to giving the ball to Forte.

Hester is not the player he was and his time was running out anyway. Never good to see him coming on as a receiver, and hadn't done anything too spectacular on special teams this year either.

Bruce Arians, if the Bears can get him, is the candidate people seem to want. That is, if the security officers at O'Hare airport are indicative of general opinion. But he'll be in demand.

Itssoeasy

http://www.nfl.com/news/story/0ap1000000120893/article/chicago-bears-exec-jay-cutler-similar-to-george-halas

Jay cutler is like George Halas apparently. Any bears fans want to explain that ?

padraig_f

Itssoeasy wrote: »

http://www.nfl.com/news/story/0ap1000000120893/article/chicago-bears-exec-jay-cutler-similar-to-george-halas

Jay cutler is like George Halas apparently. Any bears fans want to explain that ?

Ha, they had a press conference today outlining their plans in what's obviously going to be a new era for the franchise. And I think they just wanted to emphasise that Cutler was an integral part of those plans. Possibly went a bit overboard making that point

Oat23

The Emery presser today was great. He is better than Angelo at just about everything.

padraig_f

Reading some profiles of Mike McCoy, here
He's not the real McCoy, he's the real deal

and on his wikipedia page. And you can only tell so much from them, but I like the profile of him. Former quarterback, rapid rise through the coaching ranks, proven NFL success with quarterbacks of differing abilities (from Tebow to Peyton Manning, can hardly have a bigger contrast than that).

It's a good balance between someone who you'd be pretty sure could at least do a decent job, given his track-record over the last few years, and could potentially have a very high upside.

Rented Mule

mayordenis wrote: »

Disappointed to lose Smith and will be sad to see Hester go, the way things went from a 7-1 start to not making the playoffs mean this had to happen, but at 10-6 it's something I'm not totally behind.

The Bears were 10-6 and third in their division. The second half of that is the obvious issue. The other issues is that they have missed the playoffs 5/6 years. That is completely unacceptable regardless of his record.

The biggest issue with Lovie's tenure with the Bears was the absolute dismal performance of the offense. The highest the Bears have ranked in his time offensively was #16. He championed mediocrity once in nine years.

The word in the Chicago media at the moment is that the Bears are starting to like the idea of Indianapolis Colts Offensive Coordinator/Interim Head Coach Bruce Arians.

Realt Dearg Sec

Rented Mule wrote: »

The word in the Chicago media at the moment is that the Bears are starting to like the idea of Indianapolis Colts Offensive Coordinator/Interim Head Coach Bruce Arians.

They definitely like the idea (offensively minded, has a very good record, and a clear understanding of NFL offenses today), the question is whether he really wants to leave the Colts, who are going places. He has said, quite unclearly, that he might be interested in a HC job, but it would have to be a place with a good city (I always wondered how players felt about having to go to crappy cities when they're drafted), a team with the capacity to win, and the right organisation in place. The Bears seem to tick all those boxes, but we can't know what's in his head.

padraig_f

Just looking at their basic resumes, I prefer McCoy to Arians. Reservations about Arians....

60 years old, but never been an NFL head coach. Why?

WR coach in Pittsburgh in '07 when Cowher retired. Steelers went outside to Hire Tomlin (Arians promoted to OC).

5 years later, with some pretty average offensive years...

2007 - 17th in offensive yards,
2008 - 22nd
2009 - 7th
2010 - 14th
2011 - 12th

...his contract is allowed to expire by the Steelers.

Comes to Indy and has got a lot of good press for winning some games with Chuck Pagano going out.

But the Colts are really a fraudulent 11-5 team. They finished the season 23rd in yards-per-play, and 30th in yards-per-play allowed.

I was listening to Aaron Schatz of Football Outsiders on the BS Report podcast this week, and he said the Colts were the worst 11-5 team they'd ever recorded (their records go back 20 years), and their DVOA was also lower than any 10-6 team they'd ever recorded.

DVOA, which is a much better predictor of future success than the team's actual record, ranks the colts 25th this year (18th on offense, 31st on defense). Essentially they're a sub .500 team with a misleading record (played one of the easiest schedules in the league, and a lot of the games they won, they were outgained).

If their record better reflected the quality of the team and they were 7-9 or something, I'm not sure he'd be in such demand. When you look at Arians, you need to ignore Indy's 11-5 record, because it's not real.

padraig_f

Head coach search down to 3 candidates.

- Bruce Arians, Colts OC
- Darrell Bevell, Seahawks OC
- Marc Trestman, CFL winning head-coach

I'm a bit surprised not to see Mike McCoy at least in the last 3, but I'm only making a very surface judgment, looking at their general CVs.

Seems to me from the candidates, Emery is valuing head-coaching experience, which is obviously a real consideration, because success in a co-ordinator role doesn't always mean success in a head-coach role.

Of the three, I think I like Trestman bet. While there are technical differences with CFL football, I think head-coaching skills, where he's had success, would translate well, and he has fairly extensive NFL experience prior to going to the CFL.

Arians worries me, because I think he's getting far too much credit for the Colts single-season success. Chuck Pagano was the one responsible for the whole structure developed over the off-season, and took it into the start of the season. Ok, give him credit for keeping the show on the road, but I'm not sure half a season as an interim head-coach is comparable to an actual head-coaching role.

Bevell has a similar profile to McCoy, up-and-coming co-ordinator. The Seahawks had a very effective offense this season, although when I watched them, they got a lot of value from Wilson improvising outside the structure of the offense. So how much was the OC can be hard to gauge. He was also there the year before, with Tarvaris Jackson, when their numbers weren't so impressive.

I'll be honest, I'm not real fired up by any of the 3, but not having been privy to the discussions, it was always going to be a case of wait-and-see.