Week 10 Recap: You can pick your friends, you can pick your nose, and you can surely pick a Jay Cutler pass!

Ok, so I’m in Japan and didn’t get to watch the game. Going by the box score and commentary on various websites I have only one question; Why the hell did Cutler throw the ball 52 times in a 4 point game? Granted, the 49ers run defense is damn good and Forte didn’t have much room to run according to the box score (my guess is because Turner decided to run him straight up the middle on every run play), but 52 times in a tight game? That just seems absurd to me.

Did our o-line not block well as usual? I don’t know, but the 49ers didn’t record a single sack. They may have put a ton of pressure on Cutler though. Did Turner call a typical, predictable Ron Turner game? Possibly. Or did Cutler simply force throws into coverage?

I don’t know since I couldn’t see the game. All I know is that no matter who’s fault it really is, it falls on our coaches. If Cutler is forcing bad decisions it’s up to Turner to fix it. Or Lovie. He never threw interceptions like that in Denver, so I’m betting that my calls for Lovie and Turner’s heads should continue.

I’m really tired of this. I want a real football team in Chicago. One we loyal die-hard fans can be proud of. One where half of our wins don’t come from missed field goals. I want to smash the opposition and make them remember that they just played Da Bears! I guess they do remember they just played Da Bears though since they won.

Fucking Bears!!!!!

Week 9 Recap: Da Bears really suck!

I’m getting really fucking tired of constantly bitching about how poorly our team is run. From terrible personnel decisions (Orlando Pace, Frank Omiyale, Gaines Adams, Josh Bullocks instead of Darren Sharper, etc), to terrible drafting (Chris Williams over Branden Albert last year, complete lack of o-line prospects besides Williams who so far is extremely average at best, failed 1st rounder after failed first rounder, etc), to terrible coaching on all three phases of the game. When will the McCaskey’s figure this all out and just let Angelo and Lovie et al go? We seem to get worse with every game.

First off, Tommie Harris needs to get dropped! He’s played horrible football when he has played, and his boxing aspirations set us off on the wrong foot. What a moron! I’d be happy to get thrown out of games for a fraction of what he makes.

The rest of our defense all but disappeared. The only time our defense made a play was when Matt Leinart was in the game. Kurt Warner had his way with us. It helped him in that we had almost no pass rush most of the game and left Tillman in single coverage on the league’s most dominant WR. Safety help over the top please! We continue to show what a poor defensive scheme Lovie designed.

On offense Cutler looked pretty good most of the game. That throw in the first quarter to Hester as he sprinted down the right sideline with Cromartie on top of him was a thing of beauty. All three passes to Olsen in the end zone were perfect. But, he got knocked around as usual since our o-line is horseshit. And when we started to mount a comeback, of course, he got hurried and threw a horrible pick. I don’t blame him as the game never should have gotten out of hand. Actually, I guess it should have since our coaches continue to run the same plays every game without reading the opposition.

Forte also looked good the few times he got the ball. As did Bennett, Hester, Knox, and Olsen. We just couldn’t match the Cardinals score for score because we’re way too predictable and they knew what was coming.

Overall, we are who I thought we were. Joe Buck said it best at the end of the game when he said, “I’m just calling it as I see it, the Bears really are not that good of a football team.” We should be, but Lovie continues to get outcoached. It’s just too bad we don’t get to play the Browns every week. I”m even scared to play the Lions again. The way we look these days, they’ll probably kill us.

On a side note, I’m heading off to Japan for the rest of the month on Wednesday and won’t get to watch Da Bears again until December 6th. If I do post, it will be based on box scores so I won’t have my own opinions from actually watching. I just hope we can figure things out and start playing some fucking football!

Week 8 Recap: Wow, the Browns really suck!

A win is a win, and I’ll take it, but we clearly still have issues to fix if we’re going to be a contender in this league.

For starters, our offensive line is absolutely putrid! It makes me sick watching these guys try to block anybody. How can we allow Cutler to get knocked around like that? Give him credit, he showed us his true grit yesterday continuing to sling the ball after getting bloodied all game long. The line has to be fixed though. I don’t think it’s just the personnel as we constantly allowed their blitzes to go without a hitch. Rarely did we pick them up and actually hold fort. The schemes were bad and the execution was bad. Josh Beekman was a slight, and I mean slight, improvement over Frank Omiyale. At least he got his hands on defensive lineman. But Orlando Pace is just old! He has zero quickness or bend left in his legs. He needs to take some bench so we can move Chris Williams over and let Omiyale compete with Kevin Shaffer for the right tackle spot.

Besides letting Cutler get knocked around like a pinata, Forte had very few holes to run through. When he did, he looked healthier than he has all week. His legs looked fresh from lack of use, and he ran extremely hard. He just didn’t have many holes, again. That’s especially worrisome seeing that the Browns allow everyone under the sun to run for 160 yards plus against them. As a team we did alright because of Cutler’s scrambling, but Forte only averaged 3.5 yards a carry against this pathetic defense.

Why do we only run straight up the gut? Yesterday made even less sense to do this with big Shaun Rogers in the middle of their D. Why not run some off-tackle? Why not utilize the friggin screen that I’ve been calling for ever since Turner took over our offense? Get Forte out in space with a few blockers in front of him and let him burst through a hole that isn’t clogged with 350 pound lineman!

So you see, it’s a problem of poor execution and extremely poor coaching. Our line can be fixed, it just won’t because Turner is a complete moron! More proof of that is the terrible play-calling getting us stuffed three times in a row in their red zone. Run, run, run! Don’t pass, run, pass!

As for the defense, I’m not sure if we really looked that good or if the Browns are really that bad. I’m guessing it’s somewhere in the middle.

Charles Tillman had a great all-around game. Then again, he was covering a rookie who was trying to catch passes from a guy who regularly only completes 6 passes a game. Every pass that came out of Derek Anderson’s hand seemed to be thrown at his receiver’s feet. Tillman, and the rest of our secondary, had a pretty easy task.

Danieal Manning’s interception was a thing of beauty though. He really laid out for that thing! Great catch!

Also, our linebackers seemed to play better with Hunter Hillenmeyer in the middle and Nick Roach on the outside. Roach was able to use his athleticism a little more to make a few big plays while Hillenmeyer seemed to have everyone lined up in much better position than Roach ever did. We should be fine as long as our guys stay healthy.

Didn’t seem like we had much of a pass rush. 1 sack and 3 QB hits doesn’t seem like a Rod Marinelli-coached squad to me. Why did we send a 2nd round pick for Gaines Adams? Is he ever even going to play?

Special Teams had both the good and the bad. Hester was clearly the good. I still don’t know how he got tackled by their punter, but he looked explosive on those punt returns. Too bad Brad Maynard’s punts weren’t nearly as explosive. A 19 yard punt! You gotta be kidding me! Maynard had his worst day in a Bears uniform. Just a good thing it was against the Browns.

Overall, we did what we had to yesterday. I still don’t think we can beat a good team the way we’re playing, but we’re clearly not the worst in the league. I may not be a big fan of Lovie Smith’s coaching, but at least he’s no Mangini!

Finally!!!

Beekman will start over Omiyale. Now we just need to get Orlando Pace out of the line-up. 

As for Hunter Hillenmeyer and Nick Roach switching places, that’s a great idea. It won’t solve all of our problems, but Hillenmeyer is a much smarter player that will get the right calls made a lot more often than Roach did. Plus, it allows Roach to run around a little more while letting Hillenmeyer deal with clogging the middle. I still think we need to sign Derrick Brooks, but this is a start.

Week 7 Recap: “Team-wise, we’re a 3-2 team that’s made some mistakes in all areas” – Lovie Smith

That quote pretty much sums it all up for me. Lovie is blind to reality. This was quoted on 10/23/09, so obviously in the record books we’re now 3-3. Let’s be honest though, we’re a 1-5 team. The only legit win was against the Lions and even that wasn’t a well-played game on our end. I said it before, I’ll say it again, we only beat the Steelers and the Seahawks because they both missed 2 field goals. Our team makes the same mistakes over and over again and we never seem prepared for our opponent. Lovie Smith is a terrible head coach…..bottom line. Our team has taken on his personality; no fire, no emotion.

Let’s start with our defense. How on Earth could we allow Cedric Benson to have a career day? We were scared of Carson Palmer so we kept our secondary all back in coverage. Benson chews us up. We stack the box with 8, Carson Palmer chews us up. I don’t care what anyone says, we need to sign Derrick Brooks and we need to do it 5 weeks ago! Nick Roach is NOT a starting linebacker in the NFL. He’s a great back-up who can fill in for short periods of time, but this is the second week in a row that he couldn’t get our guys lined up correctly. He consistently got blown back against the run as well as allowing huge holes in the middle of coverage that he couldn’t cover up. He’s just not that good!  Hunter Hillenmeyer, as fundamentally sound as he is, is not a starting linebacker without Brian Urlacher next to him to cover for his lack of athleticism. Poor Lance Briggs had to try and make every tackle because no one else could. We need a fast linebacker next to Briggs who can make plays and neither Roach nor Hillenmeyer can do that.

Pass rush. Actually, I should say lack of pass rush. An offensive line with guys named Evan Mathis, Kyle Cook, and Dennis Roland should not be able to contain a defensive line coached up by Rod Marinelli. Or is Marinelli really not the genius everyone says he is? The only defensive lineman who did anything yesterday was Alex Brown. And I don’t want to hear, “But we didn’t have Tommie Harris”. So what? Harris isn’t our best defensive tackle. He’s played terrible this year when he has played. Our cover-2 4-man rush does not work. Did we blitz at all yesterday? I honestly can’t remember one blitz. Palmer had all the time in the world to beat our 10 year outdated coverage schemes.

What about our newly acquired defensive end? Gaines Adams didn’t even play until it was garbage time. Throw him out there and let’s see what he can do. Nobody else did anything.

On to coverage schemes. I still don’t know why we don’t play physical press coverage. We have big, strong, fast corners. We have safety help over the top. Jam those fuckers and disrupt their routes! It’s obvious that playing 10 yards off the line hasn’t been working for us for a long time. Do our coaches actually watch the games?

Why is Kevin Payne our nickle back? He’s not a coverage guy, never has been and never will be. How can we constantly allow receivers to get behind our safeties when the line of scrimmage is the 10 yard line? Payne blows coverage on almost every play. If memory serves me correct, we have a guy named Corey Graham on our bench. He started and played pretty decently as a corner last season. I remember watching him make a ton of plays this preseason at corner, safety, and nickle. Why isn’t he our nickle back?

The Bengals offense had us on our heels from the start and we could not figure out how to stop them. An NFL team should never be allowed to score on all of their possessions in the first half. Lovie’s schemes are outdated and uncreative. He didn’t once try to disguise what we were doing. Palmer chewed us up with surgical precision and we just lied there and took it. Pathetic. Absolutely pathetic!

On to offense. Wow. We were just as bad if not worse on offense. I still don’t understand why Frank Omiyale is still starting at left guard. I recall a run play in the first quarter where he was lined up against our old buddy Tank Johnson. At the snap he completely ignored his responsibility and ran 5 yards looking for a linebacker. He didn’t even try to chip Tank who then proceeded to stuff Forte for a loss. I never thought I’d say this, but we have actually found a guard who’s worse than Terrence Metcalf. I just don’t understand why he’s still starting.

Here’s a quote from Ron Turner regarding the offensive line, “We’re not going to overreact on it. Obviously, it’s not where we want it to be, but it’s going to get there. We’ve got a lot of confidence in our offensive line and our running backs and what we’re doing. We just have to keep doing it, and it’ll get there.”

I honestly think the biggest problem with our coaching staff as a whole, especially Turner and Lovie, is that their egos are just too big. If something doesn’t work after 6 games, fix it! Turner’s so confident he’s right that he refuses to even examine other possibilities. How many blocks does Omiyale have to blow before Turner gets it? GET JOSH BEEKMAN IN THERE!!! They ate us alive with nothing more than a vanilla 4-man rush, minus their best pass rusher in Antwan Odom. How can 5 and 6 man protection schemes not be able to completely block 4 guys? Cutler was rushed on almost every throw, yet again.

Another example of our poor coaching is the run game. If you compare us to the Houston Texans you’ll see what I’m talking about. The first few games they couldn’t seem to get Steve Slaton going. Their run blocking was off and Slaton couldn’t find any holes. So, instead of doing the same old thing that obviously wasn’t working they altered their strategy. They started utilizing the short screen game as an extension to the running game. What happened? Slaton started getting yards and moving the ball. The diversification of that offense allowed the run blocking to open up because now teams are unsure of where Slaton’s going. That has also opened up more passing windows for Matt Schaub to throw through. What is it going to take for our coaches to FIX THE PROBLEM?

We cannot continue to put Jay Cutler in these situations where he has to chuck the ball and try to make plays. Our o-line isn’t nearly good enough to provide him enough protection. Our receivers are clearly not good enough to truly scare defenses. Turner is not nearly smart enough to figure out how to get the ball in Greg Olsen’s hands. It’s painful to watch, truly painful.

On special teams it looked to me like all of the sudden Johnny Knox isn’t so confident. He didn’t seem to run with any authority on kick offs yesterday. I think it has more to do with our blocking than his running. The media can tout Dave Toub as one of the best special teams coaches all they want, but I don’t buy it. He’s just as bad as the rest of our staff.

Someone once commented on this blog a while back that he’s sick of my “the sky is falling” attitude. I’ve got news for you, the sky is falling! Actually, it’s already fallen. Believe me, I really don’t want to bitch and moan about my beloved Chicago Bears. I would love to write a post with nothing but compliments. I just don’t know how much more of this incompetent coaching I can handle. Week in and week out our players are not fully prepared for the task that lies ahead. Our coaches don’t adjust to the other team’s strengths and weaknesses. We cannot win a game unless they make more mistakes than we do. I really think it may have something to do with Lovie being a Texan. How many Texans in roles of authority “stay the course”. Both Bush’s did and look what that’s done for us. Lovie, here’s some advice. DON”T STAY THE COURSE!

Bring on Da-rrick Brooks

With Pisa Tinoisamoa out for the year and a banged up Hunter Hillenmeyer I surely hope we finally realize that we need to sign Derrick Brooks. I just don’t feel comfortable with Nick Roach and Jamar Williams as full-time starters. Not to mention their back-ups would be Tim Shaw and Darrell McClover. Not good.

If Hillenmeyer could stay healthy we’d be alright, but there’s certainly no guarantee of that happening. I know Roach has made some pretty nice plays in the middle, but anyone who watched last weeks game against the Falcons could see that he just can’t make the right calls for the defense on a consistent basis. Our guys were confused and mis-aligned much of the final three quarters.

We could play Brooks at any of the linebacker spots and he would perform. He is getting a little older, but he had a pretty good year last year and keeps himself in fantastic shape. He’s been one of the best cover-linebackers and tacklers in the game for the past decade and has seen it all. Let him align the D from either the middle or the strong-side with Hillenmeyer and Roach battling for the other spot.

That would also keep Shaw and McClover at special teams where they belong. Can you imagine either of them having to play significantly on defense?

Cutler extended

Well, I guess it was only a matter of time before we extended Cutler’s contract. We got a pretty good deal out of it. Over the next five years he’ll average approximately $10 million per season. Not bad for a top-flight passer. Now, if we could only get him an offensive coordinator.

Week 6 recap: Redzone choke!

I am so sick and tired of watching us get outcoached game in and game out. We did a great job, defensively at least, in the first quarter only to see the Falcons make adjustments in the 2nd while we don’t.

First off, I have to give props to our defensive tackles. They shut down Michael Turner beautifully. Marcus Harrison was very sturdy in the middle, as was Anthony Adams. I’ll be the first to say it, Tommie Harris is our third best defensive tackle. I didn’t notice him make one single play or take the block that let someone else make a play at all last night. Harrison and Adams look much stronger than he does and probably don’t make as much money combined. Kudos to them playing their asses off.

I also thought the linebackers played really well in the first quarter. Then, all of the sudden, in the second the Falcons made some adjustments and our linebackers got extremely confused. I think it’s a combination of Nick Roach not calling the proper audible at the line and Lovie Smith just being Lovie Smith (ie- not that good of a coach). When we blitzed early it looked like we could stop them all game long. Why did we stop blitzing? I may be wrong, but I can’t recall one single blitz called the entire second half. With minimal pressure on Matt Ryan and confused linebackers, not to mention blown coverages by our safeties, we had no chance. The score very well could have easily been a lot worse for us.

As for the safety play, we clearly do not have anyone capable of covering the deep middle of the field. How on Earth did we allow Tony Gonzalez, arguably the best tight end in the history of the NFL, get behind three defenders when their on the 10 yard line? After watching replays it was Kevin Payne’s fault. Nick Roach had the under coverage while Payne should have had the over. A different receiver ran from the right slot out to the flats where Matty Ice did a pump-fake drawing both Payne and Danieal Manning towards the decoy allowing Gonzalez to get behind all three defenders. However, pump fake aside, they way our guys were lined up it looked to me like Manning had the short route covered and Payne completely blew his assignment. neither safety could get back in time to help Roach. Yeah, let’s let our third-string middle linebacker try to cover Gonzo all by himself. Great move safeties!

On to our offense. Actually, I hesitate to use the word offense as we clearly don’t have one. Again we only gave Forte 15 runs. Again they were all, I repeat, ALL straight up the gut where our worst blocking is taking place. Forte looked really slow and hesitant last night. I’m not sure if he’s still not 100% healthy or if he’s just lost complete confidence in the line. I’ll go with a combination of the two. One thing I do know is that Ron Turner has to get more creative with our run game. When we have a guy like Frank Omiyale who has consistently shown us that he is not capable of playing guard we have to quit running straight up the gut! We ran one play off the tackle and that was an 8 yard gain by Garrett Wolfe. Why don’t we run our starting running back out there? Why don’t we pull lineman since they clearly can’t block man-up?

Also, the only time we ran the ball on consecutive plays was when Forte fumbled at the goal-line twice. Both times he had defenders on him before he could even get going. We should have run on that first down when we lined up with both the fullback and tight end in the backfield with Forte. Why try to pass when you’re lined up strong like that?

One last note on the run game, or lack thereof. Why did we only run once on first down all game? Aren’t we a team that “runs off the bus”? Clearly we haven’t been for as long as Ron Turner has been calling our plays.

On to Devin Hester who made one really boneheaded move that could have changed the game. His 4th quarter 34 yard reception should have been a touchdown. I say should have because instead of running like a wide receiver with ball he ran like a punt returner. After securing the catch and making his first move he had a step on both the corner that was covering him as well as the safety help coming from the middle of the field. Instead of turning up field and exploding through the little crease he had he decided to cut left and run out-of-bounds after gaining only 6 more yards. THERE WAS NOBODY BETWEEN HIM AND THE END ZONE! What the fuck was he thinking?

Our o-line also played poorly in pass protection. I do have to say that Orlando Pace did a pretty good job for 3 quarters, but tired out in the 4th. That last sack they had was a straight 4-man rush. Not one of our 5 defensive lineman made a block. How can 5 guys all miss blocks on a straight 4-man rush? The very next play, a three-man stunt that we also couldn’t block. Our o-line sucks! We need to get Omiyale out of the lineup and put Josh Beekman in. Beekman’s not a stud, but he at least gets in the way of his defender. I saw one play where Omiyale missed blocks on all three levels. All three levels! He missed the lineman, the linebacker, and the safety. Great offseason pick-up Angelo! Great decision to start him when he was way outplayed in the preseason Lovie!

Finally, our special teams sucked! I find it funny that all week I read articles on multiple websites how Dave Toub might be considered for a head coaching gig in the offseason because of his wonderful special teams coaching. What I saw yesterday was really good return men running with horrible coverage schemes. Except for a few returns, which were all on good running and not good blocking, there were 4 or 5 red shirts around the returner on every punt. We also couldn’t stop Eric Weems. Who? Not to mention having 12 men on the field. Toub, coach your boys up!

All in all I am surprised the Falcons didn’t score more against us. We clearly were not prepared for this game at all. What makes it especially frustrating is that we had 2 weeks to get ready for this one and we were confused for 3 quarters. I’m sorry, I love Da Bears as much as anyone, but our coaching staff just does not get it. The cover-2 without blitz schemes does not work anymore as teams have had over 10 years to figure it out. Ron Turner does not understand that you absolutely have to establish the run game by running to different spots before chucking the ball. And none of our coaches have shown that they’re capable of making half-time adjustments to exploit the opposition’s weaknesses. If it weren’t for 4 missed field goals we’d be 1-4. We’ve played like a 1-4 team. Come on coaches, wake up and smell the pigskin!!!

Has Angelo gone mad?

I was sitting in a theatre tonight watching Food, Inc. when I got a text from a buddy of mine letting me know about Angelo’s dumb ass move today. I don’t know what pissed me off more, the trade or how our food industry is royally screwing us and the environment for profit. I think the trade pisses me off more.

Here’s a guy who can’t defend the run, can’t rush the passer, and plays a position that is one of our strengths. Alex Brown, Ade Ogunleye, Israel Idonije, and Mark Anderson comprise a extremely talented set of defensive ends. That doesn’t include Henry Melton who has considerable skills for Marinelli develop in the coming years. Why do we need to waste a 2nd round pick in a draft that we are already without our 1st rounder for a complete bust?

It baffles my mind really. I know that Ogunleye and Anderson are both in the last years of their contracts. Surely we can find a way to re-sign at least one of them if not both. Personally, I think Idonije can become one of the best left ends in the game with his size, athleticism, toughness, long ass arms, and quickness. So if it’s future depth Angelo’s concerned with, he shouldn’t be since Melton will be healthy next year. Plus, we could always use a mid-round pick on a guy who can give us 10 tackles and 1 sack in three games, the same outstanding production Adams has so far this year, and use the 2nd rounder on a position of more immediate need.

Our two biggest weaknesses are offensive line and a free safety who can cover the deep middle. Next year’s draft is shaping up to be top-heavy at those two positions. A guy like Kyle Calloway, offensive tackle from Iowa, or Nate Allen, free safety from South Florida, would have been fantastic 2nd round picks for Da Bears. Now those options are gone. Instead we spent a 2nd rounder on a bust. A guy that an 0-5 team didn’t want. I don’t know what his salary is, but he was the 4th overall pick in 2007 so he’s probably making a ton of money. A ton of money wasted!

It just doesn’t make sense to me. Can someone please explain?

Week 4 Recap: Thank goodness we played the Lions

It’s hard to bitch and moan when your team doubles up the scoreboard on the opposition, but I am me so I do have some gripes. But, let me first say that once our defensive line clamped down on the Lions there was no way they were going to beat us.

That being said, how the hell can we allow the Lions of all teams to score 14 points in the first quarter? Nick Roach is a very good back-up linebacker, but those tight ends had their way in the middle of the field. We also never should have allowed a banged up Kevin Smith to score two touchdowns. Aside from Forte’s 61 yard scamper we looked terrible in the first quarter.

We did calm down and play pretty good football from their on out though. I am still very concerned about our run game. If you take out Forte’s 61 yarder and his 37 yard touchdown, both of which were off-tackle right side, he only got 23 yards on 10 carries the rest of the game. Pathetic! Why on earth does Ron Turner insist on constantly running the ball straight up the gut when our interior line clearly cannot block? Frank Omiyale might be the worst guard we’ve had since Terrence Metcalf played for us. He clearly cannot block defensive tackles to save Jay Cutler’s or Matt Forte’s lives! Orlando Pace also had another poor game. If Cutler wasn’t so damn good and moble he would have gotten killed with all of the pressure the left side allowed. Either coach those two up or get them out!

I’m also worried about our WR depth now. If Hester and Knox miss any time we’re in big trouble. Good thing we have a bye next week to get them healthy. As well as Hunter Hillenmeyer who is clearly a better MLB than Nick Roach.

I’m also a little concerned with the lack of interceptions from our secondary. I see the Darren Sharper picks off a pass or two every game for the Saints. Why did we sign Josh Bullocks instead of him?

All in all though, we murdered the Lions and played a pretty good game all around. I hope our guys come out of the bye week completely healthy and ready to run and intercept. GO BEARS!