I wouldn't have been surprised if you'd told me the Bears were going to win this game by 17 points. I'd have been pleasantly surprised, but not stunned if you told me they'd put up 40 points. The way these things played out, though, was interesting to say the least.
Anyone who has read this site for years knows I generally bemoan the crowd that constantly looks to point out how shitty the Bears played in games they won, or bitches about a defense that gives up "too many yards" while getting a ton of turnovers and not giving up that many points. I can't however, say that I feel good about everything, even at 3-0 and coming off a big win.
The defense is absolutely concerning to me. I am glad the turnovers have kept up, and their talent at converting those turnovers into scores is undeniable. The fact of the matter is, however, that these Bears are giving up too many yards and getting very little of a pass rush without blitzing. The lack of pressure from the front four has left the team far too vulnerable to big plays, something that was unheard of for years. It's one thing for the team to give up 350 yards with a big lead and keeping receivers in front of them. It's another thing when those yards are actually coming on 3rd and long, or in meaningful situations. For all of this to change the defense is going to have to figure out a way to get pressure with just their front four, and that's not going to be easy to do without Henry Melton, even if he was struggling.
However, I'm not going to be the buzzkill. There's a lot to be excited about here. This team clearly has yet to play their best game, and they are 3-0 and in first place in the division. The offense played far too conservative for too much of the game, even though I understand that they were trying to protect the lead and avoid mistakes. When it counted, however, and with horrifying flashbacks to John Shoop and others in my mind, they made big plays to clinch the win. Faith restored. Hopefully we'll continue to see them taking steps forward in weeks to come.
THE GOOD
Major Wright: He had his questionable moments in coverage like seemingly every member of the secondary tonight, but he made some nice plays in the run game with 7 tackles, a pass defensed, and a huge pick six.
DJ Williams: He had two huge sacks, included a strip, on excellent blitzes. We will admit we were wrong if you keep this up, DJ.
Earl Bennett: Holy shit, that touchdown catch. BBE!
Matt Forte: He had some struggles outside of his big 55 yard run, but still ended with 87 yards rushing and 24 yards receiving, along with a rushing TD.
Jay Cutler: The numbers are certainly unimpressive, with Trestman calling a very conservative (too conservative in my opinion) game once the Bears went up 24-3. The pass protection was certainly shakier than it's been yet this year, with 2 sacks allowed and a ton of pressure surrendered in the 3rd quarter. Despite all of this, Jay avoided mistakes throughout the night, fought his own instinct to force plays downfield, and then made three huge plays in a row once Trestman loosened the reins late. His scramble was brilliant, although I'm not going to celebrate him risking injury by lowering the boom (even if my meatball side wants to high five him). The throw to Marshall was amazing, and Brandon himself said it best: "he threw it 40, 50 yards back shoulder. I've never seen anyone do that." Then the TD pass to Bennett to ice the game was as brilliant a throw as I've ever seen him make. I hesitate to say he's completely "fixed", but he sure seems like a different guy.
THE BAD:
Pass Rush: it's still lacking. The blitzes helped early, but as tends to happen once the Steelers picked them up it was big play time for Ben. The DL was better tonight, with several pressures and 3 or 4 sacks Roethlisberger escaped, but they still were not consistently making life uncomfortable for him. This is now a major concern, and I'm not sure how they can avoid shootouts with the QBs coming up on the schedule unless they can get pressure rushing four.
Chris Conte: He bit badly on a pump fake that led to a huge gain for Brown, then failed to get over in time to help Jennings on the big TD toss. He also missed a couple of tackles.
Blitz pick-ups: They were bad, and it allowed the Steelers to shut down the offense for a long stretch.
THE UGLY:
Injuries: Tillman very clearly struggled with keeping up with Brown with his knee bothering him, and then went out with a groin injury. He's one guy they can't afford to lose. The Melton injury looked bad, and while it may not seem like a loss with the way he's struggled so far this year, it's pretty upsetting. I'd have liked to have seen him get the chance to round back into last year's form. Hopefully Nate Collins is ready for the big job.
That's all for now. This was not as easy as the scoreboard makes it look, nor as ugly as it felt in those tense moments there early in the fourth quarter. Winning on the road against a good defense (and make no mistake, the Steelers are not as good as they've been but are far from bad on defense) is never easy, and the Bears certainly have struggled in that respect in recent years. 3-0 is something to celebrate. Go Bears.
Showing posts with label Earl Bennett. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Earl Bennett. Show all posts
Sunday, September 22, 2013
Thursday, August 22, 2013
Does Cutler Target Marshall Too Much?
It's a common refrain among Bears fans, media, and the usual Cutler critics that Jay targets Brandon Marshall too much. This seems a pretty fair assessment when you consider that Marshall represented over 40% of the Bears targets last year, and 46% of their total passing yardage last year. Add in the fact that Jay targeted Marshall on all 5 of his passes in the second preseason game last week, and the fear remains that Phil Emery's big offseason addition of Martellus Bennett, or the continued development of Alshon Jeffery, is all for naught: Jay will continue to look Brandon's way on every play.
Is this true? Well, the overall numbers from 2012 certainly support this hypothesis, as I said above. I think the truth, however, isn't quite as bad as many people think.
For one, when Brandon Marshall and Jay Cutler were together in Denver from 2007-2008, Jay attempted over 1083 passes, and completed 681 of them. Unfortunately, targeting data is unavailable from those years, but we do know that Marshall came down with 206 of those passes. That means Marshall accounted for roughly 30% of Jay's completions, a fairly standard number for a number one receiver, and well below the 41% of Bears completions that Marshall accounted for last year.
I can feel Iggins! eyes rolling as I've brought up the 2007-2008 Broncos again, but they're not really the crux of my argument. That was merely to establish that 30% of targets or total completions for a #1 receiver is a fairly healthy #. Consider that Tom Brady's top target last year, Wes Welker, got 27.5% of Brady's targets and 29% of Brady's completions in a much-more diverse offense than whatever the hell it was Mike Tice thought he was doing last year.
There are two things to consider when arguing that Jay targeted Brandon too much last year: injuries and incompetence, the former in terms of Earl Bennet and Alshon Jeffery, and the latter notably in the form of two individuals named Kellen Davis and Devin Hester. In the first two games last year when Jay had his entire depth chart to throw to (Marshall, Jeffery, Bennett, Hester, Forte, and Davis), Marshall accounted for 32% of Jay's targets and 34% of his completions. Slightly higher than their old numbers in Denver, but still reasonable.
In week three, Matt Forte was out with an injury, the first of the year for the offense, but Jay still distributed the ball fairly evenly, targeting Marshall on 11 of his 31 passes while targeting Jeffery on 7, Bennett, Hester, and Davis on 9 total, and Bush on 4.
Week four, however, is where the trouble started. Earl Bennett missed the game with an injury, and Jay targeted Hester and Davis with a combined eight passes, while targeting Marshall with eight as well. Marshall caught seven of his eight targets, while Hester and Davis caught 6/8. Balance was good, everyone was happy.
Over the next eight games, however, either Bennett or Jeffery (and sometimes both) were out of the lineup. In that time, with Hester and Davis now serving as two of Jay's top four targets, Marshall's target % shot all the way up 47.5%. The reason? Well my theory is that it had something to do with Davis catching a very mediocre 8 of 19 targets (42% catch rate, and I know you're thinking "holy shit, was it ever that high?") while Hester, who, to his credit, caught 13 of 20 balls, racked up just a mediocre 11 yards a catch in that span and had several absolutely brutal drops. Compared with the absolutely masterful performance of Marshall in that time period (he caught an absurd 63% of those targets while averaging 12.4 YPC, in case you needed me to remind you that Brandon Marshall is fucking awesome), it makes sense that Jay said "to hell with balance." By the end of the season, the ineptitude of Hester and Davis led Jay to simply ignore them, as the two of them combined for just two targets in the last three games.
It's worth noting that Forte's % of Jay's targets remained pretty consistent throughout the season at about 12% (which is too damn low, but I think we all know Tice is to blame for that more than Jay), and that in the five games where Jay had all three of his top three wideouts, he targeted the Jeffery and Bennett duo (39%) just as often as he did Marshall (39%).
So does Jay target Marshall too much? It's hard to say that when it works so damn well. It's pretty clear that for the Bears to have a healthy passing game in 2013, however, he is going to have to spread the ball around. I don't think it's fundamentally against Jay's nature to do so. He did it quite well in Denver, and he was always pretty even-handed with all of his shitty receivers in the years before Marshall came to Chicago, so I think he's capable of it. I just think crucifying him based on last year seems a bit harsh, since he clearly started with good intentions and the stats show that he was more than willing to throw to people who weren't Kellen Davis and Devin Hester.
The key for balance in 2013, then, is not some fundamental change in Jay's approach, as some have suggested, so much as it is important that his other receivers stay healthy, his tight end maybe try catching more than one out of every three passes thrown his way, and Marc Trestman hopefully understanding that Matt Forte can do some beautiful things downfield if you let him try.
Is this true? Well, the overall numbers from 2012 certainly support this hypothesis, as I said above. I think the truth, however, isn't quite as bad as many people think.
For one, when Brandon Marshall and Jay Cutler were together in Denver from 2007-2008, Jay attempted over 1083 passes, and completed 681 of them. Unfortunately, targeting data is unavailable from those years, but we do know that Marshall came down with 206 of those passes. That means Marshall accounted for roughly 30% of Jay's completions, a fairly standard number for a number one receiver, and well below the 41% of Bears completions that Marshall accounted for last year.
I can feel Iggins! eyes rolling as I've brought up the 2007-2008 Broncos again, but they're not really the crux of my argument. That was merely to establish that 30% of targets or total completions for a #1 receiver is a fairly healthy #. Consider that Tom Brady's top target last year, Wes Welker, got 27.5% of Brady's targets and 29% of Brady's completions in a much-more diverse offense than whatever the hell it was Mike Tice thought he was doing last year.
There are two things to consider when arguing that Jay targeted Brandon too much last year: injuries and incompetence, the former in terms of Earl Bennet and Alshon Jeffery, and the latter notably in the form of two individuals named Kellen Davis and Devin Hester. In the first two games last year when Jay had his entire depth chart to throw to (Marshall, Jeffery, Bennett, Hester, Forte, and Davis), Marshall accounted for 32% of Jay's targets and 34% of his completions. Slightly higher than their old numbers in Denver, but still reasonable.
In week three, Matt Forte was out with an injury, the first of the year for the offense, but Jay still distributed the ball fairly evenly, targeting Marshall on 11 of his 31 passes while targeting Jeffery on 7, Bennett, Hester, and Davis on 9 total, and Bush on 4.
Week four, however, is where the trouble started. Earl Bennett missed the game with an injury, and Jay targeted Hester and Davis with a combined eight passes, while targeting Marshall with eight as well. Marshall caught seven of his eight targets, while Hester and Davis caught 6/8. Balance was good, everyone was happy.
Over the next eight games, however, either Bennett or Jeffery (and sometimes both) were out of the lineup. In that time, with Hester and Davis now serving as two of Jay's top four targets, Marshall's target % shot all the way up 47.5%. The reason? Well my theory is that it had something to do with Davis catching a very mediocre 8 of 19 targets (42% catch rate, and I know you're thinking "holy shit, was it ever that high?") while Hester, who, to his credit, caught 13 of 20 balls, racked up just a mediocre 11 yards a catch in that span and had several absolutely brutal drops. Compared with the absolutely masterful performance of Marshall in that time period (he caught an absurd 63% of those targets while averaging 12.4 YPC, in case you needed me to remind you that Brandon Marshall is fucking awesome), it makes sense that Jay said "to hell with balance." By the end of the season, the ineptitude of Hester and Davis led Jay to simply ignore them, as the two of them combined for just two targets in the last three games.
It's worth noting that Forte's % of Jay's targets remained pretty consistent throughout the season at about 12% (which is too damn low, but I think we all know Tice is to blame for that more than Jay), and that in the five games where Jay had all three of his top three wideouts, he targeted the Jeffery and Bennett duo (39%) just as often as he did Marshall (39%).
So does Jay target Marshall too much? It's hard to say that when it works so damn well. It's pretty clear that for the Bears to have a healthy passing game in 2013, however, he is going to have to spread the ball around. I don't think it's fundamentally against Jay's nature to do so. He did it quite well in Denver, and he was always pretty even-handed with all of his shitty receivers in the years before Marshall came to Chicago, so I think he's capable of it. I just think crucifying him based on last year seems a bit harsh, since he clearly started with good intentions and the stats show that he was more than willing to throw to people who weren't Kellen Davis and Devin Hester.
The key for balance in 2013, then, is not some fundamental change in Jay's approach, as some have suggested, so much as it is important that his other receivers stay healthy, his tight end maybe try catching more than one out of every three passes thrown his way, and Marc Trestman hopefully understanding that Matt Forte can do some beautiful things downfield if you let him try.
Wednesday, March 27, 2013
2012 Bears Position Reviews: Wide Receivers
In terms of total talent, the Bears wide receiver corp improved vastly from 2011-2012. In terms of production, however, the bump in total production wasn't quite what we'd hoped, with the wide receivers combining for 197 receptions for 2526 YDs and 17 TDs in 2012 vs. 159 receptions for 2369 YDs and 9 TDs in 2011. Obviously the hope is for better protection, play-calling, and most of all health from Brandon Marshall's comrades next year. I also wouldn't be surprised to see them add a speedier alternative at the slot.
#15 Brandon Marshall: 16 games, 16 games started, 118 receptions for 1508 YDs, 11 TDs, 12.8 YPC, 94.3 YPG.
Brandon Marshall is a great football player. It's amazing to see a guy like that in a Bears uniform. I never thought it possible. He can turn short passes into long gains. He can gain separation downfield and pull down desperate heaves that seem utterly hopeless at the start. He blocks with intensity and effectiveness. He is a complete receiver, and he is a Bear. That happened.
He came to the Bears with a couple of knocks, though. They said he was a headcase, a team cancer, and that he drops too damn many balls. In his time in Chicago he's been up front and honest about his personality disorder, he's been an advocate for proper mental health care for athletes and anyone else who struggles with issues like his, and he's shown nothing but respect and dedication towards his teammates, at least in the public eye. He is, without a doubt, a steal. As for the drops? Well, yes. There were several, and they sucked. But he brought in 118 f*&king passes, so lay off him, strawman-Brandon Marshall hater that I just invented.
#17 Alshon Jeffery: 10 games, 6 games started, 24 receptions for 367 YDs, 3 TDs, 15.3 YPC, 36.7 YPG
Alshon also came into the NFL with some knocks as well. For one, he was fat. That fortunately did not become an issue this year, even when he was sidelined for long stretches during the season.
The other and somewhat related knock was that he was too slow to be a downfield threat in the NFL. That issue seemed to be put to bed in his first game, when he caught a 42 yard laser from Cutler in the back of the end zone against the Colts. For the season he led the Bears with a very good 15.3 average per reception. Like Marshall, Jeffery creates big plays by using his body and ability to create separation to fight for jump balls. Outside of one miserable game against Academy Award-winning actor Sam Shields, Jeffery was everything we could have hoped for out of a rookie wide receiver when he was on the field.
The problem, of course, was that he missed much of the season with an injury and often seemed out of sync with Jay when he came back. Hopefully, considering his lack of an injury history in college, this will all be behind him next year and he can enjoy a full season as the starting wide receiver the team needs him to be, rather than descending into the black hole of squandered potential that swallowed up guys like Mark Bradley and David Terrell.
#23 Devin Hester: 15 games, 5 games started, 23 receptions for 242 YDs, 1 TD, 10.5 YPC, 16.1 YPG
Sigh. Despite what some might think, the Devin Hester experiment at wide receiver wasn't necessarily destined to fail. Hell, in 2009 he was on pace for over 1,000 yards receiving before he got hurt, although he regressed steadily after that. The problem wasn't that the Bears tried to make Devin Hester a receiver. It's only natural to want to find ways to get the ball in the hands of a dynamic player. The problem was always this bullshit "Devin Hester is a number one receiver" bit. Even after they abandoned that nonsense by acquiring Marshall and Jeffery, there was still an unwarranted emphasis on making Devin something special. He was still starting games on the outside long after it was obvious that Jeffery and Bennett were both better suited for it. In short, the problem was that the Bears tried to make Devin Hester a great receiver, when he was always more suited to be a role player.
Now, that's not to say there's still a place for the Hester Package. The Hester Package was stupid to begin with. Hester should never have been the focus of anything. They should have made him a slot receiver and simply another read, just like everyone else. In those situations, with matchups he could have won inside the numbers, perhaps he'd have been something useful. Instead he was awkwardly forced to run bubble-screens and other gimmicks that they telegraphed well in advance. The Devin Hester Package was, in effect, the Poochie the Dog of the Bears playbook.
Then again, a guy who has never really mastered route-running and has dropped almost 12% of all catchable balls thrown his way over the last four years deserves plenty of blame for his own failures as well. The main takeaway is that the experiment is over, and it was a failure.
#80 Earl Bennett: 12 games, 4 games started, 29 receptions for 375 YDs, 2 TDs, 12.9 YPC, 31.3 YPG
My love for the BBE is well-stated. When healthy, he's a sure handed (tops in the NFL among all NFL receivers with a meager 3.15% drop rate from 2009-2011), reliable slot-receiver who is nearly unstoppable on third down.You know where this is going, don't you?
Earl is, sadly, pretty fragile. He's missed nine games the last two seasons with an assortment of leg, arm, and chest injuries. His injury this year really seemed to throw him off, as he seemed uncomfortable in Tice's offense, and, most uncharacteristically, he dropped several passes. In the end, Bennett's numbers were disappointing for the second straight year (although he had a pretty good excuse for his lack of production after Jay went down in 2011). Hopefully he can reverse the trend of declining health and production next year, or we'll have wasted a good nickname for nothing.
#14 Eric Weems: 12 games, 1 game started, 2 receptions for 27 YDs, 0 TDs, 13.5 YPC, 2.3 YPG
I'm still not sure why the hell Eric Weems and Devin Hester are both on the roster. If Hester's not going to be a receiver at all next year, that leaves over $3.5 million in cap room dedicated to two pure return specialists in a league that's practically eliminated half of the return game with the new kickoff rules. Something's gotta give here.
As for Weems' play in 2012, well, he was a good blocker when he did play at receiver, and he caught half of the four passes thrown his way all season. So, that was nice.
#18 Dane Sanzenbacher: 4 games, 0 games started, 1 reception for 7 YDs, 0 TDs, 7.0 YPC, 1.8 YPG
Sanzenfucker is gone. Let us not speak of him again.
That's all for now. Next time: struggling to come up with the right combination of swear words to describe Kellen Davis.
#15 Brandon Marshall: 16 games, 16 games started, 118 receptions for 1508 YDs, 11 TDs, 12.8 YPC, 94.3 YPG.
Brandon Marshall is a great football player. It's amazing to see a guy like that in a Bears uniform. I never thought it possible. He can turn short passes into long gains. He can gain separation downfield and pull down desperate heaves that seem utterly hopeless at the start. He blocks with intensity and effectiveness. He is a complete receiver, and he is a Bear. That happened.
He came to the Bears with a couple of knocks, though. They said he was a headcase, a team cancer, and that he drops too damn many balls. In his time in Chicago he's been up front and honest about his personality disorder, he's been an advocate for proper mental health care for athletes and anyone else who struggles with issues like his, and he's shown nothing but respect and dedication towards his teammates, at least in the public eye. He is, without a doubt, a steal. As for the drops? Well, yes. There were several, and they sucked. But he brought in 118 f*&king passes, so lay off him, strawman-Brandon Marshall hater that I just invented.
#17 Alshon Jeffery: 10 games, 6 games started, 24 receptions for 367 YDs, 3 TDs, 15.3 YPC, 36.7 YPG
Alshon also came into the NFL with some knocks as well. For one, he was fat. That fortunately did not become an issue this year, even when he was sidelined for long stretches during the season.
The other and somewhat related knock was that he was too slow to be a downfield threat in the NFL. That issue seemed to be put to bed in his first game, when he caught a 42 yard laser from Cutler in the back of the end zone against the Colts. For the season he led the Bears with a very good 15.3 average per reception. Like Marshall, Jeffery creates big plays by using his body and ability to create separation to fight for jump balls. Outside of one miserable game against Academy Award-winning actor Sam Shields, Jeffery was everything we could have hoped for out of a rookie wide receiver when he was on the field.
The problem, of course, was that he missed much of the season with an injury and often seemed out of sync with Jay when he came back. Hopefully, considering his lack of an injury history in college, this will all be behind him next year and he can enjoy a full season as the starting wide receiver the team needs him to be, rather than descending into the black hole of squandered potential that swallowed up guys like Mark Bradley and David Terrell.
#23 Devin Hester: 15 games, 5 games started, 23 receptions for 242 YDs, 1 TD, 10.5 YPC, 16.1 YPG
Sigh. Despite what some might think, the Devin Hester experiment at wide receiver wasn't necessarily destined to fail. Hell, in 2009 he was on pace for over 1,000 yards receiving before he got hurt, although he regressed steadily after that. The problem wasn't that the Bears tried to make Devin Hester a receiver. It's only natural to want to find ways to get the ball in the hands of a dynamic player. The problem was always this bullshit "Devin Hester is a number one receiver" bit. Even after they abandoned that nonsense by acquiring Marshall and Jeffery, there was still an unwarranted emphasis on making Devin something special. He was still starting games on the outside long after it was obvious that Jeffery and Bennett were both better suited for it. In short, the problem was that the Bears tried to make Devin Hester a great receiver, when he was always more suited to be a role player.
Now, that's not to say there's still a place for the Hester Package. The Hester Package was stupid to begin with. Hester should never have been the focus of anything. They should have made him a slot receiver and simply another read, just like everyone else. In those situations, with matchups he could have won inside the numbers, perhaps he'd have been something useful. Instead he was awkwardly forced to run bubble-screens and other gimmicks that they telegraphed well in advance. The Devin Hester Package was, in effect, the Poochie the Dog of the Bears playbook.
Then again, a guy who has never really mastered route-running and has dropped almost 12% of all catchable balls thrown his way over the last four years deserves plenty of blame for his own failures as well. The main takeaway is that the experiment is over, and it was a failure.
#80 Earl Bennett: 12 games, 4 games started, 29 receptions for 375 YDs, 2 TDs, 12.9 YPC, 31.3 YPG
My love for the BBE is well-stated. When healthy, he's a sure handed (tops in the NFL among all NFL receivers with a meager 3.15% drop rate from 2009-2011), reliable slot-receiver who is nearly unstoppable on third down.You know where this is going, don't you?
Earl is, sadly, pretty fragile. He's missed nine games the last two seasons with an assortment of leg, arm, and chest injuries. His injury this year really seemed to throw him off, as he seemed uncomfortable in Tice's offense, and, most uncharacteristically, he dropped several passes. In the end, Bennett's numbers were disappointing for the second straight year (although he had a pretty good excuse for his lack of production after Jay went down in 2011). Hopefully he can reverse the trend of declining health and production next year, or we'll have wasted a good nickname for nothing.
#14 Eric Weems: 12 games, 1 game started, 2 receptions for 27 YDs, 0 TDs, 13.5 YPC, 2.3 YPG
I'm still not sure why the hell Eric Weems and Devin Hester are both on the roster. If Hester's not going to be a receiver at all next year, that leaves over $3.5 million in cap room dedicated to two pure return specialists in a league that's practically eliminated half of the return game with the new kickoff rules. Something's gotta give here.
As for Weems' play in 2012, well, he was a good blocker when he did play at receiver, and he caught half of the four passes thrown his way all season. So, that was nice.
#18 Dane Sanzenbacher: 4 games, 0 games started, 1 reception for 7 YDs, 0 TDs, 7.0 YPC, 1.8 YPG
Sanzenfucker is gone. Let us not speak of him again.
That's all for now. Next time: struggling to come up with the right combination of swear words to describe Kellen Davis.
Sunday, September 9, 2012
Bears 41, Colts 21
Admit it, you were worried. Jay was 1-10 for 13 yards and a pick six. The offensive line had a sack and penalty on the first drive. It was all going to go horribly awry. We've seen this movie before! Every time they tell us the shiny toy will change things it just blows up in our faces.
Except... maybe not. Maybe these Bears are different. Because after that Jay Cutler was 20 of 25 for 320 yards and two TDs. Two glorious TDs to his shiny new toys, Brandon Marshall and Alshon Jeffery. New acquisition Michael Bush threw in two more, and, hey, Matt Forte's still here, and he's still awesome.
Maybe these Bears can score some points. Maybe these Bears are pretty good.
The breakdown;
THE GOOD:
The Offensive Line: I want to single these guys out, because the Bears were hammered all offseason long for their faith in the guys they had. Things looked ugly early, with a sack and penalty on the first drive, but they spent the rest of the game providing Cutler with the kinds of clean pockets he has rarely seen in Chicago, and he responded. They gave up just 1 sack the rest of the way and paved the way for 114 yards rushing and 3 rushing TDs from Bush and Forte. All told, the offense finished with 425 yards of offense and 41 pts, largely due to the guys up front. Let's hope this keeps up.
Jay Cutler: I've never seen Jay Cutler look as awful as he did on those first ten throws. Nor have I seen him look quite as dominant as he did afterward. The result? A final line of 20/35 (60%) for 333 yds (9.5 YPA) 2 TDs, 1 INT, and a sparkly 98.9 rating. His old rapport with Brandon Marshall clearly hadn't missed a step, and I can't remember anything in my life more beautiful than that laser 42 yard toss to Alshon Jeffery. Jay is back, people, and he may be better than ever.
Two-Headed RB Monster: Forte and Bush combined for 28 carries for 122 yds (4.4) and 3 TDs, and the Bears actually converted multiple times on short yardage. So. Much. Talent.
Brandon Marshall: Is this...is this what a wide receiver does? 9 receptions for 119 yards and a TD? Cutler hit Marshall repeatedly on slants, posts, comebacks, and one gorgeous back shoulder toss. Marshall created space and got open in the red zone for the Bears second TD of the game, and it's obvious that Cutler trusts him implicitly. He pulled in catch after catch despite double and even triple teams, and it's obvious that the attention he generated opened things up for Jeffery and the others. It was nice to have Cutler and Marshall justify the hype right away. Now they can just go play football.
Alshon Jeffery: For a guy who is supposedly fat and slow, Alshon sure got down quick on his 3 catches. He had a couple of nice catch and runs and then, well, you saw it, and it. was. awesome. He finished with 3 catches for 80 yards and TD.
Earl Bennett: The BBE threw in 3 receptions for 50 yards, all of them for first downs, two of them on third down, because he's a stone cold mother fucker. For the whole, the Bears wide receivers combined for 17 of Cutler's 21 completions for 276 yards, making it the most productive day for the Bears perimeter players since...maybe ever?
Henry Melton: The entire defensive line was disruptive all day, from Shea McClellin announcing his presence with an excellent hurry on 3rd down early in the game, to Julius Peppers making yet another awesome fumble recovery, to limiting the Colts to just 63 yards rushing (even Corey Wootton had his second career sack!), but Henry Melton stood out all day. He had 2 sacks late in the game after he'd keyed the entire defensive line for much of the afternoon. If HenMel can take advantage of lining up right next to Peppers and be the young Tommie Harris that he has the potential to be, look out.
Tim Jennings: After Tillman went out (God I hope he's ready to go for Green Bay), Jennings stepped up in a big way with 2 interceptions and a tipped ball that Conte picked off in the end zone. He was solid in coverage all day and really answered Lovie's challenge to generate more turnovers. Nice job, Tim. For the record, Kelvin Hayden played very well and may not be DOOM if he has to play in GB.
Brian Urlacher: He wasn't a huge factor, but, in the best of both worlds scenario, he played And the Bears were up big enough to pull him out early. Hope he knocked the rust off for Thursday.
THE BAD:
1st Quarter Offense: It never happened. Never. Happened.
Andrew Luck: The kid will be fine, and he held up well despite constant pressure, but I know I'm going to hear people fellate him (and Bears meatballs panic) over the 300 yards he put up, mostly after the Bears were up 34-14 and pulled Urlacher, Peppers, and Briggs. He threw 3 picks and mostly gained garbage time yardage. He looked completely ineffective before the Bears called off the dogs. Let's not crown his ass yet. Now RGIII....
Charles Tillman Leaving the Game: That's never good. Please let it be minor.
THE UGLY:
Nothing. Football is back, the Bears won big, and that offense is unlike anything we've ever had the privilege to watch. Life is good, man.
Go Bears. Hate Week begins....NOW.
Except... maybe not. Maybe these Bears are different. Because after that Jay Cutler was 20 of 25 for 320 yards and two TDs. Two glorious TDs to his shiny new toys, Brandon Marshall and Alshon Jeffery. New acquisition Michael Bush threw in two more, and, hey, Matt Forte's still here, and he's still awesome.
Maybe these Bears can score some points. Maybe these Bears are pretty good.
The breakdown;
THE GOOD:
The Offensive Line: I want to single these guys out, because the Bears were hammered all offseason long for their faith in the guys they had. Things looked ugly early, with a sack and penalty on the first drive, but they spent the rest of the game providing Cutler with the kinds of clean pockets he has rarely seen in Chicago, and he responded. They gave up just 1 sack the rest of the way and paved the way for 114 yards rushing and 3 rushing TDs from Bush and Forte. All told, the offense finished with 425 yards of offense and 41 pts, largely due to the guys up front. Let's hope this keeps up.
Jay Cutler: I've never seen Jay Cutler look as awful as he did on those first ten throws. Nor have I seen him look quite as dominant as he did afterward. The result? A final line of 20/35 (60%) for 333 yds (9.5 YPA) 2 TDs, 1 INT, and a sparkly 98.9 rating. His old rapport with Brandon Marshall clearly hadn't missed a step, and I can't remember anything in my life more beautiful than that laser 42 yard toss to Alshon Jeffery. Jay is back, people, and he may be better than ever.
Two-Headed RB Monster: Forte and Bush combined for 28 carries for 122 yds (4.4) and 3 TDs, and the Bears actually converted multiple times on short yardage. So. Much. Talent.
Brandon Marshall: Is this...is this what a wide receiver does? 9 receptions for 119 yards and a TD? Cutler hit Marshall repeatedly on slants, posts, comebacks, and one gorgeous back shoulder toss. Marshall created space and got open in the red zone for the Bears second TD of the game, and it's obvious that Cutler trusts him implicitly. He pulled in catch after catch despite double and even triple teams, and it's obvious that the attention he generated opened things up for Jeffery and the others. It was nice to have Cutler and Marshall justify the hype right away. Now they can just go play football.
Alshon Jeffery: For a guy who is supposedly fat and slow, Alshon sure got down quick on his 3 catches. He had a couple of nice catch and runs and then, well, you saw it, and it. was. awesome. He finished with 3 catches for 80 yards and TD.
Earl Bennett: The BBE threw in 3 receptions for 50 yards, all of them for first downs, two of them on third down, because he's a stone cold mother fucker. For the whole, the Bears wide receivers combined for 17 of Cutler's 21 completions for 276 yards, making it the most productive day for the Bears perimeter players since...maybe ever?
Henry Melton: The entire defensive line was disruptive all day, from Shea McClellin announcing his presence with an excellent hurry on 3rd down early in the game, to Julius Peppers making yet another awesome fumble recovery, to limiting the Colts to just 63 yards rushing (even Corey Wootton had his second career sack!), but Henry Melton stood out all day. He had 2 sacks late in the game after he'd keyed the entire defensive line for much of the afternoon. If HenMel can take advantage of lining up right next to Peppers and be the young Tommie Harris that he has the potential to be, look out.
Tim Jennings: After Tillman went out (God I hope he's ready to go for Green Bay), Jennings stepped up in a big way with 2 interceptions and a tipped ball that Conte picked off in the end zone. He was solid in coverage all day and really answered Lovie's challenge to generate more turnovers. Nice job, Tim. For the record, Kelvin Hayden played very well and may not be DOOM if he has to play in GB.
Brian Urlacher: He wasn't a huge factor, but, in the best of both worlds scenario, he played And the Bears were up big enough to pull him out early. Hope he knocked the rust off for Thursday.
THE BAD:
1st Quarter Offense: It never happened. Never. Happened.
Andrew Luck: The kid will be fine, and he held up well despite constant pressure, but I know I'm going to hear people fellate him (and Bears meatballs panic) over the 300 yards he put up, mostly after the Bears were up 34-14 and pulled Urlacher, Peppers, and Briggs. He threw 3 picks and mostly gained garbage time yardage. He looked completely ineffective before the Bears called off the dogs. Let's not crown his ass yet. Now RGIII....
Charles Tillman Leaving the Game: That's never good. Please let it be minor.
THE UGLY:
Nothing. Football is back, the Bears won big, and that offense is unlike anything we've ever had the privilege to watch. Life is good, man.
Go Bears. Hate Week begins....NOW.
Tuesday, September 4, 2012
Your Bears 53 Man Roster: The Offense
HOLY SHIT PEOPLE. IT IS GAME WEEK. Really! We got a bit of college football to whet the ol' appetite (and I tell you as an Illinois fan, there's nothing like watching Nathan Scheelhaase's noodle arm to get you excited for Jay Cutler) this awesome Labor Day weekend, and now we get Bears football. Hell, they're even throwing us a game on Wednesday this year because THEY KNOW YOU NEED THIS. The new season of the Prognostication Bukakke should be up soon (in case we're too slow to have it up by tomorrow, all three of us have chosen the Giants).
All of that out of the way, it's time to break down the Bears 53 man roster and predict awesome career years for everyone:
QBs: #6 Jay Cutler, #2 Jason Campbell
I love that the Bears, now rid of Martz and his constant desire for a project QB, have decided to go with 2 QBs. There's no reason to waste a roster spot on "We're Fucked if this Guy is Playing Anyway." I'm betting Josh McCown will be available again. If not, Donovan McNabb will be. No one will care at that point anyway.
As for the two guys who are still here, well, Jay Cutler's improved every year as a Bear and there's no reason not to think that this won't be his best year yet. Jason Campbell is already the best backup quarterback in Bears history (and probably would be in the top ten of starting QBs). This part of the roster is definitely as strong as it has ever been.
HBs: #22 Matt Forte, #29 Michael Bush, #38 Lorenzo Booker
One of the things I love about Phil Emery so far is that everything he's done has made so much damn sense. So much scary, un-Bearslike sense. He signed Kahlil Bell to a decent contract and brought in Michael Bush in order to squeeze Forte. When Forte signed, he deemed Bell superfluous and dumped his high price tag for a cheaper player who adds more value on special teams. That's just the kind of shit Jerry Angelo would never have thought of.
This is a strong unit as well. Forte and Bush are both well-rounded backs who can run, block, and catch. Bush is (hopefully) the answer to the never-ending search for a quality short yardage back. Booker's been dynamic on returns and can probably add the occasional change of pace. Again, it's hard to remember any time when the Bears had so much talent AND depth at all three major offensive skill units.
FB: #88 Evan Rodriguez.
I wasn't surprised to see the Bears get rid of the overrated Tyler Clutts. Rodriguez is listed as a FB but is much more of an H-Back, a confusing hybrid that the Bears haven't ever really employed but really isn't much of a fullback at all. He'll shift around a bit and will mostly be used as a receiver, while Davis and Spaeth do most of the in-line blocking. Rodriguez is very intriguing. If he's over the personal issues that plagued him in college and develops his blocking, he'll be a very valuable asset in the passing game.
TEs: #87 Kellen Davis, #89 Matt Spaeth, #86 Kyle Adams
With Clutts getting tossed and Rodriguez listed as a FB, Kyle Adams gets to stay on as a third tight end. Good for him, as he's a nice blocker and has actually flashed a mild amount of receiving ability this preseason.
Davis is a great blocker (no pressures or sacks allowed the last 11 weeks of last season) and has great athleticism. I think he'll probably haul in around 30-40 balls for about 500 yards this season, although he may see his targets diminish in favor of Rodriguez. Matt Spaeth is just a loveable red zone blocker and nothing else.
WRs: #15 Brandon Marshall, #23 Devin Hester, #17 Alshon Jeffery, #80 Earl Bennett, #14 Eric Weems, #18 Dane Sanzenbacher
So my long-awaited Sanzenbacher cut day has been delayed. Curiously, the Bears placed Johnny Knox on the PUP rather than IR, so Sanzenbacher may only get a six week reprieve. Either way it hardly matters since the Bears sixth wide receiver will hopefully never take the field on offense.
Marshall is obviously the number one wide receiver that's been missing since...forever. Hester will be a starter in name only, as his reps at this point are nearly equal with Alshon between the 20s and Alshon will get nearly all of the red zone work. Before long even the formality will give way. Earl Bennett is healthy, and is actually now in an offense where he can simply be the slot receiver. That's a good thing. Eric Weems can return kicks and may catch 10 balls this year if Hester gets the flu again. This, again, is the deepest receiving corps in Bears history.
OTs: #73 J'Marcus Webb, #72 Gabe Carimi, #74 Chris Williams
Not surprisingly, Webb won the left tackle competition that he was clearly supposed to win. I still don't hate him quite as much as I probably should. He's still a guy with a ton of talent who made the long jump up from Division II and who has basically had two rookie seasons, one at right tackle and one at left tackle. He'll also be less exposed this year, which is good. I don't really understand moving Chris Williams back to LT if he wasn't really going to win the job. He's still got a lot of potential and doesn't make much sense on the bench. They either never should have moved him to left guard or they should have left him there.
Carimi performed well in preseason and hasn't had any trouble with his recovery, so hopefully he's set to man the right side for a long time, as he's the biggest key to the offensive line's improvement this year. I was also happy to see that they got James Brown through waivers and onto the practice squad, as he's got the potential to develop into the swing tackle role when Williams moves on.
OGs: #67 Chris Spencer, #60 Lance Louis, #70 Edwin Williams, #62 Chilo Rachal
This is actually a pretty solid unit in the interior of the offensive line. Spencer and Edwin Williams allowed just 2 sacks total between the two of them last year. Lance Louis got manhandled at times at RT, but he's only allowed 1 sack when he's starting at guard the last two years. He's also a mauler in the run game. Chilo Rachal is a great run blocker who may work his way into the lineup if he fixes his footwork in pass protection. The tackles are still a question mark, but the guards are deep and solid, if not necessarily spectacular.
C: #63 Roberto Garza
Roberto is getting up there, but it's hard not to be impressed with how well he handled the move back to center last year. He certainly made fewer errors than his overrated predecessor, and he earned the small extension that he got. That said, should he falter, Edwin Williams is waiting in the wings.
That's it for now. I'll post the defense when I have time. Go Bears.
All of that out of the way, it's time to break down the Bears 53 man roster and predict awesome career years for everyone:
QBs: #6 Jay Cutler, #2 Jason Campbell
I love that the Bears, now rid of Martz and his constant desire for a project QB, have decided to go with 2 QBs. There's no reason to waste a roster spot on "We're Fucked if this Guy is Playing Anyway." I'm betting Josh McCown will be available again. If not, Donovan McNabb will be. No one will care at that point anyway.
As for the two guys who are still here, well, Jay Cutler's improved every year as a Bear and there's no reason not to think that this won't be his best year yet. Jason Campbell is already the best backup quarterback in Bears history (and probably would be in the top ten of starting QBs). This part of the roster is definitely as strong as it has ever been.
HBs: #22 Matt Forte, #29 Michael Bush, #38 Lorenzo Booker
One of the things I love about Phil Emery so far is that everything he's done has made so much damn sense. So much scary, un-Bearslike sense. He signed Kahlil Bell to a decent contract and brought in Michael Bush in order to squeeze Forte. When Forte signed, he deemed Bell superfluous and dumped his high price tag for a cheaper player who adds more value on special teams. That's just the kind of shit Jerry Angelo would never have thought of.
This is a strong unit as well. Forte and Bush are both well-rounded backs who can run, block, and catch. Bush is (hopefully) the answer to the never-ending search for a quality short yardage back. Booker's been dynamic on returns and can probably add the occasional change of pace. Again, it's hard to remember any time when the Bears had so much talent AND depth at all three major offensive skill units.
FB: #88 Evan Rodriguez.
I wasn't surprised to see the Bears get rid of the overrated Tyler Clutts. Rodriguez is listed as a FB but is much more of an H-Back, a confusing hybrid that the Bears haven't ever really employed but really isn't much of a fullback at all. He'll shift around a bit and will mostly be used as a receiver, while Davis and Spaeth do most of the in-line blocking. Rodriguez is very intriguing. If he's over the personal issues that plagued him in college and develops his blocking, he'll be a very valuable asset in the passing game.
TEs: #87 Kellen Davis, #89 Matt Spaeth, #86 Kyle Adams
With Clutts getting tossed and Rodriguez listed as a FB, Kyle Adams gets to stay on as a third tight end. Good for him, as he's a nice blocker and has actually flashed a mild amount of receiving ability this preseason.
Davis is a great blocker (no pressures or sacks allowed the last 11 weeks of last season) and has great athleticism. I think he'll probably haul in around 30-40 balls for about 500 yards this season, although he may see his targets diminish in favor of Rodriguez. Matt Spaeth is just a loveable red zone blocker and nothing else.
WRs: #15 Brandon Marshall, #23 Devin Hester, #17 Alshon Jeffery, #80 Earl Bennett, #14 Eric Weems, #18 Dane Sanzenbacher
So my long-awaited Sanzenbacher cut day has been delayed. Curiously, the Bears placed Johnny Knox on the PUP rather than IR, so Sanzenbacher may only get a six week reprieve. Either way it hardly matters since the Bears sixth wide receiver will hopefully never take the field on offense.
Marshall is obviously the number one wide receiver that's been missing since...forever. Hester will be a starter in name only, as his reps at this point are nearly equal with Alshon between the 20s and Alshon will get nearly all of the red zone work. Before long even the formality will give way. Earl Bennett is healthy, and is actually now in an offense where he can simply be the slot receiver. That's a good thing. Eric Weems can return kicks and may catch 10 balls this year if Hester gets the flu again. This, again, is the deepest receiving corps in Bears history.
OTs: #73 J'Marcus Webb, #72 Gabe Carimi, #74 Chris Williams
Not surprisingly, Webb won the left tackle competition that he was clearly supposed to win. I still don't hate him quite as much as I probably should. He's still a guy with a ton of talent who made the long jump up from Division II and who has basically had two rookie seasons, one at right tackle and one at left tackle. He'll also be less exposed this year, which is good. I don't really understand moving Chris Williams back to LT if he wasn't really going to win the job. He's still got a lot of potential and doesn't make much sense on the bench. They either never should have moved him to left guard or they should have left him there.
Carimi performed well in preseason and hasn't had any trouble with his recovery, so hopefully he's set to man the right side for a long time, as he's the biggest key to the offensive line's improvement this year. I was also happy to see that they got James Brown through waivers and onto the practice squad, as he's got the potential to develop into the swing tackle role when Williams moves on.
OGs: #67 Chris Spencer, #60 Lance Louis, #70 Edwin Williams, #62 Chilo Rachal
This is actually a pretty solid unit in the interior of the offensive line. Spencer and Edwin Williams allowed just 2 sacks total between the two of them last year. Lance Louis got manhandled at times at RT, but he's only allowed 1 sack when he's starting at guard the last two years. He's also a mauler in the run game. Chilo Rachal is a great run blocker who may work his way into the lineup if he fixes his footwork in pass protection. The tackles are still a question mark, but the guards are deep and solid, if not necessarily spectacular.
C: #63 Roberto Garza
Roberto is getting up there, but it's hard not to be impressed with how well he handled the move back to center last year. He certainly made fewer errors than his overrated predecessor, and he earned the small extension that he got. That said, should he falter, Edwin Williams is waiting in the wings.
That's it for now. I'll post the defense when I have time. Go Bears.
Tuesday, August 21, 2012
Why Alshon Jeffery Needs to Restore My Faith in Humanity
So far this preseason Bears rookie receiver Alshon Jeffery has given me hope about a great. many. things. He's currently got 7 receptions for 97 yards in his first two games, which, added onto the many excellent reviews he's drawn throughout training camp, give us all a reason to think that maybe, for once, the Bears have drafted a good wide receiver.
Now it's no surprise to anyone that the Bears have had about as many good wide receivers in the last 50 years as they have quarterbacks (yes, I understand that's reciprocal), but even more upsetting is the fact that even the few relatively decent guys they've thrown out there were often free agent pickups or castoffs. The Bears draft history with wide receivers the last 20 years (we'll pick that arbitrary number because why the hell not) is replete with failure. So why not look back at all of them?
1992: John Brown, WR, Houston, 7th rd, 192nd Pick: John Brown, one of the many wide receivers to benefit from the wide open Run N Shoot offense that got Andre Ware and David Klingler drafted, was the Bears seventh round draft choice in 1992. He never made the team, and dolefully predicted Ditka's firing that year by stating that he "saw now that the crimes of this coaching staff cannot be purged away but with blood."
1993: Curtis Conway, WR, USC, 1st Rd, 7th Pick: Curtis Conway is kind of a polarizing figure among Bears fans I know. Lots of people my age (grew up post Ditka-era) latched onto him as one of the few exciting players the 90s Bears had. Others saw him as an underachiever. I'm kind of in both camps. On one hand, when Kramer-to-Curtis was working it was as ballstastic of a connection as any this franchise has had until, well, this year. On the other hand, THEY SHOULD HAVE TAKEN JEROME BETTIS. C-Way suffered from inconsistency and troubles at QB, as he only had two 1,000 yd seasons which were also the only two years where he played all 16 games. Still, he finished with the #5th most receiving yards in Bears history (two of the guys ahead of him are a TE and an RB. Jesus this team sucks at throwing and catching footballs) and must be considered one of the few successes on this list. He's also a cool dude to talk to on Twitter.
1994: Lloyd Hill, WR, Texas Tech, 6th Rd, 170th Pick: Like John Brown, Lloyd never made the team. He did capture Harper's Ferry, though.
1995: Jack Jackson, WR, Florida, 4th Rd, 116th Pick: A highly productive player at Florida (where he caught passes from Danny Wuerffel and Shane Matthews), Jackson made 4 catches for 39 yds in 12 games as a Bear. He also sounds like a character from a Stan Lee comic, where everyone had to have alliterative names.
1996: Bobby Engram, WR, Penn State, 2nd Rd, 52nd Pick: Bobby Engram had a 14 year career as an incredibly successful poster boy for the sure-handed slot receiver. He's easily the most productive receiver the Bears have drafted during the last two decades, so he naturally spent just five of those years in Chicago. Had to make room on the roster for David Terrell, I guess. At least we now have his spiritual descendant, Earl Bennett, the BBE.
1997: Marcus Robinson, WR, South Carolina, 4th Rd, 108th Pick: You want to learn a fun trick? Mention Marcus Robinson around Iggins! and laugh as he bursts into tears, yanks out his own hair, curses Cade McNown's name, and cuts his own wrists. Marcus was the one explosive, big receiver the Bears have had in my lifetime. In 1999 he was unstoppable, going up high to haul in wobbly ducks from Matthews, Miller, and McNown for a franchise record 1400 yds and 9 TDs. Unfortunately, all of the leaping he did to catch McNown's flutterballs left his back exposed to vicious hits from defenders, and he never again started more than 11 games in a season or managed more than 738 yds receiving. He finished his career with 4,699 receiving yards, meaning 30% of his career production came in just 1 of his 9 years in the NFL. Such a waste. But at least there's some precedent for a receiver from South Carolina having a 1400 yard season for the Bears?
1999: D'Wayne Bates, WR, Northwestern, 3rd Rd, 71st Pick: The first of three receivers the Bears took in the 1999 NFL draft (they needed to load up on talent for Gary Crowton's wide open offense. Ha), Bates had 80 catches for 1,061 yds and 6 TDs. Those would be fine totals for a single season. D'Wayne managed those jaw-dropping numbers in four years. Woof.
1999: Marty Booker, WR, Louisiana-Monroe, 3rd Rd, 78th Pick: Man, the Bears really tried hard for a long time to convince us that Marty Booker was an elite receiver, didn't they? He's certainly the most productive receiver on this list, and, like Conway, is one of the few players in Bears history to record back to back 1000 yd seasons. We know better, however. Do you ever think a defense Feared Marty Booker? For chrissake, when he had his first 1,000 yd season in 2001 he averaged 10.7 yards per catch. You can blame John Shoop's conservatism, but Marty was merely the guy most capable of catching 100 eight yard hitches a year. Let's not even discuss his 211 yard comeback tour in 2008. However, by the standards of this list, Marty, the #6 receiver in Bears history, is a huge success.
1999: Sulecio Sanford, WR, Middle Tennesse State, 7th Rd, 221st Pick: Never made the team, despite his awesome name.
2000: Dez White, WR, Georgia Tech, 3rd Rd, 69th Pick: Jesus, did Dez White really start 31 games for this team? And he managed 1667 yards and a whopping 11.3 yards per catch while doing so? Guh. John Shoop.
2000: Frank Murphy, WR, Kansas State, 6th Rd, 170th Pick: No, I don't remember Frank Murphy, but he apparently played five seasons in the NFL had a total of eight catches. He sure sounds like a Bears receiver.
2001: David Terrell, WR, Michigan, 1st Rd, 8th Pick: God damn David Terrell. Never mind that he bitched incessantly about not getting any opportunities when he dropped every single one of the 10 deep balls that found their way to him in his career. Never mind his constant trash talk despite never gaining more than 650 yards in a single season. Never mind that Braylon Edwards was scared to wear #1 at Michigan because it was tainted by David Terrell. The only thing you need to know about David Terrell is that Santana Moss, Reggie Wayne, and Chad Johnson were available in that draft and the Bears took David Terrell. Fuck, TJ Houshmanzadeh was in that draft and He was fucking better than David Terrell. Godddammit.
2002: Jamin Elliott, WR, Delaware, 6th Rd, 203rd Pick: Played in 2 games, had zero career receptions, but was unstoppable in Madden 2003 if you went 5 wide and had him run a slant to the sideline.
2003: Bobby Wade, WR, Arizona, 5th Rd, 139th Pick; & Justin Gage 5th Rd, WR, Missouri, 5th Rd, 143rd Pick: There was a time when some Bears fans tried to argue that Jerry Angelo was great at finding hidden gems late in drafts because he found both Bobby Wade and Justin Gage in the 5th round. Guh. If you don't remember, Justin Gage was the big, tall, slow one and Bobby was the short, quick one who dropped everything, got cut the day after muffing multiple punts in one game, and later stirred up shit as a Viking by claiming that Brian Urlacher called Jay Cutler a pussy. The two of them combined for 5,816 yards in 211 career games. Awesome.
2004: Bernard Berrian, WR, Fresno State, 3rd Rd, 78th Pick: There was totally a time when Bernard Berrian was one of Jerry's hidden gems as well. After averaging a whopping 236 yds a season in his first two injury-plagued years, Berrian seemed to emerge as a great deep threat in 2006 before finishing just shy of 1,000 yds in 2007 while ranking among the league leaders in drops. Berrian demanded an annual salary of 8 million dollars despite no 1,000 yard seasons in his career and fortunately convinced the fucking Vikings to pay that before the Bears lost their minds and did it themselves. He's now out of the NFL after doing literally nothing since 2008.
2005: Mark Bradley, WR, Oklahoma, 2nd Rd, 39th Pick: Has there ever been a better receiver to never gain more than 380 yards receiving in a season? Mark Bradley was always perpetually on the verge of breaking out, or so we thought, but was actually just shitty. He looked great in exactly one career game against the Lions in 2005 where he caught a couple of skinny posts before shredding his knee. He was never the same and ended up in Lovie's doghouse frequently. Despite tons of supposed potential, he managed just 1283 yards in 5 NFL seasons.
2005: Airese Currie, WR, Clemson, 5th Rd, 140th Pick: Despite the God Of War's awesome name, he never caught a single pass in the NFL. He had a 167 yards for the Hamilton Tiger Cats of the CFL in 2009, though.
2008: Earl Bennett, WR, Vanderbilt, 3rd Rd, 70th Pick: Okay, we all know how much I love the BBE. Statistically, however, he's not been very impressive. In 2008 he sat out all year as he learned the playbook. In 2009 he put up respectable numbers (54 receptions, 717 yds) in his first year as a starter. The last two years he's emerged as an excellent 3rd down option and slot receiver, but has been injured often and disappeared following Jay Cutler's injury last year. Hopefully this season will be Earl's most productive yet, with a full year of him and Cutler together and no pressure on him to be anything more than what he is.
2008: Marcus Monk, WR, Arkansas, 7th Rd, 248th Pick: Never made an NFL roster.
2009: Juaquin Iglesias, WR, Oklahoma, 3rd Rd, 99th Pick: the first of three receivers taken by the Bears in the 2009 draft, Juaquin Iglesias was apparently the Spanish translation of Mark Bradley, as he never recorded a single catch for the team.
2009: Johnny Knox, WR, Abilene Christian, 5th Rd, 140th Pick: Now that Marshall and Jeffery are here to make Knox superfluous even if he heals in time to make a contribution to the Bears this year, it's time to breathe easy and admit that Johnny Knox is probably not that good at football. He's definitely a certifiable deep threat (19.2 yards per catch the last two years), but he's also a terrible route runner with bad hands who shirks from big hits and has no ability to go up for a contested ball. I feel terrible about what happened to him but am okay with the fact that he'll never be more than the #3 receiver if he ever takes the field in a Bears uniform again (which I doubt).
2009: Derek Kinder, WR, Pittsburgh, 7th Rd, 251st Pick: The latest in the fine tradition of meaningless 7th round picks wasted on wide receivers, Kinder never took an NFL snap.
So there you have it. In 20 years the Bears have spent 25 draft picks on wide receivers. Of the 24 before Alshon Jeffery, 10 never started a game or even made the roster. 1 (David Terrell) was a colossal first round bust. Others made utterly forgettable minor contributions (Mark Bradley, Bobby Wade, Justin Gage, D'wayne Bates, Dez White).
Boiled down, the Bears have drafted a grand total of seven "productive" receivers in 20 years, and that's stretching the term a bit. They drafted one legitimate yet inconsistent starter in Curtis Conway, 1 reliable and terribly unexciting starter in Marty Booker, two very good slot receivers in Earl Bennett and Bobby Engram (who had all of his best years AFTER he left), 2 soft, mediocre deep threats (Bernard Berrian and Johnny Knox) and 1 one was Marcus Robinson, who is featured in the dictionary under "one year wonder." So let's hope their 25th attempt at finding one, consistent, dynamic starting wide receiver is much more successful than their previous 24. If not, at least they traded for one. Thank God for Phil Emery.
Now it's no surprise to anyone that the Bears have had about as many good wide receivers in the last 50 years as they have quarterbacks (yes, I understand that's reciprocal), but even more upsetting is the fact that even the few relatively decent guys they've thrown out there were often free agent pickups or castoffs. The Bears draft history with wide receivers the last 20 years (we'll pick that arbitrary number because why the hell not) is replete with failure. So why not look back at all of them?
1992: John Brown, WR, Houston, 7th rd, 192nd Pick: John Brown, one of the many wide receivers to benefit from the wide open Run N Shoot offense that got Andre Ware and David Klingler drafted, was the Bears seventh round draft choice in 1992. He never made the team, and dolefully predicted Ditka's firing that year by stating that he "saw now that the crimes of this coaching staff cannot be purged away but with blood."
1993: Curtis Conway, WR, USC, 1st Rd, 7th Pick: Curtis Conway is kind of a polarizing figure among Bears fans I know. Lots of people my age (grew up post Ditka-era) latched onto him as one of the few exciting players the 90s Bears had. Others saw him as an underachiever. I'm kind of in both camps. On one hand, when Kramer-to-Curtis was working it was as ballstastic of a connection as any this franchise has had until, well, this year. On the other hand, THEY SHOULD HAVE TAKEN JEROME BETTIS. C-Way suffered from inconsistency and troubles at QB, as he only had two 1,000 yd seasons which were also the only two years where he played all 16 games. Still, he finished with the #5th most receiving yards in Bears history (two of the guys ahead of him are a TE and an RB. Jesus this team sucks at throwing and catching footballs) and must be considered one of the few successes on this list. He's also a cool dude to talk to on Twitter.
1994: Lloyd Hill, WR, Texas Tech, 6th Rd, 170th Pick: Like John Brown, Lloyd never made the team. He did capture Harper's Ferry, though.
1995: Jack Jackson, WR, Florida, 4th Rd, 116th Pick: A highly productive player at Florida (where he caught passes from Danny Wuerffel and Shane Matthews), Jackson made 4 catches for 39 yds in 12 games as a Bear. He also sounds like a character from a Stan Lee comic, where everyone had to have alliterative names.
1996: Bobby Engram, WR, Penn State, 2nd Rd, 52nd Pick: Bobby Engram had a 14 year career as an incredibly successful poster boy for the sure-handed slot receiver. He's easily the most productive receiver the Bears have drafted during the last two decades, so he naturally spent just five of those years in Chicago. Had to make room on the roster for David Terrell, I guess. At least we now have his spiritual descendant, Earl Bennett, the BBE.
1997: Marcus Robinson, WR, South Carolina, 4th Rd, 108th Pick: You want to learn a fun trick? Mention Marcus Robinson around Iggins! and laugh as he bursts into tears, yanks out his own hair, curses Cade McNown's name, and cuts his own wrists. Marcus was the one explosive, big receiver the Bears have had in my lifetime. In 1999 he was unstoppable, going up high to haul in wobbly ducks from Matthews, Miller, and McNown for a franchise record 1400 yds and 9 TDs. Unfortunately, all of the leaping he did to catch McNown's flutterballs left his back exposed to vicious hits from defenders, and he never again started more than 11 games in a season or managed more than 738 yds receiving. He finished his career with 4,699 receiving yards, meaning 30% of his career production came in just 1 of his 9 years in the NFL. Such a waste. But at least there's some precedent for a receiver from South Carolina having a 1400 yard season for the Bears?
1999: D'Wayne Bates, WR, Northwestern, 3rd Rd, 71st Pick: The first of three receivers the Bears took in the 1999 NFL draft (they needed to load up on talent for Gary Crowton's wide open offense. Ha), Bates had 80 catches for 1,061 yds and 6 TDs. Those would be fine totals for a single season. D'Wayne managed those jaw-dropping numbers in four years. Woof.
1999: Marty Booker, WR, Louisiana-Monroe, 3rd Rd, 78th Pick: Man, the Bears really tried hard for a long time to convince us that Marty Booker was an elite receiver, didn't they? He's certainly the most productive receiver on this list, and, like Conway, is one of the few players in Bears history to record back to back 1000 yd seasons. We know better, however. Do you ever think a defense Feared Marty Booker? For chrissake, when he had his first 1,000 yd season in 2001 he averaged 10.7 yards per catch. You can blame John Shoop's conservatism, but Marty was merely the guy most capable of catching 100 eight yard hitches a year. Let's not even discuss his 211 yard comeback tour in 2008. However, by the standards of this list, Marty, the #6 receiver in Bears history, is a huge success.
1999: Sulecio Sanford, WR, Middle Tennesse State, 7th Rd, 221st Pick: Never made the team, despite his awesome name.
2000: Dez White, WR, Georgia Tech, 3rd Rd, 69th Pick: Jesus, did Dez White really start 31 games for this team? And he managed 1667 yards and a whopping 11.3 yards per catch while doing so? Guh. John Shoop.
2000: Frank Murphy, WR, Kansas State, 6th Rd, 170th Pick: No, I don't remember Frank Murphy, but he apparently played five seasons in the NFL had a total of eight catches. He sure sounds like a Bears receiver.
2001: David Terrell, WR, Michigan, 1st Rd, 8th Pick: God damn David Terrell. Never mind that he bitched incessantly about not getting any opportunities when he dropped every single one of the 10 deep balls that found their way to him in his career. Never mind his constant trash talk despite never gaining more than 650 yards in a single season. Never mind that Braylon Edwards was scared to wear #1 at Michigan because it was tainted by David Terrell. The only thing you need to know about David Terrell is that Santana Moss, Reggie Wayne, and Chad Johnson were available in that draft and the Bears took David Terrell. Fuck, TJ Houshmanzadeh was in that draft and He was fucking better than David Terrell. Godddammit.
2002: Jamin Elliott, WR, Delaware, 6th Rd, 203rd Pick: Played in 2 games, had zero career receptions, but was unstoppable in Madden 2003 if you went 5 wide and had him run a slant to the sideline.
2003: Bobby Wade, WR, Arizona, 5th Rd, 139th Pick; & Justin Gage 5th Rd, WR, Missouri, 5th Rd, 143rd Pick: There was a time when some Bears fans tried to argue that Jerry Angelo was great at finding hidden gems late in drafts because he found both Bobby Wade and Justin Gage in the 5th round. Guh. If you don't remember, Justin Gage was the big, tall, slow one and Bobby was the short, quick one who dropped everything, got cut the day after muffing multiple punts in one game, and later stirred up shit as a Viking by claiming that Brian Urlacher called Jay Cutler a pussy. The two of them combined for 5,816 yards in 211 career games. Awesome.
2004: Bernard Berrian, WR, Fresno State, 3rd Rd, 78th Pick: There was totally a time when Bernard Berrian was one of Jerry's hidden gems as well. After averaging a whopping 236 yds a season in his first two injury-plagued years, Berrian seemed to emerge as a great deep threat in 2006 before finishing just shy of 1,000 yds in 2007 while ranking among the league leaders in drops. Berrian demanded an annual salary of 8 million dollars despite no 1,000 yard seasons in his career and fortunately convinced the fucking Vikings to pay that before the Bears lost their minds and did it themselves. He's now out of the NFL after doing literally nothing since 2008.
2005: Mark Bradley, WR, Oklahoma, 2nd Rd, 39th Pick: Has there ever been a better receiver to never gain more than 380 yards receiving in a season? Mark Bradley was always perpetually on the verge of breaking out, or so we thought, but was actually just shitty. He looked great in exactly one career game against the Lions in 2005 where he caught a couple of skinny posts before shredding his knee. He was never the same and ended up in Lovie's doghouse frequently. Despite tons of supposed potential, he managed just 1283 yards in 5 NFL seasons.
2005: Airese Currie, WR, Clemson, 5th Rd, 140th Pick: Despite the God Of War's awesome name, he never caught a single pass in the NFL. He had a 167 yards for the Hamilton Tiger Cats of the CFL in 2009, though.
2008: Earl Bennett, WR, Vanderbilt, 3rd Rd, 70th Pick: Okay, we all know how much I love the BBE. Statistically, however, he's not been very impressive. In 2008 he sat out all year as he learned the playbook. In 2009 he put up respectable numbers (54 receptions, 717 yds) in his first year as a starter. The last two years he's emerged as an excellent 3rd down option and slot receiver, but has been injured often and disappeared following Jay Cutler's injury last year. Hopefully this season will be Earl's most productive yet, with a full year of him and Cutler together and no pressure on him to be anything more than what he is.
2008: Marcus Monk, WR, Arkansas, 7th Rd, 248th Pick: Never made an NFL roster.
2009: Juaquin Iglesias, WR, Oklahoma, 3rd Rd, 99th Pick: the first of three receivers taken by the Bears in the 2009 draft, Juaquin Iglesias was apparently the Spanish translation of Mark Bradley, as he never recorded a single catch for the team.
2009: Johnny Knox, WR, Abilene Christian, 5th Rd, 140th Pick: Now that Marshall and Jeffery are here to make Knox superfluous even if he heals in time to make a contribution to the Bears this year, it's time to breathe easy and admit that Johnny Knox is probably not that good at football. He's definitely a certifiable deep threat (19.2 yards per catch the last two years), but he's also a terrible route runner with bad hands who shirks from big hits and has no ability to go up for a contested ball. I feel terrible about what happened to him but am okay with the fact that he'll never be more than the #3 receiver if he ever takes the field in a Bears uniform again (which I doubt).
2009: Derek Kinder, WR, Pittsburgh, 7th Rd, 251st Pick: The latest in the fine tradition of meaningless 7th round picks wasted on wide receivers, Kinder never took an NFL snap.
So there you have it. In 20 years the Bears have spent 25 draft picks on wide receivers. Of the 24 before Alshon Jeffery, 10 never started a game or even made the roster. 1 (David Terrell) was a colossal first round bust. Others made utterly forgettable minor contributions (Mark Bradley, Bobby Wade, Justin Gage, D'wayne Bates, Dez White).
Boiled down, the Bears have drafted a grand total of seven "productive" receivers in 20 years, and that's stretching the term a bit. They drafted one legitimate yet inconsistent starter in Curtis Conway, 1 reliable and terribly unexciting starter in Marty Booker, two very good slot receivers in Earl Bennett and Bobby Engram (who had all of his best years AFTER he left), 2 soft, mediocre deep threats (Bernard Berrian and Johnny Knox) and 1 one was Marcus Robinson, who is featured in the dictionary under "one year wonder." So let's hope their 25th attempt at finding one, consistent, dynamic starting wide receiver is much more successful than their previous 24. If not, at least they traded for one. Thank God for Phil Emery.
Monday, July 23, 2012
Your Start Kyle Orton Bears Training Camp Preview: The Offense
Bears camp begins this week, so it's time for my annual look at the camp roster to try and shake out what the Bears will look like come opening day and what we might expect from those 53 guys. Today we start with the offense.
A brief recap: when we last left our heroes they were grinding out a meaningless season finale win over Minnesota that only resulted in Brian Urlacher getting injured on a Hail Mary...wait, Hail Mary......CHIEFS GAME...fuck...Chiefs...AFC West...TEBOW...MARION BARBER. CALEB HANIE. GAHHHHH. Why is there all this blood everywhere? Who put this dead horse in my bed? OH MY GOD, THAT'S NO HORSE, IT'S JOHN ELWAY...*wakes up in cold sweat* Jesus. Okay, where was I?
Oh yes, the Bears ended last season at 8-8 following an excellent 7-3 start and a horrifing 1-5 finish. Since then they've replaced the GM, overturned the talent at the offensive skill positions, took care of several headaches by re-signing Lance Briggs and Matt Forte, and now enter training camp free of controversy and full of optimism. This should be good. Let's see who gets to have fun in Bourbonnais over the next month:
*- New to team.
QUARTERBACKS: #6 Jay Cutler, #2 Jason Campbell*, #12 Josh McCown, #4 Matt Blanchard*
No surprises expected here, of course. Cutler will start so long as he stays healthy, which will hopefully be all 16 games, and the franchise goes as he goes. Even ESPN has come around to the idea that they were wrong about him, since the addition of actual talent on offense means Jay will finally put up numbers they can't ignore. This will be his best year yet.
Jason Campbell, not long ago, was the type of guy Bears fans would have worshipped: slightly above average. He's more than capable of keeping the ship upright if Cutler goes down again. Ideally you never have to use him, but even if the exact same scenario as last year should happen again (Cutler out for 5-6 weeks, team simply needs to go .500 to keep playoff hopes alive) the Bears are in an infinitely better situation than they were a year ago thanks to Jason.
McCown makes a lot of sense as the third stringer. Considering the team will likely only get to him if the offensive line is so bad that it gets both Cutler and Campbell knocked out, it's not a bad idea to have a guy who can run for his life back there.
Matt Blanchard went to the University of Wisconsin-Whitewater. I hope he enjoys his two week break from working as a kayaking instructor, which I assume is the only degree available at the University of Wisconsin-Whitewater.
Obviously the depth chart here is set and Blanchard's just a camp arm. Overall this is the best depth chart the Bears have had at QB since Johnny Lujack and Sid Luckman were both on the roster. Hopefully they don't need it, but it's nice to know it's there.
HALFBACKS: #22 Matt Forte, #29 Michael Bush*, #32 Kahlil Bell, #25 Armando Allen, #38 Lorenzo Booker*, #45 Harvey Unga
Forte and Bush are locks and will get about 90% of the touches. Forte is the best runningback the Bears have had in my lifetime (sorry, Neal Anderson and Thomas Jones), and I'm glad he's been extended. Bush is attempt #3 at finding a highly paid complement to Forte. Marion Barber, statistically, wasn't bad, but was oft-injured and fell out of favor after the Denver game. Bush should easily exceed Barber's production and should outproduce Chester Taylor's 2010 season somewhere around the third preseason game.
Kahlil Bell was tendered as a restricted free agent, and should make the roster as the #3 back, but he may have some competition as the Bears signed veteran Lorenzo Booker last week. Booker has some more experience on special teams than Bell, and the Bears may want to go cheaper at the #3 HB spot since they've invested so much in Forte and Bush. Bell himself may want an opportunity to earn more carries on a team with a less crowded depth chart.
I don't expect Armando Allen to make the roster. that's really all I have to say about him. I forgot all about Harvey Unga, who the Bears took in the supplemental draft in 2010 and who has now been injured or dismissed for personal reasons for two seasons. He'll be cut as well.
FULLBACKS: #44 Tyler Clutts
Clutts is overrated by meatballs who were just happy to have a fullback again, but it looks like he's here to stay. Oh well. At least we'll get more horrible puns every time another checkdown pass bounces off of his stone hands.
WIDE RECEIVERS: #15 Brandon Marshall*, #17 Alshon Jeffery*, #80 Earl Bennett, #23 Devin Hester, #14 Eric Weems*, #11 Devin Thomas*, #13 Johnny Knox, #18 Dane Sanzenbacher, #81 Terrien Crump*, #82 Britten Golden*, #19 Joseph Anderson*, #83 Chris Summers*
This is the most vastly upgraded unit on the Bears roster, and maybe the most improved receiving corps in the NFL.
The top four are clear: Marshall is the big, game-changing receiver the Bears haven't had, well, ever. Jeffery has the potential to be Brandon Marshall. The BBE, who will hopefully stay healthy this year, is an outstanding slot/possession guy who can also play outside the hashes opposite of Marshall when the Bears stick Hester in the slot to work him deep (something they'll do more this year than they ever have). Hester is now a role-player, something he was always meant to be.
The real question comes after those four. How many receivers will the Bears keep? Last year they kept six, the first time in the Lovie Era where they've kept more than five. They'll probably keep six again this year as Eric Weems is a lock for the roster as well, but probably won't see any reps at wide receiver since he's simply a poor man's Devin Hester.
So who is the sixth man? Knox is easily taken care of, as they're not going to throw him out there before he's 100% healthy and they may not want him anymore as it is. He'll likely hit the injured reserve, or maybe the PUP list, and the Bears will make their decision on whether to cut or keep him after he's in playing shape again.
The camp bodies don't stand a chance, so ignore Crump, Golden, Anderson, and Summers, even if Crump has an awesome name.
It all boils down to a battle between Devin Thomas and Sanzenfucker for the last roster spot. Thomas is a 6'2, 221 former second round pick who may have some untapped potential on offense and has played very well on special teams in the NFL. Sanzenfucker is a roughly 4'8", 97 lb undrafted schmuck who didn't make an impact on special teams last year and only made the roster as Martz's little toy. He got some playing time when Bennett was hurt and committed the cardinal sin of white wide receiverdom by dropping six passes. My point, basically, is Sanzenfucker is gone and I will dance and bathe in the meatball asshurt the day he is cut. Welcome to the Bears, Devin Thomas!
TIGHT ENDS:#87 Kellen Davis, #89 Matt Spaeth, #88 Evan Rodriguez*, #86 Kyle Adams, #84 Draylen Ross*, #85 Brandon Venson*
In Ron Turner's last two years the Bears had one of the deepest tight end corps in the NFL, with Greg Olsen and the vastly underrated Dez Clark combining for nearly 1000 yds each year and Kellen Davis as the third string TE. After two years of transition under Martz, the Bears tight ends will once more be featured as receivers between the twenties.
Kellen Davis will start, and I'm confident he'll perform adequately in a much bigger role this year. I'd think 400-500 yds receiving and anywhere from 5-8 touchdowns would make sense. He'll lose some reps on third down to Rodriguez, who will also play in two tight end sets. I'd expect Rodriguez to chip in somewhere around 400 or so yards this year as well before earning more reps in year two. Spaeth may get some reps at fullback and is solely a blocking specialist. He may fit into a role similar to that of Jim Kleinsasser in Minnesota during Tice's Vikings years.
I don't think the Bears will break camp with more than 3 tight ends this year, so expect Kyle Adams to continue bouncing back and forth between the practice squad, the waiver wire, and the roster as he did last year. Draylen Ross and Brandon Venson will most likely never be heard from again.
OFFENSIVE TACKLES: #72 Gabe Carimi, #73 J'Marcus Webb, #74 Chris Williams, #75 AJ Greene*, #76 Brandon Cory*, #79 Tyler Hendrickson*
Carimi is the key to damn near everything this year. If he stays healthy and plays as well as most believe him capable off, the entire line will stabilize. If the line is stable, there'll be very little that can stop the Bears offense this year thanks to their additions at wide receiver and runningback. If Carimi goes down again? Let's just not discuss it. For the record, I think he'll be a great player.
Left tackle is still J'Marcus Webb's job to lose. Unfortunately, I think he's more than capable of losing it to Chris Williams. Williams was really coming along at guard before he went down, so moving him back to tackle is somewhat irritating. It's hard to say Williams was a bust at LT, though, since he started just seven games there between 09-10 before he was injured and later moved to guard. Whoever wins will benefit from a coordinator that places less emphasis on the left tackle as an isolated blocker. I think the Bears will make something work with these two this year and will avoid the disasters of the past, but I think a true standout will be their top priority next offseason.
The Bears usually carry only three tackles, so I'd expect Greene, Cory, and Hendrickson all to get cut. One of them will make their way to the practice squad of course.
OFFENSIVE GUARDS/CENTERS: #63 Roberto Garza, #67 Chris Spencer, #60 Lance Louis, #70 Edwin Williams, #62 Chilo Rachal, #78 James Brown, #64 Ricky Henry, #68 Nick Pieschel.
Garza and Carimi are the only two players locked into starting jobs on the offensive line at the moment. I think Spencer and Louis are the likely starters at guard, which makes sense. Louis has always played well at guard but has suffered from injuries and a move to right tackle forced by the awfulness of Frank Omiyale. While Louis was wildly inconsistent on the outside, he's earned the right to start on the interior. Spencer played very well last year and also deserves to begin the season as a starter.
The main backup should be Rachal, who is a dominating run blocker (the best run-blocking guard in all of football in 2010 according to ProFootballFocus), but extremely inconsistent in pass protection. If Tice can tap the potential that made Rachal a 2nd round pick in 2008 I'd expect him to force his way into the lineup. Edwin Williams played extremely well last year after Chris Williams went down, so there's no reason to expect him not to make the roster. I'd also not be surprised if the Bears go younger soon and drop Garza in favor of shifting Spencer to center and making room for Rachal or Eddie at guard. Either way, the Bears will be as capable on the interior as they were last year when they paved the way for over 2,000 rushing yards.
Henry and Pieschel are just guys, but James Brown is highly intriguing prospect from Troy who was at one point a potential second-third rounder at tackle. His versatility makes him difficult to cut, as the Bears may not be able to sneak him onto the practice squad. He may make the roster as a backup at both guard and tackle, or the Bears may try their injured reserve redshirt.
If you were keeping track, my expected depth chart on offense is this:
QB: Cutler/Campbell/McCown
HB: Forte/Bush/Bell
FB: Clutts
WR: Marshall/Jeffery/Bennett/Hester/Weems/Thomas
TE: Davis/Spaeth/Rodriguez
LT:Webb/C.Williams
LG:Spencer/E. Williams
C: Garza/Spencer
RG:Louis/Rachal
RT: Carimi/Brown
That's a total of 25 players if they opt to keep Brown on the roster.
As a whole, this offense should, provided the key players stay healthy, be the most productive unit the Bears have fielded since 1995. I probably could have just typed "JAY CUTLER TO BRANDON MARSHALL, TOUCHDOWN BEARS" and your pants would have exploded. I know mine just did.
Go Bears.
A brief recap: when we last left our heroes they were grinding out a meaningless season finale win over Minnesota that only resulted in Brian Urlacher getting injured on a Hail Mary...wait, Hail Mary......CHIEFS GAME...fuck...Chiefs...AFC West...TEBOW...MARION BARBER. CALEB HANIE. GAHHHHH. Why is there all this blood everywhere? Who put this dead horse in my bed? OH MY GOD, THAT'S NO HORSE, IT'S JOHN ELWAY...*wakes up in cold sweat* Jesus. Okay, where was I?
Oh yes, the Bears ended last season at 8-8 following an excellent 7-3 start and a horrifing 1-5 finish. Since then they've replaced the GM, overturned the talent at the offensive skill positions, took care of several headaches by re-signing Lance Briggs and Matt Forte, and now enter training camp free of controversy and full of optimism. This should be good. Let's see who gets to have fun in Bourbonnais over the next month:
*- New to team.
QUARTERBACKS: #6 Jay Cutler, #2 Jason Campbell*, #12 Josh McCown, #4 Matt Blanchard*
No surprises expected here, of course. Cutler will start so long as he stays healthy, which will hopefully be all 16 games, and the franchise goes as he goes. Even ESPN has come around to the idea that they were wrong about him, since the addition of actual talent on offense means Jay will finally put up numbers they can't ignore. This will be his best year yet.
Jason Campbell, not long ago, was the type of guy Bears fans would have worshipped: slightly above average. He's more than capable of keeping the ship upright if Cutler goes down again. Ideally you never have to use him, but even if the exact same scenario as last year should happen again (Cutler out for 5-6 weeks, team simply needs to go .500 to keep playoff hopes alive) the Bears are in an infinitely better situation than they were a year ago thanks to Jason.
McCown makes a lot of sense as the third stringer. Considering the team will likely only get to him if the offensive line is so bad that it gets both Cutler and Campbell knocked out, it's not a bad idea to have a guy who can run for his life back there.
Matt Blanchard went to the University of Wisconsin-Whitewater. I hope he enjoys his two week break from working as a kayaking instructor, which I assume is the only degree available at the University of Wisconsin-Whitewater.
Obviously the depth chart here is set and Blanchard's just a camp arm. Overall this is the best depth chart the Bears have had at QB since Johnny Lujack and Sid Luckman were both on the roster. Hopefully they don't need it, but it's nice to know it's there.
HALFBACKS: #22 Matt Forte, #29 Michael Bush*, #32 Kahlil Bell, #25 Armando Allen, #38 Lorenzo Booker*, #45 Harvey Unga
Forte and Bush are locks and will get about 90% of the touches. Forte is the best runningback the Bears have had in my lifetime (sorry, Neal Anderson and Thomas Jones), and I'm glad he's been extended. Bush is attempt #3 at finding a highly paid complement to Forte. Marion Barber, statistically, wasn't bad, but was oft-injured and fell out of favor after the Denver game. Bush should easily exceed Barber's production and should outproduce Chester Taylor's 2010 season somewhere around the third preseason game.
Kahlil Bell was tendered as a restricted free agent, and should make the roster as the #3 back, but he may have some competition as the Bears signed veteran Lorenzo Booker last week. Booker has some more experience on special teams than Bell, and the Bears may want to go cheaper at the #3 HB spot since they've invested so much in Forte and Bush. Bell himself may want an opportunity to earn more carries on a team with a less crowded depth chart.
I don't expect Armando Allen to make the roster. that's really all I have to say about him. I forgot all about Harvey Unga, who the Bears took in the supplemental draft in 2010 and who has now been injured or dismissed for personal reasons for two seasons. He'll be cut as well.
FULLBACKS: #44 Tyler Clutts
Clutts is overrated by meatballs who were just happy to have a fullback again, but it looks like he's here to stay. Oh well. At least we'll get more horrible puns every time another checkdown pass bounces off of his stone hands.
WIDE RECEIVERS: #15 Brandon Marshall*, #17 Alshon Jeffery*, #80 Earl Bennett, #23 Devin Hester, #14 Eric Weems*, #11 Devin Thomas*, #13 Johnny Knox, #18 Dane Sanzenbacher, #81 Terrien Crump*, #82 Britten Golden*, #19 Joseph Anderson*, #83 Chris Summers*
This is the most vastly upgraded unit on the Bears roster, and maybe the most improved receiving corps in the NFL.
The top four are clear: Marshall is the big, game-changing receiver the Bears haven't had, well, ever. Jeffery has the potential to be Brandon Marshall. The BBE, who will hopefully stay healthy this year, is an outstanding slot/possession guy who can also play outside the hashes opposite of Marshall when the Bears stick Hester in the slot to work him deep (something they'll do more this year than they ever have). Hester is now a role-player, something he was always meant to be.
The real question comes after those four. How many receivers will the Bears keep? Last year they kept six, the first time in the Lovie Era where they've kept more than five. They'll probably keep six again this year as Eric Weems is a lock for the roster as well, but probably won't see any reps at wide receiver since he's simply a poor man's Devin Hester.
So who is the sixth man? Knox is easily taken care of, as they're not going to throw him out there before he's 100% healthy and they may not want him anymore as it is. He'll likely hit the injured reserve, or maybe the PUP list, and the Bears will make their decision on whether to cut or keep him after he's in playing shape again.
The camp bodies don't stand a chance, so ignore Crump, Golden, Anderson, and Summers, even if Crump has an awesome name.
It all boils down to a battle between Devin Thomas and Sanzenfucker for the last roster spot. Thomas is a 6'2, 221 former second round pick who may have some untapped potential on offense and has played very well on special teams in the NFL. Sanzenfucker is a roughly 4'8", 97 lb undrafted schmuck who didn't make an impact on special teams last year and only made the roster as Martz's little toy. He got some playing time when Bennett was hurt and committed the cardinal sin of white wide receiverdom by dropping six passes. My point, basically, is Sanzenfucker is gone and I will dance and bathe in the meatball asshurt the day he is cut. Welcome to the Bears, Devin Thomas!
TIGHT ENDS:#87 Kellen Davis, #89 Matt Spaeth, #88 Evan Rodriguez*, #86 Kyle Adams, #84 Draylen Ross*, #85 Brandon Venson*
In Ron Turner's last two years the Bears had one of the deepest tight end corps in the NFL, with Greg Olsen and the vastly underrated Dez Clark combining for nearly 1000 yds each year and Kellen Davis as the third string TE. After two years of transition under Martz, the Bears tight ends will once more be featured as receivers between the twenties.
Kellen Davis will start, and I'm confident he'll perform adequately in a much bigger role this year. I'd think 400-500 yds receiving and anywhere from 5-8 touchdowns would make sense. He'll lose some reps on third down to Rodriguez, who will also play in two tight end sets. I'd expect Rodriguez to chip in somewhere around 400 or so yards this year as well before earning more reps in year two. Spaeth may get some reps at fullback and is solely a blocking specialist. He may fit into a role similar to that of Jim Kleinsasser in Minnesota during Tice's Vikings years.
I don't think the Bears will break camp with more than 3 tight ends this year, so expect Kyle Adams to continue bouncing back and forth between the practice squad, the waiver wire, and the roster as he did last year. Draylen Ross and Brandon Venson will most likely never be heard from again.
OFFENSIVE TACKLES: #72 Gabe Carimi, #73 J'Marcus Webb, #74 Chris Williams, #75 AJ Greene*, #76 Brandon Cory*, #79 Tyler Hendrickson*
Carimi is the key to damn near everything this year. If he stays healthy and plays as well as most believe him capable off, the entire line will stabilize. If the line is stable, there'll be very little that can stop the Bears offense this year thanks to their additions at wide receiver and runningback. If Carimi goes down again? Let's just not discuss it. For the record, I think he'll be a great player.
Left tackle is still J'Marcus Webb's job to lose. Unfortunately, I think he's more than capable of losing it to Chris Williams. Williams was really coming along at guard before he went down, so moving him back to tackle is somewhat irritating. It's hard to say Williams was a bust at LT, though, since he started just seven games there between 09-10 before he was injured and later moved to guard. Whoever wins will benefit from a coordinator that places less emphasis on the left tackle as an isolated blocker. I think the Bears will make something work with these two this year and will avoid the disasters of the past, but I think a true standout will be their top priority next offseason.
The Bears usually carry only three tackles, so I'd expect Greene, Cory, and Hendrickson all to get cut. One of them will make their way to the practice squad of course.
OFFENSIVE GUARDS/CENTERS: #63 Roberto Garza, #67 Chris Spencer, #60 Lance Louis, #70 Edwin Williams, #62 Chilo Rachal, #78 James Brown, #64 Ricky Henry, #68 Nick Pieschel.
Garza and Carimi are the only two players locked into starting jobs on the offensive line at the moment. I think Spencer and Louis are the likely starters at guard, which makes sense. Louis has always played well at guard but has suffered from injuries and a move to right tackle forced by the awfulness of Frank Omiyale. While Louis was wildly inconsistent on the outside, he's earned the right to start on the interior. Spencer played very well last year and also deserves to begin the season as a starter.
The main backup should be Rachal, who is a dominating run blocker (the best run-blocking guard in all of football in 2010 according to ProFootballFocus), but extremely inconsistent in pass protection. If Tice can tap the potential that made Rachal a 2nd round pick in 2008 I'd expect him to force his way into the lineup. Edwin Williams played extremely well last year after Chris Williams went down, so there's no reason to expect him not to make the roster. I'd also not be surprised if the Bears go younger soon and drop Garza in favor of shifting Spencer to center and making room for Rachal or Eddie at guard. Either way, the Bears will be as capable on the interior as they were last year when they paved the way for over 2,000 rushing yards.
Henry and Pieschel are just guys, but James Brown is highly intriguing prospect from Troy who was at one point a potential second-third rounder at tackle. His versatility makes him difficult to cut, as the Bears may not be able to sneak him onto the practice squad. He may make the roster as a backup at both guard and tackle, or the Bears may try their injured reserve redshirt.
If you were keeping track, my expected depth chart on offense is this:
QB: Cutler/Campbell/McCown
HB: Forte/Bush/Bell
FB: Clutts
WR: Marshall/Jeffery/Bennett/Hester/Weems/Thomas
TE: Davis/Spaeth/Rodriguez
LT:Webb/C.Williams
LG:Spencer/E. Williams
C: Garza/Spencer
RG:Louis/Rachal
RT: Carimi/Brown
That's a total of 25 players if they opt to keep Brown on the roster.
As a whole, this offense should, provided the key players stay healthy, be the most productive unit the Bears have fielded since 1995. I probably could have just typed "JAY CUTLER TO BRANDON MARSHALL, TOUCHDOWN BEARS" and your pants would have exploded. I know mine just did.
Go Bears.
Monday, April 16, 2012
2011 Bears Position Reviews: Wide Receivers
Next to the offensive line (or the secondary if you're this guy) no unit on the Bears has received as much flak the last few years as the wide receivers. It's true that they've not been a dominating unit. I always maintained, however, that the group the Bears had was good enough to win with. Obviously, since the team was 19-8 in Jay's last 27 games with this group of receivers, it was possible. However, life is much easier on a quarterback when he's got a true, reliable target like Brandon Marshall, the virtues of whom I've already espoused on this website. So why did Phil Emery finally decide to make the move for a real wide receiver (besides common sense)? Let's take a look:
#13 Johnny Knox: 37 receptions, 727 yards, 2 TDs, 19.6 YPC
For the second straight year, Johnny led the group in yards and tied for the lead in receptions, which he most likely would have won had he not gone down with one of the more gruesome looking injuries in Bears history.
Johnny made some progress before he went down, as the Chargers game and the Raiders game were two of the better games of his career, and in both he did some very un-Johnny Knox like things: adjusting to underthrown balls, fighting defensive backs, not quitting on routes. Unfortunately, the Chargers game also featured another Johnny Knox classic: falling down on a fucking slant route, and that, as we know, had fatal consequences for the season.
It's a shame that it seems Johnny won't be available in 2012. He was undoubtedly the most talented of the group the Bears threw out on the field in 2009-2011, but that was more of a curse than a blessing, really. In 2010 Jay forced a lot of balls Johnny's way when he just wasn't ready to be an every down target, and the combination of Jay's desperation and Johnny's shitty route running, terrible discipline, and frequent alligator-arms led to the most interceptions of any QB-WR duo in the NFL. This year, Johnny took his demotion in favor of Roy Williams quite well and earned his way back on the field, even if he had some very frustrating moments (his drop of a potential first down pass on 2nd and 17 late in the Packers game will stick in my mind forever). Hopefully someday we'll see what might become of him if Brandon Marshall is there to draw the attention that was just too much for Johnny to deal with.
#11 Roy Williams: 37 receptions, 507 yds, 2 TDs, 13.7 ypc.
I knew better. I fucking knew better. Oh how I loathed Roy Williams. How I loathed his first down gesture. How I loathed his empty boasts. How I loathed the fact that a 6'3'' wide receiver took a hit as well as a French tank. But alas, I tried to think positively when the Bears brought him aboard. "Look at his numbers with Martz in Detroit!" I did say. "Cutler will make him look good!" I did protest. And yes, like Johnny, there was a brief flash this season where Roy was playing rather well too, using his big body to pick up first downs, as in the Chargers game where he caught 6 balls and all 6 moved the chains.
Overall, though, Roy was everything his critics said he was. Soft, stupid, and lazy with hands of stone. From his first real preseason action against the Titans, when he let a ball go right through his hands for an interception, to pulling up lame without even taking a hit on a first down catch against the Falcons, to his many, many drops (10 total, including the one that donked off of his hands for an interception on what should have been the game tying TD against the Chiefs), Roy was a bust for the Bears and we will hopefully never see him again. Seriously, fuck Mike Martz. I knew better.
#18 Dane Sanzenbacher: 27 receptions, 276 yds, 3 TDs, 10.2 YPC.
I spent a lot of time last summer making fun of the usual Bears meatballs who fell in love with Sanzenbacher. Then the sonofabitch actually made the team. That was strike one. Then he had touchdowns in his first two games. That was strike two. Then the rest of the season he proceeded to suck ass, with one of the lowest catch rates in the game (caught less than 50% of the balls thrown his way according to Pro Football Focus, which isn't surprising since he's a damned no-talent midget). That's strike three. He also dropped six passes, an absurd total for a guy who barely had 50 targets on the season. So he's slow, short, he has bad hands, and he's a terrible route runner. With any luck, the addition of Devin Thomas, Eric Weems, and hopefully Rookie-To-Be-Named-Later, Sanzenbacher's played his last down for the Bears. I'll be willing to deal with the asshurt morons. Especially the one I saw at Soldier Field wearing the Sanzenbacher jersey. You've got issues, pal.
#23 Devin Hester: 26 receptions, 369 yds, 1 TD, 14.2 ypc.
This was Devin's most disappointing year as a Bears receiver yet, even when you factor in the stat-killing injury to Cutler. Usually Devin could be expected to catch most of the balls thrown his way, but this year his catch % was all the way down to a pathetic 46%. He dropped seven passes, also an unusually high total for him, and he was a complete nonfactor in the red zone. He made a classic Hester Route Running Mistake in the first Green Bay game when he bumped into Charles Woodson in an attempt to draw a foul when it was clear to everyone (especially Jay, who threw yet another beautiful and futile deep ball his way) that he'd have a touchdown if he'd just kept running straight. Fortunately, Phil Emery has somewhat less tolerance for bullshit than Jerry Angelo, and decided to put the final nail in the "Devin Hester is our #1 receiver" coffin. That's not to say Devin can't be an effective weapon now that Brandon Marshall is there. I've read some proposals that Devin belongs in the slot, where he can use his speed to beat safeties and nickelbacks, and that's a fine idea so long as Earl Bennett still has a role. As for 2011, though, it's hard to take away much that was positive about Devin Hester the Receiver (a complete different entity, as we know, than Devin Hester the Greatest Return Man of All Time).
#80 Earl Bennett: 24 receptions, 381 yds, 1 TD, 15.9 ypc.
Earl Bennett's 2011 was also disappointing, but for a different reason. A severe injury in the New Orleans game caused him to miss five games. When he came back, he and Jay showed their telepathic connection and he averaged 5 catches for 83 yards in the three games between his return and Jay's injury. He was also surprisingly effective downfield in those three games, as he averaged 18 yards per catch during those three games. Then, of course, Jay went down and Caleb Hanie was incapable of finding anyone with regularity, let alone the BBE. Hopefully next year will be the best and healthiest year yet for the Cutler-BBE combo, since it's very possible that Earl could get starter's reps flipping back and forth with Hester at slot and flanker while Marshall plays mostly at split end. I remember when Jay first came to the Bears in 2009 he said that Earl reminded him of Eddie Royal, and it wouldn't seem ridiculous to think that a full year of Cutler and Earl together might resemble Royal's 2008 campaign: 91 rec, 980 yds, 5 tds. Whatever role he plays, we all know the Bears can count on the BBE.
#81 Sam Hurd: 8 rec, 109 yds, 0 TDs, 13.6 ypc.
He was playing alright for a fifth wide receiver up until he was busted for selling cocaine. The fact that he was already under investigation for trafficking when Jerry Angelo signed him, supposedly after Jerry had thoroughly vetted him, might have honestly been the final nail in Jerry's coffin. So, thanks Sam?
That's all for the wideouts. Obviously this unit will look very different in 2012 with the addition of Marshall. Roy's already gone, and it seems unlikely that we'll see any of Johnny Knox next year. That leaves Marshall, Bennett, Hester, Weems, Thomas, and Sanzenbacher. I've already said that I expect a wide receiver somewhere in the draft, so it'll be interesting to see who shakes out as starters out of that group. The Bears don't usually carry six wideouts as they did last year, but Weems is obviously a lock on special teams, and my guess is that Thomas may earn playing time as a wideout but will definitely make the roster as a special teams player, so all signs point to Sanzenbacher getting the axe. That'll be a good day.
#13 Johnny Knox: 37 receptions, 727 yards, 2 TDs, 19.6 YPC
For the second straight year, Johnny led the group in yards and tied for the lead in receptions, which he most likely would have won had he not gone down with one of the more gruesome looking injuries in Bears history.
Johnny made some progress before he went down, as the Chargers game and the Raiders game were two of the better games of his career, and in both he did some very un-Johnny Knox like things: adjusting to underthrown balls, fighting defensive backs, not quitting on routes. Unfortunately, the Chargers game also featured another Johnny Knox classic: falling down on a fucking slant route, and that, as we know, had fatal consequences for the season.
It's a shame that it seems Johnny won't be available in 2012. He was undoubtedly the most talented of the group the Bears threw out on the field in 2009-2011, but that was more of a curse than a blessing, really. In 2010 Jay forced a lot of balls Johnny's way when he just wasn't ready to be an every down target, and the combination of Jay's desperation and Johnny's shitty route running, terrible discipline, and frequent alligator-arms led to the most interceptions of any QB-WR duo in the NFL. This year, Johnny took his demotion in favor of Roy Williams quite well and earned his way back on the field, even if he had some very frustrating moments (his drop of a potential first down pass on 2nd and 17 late in the Packers game will stick in my mind forever). Hopefully someday we'll see what might become of him if Brandon Marshall is there to draw the attention that was just too much for Johnny to deal with.
#11 Roy Williams: 37 receptions, 507 yds, 2 TDs, 13.7 ypc.
I knew better. I fucking knew better. Oh how I loathed Roy Williams. How I loathed his first down gesture. How I loathed his empty boasts. How I loathed the fact that a 6'3'' wide receiver took a hit as well as a French tank. But alas, I tried to think positively when the Bears brought him aboard. "Look at his numbers with Martz in Detroit!" I did say. "Cutler will make him look good!" I did protest. And yes, like Johnny, there was a brief flash this season where Roy was playing rather well too, using his big body to pick up first downs, as in the Chargers game where he caught 6 balls and all 6 moved the chains.
Overall, though, Roy was everything his critics said he was. Soft, stupid, and lazy with hands of stone. From his first real preseason action against the Titans, when he let a ball go right through his hands for an interception, to pulling up lame without even taking a hit on a first down catch against the Falcons, to his many, many drops (10 total, including the one that donked off of his hands for an interception on what should have been the game tying TD against the Chiefs), Roy was a bust for the Bears and we will hopefully never see him again. Seriously, fuck Mike Martz. I knew better.
#18 Dane Sanzenbacher: 27 receptions, 276 yds, 3 TDs, 10.2 YPC.
I spent a lot of time last summer making fun of the usual Bears meatballs who fell in love with Sanzenbacher. Then the sonofabitch actually made the team. That was strike one. Then he had touchdowns in his first two games. That was strike two. Then the rest of the season he proceeded to suck ass, with one of the lowest catch rates in the game (caught less than 50% of the balls thrown his way according to Pro Football Focus, which isn't surprising since he's a damned no-talent midget). That's strike three. He also dropped six passes, an absurd total for a guy who barely had 50 targets on the season. So he's slow, short, he has bad hands, and he's a terrible route runner. With any luck, the addition of Devin Thomas, Eric Weems, and hopefully Rookie-To-Be-Named-Later, Sanzenbacher's played his last down for the Bears. I'll be willing to deal with the asshurt morons. Especially the one I saw at Soldier Field wearing the Sanzenbacher jersey. You've got issues, pal.
#23 Devin Hester: 26 receptions, 369 yds, 1 TD, 14.2 ypc.
This was Devin's most disappointing year as a Bears receiver yet, even when you factor in the stat-killing injury to Cutler. Usually Devin could be expected to catch most of the balls thrown his way, but this year his catch % was all the way down to a pathetic 46%. He dropped seven passes, also an unusually high total for him, and he was a complete nonfactor in the red zone. He made a classic Hester Route Running Mistake in the first Green Bay game when he bumped into Charles Woodson in an attempt to draw a foul when it was clear to everyone (especially Jay, who threw yet another beautiful and futile deep ball his way) that he'd have a touchdown if he'd just kept running straight. Fortunately, Phil Emery has somewhat less tolerance for bullshit than Jerry Angelo, and decided to put the final nail in the "Devin Hester is our #1 receiver" coffin. That's not to say Devin can't be an effective weapon now that Brandon Marshall is there. I've read some proposals that Devin belongs in the slot, where he can use his speed to beat safeties and nickelbacks, and that's a fine idea so long as Earl Bennett still has a role. As for 2011, though, it's hard to take away much that was positive about Devin Hester the Receiver (a complete different entity, as we know, than Devin Hester the Greatest Return Man of All Time).
#80 Earl Bennett: 24 receptions, 381 yds, 1 TD, 15.9 ypc.
Earl Bennett's 2011 was also disappointing, but for a different reason. A severe injury in the New Orleans game caused him to miss five games. When he came back, he and Jay showed their telepathic connection and he averaged 5 catches for 83 yards in the three games between his return and Jay's injury. He was also surprisingly effective downfield in those three games, as he averaged 18 yards per catch during those three games. Then, of course, Jay went down and Caleb Hanie was incapable of finding anyone with regularity, let alone the BBE. Hopefully next year will be the best and healthiest year yet for the Cutler-BBE combo, since it's very possible that Earl could get starter's reps flipping back and forth with Hester at slot and flanker while Marshall plays mostly at split end. I remember when Jay first came to the Bears in 2009 he said that Earl reminded him of Eddie Royal, and it wouldn't seem ridiculous to think that a full year of Cutler and Earl together might resemble Royal's 2008 campaign: 91 rec, 980 yds, 5 tds. Whatever role he plays, we all know the Bears can count on the BBE.
#81 Sam Hurd: 8 rec, 109 yds, 0 TDs, 13.6 ypc.
He was playing alright for a fifth wide receiver up until he was busted for selling cocaine. The fact that he was already under investigation for trafficking when Jerry Angelo signed him, supposedly after Jerry had thoroughly vetted him, might have honestly been the final nail in Jerry's coffin. So, thanks Sam?
That's all for the wideouts. Obviously this unit will look very different in 2012 with the addition of Marshall. Roy's already gone, and it seems unlikely that we'll see any of Johnny Knox next year. That leaves Marshall, Bennett, Hester, Weems, Thomas, and Sanzenbacher. I've already said that I expect a wide receiver somewhere in the draft, so it'll be interesting to see who shakes out as starters out of that group. The Bears don't usually carry six wideouts as they did last year, but Weems is obviously a lock on special teams, and my guess is that Thomas may earn playing time as a wideout but will definitely make the roster as a special teams player, so all signs point to Sanzenbacher getting the axe. That'll be a good day.
Wednesday, April 4, 2012
What Does Brandon Marshall do for the Bears?
Warning folks, I’m talking X’s and O’s, so this is going to be a long one:
I realize I haven’t spent much time lately discussing Brandon Marshall, other than to react with glee to the trade and to give my take on the alleged punching incident. As I suspected, that whole mess has blown over so there’s very little left to get in the way of unadulterated enthusiasm about the potential of the Bears offense in 2012 with Brandon Marshall in the lineup.
So what exactly does Brandon Marshall do for the Bears offense beyond the vague notion of giving them “a true no.1 receiver?” I was listening to someone on the score a few weeks ago (can’t remember if it was Mike Klis, the bitter sumbitch from Denver who still takes potshots at Brandon Marshall and Jay Cutler, or if it was some bitter sumbitch from Miami) who tried to belittle Marshall as a possession receiver whose main role was to be the “guy who can take the 8 yard hitch.”
I’m not going to actually argue with classifying Marshall as more of a possession receiver than a true deep threat, but I’m certainly going to take exception to the idea that this means his job is to catch passes on the wrong side of the first down marker. The truth is, with a career average of 12.6, Marshall’s not a game-breaking deep threat. Who cares? The Bears have a guy in Devin Hester who can be a deep threat, and if Johnny Knox ever comes back they have two of them. The problem with this offense for years hasn’t been the lack of a deep threat, it’s the lack of an “X” receiver.
There are two approaches to throwing the ball deep in an NFL offense. You can take the Coryell approach, like our buddy Mike Martz, and take deep drops and force the ball downfield in huge chunks. The Bears had the speed to execute that offense but, as we all know, they lacked the protection. The approach most effective NFL offenses take is a more organic one, where you work the ball in the short and intermediate passing game and wait for openings to appear downfield. The Saints and Packers come to mind as two teams that beat the living hell out of teams with intermediate routes before going downfield the second the safeties cheat. This is all an over-simplified explanation of things, but bear with me.
The last few years the Bears have spent the first half of the season trying to run the Mike Martz offense, gaining big chunks through deep tosses until the beating Jay Cutler took forced them to switch to a hodgepodge approach that combined shorter throws with more protection and fewer receivers on the few deep balls they attempted (the 48 yard throw from Cutler to Hester in the first Vikings game had just 2 receivers on the pattern). They weren’t able to really work defenses from sideline to sideline in order to stretch the field vertically later on because neither Johnny Knox or Devin Hester was the big, consistent route runner you need to beat a team with 15-25 yard routes, while Earl Bennett limited speed makes him more of an underneath guy. When you don’t have someone to fear in that intermediate distance of 15-25 yards, it’s easy to roll a safety over to cover Knox and Hester deep or to squat on shorter throws.
To Martz’s credit, he understood this and brought in Roy Williams to run the deep dig and other routes that required a bigger body in the middle of the field. Of course, Martz is also the fucking idiot that thought Roy Williams of all people could hold onto the ball and take a hit.
Brandon Marshall can be that guy. He greatly expands the route tree the Bears can use in their offense by giving Jay Cutler a receiver that frequently makes teams pay in the intermediate passing game. In 2008, when Cutler threw for over 4500 yards and Marshall had over 1200 yards receiving, their longest connection was 47 yards. That’s not a bad thing. It’s where most of the NFL’s best passers do their damage.
With Marshall undoubtedly drawing the attention of a safety, and a hopefully healthy year from the BBE (think of Earl as the Eddie Royal of this offense), Hester (or the potential rookie wide receiver the team may draft) might become more than a gimmick and a guy who can exploit isolated corners with his speed. Free from the burden of mastering the precise routes and the discipline required of a #1 receiver, Hester might become a much more effective part of the offense than he’s ever really been before.
So what does the acquisition of Brandon Marshall do for the Bears? It makes them better. Obviously. I don’t even get why you’re asking the question. Morons.
I realize I haven’t spent much time lately discussing Brandon Marshall, other than to react with glee to the trade and to give my take on the alleged punching incident. As I suspected, that whole mess has blown over so there’s very little left to get in the way of unadulterated enthusiasm about the potential of the Bears offense in 2012 with Brandon Marshall in the lineup.
So what exactly does Brandon Marshall do for the Bears offense beyond the vague notion of giving them “a true no.1 receiver?” I was listening to someone on the score a few weeks ago (can’t remember if it was Mike Klis, the bitter sumbitch from Denver who still takes potshots at Brandon Marshall and Jay Cutler, or if it was some bitter sumbitch from Miami) who tried to belittle Marshall as a possession receiver whose main role was to be the “guy who can take the 8 yard hitch.”
I’m not going to actually argue with classifying Marshall as more of a possession receiver than a true deep threat, but I’m certainly going to take exception to the idea that this means his job is to catch passes on the wrong side of the first down marker. The truth is, with a career average of 12.6, Marshall’s not a game-breaking deep threat. Who cares? The Bears have a guy in Devin Hester who can be a deep threat, and if Johnny Knox ever comes back they have two of them. The problem with this offense for years hasn’t been the lack of a deep threat, it’s the lack of an “X” receiver.
There are two approaches to throwing the ball deep in an NFL offense. You can take the Coryell approach, like our buddy Mike Martz, and take deep drops and force the ball downfield in huge chunks. The Bears had the speed to execute that offense but, as we all know, they lacked the protection. The approach most effective NFL offenses take is a more organic one, where you work the ball in the short and intermediate passing game and wait for openings to appear downfield. The Saints and Packers come to mind as two teams that beat the living hell out of teams with intermediate routes before going downfield the second the safeties cheat. This is all an over-simplified explanation of things, but bear with me.
The last few years the Bears have spent the first half of the season trying to run the Mike Martz offense, gaining big chunks through deep tosses until the beating Jay Cutler took forced them to switch to a hodgepodge approach that combined shorter throws with more protection and fewer receivers on the few deep balls they attempted (the 48 yard throw from Cutler to Hester in the first Vikings game had just 2 receivers on the pattern). They weren’t able to really work defenses from sideline to sideline in order to stretch the field vertically later on because neither Johnny Knox or Devin Hester was the big, consistent route runner you need to beat a team with 15-25 yard routes, while Earl Bennett limited speed makes him more of an underneath guy. When you don’t have someone to fear in that intermediate distance of 15-25 yards, it’s easy to roll a safety over to cover Knox and Hester deep or to squat on shorter throws.
To Martz’s credit, he understood this and brought in Roy Williams to run the deep dig and other routes that required a bigger body in the middle of the field. Of course, Martz is also the fucking idiot that thought Roy Williams of all people could hold onto the ball and take a hit.
Brandon Marshall can be that guy. He greatly expands the route tree the Bears can use in their offense by giving Jay Cutler a receiver that frequently makes teams pay in the intermediate passing game. In 2008, when Cutler threw for over 4500 yards and Marshall had over 1200 yards receiving, their longest connection was 47 yards. That’s not a bad thing. It’s where most of the NFL’s best passers do their damage.
With Marshall undoubtedly drawing the attention of a safety, and a hopefully healthy year from the BBE (think of Earl as the Eddie Royal of this offense), Hester (or the potential rookie wide receiver the team may draft) might become more than a gimmick and a guy who can exploit isolated corners with his speed. Free from the burden of mastering the precise routes and the discipline required of a #1 receiver, Hester might become a much more effective part of the offense than he’s ever really been before.
So what does the acquisition of Brandon Marshall do for the Bears? It makes them better. Obviously. I don’t even get why you’re asking the question. Morons.
Monday, November 7, 2011
Bears 30, Eagles 24- Dangerous
Dangerous. That's what the Bears are if they play the kind of football on both sides of the ball that they played tonight for the rest of the season. The final score is misleading, even, as two incredibly rare fumbles by Matt Forte spotted the Eagles 14 points they'd have had a hard time coming by otherwise. The offensive line finally gave Cutler his first game without a sack since the first half of 2009. Matt Forte, despite his uncharacteristic turnovers, dominated once again with 133 yards rushing. Brian Urlacher, Lance Briggs, and Julius Peppers did what you expect them to do by containing Michael Vick, who has failed to win a single start against this team despite four tries. This is just an awesome win, perhaps the best played game we've seen from this team...in the Cutler era, at least. Next week's another big one with Detroit at home, a rematch I'm Really looking forward to. For now, though, let's enjoy this one. Bear down.
The Good:
-Jay Cutler: I love stats, but they can be misleading. Anyone looking at Jay Cutler's 208 yds in this game might think he was merely "good," but they'd be wrong. Against an amazing secondary (and with his own batch of mediocre receivers looking less than stellar outside of the BBE), Jay played like an elite quarterback, and when everything was put on his shoulders in the fourth quarter he simply went out and won the ball game. Also, if you didn't absolutely love his improvising on the near-sack toss to Barber and the option pitch to Hester, you, sir, have no soul.
-Matt Forte: I love the guy. My inner meathead screamed after fumble number two, but the man never fumbles. It was a fluke. He did exactly what you want someone to do in that situation, meaning he went out and played like the MVP he's been. 133 rushing on 24 carries, with another 17 yards receiving, giving him 150 total yards from scrimmage. You know what's awesome? That was BELOW his season average. He's a beast. This offense is starting to come together like we haven't seen...maybe ever.
-Earl Bennett: Man, was it ever obvious how much Jay missed the BBE? The disparity between what Earl can do and what the rest of Jay's receivers can do was never more obvious than it was tonight. You have to give Asomugah and Asante Samuel credit, but Hester, Williams, and Sanzenbacher all dropped what would have been huge catches, and while Earl racked up 5 catches for 95 yds and a TD, the other four guys combined for 5 catches for 72 yards. Earl's back, bitches, and may hell take the corners attempting to stop him on third down.
-The offensive line: There are no words. Against an absolutely stacked defensive line and a team famous for blitzing, they allowed no sacks for the first time in two years. They paved the way for 164 yards rushing at 5 yards a clip. I have no idea how they can work Gabe Carimi back into the lineup with the way Lance Louis, J'Marcus Webb, and Chris Spencer are playing right now. Isn't that awesome? Three weeks ago this team was absolutely harassed in Detroit thanks to the injury to Spencer and the mere presence of Frank Omiyale, and now they can't get a guy who may technically be their most promising offensive linemen into the lineup because the rest of em are playing so well. Amazing.
-Julius Peppers: Like all of you, I let the incredibly lame Darth-Vader-at-the-end-of-Revenge-of-the-Sith* NOOOOOO escape my lungs when Julius went down. Being the man that he is, he came back in and sacked Michael Vick to end an Eagles drive on his first play back. Several times he got in Vick's way and forced throws on what normally are 20-25 yard runs for him. He also had another of his trademark jumping pass deflections. I love him. I don't care who knows it.
-Israel Idonije: Sadly two tackles are the only things that will show up on the stat sheet for Izzy, but man, he was an animal tonight. He seemingly found his way into the Eagles backfield on every play, and he forced a number of poor throws and bad decisions out of Vick. Good on ya, ya big lug.
-Brian Urlacher and Lance Briggs: Honestly, I wish these two played Michael Vick every week, because he seems to get an extra level out of two guys who already have a combined 13 Pro Bowls. They combined tonight for 16 tackles and 3 pass deflections, and they once more chased Vick from sideline to sideline, limiting him to just 34 yards rushing. Stay healthy, guys. I'll always go back to Paul Allen, the Vikings' radio guy, and what he said last year: "When these two are healthy, the Chicago Bears win a lot of ball games. It's as simple as that."
-Tim Jennings and Charles Tillman: The oft and unfairly-maligned duo really got it done tonight. The Bears scoffed at the notion that they can't play man and decided to beat the shit out of Philly's receivers, daring them to break a big one. They couldn't do it because Tillman and Jennings absolutely balled tonight. When you limit the Philadelphia Eagles to 5.6 ypa and hold Maclin and Jackson to 79 yards Total, damn. That's good football.
-Lovie Smith: I've liked everything I've heard from Lovie before and after this game. He called out underperforming guys like Melton and he deactivated Anthony Adams in favor of Paea and Toeiana (it worked, considering they shutdown the run game for Philly outside of one 33 yard McCoy run). He also made the bold move of cutting Chris Harris. He took a shot at the guys in Vegas after the game when he said "the Chicago Bears should never be 8 point underdogs." I still like Lovie, no matter how often I'm told by some illogical people that I shouldn't. He had his guys prepared tonight, and it showed.
The Bad:
-Roy Williams: He dropped two passes that he had absolutely no excuse for dropping, one of which would probably have been a TD. His 3 catches all went for first downs, which is nice, but he's still frustrating as hell.
-Nothing else. This game was perfect. Absolutely perfect. It's one of those nights that leaves you absolutely dying to see them take the field next Sunday. Go Bears.
*-This reference to the Star Wars prequels was put into this recap in order to appease CT, who I'm sure was yet again disappointed that I was a no-show for the SKOscast.
The Good:
-Jay Cutler: I love stats, but they can be misleading. Anyone looking at Jay Cutler's 208 yds in this game might think he was merely "good," but they'd be wrong. Against an amazing secondary (and with his own batch of mediocre receivers looking less than stellar outside of the BBE), Jay played like an elite quarterback, and when everything was put on his shoulders in the fourth quarter he simply went out and won the ball game. Also, if you didn't absolutely love his improvising on the near-sack toss to Barber and the option pitch to Hester, you, sir, have no soul.
-Matt Forte: I love the guy. My inner meathead screamed after fumble number two, but the man never fumbles. It was a fluke. He did exactly what you want someone to do in that situation, meaning he went out and played like the MVP he's been. 133 rushing on 24 carries, with another 17 yards receiving, giving him 150 total yards from scrimmage. You know what's awesome? That was BELOW his season average. He's a beast. This offense is starting to come together like we haven't seen...maybe ever.
-Earl Bennett: Man, was it ever obvious how much Jay missed the BBE? The disparity between what Earl can do and what the rest of Jay's receivers can do was never more obvious than it was tonight. You have to give Asomugah and Asante Samuel credit, but Hester, Williams, and Sanzenbacher all dropped what would have been huge catches, and while Earl racked up 5 catches for 95 yds and a TD, the other four guys combined for 5 catches for 72 yards. Earl's back, bitches, and may hell take the corners attempting to stop him on third down.
-The offensive line: There are no words. Against an absolutely stacked defensive line and a team famous for blitzing, they allowed no sacks for the first time in two years. They paved the way for 164 yards rushing at 5 yards a clip. I have no idea how they can work Gabe Carimi back into the lineup with the way Lance Louis, J'Marcus Webb, and Chris Spencer are playing right now. Isn't that awesome? Three weeks ago this team was absolutely harassed in Detroit thanks to the injury to Spencer and the mere presence of Frank Omiyale, and now they can't get a guy who may technically be their most promising offensive linemen into the lineup because the rest of em are playing so well. Amazing.
-Julius Peppers: Like all of you, I let the incredibly lame Darth-Vader-at-the-end-of-Revenge-of-the-Sith* NOOOOOO escape my lungs when Julius went down. Being the man that he is, he came back in and sacked Michael Vick to end an Eagles drive on his first play back. Several times he got in Vick's way and forced throws on what normally are 20-25 yard runs for him. He also had another of his trademark jumping pass deflections. I love him. I don't care who knows it.
-Israel Idonije: Sadly two tackles are the only things that will show up on the stat sheet for Izzy, but man, he was an animal tonight. He seemingly found his way into the Eagles backfield on every play, and he forced a number of poor throws and bad decisions out of Vick. Good on ya, ya big lug.
-Brian Urlacher and Lance Briggs: Honestly, I wish these two played Michael Vick every week, because he seems to get an extra level out of two guys who already have a combined 13 Pro Bowls. They combined tonight for 16 tackles and 3 pass deflections, and they once more chased Vick from sideline to sideline, limiting him to just 34 yards rushing. Stay healthy, guys. I'll always go back to Paul Allen, the Vikings' radio guy, and what he said last year: "When these two are healthy, the Chicago Bears win a lot of ball games. It's as simple as that."
-Tim Jennings and Charles Tillman: The oft and unfairly-maligned duo really got it done tonight. The Bears scoffed at the notion that they can't play man and decided to beat the shit out of Philly's receivers, daring them to break a big one. They couldn't do it because Tillman and Jennings absolutely balled tonight. When you limit the Philadelphia Eagles to 5.6 ypa and hold Maclin and Jackson to 79 yards Total, damn. That's good football.
-Lovie Smith: I've liked everything I've heard from Lovie before and after this game. He called out underperforming guys like Melton and he deactivated Anthony Adams in favor of Paea and Toeiana (it worked, considering they shutdown the run game for Philly outside of one 33 yard McCoy run). He also made the bold move of cutting Chris Harris. He took a shot at the guys in Vegas after the game when he said "the Chicago Bears should never be 8 point underdogs." I still like Lovie, no matter how often I'm told by some illogical people that I shouldn't. He had his guys prepared tonight, and it showed.
The Bad:
-Roy Williams: He dropped two passes that he had absolutely no excuse for dropping, one of which would probably have been a TD. His 3 catches all went for first downs, which is nice, but he's still frustrating as hell.
-Nothing else. This game was perfect. Absolutely perfect. It's one of those nights that leaves you absolutely dying to see them take the field next Sunday. Go Bears.
*-This reference to the Star Wars prequels was put into this recap in order to appease CT, who I'm sure was yet again disappointed that I was a no-show for the SKOscast.
Saturday, August 27, 2011
Bears-Titans Notes
The third preseason game is in the books, and the information that can be gleaned from the 2 1/1 quarters played by the Bears starters is promising:
The Good:
- Matt Forte- Last week Matt was devastating in the screen game, and this week he dominated between the tackles. Forte ran hard between the tackles (where he was helped by some huge holes) and was awesome on draw plays and the inside zone. He finished with 17 carries for 74 yards and a TD (4.4 yards per carry) and added a 15 yard reception. He's more than ready for the regular season, and it was pleasing to see Martz design a largely successful game plan around him tonight. Now pay the man, Jerry.
-Earl Bennett- The BBE was huge again tonight with 6 receptions for 89 yards. While the appellation I gave him mostly refers to his sure hands and his reliability on third down, it should be noted that Earl can get downfield when he's asked to and has been a pretty good deep threat this preseason as well.
-Amobi Okoye- The defensive tackle has seized his opportunity and at this point, after three preseason sacks, has to be a lock for the roster, if not the starting lineup. He's certainly a threat on passing downs, something the team has desperately needed at the 3-technique for the last couple of years during the Tommie Harris decline.
-The offensive line- They were exceptional in run blocking tonight, giving Forte some holes (especially on draw plays) that he's probably never seen before. In pass protection they allowed some pressure off of the edges but still allowed just 1 sack and have really allowed Martz and Cutler to work the seven step game. I'm beginning to breathe a little bit. So far they've been pretty stout against four man rushes, which is great. If team's have to blitz to generate pressure, Martz's offense will click and he'll be able to scheme to get the ball to the free receiver. Last year teams didn't even have to bring an extra guy to get to Jay.
-Jay Cutler- Jay was damn near perfect tonight, even if the stat sheet shows a mediocre 67 rating. His only interception was clearly Roy Williams fault (more on Roy later) as it went off both of Roy's hands into the hands of the defense. Other than that, Cutler was accurate (13 of 21, despite 2-3 drops yet again) and, more importantly, he was effective downfield (averaged 8.1 YPA, 13.1 YPC) and he wasn't sacked a single time. Over his last four full quarters in these two preseason games Jay is 25 of 42 (60%) for 341 yards (8.1 YPA, 13.6 YPC) despite his receivers struggles in the drop department (Hester had 2 tonight, as did Roy Williams, to go with 4 last week). Jay was extremely quick with his decisions tonight and stared down the blitz quite well. My obvious homerism notwithstanding, I think he's going to do some very special things in year two of this system. You can only draw so much from the preseason, but the velocity and accuracy Cutler has shown (and the protection he's got) bodes well, considering everything looked awry during last year's bumbling preseason and the up-and-down offense of the first half bore out those results. There's no guarantees, but it's promising to see him look so sharp early.
The Bad:
- Roy Williams: I'm level-headed,normally. I've defended this move from every rational standpoint, and still do, considering this was an extremely low-risk, high-reward move, but Jesus, Roy Williams could try not to piss on himself for one fucking series or something. He caused Cutler's interception, he went out of bounds before completing the catch on another throw, then he had a second drop. He's also looked terrible blocking this preseason, so there's that. I hope he pans out, but damn, you're not making this easy, Roy.
-Desmond Clark: Dez himself did nothing wrong, but the fact that he had to be carted off gives me the sads. He was going to be no more than a back up this year, so this doesn't kill the team, but Dez has always been a solid player and a great guy (as far as anyone can tell with any of these guys) and it would suck to see the team bring him back just to see this happen.
-Marion Barber: Same here. Marion played well on his two touches, but his calf injury is concerning. If he's not healthy, that may mean more Chester Taylor, which causes my blood to boil. Considering Chester didn't get any carries tonight it seems more likely that the team will roll with Khalil Bell until Marion gets healthy and they'll still cut Chester, but, damn, it would suck to have Barber out for long after how good he's looked so far.
That's all for now. I've been pleased with what I've seen from the first teams on offense and defense so far these last two games. I think they're going to be just fine by the time Atlanta comes to Soldier Field. Meanwhile, enjoy hearing about how awesome the Lions are.
The Good:
- Matt Forte- Last week Matt was devastating in the screen game, and this week he dominated between the tackles. Forte ran hard between the tackles (where he was helped by some huge holes) and was awesome on draw plays and the inside zone. He finished with 17 carries for 74 yards and a TD (4.4 yards per carry) and added a 15 yard reception. He's more than ready for the regular season, and it was pleasing to see Martz design a largely successful game plan around him tonight. Now pay the man, Jerry.
-Earl Bennett- The BBE was huge again tonight with 6 receptions for 89 yards. While the appellation I gave him mostly refers to his sure hands and his reliability on third down, it should be noted that Earl can get downfield when he's asked to and has been a pretty good deep threat this preseason as well.
-Amobi Okoye- The defensive tackle has seized his opportunity and at this point, after three preseason sacks, has to be a lock for the roster, if not the starting lineup. He's certainly a threat on passing downs, something the team has desperately needed at the 3-technique for the last couple of years during the Tommie Harris decline.
-The offensive line- They were exceptional in run blocking tonight, giving Forte some holes (especially on draw plays) that he's probably never seen before. In pass protection they allowed some pressure off of the edges but still allowed just 1 sack and have really allowed Martz and Cutler to work the seven step game. I'm beginning to breathe a little bit. So far they've been pretty stout against four man rushes, which is great. If team's have to blitz to generate pressure, Martz's offense will click and he'll be able to scheme to get the ball to the free receiver. Last year teams didn't even have to bring an extra guy to get to Jay.
-Jay Cutler- Jay was damn near perfect tonight, even if the stat sheet shows a mediocre 67 rating. His only interception was clearly Roy Williams fault (more on Roy later) as it went off both of Roy's hands into the hands of the defense. Other than that, Cutler was accurate (13 of 21, despite 2-3 drops yet again) and, more importantly, he was effective downfield (averaged 8.1 YPA, 13.1 YPC) and he wasn't sacked a single time. Over his last four full quarters in these two preseason games Jay is 25 of 42 (60%) for 341 yards (8.1 YPA, 13.6 YPC) despite his receivers struggles in the drop department (Hester had 2 tonight, as did Roy Williams, to go with 4 last week). Jay was extremely quick with his decisions tonight and stared down the blitz quite well. My obvious homerism notwithstanding, I think he's going to do some very special things in year two of this system. You can only draw so much from the preseason, but the velocity and accuracy Cutler has shown (and the protection he's got) bodes well, considering everything looked awry during last year's bumbling preseason and the up-and-down offense of the first half bore out those results. There's no guarantees, but it's promising to see him look so sharp early.
The Bad:
- Roy Williams: I'm level-headed,normally. I've defended this move from every rational standpoint, and still do, considering this was an extremely low-risk, high-reward move, but Jesus, Roy Williams could try not to piss on himself for one fucking series or something. He caused Cutler's interception, he went out of bounds before completing the catch on another throw, then he had a second drop. He's also looked terrible blocking this preseason, so there's that. I hope he pans out, but damn, you're not making this easy, Roy.
-Desmond Clark: Dez himself did nothing wrong, but the fact that he had to be carted off gives me the sads. He was going to be no more than a back up this year, so this doesn't kill the team, but Dez has always been a solid player and a great guy (as far as anyone can tell with any of these guys) and it would suck to see the team bring him back just to see this happen.
-Marion Barber: Same here. Marion played well on his two touches, but his calf injury is concerning. If he's not healthy, that may mean more Chester Taylor, which causes my blood to boil. Considering Chester didn't get any carries tonight it seems more likely that the team will roll with Khalil Bell until Marion gets healthy and they'll still cut Chester, but, damn, it would suck to have Barber out for long after how good he's looked so far.
That's all for now. I've been pleased with what I've seen from the first teams on offense and defense so far these last two games. I think they're going to be just fine by the time Atlanta comes to Soldier Field. Meanwhile, enjoy hearing about how awesome the Lions are.
Tuesday, August 23, 2011
Bears-Giants Observations
I haven't seen too many people overreacting to a 41-13 preseason blowout (a somewhat misleading score, since the Bears racked up a healthy 414 yards of offense and had the edge in time of possession), so I'm happy about that, although maybe I'm just not looking hard enough. There were some interesting things to take out of the first half, however (where the score was 13-6 before the starting defense, which was without Lance Briggs to begin with, left the game). Here's my observations:
The Good:
- Matt Forte didn't carry the ball much, since the team seems interested in protecting him from injury with the contract dispute still up in the air, but he looked very effective in the screen game, a huge component of what Martz likes to do to negate the pass rush.
-Earl Bennett (The Black Bobby Engram). 'Nuff said.
-The First-Team Defense: They forced three and outs on the Giants first two drives and held the Giants to 13 pts despite being victimized by poor field position (especially after a 73 yard kickoff return that preceded the only TD they allowed. They held Eli Manning to 78 yards on 16 attempts for a meager 4.9 YPA. All in all, good work by the first team unit, which is good, since the second team unit spent 2 1/2 quarters shitting all over themselves.
- Jay Cutler: 12 of 21 for 171 yards in one half (8.1 YPA, 14.5 YPC) is pretty solid for an exhibition game where Martz was clearly testing his ability to work the 7 step route tree against a tough pass rush, but the numbers are actually even better when you consider he suffered from four dropped passes (one of which cost him a TD pass) and Hester also fell down on what would have been a wide-open TD pass. The one sack of the game was his fault and he needs to do a better job of throwing the ball away, but I was very pleased with the vast improvement from last week.
- The offensive line: 1 sack (that wasn't even their fault). Very promising. The two false starts and the hold were concerning, but that'll happen given the youth on the line. The important thing is that they kept Cutler clean. If mental mistakes are the biggest problem, this line is definitely improved from last year.
The Bad:
- Roy Williams: I'm willing to give the Roy Williams Experiment some time, especially since Johnny Knox is still there in the wings as insurance, but man, Roy did himself no favors last night. He dropped two third down passes from Cutler, looked terrible blocking for Forte on the screen and seemed to be lagging behind elsewhere. Good luck, Roy, because the fans are out for blood in Chicago.
-The Second-String Defense: Well, that was hideous. Oh well. You can only hope to contain David Carr, not stop him.
-The Special Teams: Very rare to see a Dave Toub unit get torched like this. A 73 yard kick return and a blocked punt? Surprising, but such a rarity that I wouldn't be concerned, although it did contribute to the misleadingly-lopsided score.
-Eli Manning: I just don't like looking at him.
That's all for now. See ya Saturday night. Go Bears.
The Good:
- Matt Forte didn't carry the ball much, since the team seems interested in protecting him from injury with the contract dispute still up in the air, but he looked very effective in the screen game, a huge component of what Martz likes to do to negate the pass rush.
-Earl Bennett (The Black Bobby Engram). 'Nuff said.
-The First-Team Defense: They forced three and outs on the Giants first two drives and held the Giants to 13 pts despite being victimized by poor field position (especially after a 73 yard kickoff return that preceded the only TD they allowed. They held Eli Manning to 78 yards on 16 attempts for a meager 4.9 YPA. All in all, good work by the first team unit, which is good, since the second team unit spent 2 1/2 quarters shitting all over themselves.
- Jay Cutler: 12 of 21 for 171 yards in one half (8.1 YPA, 14.5 YPC) is pretty solid for an exhibition game where Martz was clearly testing his ability to work the 7 step route tree against a tough pass rush, but the numbers are actually even better when you consider he suffered from four dropped passes (one of which cost him a TD pass) and Hester also fell down on what would have been a wide-open TD pass. The one sack of the game was his fault and he needs to do a better job of throwing the ball away, but I was very pleased with the vast improvement from last week.
- The offensive line: 1 sack (that wasn't even their fault). Very promising. The two false starts and the hold were concerning, but that'll happen given the youth on the line. The important thing is that they kept Cutler clean. If mental mistakes are the biggest problem, this line is definitely improved from last year.
The Bad:
- Roy Williams: I'm willing to give the Roy Williams Experiment some time, especially since Johnny Knox is still there in the wings as insurance, but man, Roy did himself no favors last night. He dropped two third down passes from Cutler, looked terrible blocking for Forte on the screen and seemed to be lagging behind elsewhere. Good luck, Roy, because the fans are out for blood in Chicago.
-The Second-String Defense: Well, that was hideous. Oh well. You can only hope to contain David Carr, not stop him.
-The Special Teams: Very rare to see a Dave Toub unit get torched like this. A 73 yard kick return and a blocked punt? Surprising, but such a rarity that I wouldn't be concerned, although it did contribute to the misleadingly-lopsided score.
-Eli Manning: I just don't like looking at him.
That's all for now. See ya Saturday night. Go Bears.
Thursday, February 10, 2011
In Review- The Wide Receivers
As part of my extremely prolonged and ongoing series reviewing each unit of the Bears and their performance in 2010 and my hopes for 2011, I now move onto the wide receivers.
#13 Johnny Knox-
Johnny's an extremely frustrating player. It's hard to say he's been a disappointment, as his production over the last two years has been outstanding for a guy from a small school whose mere existence on the roster came about as a throw-away in the Cutler trade. He had 960 yards receiving this year and averaged an absolutely outstanding and DeSean Jackson like 18.8 yards per catch. He's got 10 TDs in two years. He's a great return man when he gets chances.
Buuuuttt....
You know and I know, as much as I hate even debating the existence of "toughness", Johnny Knox doesn't have it. Maybe he's just not smart enough to run proper routes. Maybe he just doesn't see the ball on all of those jump balls that he never gets his head around on. Either way, I know I have to stifle the urge to strangle something cute and innocent every time I see Jay Cutler blamed for another "mindless interception" when we all know it was Johnny's fault for standing there and throwing his arms up for a flag while watching a DB wrestle the ball out of the air or cutting behind the defender on a slant. He led the league in most interceptions on passes thrown his way. Not all of that's his fault, but a good deal of it sure as hell is. Apparently it pisses off Marshall Faulk, too. Now, I'm not advocating giving up on Johnny Knox. He's a very talented and very cheap young player. Hopefully he learns from his mistakes and improves his route-running and effort. I'd be more happy, however, if the Bears found another legitimate target so Cutler doesn't find himself forcing the ball to Johnny as often.
#23 Devin Hester-
Devin is what he is. The whole "is he a #1 receiver?" debate of the last few years has been a mostly pointless exercise. He's shown great flashes of talent, but he's never really put it all together. Alot of that isn't his fault. He's not targeted very often, and his skills really are better suited to lining up in the slot in this offense. His skills as a returner are absolutely invaluable and he's a threat when he's at the line of scrimmage. I think the Bears have started to appreciate him for what he is and have shifted away from Relying on him on offense, and that's probably a good thing. He's a good piece to have to move around and cause match-up problems, but he's never going to be an every-down target. That's okay.
#80 Earl Bennett-
I love Earl Bennett. I make no secret of this fact. The Black Bobby Engram is an unstoppable third down threat and his effort is incredible. He throws great blocks and I will always remember him dragging the entire Lions' defense for 15-20 yards in the second Detroit game. That said, he's a complementary player. His speed isn't great enough to make him a consistent deep threat, and his size isn't going to cause many matchup problems in the red zone. There's just a missing piece and it sure as hell isn't
#19 Devin Aromashodu-
Someone out there is still pissed that this guy didn't get many targets this year and won't be back next year. That's fine. That guy is an idiot. Devin was a guy that benefitted from a Hester injury last year and had a couple great games that were almost entirely Jay Cutler's doing. I don't remember Devin making a single catch (outside of his snag against the Giants in the Preseason last year) where I was all that impressed. The hype was stupid and Mike Martz knew it. Even worse, Devin himself believed it and apparently acted like an entitled fuckwad when his reps got cut after his four drops in the opener. Nice thinking for a guy who had finally broken free of the practice squad. See ya.
#81 Rashied Davis-
Rashied is an excellent special teams player. He also earned his way onto the field as a receiver late in the season and responded with some pretty good play out of the slot. I'd never have him higher than #4 on the depth chart, but he's a pretty good value at this position.
So we know what the Bears are missing. I'm not trying to join the horde of idiots who spent the last two years hoping the Bears would throw away valuable picks in a go-for-broke attempt to get Anquan Boldin or be dumb enough to sign Terrell Owens. Chad Johnson may be worth a shot if the price is right (meaning a 5th round pick or lower), but somewhere in the draft or in free agency there's got to be somebody big enough to throw a damn Fade to. That's not that hard.
Chances are, if the Bears fix the offensive line, they could bring back this exact same corps and they'd do light years better next year and I'd feel silly for saying this, but sometimes the difference between a nice receiver and a great one comes down to a few missed plays in a game. I hate going with something so statistically unproveable, but watching the Superbowl I couldn't help but notice the drops by Jordy Nelson and James Jones, both of whom are talented receivers who could probably start for a lot of teams like the Bears and do pretty well. Then you saw Greg Jennings with his two touchdowns and a perfectly run seam route from Rodgers to Jennings for a huge 3rd down conversion on GB's last scoring drive and you realize that it really, really helps to have That guy. Hopefully the Bears will find him soon. Whoever he is, I don't think he's Andy Fantuz.
#13 Johnny Knox-
Johnny's an extremely frustrating player. It's hard to say he's been a disappointment, as his production over the last two years has been outstanding for a guy from a small school whose mere existence on the roster came about as a throw-away in the Cutler trade. He had 960 yards receiving this year and averaged an absolutely outstanding and DeSean Jackson like 18.8 yards per catch. He's got 10 TDs in two years. He's a great return man when he gets chances.
Buuuuttt....
You know and I know, as much as I hate even debating the existence of "toughness", Johnny Knox doesn't have it. Maybe he's just not smart enough to run proper routes. Maybe he just doesn't see the ball on all of those jump balls that he never gets his head around on. Either way, I know I have to stifle the urge to strangle something cute and innocent every time I see Jay Cutler blamed for another "mindless interception" when we all know it was Johnny's fault for standing there and throwing his arms up for a flag while watching a DB wrestle the ball out of the air or cutting behind the defender on a slant. He led the league in most interceptions on passes thrown his way. Not all of that's his fault, but a good deal of it sure as hell is. Apparently it pisses off Marshall Faulk, too. Now, I'm not advocating giving up on Johnny Knox. He's a very talented and very cheap young player. Hopefully he learns from his mistakes and improves his route-running and effort. I'd be more happy, however, if the Bears found another legitimate target so Cutler doesn't find himself forcing the ball to Johnny as often.
#23 Devin Hester-
Devin is what he is. The whole "is he a #1 receiver?" debate of the last few years has been a mostly pointless exercise. He's shown great flashes of talent, but he's never really put it all together. Alot of that isn't his fault. He's not targeted very often, and his skills really are better suited to lining up in the slot in this offense. His skills as a returner are absolutely invaluable and he's a threat when he's at the line of scrimmage. I think the Bears have started to appreciate him for what he is and have shifted away from Relying on him on offense, and that's probably a good thing. He's a good piece to have to move around and cause match-up problems, but he's never going to be an every-down target. That's okay.
#80 Earl Bennett-
I love Earl Bennett. I make no secret of this fact. The Black Bobby Engram is an unstoppable third down threat and his effort is incredible. He throws great blocks and I will always remember him dragging the entire Lions' defense for 15-20 yards in the second Detroit game. That said, he's a complementary player. His speed isn't great enough to make him a consistent deep threat, and his size isn't going to cause many matchup problems in the red zone. There's just a missing piece and it sure as hell isn't
#19 Devin Aromashodu-
Someone out there is still pissed that this guy didn't get many targets this year and won't be back next year. That's fine. That guy is an idiot. Devin was a guy that benefitted from a Hester injury last year and had a couple great games that were almost entirely Jay Cutler's doing. I don't remember Devin making a single catch (outside of his snag against the Giants in the Preseason last year) where I was all that impressed. The hype was stupid and Mike Martz knew it. Even worse, Devin himself believed it and apparently acted like an entitled fuckwad when his reps got cut after his four drops in the opener. Nice thinking for a guy who had finally broken free of the practice squad. See ya.
#81 Rashied Davis-
Rashied is an excellent special teams player. He also earned his way onto the field as a receiver late in the season and responded with some pretty good play out of the slot. I'd never have him higher than #4 on the depth chart, but he's a pretty good value at this position.
So we know what the Bears are missing. I'm not trying to join the horde of idiots who spent the last two years hoping the Bears would throw away valuable picks in a go-for-broke attempt to get Anquan Boldin or be dumb enough to sign Terrell Owens. Chad Johnson may be worth a shot if the price is right (meaning a 5th round pick or lower), but somewhere in the draft or in free agency there's got to be somebody big enough to throw a damn Fade to. That's not that hard.
Chances are, if the Bears fix the offensive line, they could bring back this exact same corps and they'd do light years better next year and I'd feel silly for saying this, but sometimes the difference between a nice receiver and a great one comes down to a few missed plays in a game. I hate going with something so statistically unproveable, but watching the Superbowl I couldn't help but notice the drops by Jordy Nelson and James Jones, both of whom are talented receivers who could probably start for a lot of teams like the Bears and do pretty well. Then you saw Greg Jennings with his two touchdowns and a perfectly run seam route from Rodgers to Jennings for a huge 3rd down conversion on GB's last scoring drive and you realize that it really, really helps to have That guy. Hopefully the Bears will find him soon. Whoever he is, I don't think he's Andy Fantuz.
Sunday, December 5, 2010
Bears 24, Lions 20- IT'S A TRAP!
Give the Lions credit. They had one hell of a gameplan to utilize Drew Stanton's talents and to grit their way to some points against the Bears defense. However, that dink and dunk, manage the game style that so famously cost the Bears games the last few years isn't going to get it done this year unless your defense is good enough to shut out Cutler and company. And the Lions' defense is far from that. So, like Ackbar when he rallied and destroyed the imperial fleet and saved the galaxy, Jay Cutler, Earl Bennett, and Earl Bennett's balls of solid brass surgically dissected the Lions for most of the last three quarters and the Bears finally swatted them down in the fourth quarter. Lions fans will take their usual comfort from one questionable penalty on Suh that they think was clearly the turning point in the game (never mind the fact the Bears would have had 2nd and 2 at the 14 yard line without the penalty and had driven the ball well all day long), but, as usual, the Bears have the scoreboard on their side. The Packers won to keep pace at 8-4, but everything remains in the Bears' control.
To the recap!
THE GOOD
-Earl Mother Fuckin' Bennett: The Black Bobby Engram continued his solid play as he singlehandedly destroyed Detroit on third down. Cutler looked his way all day and Bennett responded with a career day: 7 catches for a 104 yards that had a lot to do with the Bears continued success on the most important down (5/9).
-DJ Moore: He got destroyed by Megatron on his TD, but that matchup should never have occurred anyway. Meanwhile, he played incredibly well against the rest of the Detroit offense and had some timely corner blitzes as well as a huge sack. Then he said this in the postgame
"D.J.: I mean, aint nobody wanna lose to the Lions. Jeez, Louise. But it's always good to get a win."*
God bless you, DJ.
-Matt Forte and Chester Taylor: While this game featured more of Taylor than I'd have liked, he at least averaged more than his usual nothing-per-carry average and the two combined for 97 yards and 2 TDs on the ground to go with 7 combined catches for 67 yards.
-Julius Peppers: He got sack #7 today and seemed to be the first member of the defense to step up in the second half and state that they were not going to tolerate any more bullshit.
-Brian Urlacher: This guy showed up, too, and split a sack with DJ Moore. He also threw in 16 total tackles.
- Jay Cutler: The pass blocking was atrocious, and I'm sure Jay would have loved more time to shred that terrible secondary, but he was, as I said, surgical in tearing apart the defense with short, quick throws and some backbreaking 3rd down passes till he finished at 21/26 (80.8%) for 234 YDs, 1 TD, 0 INTs, and a sexy 117 passer rating. He's now got just 11 interceptions in his last 13 starts for the Bears. That'll do, Jay.
-Second half defense: After a miserable first half they allowed just 3 pts (after a Cutler fumble that occurred within the Bears red zone) and 49 total yards. Excellent.
The Bad:
-The first half defensive line: It took them a long damn time to wear down Detroit's starting five, and in the first half they got pushed all over the field. They made the necessary adjustments though.
-J'Marcus Webb and Frank Omiyale: Cliff Avril, Frank? Cliff fucking Avril? I watch 975 games of football every week and I didn't even know who the fuck Cliff was before this game. Frank and Webb (he rotated) made him into a hall of famer. Guh. If Frank's not the first guy thrown overboard this offseason I'm going to kill something young and innocent.
-Lions fans and Tim Ryan: IT DOES NOT MATTER THAT CUTLER WAS ACROSS THE LINE OF SCRIMMAGE. THAT WASN'T ROUGHING THE PASSER, MORONS. YOU CAN'T SHOVE ANYONE, QB OR NOT, IN THE BACK OF THE HEAD. Angry caps done. Jesus, how deluded can a franchise be? Just like in the first game, try picking up a first down in the second half if you want to bitch. Your team sucks. Bad teams lose a lot of close games and let one fucking penalty wreck their shit. That's you. A bad team.
That's all for now. Going to need a better defensive effort to beat the Patriots next week, but I'm still feeling pretty good. Go Bears.
To the recap!
THE GOOD
-Earl Mother Fuckin' Bennett: The Black Bobby Engram continued his solid play as he singlehandedly destroyed Detroit on third down. Cutler looked his way all day and Bennett responded with a career day: 7 catches for a 104 yards that had a lot to do with the Bears continued success on the most important down (5/9).
-DJ Moore: He got destroyed by Megatron on his TD, but that matchup should never have occurred anyway. Meanwhile, he played incredibly well against the rest of the Detroit offense and had some timely corner blitzes as well as a huge sack. Then he said this in the postgame
"D.J.: I mean, aint nobody wanna lose to the Lions. Jeez, Louise. But it's always good to get a win."*
God bless you, DJ.
-Matt Forte and Chester Taylor: While this game featured more of Taylor than I'd have liked, he at least averaged more than his usual nothing-per-carry average and the two combined for 97 yards and 2 TDs on the ground to go with 7 combined catches for 67 yards.
-Julius Peppers: He got sack #7 today and seemed to be the first member of the defense to step up in the second half and state that they were not going to tolerate any more bullshit.
-Brian Urlacher: This guy showed up, too, and split a sack with DJ Moore. He also threw in 16 total tackles.
- Jay Cutler: The pass blocking was atrocious, and I'm sure Jay would have loved more time to shred that terrible secondary, but he was, as I said, surgical in tearing apart the defense with short, quick throws and some backbreaking 3rd down passes till he finished at 21/26 (80.8%) for 234 YDs, 1 TD, 0 INTs, and a sexy 117 passer rating. He's now got just 11 interceptions in his last 13 starts for the Bears. That'll do, Jay.
-Second half defense: After a miserable first half they allowed just 3 pts (after a Cutler fumble that occurred within the Bears red zone) and 49 total yards. Excellent.
The Bad:
-The first half defensive line: It took them a long damn time to wear down Detroit's starting five, and in the first half they got pushed all over the field. They made the necessary adjustments though.
-J'Marcus Webb and Frank Omiyale: Cliff Avril, Frank? Cliff fucking Avril? I watch 975 games of football every week and I didn't even know who the fuck Cliff was before this game. Frank and Webb (he rotated) made him into a hall of famer. Guh. If Frank's not the first guy thrown overboard this offseason I'm going to kill something young and innocent.
-Lions fans and Tim Ryan: IT DOES NOT MATTER THAT CUTLER WAS ACROSS THE LINE OF SCRIMMAGE. THAT WASN'T ROUGHING THE PASSER, MORONS. YOU CAN'T SHOVE ANYONE, QB OR NOT, IN THE BACK OF THE HEAD. Angry caps done. Jesus, how deluded can a franchise be? Just like in the first game, try picking up a first down in the second half if you want to bitch. Your team sucks. Bad teams lose a lot of close games and let one fucking penalty wreck their shit. That's you. A bad team.
That's all for now. Going to need a better defensive effort to beat the Patriots next week, but I'm still feeling pretty good. Go Bears.
Sunday, November 28, 2010
Bears 31, Eagles 26- ARE YOU NOT ENTERTAINED?
Don't let the final score deceive you. Classic Lovie Prevent defense aside, this was a total asskicking of the team that NFL Network was describing as "this year's Saints." What excuse will they find to dismiss the Bears this week? You're looking at a damn good football team, folks, and I don't care who disagrees.
Onto the breakdown:
THE GOOD:
Jay Cutler: 14/21 (66.7%) for 247 yards, 4 TDS, 0 INTS, a 146.2 rating and one absolutely bullshit unsportsmanlike call where I was only too pleased to see him give the ref the asschewing he deserved. Cutler had undoubtedly his best game as a Bear and maybe as a pro. He threw in 17 yards rushing for good measure. In a game that was supposed to be about Michael Vick, Jay Cutler stole the day and didn't give it back.
Matt Forte: 14 carries for a 117 yards. He was outstanding and was a huge part of the clock-killing 3rd quarter drives that essentially sealed the game for the Bears. That a boy, Matty.
Johnny Knox: 3 catches, 68 yards and a TD to go with the recovery on the last onside kick.
Earl Mother Fuckin' Bennett: The best damn slot receiver the Bears have had in a long god damn time. He had four huge catches and two TDs. Shirtless manhug for you, Earl.
Devin Hester: He had 3 catches for 86 yards, both of which set up scores. He's learning how to come back to the ball when Jay has to scramble, and he clearly influenced the Eagles' gameplan on punts and kicks. Great job. Best game the wide receiver corps had all year.
Greg Olsen: He had only one catch, but it was the most impressive TD catch of his career.
The Front Seven: Urlacher, Briggs, and every single defensive lineman on the field had a huge game. Vick's final numbers look good, but for 3 quarters before Lovie unwisely eased up these guys forced Vick into his worst game of the year. Julius Peppers had one absolutely beastly sack in the first half to end an Eagles threat in the red zone. Idonijie, Melton, and Toeina continued to dominate the interior and even Tommie Harris got into the action with a huge tip that led to the game-changing interception. Boners.
The Bad:
Frank Omiyale: Guh. 3 of Cutler's 4 sacks should be credited to Omiyale, and he did his part as usual to ensure the Bears kept the league lead in false starts. Fuck you, Frank.
Lovie Smith: The gameplan was brilliant until the 4th quarter. I don't blame him for the last TD that was just plain miraculous, but the prevent defense with 11 minutes left in the 4th? He's lucky Andy Reid was determined to lose this game and kicked 2 nonsensical field goals, because the Bend but Don't Break came way too damn close.
Andy Reid: seriously, man. How does someone as dumb as you build such a consistently good football team?
Rick Morrissey: What aren't you impressed with this week, fuckhead?
Onto the breakdown:
THE GOOD:
Jay Cutler: 14/21 (66.7%) for 247 yards, 4 TDS, 0 INTS, a 146.2 rating and one absolutely bullshit unsportsmanlike call where I was only too pleased to see him give the ref the asschewing he deserved. Cutler had undoubtedly his best game as a Bear and maybe as a pro. He threw in 17 yards rushing for good measure. In a game that was supposed to be about Michael Vick, Jay Cutler stole the day and didn't give it back.
Matt Forte: 14 carries for a 117 yards. He was outstanding and was a huge part of the clock-killing 3rd quarter drives that essentially sealed the game for the Bears. That a boy, Matty.
Johnny Knox: 3 catches, 68 yards and a TD to go with the recovery on the last onside kick.
Earl Mother Fuckin' Bennett: The best damn slot receiver the Bears have had in a long god damn time. He had four huge catches and two TDs. Shirtless manhug for you, Earl.
Devin Hester: He had 3 catches for 86 yards, both of which set up scores. He's learning how to come back to the ball when Jay has to scramble, and he clearly influenced the Eagles' gameplan on punts and kicks. Great job. Best game the wide receiver corps had all year.
Greg Olsen: He had only one catch, but it was the most impressive TD catch of his career.
The Front Seven: Urlacher, Briggs, and every single defensive lineman on the field had a huge game. Vick's final numbers look good, but for 3 quarters before Lovie unwisely eased up these guys forced Vick into his worst game of the year. Julius Peppers had one absolutely beastly sack in the first half to end an Eagles threat in the red zone. Idonijie, Melton, and Toeina continued to dominate the interior and even Tommie Harris got into the action with a huge tip that led to the game-changing interception. Boners.
The Bad:
Frank Omiyale: Guh. 3 of Cutler's 4 sacks should be credited to Omiyale, and he did his part as usual to ensure the Bears kept the league lead in false starts. Fuck you, Frank.
Lovie Smith: The gameplan was brilliant until the 4th quarter. I don't blame him for the last TD that was just plain miraculous, but the prevent defense with 11 minutes left in the 4th? He's lucky Andy Reid was determined to lose this game and kicked 2 nonsensical field goals, because the Bend but Don't Break came way too damn close.
Andy Reid: seriously, man. How does someone as dumb as you build such a consistently good football team?
Rick Morrissey: What aren't you impressed with this week, fuckhead?
Sunday, November 7, 2010
Bears 22, Bills 19. Chan Gailey is Sad.
Seriously, was there anything more confounding than a franchise in the year 2010 hiring Chan Gailey? Oh. That same franchise hiring Dick Jauron. Fair enough.
Today didn't teach us anything we didn't already know. It probably didn't change your perception of the 2010 Bears at all. Those of us that think this team is more than capable of making the playoffs in a year where mediocrity abounds saw a team that played well defensively and ground out a win on offense against a team that has pushed three straight five win teams to the brink. Others will bemoan a 3 point win against a winless team and continue to forecast doom on the horizon. That's fine.
This game played out pretty much as I expected. The offense continues to be a work in progress, but, while I won't praise them for playing Bear football and maintaining a 50-50 pass-run ratio (because it's pointless when you can't run), they were smart to slow things down and simply avoid turnovers. I've bitched about balance the last two games just like everyone else, but, as a proponent of the pass, I meant more of a 60-40 ratio or even 65-35. Just not 80-20. They need to give Forte more than 8 carries simply to keep Cutler alive. They don't need to run him and Taylor 24 times for 62 yards. The best chance this team has to score points is to throw the ball. They just need to work in a few runs to keep the defense honest. Hopefully they can learn to adjust the gameplan based on how opponents play them during games, rather than stubbornly stick to a preconceived plan of attack, which is what I think they've done for at least the last few weeks.
But, they won, and I was happy with the way in which they did it. You can bitch all you want about playing like this against Buffalo, but the thing I've learned this year is that the Bears are just as capable of beating Buffalo 22-19 as they are of beating the New York Jets 22-19. They do nothing but ugly, and like it or not, they've uglied their way to a victory in 5 of 8 contests this year. Next week they get Minnesota at home, and only a fool would tell you the Vikings aren't beatable. The Bears then go to Miami, where the Dolphins are winless and will struggle to run the ball against Chicago's front 7. They rest of the schedule (Eagles, Lions, Patriots, Vikings, Jets, Packers) consists of teams that, if Cleveland's curbstomping of the Patriots is any indication, are certainly not locks in either category. So...we'll see.
Anywho:
THE GOOD:
Jay Cutler: The numbers aren't impressive, but he did everything he had to do to move the chains, avoid the sacks and interceptions, and managed to get this offense past the evasive 21 point threshold. If Cutler can lead this team to 21 points or more the rest of the way, this team will be in the playoffs. I guarantee it.
The Defense: Yeah, I'd have appreciated it if they could have gotten a few more sacks and ended some drives faster than they did, but Fitzpatrick's 299 yards look less impressive when you note that it took 51 attempts to get there (5.9 YPA) and they forced 3 turnovers. That'll do. The stout run defense held Buffalo to just 46 yards rushing and is now allowing just 83 YPG in that category. If they can keep that kind of effort up against Minnesota and Adrian Peterson next week, you'll see the old Dongslinger just having fun out there and piling up interception after interception.
Izzie Idonijie: Technically part of the defense, yes, but he deserves a shoutout for continuing to take advantage of being the guy opposite of Julius Peppers. He only had half a sack to show for it today, but he was a menace in the backfield all game long.
Earl Bennett: He's been excellent as the slot receiver since his return from injury, and today he had 4 big catches for 52 yards and a TD. (Rick Morrissey impression: AromashoWHO?)
Tim Jennings: Nice pick. Saved the game in a big way.
The Bad:
Frank Omiyale: I was tempted, once again, to just throw the entire offensive line on here as usual, but today I want to single out Frank. The only sack allowed all game? Frank's guy. Cutler's fumble? Frank's guy. Two false starts, one of which helped turn the 3rd and 3 at the 4 yard line into the 3rd and 13 which became the missed Robbie Gould FG? Frank. You suck, fatty.
Tim Jennings: Yes, he was on the good, too, and his pick was huge. And yes, the Cover 2 does dictate that Jennings should allow most of the underneath stuff that he did, but Jesus, how do you allow some guy named Stevie to torch you for 145 yards?
The Fox Crew (again): Jesus. "Here's a guy who's underrated as a coach: Chan Gailey (career NFL coaching record: 18-22). In my mind I think of him as a Norv Turner type." Really? You try to think of someone positive to compare him to you and you come up with NORV TURNER?
Well, that's all for now. Go Bears!
Today didn't teach us anything we didn't already know. It probably didn't change your perception of the 2010 Bears at all. Those of us that think this team is more than capable of making the playoffs in a year where mediocrity abounds saw a team that played well defensively and ground out a win on offense against a team that has pushed three straight five win teams to the brink. Others will bemoan a 3 point win against a winless team and continue to forecast doom on the horizon. That's fine.
This game played out pretty much as I expected. The offense continues to be a work in progress, but, while I won't praise them for playing Bear football and maintaining a 50-50 pass-run ratio (because it's pointless when you can't run), they were smart to slow things down and simply avoid turnovers. I've bitched about balance the last two games just like everyone else, but, as a proponent of the pass, I meant more of a 60-40 ratio or even 65-35. Just not 80-20. They need to give Forte more than 8 carries simply to keep Cutler alive. They don't need to run him and Taylor 24 times for 62 yards. The best chance this team has to score points is to throw the ball. They just need to work in a few runs to keep the defense honest. Hopefully they can learn to adjust the gameplan based on how opponents play them during games, rather than stubbornly stick to a preconceived plan of attack, which is what I think they've done for at least the last few weeks.
But, they won, and I was happy with the way in which they did it. You can bitch all you want about playing like this against Buffalo, but the thing I've learned this year is that the Bears are just as capable of beating Buffalo 22-19 as they are of beating the New York Jets 22-19. They do nothing but ugly, and like it or not, they've uglied their way to a victory in 5 of 8 contests this year. Next week they get Minnesota at home, and only a fool would tell you the Vikings aren't beatable. The Bears then go to Miami, where the Dolphins are winless and will struggle to run the ball against Chicago's front 7. They rest of the schedule (Eagles, Lions, Patriots, Vikings, Jets, Packers) consists of teams that, if Cleveland's curbstomping of the Patriots is any indication, are certainly not locks in either category. So...we'll see.
Anywho:
THE GOOD:
Jay Cutler: The numbers aren't impressive, but he did everything he had to do to move the chains, avoid the sacks and interceptions, and managed to get this offense past the evasive 21 point threshold. If Cutler can lead this team to 21 points or more the rest of the way, this team will be in the playoffs. I guarantee it.
The Defense: Yeah, I'd have appreciated it if they could have gotten a few more sacks and ended some drives faster than they did, but Fitzpatrick's 299 yards look less impressive when you note that it took 51 attempts to get there (5.9 YPA) and they forced 3 turnovers. That'll do. The stout run defense held Buffalo to just 46 yards rushing and is now allowing just 83 YPG in that category. If they can keep that kind of effort up against Minnesota and Adrian Peterson next week, you'll see the old Dongslinger just having fun out there and piling up interception after interception.
Izzie Idonijie: Technically part of the defense, yes, but he deserves a shoutout for continuing to take advantage of being the guy opposite of Julius Peppers. He only had half a sack to show for it today, but he was a menace in the backfield all game long.
Earl Bennett: He's been excellent as the slot receiver since his return from injury, and today he had 4 big catches for 52 yards and a TD. (Rick Morrissey impression: AromashoWHO?)
Tim Jennings: Nice pick. Saved the game in a big way.
The Bad:
Frank Omiyale: I was tempted, once again, to just throw the entire offensive line on here as usual, but today I want to single out Frank. The only sack allowed all game? Frank's guy. Cutler's fumble? Frank's guy. Two false starts, one of which helped turn the 3rd and 3 at the 4 yard line into the 3rd and 13 which became the missed Robbie Gould FG? Frank. You suck, fatty.
Tim Jennings: Yes, he was on the good, too, and his pick was huge. And yes, the Cover 2 does dictate that Jennings should allow most of the underneath stuff that he did, but Jesus, how do you allow some guy named Stevie to torch you for 145 yards?
The Fox Crew (again): Jesus. "Here's a guy who's underrated as a coach: Chan Gailey (career NFL coaching record: 18-22). In my mind I think of him as a Norv Turner type." Really? You try to think of someone positive to compare him to you and you come up with NORV TURNER?
Well, that's all for now. Go Bears!
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