The Bears announced this afternoon that they've terminated the contract of 2008 first round pick Chris Williams and also brought back perpetual disappointment CB Zack Bowman. Bowman is undoubtedly simply a special teams move, since Williams obviously can't contribute in that department and the Bears are extremely deep and talented at corner right now. The story here, then, is that yet another Jerry Angelo first round pick has wandered off of the reservation. The only Angelo top rounder left is his last, Gabe Carimi, who hopefully will overcome his poor play of late before fans like me wake up and realize hes' been more of the problem than J'Marcus Webb, who has actually played well in four of five games.
Williams was a guy who just seemed cursed from the very beginning. He missed almost all of his rookie year with a back injury (that Jerry Angelo totes knew about, so you go whistle dixie and don't ask anymore questions, reporter man) and was therefore fighting to shed the bust label before he even took the field. He struggled in 2009 at right tackle before the absolute disaster that was Orlando Pace forced the team to move him to the blind side. He played very well down the stretch at that spot, shut down Jared Allen in one of the more exciting upsets in Bears history, and went into 2010 with some considerable hype. Williams killed that hype immediately by allowing four sacks in one preseason game to Kamerion Wimbley, then looked miserable in the opener against the Lions and in a few series against the Cowboys before he suffered a hamstring injury and left the lineup. When he returned, the Bears moved him to left guard, where he slowly improved throughout the second half of 2010 and the first half of 2011, but an injury sidelined him yet again for the second of last year. Given one last shot at redemption, he lost a competition for the left tackle job that, to be fair, was clearly rigged in Webb's favor. Williams has been inactive for most of the season behind recently signed tackle Jonathan Scott, who has more experience at both tackle positions and doubles as the backup long-snapper.
It was clear from all of this that William's departure after the season was inevitable, but his immediate release is somewhat surprising. It works well for both the Bears and Williams, as the Bears can use the roster spot for someone who can actually contribute on special teams and Williams can hopefully find work with any of the offensive lines currently struggling around the league (like you, Arizona. I mean, come on, can he possibly be any worse than what you've got? The Bears just released Kahlil Bell, too. Sign 'em both and buy your NFC West Champion t-shirts right now). The big question now, however, with yet another Angelo first round pick gone, is which of Angelo's many failures was worst?
To refresh your memory, here's a brief recap of Jerry's first round picks as Bears GM:
2002, 29th Pick, Marc Colombo, OT, Boston College: Colombo was a promising LT from Boston College who got hurt just 10 games into his career and missed most of the next two years before getting his release in 2004. He later played decently for the f*&king Cowboys.
2003, 14th Pick, Michael Haynes, DE, Penn State: Haynes, a one year wonder at Penn State, was a poor fit as a run-stuffing DE in Lovie's speed-based defense. He was moved to DT, where he did nothing, and bounced out of football in two years.
2003, 22nd Pick, Rex Grossman, QB, Florida: The second half of the two-for-one 2003 special was Mark Sanchez before it was cool to be Mark Sanchez, letting his defense and his performance in a few blowouts of bad teams carry him all the way to a Superbowl that he botched in epic fashion. Turned the ball over like Todd Marinovich on heroin, desperately trying to rid himself of the bugs crawling all over the football. Currently the inactive 3rd quarterback of the Redskins behind two rookies.
2004, 14th Pick, Tommie Harris, DT, Oklahoma: Dominating three technique when healthy, suffered a series of injuries in 2006 and 2007 that limited his effectiveness. Sadly just lost his wife less than a year after their wedding. Much beloved by one-time SKO contributor Apex.
2005, 4th Pick, Cedric Benson, RB, Texas: F*&king f*&khead who held out for more money and missed training camp, thus missing out on a starting job the Bears were prepared to hand to him (missed training camp due to injury in 2006 when Bears were AGAIN going to hand him a starting job), fumbled in Superbowl, failed miserably as starter in 2007, bitched incessantly, arrested often. Released by Bears to make room for Matt Forte, claimed Bears regretted cutting him despite the fact that both his predecessor and his successor were infinitely better than him. Played a few games for the Packers before getting hurt again.
2007, 31st Pick, Greg Olsen, TE, Miami: Extremely athletic receiving tight end who was often misused and underutilized in Chicago and also couldn't block a damn thing. Currently being misused and underutilized in Carolina while still not blocking a damn thing. Fumbled a lot.
2008, 14th Pick, Chris Williams, OT, Vanderbilt: See above.
Now that your memory is jogged, go vote up top on the pick that disappointed you most.
Showing posts with label Tommie Harris. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Tommie Harris. Show all posts
Tuesday, October 16, 2012
Tuesday, May 24, 2011
In Review- The Defensive Line
The journey continues. My offseason review of each unit on the 2010 Bears now arrives at Rod Marinelli's beloved "Rush Men." Without further ado, we start with:
#71 Israel Idonije, Defensive End/Tackle
There are always players who excel in bit roles that become fan favorites, resulting in fans calling for them to receive more playing time. Most of the time the players tend to disappear when they earn more playing time, since (loathe as we are to admit it) coaches tend to know the players on their own roster best and they knew better than to make the guy a starter. Izzy's one of those guys, however, that was finally given a chance to start (after he solidly whipped Mark Anderson's ass in the offseason) and played extremely well, with 8 sacks, 3 forced fumbles, 1 pass defensed, and a ton of pressures, mostly from the left defensive end spot.
Now, I'm aware that Izzy also benefitted greatly from the attention given to Julius Peppers, but that's not an excuse to entirely dismiss his production. Not everybody that plays on the opposite end of a star can take advantage like Izzy did. If you want proof, look at Mark Anderson himself, both in his brief appearances as a Bear this year and his longer stint as the bookend to Mario Williams in Houston. Anderson had just 4 sacks in 15 games. Idonije's also valuable in that his size still gives him the versatility to move inside in pure passing situations, allowing the team to bring in another pure pass rusher like Corey Wootton in those spots. I'd expect nothing but the same next year from Israel, although he may have to split more time with Wootton, but not through any fault of his own.
#98 Corey Wootton, Defensive End
When Corey was drafted in the fourth round last year, we were told he was a first round talent that had fallen to the fourth due to injury. That smelled like bullshit when he didn't dress for the first ten games of the season, but he was activated late once he was 100% and he made an impact throughout the last part of the season. He has only 5 tackles and 1 sack to show for the limited work he got in the last 6 games, but he was coming on strong and even had a tackle for a loss in the playoff game against Seattle. No one's asking much of Corey other than to give a breather to Peppers and Idonije, so the upside he has is a major plus for the job he's asked to do. I'd expect him to earn more playing time next year and maybe even be the pass-rush specialist that Mark Anderson was in 2006, with Idonije doing most of the grunt work like Alex Brown.
Oh yeah, that one sack of Corey's ended Brett Favre's career. He's a f*&king God.
Is it bad that 'erotic' is the word I use to describe that video? It's bad, isn't it?
#69 Henry Melton, Defensive End/Tackle
I was pretty skeptical when the Bears spent a fourth round pick on a fat runningback from Texas to be a defensive lineman, especially when the need seemed too pressing to waste a draft pick on a project, but this year Henry really proved his worth. Henry played in all 16 games and produced 16 tackles, 3 sacks, a forced fumble, and a pass breakup. Not bad for a guy who was new to the position and spent most of the year in a six man rotation with Idonije, Tommie Harris, Matt Toeaina, Marcus Harrison, and Anthony Adams. Henry, like Izzy, can play both end and tackle and my guess next year is that Melton and Toeaina will begin the year as the starters, but I would assume that Paea will work his way in soon and the three will end the year with a similar number of snaps.
#75 Matt Toeaina, Defensive Tackle
Matt was another great practice squad find by Lovie and Jerry (I actually mean that. If there's one position where they've found some value on the waiver wire, it's defensive tackle) similar to Anthony Adams, which is interesting, since he'll probably be the reason why Anthony won't be back this year. Toeaina's not a star, but he's a badass Polynesian (soon NFL rules will require that all offensive and defensive lines shall be at least 40% Polynesian)and he's a workhorse that will give quality reps as part of the rotation Lovie likes to use at that position. For the year he made it into all 16 games, with 24 tackles, 2 sacks, and 2 pass breakups. Again, I look forward to seeing Matt, Melton, and Paea next year as their youth and energy should keep teams from neutralizing Julius Peppers. The Bears appear to have regained the depth in the middle that they had back in the 05-06 heyday, when Tommie Harris, Ian Scott, Tank Johnson, and Idonije would just overwhelm opponents and stifle the run game. This is good news, since...
#91 Tommie Harris, Defensive Tackle
Is gone, and he ain't comin' back. I mean that both in the literal sense, since he's a free agent and won't be re-signed, and figuratively, since the Tommie Harris that we'd all been hoping to see return is gone forever and has been since the end of 2007. I appreciate Tommie for the beast that he once was, and, while I hope Paea can replace some of that production, I'm well aware we're not likely to see a tackle of the caliber that Tommie used to be any time soon. That's the past, though, and I applaud Lovie and Jerry for actually managing to let go of sentiment when they benched and deactivated Tommie this year not out of any disciplinary reason, but simply because it made the Bears a better football team. I wish Tommie well, but I'm quite confident the Bears won't regret letting him go.
#95 Anthony Adams, Defensive Tackle
I said above that I don't think Anthony will be re-signed, even though Urlacher stated recently that they need him. I think the Bears will probably let him test the market and will only bring him back at their price, not his. Anthony's 31, but he is a workhorse and, while his numbers won't wow you for a veteran starter (4 sacks and 2forced fumbles in the last two years) he'd be an upgrade for someone. I'd be happy if the Bears did manage to bring him back (especially since the alternative is giving Marcus Harrison another shot at trying to avoid eating his way out of the NFL), but I think it's unlikely.
#99 Marcus Harrison, Defensive Tackle
The thing most people know about Marcus (if they know anything about him at all) is that he was practically handed a starting job before training camp in 2009 and he showed up completely overweight. Hell, I'd be shocked if he's even at the 312 lbs he's listed at right now (and that's already the heaviest listed weight of any Bears d-lineman). He's a waste of talent and an even bigger waste of space, but I'm not sure if Lovie's entirely soured on him yet, even though he was active for just five games last year and completely flopped when given increased reps in Tommie's place. Hopefully, if the Bears Do let Adams walk, Harrison will finally motivated to put down the fork. I doubt it, though.
#90 Julius Peppers, Defensive End
It's hard to overstate just how awesome Julius Peppers is. I have a tendency to roll my eyes whenever I hear someone say something like "____ just does so many things for a team that don't show up on a stat sheet..." but Julius gives me pause. Every offense the Bears faced this year had to account for Julius Peppers on every single play. I can't remember the last time the Bears had a pass rusher that you could say that about. Ogunleye was alright when he had Tommie making it easy for him, but he disappeared about the same time Tommie did without any injury as an excuse. Peppers is just an absolute wrecking machine.
I'm not going to give him complete credit for turning around the Bears defense, as about half of that credit goes to a healthy trio of Urlacher/Briggs/Tinoisamoa giving the Bears their best linebacking corps since Urlacher/Holdman/Colvin in 2001 and improved safety play from Manning and Chris Harris, but the other half is Peppers by himself. You can't run around him, you have to devote at least two blockers to him on every play, you can't even throw it Over him most of the time, and you sure as hell can't escape him once he breaks free. He deserved his place on the All Pro team, even with just 8 sacks to his name (along with 43 tackles, 2 interceptions, 9 pass breakups, and 3 forced fumbles, of course). He gets my vote for Team MVP. I'd expect an even better season out of him next year, even at age 31, thanks to the relief I hope he'll get from the presence of Stephen Paea. I'd settle for more of the same, though.
Julius Peppers is the balls.
#71 Israel Idonije, Defensive End/Tackle
There are always players who excel in bit roles that become fan favorites, resulting in fans calling for them to receive more playing time. Most of the time the players tend to disappear when they earn more playing time, since (loathe as we are to admit it) coaches tend to know the players on their own roster best and they knew better than to make the guy a starter. Izzy's one of those guys, however, that was finally given a chance to start (after he solidly whipped Mark Anderson's ass in the offseason) and played extremely well, with 8 sacks, 3 forced fumbles, 1 pass defensed, and a ton of pressures, mostly from the left defensive end spot.
Now, I'm aware that Izzy also benefitted greatly from the attention given to Julius Peppers, but that's not an excuse to entirely dismiss his production. Not everybody that plays on the opposite end of a star can take advantage like Izzy did. If you want proof, look at Mark Anderson himself, both in his brief appearances as a Bear this year and his longer stint as the bookend to Mario Williams in Houston. Anderson had just 4 sacks in 15 games. Idonije's also valuable in that his size still gives him the versatility to move inside in pure passing situations, allowing the team to bring in another pure pass rusher like Corey Wootton in those spots. I'd expect nothing but the same next year from Israel, although he may have to split more time with Wootton, but not through any fault of his own.
#98 Corey Wootton, Defensive End
When Corey was drafted in the fourth round last year, we were told he was a first round talent that had fallen to the fourth due to injury. That smelled like bullshit when he didn't dress for the first ten games of the season, but he was activated late once he was 100% and he made an impact throughout the last part of the season. He has only 5 tackles and 1 sack to show for the limited work he got in the last 6 games, but he was coming on strong and even had a tackle for a loss in the playoff game against Seattle. No one's asking much of Corey other than to give a breather to Peppers and Idonije, so the upside he has is a major plus for the job he's asked to do. I'd expect him to earn more playing time next year and maybe even be the pass-rush specialist that Mark Anderson was in 2006, with Idonije doing most of the grunt work like Alex Brown.
Oh yeah, that one sack of Corey's ended Brett Favre's career. He's a f*&king God.
Is it bad that 'erotic' is the word I use to describe that video? It's bad, isn't it?
#69 Henry Melton, Defensive End/Tackle
I was pretty skeptical when the Bears spent a fourth round pick on a fat runningback from Texas to be a defensive lineman, especially when the need seemed too pressing to waste a draft pick on a project, but this year Henry really proved his worth. Henry played in all 16 games and produced 16 tackles, 3 sacks, a forced fumble, and a pass breakup. Not bad for a guy who was new to the position and spent most of the year in a six man rotation with Idonije, Tommie Harris, Matt Toeaina, Marcus Harrison, and Anthony Adams. Henry, like Izzy, can play both end and tackle and my guess next year is that Melton and Toeaina will begin the year as the starters, but I would assume that Paea will work his way in soon and the three will end the year with a similar number of snaps.
#75 Matt Toeaina, Defensive Tackle
Matt was another great practice squad find by Lovie and Jerry (I actually mean that. If there's one position where they've found some value on the waiver wire, it's defensive tackle) similar to Anthony Adams, which is interesting, since he'll probably be the reason why Anthony won't be back this year. Toeaina's not a star, but he's a badass Polynesian (soon NFL rules will require that all offensive and defensive lines shall be at least 40% Polynesian)and he's a workhorse that will give quality reps as part of the rotation Lovie likes to use at that position. For the year he made it into all 16 games, with 24 tackles, 2 sacks, and 2 pass breakups. Again, I look forward to seeing Matt, Melton, and Paea next year as their youth and energy should keep teams from neutralizing Julius Peppers. The Bears appear to have regained the depth in the middle that they had back in the 05-06 heyday, when Tommie Harris, Ian Scott, Tank Johnson, and Idonije would just overwhelm opponents and stifle the run game. This is good news, since...
#91 Tommie Harris, Defensive Tackle
Is gone, and he ain't comin' back. I mean that both in the literal sense, since he's a free agent and won't be re-signed, and figuratively, since the Tommie Harris that we'd all been hoping to see return is gone forever and has been since the end of 2007. I appreciate Tommie for the beast that he once was, and, while I hope Paea can replace some of that production, I'm well aware we're not likely to see a tackle of the caliber that Tommie used to be any time soon. That's the past, though, and I applaud Lovie and Jerry for actually managing to let go of sentiment when they benched and deactivated Tommie this year not out of any disciplinary reason, but simply because it made the Bears a better football team. I wish Tommie well, but I'm quite confident the Bears won't regret letting him go.
#95 Anthony Adams, Defensive Tackle
I said above that I don't think Anthony will be re-signed, even though Urlacher stated recently that they need him. I think the Bears will probably let him test the market and will only bring him back at their price, not his. Anthony's 31, but he is a workhorse and, while his numbers won't wow you for a veteran starter (4 sacks and 2forced fumbles in the last two years) he'd be an upgrade for someone. I'd be happy if the Bears did manage to bring him back (especially since the alternative is giving Marcus Harrison another shot at trying to avoid eating his way out of the NFL), but I think it's unlikely.
#99 Marcus Harrison, Defensive Tackle
The thing most people know about Marcus (if they know anything about him at all) is that he was practically handed a starting job before training camp in 2009 and he showed up completely overweight. Hell, I'd be shocked if he's even at the 312 lbs he's listed at right now (and that's already the heaviest listed weight of any Bears d-lineman). He's a waste of talent and an even bigger waste of space, but I'm not sure if Lovie's entirely soured on him yet, even though he was active for just five games last year and completely flopped when given increased reps in Tommie's place. Hopefully, if the Bears Do let Adams walk, Harrison will finally motivated to put down the fork. I doubt it, though.
#90 Julius Peppers, Defensive End
It's hard to overstate just how awesome Julius Peppers is. I have a tendency to roll my eyes whenever I hear someone say something like "____ just does so many things for a team that don't show up on a stat sheet..." but Julius gives me pause. Every offense the Bears faced this year had to account for Julius Peppers on every single play. I can't remember the last time the Bears had a pass rusher that you could say that about. Ogunleye was alright when he had Tommie making it easy for him, but he disappeared about the same time Tommie did without any injury as an excuse. Peppers is just an absolute wrecking machine.
I'm not going to give him complete credit for turning around the Bears defense, as about half of that credit goes to a healthy trio of Urlacher/Briggs/Tinoisamoa giving the Bears their best linebacking corps since Urlacher/Holdman/Colvin in 2001 and improved safety play from Manning and Chris Harris, but the other half is Peppers by himself. You can't run around him, you have to devote at least two blockers to him on every play, you can't even throw it Over him most of the time, and you sure as hell can't escape him once he breaks free. He deserved his place on the All Pro team, even with just 8 sacks to his name (along with 43 tackles, 2 interceptions, 9 pass breakups, and 3 forced fumbles, of course). He gets my vote for Team MVP. I'd expect an even better season out of him next year, even at age 31, thanks to the relief I hope he'll get from the presence of Stephen Paea. I'd settle for more of the same, though.
Julius Peppers is the balls.
Sunday, January 16, 2011
Bears 35, Seattle 24- Armageddon Cometh
The Bears absolutely dominated the Seattle Seahawks in all three phases today, as they racked up 35 points and a 440-276 edge yardage wise, with all three Seattle touchdowns coming late in the fourth quarter after Chicago had a 25 point lead well in hand. With the win, the Bears set up the most terrifying/exciting match up possible as they bring Green Bay to Soldier Field next weekend. I'll do my best not to worry about that till later. For now I'll just savor the most impressive playoff win (despite a few late game shenanigans that were irritating if irrelevant) in recent Bears memory, and get on with the breakdown:
THE GOOD:
So many candidates. Let's just go down the list-
Jay Cutler: This team will go as far in this tournament as he can take them, and if he plays like he did today, I'll get fitted for my Super Bowl ring quick. His accuracy was a bit off during the first-half blizzard, but he still finished 15/28 for 274 YDs, 2 TDs, 0 INTs and an absolutely bonerific passer rating of 111.3. He was also a huge factor on the ground, with 8 rushes for 43 yards and two fist-pumping touchdowns. I don't care if Rick Reilly thinks he's the most hated player in the NFL, I love him like no other.
Matt Forte: Nothing came easy for Matt on the ground today, as he ground out 80 yards on 25 carries at 3.2 a clip, but the Seahawks clearly geared their gameplan around stopping him and it opened up alot for the passing game. Matt also added 54 yards through the air, and while his halfback option interception was mindboggling and irritating on all fronts, I'll give him credit for doing a damn good job as a Runningback today.
Greg Olsen: Olsen set a career high with 113 yards receiving, including 58 yards and a TD on the Bears first pass of the game. Mike Martz sent a message today that teams will have to account for #82 on every down, and that's gotta scare the Packers.
The Offensive Line: They gave up three sacks, yes, but two of those were 3rd down coverage sacks where Jay was merely trying to extend the play. On every other dropback Jay had today, he had all the time he needed to look downfield and decide to throw it or run it. They're a 1,000 miles from where they were earlier this year, and Seattle has a good pass rush between Clemons and Brock. Great effort today, guys. This one can be put on your backs most of all. Keeping Cutler clean and paving the way for 176 yards rushing? Excellent.
The Secondary: I'm just going to ignore the last two Seattle touchdowns when the prevent was clearly on and the foot was sadly off the pedal. For most of the game the Bears held Matt Hasselbeck to absolutely nothing, and he still finished the game averaging just 5.6 YPA. Mike Williams finished with just 4 catches and 15 yards after wearing Tillman like a hat all day.
Tommie Harris: Tommie showed up and got two sacks while also being a big part of holding the Seahawks to just 34 yards on the ground (9 fewer yards than Jay Cutler gained).
Everybody else on defense: The Bears had held Seattle to under 150 yards well into the fourth quarter before the last two meaningless Seattle TD's. Marinelli and Urlacher both looked like they wanted to punch a pack of orphans after both of those TDs, so I doubt we can expect any further lapses in intensity.
Mike Martz: the HB pass by Forte was absolutely idiotic, but Martz can't be blamed for that entirely, since he bitched out Forte for not following the golden rule on those plays and throwing the ball away when his first read was covered. Outside of that he dialed up a number of looks that he hadn't showed all year, with some new plays for Olsen that clearly took Seattle off guard as well some wildcat plays that were pretty productive. Nice job, Mike.
The Bad:
Well, those two meaningless touchdowns kinda pissed me off, but only because my inner meathead wanted a shutout. I'm sure as hell not going to bitch on a day like today.
Now it's time to watch New England and try to ignore the pounding of my heart, which is unlikely to survive the next week win or lose.
Go Bears. Green Bay Sucks.
THE GOOD:
So many candidates. Let's just go down the list-
Jay Cutler: This team will go as far in this tournament as he can take them, and if he plays like he did today, I'll get fitted for my Super Bowl ring quick. His accuracy was a bit off during the first-half blizzard, but he still finished 15/28 for 274 YDs, 2 TDs, 0 INTs and an absolutely bonerific passer rating of 111.3. He was also a huge factor on the ground, with 8 rushes for 43 yards and two fist-pumping touchdowns. I don't care if Rick Reilly thinks he's the most hated player in the NFL, I love him like no other.
Matt Forte: Nothing came easy for Matt on the ground today, as he ground out 80 yards on 25 carries at 3.2 a clip, but the Seahawks clearly geared their gameplan around stopping him and it opened up alot for the passing game. Matt also added 54 yards through the air, and while his halfback option interception was mindboggling and irritating on all fronts, I'll give him credit for doing a damn good job as a Runningback today.
Greg Olsen: Olsen set a career high with 113 yards receiving, including 58 yards and a TD on the Bears first pass of the game. Mike Martz sent a message today that teams will have to account for #82 on every down, and that's gotta scare the Packers.
The Offensive Line: They gave up three sacks, yes, but two of those were 3rd down coverage sacks where Jay was merely trying to extend the play. On every other dropback Jay had today, he had all the time he needed to look downfield and decide to throw it or run it. They're a 1,000 miles from where they were earlier this year, and Seattle has a good pass rush between Clemons and Brock. Great effort today, guys. This one can be put on your backs most of all. Keeping Cutler clean and paving the way for 176 yards rushing? Excellent.
The Secondary: I'm just going to ignore the last two Seattle touchdowns when the prevent was clearly on and the foot was sadly off the pedal. For most of the game the Bears held Matt Hasselbeck to absolutely nothing, and he still finished the game averaging just 5.6 YPA. Mike Williams finished with just 4 catches and 15 yards after wearing Tillman like a hat all day.
Tommie Harris: Tommie showed up and got two sacks while also being a big part of holding the Seahawks to just 34 yards on the ground (9 fewer yards than Jay Cutler gained).
Everybody else on defense: The Bears had held Seattle to under 150 yards well into the fourth quarter before the last two meaningless Seattle TD's. Marinelli and Urlacher both looked like they wanted to punch a pack of orphans after both of those TDs, so I doubt we can expect any further lapses in intensity.
Mike Martz: the HB pass by Forte was absolutely idiotic, but Martz can't be blamed for that entirely, since he bitched out Forte for not following the golden rule on those plays and throwing the ball away when his first read was covered. Outside of that he dialed up a number of looks that he hadn't showed all year, with some new plays for Olsen that clearly took Seattle off guard as well some wildcat plays that were pretty productive. Nice job, Mike.
The Bad:
Well, those two meaningless touchdowns kinda pissed me off, but only because my inner meathead wanted a shutout. I'm sure as hell not going to bitch on a day like today.
Now it's time to watch New England and try to ignore the pounding of my heart, which is unlikely to survive the next week win or lose.
Go Bears. Green Bay Sucks.
Monday, January 3, 2011
Packers 10, Bears 3. I've Seen This Movie Before
Hopefully another season ending in an ugly loss to Green Bay leads to a Superbowl berth. I'm not really sure what the Bears hoped to accomplish yesterday. They obviously straightened some stuff out on defense, and yet the offensive game plan seemed almost vanilla. The Bears didn't make any of their usual adjustments, they never used Cutler out of the shotgun outside of third and long, and it appeared as though they didn't want to show their hand for the playoffs. My question then, of course, is why even bother playing their starters the whole game? A Bears offensive line attempting to block Green Bay's front seven in a straight a man-to-man approach is a terrible idea, and the six sacks of Cutler prove that. Either way, my biggest complaint about yesterday is undoubtedly the game plan. Why not put Cutler and the offense into a hurry up Before the two minute drill? Even then nobody seemed to be in That much of a rush. The Bears really needed to decide before the game if it mattered to them, because their approach in that department was inconsistent at best.
I'm not trying to take anything away from the Green Bay Packers, however. That was an excellent slugfest on defense and unfortunately they won. I'm not particularly panicked about a seven point loss at Lambeau, considering they split the season series and an unlikely rematch would take place at Soldier Field. They've got a tough game against the Eagles next week and they'd have to follow that up with a win in the dome against Atlanta in order to make it to the NFC title game and while they're certainly a talented enough team to pull that off, I don't think they'll make it.
As for the Bears? Well, I'd try not to lose much sleep over this. There's a reason you play for homefield advantage. You avoid having to go into hostile environments to face tough teams in their element like the Packers. Of the teams the Bears have lost to this year, the Packers, the Redskins, the Giants, the Seahawks, and the Patriots, the Bears can't run into the Skins or Giants again. As for the he Seahawks game, well, the Bears are a much better team than they were then, and rematches with the Patriots and Packers would be deep into the playoffs and problems I'd be willing to worry about then. The important thing is that Cutler and the Bears have every opportunity to wipe out the bad taste of this ultimately meaningless loss by making some noise in the postseason. Let's hope they take advantage.
The Good:
The front seven- Green Bay could muster little in the way of the run game, and the defense made some huge stops in short yardage situations. GB struggled on third down, and the first goal line stand was a thing of beauty. Morons are bitching about the secondary again, but if you hold the Packers to 10 points you're doing something right. This can't be pinned on the defense.
Tommie Harris: Good to see Tommie get his first sack.
Matt Forte: He went over a 1,000 yards on the season and 500 yards receiving, the first Bears RB to pull that off. His 1,547 yards from scrimmage and 9 total touchdowns are damn good numbers.
The Bad:
Lovie and Martz: Was this game important or not, guys? I'm extremely disappointed with everything I listed above, along with not giving Webb any help against Clay Matthews and allowing Cutler to take a beating by waiting until the fourth quarter to switch to the short game.
Jay Cutler: This was the worst game he's played all year, and I mean that. He was off target all day. Of his two picks, one was a terrible decision in the end zone and the other was just a really bad throw. He made the right read in Hester but didn't step into the throw and the ball sailed high and ended the Bears hopes. He, more than anyone else, needs to do something great in the postseason to get the monkey off his back.
The Offensive Line: You guys suck.
That's all for now. See you all in the playoffs.
I'm not trying to take anything away from the Green Bay Packers, however. That was an excellent slugfest on defense and unfortunately they won. I'm not particularly panicked about a seven point loss at Lambeau, considering they split the season series and an unlikely rematch would take place at Soldier Field. They've got a tough game against the Eagles next week and they'd have to follow that up with a win in the dome against Atlanta in order to make it to the NFC title game and while they're certainly a talented enough team to pull that off, I don't think they'll make it.
As for the Bears? Well, I'd try not to lose much sleep over this. There's a reason you play for homefield advantage. You avoid having to go into hostile environments to face tough teams in their element like the Packers. Of the teams the Bears have lost to this year, the Packers, the Redskins, the Giants, the Seahawks, and the Patriots, the Bears can't run into the Skins or Giants again. As for the he Seahawks game, well, the Bears are a much better team than they were then, and rematches with the Patriots and Packers would be deep into the playoffs and problems I'd be willing to worry about then. The important thing is that Cutler and the Bears have every opportunity to wipe out the bad taste of this ultimately meaningless loss by making some noise in the postseason. Let's hope they take advantage.
The Good:
The front seven- Green Bay could muster little in the way of the run game, and the defense made some huge stops in short yardage situations. GB struggled on third down, and the first goal line stand was a thing of beauty. Morons are bitching about the secondary again, but if you hold the Packers to 10 points you're doing something right. This can't be pinned on the defense.
Tommie Harris: Good to see Tommie get his first sack.
Matt Forte: He went over a 1,000 yards on the season and 500 yards receiving, the first Bears RB to pull that off. His 1,547 yards from scrimmage and 9 total touchdowns are damn good numbers.
The Bad:
Lovie and Martz: Was this game important or not, guys? I'm extremely disappointed with everything I listed above, along with not giving Webb any help against Clay Matthews and allowing Cutler to take a beating by waiting until the fourth quarter to switch to the short game.
Jay Cutler: This was the worst game he's played all year, and I mean that. He was off target all day. Of his two picks, one was a terrible decision in the end zone and the other was just a really bad throw. He made the right read in Hester but didn't step into the throw and the ball sailed high and ended the Bears hopes. He, more than anyone else, needs to do something great in the postseason to get the monkey off his back.
The Offensive Line: You guys suck.
That's all for now. See you all in the playoffs.
Tuesday, August 4, 2009
Training Camp Updates-
Just what I've gathered so far-
-Marcus Harrison was really fat, but has toned it down to just sort of fat
-Olsen has more or less entirely replaced Desmond Clark as the starting tight end.
-Pisa Tinoisamoa seems to have won the Strong side Linebacker competition before it even started.
-Zack Bowman has been lining up at corner with Charles Tillman out. It will be interesting to see if he can progress well enough to be the nickelback when Tillman comes back, so that the Bears don't have to keep shifting Danieal Manning between free safety and nickel.
-The Cutler to Olsen and Cutler to Bennett connections have looked particularly fruitful so far.
-Matt Forte's reps are still being limited because of the hamstring injury he suffered during OTAs, but a slimmed down Kevin Jones has been impressing every one, and Ron Turner has hinted that he may have a few packages that feature both Forte and Jones on the field at the same time.
-Devin Hester dropped a pass, leading Jay Cutler to charge the stands and beat Rick Morrissey to death. No one seemed upset.
-Nothing on Tommie Harris has been pulled, strained, tweaked, or torn....yet.
-Several observers have said that Marinelli has worked the Bears defensive line harder than its ever been worked before. (Israel Idonijie lost a whopping 40 pounds this offseason. He'll line up at end several times throughout the season).
-Cutler looks good. Need to see some proof?
Skip the part at the beginning where the guy films his collection of Bears jerseys and the part at the end where he talks, and you'll see some nice throws from the Savior.
-Hang in there folks, its only 12 days till the first preseason game.
-Marcus Harrison was really fat, but has toned it down to just sort of fat
-Olsen has more or less entirely replaced Desmond Clark as the starting tight end.
-Pisa Tinoisamoa seems to have won the Strong side Linebacker competition before it even started.
-Zack Bowman has been lining up at corner with Charles Tillman out. It will be interesting to see if he can progress well enough to be the nickelback when Tillman comes back, so that the Bears don't have to keep shifting Danieal Manning between free safety and nickel.
-The Cutler to Olsen and Cutler to Bennett connections have looked particularly fruitful so far.
-Matt Forte's reps are still being limited because of the hamstring injury he suffered during OTAs, but a slimmed down Kevin Jones has been impressing every one, and Ron Turner has hinted that he may have a few packages that feature both Forte and Jones on the field at the same time.
-Devin Hester dropped a pass, leading Jay Cutler to charge the stands and beat Rick Morrissey to death. No one seemed upset.
-Nothing on Tommie Harris has been pulled, strained, tweaked, or torn....yet.
-Several observers have said that Marinelli has worked the Bears defensive line harder than its ever been worked before. (Israel Idonijie lost a whopping 40 pounds this offseason. He'll line up at end several times throughout the season).
-Cutler looks good. Need to see some proof?
Skip the part at the beginning where the guy films his collection of Bears jerseys and the part at the end where he talks, and you'll see some nice throws from the Savior.
-Hang in there folks, its only 12 days till the first preseason game.
Friday, July 31, 2009
On the Good News Front
This is absolutely spectacular. The last few offseasons the Bears have brought Harris along slowly and he's played erratically those two seasons. If Tommie Harris is healthy again and new line coach Rod Marinelli has gotten him back on track, the entire defense will be better. Anyone who watched the 2005-2006 Bears knows how unstoppable Tommie is when he's at his best. Just ask Matt Hasselbeck (above). Things are looking good, Bears fans.
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