Chicago Bears Find Yet Another Way To Embarrass Themselves On National Television

The optimistic Chicago Bears fans will say the bounces just didn’t go the Bears way in tonight’s Sunday night nationally televised game against the Atlanta Falcons.  The realist will look at the same game and say that the Bears found yet another way to themselves in front of a nationwide audience, losing on the road to the Falcons 21-14.  The Bears treat nationally televised games like a child’s trip to the dentist.  Lots of fumbling, mental and physical mistakes and stupid penalties marred tonight’s latest sub-par prime time performance.  Once again, there is a big question mark hanging over the head of Bears head coach Lovie Smith when it comes to the quality of weekly game-time preparation.

 

(AP Photo/John Amis)

The Bears looked rusty from the outset of tonight’s game, treating the red zone more like a demilitarized zone on the offensive side of the ball.  Execution in the red zone, offensively, hurt the Bears tremendously.  Bears RB Matt Forte’s two fumbles in a row inside the 5-yard line was the missed opportunity that was the difference maker.  Forte began his careers with an amazing 2 fumbles in 480 touches before those 2 consecutive fumbles on the goal line.  Defensively, the Bears started strong, with 3 straight three-and-outs to start the game…..until the no-huddle neutralized the Bears defense.  Combined with the untimely turnovers, the Bears continued to not just shoot themselves in the foot, but empty the entire clip along the way.

Huge penalties by OT Orlando Pace and OG Frank Omiyale on the final drive of the game killed a promising charge led by QB Jay Cutler and various Bear receivers who are improving with each passing week.  Cutler didn’t walk away without his small share of blame, with his 2 ill-timed interceptions and more than a couple of balls thrown behind or overthrown to receivers.  At this moment, the Bears offensive line is the glaring weak point of the team.  The lack of successful run blocking has stuck out like a sore thumb this season.

At any rate, all the Bears demons came out tonight.  Two Sunday night, NBC prime time games, two embarrassing, bone headed performances.  Listening to NBC analyst Cris Collinsworth describe the play of the Bears is like listening to a sadistic parent criticize the performance of a shell-shocked, underachieving child.  The contrast between his analysis of the Bears and the Falcons was virtually night and day.  It’s almost as bad as listening to former analyst John Madden’s love for anything Brett Favre.  Something about NBC Sunday Night Football brings out the dark side of once promising, talented analysts.  Mr. Collinsworth, if you want to see a top notch analyst in action, tune in to ESPN’s Ron Jaworski for a lesson in expert analysis.

Upon further examination of the remaining Chicago Bears schedule for 2009, there are 3 more nationally televised games left on the schedule, plus the NBC Sunday night flex schedule that could potentially add additional prime time opportunities for the Bears.  At this rate, the Bears could be flexed out of the playoffs by NBC and Cris Collinsworth, or their unmitigated, performance anxiety brought about by prime-time television.

Chicago Bears Bring Out The Best And Worst In Opposing Coaches

The similarities with the Chicago Bears two victories this season are eerily striking in its very nature.  The Pittsburgh Steelers and Seattle Seahawks are two entirely different football teams, but the Bears approach to each game seemed to be virtually the same.  The Bears began each game very lethargically on both sides of the ball, stayed in the game while being steamrolled for most of the first half, picked up the intensity in the second half, scored on late drives engineered by Bears QB Jay Cutler and capitalized on two missed field goals by the opposing kicker to scratch out hard fought victories in each game.

AP Photo/Elaine Thompson

Where the similarities end for the two victories are in the post-game press conferences from the opposing coaches.   Steelers head coach Mike Tomlin is fresh off a Super Bowl winning season in 2008.  Seahawks head coach Jim Mora, Jr. was just anointed heir apparent to former Seahawks coach Mike Holmgren.  The common denominator: each coaches team lost to the Chicago Bears with their kickers missing 2 field goals that ultimately proved to be the margin of loss.  But this is where the similarities end for Tomlin and Mora.

In yesterday’s loss to the Bears, Mora was asked about his reaction to his kicker, Olindo Mare missing two field goals:

“No excuses for those,” Mora said. “If you’re a kicker in the National Football League, you should make those kicks, bottom line, end of story, period. No excuses, no wind, it doesn’t matter. You’ve got to make those kicks, especially in a game like this where you’re kicking, scratching and fighting, playing your tail off and you miss those kicks, not acceptable. Not acceptable. Absolutely not acceptable.”

So, coach Mora, can you tell us how you really feel about the kicking situation? Mora was asked if the team will consider a change at that position.

“We’ll look at changes everywhere,” Mora said. “We’re not going to fight our [behind] and have a field-goal kicker miss two field goals. It’s not going to happen.”

In contrast, when Tomlin was asked by the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette about K Jeff Reed’s two misses his response was more muted:

“I haven’t talked to Jeff yet about why he missed two kicks. Of course, this is uncharacteristic of him. He just kicked the game winner in overtime last week, and that’s what we’re used to. We aren’t used to what happened with him today.”

The comparison of reactions between Tomlin and Mora couldn’t be any more divergent in nature.  In addition to Tomlin, several Steeler teammates came to the defense of Reed, each stating their contribution to the loss.  The same for the Seahawk players, who each accepted their responsibility in yesterday’s loss.

Rarely is a loss attributed to one person, especially in the NFL.  Each player has a role in victory and defeat and virtually every coach worth his salt recognizes this and states so appropriately in his post-game press conferences.  Mike Tomlin displayed the class and professionalism of a true champion in his post-game press conference.  In contrast, Jim Mora, Jr’s lack of class and professionalism in his post-game press conference is highly symbolic of a coach who still doesn’t get it .

Attitude and tone are extremely important elements in the dynamics of successful teams.   Head coaches are directly responsible for setting the attitude and tone to foster a winning environment.  Tomlin’s approach has led his team to the pinnacle, a Super Bowl championship, in only two years.  As for Mora’s approach — he is most likely looking for his next fall guy on the waiver wire .

Chicago Bears Beat Themselves, Green Bay Packers Are Beneficiaries

Chicago Bears fans, welcome to the Jay Cutler era.  Don’t you wish you had QB Kyle Orton today?  It is incredibly easy to put all the blame on the horrific play of QB Jay Cutler, but he had plenty of help from his teammates and the coaching staff tonight in a 21-15 loss to the Green Bay Packers.  This truly was a total team effort.  The Bears made key mistakes on offense, defense, and special teams.  There was bad playcalling, missed blocking, tackling and coverage assignments, dropped balls, receivers quitting on routes.  The expectation is that no team in the NFL plays an entirely perfect game, but the totality, timing, and magnitude of the mistakes is startling and alarming.

(AP Photo/Jim Prisching)

The Bears dominated the Packers statistically tonight, but overcoming the many mistakes that were made tonight proved to be beyond the realm of the Bears performance tonight.  Glaring mistakes include:

1. Cutler’s 4 interceptions — pick one, they were all devastating
2. CB Nathan Vasher’s blown coverage on Packers WR Greg Jennings 50-yard touchdown, inexcusable
3. Upsnap from long snapper Patrick Mannelly — the boneheaded play of the game, giving the Packers an easy FG with the Bears leading by 2 points
4. WR Johnny Knox and TE Desmond Clark quitting on routes — dumbfounding
5. Game management, especially in the 2nd half, burning timeouts including one on a ill-fated challenge on the failed upsnap play.
6. TE Greg Olsen — where were you?

I don’t want to take anything away from the Packers, they had to capitalize on the errors the Bears were making.  They didn’t capitalize on every mistake, but the Bears kept them in the game, giving the Packers opportunities time and time again to convert, and I don’t think any Bears fan was comfortable when the Bears kicked the last field goal to take the lead 15-13 with 2:36 left in the game.

So what did the Bears do right?  I liked a number of things:

1. Receivers played better than expected.  WR’s Devin Hester and Earl Bennett had nice games.  Knox had a good game minus the bailout on the slant pattern
2. The Bears have a pass rush!  Defensive Line coach Rod Marinelli gets a game ball for getting this group of lineman to constantly pressure Packers QB Aaron Rodgers into an average night (until the last, late TD pass)
3. Tackles Orlando Pace and Chris Williams were blowing people off the ball with their strong play
4. SS Al Afalava had a strong game, with 4 tackles and a sack.  Afalava has a nose for the ball and plays big, something the Bears defense needs
5. P Brad Maynard punted out of his mind tonight, pinning the Packers with bad field position, with 4 punts for 49.5 yard average with 2 punts inside the 20.  Maynard is definitely a weapon for the Bears.

So what do you think the Bears (we hope) learned tonight?  Hopefully plenty:

1. Jay Cutler can’t win games all by himself.  He needs help and didn’t get much from his receivers (especially the TE’s), early play-calling, and early blocking from a OL that came out of the gate creaky.  Cutler’s bad decisions led to disaster tonight.
2. Nathan Vasher is not nearly the same player that he was in his 2005 Pro Bowl season.  He is back-up material at best.  Get CB Zackary Bowman in there, early and often.  The Bears secondary leaves Green Bay with the same questions it had going in to Green Bay.
3. Receivers can’t quit on routes and need to get on the same page with Cutler pronto.  There play wasn’t good enough tonight, especially Olson and Clark.  Clark quitting on that pass in the end zone in the first half was absolutely inexcusable.  He keeps running, easy TD.
4. Even coaches need to work on fundamentals.  Bad offensive play calling through most of the first half, the ill-advised challenge in the second half on the upsnap play marked and the general look of unpreparedness that seemed to hover around the team, especially the offense.

The Bears play their home opener next Sunday against the defending Super Bowl champion Pittsburgh Steelers and may have to play without the heart and soul of their defense, LB Brian Urlacher, strong side LB Pisa Tinoisamoa, and backup CB Trumaine McBride.  The offense needs to step it up three notches and the defense another notch to compete with the Steelers.  Only time will tell if that is realistic, or if the Bears move through the toughest part of their league’s easiest schedule with more blemishes.

Chicago Bears Put All Eggs In The NFL Draft Basket

The Chicago Bears ended the 2008 season with a 9-7 record, just missing the playoffs.  Bears coach Lovie Smith held his year-end press conference, announcing that the Bears are very close to being a playoff team, a fact that has been challenged heavily amongst many others who have an opinion on the Bears.

(Photo by Jonathan Daniel/Getty Images)

The Chicago Bears have also been incredibly inactive in the 2009 free agent market.  That inactivity has most common fans up in arms, while most NFL analysts scratching their heads.  The fact is that the Bears are over $30 million dollars under the salary cap and have more holes than the Titanic.  While there are very good reasons to stay on the sidelines in light of this year’s free agent crop (this year’s free agents are ridiculously over-valued), it is mystifying that Bears GM Jerry Angelo doesn’t even seem to be attempting to talk to any free agents, short of the signings of Carolina Panthers OT Frank Omiyale and re-signing backup RB Kevin Jones.

The end result of non-activity is exteme pressure for the Bears to hit a home-run in this year’s draft, an area that Jerry Angelo has struggles somewhat in his 8 years in Chicago.

Windy City Gridiron wrote a very nice article on Angelo’s performance compared to what they considered the best draft team, the San Diego Chargers, and the worst, the Detroit Lions.  They looked at a four year period, from 2002-2006.  The results weren’t surprising to me.

To quote the final analysis:

My Analysis: Angelo is a mixture of good and bad. He is horribly bad in the first 2 rounds–he is almost as bad as Matt Millen in the first 2 rounds, and Millen is the joke of the NFL. However, in the third and fourth rounds, Angelo compares favorably to AJ Smith, regarded as one of the best drafters in the league.

I think that the early rounds typically give you your high end talent, and the middle rounds tend to give you your quality depth. Perhaps that’s the reason the Bears always seem to have a deep team without enough top end talent to succeed in the playoffs.

I think for a team that supposedly is built through the draft, Angelo needs to do a much better job in the first 2 rounds. Otherwise, he’s going to need to make up for his early round draft failures with premium free agents.

After reading tomas21’s commentary, I have to say that I couldn’t agree more with his assessment.  It also brings up another question.  Why does Jerry Angelo put so much stock in the NFL Draft when history has proven that he is one of the worst draft performers from rounds 1-3?  To give credit where credit is due, Angelo is one of the NFL’s best from rounds 4-7, but looking at the needs the Bears have, it is clear, all positions aside, the Bears lack impact playmakers.  They have major holes at WR, FS, DL, and OL too.  Angelo may have addressed OL with the Omiyale pickup and the offer to OT John St. Clair.  He certainly did solidify the RB position by the Jones signing (now all OC Ron Turner has to do is use Jones).  WR and FS remain huge holes, with WR a position of strength in this year’s draft (the Bears need more than one WR), and S, a position of weakness.

I believe that the Bears have done a remarkable job building the bottom half of their roster with very solid depth.  The Bears needs are with the top half, specifically their lack of playmakers.  Successful teams like the New England Patriots build with the draft and then find the missing few pieces through careful moves in free agency.  The actions of the Chicago Bears (rebuilding through draft mode) clearly don’t match the words that Jerry Angelo and Lovie Smith are saying (we’re close, so lets fill holes with free agents).  And now, all eyes turn to the April 25-26th NFL Draft, which once again, is of landmark importance in experiencing yet another year of the Angelo-Smith regime.

Lovie Smith Puts His Chicago Bears Legacy Directly In The Crosshairs

Change had to come. You knew it, the guy next to you knew it too.  If you’ve watched the Chicago Bears all season, especially on the defensive side of the ball, there was an air of change swirling, rustling the leaves, blowing wildly in the wind.  The offense was an early and pleasant surprise that slowly morphed into what we all thought it would be, but the cornerstone unit of this franchise, the defense, was like the two year recession of the American economy.  Something had to change.

Bears head coach Lovie Smith takes over Chicago Bears defense

The media’s favorite fall guy was Bears defensive coordinator Bob Babich, but he was just a front man.  The real finger pointing started the day Bears head coach Lovie Smith announced the departure of then defensive coordinator Ron Rivera and naming linebackers coach Babich his replacement.  Smith followed that up with a plea for people to trust him when it comes to the welfare of his Chicago Bears football team.  When the argument resorts to pulling a “Trust Me” card, that’s was a sure sign to run away, don’t buy it, red-flag warning.

Something had to change after two years of sub-par performance of a unit paid like the elite, but performed very unordinary and uninspired.   Just like the legacy of President Barack Obama, who will forever live on his phrases of more accountability, “Yes, we can” and personal responsibility, Lovie Smith’s legacy will live on his most memorable words too, “Trust Me”.

His legacy will also be square in the crosshairs of his decisions concerning the coaching staff, bringing in former Lions head coach Rod Marinelli to coach the defensive line (and take the title of Asst. Head Coach), moving Babich back to linebackers coach (retaining the defensive coordinator title in name only), where he actually experienced great success with LB’s Lance Briggs and Brian Urlacher garnering regular Pro Bowl appearances under his tutelage, and hiring veteran defensive backs coach and ex-Chicago Bear defensive back Jon Hoke to coach the secondary for the Bears.  The biggest move, however, is the announcement that Smith, himself, will be calling the defensive plays next season.

Smith was arguably one of the best defensive coodinators in the NFL, leading a defense that took the St. Louis Rams to Super Bowl XXXVI in 2002.  Smith’s defense was known for being an aggressive defense, forcing 38 turnovers and 4 defensive TD’s.  Smith taking over primary play calling duties from Bob Babich is seen as a strong positive move for restoring the bite in the Bears defense.  One way or another, it definitely will be the move that cements his Chicago Bears legacy, for good or bad.

Top 10 Moments In Chicago Sports In 2008

The new year has already started and amidst the resolutions, fresh starts, diets, and new beginnings comes the ever reverent look back at the year that has passed.  The year 2008 was a banner year for Chicago sports, as three teams won their prospective division titles, and one, the Chicago Wolves won a championship.  There was good, bad, ugly, and everything in between for Chicago sports fans.  So, lets take a look back on the Top 10 Moments in Chicago Sports in 2008 (in no particular order):

Bears use goal line stand to beat the Eagles 24-20

Bears goal line stand against the Philadelphia Eagles in Week 4 – The Chicago Bears were leading the Philadelphia Eagles 24-20, Eagles had first and goal from the Bears 4, 5:40 left in the game.  Eagles run RB Cornell Buckhalter off right tackle for 3 yards.  Second and goal was a handoff to FB Tony Hunt for no gain.  Third down was back to Buckhalter to the right for no gain.  Eagles call a time out and decide to go for it on 4th down.   Buckhalter again off left tackle, this time, stood up by RE Alex Brown of the Bears for no gain.  Game over.  Bears win.

Zambrano hurls a no-hitter.

Cubs RHP Carlos Zambrano throws no-hitter against the Houston Astros on Sept. 14th –  The Chicago Cubs and Houston Astros waited two long days to find out where they would be playing their key late season series against each other.  Houston was being devestated by Hurricane Ike and MLB moved the Astros to “neutral” Miller Park in Milwaukee to face the Cubs.  Zambrano brought his “A” game with him to “Wrigley North”, shutting down the powerful Astros lineup, striking out CF Darrin Erstad swinging for the last out of the first Cubs no-hitter in 36 years.

Chicago Cubs Win 2008 NL Central Division

Cubs win back to back NL Central Division titles – The Cubs began the 2008 season with one of it’s goals to win the 2008 NL Central Division title, as well as seeking their first World Series appearance since 1945 and first World Championship since 1908.  Alas, the Cubs could only slay one 100 year drought, as they won an NL-best 97 games en route to the 2008 NL Central Division title for their  first back to back division titles since 1908.  A quick sweep in the NL Divisional Series by the hands of the Los Angeles Dodgers dimmed what was to that point, a most magical season for the North Siders.

chicago white sox win 2008 al central division title

White Sox win 3 elimination games in a row to win the AL Central title — The Chicago White Sox looked dead in the water, losing  4 of their final 5 games to the Minnesota Twins and Cleveland Indians, coughing up a 2.5 game division lead and falling 1/2 game behind the Twins with one game to play.  The final game of the Cleveland series and the regular season was a must win game with Mark Buehrle on the bump, the Sox beat the Indians to force the Monday afternoon post-season makeup game against the Detroit Tigers.  The Sox win the makeup game against the Tigers, forcing a one game playoff game against the Twins for the AL Division title, this time, in Chicago.   The Sox, behind a masterpiece by LHP John Danks, beat the Twins 1-0 and claim the AL Central Division title, winning three elimination games in a row.

derrick rose drafted #1 by chicago bulls

Chicago Bulls win the 1st pick in the NBA Draft and the right to select PG Derrick Rose – Chicago Bulls GM John Paxson had to work wonders to undo all the bad karma and decision-making by Bulls brass in the post-Michael Jordan/Phil Jackson era, but by sheer luck,  one of those bouncing ping-pong ball went red, and the Bulls, with a x% chance, landed the #1 pick in the 2008 NBA draft.  Around the same time, a young freshman PG from Chicago was leading his one-loss  Memphis Tigers team to the 2008 National Championship game against the Kansas Jayhawks.  The Jayhawks win the title, the young freshman forgoes his eligibility and declares eligible for the NBA Draft and the prodigal son returns a hero.

The City of Chicago becomes a finalist for host city for the 2016 Olympic Summer Games – Chicago survived the US bid process to emerge as the US entry for host of the 2016 Olympics.  Election Night provided the world a glimpse of what Chicago 2016 could be as Grant Park served as the world’s stage for President-Elect Barack Obama’s election night speech.  Chicago is President Obama’s hometown and can be in prime position to be named 2016 host, but it can’t rest on that momentum as concerns about finances, transportation infrastructure, and sports facilities still shroud Chicago’s Olympic bid chances.

Youngsters lead the resurgence of the Chicago Blackhawks

The arrival of a young and resurgent Chicago Blackhawks hockey team, who finished  the 2007-08 season very strong and opened the 2008-09 season even stronger – the Chicago Blackhawks under owner Bill Wirtz became the city’s red headed stepchild of Chicago professional sports.  Even the minor league AHL hockey team, the Chicago Wolves, were outdrawing the Hawks in attendance.  Things couldn’t have been any lower, and then, Bill Wirtz died.  Bill’s son Rocky took the team over and his first move as team owner was to steal marketing genius John McDonough away from the Cubs, hiring McDonough as his new team president.  A change in coaches (Joel Quenneville in, Denis Savard out), a #1, and #3  draft pick later, youngsters C Jonathan Toews and RW Patrick Kane lead a marketing and on-ice resurgence of the Chicago Blackhawks.  High point to date, a team best 9 game winning streak leading into the 2009 Winter Classic against the Detroit Red Wings.  The game resulted in a loss for the Blackhawks in the standings, but was a HUGE win for the Hawks in prestige and heritage.  A vintage Original Six team is reborn.

Chicago Bears Matt Forte leads Bears ground attack

Bears hammer Indianapolis Colts on national TV in the season opener, marking the coming out party for Bears RB Matt Forte and ruining the home opening of the Colts new Lucas Oil Stadium — The Chicago Bears were playing on national television.  They were also playing the mighty Indianapolis Colts on the road in the Colts brand spanking new stadium.  The Bears have traditionally been nothing short of horrible in nationally televised night games and this was Sunday Night Football on NBC.  And QB Peyton Manning, coming off a knee injury, was planning on starting this game. The Bears were doomed, but fate forgot to mention that to this Bears team, lead by a resurgent defense and the nimble running of rookie RB Matt Forte, the only Bear to eclipse 100 yards rushing in his first ever game (123 yards), the Bears down the mighty Colts 29-13.

QB Juice Williams leads Illinois to 2008 Rose Bowl

The University of Illinois football team plays in it’s first Rose Bowl since 1984 — In 2001, the University of Illinois football program was reaching it’s pinnacle capped by a Big Ten Conference Championship and an appearance in the 2002 Sugar Bowl in New Orleans.  Two short years later, the Illini hit rock bottom, going 1-11, eventually firing coach Ron Turner and hiring master recruiter Ron Zook as his replacement.  In year 3 of the rebuilding process, the Illini found themselves with a 9-4 record, stunning #1 Ohio State on the road in a 28-21 victory that propelled the team to it’s first Rose Bowl in 24 years.

Chicago Wolves win the 2008 Calder Cup Championship

Chicago Wolves win the 2008 Calder Cup Championship, bringing a hockey title back to Chicago — The Chicago Wolves AHL hockey team beats the Wilkes-Barre/Scranton Penguins 5-2 bringing the Calder Cup back to Chicago.  It is the 4th title for the Wolves in their 14-year history.  Soon after, Wolves Coach John Anderson is promoted to coach the parent team, the NHL’s Atlanta Thrashers. The Wolves dip into a famous Chicago hockey family, tapping Don Granato as their new head coach.

Chicago Bears 9-7 Season Clouds Failures In Judgement

The Chicago Bears are not the Detroit Lions, but at the completion of today’s play, they have gotten as far as the Lions did this season, which to say, is out of the playoffs.  That comparison is certainly extreme, as the Bears do not have the same amount of holes that the Lions have, but a 9-7 finish that surprised many have clouded severe failures of judgement made by the football leadership of this team.

(AP Photo/David J. Phillip)

Perhaps the most glaring failures are with a Chicago Bears defense that opened the season very motivated in a win over the Indianapolis Colts, but sunk to maddening lows in crushing defeats by the Green Bay Packers and Minnesota Vikings amongst others.  Bears head coach Lovie Smith was asked about replacing defensive coordinator Ron Rivera shorly after the Bears loss to the Colts in Super Bowl XLI.  This is where Love broke out his now infamous “Trust Me” speech.

“You should trust me as a head football coach to put us in the best position to win football games,” Smith said. “It’s as simple as that.”

And that was Lovie’s reasoning to why he chose to replace Ron Rivera with BFF Bob Babich.  Since Rivera was replaced, the Bears defense has plunged to embarassingly low depths in both prestige and performance.  In 2006, teams feared and respected the Bears defense.  Ask the Arizona Cardinals, despite then-Coach Dennis Green’s post-game rant.  Now, teams just run over the Bears defense.  Case in point:

• The Houston Texans racked up 455 yards of total offense and 31 points in a Week 17 victory.
• The Packers ran the Bears for 427 yards and 37 points in Week 11 pasting of the Bears.
• The Vikings racked up 439 yards and 41 points in a Week 7 loss to the Bears.
• The Tampa Bay Buccaneers ran up 454 yards and 27 points  in a Week 2 Bears debacle.

These are numbers that nearly all Chicago Bears fans find unacceptable.  It should be unacceptable to Lovie Smith as well, but somehow, it isn’t, which leads back to the Trust Me speech and the fact that I can no longer trust Lovie Smith to make correct decisions when he has yet to acknowledge that the two biggest staff decisions of his coaching tenure were complete and utter failures (remember the Terry Shea mess?)

Secondly, the Bears personnel decisions and evaluations are skeptical at best and leave even casual fans wondering if the Bears are able to effectively evaluate talent.  Consider the players the Bears kept:

• WR/KR Devin Hester signed a $40M contract extension and was made a WR, neutering his return skills (0 TD’s)
• LB Brian Urlacher was given a lucrative contract extension for 88 tackles, no sacks, and no Pro Bowl selection
• DT Tommie Harris signed a large contract extension only to play about a half season due to injury/ineffectiveness
• WR Earl Bennett was drafted to compete for a starting position; he ends up catching 0 passes for the season.
  

and the players the Bears decided to let go:

• RB Thomas Jones ran for 1,289 yards and 15 total TD’s (13 rushing) for the New York Jets
• WR Bernard Berrian: 48 receptions, 964 yards and 7 TD’s for the Vikings
  
• RB Cedric Benson: 747 yards, 2TD’s and 20 receptions in 12 games for the Cincinnati Bengals
• WR Mark Bradley: 30 receptions, 380 yards, 3 TD’s in 8 games for the Kansas City Chiefs
  

The Bears have also missed on numerous players in the draft as well, as noted in past posts.  The level of talent on the Bears has receded dramatically since the 2006 Super Bowl season, which means that the Bears braintrust has not made moves in personnel and coaching to build off their success.  Now Bob Babich is on the hot seat.

The Bears clearly need to admit that they made severe errors in judgement in replacing Ron Rivera with Bob Babich.  They need to admit that they made errors in personnel and they need to correct these errors in the offseason.  A 9-7 record is something to build from, but if the failures of judgement are not corrected, this may be the best it will be under Jerry Angelo and Lovie Smith.

Extras:

• Chicago Sun-Times Greg Couch thinks Lovie’s in denial…
• Chicago Tribune’s David Haugh believes that the defense is the top priority for the Bears in 2009
• Mike Inrem of the Daily Herald says the Bears Improbable season just gets more so…
• Bears analyst Tom Thayer thinks the Bears lack a go-to guy at wide receiver
• ESPN’s Kevin Seifert provides his rapid reaction to today’s Bears loss…
  

Chicago Bears Don’t Take Care Of Business Yet Again

These are the games that kill the Chicago Bears….kill them in so many ways.  The Bears had a prime opportunity to take the drivers seat in the division, establish momentum going into a 3 game homestand, build on a win over the St. Louis Rams, and show a national television audience that your team is for real.  The only thing standing in the way was the Minnesota Vikings, or the Bears themselves.  The Bears played a fairly strong 25 minutes in the first half.  The rest of the game was a unmitigated nightmare.

Chicago Bears Lose to Minnesota Vikings 34-14 (AP Photo/Jim Mone)

The most upsetting aspect of tonight’s game is the Bears complete lack of fundamentals of the game of football.  Numerous missed tackles, dropped passes, lack of blocking, blown coverages, bad reads by the quarterback, bad playcalling, poor coaching decisions.  If it was bad, the Bears did it, and did it on national television.  These are the games that people remember when asked about their opinion of the Chicago Bears.

Tonight’s game was turned on two plays, the 4th down stop by the Vikings on the 1 yard line and on the ensuing play, the 99 yard touchdown pass from Vikings QB Gus Frerotte to WR Bernard Berrian.  Two plays, game over, on both sides of the ball.  From the Bears performance tonight, there are 5 key takeaways:

1.  If you can’t gain a yard on 4 plays for a touchdown, you don’t deserve to win any games, period.  Any play that takes away touches for Bears RB Matt Forte is a bad play, especially on the goal line.  Take that fullback handoff and put it in the shredder, right now.  Give your best players as many chances as possible to succeed.  So, the right call is Forte three times and if that doesn’t work, if you’re on the road, take the points, always.

2.  It doesn’t matter how fast your players are if they can’t catch the ball or make tackles.  The problem tonight wasn’t getting to Vikings RB Adrian Peterson.  The Bears actually did that very well.  It was getting him down that was the problem.  Peterson was throwing Bears off of him like little rag dolls.

3. Coaching out of fear leads to coaching not to lose games, leads to losing games.  Poor playcalling on the offensive side of the ball leads to pressing and non-confidence.

4.  Bears RB Matt Forte is the MVP of the Chicago Bears and is the only Chicago Bear player that consistently looks ready to play every single week.  For long stretches of the game, Forte was matching Adrian Peterson step for step, with the same toughness.  Forte had 96 yards rushing and another 29 yards receiving with a touchdown, against a Viking team that gives up 70 yards rushing per game.  Forte plays hard, looks prepared and ready to go and is the Bears most consistent and valuable player.  What would the Bears record be without Forte?

5.  The Bears appear to be undersized on both the offensive and defensive lines, not a successful formula for winning football.  Bears C Olin Kreutz is 290 lbs.  G Josh Beekman is listed at a generous 300 lbs. and G Roberto Garza is 300 lbs.  All are listed a 6′2″.  Vikings DT Pat Williams is 6′3″ 317 and DT Kevin Williams is 6′5″ 311.  Bears DT Tommie Harris is 6′2″ 290 up against Vikings DL that weigh more than 315-325 lbs.

Two extra nuggets — Bears QB Kyle Orton was making great progress in becoming more than a serviceable quarterback until his ankle injury against the Detroit Lions 4 weeks ago.  Since the injury, Orton has been shaky at best, missing a game, returning too early for the Green Bay loss, looking very average in the St. Louis game and having his worst game of the season in tonight’s game.  As of tonight, it appears that the injury has put Orton nearly back to square one in his development.  Secondly, another note on the Vikings 99 yard TD,  the Bears have given up the longest TD passes in both Monday Night Football (a 99 yard TD pass from Brett Favre to Robert Brooks of the Green Bay Packers in 1995) history and Sunday Night Football history, auspicious records for a team to hold.

So where do the Bears go from here?  First, the coaching staff needs to better prepare the players.  The one constant is that the Bears don’t seem to be a team that is consistently prepared week to week.  Part of the problem is that the Bears players may not be executing consistently week to week.  If that’s the case, the coaching staff needs to do a better job of identifying the players that make plays and get them more prominiently into the game plan, especially on the offense.  Do more with Matt Forte, WR Devin Hester, and TE Greg Olsen.

On defense, having a physical secondary is worthless when defensive backs never play press coverage.  This has been a glaring weakness that Bears opponents have taken advantage of in their game planning.  When the Bears use the WR screen offensively, its almost never effective because the opposing defensive backs are playing up on the Bears receivers, pressing them and forcing them downfield.  When the Bears play the WR screen defensively, it almost always works for the opposing team because the Bears don’t press opposing receivers, sometimes playing as much as 8 yards off the receiver before the snap.  This was witnessed firsthand tonight, when the Vikings converted two third downs via the WR screen and the 99 yard touchdown was thrown to a WR that was allowed to run free from the snap.

Ultimately, these are coaching decisions that contribute to what has been a very average season to date.  December is the time of the year to begin the work in developing sound game plans and executing them as flawlessy as possible.  December is the time where good teams become great teams and contenders become pretenders.  It’s a time to step up your play to another level and to a man, coaches included, with the exception of Matt Forte, nobody on the Bears has stepped up, and Matt Forte can’t do it all alone.

Chicago Bears Coaching Staff Puts Team In Position Not To Win

In football, coaching is an important facet of the game.  As you move up the levels of football, from pee wee to high school to college, the gap between the knowledge and ability of the coaching staff as compared to the ability of the players to execute the game plan the coaching staff puts together gets smaller and smaller.  In the NFL that gap is small, but the level and quality of play takes a huge leap from college football.  Typical NFL personnel practice hours a day, every day as practice is primary to making the gap between coaching and execution/ability as small as possible.

Today’s Chicago Bears game against the Atlanta Falcons was a case study in how wide the gap can become between coaching and player execution.  Three plays in today’s 22-20 loss for the Bears sums up how the 2008 version of the Chicago Bears consistently lose winnable games with their inconsistent play and coaching.

First play was the third and goal play on the goal line stand.  Bears offensive coordinator Ron Turner likes to get cute and call plays for FB Jason McKie.  Sometimes they work, but more often than not, they don’t.  McKie is a nice fullback, but why get cute with your 4th best RB when you can give your best RB 4 tries at the goal line.  The ball should have went to all world RB Matt Forte.  You have to go with your best guy in key times.  Turner didn’t do that and when he realized it, it was too late.

Second play was the squib kick.  Bears Head Coach Lovie Smith said the reason they called the squib kick was that the coverage units were tired.  Calling a questionable strategy because your team is not conditioned to run the right strategy?  Lovie Smith has a reputation for running easy going camps.  Training camp is the time to work on conditioning.  Tired in Week 6?  Will it get any better by Week 15?  If this truly was the reason to call the squib kick, it was a poor coaching decision.  The end result validated that 100 times over.

The last play was the base defense the Bears chose for the final offensive play with :06 left in the game.  The Bears may or may not have called the correct defensive set, but due to previous injuries to 4 other defensive backs in this game, the Bears were forced to play a player that they acquired just 19 days ago.  To compound the situation, the call didn’t cover the sideline and account for the only pattern the Falcons could have run to make the completion and still have time to attempt the game winning FG.  Bad decisions, game ending loss.

The Bears played another out of sync game today, with only the offense having a decent day.  The defense came in with a game plan to stop Falcons RB Michael Turner, which they did.  But they never stopped Falcons QB Matt Ryan or any of the Falcons receivers.  Didn’t make adjustments to that game, thus Ryan was virtually untouched today.  Special teams play today was about as bad as I’ve seen in Lovie Smith’s tenure.

Although today’s performance by the Bears can be and should be attributed to the players, I believe the coaching staff is equally responsible.  The Bears 3 losses are by a total of 8 points combined.   That 8 points is mostly due to being outcoached in every game this season, save for the Indianapolis Colts and Detroit Lions games.  The Bears coaching staff has consistently gameplanned not to lose games.  Not only is that a defeatist attitude, but it shows no confidence in the talent that is on the roster.  That’s what takes what should be a very solid 6-0 team and turns it into a mediocre 3-3 team.

Sportsmaven’s 2008 Fantasy Football Team Rosters

I’ve been asked by more than one person about my prowess in fantasy football.  I have two teams and through week 4, my records are 4-0 in one league, and 3-1 in the other.  For those interested, below are my 2008 Fantasy Football team rosters:

Team 1: The West Coast Offense 4-0 record:

• QB Tony Romo, DAL
• QB Kurt Warner, ARZ
• RB Stephen Jackson, STL
• RB Michael Turner, ATL
• RB Brandon Jacobs, NYG
• RB Rashard Mendenhall, PIT – will drop tomorrow
• WR Anquan Boldin, ARZ
• WR TJ Houshmanzadeh, CIN
• WR Calvin Johnson, DET
• WR Donald Driver, GB
• WR Hank Baskett, PHI
• TE Chris Cooley, WAS
• K Nick Folk, DAL
• K John Carney, NYG
• D/ST Seattle Seahawks
• D/ST Arizona Cardinals

Team 2: Windy City Bombers 3-1 record:

• QB Derek Anderson, CLE
• QB Carson Palmer, CIN
• RB Larry Johnson, KC
• RB Matt Forte, CHI
• RB Felix Jones, DAL
• RB Darren Sproles, SD
• WR Terrell Owens, DAL
• WR Torry Holt, STL
• WR Devin Hester, CHI
• WR Donald Driver, GB
• WR Vincent Jackson, SD
• TE Tony Scheffler, DEN
• TE Todd Heap, BAL
• K Nate Kaeding, SD
• D/ST Green Bay

Thoughts?  I tweak my rosters constantly, so these are not the exact teams I began with, nor will they be the teams I finish with, but the core players will remain the same.