SB Nation User Blog: JerBear50

Angelo Shoots Down Mullin's Report

JerBear50 — Mon, 21 Dec 2009 00:21:38 -0000

According to Bears GM Jerry Angelo, Lovie's job may not be as safe as we thought. Prior to today's game, the Bear's GM refuted the Comcast Sports article claiming that the decision to retain Smith for next year had already been made, and stated no decision will be made until the season has concluded.

While this may sound promising to many fans clamoring for Lovie's firing, Angelo also stated that the money owed to Smith would not be a factor, that it wouldn't be a financial decision. Somehow that statement strikes me as, well, lacking in truthiness. Link to AP article via Yahoo! here.

Should I Stay or Should I Go? Lovie and The Tampa Two...

JerBear50 — Mon, 26 Oct 2009 05:10:00 -0000

There's been a lot of argument that we are built for the Tampa Two defense, so we shouldn't consider changing it. It's also been a factor in the keep Lovie/fire Lovie debate. I'm not necessarily calling for the scrapping of our defense or coaches (though I wouldn't be heartbroken if it happened). I just want to show why it's a bogus argument.

Because a Cover Two defense requires a lot of system-specific players, it makes for some difficulty in transitioning to a new scheme. The two biggest options are the base 4-3 and the currently popular 3-4. The Jim Bates style 4-3 calls for bigger, mauling DT's (which we don't have) instead of the quicker get-up-the-field type of DT's (which we also don't have, oddly enough.) The linebacking corps is based more around the MLB than in the cover two. The secondary has to be more adept at playing man coverage rather than zone (again, ours are good at neither of these.) Switching to the 3-4 would require an almost complete top to bottom revamping of our defense. Switching to either of these schemes is going to take some time, and we will have a season or two of struggling, and that's assuming the new personnel works out.

If we're going to do it, now is the time. Not right this minute obviously, but this offseason. The argument against it is that we're built for the cover two. We may in fact be built for it, but it's been awfully poor building. Other than Lance Briggs, is there a single guy on our current defense that makes you think "we can't change because he's too valuable to us?"

Let's face it, Tommie Harris is done. He's been injured too many times, and I truly don't think that he's all that dedicated to being dominant again even if the injuries let up. The rest of our DT's are barely serviceable on a good day. Wale is doing just enough to try for a new contract, and Alex Brown could probably be useful in either of the other systems I've mentioned. Even if not, I love AB, but he's not the type of impact player that you build around.

As far as the linebackers go, Urlacher is at the end of the road, Briggs is good enough that he could probably excel in any system, and none of the others are worth losing sleep over (Pisa is good, but I don't think he's signed long term.) Should I even discuss the secondary? Other than sentimentality for Tillman, is there a single defensive back that you would be upset over losing? Hell, I can think of several I'd prefer to lose. Off the subject a little, but considering our coaches penchant for switching players from position to position, does it bother anyone else that Tillman, the one player who would probably benefit most from a position change, has never been moved to safety? I can only assume it's because the rest of the CB's are so bad that they can't afford to move him.

My point is not that we necessarily have to do away with the Tampa Two. I'm simply saying that if we're ever going to make the change, this is the offseason for it to happen. The few elite players we have are young enough that they can make it through a couple years of rebuilding and still see the other side of it, save for Urlacher. The Bears' upper management has some serious decisions to make, and they need to be made soon. Letting the defense rot away rather than blowing it up to rebuild can cost us valuable time, which Jay could be using to take us back to prominence.

Onion Story: ESPN Completely Misses Brett Favre Vs. Green Bay Packers Storyline

JerBear50 — Sun, 11 Oct 2009 08:39:46 -0000

Onion Story: ESPN Completely Misses Brett Favre Vs. Green Bay Packers Storyline

Another good read by The Onion.

Bears/Broncos First Half Breakdown.

JerBear50 — Tue, 01 Sep 2009 04:09:41 -0000

Due to last week's overwhelming response, I thought I'd go ahead and continue on this week. I had to work all weekend, so this is the first chance I've had to watch the game. Stupid firewalls. I considered just adding on to GB's post, but I've got a little too much for the comment section. Half-ass analysis to begin in 4...3...2..

Like last week, this will only be covering only the first half. Gets a little difficult trying to keep track of who's who once they start trotting all the soon-to-be-unemployed guys out onto the field. On to the offense.

1) Sir Jay

Another solid performance. Didn't leave me breathless, but also didn't disappoint by any stretch. Started out a little slow but seemed to hit his stride in the 2nd quarter. I didn't notice any blatantly forced throws this week either.

2) Forte

Uh, yeah. He's pretty good. That is all.

3) TE's

Olsen continues to impress. Damn he's got good hands, and he is enormous. I can't wait until he feels a little more comfortable and just starts trucking DB's on his way down field. Clark looked really good this week as well. I think he might be trying to make sure everyone knows he's not done yet. Mission accomplished, sir. I just wish his name didn't cause me to think of Dez White.

4) WR's

Bennett once again showed that he is ready for Sundays. No botched plays from Hester that I picked up on, but nothing that made me sit up and take notice either. I found it interesting that Cutler didn't even attempt to go deep to him this week. I didn't see much out of anyone else in the first half.

5) OL

Another good-not-great performance. The interior line seemed solid. The Pace situation has been covered already. Watching Chris Williams is getting frustrating. I put most of my focus on him because he's the least experienced, and because breaking down the interior is difficult with TV coverage. Ninety percent of the time, he looks really good. He's getting a good bendin his legs, he's not leaning back or forward too far, and his shuffle/slide looks great. He does seem to be struggling at picking up the blitz. He handles guys coming off the line/edge with no problem, but he didn't fare as well with the linebackers. He's getting turned around too far and giving up the outside, though it again didn't result in any sacks. He also was late recognizing the blitz by Dawkins (second series, I believe) and didn't recover in time. That one would've been ugly if Cutler hadn't unloaded the ball as quick as he did, because that old man brings the wood when he gets a shot. Williams did seem to have a lot more hustle this week and did a much better job of staying active during plays, which was my biggest complaint about his performance against the Giants.

SPECIAL TEAMS

Gave up a little more yardage than I like to see, but nothing drastic. Hester had a couple bonehead plays on his first two returns, but he redeemed himself once he finally got his hands on one. The whole "he needs to stay on return teams" discussion has been covered to no end, so I'll skip it.

DEFENSE

1) DB's

Couple nice plays by Payne. I hope Tillman and Bowman get healthy and game-ready really quick. Failing that, I hope someone kidnaps Aaron Rodgers a la "Celtic Pride."

2) LB's

Another nice game, but we've come to expect it. Can someone explain how a defense as horrible as St Louis cuts a guy like Tinoisamoa? I don't care what scheme they want to run, the guys a gamer, period. Urlacher seemed to be playing better this week, and staying low. I think getting blasted by Brandon Jacobs last week might have woken him up a bit. He still didn't get off of blocks a few times, but that's not a new issue.

3) DL

Vast improvement this week. I was so relieved to see Tommie Harris getting off the ball and staying low. Denver's O-Line was having to double-team him quite often too, which is a good sign. He's not back to form, but he's a lot closer. Adams and Harrison both played well also. Adams and AB did a nice job of sniffing out that end-around and shutting it down for a loss. Brown was his usual awesome self. Ogunleye looked good out there too. He looks a lot more physical this year, and he did a good job of keeping himself in plays, even when they went to the other side. Anderson looked better, but I'm not sold yet.

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Another impressive performance this week. The offense struggled early on but seemed to click after a few three-and-outs. It was good to see they kept their cool after starting slow, especially with the ~~girlish whining~~ excessive noise from the crowd. The defense had a good showing, albeit against Kyle Orton and not having to face Marshall. By the way, good luck with that one, Broncos fans. Up next, the offensive juggernaut that is Cleveland, and the only receiver with worse hands than our own Droppopottamus.

Bears-Giants First Half Breakdown

JerBear50 — Mon, 24 Aug 2009 05:45:57 -0000

Why only the first half? Because it took long enough to dissuade me from doing the second half.

I realize this is a day late, but I wasn't able to get the game until this past evening. I watched the first half all the way through like normal. I then went back and spent a couple hours going play by play with rewind, slow-mo, and all that good stuff. DVR's are awesome. This is nothing mind-shattering by any stretch, but just what I was able to pick up. Let me preface this review by saying that this is of course a pre-season game, therefore none of this should be construed as me writing off the season or pencilling in a trip to Miami. I'll start with the offense.

1) QB's

Not a whole lot to say here. Cutler looked sharp. There were definitely a couple forced throws on the second drive, but nothing to be overly concerned about. The shot he fired off to Hester (which he under-ran) on the third drive was impressive. That ball had a lot of heat on it, and he threw it without his feet set, leaning on one leg. That was the kind of throw that a certain quarterback whose name makes me sick used to make back when he was tearing us up year after year. Hanie looked solid, and looks like he may be a serviceable back-up. I'd rather not find out, but it's still somewhat reassuring.

2) WR's

They looked surprisingly good. I've not been a big believer in the "we're happy with what we've got" line from management, but I feel a little better after tonight. Earl Bennett really impressed me tonight. He made a beautiful grab on the first drive that I thought for sure was going to end up in the dirt. Had a couple other nice grabs as well, and also looked solid in the return game. Devin Aromasomethingsomething had an outstanding catch as well, getting them down inside the 5. Rideau looked decent too, though he didn't come in until late in the half. Hester did nothing to convince me that he is going to be a #1 (or X or flanker or whatever you want to call it). He had a couple receptions and he did make a couple of nice blocks, but that was about it. He let up on the bomb that Cutler put down field to him (so now he's not a go-and-get-it guy in addition to not being a come-back-and-get-it guy), and it looked like he ran an in route instead of an out route leading to an incompletion on another play. The main issue seems to me to be an overall lack of awareness. It just looks like he doesn't always quite know what's going on. I guess that's Miami for you.

3) TE's

Good all around. ~~Prince Adam~~ Olsen looked good despite a drop, and Des Clark was solid as usual. I didn't notice any obvious blown blocking assignments, but I wasn't overly focused on it either. Kellen Davis seems to be progressing well.

4) RB's

Forte looked outstanding. He was quick, he hit the holes decisively, and he ran strong and hard. There seemed to be no lingering issue from the hamstring tweak during OTA's, and I don't see a sophomore slump in the works. Kevin Jones had one nice hard run, and then he coughed it up the next time he touched the ball. If I remember correctly, he had some fumble issues in Detroit as well. Let's hope this was a fluke. Similar thoughts on Wolfe. He had a couple nice plays, but had a costly fumble that should have been an easy three for Gould at the end of the half.

5) OL

This was another area I was concerned with, but the starters looked pretty good. Omiyale blew an assignment early on, but he's at a new position in a new system. It's going to happen from time to time. Pace, Kreutz, and Beekman's World all played well. Chris Williams looked decent, but did get beat a couple times. On the Cutler roll-out on the second drive (completion to Bennett), he got put flat on his ass. On a couple other plays he either got beat or got close to it. I also saw him let up on a couple plays, which didn't impress me. It's one thing to ease off when the play is already down the field. When the receiver is 4 yards in front of you, you need to be trucking upfield, not standing there like a 5 year old kid in right field. That being said, he's young and it's his first real action, so hopefully we'll see an improvement.

When the back-ups started coming in, I quickly stopped trying to keep notes. It wasn't pretty. The interior line looked ok, but the rookie at RT, Balogh, was not so hot. He was beaten by his man on the Hanie sack although his guy didn't actually make the play. He was beaten a couple plays later and was flagged for a fairly blatant holding call, where he damn near locked up and dry-humped the DE that went around him. Apparently that's not acceptable. Kevin Shaffer wasn't quite as bad at the LT, but he didn't impress me by any stretch.

Special Teams

What can I say? It's the Bears special team squad, and they were good as we've come to expect. Looks like we've got some nice options in the return game as well. Bennett and Knox both had a couple nice returns. Nothing even needs to be said about Gould. As long as he doesn't go all Vanderjagt on us, I think we're set for a long time at kicker. On to the defense.

1) DB's

I didn't find myself doing any happy-dances over their play, but I also wasn't horrified like I expected to be. I can't say anyone really stood out as great or terrible. There were some nice hits made, and it seems that Vasher remembered how to tackle, how to not fall on his ass, and how to keep his man in front of him. It may not be a return to Pro-Bowl form, but it's an improvement. Nice sack made on a blitz by Payne (Or maybe Steltz. I'm too tired of rewinding to check).

2) LB's

Briggs was Briggs. Tinoisamoa looked damn good, and I think he will be a big upgrade over Hillenmeyer. Hunter seems like a good guy, and he's a hustle guy which I respect the hell out of, but he doesn't have the talent that PT has. Urlacher seemed to come on later in the half, but he did not look good early on. He got flat out trucked by Jacobs a few times. He was not getting nearly low enough. If you don't get lower than the RB, especially one as big as Jacobs, you're not going to win that battle. It's a matter of leverage plain and simple. Another play that stood out was one of the blitzes that he was on. He came across the line with a full head of steam. He was then promptly stood up and brought to a dead stop by a stationary guard. As I said, he did seem to pick it up as the game went on, so I don't want to read too much into it.

3) DL

The Ends played fairly well. Brown and Ogunleye both looked pretty good. Wale seems to have picked his game up some, and hopefully it will continue. AB looked good as always, though I did see him over-run a couple plays.

The one area of this team that really concerned me was the DT rotation. Most of my focus on the defensive drives was on the line, and I found nothing to feel confident about. The nose-tackle rotation was mediocre enough that I really didn't even notice who was in at any given time.

As far as the undertackle, well, some guy with a 91 jersey was on the field. It supposedly was Tommie Harris, but he sure as hell could have fooled me. I don't want to sound like an alarmist because again, this is preseason. That being said, Harris looked flat out bad. I don't mean bad for Harris, I mean straight out bad, shouldn't be a starter bad, why is he on the team bad. He disrupted the backfield a grand total of zero times. He was really, really slow getting off the snap. On one particular play, the o-line had all come out of their stances, and the rest of the defense had all fired off before Harris even had his hand off the ground. He was stood straight up by the lineman across from him on nearly every single play. That really wasn't much of a compliment for the Giants line, being that Tommie came out of his stance and stood straight up on his own on probably half the plays. Either his knees are completely shot, or he's terribly rusty and horribly out of shape. I'm absolutely praying that it's the latter because if it's not, then I think he's done, and I have yet to see anyone on our roster capable of doing what he used to do. If his knees are actually in that bad of shape, I think the best bet would be to put him on IR and hope like hell that a full season off is enough to heal him and allow him to be productive again. I know that sounds a little reactionary, but if he continues to play as bad as he did last night, he's not going to do us any good by being on the field. Let's all hope he was just feeling off and needs to get in game shape.

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Overall, I was impressed with what I saw. There was some negative, but it was far outweighed by the positive. It left me feeling hopeful for this season, albeit concerned about the DT positions. One thing I noticed with the defense was how successfully they blitzed. It only resulted in one sack I believe, but it caused a lot of disruption and broken plays. The Giants have a pretty solid offensive line, so it was good to see them getting across and causing some havoc in the backfield. They did a lot of blitzing last year, but it was mostly ineffective.

The offense looked incredible. I've not see a Chicago offense look that sharp in a long time, except for the first half of '06, before Rexy had a complete psychological breakdown, but we don't need to revisit that again. We've played it out in our tortured minds over and over again enough times to last a lifetime. Please feel free to let me know if you agree with my assessment or not. After all, I don't do this for a living...

Former Titan QB Steve McNair found dead

JerBear50 — Sat, 04 Jul 2009 22:02:03 -0000

Alcorn State alum and former NFL MVP Steve McNair was found shot to death in his Nashville home, along with a female victim. The police have not revealed much in the way of details and have not released the identity of the woman. McNair spent his career with the Oilers, Titans, and Ravens, and was Co-MVP along with Peyton Manning in 2003. He was 36 years old.

[Note by WCG, 07/04/09 6:51 PM EDT ]If you would like to read more in the coming days, I'm sure Music City Miracles will be keeping everybody updated.

Pro Bowl Overhaul?

JerBear50 — Mon, 29 Jun 2009 03:35:28 -0000

After spending some time in GB's Pro Bowl post, it got my wheels turning on how much I hate the voting process for the Pro Bowl, as well as for all-star games in general. Since they're moving the game out of Hawaii (bad idea) and moving it in front of the Super Bowl (bad idea #2), I figure maybe they can change the selection process as well.

I understand the idea behind letting the fans vote for all-star games. It promotes interaction and makes fans feel more like they're a part of something. Unfortunately, there's no way of restricting people who are not particularly knowledgeable about the game or are just tools and vote for everyone on their favorite team. Repeatedly. Kinda like Chicago elections. That is a big part of why we end up with so many undeserving players voted in every year. It also gives an advantage to teams in a big market with large fan bases, because they've got more fans to get online and vote (except for in Philly where their own self-loathing and contempt keeps them from voting for the Iggles players.)

Year after year we see guys get in on name recognition alone, especially linemen. With other positions there are stats to at least point people in the right direction (although they can be misleading as well), but few people really know how to judge line play, especially when all you've got is TV camera angles. So you end up with people voting for whoever Joe Buck declares to be great every Sunday. I'd be willing to bet that if you put Jonathan Ogden on the ballot this year, he would get a sizable chunk of votes, and I'm not kidding when I say that. The last few years of his career were far from All-Pro caliber, but he kept making it anyways. Unfortunately, a lot of players/coaches admit to doing the same thing. They'll vote based on what they've heard or who they're friends with.

The only thing I can think of is to have a group of scouts and possibly a few media people, but the ones that truly know the game and are not just typical beat writers (I'm thinking of guys like Paul Zimmerman. Like him or not, the guy knows the game inside and out.) The selections can be left up to them, or if you want to maintain some level of fan involvement, have a panel narrow it down to a few players at every position and let the fans vote from that group.

Anyone out there have any alternatives, or do you think it should be left alone? Also, is anyone else concerned that moving the Pro Bowl back before the Super Bowl may inspire a boneheaded MLB-like attempt to assign relevance to the game by awarding an advantage to the winning conference? I don't think it will happen, but the possibility definitely increases by the game being moved back.

Poll

Do you feel the voting process for the Pro Bowl should be changed, or should it be left alone?

Yes, it should be changed

21 votes

No, leave it as it is

9 votes

30 votes | Poll has closed

Today, In Totally Irrelevant Former Bears' News.

JerBear50 — Wed, 24 Jun 2009 06:56:00 -0000

According to an AP story, former Bears 2002 draft pick Marc Colombo has signed a recording contract along with current Cowboy's teammates Leonard Davis and Cory Procter. They have a metal band called ~~The Screaming ACL's of Death~~ Free Reign, and have signed with an Australian label, Riot Entertainment. Congratulations to him on finding something he's good at besides hanging out on the trainer's table. Here's the link, just to prove that I'm not making this up.

Vick, Simpson question Cutler's maturity

JerBear50 — Sun, 14 Jun 2009 03:23:10 -0000

In separate interviews yesterday, Michael Vick and Orenthal "O.J." Simpson called into question the maturity and decision making of newly acquired Bears QB Jay Cutler. Cutler's reputation has come under attack in recent months since demanding a trade from the Denver Broncos after problems arose between new coach Josh McDaniels and himself.

In a telephone interview yesterday from a Virginia half-way house, former Falcon QB and kennel operator Michael Vick expressed his disdain for Cutler's handling of the situation. "You gotta think. You're in the NFL now. You can't just be doin' whatever like there ain't nobody paying attention. You gotta be a leader and look out for your team, not just worry about yourself."

Vick concluded the brief interview by calling into question the people Cutler surrounds himself with. "Man, you can't just be hanging out with anyone. You gottta have people around you who support you and will help you do the right thing and make good decisions."

Speaking via collect call from the Nevada State Penitentiary, Mr. Simpson expressed similar sentiments. "You're a professional athlete. You've got to keep yourself under control... keep your temper in check. You can't just go flying off the handle when you think you've been disrespected. You've gotta think things out, and not just act on emotion, 'cause that'll catch up with you eventually." He went on to convey his thoughts on today's athletes having what he called a sense of entitlement. "It's like they think they can just get away with anything because they play football. You may get away with it once or twice, but eventually you'll run into the proverbial guy-wearing-a-wire-in-a-hotel-room-while-you-rob-him-at-gunpoint, and then it's all gonna catch up with you."

How is Favre still an option?

JerBear50 — Sun, 10 May 2009 01:33:03 -0000

Can someone explain to me why any NFL franchise would want Favre on their team at this point? He's obviously not capable of being a starting QB anymore, or at least not a competent one. Even if someone thought he had something left in the tank, last season with the Jets should have made it clear that he just doesn't have it anymore. He had a solid offense around him, so the stand-by excuse of "he doesn't have a line/running game/anyone to throw to" no longer applies.

Considering what an absolute prick he's been to young QB's under him, they can't possibly expect him to be the kindly veteran mentoring and grooming a young prospect. Not to mention that his horrible decision making and refusal to take any sort of criticism is not exactly something you want to pass on to a future player.

The only reason I can come up with is to help sell tickets, but even that will only last so long. And you know damn well it will get ugly when he starts hearing the boos from fans. Although his ego is so out of hand that he may not even realize it's him that they're booing. Can someone tell me what the attraction is with this guy?