Pixote

LOL, I know I am not playing this year and maybe I should keep my mouth shut but this is looking more and more like last year where we drafted and played the season without really knowing what the keeper rules would be and ended the playoffs not even knowing how the prize money was going to be divided up.

I love JimmyMac, I think he is a good piece of Bear's history. However, he was NEVER more than an average QB on an average offense. If he deserves to be in the top 50 Bears of all time because he was the QB on the SB team, then what happens to the other 52 players (or whatever the roster limit was at that time) that was on the team? Does that mean they deserve the honor as well because they were on the SB team? I would argue that Matt Suhey was a better FB than JimmyMac was a QB. Does he deserve to be in the all-time top 50? No.

If he had not been the QB the last year we won the SB most would struggle to remember his name. Take away that one year and he would not be in the top 100 Bears in history. Does he deserve to be in the top 50 because he rode the tails of the greatest defense of all time to the SB? I do not think so, I agree with nfo.

I was too young to remember him as a player, LOL.

Halas was a damn good player in his time and held several all time records for quite some time. No, he would not have made it into the Hall of Fame on his playing alone. But then again, there were quite a few on the list who will never make it into the hall either.

Grange is a top 10 Bear. I am not sure McM even gets into my top 40.

You mean to tell me that Halas just barely squeaked into the top 50 with Butler ranked ahead of him? Something seems terribly wrong with the rankings. I agree with most, but Halas at #50?

Personally, I like hearing our DL is kicking ass. I am not concerned yet about our OL. I like hearing that Peppers, Harris, & Anderson were all putting pressure on Cutler at times. It sounds as if Cutler still had a good day. In a story in the Sun-Times Online News Site: Day 5 Camp Summary: D gets under Cutler's skin D Gets Under Cutler's Skin

It appears it was all bogus. I got an email from footballguys.com this morning with this information:

Are there any training camps that are run like they were 10-20 years ago? They all have gotten to the point where the number one priority it to get the player you are paying a king's ransom to the first game of the season healthy. Very seldom do teams allow aggressive "hits" and 2-a-days in pads is a thing for history books. If you watch film of the games 2 decades ago and apply the rules the NFL have imposed since then I think you will find that half the plays would be flagged. Unfortunately, the game has gotten soft when compared to the "good old days".

Last year he said the same thing at this point. Then the day after they broke camp he made a miraculous recovery and returned. They break camp on August 12th this year. I will give it until August 19th and if he is still retired then, I will begin to believe it. In the mean time both Harvin and Rice have had monor injuries already. Should be interesting. If AP gets injured, now that we stole C Taylor from their backfield, they are really out of luck.

I agree, when you practice against someone with the skill set that Peppers has, it has to make you a better player.

Hey, I am not apologizing for Lovie, or making excuses for him. I am just saying that the problem goes beyond Lovie and he can not be blamed for everything that happens. Despite denials, that is exactly what I am hearing on the forum. It's all Lovie's fault. Every decision made is questioned and Lovie is called out. Even the possible demotion of ALvalva (I know I spelled it wrong) was turned into a indictment of Lovie. As HC he obviously has to take a lot of the blame, granted. If the team fails this year he obviously has to be the first one out the door, assuming JA is retained. If JA gets canned also, then the new GM will start the rebuilding process by hiring a new HC. Simple as that. This topic is getting old. I rest my case. I have said all I care to about this.

I would strongly disagree with this assumption of yours. I am surprised, knowing you read most if not all the posts & threads, that you would even say this. I have no problem with posters not giving respect to Lovie, I am not sure he deserves any, but I do disagree for him getting the blame for everything from A to Z that happens on the field. I repeat what I said, you win as a team, you lose as a team, and there is plenty of blame to be assigned to many different people within the organization including players. IMO, assuming the labor contract is signed, if the Bears to not make a trip to the Super Bowl, then clean house. I am not a Lovie apologist. I am not trying to defend the mediocre product that we have had to endure. I just want to see accountability properly assigned and not all blamed on Lovie.

Percentages. Interesting thought. Totally conjecture for sure on the part of the observer. Who is to blame? You have Lovie HC, JA GM, Phillips, Team President, & Ownership Then you have OC & DC Then you have STC, OLC, DLC, DBC, etc... And of course you have the players themselves. There is plenty of people responsible. To say it is close to 100% on anyone would be an injustice. What is it said, the buck stops here, so I guess it is normal for the HC to get most of the blame. But is it really just the HC at fault? To me the obvious answer is no. To others it is all his fault. I will give one small example. Tommy Harris was an excellent draft choice based on talent. He kicked ass the first 3 years. Was given a big PayCheck. I can only assume JA did his job. He played well so I assume the coaches did ok by him. What has he done over the past few years? He has sucked ass. Why? I do not think it is the coaching or HC. It is not the fault of JA, Ted P., ownership. Harris IMO had more than injury problems. Injuries certainly played a part in it but his motivation was totally lacking. He talked about retiring early. To become a preacher. I honestly do not think he has shown any self motivation the past few years to overcome his injuries. He lacked "balls". (hopefully he has grown a pair in the off-season). Who's fault is that? Tommy Harris and only Tommy Harris. If Harris had played to his potential as he did the first 3 years the past few years how much would that have helped this team? How many more games would have been won? Would we be having this conversation? Who's fault was it Tank Johnson couldn't stay out of trouble? Who's fault was it the C Benson sucked so bad as far as attitude? Did the coaches pass the pipe to R Salaam? Did the coaching staff cause D Terrell to be an ass wipe? The players controlled this. God knows they were getting paid enough where they should not have needed a coach to be a babysitter or shrink. So back to the original question, what percentage of blame does each deserve for the results over the past 3 years? Impossible to answer. I will give it my best shot. I would say that 50% of the blame is SHARED, I will say it again, SHARED by LS, JA, TP, & Ownership. How you want to divide that 50% I will leave up to you. I would say 20% is to the assistant coaches & coordinators. Why only 20%. Because they do need to follow some direction from the 50% above. I would say the remaining 30% is totally on the players. Don't give me this shit about how they need to be given direction. These guys should have the skills and balls to produce on the field. IMO they are not getting paid more in one year than I made in a lifetime to do anything else but go out there and kick ass. There is not one piece of the puzzle that can be changed to make a significant difference. They are all intertwined. There is not one person anyone can lay all the blame on, it is a shared responsibility. There is a saying that there is no I in the word team. It takes everyone from the top down to win a SB. Well the same goes for failure, it is a team effort. To lay all the blame on Lovie, or even the majority of the blame, is blind judgment IMO. Losing is as much a team effort as winning.

To state it differently, Anything and everything that goes wrong is Lovie's fault Anything and everything that goes right is despite of Lovie Seems to me Lovie is in a no win situation

LOL. 'nuff said...

I find it hilarious that some on this board thinks it necessary to blame Lovie Smith for everything that happens in a negative aspect with the Bears. I assure you that if the Bears Dorm rooms at camp runs out of toilet paper, it will be Lovie's fault. If a player gets his steak medium well when he ordered it medium rare, you guessed it, Lovie's fault. Lovie makes enough mistakes he deserves to be criticized for without some posters trying to turn every damn negative as a mistake made by Lovie. Lovie's main mistake, the thing that I feel has defined his failure, is his selection of assistant coaches. Hopefully this year he has gotten it right with DC, OC, & OLC. If he has, we will have a very good year, we have the players IMO. If not, if he blew it again on selecting his staff, he will be gone next year.

I was never high on Afalava, did not think he should be considered a starting caliber player, just a backup at best. It seems everything that happens is twisted so as more insults can be given the coaching staff. If we don't make the playoffs and go DEEP into the playoffs this year, I like everyone else will want to clean house. The difference between me and many on the forum, I am willing to give the coaches another chance this year to prove themselves. JA certainly has stepped up in player acquisition. In two years to get Cutler & Peppers as well as some other very respected players is fantastic.

The guy from ESPN Is making a lot of harsh judgments based on the first couple of practices. It is kind of stupid to evaluate the first couple of non contact drills and the first practice in pads for the year. He even tries to twist Cutler's statements into readers thinking "oh my God this offense is just too hard to learn" when Cutler, from what I can tell in interviews, is learning it just fine and is comfortable with it.

I guess I do need to confirm, although I truly love FF, I am going to take a year off. I have some other things going on and I do not want to take time out from what is more important to obsess over a FF roster. I would prefer to reserve any free time I can muster up to follow the Bears and any other games I can catch. I actually have Directv NFL Sunday Ticket this year and am looking forward to being able to watch any game I want live. Best of luck to all of you. Next year if there is an opening maybe I will jump back in.

The Bears Site is saying Bruce will arrive Wednesday and remain in camp for the entire preseason sessions to help the Bears receivers learning the new offense. Good stuff!

I Honestly, an regretfully, believe there are members on this forum who dislike Lovie Smith so much that they want to see us tank it this year so that they can get their wish, A clean sweep of Smith/Angelo/Phillips. The what if that happened and we hired the best of the best HC/GM/TP? Then we go out and sign the top free agents available, say 250 million dollars worth of tallent. We finish it off with the best draft in team history. Guess what, it does not guarantee you will see a SB trophy carried into Halas Hall.

Fantastic! Thanks for the updates. I look forward to the guys from the forum giving these type of reports. Much more valuable than the stuff the so called experts put out, especially when they are on the Bears pay roll.

Yep, another one bites the dust....