BearFan PHX

They knew they were going to give it to Mills from the first day, but they wanted to make the theater so Mills would feel like he earned it. There never was a real competition. Webb never had the fair chance he deserved.

Gotta love it. Don't get me wrong, I would love to see Webb, or any of our players exceed expectations and play well, and I am glad the staff takes a good long look at these guys before making decisions, but what an obvious answer to the ridiculous thread that preceded all of this.

You're right AZ, but it's about more than tackling, it's a necessary growing stage of any 1 gap system. In a 2 gap, each DL is responsible for 2 holes, and if they don't make a play, there's a roaming LB right behind to clean it up like a mini safety just a couple yards back. In a One gap, 8 guys are each responsible for a hole, and if anyone gets out of their gap, you have a runner slashing for like 8 yards until someone brings him down. Ultimately, when gap discipline is sound, a one gap system is great cuz it get's a lot of penetration and pressure, but early on, with new players and coaches, there is a learning curve. And, yes I know I am repeating myself Go Bears!

Ok, so I hate to say it (no I love it) but I saw a LOT of defenders out of their gaps and we got slashed in the run game in the first quarter. Now it's WAY early, and I have faith that they will fix some of these things, but I saw exactly what I predicted. A new staff, some new players on the feld, and people were out of their gaps. When you play a one gap system, you need 8 guys filling gaps or you get 8 yard runs, and we sure saw a bunch of those. This happened Lovie's first year too. Something to watch for. Also Webb sucks.

excellent post.

Yeah, it's a weird thing to say. The coaches are absolutely doing their due diligence on him, but that doesn't mean they're liking what they see. i wonder how long Webb will stick around.

Yeah, I'm not for or against Webb. I've seen him be awful, but I'm not sure if he got proper coaching or help or whatever. If in a few weeks this staff thinks he's ready, then that's good enough for me until I see it on the field. If they demote him, I'll go along with that too. He's obviously an enigma with all the tools but the light hasn't come on for him.

I think this just shows how little we all know what's actually going on from the scraps of information that leak about camp. I think we gotta just trust the new staff, and wait to see some product on the field to really have any sort of opinion. It's fun to play armchair Sherlock Holmes and draw conclusions from bits of info, but then you see that even the bit of info was wrong, or out of context, and it makes it hard for any of us, no matter how smart, to draw any real conclusions. I'm excited about this team, and I trust the staff at this point to make the right decisions on players, especially since we can't even see what the players are really looking like. http://www.chicagobears.com/news/article-1...a4-589218ef8b10

I hear angels singing? LOL I'm just teasing anyway, because I can see that Webb has tools to be good, and I think it's great to give the staff a chance to try to see what they can do with him. As long as they are able to judge the experiment a failure if that's how it comes out I think it's prudent to see what he can become. I don't see any reason to think they are as stuck on him as the last staff was, so I'm all for giving him a real shot and giving him a little time to respond to the coaching. We'll all know soon enough

Hey Cracker, I saw you asked this, so when I read the article below, I figured you'd wanna see it. ‘‘I was really pleased with the quarterbacks,’’ Trestman said. ‘‘They took care of the football today. Jay was on in terms of finishing his progressions and getting to second and third receivers. We spread the ball around a lot today again. That’s happened for three straight days, and that’s a good sign.’’ http://www.suntimes.com/sports/football/be...d-with-qbs.html

I think people will be VERY happy to have him as head coach when this year is thru. I think we finally have a staff and front office that know what they're doing. FINALLY.

That would certainly be a REALLY good sign. I expect Bostic to challenge for significant playing time somewhere in the middle of the season, but if one of the rookies ascended quickly that would certainly be good news. It's interesting too, because the new LBs, rookies and veterans alike, will be learning the new 1 gap fronts, so there's no normal advantage to the free agents that most incumbent starters would have in terms of familiarity with the calls etc. They're all starting from scratch. It'll just be about physicality and tempo, getting used to the NFL. I hope so, I expect he will be. Who KNOWS? He was an undersized rookie that needed to hit the weight room. It'll be interesting to see where he is at this year physically, and if he has improved his handwork, to present more than just a spin move as a valid threat. He ought to be phenominal in it. *IF* he buys into the progressions that Trestman shows him. If he insists on being his own man back there playing sandlot football, he ought to have enough weapons to do decently at that, but he won't dominate, and he won't be back either. For Cutler, the excuse for freelancing has always been that the talent and scheme around him were sub par. This is obviously no longer the case. If he buys in and is willing to subvert his ego to Trestman, he ought to do VERY well. It is also possible that Cutler will UNDERSTAND the value of Trestman's approach and buy into it, in which case his ego and the plan will also be in alignment. YES. He got Steve Young and Jerry Rice's respect. He got Rich Gannon and Tim Brown's respect. THe only player it is a question of might be Jay Cutler, and I think the situation there is backwards. Will Cutler get Trestman's respect, or will he be gone after this year. I hope it's a pass rusher! Yup can't wait. Good post.

Jason, that's ridiculous. Everyone could see you were fighting an insane point in the recent thread that you're referring to because you can never be wrong. If you, or anyone wants to go back and read it, it's pretty clear I was as emotional then as I am now, which is to say not at all. Secondly, you're behaving inappropriately in this response as well, because you're still butt hurt about it. Third, you are only making yourself look bad here as well. In a completely non gratuitous way, not meant as an insult, but quite literally - maybe you should consider therapy.

LOL

Actually, scs, from the cheap seats it seems you're the one throwing stuff around. There are a couple hotheads on this board, you might not know it, but you're one of them. Just chill, we're all Bears fans.

Don't forget, we don't need him - we have Black Unicorn!! For real tho, we're going to really like Bennett at TE.

The Chicago Bears website has a video series called "Inside Rookie Minicamp" and today they released the 3rd episode. http://www.chicagobears.com/multimedia/vid...camp_Episode_3/ The reason for this post is that I saw two things I'd been curious about, back to back. For one I was hoping that the staff would continue Lovie's tradition of considering incomplete passes to be live balls. If you look at the video at 4:15 you can see that they are clearly doing that. I think it goes a long way toward making turnovers a cultural priority, and also practicing the mechanics of scooping up fumbles and coordinating blocking etc for runbacks. Fantastic. Then, as a bonus, almost immediately after that clip we see Trestman chewing out one of the new Rookie Linebackers. This was great to see, becasue until that moment I had only seen the calm, under control version of Trestman, and I wondered if he had the fire and the alpha leadership chops that I like to see in a head coach. Based on what I saw, he does. I remain extremely optimistic about this staff and roster. Yes I think there will be growing pains, it would be insane to think there wouldn't be, but we are on the right track now, and I expect we will see a good football team continually improving into a championship one under Trestman's watch. Thank you Phil Emery!!!!

LOL Jason, arrogant as ever. No one preaches getting into a gap and stopping. Getting into the gap means getting pressure. It means NOT stopping to read run. The 2 gap, on the other hand, allows linebackers to read and flow, so in fact, no, a 2 gap front is less likely to suffer from assignment errors against the run. In other words "get the ball carrier" is easier to remember than which gap is yours on a given play. As for not comprehending the discussion, it is you that called out MY use of the word, and since I both started the thread, AND know precisely what *I* meant when I used it, you therefore must be incorrect. The idea of Lovie playing for an opponent's mistake, rather than to take chances is more about the coverage we play behind the fronts. You're correct in identifying the cover 2 that way. But you're still missing the main point here. And frankly, I think I've made it clearly enough that anyone else reading it can understand the point, and so we can all watch for those missed assignnments in preseason, and early games. As for you Jason, there are many decaffinated brands that taste almost as good as the real thing.

Whatever, you're simply making a stupid semantic argument about the word aggressive. When I say aggressive in this case, I simply mean whether the defensive lineman get upfield on first down, or whether they hold their positions to play 2 gaps until the play is identified as a pass. I'm not talking about the roster, blitzing, coverage, the rhythm of the playcalling, the faces people make or whether they bark. If you cant understand the difference between a 1 gap front and a 2 gap front then you don't know much about football. My point remains: a 1 gap front requires gap discipline that a 2 gap front doesn't, and until that's solid, expect to see some plays go against us. I reiterate, I am thrilled with the roster changes, and expect the defense to play very well once they get their assignments. Until then, expect to see the same thing we saw when Urlacher and Brown had their first year in the system.

In a 2 gap scheme the DTs try to hold their position and play the gaps on either side of them. In a 1 gap scheme they get upfield immediately. I think you are confusing the concept of zone coverage behind the front with the gap scheme. In a 2 gap scheme, like the ravens ran in 2000, the big guys take up the blockers and the LBs roam. That means three levels of defense. In our scheme, 8 men have gap responsibilities, and the first layer after that is the safeties. It puts more pressure on the front to maintain gap discipline. Either scheme can be "aggressive" in nature, but a 2 gap DT does not get upfield into the backfield - it's not his job.

I agree, I like the defensive roster much better this year than last year. My only point is that it takes a while to learn the one gap system, and until it's firmly in place, we will see a bunch of 8 yard runs. That's OK - it's worth it. It's just what's going to happen, and something to watch for.

Even the new veterans didn't play one gap fronts before. I am optimistic about the defense over time, but in the beginning, gap responsibility will probably not be as good as it will once they get going. This is the downside of a one gap front, and it's fine. I LIKE the one gap front, but yes, there will be growing pains. Something to watch in preseason, and the first half of the regular season. Please don't misunderstand me, I'm ALL for the new changes. I'm just saying, based on history, this is what's going to happen.

Dude. You have 4 new LBs and a DT learning it for the first time. Urlacher, Mike Brown etc struggled the first year because unlike 2 gap systems, there is no room for mental errors. In a 2 gap system, athleticism can make up for a missed first step, or a misread hole. In this scheme, when everyone's doing it right, it can be incredibly effective, but if even 1 of the front 8 get in the wrong hole, youve got an 8 yard run. So given that we saw a lot of those in Lovie's first year, it is a legitimate concern.

Yes, overall the new talent will be a good thing, but it will take a while to instill gap discipline.

Hey Guys, I'm very optimistic about our new staff and roster. I've been hoping for something like this, and it seems to me that they are doing all the right things. That said, I do expect the defense to take a step backward this year. Our "Cover 2" defense should probably be called a "One Gap" defense, since it's more about the front than the coverage behind it. Our aggressive scheme asks defensive linemen to get into their gaps and get upfield. This leaves 4 other gaps for LBs and a Safety to be responsible for. Unlike a 2 gap front, where players hold position, and linebackers roam behind like little safeties, our system thrives on upfield pressure, but gap responsibility it KEY. When even one man in out of position, a runner can rip through to the secondary easily. You will recall Lovie's first year where opposing running back routinely ripped off 5 to 8 yard runs against us. I expect we will see some of that as the front learns their assignments. I do like the one gap scheme. It just requires discipline and experience to run it right. It may take a moment to get it together, but all in all I do prefer it, and hope to see them settle into familiar patterns of success after a while. How long that will be remains to be seen. Also, Love preached turnovers. In training camp incomplete passes were live balls. I hope that continues. Don't get me wrong I was thrilled to see Lovie go. Still I know there will be things we lose with him, and gap responsibility will be one of the big ones to watch. Even if it isn't so good at first, over time it can get better, just as it did under Lovie. Anyway, that's something to watch with our new LBs. GO Bears!