Grouchy Bear

This is a ass whoopin so far ! Hats off to Jim and the 49's Org. We all knew that our D might a bad game or two and the offense would have to stand up and put up points in those games. I hope we at least get of couple of field goals in the second half

Hello everyone , Its been a while since I posted. I hope everybody is doing good ? Let me ask you what would be your offensive game plan be for tonight? We all know what our defense will do, #1 stop the run and #2 then play the pass. And if the Texans are charitable our "D" will have no problem of receiving such gifts. Game time weather and field conditions should be considered in your thoughts.

What comes first agency signings or the draft ? Also what are some of the better mock draft sites ? Happy New year !

First of all Happy Holidays to all ! sorry I messed up

First , I like to say kudos to Lemonej and LT2 3 for your damn good points of views on Angelo stats etc. I still think we can make the playoffs and do well with the help of a healthy forte at seasons end and Jay hopefully back for the playoffs (koolaid). But after this season what is the plan for next season and there after ? Let's start with the Angelo rumors of retiring which I think are not true. He is still signed for a couple more years I think . If he does retire I believe buddy Ruskell takes over. Will there be a new direction or steady the course ? Is martz going to re-up with us ? If he does decide to leave do we replace him with Tice or Day ? ( I believe Tice just re-uped ) I would imagine they would keep the same offense intact. If they decided to go back to the west coast (which I prefer) where jay seems to be more comfortable (audible, 2 minute drill and non-communication breakdowns ) and just easier for his teammates and future teammates to learn and comprehend. There will be some coordinators out there after the season that are capable of working with what you have and playing to your players strengths. May I also add it would to a better selection of veteran backup QB's if does Jay get hurt again. If Martz does stay, one would think it would be on his terms of how he would demand better talent immediately ( veterans ) that would cost money. Angelo may give in but I doubt it. He has some big off season decisions already that might be pretty expensive. Don't get wrong I like martz and his scheme, but we are know where near the talent level to be the Greatest show on sod and couple of years from it. LT2 3 has a much better handle on next years contracts and money allocation etc. than I, but I would think that some players jawing for more money ( who recently resigned ) are not going to get what they want. This brings me to our beloved defense how much longer can they stay healthy and together (core players )? Could this be Briggs last hurrah if he doesn't keep quiet and honnor his contract? I can't see Angelo and Lovie putting up with public displays of discontent. In closing this will be a huge offseason that could determine Bear future for the next couple of years.

WOW ! Hate is a pretty strong word Jason . I think some times Martz gets caught up in the game and actually forgets what kind of players he has and what their limitations are. It's has to start with game planning. Since the offense has changed direction of how it wants to attack but still keep defenses on it's heels. Would it be so bad to give some leeway to Jay if in he can check out some plays (audible ). It seems Jay is comfortable on how Martz wants to attack. Would it not be nice to see a no huddle set of series to throw off the defense ( especially when were playing team with a blitzing D when needed ). I don't know about you but for me I would never take out Bennett, he seems to be on the same wave length as Jay and this will help in an audible let alone he is the teams best receiver. Also I would not mind to see more play action passes when we go to a two back set (Clutts ). Little things : 1# Doesn't bother you when were on a good drive and we have to stop and take a timeout because of the time clock. Some may say that's because of technical difficulties but when Jay is motioning his hands towards the sideline to hurry up that is not good. This has been a season long problem. 2# Scrap the the plays that doesn't involve Jay behind center. 3# no reverses please . 4# I liked the forte option pass but put somebody different on the receiving end. Davis is way to inconsistent.

Hey Guys and gals, Happy Thanksgiving next week ! Sorry, I"ve been busy and I have had no time to chirp in and shoot some comments. I do have some questions on the playoffs regarding placement. If the playoffs started today who would we play and where ? Do we play the other wild card team or play a division leader ? And do we have a preference ?

It's been a while ladies and gents ! How is everyone ? Last nights game had some bad moments as expected. But there were a lot of good things happening, either by individuals or groups. We really can't be to quick to make harsh judgments on the first preseason game. We all new that with the shorten camp, juggled positions and a rook who played the opposite position the Oline would struggle early and often. Yes, many will argue that we may have a few subpar linemen but " when given lemons ... " Tice will have to work harder. I can see us doing a lot of quick passes , screens, and a shit load of running plays next week against the Giants. peace out

I'm with you MadLithuanian, Manning is going to ask for a substantial raise. But I question how much ? If it's near Otogwe price or near it ? Is he worth it ? You know Otogwe is a player where you put him at free Safety and forget about it. I know we NEED Olinemen desperately but I really believe Angelo and Co. think they have enough young talent ( with the help of Tice ) on the team to overcome their ills and maybe draft 1 O.L. in the first 3 selections and it might not be with the first two.

Does everybody have to agree on everything for a team to be successful ? When a football Org. re-evaluates it's self in off season does everybody really tell the truth ? Is there retribution if you stand up say " were going about this the wrong way " ? What I'm getting is at the Angelo and Co. think tank . Drafting heavy on defense ( seems forever ) is okay if your offense is well above par and you have good depth all around. But the problem is, there only maybe 3 offensive players on the Bears who could start on other teams. Two of those players you didn't draft. In comes the big shake up and Tim Ruskell ( Director of player personnel ) who's the spittin image of Angelo as far as drafting( http://blog.seattletimes.nwsource.com/seah...omprehensi.html ) The hiring of Martz and Tice was a nice move given what they have to work with. ( hope and pray players ) Just maybe they can have an input with the first three picks on draft day. HMMM... you got Angelo, Ruskell, Lovie on one side Martz and Tice on the other side... well it looks like were drafting defense and on offense will be an after thought, never mind.

I love your passion man ! May I add that the other starting TE's are just about as bad at blocking. We just can't get CONSISTENT blocking either on passing downs or running plays game in and game out from our TE's Olsen wiffed on another blitzing Lb. Davis wiffed on several running plays. What puzzles me is Clark was actually activated but only played special teams ?

You hit on the nose, Haley is my first choice then Morris. Lovey, Belicheck, Timlin all have all pro talent on their perspective teams. Haley , Morris , and Spags started with little. These young coaches had the best team turn around. I give them kudos.

Wasn't John harbaugh baltimore ravens a Phil. special teams coach and toub was his assistant

First of all Merry Christmas to everyone ! If our Bears continue to win and go into playoffs and play well. ( and who knows the super bowl ) Many teams will look at the bears during this time and just maybe consider they like who we have on our coaching staff. It seems every year winning teams not only lose players but coaches. Martz (head coach ) , Tice ( head coach or Off. cord ) and Toub who deserves to upgraded to DEF. or Off. cord. (somewhere ) job come to mind. You know all three will jump at the chance if offered. My question is how will this affect our Bears ?

Sorry, boys but Conner hit it on the head. May I add that as long as Angelo is GM and Virginia is Queen, Lovie is here for awhile.

Can anybody tell me where or who I can contact to purchase these items ? Even better yet, union made ?

It's nice to hear the young Olinemen making progress. Here is some Q and A's from a Tice interview : http://espn.go.com/blog/chicago/bears CHICAGO -- Chicago Bears offensive line coach Mike Tice spent some time Wednesday on the “Afternoon Saloon” on ESPN 1000 discussing some of the technical aspects of offensive line play, and they relate to the Bears for the upcoming season. Because Tice was so detailed in his responses to great questions from Carmen DeFalco, John Jurkovic and Harry Teinowitz, we decided to paraphrase the questions and transcribe the whole interview in a question-and-answer format so you can get the full gist of the offensive line coach’s thoughts on a variety of subjects relating to the Bears: How have things been coming along in your short time with the Bears? “Really pleased with how things have gone to this point with the group. The offensive line group has got a lot of talent; got a lot of young guys in the room who have the ability to play at this level. [i’m] really, really pleased with their progress to this point; most notably Johan Asiata and Lance Louis have really stepped it up as young players and showed me that they have the ability and the maturity to play at this level sooner than later.” “I like how the group is accepting coaching. I like how they’re working. We’ve identified some areas for each of the guys who are returning that they need to work on, and they’ve worked diligently at those things.” What are some of the areas you’re referring to? “First and foremost across the board, so we can include everybody in there, is their usage of hands, carrying their hands higher and not dropping their hands, which in turn makes their shoulders go forward, which in turn makes them whiff. We’ve been working diligently on their hands every day. We’re working a bag that we’ve designed to help them with their hand carriage and the way they approach and strike with their hands, not only in the run game, but in pass protection, too.” “The other thing we’re working on is their steps; their footwork. We want to be more forward. We want to be taking the line of scrimmage and having a more positive step towards the line of scrimmage. [We want] to try to eliminate any type of bucket step or drop step. Those things take time. It takes repetitions. It takes the guys buying in. Then of course, it takes them seeing some success with that, and I think they were able to see some success with it in this minicamp. So now I think they’ll be excited to come back next Wednesday for the OTA days.” How will Frank Omiyale’s move to tackle from guard be beneficial from what you’ve seen? (Tice explains that he graded the entire 2009 Bears season as if he had been coaching the offensive line) “I took a couple of weeks to grade the whole season. A lot of people in the building, a lot of people in the media, a lot of fans had opinions about how everybody played last year and I really needed to see for myself. So with that said, Frank actually got better as the season went on. When he came back in [during] the second wave after he missed some time, he actually played better. He played winning football later in the season. Early on he did struggle some. He did have some problems. I think [it was because] he was playing inside for the first time with those long arms. He just was not comfortable. Moving out to tackle is a position he’s played most of his career, albeit on the left side. But he’s such a good athlete, and has so much lateral quickness, explosion and recoverability. He’s really fit in pretty decently on the right side as we’ve progressed.” How important is left tackle Chris Williams to the team’s plans? “He was really a rookie last year because he missed his first year with a back injury. I graded him at two spots. I graded him out at right tackle, [and] then I graded him out as a left tackle. His grade was significantly higher on the left side, and that is a spot that he played in college. I liked him coming out. I said that before, I‘ll say it again. I was really high on him coming out of college. I gave him a first-round grade; a high first-round grade. He has the ability to be that guy, that island left tackle if you will. But he has some work to do. His left hand is consistently dropping. He needs to get that thing up. He needs to set more squarely when he comes back in pass protection, and do a better job at stunt pickup. So he’s got some work to do. I just think the sky’s the limit for Chris. How good does he want to be? What type of running plays will be featured in the new offense under Mike Martz? “We’re gonna be able to run the football, I can promise you that. We’re gonna have a number of different areas that we’re gonna be good at. We’re very athletic. So we’re gonna try to get our guys out in space. I think we’ll be very good in the draw game. I know we’re gonna be able to run the inside zone because in my tenure, everywhere I’ve been, we’ve been able to run the inside zone. So we’ll be able to run the inside zone. We’ll dabble a little bit with power, but probably not as much as they ran it here last year. It wouldn’t necessarily be on our priority list, but we’ll certainly have it.” “I think really what happens, and Mike and I have talked about this quite often, is you put your plays in -- and believe me, we’ve got plenty of plays -- we put the plays in and we think we know what the guys are gonna be. Really until you get into pads and you start to see what the back is good at, what the linemen are good at, what combination blocks they excel at, that’s gonna define who you are in the running game. I’ve told the story plenty of times…one year in Minnesota, we were the best inside run team in the league. I had coaches calling me and Bill Parcells was talking about it. The next year we come out and we couldn’t even run the inside zone. We were just OK at it. What happens is you get different people in there, and maybe the play hits in a different area because you’re a little stronger in another position. Maybe you’re a little stronger at left guard, and a little stronger at right tackle. So you have to be able to run the ball behind those players who are good at those certain combination blocks.” How important is the center in those combination blocks. Isn’t that where it all starts? “I disagree with you. I think the key to all good running teams is cutting off the play on the back side. I think you have to establish that you’re gonna cut off that pursuit on the back side. This league is all about speed on defense, and you’ve got to not have those guys come over the top and make the play from the back side. I think you have to be able to cut the defense somewhere. The way we’ve designed our running game, each play is designed to cut the defense in two areas. That’s a part of the play that the running back understands where we’re trying to cut the defense, and that’s where we’re trying to hit the football; at least to start out with, and then we’ll go from there. I will say this: If you can’t handle the nose tackle in the running game, you can’t run the ball at any level [whether it’s] college, high school, little league. In the NFL, you’ve got to be able to handle the nose tackle, and that’s not always the center [doing that]. That could be the guard, also.” Greg Olsen has been criticized about a perceived unwillingness to block. What’s been your experience with Olsen in blocking? “I just was talking to [tight ends coach] Mike Debord a minute ago. We’re gonna do some drills with the tackles and tight ends on Tuesday, get together, and clean a few things up. We were just talking about Greg and how he’s approached the offseason, how he’s really trying to improve his footwork, improve his base, improve his balance. So he has been willing. We’re very pleased with where Greg is right now. He’s a pro and we’re very pleased that he’s accepted the fact that he needs to block better. He’s gone after it.” Michael C. Wright covers the Bears for ESPNChicago.com.

I personally think we could use him on both sides during a game depending on the situation. Teams are going to game plan around him no doubt. But if we flip him might cause some headaches and confusion during the game with some line twists or blitz packages. Let alone line him across the weaker of the two OL tackles. If he's onboard with that go with it.

When I first heard about it I thought about Chilebear ! Does anybody have his E-mail or on his facebook page ? This shit is tough not knowing !

Hell, I played alot of COD MW 2 after the 1st half of many games this past season and it helped alleviate the pain. I do agree it would be nice to get some guys/ladies to participate. I like to play with people who want to have a good time ( laugh, tell stories, joke around ), be competitive but not anal retentive competitive. Winning is nice but having fun is better ! If anyone is interested send a message: please tell me if your from talkbears. thanks ! Xbox: El Masta Chef

First, I would like to say happy holidays to everybody and hope all is going well ! It's been a pretty disappointing season and our football future seems to be up for grabs right now unfortunately. Many have been screaming for heads but few will fall. I believe Angelo and above are safe for a long time. Lovie will probably be safe for another year maybe two. He is a Mc Caskey favorite, and keeps everything under wraps and doesn't make waves . More then likely he will get a new O staff. But who in there right mind will take this O.C. job ? Answer: unemployed friends , some college OC , how about someone on their own staff already ? Sounds wonderful and cheap. All I ask if this happens, is to change some philosophy on drafting and FA signings. This teams has gone the way of jack of trades and master of none. Example #1: if drafting a free safety, draft a pure free safety not a strong safety convert we have a shit load of those and Example #2: if drafting a Wr, draft a WR who has played there, was a success ( minimum 3 years ), 6'1" minimum height and willing to block without hesitation. Example #3: if you want a O Guard get an O Guard not a tackle. The examples can go on and on, we need draft picks who played well at their positions in college to only to be assigned to those in the pros. No more converts ! This will help in the long run when we do get a proven new HC that has the smarts to surround himself with a coaching that is also knows how to develop talent. God bless happy new year !

It was a very bad day and nothing went right. We need to get up, jump back on and realize that some changes have to be made. It won't be coaching but some personnel changes and schemes for now. We have 10 games left and to think that it's over so early is quite saddening. If Lovie doesn't think changes have to be made and stays course with the same results. Then addios, thanks for the SB year!

I won't argue about bootlegs and how effective they can be not only in passing plays but they can be very effective in running. A perfect example was Atlanta used it quite often against us Sunday. This helps preventing the end from crashing in from the outside. If I'm right I believe Atl last TD was a run play but Ogun bit on the bootleg thus giving Michael Turner a big hole between the guard and tackle. Another example was Farve when with green bay they killed us on bootlegs. Hell, Green bay still uses it against us effectively. And I can't argue about not using personnel to there strongest suits either. But if an offensive line can't get an enough push from the 1 yard line to get a TD that's just sickening Example: http://www.nfl.com/videos/chicago-bears/09...Benson-vs-Forte How about 3rd and short here is an excerpt from the Suntimes : http://www.suntimes.com/sports/hayes/18442...-neil25.article "The Bears are passing more in short-yardage situations for obvious reasons. Letting Cutler throw is often the surest bet when the defense is amped up to stop the run. When needing one or two yards on third or fourth down, the Bears have gone 8-for-9 through the air with two touchdowns. They have been less effective on the ground, going only 5-for-9 with two fumbles. Those ground numbers would be even worse if Cutler hadn't twice picked up first downs on sneaks." What is needed here is a foot in the rump Ditka style. These guys have to be called out by Lovie and just maybe we can be at least be in the middle of the pack instead of 27th in the league.

I want to start out that I'm not a big fan of Turner and Heinstand. Actually after the season ended last year I wanted their heads. My biggest reason was developing talent. Nada, ZIP, zero since they've been here. What I thought was some good FA signings this year and of course the best trade I've seen as a Bear Fan ( Cutler ) would help out our dynamic dual. Nope ! But I'm still holding out for some hope. I'll give them some time but not much. Many of you have been tossing this subject of why our offense is underachieving around this week it occurred to me it sounded like the argument of what came first the egg or chicken. I do admit both sides have good cases. I took time and checked out Replay Nfl and watched the game again and again. What I saw was bad ,bad, execution by the Oline that reminded me of the prePayton days. Frank was downright awful the other four were almost as bad. Our Oline has played terrible and it makes any OC look bad no matter what play is called at any given time.