lemonej

I'm sure you meant Adams and Harrison because Scott was not on the team last season. I'm not as optimistic about Harris as you are since IMO he is entering Mike Brown territory as far as injuries are concerned. I can't tie his poor play to Dusty because Dusty was gone early and Harris had some weird behavior going on to the point that the team suspended him for a game. His head was not 100% on the field last season and he had some off the field issues that contributed to that.

I would even generalize the cover 2 a little more by saying that the Bears play a 4-3 one gap defense which wasn't much different from what Wannnstedt was trying to install here because his philosophy was for his D-line to get penetration also he just didn't have guys like Russell Maryland and Leon Lett here to execute his scheme perfectly. We had a guy like Jim Flanigan who was undersized excell at DT under Wannie but his success was based on his quickness off the ball which was one of the same things that was said about William Perry who played the same position at over 300 pounds.The last 4 coaching staffs have played a version of the 4-3 here with mixed results with 2 of the staffs preferring big D-lines and the other 2 preferring smaller quicker D-linemen. The only difference has been the coverage. Lovie's version of this defense has played more zone than the other three staffs. Ryan liked to gamble and play mostly man as did Tobin who liked a zone blitzing scheme we all remember those Vestee Jackson blitzes off the corner. Wannie liked man coverage as did Blache and Jauron. The other difference was how the DT's lined up. Whether they were over the center or between the guard and tackle. The original version of this Cover 2 defense was played with both the tackles angled toward the center a signature of Bud Carson who used the alignment again with the New York Jets with Gastineu and Klecko on his line. All these different versions have evolved from the original form that was developed by Tom Landry when he was the DC for the New York Giants back before he became the Cowboys coach. This basically was a mano y mano formation with a big nasty MLB in the middle. Carson and the Steelers tweeked more by utilizing smaller quick LBs that were just as tough. With all this being said I will always be a 4-3 guy because no matter how teams align themselves there are usually atleast 4 guys coming on mostly every down.

If the details that are starting to come are true with him dating the deceased young lady while married with 4 sons, then he put himself in harms way.

Must have been up against a deadline and had to write something. I figure that as a slow news article.

Bowman actaually showed in the only game he played last year that he could make a play and the fact that Corey Graham was moved to another position opened up an opportunity for him. He still has leap frogged McBride and Hamilton.

AZ54 great post! All of us long time Bear fans have grown increasingly tired of this organization putting just a temporary bandage on things.This was the first bold move JA has made since trading for Ogunleye and giving up Marty Booker. Count me as one of the fans that felt that it was time for Mike Brown to go. In fact I thought he should have been gone sooner because of his injuries. This team and sometimes us fans hold on to players past glory a little too long. Mike Brown was one of the most exciting play makers at the position in Bears' history so he can take his place along side the likes of Whitsell, Pettibone,Plank, Fencik and Todd Bell in our minds as hard hitting turnover creating safeties. Big Daddy you never waste an opportunity to promote your dump Lovie dialogue which is entertaining on slow news days but realistically thinking that the Bears would go after Shanahan and outbid the Cowboys who are rumored to be a player for his services if Wade Phillips fails. The Redskins,Chargers and Jaguars may all be on a short list to need a new coach if their seasons are not up to par. In this economy do you think this family owned team would get into a bidding war for a coach? Shanahan and Bill Cowher will be the top two candidates teams will seek with Holmgren following closely. Since Papa Bear retired as coach, this organization has never brought in a former NFL head coach to run the team and have predominately pick defensive assistants to run the team with the only two exceptions being Abe Gibron and Mike Ditka. Jim Dooley,Jack Pardee, Neil Armstrong, Wannie, Jauron and now Lovie all defensive assistants and all the candidates on their first head coaching jobs. The top candidates would probably want final say over personnel which would be JA's job and that wouldn't fly unless he is gone also. The type of candidates we would be picking from would be headed up by guys like Les Frazier, Ron Rivera and Russ Grimm. If the family had any influence in the process Jim Harbaugh would be a surprise candidate. Do you really want to go through another botched interview process? I can remember vividly the Dave McGinnis fiasco netting us Jauron and Nick Saban turning us down netting us Lovie. I'm sorry but I don't want to see nothing but success for this group because I dont want to chance another rebuilding process.

NFO you and I both are not sure we would add him to the team. Where we don't agree is about transgressions. Marshall is a habitual domestic abuse offender we agree about him. Buress has a gun charge against him that carries a mandatory minimum 3year sentence but he seems to be trying to plea that out and TO has never committed a crime and he is being grouped with these two because of how he is perceived in the lockerroom? TO is guilty of craving attention like a lot of WRs do. Have you been paying attention to Chad Johnson(I refues to call him the other name) latelry trying to let everyone who will listen know that he is working hard this offseason? I believe that he is in the same category as TO in terms of lockerroom termoil. You are in Texas and I am in Illinois and there is a slight difference in gun laws here that have been in place for quite some time so of course you may think that what he did is not a bad thing in your neck of the woods but Tank Johnson can attest to what goes on here in Illinois. So if Plaxico came here to the Bears he would have to live by the gun laws here in Illinois and would be hard pressed to be a legal gun owner here given the fact that he will have a gun conviction on his record. With all this being said none of these WRs should be desirable candidates to be acquired by the Bears.

DFG I'm basing my point on the fact that Ryan is shooting his mouth off similar to his dad during press conferences. And since we are talking about what they have on defense lets talk about there offense. Kellen Clemons or Mark Sanchez at QB 2 disgruntled RBs and who at WR. Unless that D is going to lead the league in defensive scoring they may have some problems.

I'm not sure I can agree with that since the starters were decided in TC and there was very low exoectations coming out of camp. The playoff spot developed during the season but Turner's penchant for not putting young WRs on the field recently has been a regular occurence.

CD you say Hester is a stupid FATHERLESS CHILD but you want to sign a guy who shot himself in the leg with his own gun. How does that sound to you?

First and foremost Buress wants to avoid jail time. Raheem Morris didn't dismiss the teams interest but what he said was basically company line and he quickly shifted the subject to something else. Mike Vick wants to play in the NFL again but that may not happen either. This is all the crap that we have to read and listen to until TC starts and we can focus on the team we follow and not who we can add.

Pix I'm right there with you and lets address that maturity issue after he gives answers to questions like he has the last couple of days. He personally said he was going to get Bennett up to speed and it seems so far that he has followed that up. When you speak about someone being a leader this is what you envision. BTW Oklahoma WRs are starting to resemble Texas WRs in the NFL and are not measuring up to their hype.

Nfo that whole situation is sketchy for me especially when it comes to Rivera. I believe the fact that he did his volunteer coaching(unpaid) here made him a favorite of the family and we know in most cases the ownership can have some influence on some hirings. This might be what the issue is between Lovie and Rivera. I think I remember that Rivera was hired as an assistant by Angelo and then he got the DC job by default. Either way my comparison with him and Lovie versus Ditka/Ryan ended with me saying he hasn't had the same success since he left here and Lovie hasn't had the same success since he left the Bears. So saying there is a perception is like saying there is a rumor. The fact is that team was 8-8 and under acheived. So maybe it was Cottrells defense but Rivera was on the SD staff for 2 years and he should have been able to know how to better utilize the personnel. I believe that Rivera who has been given HC interviews may be starting to cool off in the eyes of the rest of the league. If that wasn't the case why would all these young guys be getting opportunities to be head coaches before him when he was a Super Bowl DC? This debate about how good coaches are based on players they coached on another team is getting old and watching Rex Ryan shoot his mouth off when he is not going to have Ray Lewis to translate what he is scheming to the players is going to be a big difference. I just look at guys likie Marvin Lewis and Romeo Crennell who made their reputations in this manner as good examples as to why its hard to project how well someone can do until they get the ideal personnel for their particular scheme. What is Rivera's philosphy? He played in the 46 and a 4-3 under Ditka/Ryan and a zone blitzing scheme under Tobin. He coached in a exotic 4-3 blitzing scheme under Jimmy Johnson in Philadelphia and here coached in the Tampa 2 4-3 scheme. Now at SD that is a 3-4 scheme which he never played in and now he is coaching. What is something you can connect Chico with in terms of scheme? I think Les Frasier is a better DC than Rivera right now but I never here anyone mentioning him and I wanted Lovie to hire him.

I look at this whole Lovie/Rivera debate as similar to Ryan and Ditka. In each case neither has achieved the same success that they enjoyed when they were together. Since Rivera has been gone how successful has he been as San Diego's DC? They have a lot of talent on that defense but seem to come up short of being dominating. I remember Lovie chose Rivera himself and then realized they had philosophical differences. Lovie got a late start at assembling a staff as is the case whenever the Bears hire a new coach they rarely get their first choice and tend to drag their feet in the process. Lovie originally wanted Marinelli to run his defense but Tampa wouldn't let him go out of his contract. So he had an OC that didn't get off the bus running and a DC who came from a totally different scheme calling defensive signals. It seems he is content with Turner and now that Marinelli is here he should have what he thinks he needs to be succesful.

Lets compare how Mike Tomlin handled himself when he got to Pittsburgh following a legendary coach versus Mc Danials. Tomlin a Tony Dungy disciple ran a 4-3 scheme with a variation of the Cover 2. So he arrives in Steelers camp and sticks with their current 3-4 format that fits most of his personnel that happens to include a couple of pro bowlers and what do you know he has a Super Bowl win a couple of years later. McDanials OTOH seems to think he was responsible for the development of Tom Brady and Matt Cassell. Isn't there a coach in South Bend Indiana that was credited with Brady's development too? All Denver needed was a running back. They signed 2 guys and drafted Moreno. Add that 2 that WR corp of Marshall, Royal and TE Schefler and you got the makings of a potent offense. I'm not sure why you would mess with that with a castoff QB and a guy who may not have much upside. Orton may be what he is going to be now and nothing more. Sims has never lived up to the hype of his last name. I believe McDanials will follow Crennel, Mangini and Weis as having no success after leaving the real reason New Englands franchise and thats Bill Belechick.

Mad L I'm with you on Matt Jones and it will cost you nothing in return. The one thing Nfo left out about Burress is that he doesn't do much practicing and that has been a issue with him throughout his career. There are too many guys on the Bears current roster now who habitually do not practice and I believe we don't need that when trying to create chemistry with a new QB and receiving corp.BTW the courts just refused to overturn Chicago's hand gun ban so that would basically make it difficult for Plaxico to enjoy any night life in the Chi since he thinks he needs a gun with him to enjoy himself. As for Marshall history tells me that the McCaskeys would veto a domestic abuse offender with Paul Grasmanis being the one publicized case from Bears history being shown the door after he hit his girlfriend in a domestic dispute. I could put up with publicity hungry media darlings but a woman beater is just as bad as a dog fighter IMO.

The starting QB on our SB winner mooned a helicopter after being in the league for 3 years and he was called a character. All I can say is that the 2 QBs taken before him in the draft have much more questionable maturity than he does. Hows Vince Young and Matt Leinart doing?

All I have to say on this subject is the two previous coaching staffs made a total off 2 playoff appearances period and some fans are not happy with a guy who has made two in 5 years. This is not to say that he shouldn't improve on some of his decision making especially when it comes to staff.He turns over defensive staff almost every other year which has to hurt some of the continuity and chemistry in subtle ways. In that regard he is similar to Cowher who didn't win the SB until he kept the same offensive and defensive coordinators for a couple of years. This is Lovie's year to put up or shut up. With some of the pick ups on offense I think Turner should on notice also.

I can remember a at least 2 teams in Chicago The Fire coached by Jim Spavital and the Chicago Winds coached by Abe Gibron. The Winds sucked and maybe lasted one year but the Fire had former Bear and Cincinatti Bengal QB Virg ( Chicken Bleep)Carter as their QB and at WR former NFLers James Scott, Jack Dolbin and Trumaine Hawkins. At RB they had Cyril Pinder and Tim Spencer(Bears RB Coach). This league was in the 70's and netted the Bears coach Jack Pardee and quite a few players like James Scott, Greg Latta, Dan Peiffer, Jeff Sevy and Fast Eddie Sheats. This was so long ago that my memory sometimes confuses this league with the USFL that was in the mid 80's if yo got some World Football league memories please share them with us.

Pix I like your thinking and believe that if he could get back to the form he had on returns in the Super Bowl season he will get his condifdence back up and become ven more deadly on offense.

Hey Chile reread my post where I took Johnny Morris out of the equation. I hope you have noticed there are a lot of guys being mentioned are from the 90's and you and I are talking about a Flanker Back. I made no mention of Bo Rather, Ricky Watts, Marcus Anderson, Charlie Wade, George Farmer and James Scott.

NFO thats my point exactly why was he raw? He did not get a look until a new coaching staff came in. At that time our most reliable receiver was Engram because Conway was not a polished receiver either.. Who was the TEs, I remember Keith Jennings and Chris Gedney and a guy who wore number 86 who's name I can't place that was split out wide most of the time.(Help me out on the name he came from Stanford I believe) Robinson was drafted in 97 in the 4th round out of South Carolina State. He was basically a track man playing football there. So most of his early time under John Shoop he did nothing and then under Crowton he Booker and Conway all did pretty well stats wise.

I like Wendell but he along with Brad Muster are pushing Grossman and Haynes as the worst two first round picks in Bears history when the team had two first rounders. Of course the best is Butkus and Sayers. The debate for second best is in 79 Hampton and Al Harris and in 83 Covert and Gault. The 3/4th best would be Trace Armstrong and Donnell Woolford.

Your last statement is what he is very underrated at doing blocking kicks. If he can get 2 or 3 a year thats a good stat for a special teammer. I think the Bears are waiting for Anderson or Ogunleye to have a banner year with the other one being shown the door.

I agree but hope that the media backlash that will come as a result of this will have a negative affect on that lockerrom.Interviews with teammates about the situation should be similar to when Tank was going through his legal troubles here. Since we have a couple of people who like to make predictions on this board, I'm going to predict that Jared Allen is going to be suspended for a hit on a QB below the knees that gets a lot of media attention.Tha would be just as good as the Williamses going down.