bradjock

Yep. I'm just sick of the "Discount Double Check" commercials. I was glad the Packers lost because we won't see even more of that, along with Hanz and Franz.

With them pushing to get rid of Marshall, I get the sense that they may know something we don't. Do you sense that? Why would they declare they don't think he's coming back? I just feel like there's more to the story. As for Jeffery not getting pass interference, isn't that the coaches job? I'm with you and that I hope Marshall's back. But if Fox and company decides he needs to go, I'm all for that also.

Bell is a good run blocking OT. Just not much for pass protection. Our offense might be best with long at LT and Bushrod at RT. I don't know if we'd make that jump immediately, but all things are on the table. Slauson's a pretty damn good guard when health. Garza's ok at center. It's not that hard to find a starting RG and we could switch Mills to that position. I only mention this because our offensive line is still pretty good. We have Matt Forte, two really good WR's, the Black Unicorn, and we could do a lot worse than Jay Cutler. We still have the offensive players that we thought could lead us to glory when last season started.

If I'm John Fox, the first thing I do is ask myself, "Are we better or worse with Brandon Marshall? A good BM yes. Bad BM no." Then I talk to BM: "Here's exactly what we expect from you--no more Showtime, no more green cleats. No more of the "me, me, me." Can you do that? Because if you're not, your ass is gone." I know it's a possibility he's gone, but why wouldn't a new regime take the approach that it's a brand new day and we are starting from scratch? It's not what he's done previously, it's what he can do moving ahead. If he'd murdered someone or somehow embarrassed the franchise, it would be different. So far all he's done is have a bad season and yell at the kicker.

Maybe. But relating this game to Bear complainers is not a fair comparison. If we win the NFC North, make it to the NFC championship game game, we are playing in Seattle to the Super Bowl Champions . . . not to mention, if the dude on the Packers catches the on-side kick, the game is over. Packers are in the Super Bowl. That was a BAD loss for the Packers in a game they should have won. But when you win as consistently as they do, they'll get the benefit of the doubt. The Bears would be the same.

My initial response was, "Didn't he coach the Cleveland Cavaliers? Why is he our new player director???" Nope. That was John Lucas. Other than never having heard of this guy, I hope he's good. After signing Fox, I'm happy to give our new GM the benefit of the doubt. On a side note, did anyone hear the press conference from the new 49er's coach Jim Tomsula? I only know of it from the Boers and Bernstein show. He sounds like my drunk uncle I don't want to talk to at family parties. He might be a great coach, and if he is, I'd take him. But he sounds like my drunk uncle and neither one has been a head coach before. All things being equal, it's real nice to have people running our team who can speak effectively to the media.

Ok

We might have a complete overall and we could switch to a 3-4. However, with the DE's, I'd be shocked if LaMarr Houston, Jared Allen, and Willie Young aren't all back. Willie and LaMar will either be back or close to returning on opening day. That's a lot of money invested in the position. That means you're looking a a cheap veteran or late draft pick to complement them. Maybe McClellan could be a special teams star . . . Cutler, while not very good, is statistically the best quarterback in Bears history. He's a good quarterback in the right system. We owe him one helluva a lot of money and we could do a lot worse.

I'd love to sign Brandon Marshall. Although damn that would be confusing with the two of them. As for Byron Bell, I'll be shocked if the first thing our new offensive staff does is move Kyle Long to RT. With Geno Hayes, do you think we'll move to a 3-4? I'll bet we know Tuesday who our new DC is. I'm good with a trade back. We need depth and talent. I can't see us taking a QB in round #2. Either we will keep Jay Cutler and he will continue to be the man . . . until he's not. Or we draft one at #7 who will be the man with competition from a random veteran. Where do we pick up a speed #3 WR? After BM and AJ we have nothing.

Yep. One big thing that came out this week is how we misused Jared Allen. Instead of utilizing him as an up the field, get the quarterback DE, we often used him to contain and absurd the OT. I'd be good with a brute force back, but we tried that previously with Chester Taylor, Michael Bush, and the guy from Dallas who refused to run out of bounds in the Denver/Tim Teboe game (I can remember that but I can't think of his name.) What I love about Fox, is that he seems interested in utilizing the talent he has. How good can Carey be? He looked pretty good by the end of the season.

I'd include Doug Marone on that list. Before Fox was hired, there was speculation that it would be Shanahan as the OC and Dennis Allen as the DC. Shanahan declined to interview with San Fran which led me to believe it was pretty much a done deal. I wouldn't be surprised if Shanny has agreed but we just haven't announced it. I REALLY don't get the infatuation with Gase or want him here as OC. With Peyton Manning, I could have been successful as Denver's OC, and I promise, you wouldn't want me leading the Bear's offense.

We have 27+ million available in cap space. Why can't we draft well, sign good young players, AND win now? Don't forget the purge began with George McCasey announcing "Mama's pissed and wants to win another championship." While she's not involved in decision making, she is the owner, the matriarch, and the ultimate boss. We pry ate 10 million in coaching salaries and then signed the highest profile coach available Everything indicates we'll continue to spend on coordinators. Everything indicates we fully intend to win now. In terms of the turds and slackers, I don't think we can base much of anything on what happened last season. For example, by all accounts, Lance Briggs was a turd and a slacker this past season. That's the complete opposite of what we've come to expect from Lance Briggs. The coaching staff allowed and enabled him to be a turd and a slacker. Briggs definitely doesn't act that way if Lovie's the coach and I doubt that would have happened if Fox was in charge. Moving ahead, I'm good with showing them the door regardless of cost, but because the ignorant coaches allowed it, you can't hold last year against them.

We actually are in a position to get into a bidding war for high priced free agents. I assumed we were screwed in terms of the cap because of all our bad free agent signings. But as per the bleacher report, we have 27 million available which is 10th most in the NFL. I'd LOVE to take the Packers approach and keep our own younger guys as opposed to being players in the free agent market every yet. But right now, the only young guy we are worried about keeping is Stephen Paea. He's comparable to Henry Melton in terms of the success he's had with the Bears. If we want to franchise him for one year, I'd be good with that and we'd still have plenty of space available. If we sign guys to fill vacancies this year and draft well, we'll be in great shape in 2015. In 2016, we'll have decisions to make about Alshon Jefferey and Matt Forte.

Are the Bears definitely getting rid of Brandon Marshall? I know various media guys believe he's definitely gone because he was mediocre on the field and a bit of an ass-clown off the field. It would be a 6 million $$$ cap hit if we cut him. But with the hiring of Fox, I get the impression that we are taking the position that we are in "win-now" mode. As a new coach, don't you hope BM will be a new man? In terms of the roster, we are actually in decent shape as far as starters are concerned. I'm operating under the assumption that everybody on the team under-performed because of the idiotic coaching staff so players are not nearly as bad as they appeared. In terms of business we MUST take care of, we need a starting FS to replace Chris Conte, a LB to replace Briggs, a nickel CB, and a #3 WR (Marques Wilson showed next to nothing last year). Paea may leave, but we hopefully Ferguson and Sutton can effectively replace him. Don't get me wrong, we need depth EVERYWHERE and I sure as hell wouldn't complain if we upgraded at any position. But in terms of starters, we are in pretty good shape.

Is he officially not with SF? For example, I believe Mel Tucker is still currently with the Bears. It's a forgone conclusion he'll be gone, but he hasn't been fired and we haven't hired his replacement. It's just a formality teams go through.

Don't forget Jim Swartz name has been mentioned as DC. He's a terrible head coach and a bit of a jackass, but in one season, Buffalo had the #2 defense under him.

At least 1/3 of the teams in the league have a starting QB worse than Jay Cutler. Probably closer to half. Jay's been a dissappointment yet he's still the best QB in franchise history. And we owe him a lot of money. It always comes down to, "Who is going to replace him?" The free agents suck and the rookies are unimpressive.

If he's available in the 5th round, do you take him? I'd be good with that. He's likely to make $300,000+ a year for the next few years. He'd be drafted with the notion that he'd sit and learn until he's ready. Maybe in the 4th round even. Round 4 becomes such a crap-shoot. Although we wouldn't be able to use that pick on another bad safety . . .

That just means we'd have a zone-blocking run first scheme, more QB roll-outs and less emphasis on the significance of the quarterback. Isn't that a good thing?

Marone has proven he's a competent head coach. That's something the Bears have missed. I hope we get Fox. If not, I don't want another rookie head coach. After Fox, the group of experienced guys we might be interested in are pretty much Marone and Mike Shannahan. Break the bank for Fox.

Do you actually think we'd announce it tomorrow? I have a feeling that one way or another, we're going to be waiting.

I felt the same way about Lovie. We were ALWAYS competitive with him. Granted he had trouble getting over the hump, but damn we were right there. My only concern when we fired him was that we would become a perennial loser. The funny part is, after Trestman's first year, optimism was very high that we'd made the right move. John Fox is a competent head coach. That is a HUGE upgrade over Trestman.

Dan Berstein also Tweeted he would be surprised if Fox pushed for Kyle Shanahan as his offensive coordinator. I have no complaints with that. We have a good quarterback who cannot win games by himself. Push the run game the way the Cowboys did this year.

Adam Schefter or someone also tweeted that Fox turned down an offer to interview with the Jets. So far as we know, he's not turned down an opportunity to interview with the Bears.

I was wondering the exact same thing. Who's better? We have an aging offense that should be ready to win now. I sure as hell don't want another inexperienced coach attempting to deal with their disfunction. Any coach with experience has been fired previously. I'd be thrilled with the Fox hire.