Lucky Luciano

emery: to me... it's WHO he hired. even with the trestman gamble, there is absolutely NO way he can justify tucker. as it turns out that's TWO franchise changing hires that went south and one that couldn't have been a surprise at all. if he stays what credibility does he have hiring the next ones? as far as phillips? he is 0 for 2 in hiring a GM to make those decisions on who to hire, extend and who to draft. once through a freakin firm who took 2 months to figure out hiring angelo in which time all the viable candidates were LONG gone. the 2nd was entirely his choice in emery. CHOP HIM!!

UNLESS... it is a move for garza to retire a bear this offseason. if NOT... it's just the same old stupidity for another decade. if emery is coming back it adds to the list of just WHY he should have been fired in the first place and why this organization is geared to fail. why in the HELL would you make personnel moves BEFORE you hire a new coach??? it certainly isn't like 31 other teams are going to knock down garza's door to sign him in the day after our last game. welcome to the mccaskey merry-go-round of a poorly run franchise. disgusting!!

the rest i can give a maybe or probably but this? to me it's exactly the opposite. he has poor instincts and is a crazy hitter. this guy has the injuries to prove it.

all at a time that we need high draft picks in the worst way. LOL!! if they do that they are beyond stupid. mikey needs to write another book... HOW TO FAIL AND STILL MAKE MILLIONS

the guy that knows the least about football is involved with the bears future after catastrophic failure. hmmmm, that sounds about right. does that mean we hire ANOTHER consulting firm to look for a GM or head coach or do we keep the SAME consulting firm that found us the last ones seeing how they did such a good job the last time or two? does this mean if we are looking for a GM the "consultants" should have us a list of candidates by next june? no wonder this franchise is the laughing stock of the NFL.

rashan salam?

i don't believe that they had cutler in mind as a bridge. he showed progress last season that led them to believe he could progress this season and maybe not be a manning or brady but he could still function as a top 10 QB to get them to a super bowl. it certainly is no surprise, if that was the case, that they structured his contract like it is. this has been how this franchise has done business for the last 10+ years. they front load everything to take the biggest cap hits in the first 1-2 years of nearly all their big contract players. it then averages out with the lower cap hit over time and the bargain in the future as the player costs/salaries around the league go up supposedly keeps our salary cap friendly for key players. once past that intitial crunch we were set with a high impact player we had at a low league cost or if injured we would not be in salary cap hell. it's a CATCH 22 (where is yosarian when you really need him)... we were/are in serious trouble because we could not balance our offense with a pass/run game plan and it appears very few people understand the nuts and bolts of why (at least from what you hear in the media firestorm). it's really quite simple, basic football. if you are one dimensional in your attack without the ability to change or variate, within a very short time your foe (if he is worth a damn) will take that uno dimension away from you and you will lose... period. whether you implement a one dimensional running attack or passing the results will be the same. one important reason? we have a catastrophically poor defense that has set nearly every record for bad in chicago since the start of professional football. in basic terms, other teams can score at will. that leaves us with a one dimensional attack to compensate for this. we do NOT have the time or luxury in a game to establish a genuine running attack. the game clock would run out and we would still be behind by a LOT of points. it is perfectly clear when we play any team with a top tier QB. they eat up the clock and usually score TD's. whether through huge chunks of yardage for quick scores or through 80+ yard drives, the rusult is the same. so always playing from behind or the real potential to be playing from behind has negated the time it will take to mix that running game up into the game plan. simply... we have to pass more to keep us in the game because we have nearly no choice. one MAJOR fault of this scenario is emmery, phillips and george mccaskey. these people are the ones who found, approved and hired who at the time was one of if not THE worst defensive coordinator in the NFL. what could they possibly have been thinking??? they wanted THIS guy to come in and teach a flurry of young players/draftee's we would be forced to acquire and play over the next 2-3 years how to succeed in the NFL? to top it off, they KEEP this guy on after the season he showed last year??? in reality it was one of the worst defenses in the entire histor of the NFL!!!! that is just plain criminal intent. it sends a message to our players and the rest of the league that no matter HOW bad you are your job is never in jeopardy in chicago. it's flat out stupidity. in my opinion there is no plan with the imbeciles running management in this franchise. at this time they are in the rope-a-dope mode. they are up against the ropes taking body blows until their opponent (the media) wears himself out. then it's bad business as usual. what i would do (i know it's repetitive)... hire a president of football operations who really understands management of football operations to replace phillips. this franchise NEEDS two people running this side of the franchise because the owners are too stupid to do it themselves. let him hire a GM or keep the one they have it's up to him completely. but it needs to be done NOW before any candidates are gone when the season ends and that includes president, GM and especially good head coaches. if it goes wrong you have ONE person to blame and that is the president. simple structure for simpletons. keep culter or trade him it matters not. ask the guy you want to replace trestman what he wants to do. he can start cutler, he can keep cutler on the bench as a backup until you find that franchise qb or you can flat out cut or trade him. let a GOOD coach make that determination in conjunction with the GM and president without cutlers money being factored into the decision.

i chose other... i would fire ted phillips first and foremost. hire someone who is sharp in NFL management, polian or holmgren (i don't have a clue) or whoever is the freaking best football minded man out there to make the decisions, WITHOUT mccaskey stipulations, on whether to hire or fire anyone else in this franchise. if you don't do this then what the hell is the point of any of it?

in my opinion he was a terrible head coach and i would not want him as a DC either. his system was compromised since the late 90's to early 2000's and he was unable or unwilling to adjust his schemes or his total outlook on defense. the lovie 2 or tampa 2 was not a good enough system without major adjustments to beat high octane offenses and win superbowls without a high octane offense of his own and with as much money and draft picks they used on defense this was not possible. there were and are just too many holes in the zones and any qb, even bad ones, ripped us apart for those 8-10 yard passes that ate up 1st downs and yardage. we made garbage qb's look like HOF players for a game. you needed man coverages to mix up the look and quite frankly he never saw it as a solution. it also needs very high quality players to run it and he lucked out having them for a time in chicago. a very good DT in tommy harris, a very good safety in mike brown, a very good #2 CB in peanut and 2 possible HOF linebackers in url and briggs. when these components broke down due to injury or age the system flat out did not work yet he was unable to either work with angelo to draft competent replacements ( a zillion defensive picks over the 10 year period) or coach up new players to take their place or adjust the scheme to fit the players he was forced to play. it was the same ole, same ole expecting different results each week. his coaching staff was nearly a joke with the exception of our special teams coach. he fired a good DC and promoted a cronie in babich as DC. the results were a complete disaster that nearly got him fired yet he stuck by these failures come hell or high water. when the world called for babich's head he demoted him and took the reins himself as HC/DC. this truly showed how the system he ran was flawed. as far as the offensive side of the ball? he did not have a clue what to do with the bad OC's he had to make any better and again relied on cronies he worked with before, martz. to watch what martz was trying to accomplish with cutler and the offensive line he was behind was plain criminal. same goes for tice. to have stuck that long with grossman was plain... gross. i also have to bring up the benson situation. this guy had some problems without doubt but lovie certainly did NOT help the situation by allowing the defensive players to verbally and physically beat down a 1st round draft pick because they liked the previous RB better. it was stupid and it was dividing the team. unless lovie has changed since going to tampa i still do not believe he is a good coach other than a position coach which is possible. he is a very nice person maybe but that is where i draw the line.

AGREED!!! this would be a crucial time to fill this position as you stated. the only conceivable alternative is someone else on their radar that could be had once the season was over. the only problem with with that is their radar seems to consist of rubber bands and tinfoil rotated by donkey's tied to a horse mill.

how the mccaskey family has failed to learn ANYTHING in regards to running an NFL franchise after 35 years, since mugs halas died in 1979, is truly unbelievable. they put the boy genius mikey in charge and he personally drove this franchise into the ground for over 30 years with bad decisions. after 20 years it became so bad and he was taking so much heat from fans and the media that they moved their financier and vice president ted phillips (supposedly) into mikey's spot as president and GM to take the spotlight off their golden boy genius son and demoted him to gardener. off to mowing the grass at halas hall huh mikey? right! meanwhile the 'family' gave us the song and dance routine that the family financier money man was somehow smart enough and experienced enough to run an NFL franchise as the president and CEO and he was calling the shots. total BS. in reality phillips was mikey's lap dog, puppet, media punching bag and couldn't even tie his own shoes without mike mccaskey's permission. the boy genius was pulling all the strings and still running the franchise for the next 10 years behind the scenes until 2011 when he decided to retire from the job he had done so well for 3 decades. at that time the 'family' decided to make george, a guy who was the senior director of ticket operations, as the new chairman of the chicago bears franchise. he immediately stepped in to continue the idiocy that bear management had fine tuned for the last 30 years. he and president phillips fire a completely inept GM but ties the man who replaced him's hands behind his back before the man even set foot in his office at halas hall by insisting that the former inept coach be kept for one more season. a freaking lame duck coach in which there was no possibility of finding or replacing any assistants to work with him and wasting an entire draft and season to conform to a coach that would be fired in one more year. brilliant!! ted/george then decide, the next season after firing lovie, that it worked so well putting restrictions on their gm that they conspire with the NEW GM to force whatever new coach they hire to tie HIS hands behind his back before he even signs on the dotted line with the stipulation that they keep rod marinelli as DC. genius move!! where do these people come up with this crap? it not only doesn't work it's been proven 2-3 times or more by OUR franchise to NOT work. yet none of the owners can ever seem to figure out what 80-90% of the fans could tell you in a new york minute the problem was. so... ole 'rod' decides he has had enough here and leaves. our GM then hires a proven failure to replace him, with the family and phillips approval, to compliment an untested head coach who needed to rely on someone good on that side of the ball to smooth over his transition into the NFL as a HC. the solution?? it's not hiring a new head coach at this point. it's not hiring a new GM this season without the real changes made below. we are stuck with the owners we have so that doesn't appear to be an option at this time unfortunately. that leaves us to HOPE that george or one of his siblings has enough sense to see the problem and hires a FOOTBALL man to replace sweaty teddy with someone who hopefully knows what he is doing. cause lady's and gentlemen, that is where the problem lies. we need first and foremost a president of this franchise who knows football and can make good decisions on how to run this team. let him with NO restrictions hire and fire a GM, scouts, head coach and assistants. in other words all football operations. this is the only way, other than through blind dumb luck, this franchise comes out of it's tailspin into the ground at super sonic speed and becomes something other than a laughing stock of the NFL and a cash cow for the mccaskey family.

i really have to say no. he has that bad combination of arrogant, stubborn and stupid we have dealt with here in the past. plus... do we really want a cheater? this goes with stupid. he got busted for the same exact thing that bilichek got busted for who should have had his superbowl win taken away from him. that is incredibly stupid.

very interesting post. i don't believe i have ever looked at it in that way before. good job. i agree on the short term for a firebrand type of coach. ditka got away with it early as he had some truly strong willed players on the offensive side of the ball already in place (mcmahon, payton and some others) and had ryan on the defensive side, another firebrand type of coach, who offset it and basically divided the team in two parts. once ryan was gone (and mcmahon was constantly injured and payton retired) the tactic stopped working as ditka didn't have the offensive chops he believed he had and became a serious detriment to the team as a whole on both sides of the ball. to me another example could be used in coughlin. he was a nutbag psycho at jacksonville where it worked for a time but he could not sustain it and lost the team. after he went to the giants he brought that with him but after a season or two in NY he mellowed out his act and had more success.

hahahahaha thanks for reaffirming my previous post to you.

he failed miserably in denver as HC. he went to buffalo and lasted only 2 seasons. was interim HC in atlanta and texas and was let go. was cowboys HC and let go (not surprising with a knumbskull owner). so i just stay away from him in that role. one of his negatives is he seems to rarely last with any team longer than 2 years but i still give him the call as DC.

at this point i am not in the column for firing trestman... not YET anyway. we have to give him some time to readjust. if by the end of this season we don't see some more creativity and drive and he still is looking like crowton, one season and done, then it's time to think about it. i have to disagree on little bum as HC. as a DC i would be all-in on as i think he is a very good DC. as a head coach though he has a proven record of failure and i don't want to give him a shot here. his age would also be a negative for HC. some good coordinators never make good HC's - see buddy ryan, and i think phillips is another one. if we could bring in phillips now and fire tucker mid-season, now, i would have absolutely no problem with it. if we wait until after the season is over, which i certainly would NOT, i would look at rex ryan if he gets canned in NY as DC along with phillips or possibly some other candidates. as far has hard head coming to chicago if he gets fired in SF.... hell no. he has an awful lot of talent out there and there seems to be nothing but controversy and locker room problems. he reminds me of a ditka type coach, which ain't good in my opinion, at best.

i don't think cutler is elite, at least yet and probably never. but i do think he is good + and can win it all for us but to do that he needs to do as you suggest. stop trying to make something out of nothing and be consistent with his mechanics.

6 games into 2014 season first number is number of INT's so far - the next number is turnover percentage of INT's when attempting to pass rogers - 1 - 0.5% brady - 2 - 0.8% wilson - 2 - 1.1% manning - 3 - 1.2% rothlisberger - 3 - 1.2% rivers - 5 - 1.8% kaepernick - 5 - 2.2% flacco - 5 - 2.0% eli manning - 5 - 2.2% tannehill - 5 - 2.3% stafford - 6 - 2.4% romo - 6 - 2.8% dalton - 6 - 3.2% luck - 7 - 2.3% ryan - 7 - 2.5% cutler - 7 - 2.7% brees - 7 - 2.7% foles - 7 - 3.0%

well i don't agree with you but you're certainly entitled to your opinion. i never watched those games. you must have. so what was the game plan by shanny? they had almost no running game involved. what was the blocking like? how much time did cutler have? how many dropped passes were there from running backs, receivers and tight ends? i can tell you this... the charger game was a blow out. the bronco's were beyond using a running game by half time. that leaves what? a passing attack by a SECOND YEAR quarterback. that said, maybe cutler did have bad games, i just don't know without watching them. but if cutler looked horrible just what in the holy hell was jerry angelo and lovie smith looking at when they decided to give up 2 first round picks for him? one point i want to make... with a defense as bad as denver's appeared to be, the time they are on the field takes away from your offense being on the field. same as here. if your offense is sitting on the bench watching the game it effects the outcome unless you have a fast scoring offense like the oilers under the moon man or a payton manning under center. this holds true with nearly ANY qb under nearly any offense. if they can't get on the field they can't score. this may be some of trestman's problems. he has no faith our defense can stop anyone thus throwing our running game out the window and putting it all on a passing attack.

denver vs. panthers - loss - 30 to 10 well let's see... 2 turnovers in the game. one cutler INT on the bronco's own 16 yard line. results - 3 points for the panthers on a field goal. when was this in the game? the FIRST quarter. SECOND quarter - one fumble by selvin young on bronco's 18. results a panthers field goal sounds like denver's defense was wonderful - gave up 400 total yards and 30 points. ================ denver vs. buffalo - loss - 23 to 30 - 2 turnovers denver passing yds: 188 - rushing yds: 87 - total yds: 275 buffalo passing yds: 351 - rushing yds: 181 - total yds: 532 one fumble by b. marshall 3rd quarter - results field goal one cutler INT on bills 15 with 5:42 in 4th quarter - bills ahead at this time by 7 - denver holds bills to 3 and out. bronco's give the bills the ball back on 4 downs at the buffalo 15 - end of game GREAT job by denvers defense to only give up 30 points and 532 yds offense. ================ denver vs. chargers - loss - 21 to 52 - 2 turnovers - cutler INT's denver passing yds: 316 - rushing yds: 90 - total yds 406 chargers passing yds: 202 - rushing yds: 289 - total yds: 491 two cutler INT's 1. 1:13 left in first half on chargers 14 yd line - no points by chargers before half - score 24 - 6 chargers 2. 9:48 left in 3rd quarter on denver 14 yd. line - result in TD by chargers - score 38 - 13 chargers and yet another stellar defensive performance by denvers defense. 52 points and almost 500 yds in offense. summary: yes cutler throws INT's. we knew this when we traded 2 first round draft picks for him. but to say he is the cause of denvers failure in 2008 is just plain not true. did he have stellar games in that period? no. but these losses on his back? i don't think so.

if i thought your opinion was in any way knowledgeable or worth a tinkers dam on any subject relating to professional football i would respond. as it is? so it goes.

coach killer? really?? shanny got fired because he wasn't producing with or without cutler (cutler was ONLY in his 2nd season in denver under shanny) once elway retired and he fielded the mighty griese and the indomitable jake plummer over an 8 year stretch. he was in denver for 14 years and was fired by the same IDIOT that hired mcdaniels as a HC. that in itself says it all. turner? are you serious? turner never even should have been hired as any kind of a coach after the performance as HC of illinois. where did he land after the bears? hmmm martz?? surely you jest. again another coach from the dust bin nobody in their right mind BUT lovie and angelo would have wanted as ANY kind of coach. with the personnel he had in chicago trying to run the same rams offense was ludicrous and nearly ended cutlers life. where did he go after chicago? hmmmmmm tice??? this guy may have been even worse than shoop-a-doop. a complete idiot who NEVER was an OC in his life and never should have been. another genius hire by super coach lovie smith and the always amazing jerry angelo. and where is this juggernaut of an offensive genius? hmmmmmmmmmmmmm and finally trestman - he has been here for 1 1/2 seasons!!! how is that any judge of a first-go-round HC in the NFL who landed in chicago with the worst personnel on a roster of ANY team i can remember. we had absolutely NOTHING on offense OR defense except a qb and rb. puhhleease.

i can't agree more. we have had a laughable offense with the exception of a year or two with mcmahon at the helm, who had the luxury of one of if not 'the' best defenses in NFL history, for over 5 decades and now we want to throw this out the window by firing a really good offensive minded head coach who really gets it and arguably the best QB in our franchise history? all this after 1 1/4 seasons??? sure trestman has problems but come on... fire him this soon? i even gave lovie 3-4 years before i called for his head. and emery... he has done some things i don't like either (especially the tucker hire) but exactly what do you people think he can do in 2 freaking seasons to replenish a completely bankrupt roster? do you really expect 7 pro-bowl rookies per draft to fill the gaps that knucklehead angelo left us with after 10 years of garbage drafts and defensive dinosaurs for good players left on the roster? our offense was complete trash with the exception of cutler and forte and a couple of average players. it was the worst offensive line i had EVER seen take the field in chicago. it has gotten light years better over the last 2 seasons. our defense had absolutely no young talent on the roster from top to bottom. it is going to take at least 2 drafts to fix this if we focus on defense (and not even to say we need to draft MORE talent on the offensive side of the ball also). so, are some red flags up at this point? sure. but i need to give this team some more time to gel before i chop it off at the knees (with the exception of firing tucker if things don't drastically change THIS season. record breaking bad just has to be taken into consideration).

not really. you have turf advantage of conditions on your home field. non on the field advantage: you have normal routine at home. you don't have travel lag or hotel time.

i seriously can't imagine that that a special teams guy who is one step away from the practice squad or being cut could be more needed or more VALUABLE than play we can possibly get out of a potential HOF bailey. if bailey is healthy enough to play he can start at safety and SUB at corner if needed. he brings smarts with him to compensate for any loss of speed and safety should be a much better fit. he is a stop gap signing that could bring huge dividends to our team if we really are trying to win a super bowl this season. can ANYONE say they would rather have DIXON at safety than bailey if he can remotely adjust and is healthy? how often on this board, with me leading the charge, were we touting the best position for peanut would be SAFETY? it's no different for bailey. we have canon fodder playing our safety and corner positions at this time with the exception of fuller and 'possibly' jennings who has played poorly. we have frey for depth at corner and he is barely adequate so there is no depth there either. with bailey we would have a decent #2 CB in bailey if we sustain another injury during the season or a starting FS. finally... special teams does NOT trump a starting every down player in a critical position where we have great need.