fudgeripple2000

The "pre" part of prediction means that I make an assessment based on past season performance of our team and the teams we will play prior to the event. I think it is a good idea to self administer some reality. My point was that if changes aren't made to our team. We have what I calculated to look forward to. Minnesota if they stand pat will be strong, Green Bay with another year will be stronger, Detroit is even looking stronger. Last season I remember quite a few predictions based on our "weak schedule" and I wonder if the team heard that and we heard that enough that it almost "ok'd" us as fans and maybe the bears. "okay-ing" oneself kills progress. These players are millionaires, and to think that the goal of a super bowl is what drives the large majority of them is stupid. Failure, being booed, having garbage thrown from the stands, a descension in the publics perception, even losing a job is what drives them. Why else do coaches bench players and let the scrubs scrap to show them up. Bottom line is that we have a potentially tough schedule next year with half of our games against playoff teams (given some played twice) and two teams that just missed the playoffs. The bears and we as fans should be scared and prepared. Feeling like we will be okay will affect how we approach everything from coaches, free agency and the draft. Lovie likes to break down the season in quarters. So will I. Monday started the first quarter with 5-11 being the bottom.

If serious changes aren't made I predict, with this schedule, a 5-11 finish.

I am done believing anyone from this coaching staff or front office when they say they are high on someone. We took this long to figure out that Pace was done. We just started using Aromashadou. What did it take for this coaching staff to get it (if they have)? 9 losses, a plague of locusts, dogs and cats living together (Bill Murray)? A well coached team makes adjustments at halftime of the game. A poorly coached team makes adjustments at the halfway point of the season. A truly inept coached team makes adjustments with two to three games left in the season. We are the latter.

With the night that Aroshomadou had tonight and how much Cutler likes him, is it safe to say that going forward he has a good chance at being our #1 reciever? If that is the case then will our WR core going into next season be: #1=DA #2=Bennett #3=Knox #4=Hester Right away I know Hester led the team in receptions but most of those were bubble screens and quick hits designed to get him running in space. Hester is not Steve Smith. I want him to be but after watching how good Knox/Bennett/Manning did on special teams this year, which is what caused this team to try and transition him, I feel that we should move him to spot duty on WR and get him back to what got him to the pro bowl. Return kicks and punts. The major negative in this is that you have a demoted player pro bowler to deal with.

As a die hard fan I was jumping up and down, yelling at the TV, indoor clappin with whistling (sign of white-trashiness). I felt somewhat conflicted. I always want the bears to win no matter what. But, there was & is a small percentage of me (.1%) that wanted to see our coaching staff blow the game. With a great first half and being up 17 points towards the end of the 3rd quarter and to lose would have hermetically sealed the lovie coffin. Ron Turner called a good game. But his philosophy going into it was as a coordinator that knew his job was on the line and the team had nothing more than self-respect to play for. So you can't compare his play calls today against his other terrible games this season or against the possible future games in which he would innevitably return to the same mind set that created his overall crappy body of work. It's that body of work that Turner, Lovie and the like should be judged. Bottom line is that we will not make the playoffs again. To be in a market like Chicago and produce no postseason for 3 years is unacceptable. But as quite a few other posters on this site, the pit in my stomach is a symptom of knowing that we will junk turner and keep lovie. Then when we suck again next year and have to bring a new coach with new coordinators we will be three years/ three systems into a franchise quarterback's contract.

I would much rather have Cowher. But with Shannahan you don't have to change over as much and he will bring with him that zone blocking scheme that makes mediocre running backs look awesome. As a coach though, if I had a choice between working for Snyder or the McClaskeys I would evaluate things. With Snyder I would get paid a boat load but I would probably be fired in two years. With the McClaskeys there wouldn't be as much up front but they will keep me around for longer even if I don't do well. With Chicago it is a top tier market. With Washington I could have tour the white house anytime I wanted. Decisions, decisions...

These players like lovie I get it. He gives days off and he isn't a get in your face kind of guy. Easy going guys are easy to work for. Little accountability, easy life. But Olin knows that if the problem is with Angelo as he is obviously inferring, than any incoming GM wants to have guys that fit their philosophy in the coaching ranks and they want to know that if they, as GM's, are going to be accountable (dirty word to this team), then they are going down their way. Oh wait... maybe the bears are going the way of our politicians (blame the guy you replaced as the reason you don't succeed the first year). So summarizing: Angelo goes, lovie goes.

Today no. By January 1st, probably. By next years draft yes. The key to any successful business owner is to have a clear vision of what you want. Know what you need to get it done, then hire the right people that can help you get there. With Angelo, he seems to have a clear vision: On defense it is to run cover two. An obviously antequated and useless defense that is more dependent on help than football players making football plays individually while working in the team concept. On offense there is no clear vision. We are a running team that can't run. We have a gunslinger but limited weapons. My point is that as a manager, the people he has hired aren't getting it done. We are fans, he is a business man. Granted I don't want Mark Cuban. He is a huge fan but can't buy a championship.

SIX TURNOVERS?!!! This team has checked out. I could understand if we were a dome team and we were playing in snow but these guys are ill-prepared for anything. Players play and coaches coach. Lovie didn't drop one of those balls but a team that gives it up six times is not mentally ready for anything. SIX TURNOVERS?!!!!

One week all signs point to ditching Lovie. Next week we are keeping him regardless of the record. Now Angelo says that he will evaluate himself as well as lovie at the end of the season. Maybe I am just projecting, but I think that with this loss and crap performance in Baltimore and the likely blowout with Minnesota (in chicago) with the possibility of losing to Detroit (played well against Arizona), leaving us at 5-11, that the team will clean house. Angelo did say that money wasn't an issue. He just wants wins. http://sports.espn.go.com/chicago/nfl/news/story?id=4759793

I love this new policy. With two years pre-retirement. Sign with a new team for millions, take a roster spot, take the position for the guy we want you to be a mentor for, suck, get replaced when games don't matter anymore. WHAT A PROGRAM. But shouldn't a mentor be able to perform that which he is mentoring. If not record his position related advice on a disk and give it to the rookies in their rookie gift basket right along with Antoine Walker's CD "Whatch your money dude or watch someone take it from you", condoms, and Chad OchoCinco's best selling pop-up book, "10 Looks that will get you noticed on Sportscenter."

I knew this would come. We are so ready for change that we throw every name in the hat. Don't get me wrong, I am not agains Billick. Not my top but we just desperately need to change the environement.

Embarrassed= little sister is a hooker who's corner is in front of a church and she wears a sign that reads, "I am a hooker and I am _________'s sister." Ashamed= little sister goes to every salvation army bell ringer in town. Beats the ringer, steals the money, and gives you a jar of spare change for christmas. Disappointed= little sister brings home a packer fan for christmas and shows of the ring on her finger. If I was either embarrassed or ashamed I would be reluctant to admit my loyalty in public. I chose disappointment because the love for the bears will never die. As with my little sister I have high expectations of the bears. When they fall short and I hear Lovie's press conferences saying calmly that they did somethings good and there were things to improve on, I want someone, somewhere in the organization to get a little nuts. It is their job but aren't they at some point or were at some point fans too.

I admire your principles. I have been a bears fan for 25 years. I live out west and when I saw how the bears were "conducting business" this season I took my plane tickets and money and changed my plans to Vegas. I figured I am throwing my money away regardlessly. I can justify supporting my own idiocy. What I can't justify is buying into eating what they are feeding me. To do so is to be okay with it. Some will say I am not a true fan. I chose "loyal consumer." As a loyal consumer to the brand "chicago bears" I am part of the growing population that is giving feedback to the company that their product needs to be recalled and a product more befitting the "bears" brand be released to the public.

[quote name='MadLithuanian' date='Dec 8 2009, 02:41 PM' post='73758' I think 6-10 save's Smith. 5-11 I don't think does... Just to review: The front office felt in the preseason that we improved the team with the additions. We had one of the easiest schedules in the league. Lovie takes over the defensive play calling. With this in mind 6-10 saves Smith? What kind of excuses can there be? Turner sucks but is this his fault entirely? I have seen post after post on how the lovie's play calling on defense sucks, how the offensive line coach sucks, the reciever's coach sucks. So if the "ingredients" suck. Don't we fire the "chef"who brought in the ingredients? I can't rationally imagine the front office sitting down at the end of the season and saying. "well that was unacceptable. Lets do this again next year and maybe it will change." That is insanity. At this current pace every team in the division will be better except the bears. If Bates is so good that he can resurrect this offense, then bring it on. However I don't think that bates alone will right this ship. Not to mention that if we brought in bates and lovie goes next year. Will the next coach be okay with bates. We can't be changing offenses every year.

Just curious, how many trips to the playoffs did Cowher have. I agree shannahan would be good just don't let him do the draft. He is great for zone blocking which we need. The main arguement for change is that we are increasingly growing more and more pathetic. Waiting one more year to change for what? So your vets are even older? So it will take even more to rebuild? To better our draft status? Please what is the arguement to trust the men who brought us to the state we are in now. What were lovie's goals? Win the division? Haven't done that in awhile. Beat the packers? They are rebuilding with a new defense and it is still a struggle. But at the end of the day I am a fan and the owners are business people. They want to make money. They obviously don't have being the best on the top of their priority list.

Completely agree. However if we bring in Cowher we will more than likely be converting to a 3-4. With that in mind we would need a "plug" at nose tackle. The tackles that we have aren't right for that system. O-line has to be a priority.

On one occasion I heard the announcer say that Pace gave Allen a soft corner. When they replayed it looked like pace was giving him a "good job Ace" smack on the ass before he even turned that "soft corner." It was so little of an effort that I turned off my tv and never went back.

What I think would do the trick is to lose to the Lions. Taking their place as the punks of the NFC north should cement the firing of the staff. Watching the offensive line was painful. Body language of the linemen says it all. They have given up. And to go into the next season with "if only Urlacher was here..." will be a just mean to all us fans, because the media will beat that drum till we are hypnotized into believing it. Training camp will be awesome and we will then begin to lose games hand over fist and be right back where we started and worse of all is that Shannahan will have a job, Cowher will have a job and we will be stuck with some re-treads for coaching options.

Sorry, this coming from him doesn't ring true. Players play for two reasons: Money and themselves. I always enjoyed listening to Brian Cox talk about how he would treat his opponent that tried to take from his family. When he was on, coaches looked for playing time. With Tommy he has taken mental vacations and coaches have looked elsewhere for playing time. Players know that it is a business and that in a room with a GM and coaches, decisions are made. They are made regarding player's jobs and I doubt the phrase "we owe it to Tommy and his longterm financial commitment to this team, to do better." The words that came out of Tommy's mouth have the tone of "I got mine." I don't mean to switch sports but it would be like Samuel Dalembert from the sixers (huge $/little output) telling the media that they owed it to the coach to do better. There needs to be a coaches meeting and a players meeting. In each someone needs to call out everyone else out as men and strike some fear in them. They need a dose of fear because the bears are obviously not a team that is comprised of players that want to be the best, and are driven by that goal. Angelo needs to bring in a construction foreman, insurance salesman and a supermarket manager to do interviews for future job placement with some players from this team.

Of course I wouldn't care if they were winning. When employees do a good job you acknowledge good work. When they give a terrible effort you call the spade a spade. If you don't, then you are enabling your employees not to care which will show in their performance. But the point that has been made dozens of times is that we won't fire lovie so the front office and the bears as a whole deserve what they get. That is a pill I don't want to even have in my house let alone swallow. To know that I will more than likely have to deal with this one more year sucks.

The announcers kept saying that the bears weren't stretching the field. Everything was in close and tight. The last series he was eyeing Olsen too much. One point that was brought up many times is where is kellen davis with olsen in the end zone.

I agree. However, certain things have to change going forward. Fire the offensive line coordinator. Fire ron turner. Turnover the o-line and bring in road graders. It is easy to camp out in the secondary when noone respects our run game. We self destructed. To have more penalties than rushing yards is absolutely idiotic. What I didn't like is that on multiple occasions the camera picked up Lovie on the sidelines and you could see him saying "good job." These aren't four year olds that are falling of their bikes repeatedly but are getting back up. These are millionaires who's only job is to smack the guy in front of them and entertain us. I am not entertained. We need an accontability snowball that starts with Angelo and rolls through the coaches and onto the players. I am sick to my stomach and a day removed is not going to lessen the taste.

My concern is that with all of this Tommie talk, the bears will fall into the same situation as with Tank. Will we quit too soon. When faced with a bad attitude the question is how do the bears get Tommie to realize his potential. Two ideas: Suspend him for punching the dude. No matter what happened before the punch, he acted selfishly. So hit him where it counts (paycheck). With the suspension make him show up for treatment and game film but no practice. The other option is sit down with the defensive captains and have them deal with it. Have the captains decide the punishment. I like the second because it brings teammates together and makes each player more accountable. Bottom line, I don't think we should sack him but something needs to be done to get into his head. I am tired of seeing former bears do well on other teams.

I get the idea of player development and agree to a degree. However, I would rather see the starters get booed and be in the game rather than hide on the sidelines with the potential excuse of "if I was in it would be different." Through this struggle we will find out who's character is strong and which are weak. Not to mention if you put in second tier people and I was a season ticket holder I would want a discount from my tickets. If you put out a 1/2 price team. I want my tickets for half price.