tshanno

http://bearingthenews.com/?p=976 Bears in a Bind if Titans Try to Take Mike Tice by Tom Shannon Both Sean Jensen at the Chicago Sun-Times (http://blogs.suntimes.com/bears/2011/02/mi...n_titans_r.html) and Brad Biggs at the Chicago Tribune (http://articles.chicagotribune.com/2011-02...rcus-webb-bears) are reporting that the Tennessee Titans might have an interest in Bears offensive line coach Mike Tice. Some interesting aspects to this: 1) New head coach Mike Munchak was the offensive line coach there and he would certainly see Tice’s value to the team as a replacement for himself. However Tice’s value as a coordinator is debatable. Though he is definitely a leader of men and he would make a fine head coach, there’s been very little evidence that he would make a good X’s and O’s man. He seemed to recognize the value of the tight ends that he had in Minnesota and he knew how to use them. But I’m guessing that he had very little to do with designing any kind of a complex passing game involving multiple route combinations beyond creating some individual mismatches. 2) Lovie Smith and the Bears must give the Titans permission to contact Tice about the job. Ordinarily this is a no brainer. Smith has always been supportive of assistants who were seeking to advance and it would take an extraordinary circumstance, indeed, to prevent him from doing that. This might be that circumstance. The Bears offensive line is a work in progress. Tice has been crucial to the training of young players such as J’Marcus Webb and Lance Louis. To lose him now would be a blow to thier development. In addition, the Bears are likely to add at least two more linemen to the mix over the next few months, at least one of whom may be a draft pick. Those linemen will need to be indoctrinated in the Bears offensive system. But I don’t think that these factors would ultimately cause smith to hold Tice back if it weren’t for one more major difficulty, as Biggs describes it: “In mid-February, it would be difficult for the Bears to find a replacement for Tice, who Smith and general manager Jerry Angelo have called one of the league’s best line coaches. Most of the coach shuffling is complete so the pool of candidates isn’t deep.” This may be part of the reason why the New York Jets denied the Titans permission to talk to offensive line coach/assistant head coach Bill Callahan. Tice is not an assistant head coach. 3) The fact that the titans are looking to raid the Bears coaching staff rather than one of the Super Bowl staffs is as much of an indictment of Angelo as it is a compliment to Tice. The Bears offensive line was roundly criticized and was generally believed to be one of the worst in the league. Its obvious that the Titans believe that Tice worked miracles with a talent depleted line and this offer is a general acknowledgement of this fact. Teams know that if Tice had any players to work with, the Bears offensive line would have been one of the best units, if not the best unit, in the NFL. Tice should be proud. Angelo should be ashamed. Perhaps the Bears can offer Tice an assistant head coaching position and a bump in pay for him to stay. But if not, I think Smith knows what the right thing to do is. Generally speaking, you want the people around you to be happy. Good people do what they can to make that happen. If nothing else, on a professional level you want to make it so that other coaches and players around the league want to work for you. Long-term, that’s how you become the best. Green Bay head coach Mike McCarthy was roundly criticized by this blogger when he held quarterbacks coach Tom Clements back from interviewing for the Bear offensive coordinator position. I would hate to see the Bears sink so low.

I would agree with all of this. However, I have to cut Marinelli a little slack on the blitzing. Rogers has a pretty high passer rating against it. They eventually did a good job of mixing it up. I would also agree with your list of needs but, as usually, I think we're going to have to add defensive line to it. Though they really didn't do badly I think they need a three technique tackle to run this defense right. I empathize with the frustration. Tough game to watch. I'm really surprised they kept the score as close as they did. The defense has a habit of starting bad, then gradually tightening up in such a way that you kind of blink and realize the other offense hasn't scored in a while. Wish they'd start that way. Cheers, Tom S.

http://bearingthenews.com/?p=699 Game Comment: Green Bay Packers @ Chicago Bears, January 23, 2011 Defense 1. The Bears came out in the cover two and stuck with it for the most part during the first drive. But I think it quickly became evident that it wasn’t going to work and they started mixing some single safety with man coverage underneath. The aggressive defense, particularly in the second half, did a better job of confusing and stopping Aaron Rogers. 2. There weren’t many times when Roger had a lot of time but he gets rid of the ball so fast he’s tough to get to. Again, the BEars did a better job of pressuring him in the second half and it really threw his accuracy off. 3. On a related note, the contrast between Rogers and Jay Cutler was never so evident as when they ran the ball. Rogers drops back, looks quickly and runs. Cutler drops back, waits…, waits…, waits and runs at the last minute. Weather its a question of style or personality, quick decisions just aren’t in him. Rogers is clearly the more efficient thinker of the two. 4. I really thought the Bears defense was playing on their heels for much of the first half. They looked pretty confused. I don’t think they were mentally in the right frame of mind nor do I think they looked particularly prepared for what they saw on the field. You can chalk much of their success in the first half up for the Packers coaches. 5. Rogers is masterful at drifting to the right, drawing the defenders with him, then taking off to the left. It takes discipline to stop him. 6. Speaking of discipline, the Bears defense wasn’t doing a very good job of filling gaps against the run in the first half. There were some massive holes. They tightened it up in the second half. 7. The Bears actually got some good penetration on some runs. But particularly in the first half it looked to me like they just weren’t wrapping up and thenPackers running backs were allowed to escape. Offense 1. The Packers started the game with four down linemen on the first play. I’ve never seen them do that before. They didn’t do it often but they mixed it in occasionally, apparently when they expected a run. Other than that, I think we probably saw two down linemen most frequently. 2. Mike Martz apparently thought that little off tackle run to the left with the pulling linemen was going to work again. It didn’t. The Packers were looking for it and adjusted adjusted well to stop it. 3. I thought the Bear wide receivers had more success getting off the line of scrimmage this game than they did the last time they saw the Packers. 4. Too bad the rest of what we saw at the line of scrimmage wasn’t better. There were stretches where the Packers dominated it. 5. But what really hurt the Bears was the pressure that the Packers were able to bring. They were constantly resenting whatever quarterback was in the game. As a result the offense had no rhythm for most of it. The BEars were particularly susceptible to the delayed blitz and the blitz of Sam Shields off the edge. These have been their achilles heel all year. They never managed to counter them. 6. As bad of a day as Rogers had, Cutler’s was much worse. His accuracy was as bad as I’ve ever seen it. He left some big plays on the field. 7. I don’t know why the Bears continue to run screens against the Packers. They have the best offense in the league at running them and their defenses sees them in practice every week. There has to be a better way to counter the blitz. 8. The Bears had to bring in Caleb Hanie. Todd Collins was a sitting duck in the pocket and with the problems the Bears offense had in protection, they had to have a quarterback who could move. I thought Hanie did fine all things considered. Yes, two interceptions but what do you expect from your emergency quarterback who probably hasn’t taken a snap in practice in weeks. Give him credit for bringing energy to the game and engineering a drive which made this game closer than it really was. 9. I don’t think its any coincidence that the Bears best drive came about when they managed to get Greg Olsen and Earl Bennett involved in the game. 10. Defensive coordinator Dom Capers did a masterful job of scheming today to take the Bears offense out of their element. Kudos. Miscellaneous 1. I thought that Troy Aikman and Joe Buck did their usual solid job during this game. I’ve complained about Buck in the past because I’ve felt he was biased. Whether it was fair when I said it or not I have absolutely no complaints today. Good call. 2. Man, did penalties hurt the Bears today. They cropped up at crucial times and it always seemed like first and 15 or 20 all game. Once again the offensive line was a major culprit but the defense really got into the act as well. They did a lot of complaining during one particular series in the forth quarter but those all looked like good calls to me. 3. The Bears special teams were OK. They covered fine and generally speaking they did as well as they could giving the Bears decent field position. But with the offense not moving the ball there wasn’t a lot they could do other than on kickoffs where they performed reasonably well. 4. But the star of the game was Packers punter Tim Masthay who picked up where he left off at the end of the last Packer-Bears game. He did a masterful job of pinning the Bears against their own goal line. He was huge today. 5. The Bears defense really didn’t meet expectations as far as turnovers were concerned. Hanie’s interceptions obviously were the game killers. 6. I didn’t think the Bears dropped the ball too much. I think the Packers receivers did. These guys are used to having Rogers lay it in for them and when it doesn’t happen, they don’t catch the ball as often as they should. 7. I thought the better team won today.

I noted this in my post-game comments on my blog and those posted to the board. I expect they are keeping Dez Clark active this week so that they can use an extra tight end in part to protect Cutler. They will almost certainly need it. You may have also noticed that when the Seahawks did blitz, they got very good pressure. Tom S.

To be clear, I think his work ethic is *likely* not very good with things that aren't important to him (if you extrapolate from the facts that surround his treatment of others - media, John Elway, John Lynch, etc...). Leadership often means being concerned about what's important to others. Tom S.

Cheers, Tom S.

Like Reilly, I think it says something when the only thing your best friend can say in your defense when asked what kind of guy you are is, "He is what he is." I've seen Cutler a lot in public, particularly answering questions from fans. He looks a lot like he does on the podium with the press - he gives the fans a little more attention and he's not quite as bad because he doesn't have to do it every day. But believe me he is not shy and he does not lack confidence. He smirks, looks superior and its all he can do to answer the question if he thinks its a dumb one. Its a milder version what you see with the press. He *might* be insecure though and that might cause him to be defensive when he shouldn't be. Tom S.

I would argue that he's not giving his job 100% if he never talks to the fans through the media. But I'd be wasting my breath around here, I think. For what its worth, you guys aren't the exceptions. I haven't many fans who are willing to agree with me. It lonely out on this limb. Anyway, I'm glad to see things working out so well on the field. Let's hope they all keep it up. Tom S.

Good to hear from you, Cracker. You're right. I don't *know* anything. I judge by what I see and, like most people, I try to extrapolate. His agent undoubtedly tells him he could make a fortune with product endorsements. Cutler says it distracts from football but really. It on his off day and its highly unlikely that he's sitting in the film room on Monday going over Lions tape. Its very, very unlikely he's doing it in March. From what we hear, few players study the game as hard as Peyton Manning. Few players have as many endorsements. It's really that Cutler doesn't do it because he just doesn't want to. And that's fine if that's all it is. But it's not. Its a symptom. He doesn't want to deal with the media and - at least indirectly - the fans. So he doesn't do it. Or more accurately he does as crappy a job of it as possible. He doesn't want to talk to John Elway so he sits and looks at the TV and he doesn't do it. He doesn't want to hear what John Lynch has to say so he texts his friends instead of listening because he doesn't want to do it. The problem with football - and life - is that sometimes you have to do things you don't want to. They are usually things that aren't important to you but which are important to others and you have to do them not just for your own good but for their good and for the good of the team. That's an awful lot of what being a leader is. I don't *know* what Cutler does and doesn't do. But the evidence of my eyes tells me that if its not important to him, he's not likely to give it as much as the time of day. Again, to be clear, the one thing I *do* know is that there are two sides to this story and I don't want it to sound like I think they should be trying to get rid of the guy or anything. But having said that, I think that it's a problem. It might not be a big problem. They're a game away from the Super Bowl. But I think it's a problem nevertheless. Tom S.

I disagree with the "total prick" to the media part. I think Belichick in his own way gives the media what they need from him in his own way, especially in the last couple year. Though its part of it, my point about Cutler is not really about the fans and the media, anyway. The problem is that they are probably just the tip of the ice berg. I said, "Cutler Needs to Care if He Wants to Lead". That means he has to care about what the team cares about. That means communicating with the fans through the media. It means you have to communicate with teammates. It means you have to give ex-players like Elway and Lynch the time of day. It means that, as a leader, Cutler often has to do things he doesn't want to do - a lot of things - and his attitude is an indication that some of those things probably aren't being done. I cited Brady as an example of how its done and tried, apparently unsuccessfully, to explain why its important. Brady actually cares because the team and the fans care, not because he does. So he gives things his attention that he'd otherwise completely ignore. Who the hell wants to talk to the media about anything? Who the hell wants to work to project a positive public image? But that's part of the job. What other parts of the job isn't he doing? Lest anyone doubt, I do recognize that there are two sides to this story. Cutler won yesterday. Brady didn't. But I'll stand by my opinion here, anyway. Tom S.

http://bearingthenews.com/?p=589 Game Comments: Bears V. Seahawks, January 16, 2011 Posted on January 16, 2011 by Tom Shannon Defense • The Bears came out with lots of single coverage with nickel personnel. They did a good job doing, it, too. • A key to the defensive effort was the ability of the Bears to stop the run with seven in the box. • The Seahawks were doing a lot of things right. For instance, with the exception of a brief period in the second quarter, they were mixing it up well with some good play calls. • The Seahawk plan was obviously to attack the edges. They also came out and showed some good misdirection plays. As most fans know, speed defenses like the Bears are susceptible to this. • Having said that, without looking at the actual statistics, I thought maybe the Seahawks could have run the ball more. Admittedly when they did they weren’t effective. • The Bears did start to blitz a lot in spurts when they were reasonably sure the Seahawks were going to throw. It was effective in that it did throw Matt Hasselbeck’s accuracy off a bit and that allowed them to fake the blitz and pull out effectively at other times. But in truth, Hasselbeck wasn’t bad. His receivers just killed him by dropping too many balls. • I know it didn’t look like Julius Peppers and the defensive line was getting that much pressure but they were. Peppers was regularly pushing Russell Okung back into Hasselbeck’s lap. Offense • Gutsy call by Mike Martz throwing the bomb with 3rd and short on first possession. Greg Olsen – touchdown. Heck of a throw by Jay Cutler. • The offensive line provided good protection for Cutler. But the Bears were keeping a lot of blockers in to do it. • Most of us thought the Seahawks would come out blitzing. They did do much of it. But note that when they did do it, they were getting pressure. I’m sure the Green Bay Packers noticed. • Of course, as everyone saw, the Bears just ran over them. As I’ll note below, the Seahawks looked flat from the time they walked on to the field. Nevertheless, the offensive balance is back. • The Bears were drawing that eighth guy down into the box on first down occasionally but really, it was probably their stubborn refusal to do it more often that kept the Bears running the ball at them. Seattle insisted on playing straight up cover two with little blitzing. The Bears took what they gave them. • Some of the worst tackling I’ve seen all season from Seattle today. • Was that Cutler throwing the ball out of bounds in the second quarter? Was it snowing in hell, too? • Big, big game for Greg Olsen. • We all thought that Seattle would be the team that would pull out all the stops but it was the bears who pulled out a few special plays like the wildcat. They were the ones throwing the bomb on third and short. It did bite them when Matt Forte threw his interception but the point it that the Bears were teh ones that played it more loose. Miscellaneous • I was told during the week that I’m too nice when it comes to evaluating announcers. Sorry. I still think Kenny Albert, Daryl Johnston, Tony Siragusa did a solid, if not spectacular job. They hit on many of the points above during the broadcast. Admittedly they didn’t teach me a lot, today, but I was happy. • Generally speaking the Bears covered kicks pretty well today. Both Leon Washington and Devin Hester ripped off one good run. • I thought that Jon Ryan generally did a good job of handling Devin Hester. Good high kicks with lots of hang time. • Hard to believe Seattle punter Ryan drove Hester out of bounds in first quarter. They were basically one on one. I don’t know how to put it but something was off about Hester today. He was generally hesitant. • Generally speaking I didn’t think either team had too many penalties. • Corey Graham, Corey Graham, Corey Graham and some more. • The Bears had one turnover but didn’t get any. Lovie Smith won’t be happy with that. • It was nice to see the other team slipping around more than the Bears for once. • A surprising number of Seattle players went down with injuries. The hits weren’t dirty but perhaps it was a sign of how physically they were treated. • Tweet of the game from BradBiggs: “#Bears lead 21-0 with 10:01 left in 1st half. Prices for Packers Bears NFC title game tix gotta be skyrocketing.” • Two minutes left in the third quarter and the Seahawks kicked a field goal. Johnston called it an “interesting decision”. • I’ve been extremely vocal about the fact that the Bears haven’t been able to play effective man defense. Today the Bears flipped the finger at me and everyone like me. They won the game playing tenacious Packers style man-to-man defense. I was holding my breath every time Hasselbeck threw at Tim Jennings and only a little less so when he threw at Charles Tillman trying to get the ball to the sizable Mike Williams. But they held up. Kudos. • The minute they hit the field, before even the first snap, you could see that Hasselbeck looked excited but everyone around him looked dead. The Seahawks came out sluggish after last weeks big game. They let down and the Bears literally just ran over them. Now lets hope the Bears can avoid doing the same thing next week.

At the risk of bring down an avalanche of pissed off fans upon my head, I'm going to disagree: http://bearingthenews.com/?p=518 [cringe - Don't hit me.] Tom S.

Point well taken. I will try to seek out another thread next time rather than starting one of my own. Thanks for the compliment, DaventryBearsFan. Tom S.

http://bearingthenews.com/?p=337 Game Comments: Bears Vs. Packers, January 2, 2011 Posted on January 3, 2011 by Tom Shannon Defense • The Bears defense came out with all of the starters and they apparently came to play. For the most part they played fast and down hill. • The defense came out mixing it up and blitzing early. They did less blitzing as the game wore on. • The Bear defense had a bit of a problem when the Packer offense played their 22 personnel (2 backs, 2 wide receivers). They couldn’t stop the run out of this formation without an eighth guy in the box but they also didn’t like leaving their corners in single high man coverage. Rogers was trying to audible into a favorable play depending upon what the safety did. The Bears played a lot of it situationally depending upon whether the Packers were likely to need to pass but the intermediate downs and distances were a problem. • The Bears had a hard time getting to Green Bay quarterback Aaron Rogers in the first quarter, even when they were blitzing. They did better as the game progressed. • The Bears pass coverage was pretty good. Rogers was continually escaping pressure only to find that no one was open. • The Bears defense did well today but the team was also fortunate in that Rogers and the Packer offense had an off day. Rogers occasionally struggled with accuracy and the receivers were continually dropping balls. • I thought generally speaking the Bear defense played with a lot more discipline this game. To my eye they weren’t often caught out of their gaps. • He wasn’t getting great protection but I am surprised that the Packers didn’t take more shots down field. • Danieal Manning bit on an inside route on the long pass that set up the Packer touchdown in the fourth quarter. That was tough to swallow. Offense • The Bears offense came out running and they were also mixing it up well. • The Packers played a defense with two down linemen much of the time. They did a lot of pre snap shifting trying to confuse the Bear defense and, like the Bear defense, they weren’t afraid to blitz. Their defense was effective. • The Bears offensive line did a poor job of protecting quarterback Jay Cutler. The Packers did a good job of confusing them. • Related to that, the Bears did a terrible job of handling the Packer blitz. The Packers aggressively covered the Bears wide receivers as they made their adjustments and the Bears simply had no answer. The Bears may have missed Earl Bennett a great deal more than most of us realized they would this game. In his absence, the Bears tried to use Greg Olsen more in these situations, especially late. • The Bears did have good success running against that two man line for big chunks of yards. • B.J. Raji had a great game. He was especially effective off of the Packer line stunts. • The Packers did a good job of shutting down Johnny Knox by being very physical with him. Indeed, the Packers seemed to be getting away with being a bit too physical at times. • Indeed, related to that, the Bears receivers had a very difficult time getting away from the aggressive, tight man coverage that the Packers specialize in. Miscellaneous • Joe Buck and Troy Aikman did a good job today. In fact, Aikman mentioned most of the points I made above during the broadcast. The only pick I have is that they didn’t mention when Matt Forte went over 100 yards. • Brad Biggs tweet of the game: ”Jay Cutler yelling at Chester Taylor as he leaves field. Does he know Taylor fights teammates?” • Someone better talk to the Bears about getting some proper spikes. I’m tiered of seeing them slip to the ground on footing that the other team seems to be handling well. • Some of the Bear drops were tough to take – there were certainly too many. But if you are a Packer fan you are going crazy with the poor performance by your wide receivers in this respect. • There were too many penalties on both sides. • Nice job by D.J. Moore stripping the ball fromDonald Driver in the first quarter. • Cutler threw a terrible interception in the third quarter in the end zone. He was off balance and threw it short. What’s worse, the Bears were in field goal position in a tight game. I know that to some extent you have to accept these things from Cutler but that just shouldn’t ever happen. • Brad Maynard and Packer punter Tim Masthay did an excellent job today. • The Devin Hester we saw today looked a lot like the one from last year. Masthay did a good job of pinning him against the sideline. The error of letting the Packers punt bounce at the twelve to be downed at the three in the fourth quarter came at a critical time. • I’m not too sure about the Lovie Smith decision to go for it on fourth down on the Packer 40 yard line up by only 3 points. I know that it worked out with Charles Tillman intercepting the ball on the following Packer possession. Never the less I think playing field position continued offensive patience was called for in that situation. • The officiating in this game was generally poor. On the Bears side, the missed pass interference on Knox and the bogus roughing the passer call on Julius Peppers comes to mind. Certainly a good argument could be made that the ball hit the ground on Tillman’s interception. • This was a generally sloppy game but well-worthwhile. Though many would question the wisdom of doing it, the Bears were well-rewarded by playing this game all the way like it counted. The Packers exposed a number of offensive weaknesses, most notably the reappearance of the offensive line problems, the problems that the Bear receivers had getting away from the Packers coverage, the problems handling Greg Jennings on deep routes against cornerback Tim Jennings as the safeties were late getting over the top, and the problems handling the blitz. The Bears will now have two weeks to work on correcting those issues.

That would be understandable if he wasn't striking out so badly at the top of the draft. The third round has been a disaster. Tom S.

Point well taken. You think the Bears are going to keep spending? I suppose that with some of the unrestricted free agents leaving there might be a little budget space. Tom S.

For a team going to the playoffs the Bears seem to need help in a lot of areas. I'm going to guess that with the acquisition of Peppers and the extension of Toeaina that the D line is going to fall down the list (maybe fourth though I agree with you that a 3 technique tackle should be on it). I'm thinking, not necessarily in this order: (1) help in the defensive backfield, probably at at corner, is going to be an issue in addition to (2) the offensive line. And in terms of the line, don't discount that they'll be looking at centers to develop behind Kreutz in the middle rounds. So I expect they'll draft two OL with their first five picks. They probably also will be looking at (3) a good, big strong wide receiver. If the right one falls into their laps, I think they'll take him ahead of a defensive lineman. Just a guess. Tom S.

I think the guy to keep an eye on is Danieal Manning. He seems to have a very inflated idea of his worth/ I wonder if we aren't headed towards a Lance Briggs situation: http://bearingthenews.com/?p=262 Tom S.

This whole cartilage tear thng sounds over blown: http://bearingthenews.com/?p=212 Tom S.

I'm going to bet the corners don't switch sides. Knox is the most dangous but not by much, really. If its in the red zone or if its third and short theyll concentrate on Olson and Bennett, of course. But other than that the Bears spread the ball around enough to where most defenses aren't justified in concentrating on taking away just one of their guys. Good to see you here, buddy. Tom S.

I believe I read somewhere that Davis got on the field more as a direct result of a decision not to use the tight end as much. I think they may have decided to let the offensive tackles go and see how they could handle the Minnesota ends without as much help. They apparently did reasonably well. Tom S.

I agreed with virtually everything you said. We're not "berating" them. Or at least I'm not. I'm pointing out the facts as I see them. I thought the tackles did reasonably well. I thought the interior line didn't. I thought Olin had trouble with Pat Williams the way that he always does. That's it. Tom S.

Yeah, the line still needs work. But I'll say this. They really could come together and be just good enough for the Bears to make a playoff run. It usually takes about half a season together to build cohesion as a unit and they're close to that. Kruetz never could handle Pat Williams. He's still quite a handful even in his probable last year and he's a heck of a load to move. Tom S.

I generally agree. But I will say this in defense of both the offensive line and Noot. Penalties aside, the offensive tackles were generally pretty good and at one point I think it was John Gruden who noticed that they were basically running right behind J'Marcus Webb. Once that off-tackle ground game started going, everything got better offensively. They started using play action and everyone, especially the line, was more effective. Its amazing how much things open up when you can run the ball. I loved every minute of it. Tom S.

I'm going to mildly disagree about the offensive line. I thought they did OK and, as usual, they improved a lot as the game went on. But those defensive tackles did a pretty good job of shoving them around in the middle. The reason the Bears ran so well is because they ran off tackle and attacked the edges of the defense. Bottom line I wasn't impressed with the interior of the offensive line. Tom S.