DABEARSDABOMB

I would not be surprised to see the Bears try to renegotiate with Wale. The Bears could save a lot by cutting him, thus they have a bit more levarage and he probably wouldn't get a ton on the open market after last seasons performance.

If the Bears don't go WR or Oline in Rd 1 (this assumes no QB's worthy are on the board, although they could look at Freeman) than I expect them to go DE or move down.

Maclin and Sanchez were two guys that I really liked and were realisticly going to be on the boards when the Bears picked. Now neither of them looks like they'll be around and I'm pretty dissapointed. Maclin has ridiculous speed and enough size (he's over 6ft) and I think he'll be quite the impact player.

I would love Maclin.

Gruden is a tremendous offensive mind and a darn good football coach. I personally think he did a lot with limited talent in Tampa. I'd be all over having him as the Bears head coach but its quite obvious that he wouldn't ever go anywhere to be an OC at least not yet. Next season if Cowher/Shanny/Gruden are still out there you are going to be talking about one ridiculous set of options for any teams that cut there coaches (and if Lovie doesn't get the Bears to the playoffs next year than I certainly hope we target one of those guys).

Peppers or Suggs would be tremendous pickups, imo.

If Leinart was available, I'd be all over acquiring him.

He has a very good point. You don't get Berrian and the Vikes still have to address the WR position. That might have even meant they ended up giving a crapload of money to the bust known as Jerry Porter, but it might have meant they had to address the position via the draft which than makes them unable to trade for Allen. Of course this is all in hypotheticals.

Very good offensive mind. He mind not be ready to be a head coach but he has star potential. Great move.

That is the absolute only reasoning I can see. The question is are the Bears going to be willing to pay a guy like Herm Edwards after shelling out for Marinelli. I'd hope they would.

Edwards was the exact name I was thinking of when thinking of coaches that would potentially be let go that would fit in nicely. The question is whether Edwards would have interest in sitting out a year at taking a pay-check after being fired of if he would be willing to come in and be a Dcoord right away. If he was willing you could bet it would be to join the Bears as he would be incredibly comfortable with the system and coaches. I still think Edwards might get let go.

I wonder if any other good assistants/coaches might get fired and that the Bears secretly have there eyes out after one of them and at that point you'll see them hire that guy as the DC and thus move Babich to the LB ranks (which I'd be perfectly content with).

The thing people miss on Berrian is that we wouldn't have had to put out that bid had we just done the smart thing and franchised him. If I were running things i'd have franchised Berrian, told Urlacher to shut up (and tried to trade him) and found a way to sign Briggs (I've probably been Briggs biggest backer on this site). Regardles it was very clear the Bears had pure shit at the WR corps and while Berrian might not have been worthy of the contract he got he was the best WR we've had in ages and considering our needs at the WR spot it was absolutely idiotic not to franchise him and thus guaranteeing the fact that he'd be back with the Bears for a season (no one was going to give up 2 1st rounders) and that would have also given time for the Bears to reach a long-term agreement with him (and it would have been worth less than what he got cause he wouldn't have had the leverage to get the deal he got in Minny).

Very good point. Unfortunately instead of getting a highly respected LB coach who has play calling experience, we'll end up getting some unproven LB coach from the college ranks.

It's hard to ignore the difference Jake D made though. He was hurt most of last year and the Panthers had a down year, comes back and bam they are a playoff team and a pretty good one. He just had a bad game. I'd never call Jake a great QB but he's rock solid and far better than what the Bears have had over the years. Jake has had far better weapons to work with too though.

I'd have loved to have him on board, Bears must not have offered though cause I'd assume he would have rather came to Chicago where he could work with Briggs/Urlacher (potentially being the guy that comes when Urlacher has a bounce back year next year). Than again he may have figured it was a bad fit since the Bears LB corp's is already good so if it did its usual he wouldn't get the credit needed to get himself set up for another DC position. That or he wanted to go out on his own (wouldn't blame him since I'm sure tons of people would say he got the job because of his father in law instead of his skills; he actually has a good skill-set for a coach).

How does Drake keep his job? We've cut umteen receivers who have went on to have some sort of success and haven't really had anyone step up. ALbeit Hester made a lot of strides and Berrian turned into a pretty darn good WR, imo.

It probably won't happen, but I'd love to find a way to get a DE/WR/QB in the 1st two rounds. Obviously we wouldn't be able to get all 3 in two rounds but guys that intrigue me a lot at the WR position are Hakeem Nicks and Jeremy Maclin (I don't care if he's small the guys a freaking player and would be one hell of a weapon...put him and Hester on a field with a nice posession receiver and you got a pretty sick WR corps especially when you combine it with the weapons we have at the TE position). The QB I want and want badly is Matt Sanchez. This guy screams strong pro. He has good mobility and a strong arm and really all the tools. He isn't as uberly talented as Stafford or as accurate as Bradford (which is why I love Bradford above all) but Sanchez has a really nice mix of tools and has grown a lot with a surprisingly uninspiring collection of offensive talent at USC (it's good, but not ridiculous talent). I pretty much want Sanchez at all costs.

Tebow would be foolish to go pro. He won't go higher than the 3rd round and is more likely a 4th round pick although a team might take a flyer on him in the 3rd round. In a year I would take Tebow because i think he has a better arm than expected and nice speed and could turn into a really good specialty type of player and I like having those type of guys on the roster.

Gage always looked good on our roster when given any sort of opportunity. I think part of our problem is that our QB's didn't exactly light the world on fire so it was hard to have a WR produce and at the same time our coaching staff has continued to play the wrong receivers and make poor personell decisions when it comes to the WR position. I will still say that most of our WR's suck absolute donkey balls but Gage was a guy that flashed potential and never really was given a good opportunity despite having shoddy QB play in front of him. Plus the Bears don't seem to use our WR's to there strenghts. For cripes sakes, why are we sending Booker deep, we all know he has zero seperation so while you need to ocassionally alter the routes, use him to his strength over the middle of the field (where he can use his route running ability and strong arms to get off bump coverage and open on shorter patterns). I've long said get the Bears about two good young WR's and than two good vet's and we'd see this team improve. Plus find yourselves a good freaking QB.

I agree that an upgraded defensive line makes the defense significantly better, not only would the rush defense improve but the pass defense and turnovers forced would improve significantly. I also believe the Bears need to make a personell upgrade on the defensive line trying to find a speed rusher who can really get to the QB and that could be addressed with our 1st round pick. Marinelli is similar scheme guy to Lovie, fits in well, but will also bring a bit more attitude to the coaching staff and that is something I really like. Plus as the assistant head coach he'll be very involved in the defense although unfortunately he won't be calling the defensive plays (we also have to remember he has zero experience calling defensive plays). I still wish they would have made a change with Babich though because I hate seeing Lovie settling and making excuses for his guys as the defense has failed both years under Babich after excelling under Rivera. I expect Barry to be brought in next and it will be nice to have a guy with his qualifications and background coaching our linebackers. More importantly it's nice that Babich will now have another guy to bounce play calls off of since Lovie/Barry/Babich all have experience as a defensive coordinator. Plus I think we need to remember that BearSox brings valid points to the table in regards to the Bears picking up a guy that comes from a different scheme then what Lovie preaches since no matter what with Lovie as our HC your going to be running the cover 2 (although Rivera's unique difference was a breath of fresh air). However, the biggest thing that makes the entire defense better is a consistent pass rush, they find that and we are talking about this D being a premiere D again, imo. The question is do we have the personell in house or does Angelo have some moves to make. I believe he has moves to make (especially at DE).

Nicks is a big physical receiver with really good hands and I think he'd be a welcome addition to the Bears. He impressed the hell out of me and really developed as the season went on for North Carolina. I'd think a trade down would be in order to get him but I wouldn't be opposed to that given the Bears needs.

Great post NFO, completely agree with your line of thinking, however, I don't mind using a 2nd rounder pick on the guard and using the 1st round pick on a skilled position (either QB/WR/DE). Plus I Think you can typically find good, all pro type of guards in the 2nd or 3rd rounds easier than you can find QB's/WR's.

That is good. I'll be utterly pissed if we don't get him and make zero significant changes to our defense. I'm still pissed we are stuck with Babich and Lovie to be completely honest, especially when there are guys like Cowher/Shanny out there.

Marinelli is widely regarded as one of the better defensive minds in football and he is a very respected coach in general. The Lions stunk but that wasn't his fault. He was handed a poor roster and very little to work with yet found a way to take an 0-16 team and have it play hard all season long, a team that was in quite a few football games. The Bears are lucky to get a coach of his class signed and as far as his son goes he's supposed to be a pretty solid young mind from everything I heard. Big whoop, he stunk as a DC that might just mean he's not ready to take on that much plus I think some of you guys don't quite grasp how things go in the NFL but coaches have to trust the staffs they have hired which means Lovie puts everything on Babich who puts a lot of stuff on his assistants. Thats how shit works in the NFL unless you are talking about those rare geniuses such as a Holmgren or Andy Reid that could totally call an offense while being the head coach (Shanny could be counted in here as well) and even those guys needed OC's most of the time. And I wouldn't call Lovie a failed coach. I wasn't happy with how things went for the Bears but entering the season no one but a coolaid sipper had this team winning 9 games and somehow they did (and they should have won more). So they did a lot more than I thoguht they would with limited talent. The defense played like shit, no denying that, but those who watched the 2007 Bears shouldn't have really been surprised at that as the defense blew that year too (injuries or no injuries). I'll completely agree that Babich should have gotten ousted or at least moved down to DL duties but I think Marinelli will be much more involved.