adam

It is funny that guys like that have a job in the sports business. Just because they are controversial? They rarely bring up valid points and most of the time just talk out of their 4th point of contact.

I just didn't realize we were that bad (24th), but when I look back, we rarely had good starting position after a kickoff.

For some reason this popped into my brain today and I was surprised there wasn't more mentioned about this during the playoffs. Special teams only seemed to play negative roles in games (SF and BAL) compared to highlights of epic runbacks. For the season, just from watching the games, you knew there would be an impact to most teams with good return games. Almost every other kickoff ended up as a touchback and the Bears would start around the 20 compared to the 30 or 35. So I was curious and looked at some various numbers. None of these are completely conclusive or tied directly to the new rule, but taken into context you can see that the new rule did indeed affect the Bears. The Bears had the best Starting LoS in 2010 and dropped to 24th in 2011. They lost an average of 6.5 yards a drive, the biggest drop of any team. The next closest was KC at 6.19 yards and Pittsburgh, Arizona, and St. Louis all lost over 4 yards a drive as well. Only 7 teams had a better starting LoS than last year, and the teams that benefited the most were Houston, gaining 4.79 yards a drive, and SF gaining 4.71. The other 5 teams all gained less than a yard per drive. The Bears had a starting LoS of 33.37 in 2010 and that dropped to 26.87 in 2011. Just to be sure that this wasn't a one year anomaly, I looked back at the past three years for the Bears, and they were first every year (32.31 in 2009, 33.48 in 2008, 34.43 in 2007). For the entire league, kickoff returns dropped from 2033 in 2010 to 1375 in 2011. A total of 658 less kickoff returns, about 20 per team. The lowest return total was 46 (ATL) in 2010, and only 9 teams had more than that number this year. Atlanta only returned 24 kickoffs this year as a team and 21 players had more than their entire team. So now I looked at the Bears; we only had two less returns than 2010 but averaged 4 less yards per return. Was it the loss of Danieal Manning or was it the rule? Manning only returned 13 for Houston and Houston as a team only returned 29 kickoffs, so the impact was not that big. With us only having two less returns, it seems like we ran some out of the end zone when it would've been better to take a knee. Again, all of this could be circumstantial, but either the rule did impact the team or we really miss Manning on kickoffs. Either way going from 1st to 24th in starting LoS didn't help the team much this year. LoS stats from: http://footballoutsiders.com/stats/drivestats

A decent article about Licht: http://bostonherald.com/sports/football/pa...ars_gm_position My only concern about NE exec's is that Bill has so much influence on decisions, you don't know how much his disciples actually did in their positions.

Per Jensen:

I am not saying it is not possible, but there are a lot of higher rated players before Floyd.

You really thing 2x WR's will go in the top 10? I highly doubt that.

Emery and Raye have the most experience and Ross has the most upside.

I just feel like if WR or OL are the best available at #19, you take the player. I would hate to pass up on Floyd to reach for an Offensive Lineman who was not projected until the 2nd round just because OL is the greatest need at that point. You have to weigh value with need. If we do get Bowe or Jackson, then WR would be 2nd to OL as a need, but if we get someone like Nicks, then the needs are similar. I would then take best available of any of the top needs, even if that was not OL or WR at that point (maybe DB or DL). I just hate passing on skill position players.

Even if we pick up a top tier WR in Free Agency, I still believe WR is a need. Knox was our leading WR, and 2nd was Roy Williams, that is pretty sickening. We really could use a true #1 and #2. I would still go OL, WR, and DB in the first couple of rounds. If Floyd is sitting there at #19, how could you pass that up? Bowe and Floyd as the #1 and #2? That would be sweet.

After the 2nd loss by Hanie, I would've taken a chance on him. It is not like he could've played much worse than Hanie did.

I would not mind DeCastro if Floyd is gone. If they both are gone at 19, I would almost trade down and pick up Jeffery, Sanu, or Glenn in the mid-20's. A swap to about 25 could net us another late 3rd round pick. We could then take 2x 3rd rounders and move into the 2nd round, giving us a 1st rounder, 2x 2nd rounders, and a 3rd rounder. That wouldn't be too bad of a haul.

I thought the same thing, but many key players for Atlanta were drafted when he was with them, and I really like KC's 2010 draft.

Emery bio: Video with Emery: http://www.kcchiefs.com/media-center/video...4f-cfd6fb7051e7 Some of the notable draft picks of the teams he scouted for: Atlanta Drafts 2004 - DeAngelo Hall, Michael Jenkins, Matt Schaub 2005 - Roddy White 2008 - Matt Ryan 2010 KC Draft - Eric Berry, Dexter McCluster, Javier Arenas, Tony Moeaki, Kendrick Lewis I really like the 2010 draft. A lot of production from those guys.

https://twitter.com/#!/caplannfl/status...489335177748480 Emery is currently with KC, so maybe that would give us the inside track on someone like Dwayne Bowe?

Mark Anderson had 10 sacks and is a UFA.

It would be borderline comical, and maybe it could lead to a HC change for us as well. I was also thinking, even though the Bears can't block the interview, Tice can turn down the job/interview. It will be interesting if he takes them up on the offer. Wouldn't that sort of say he is not completely devoted to the team if he interviews, but does not get the job? I am saying this only because he accepted the OC position already. I wouldn't say this if he was already a Coordinator and this was presented to him.

http://www.chicagotribune.com/sports/footb...0,3323683.story Now this would be interesting if he bolted for Oakland after accepting the OC job.

Yes, of any of the coaches, he was the one I would miss the most if he left, this is great news.

http://www.suntimes.com/sports/10066011-41...with-bears.html

This seems to be a pretty decent year for free agency, and if we can get 3-4 of this group, I would be very happy: Top Tier Wideout (Free Agent) Dwayne Bowe (81-1159, 5TD) Steve Johnson (76-1004, 7TD) Vincent Jackson (60-1106, 9TD) or trade for Brandon Marshall (81-1214, 6TD) 2nd Tier Wideout (Free Agent) Robert Meachem (40-620, 6TD Jerome Simpson (50-725, 4TD) Mario Manningham (39-523, 4TD) Top Tier Tight End Jermichael Finley (probably franchised by GB) Fred Davis (59-796, 3TD) via Free Agency 2nd Tier Tight End Jacob Tamme - IND Joel Dreesen - HOU Scott Chandler - BUF OL Chris Myers - Hou Nick Hardwick - SD Evan Mathis - PHI Carl Nicks - NO Jake Scott - TEN CB Cortland Finnegan - TEN (1 INT, 75 tackles) Lardarius Webb - BAL (5 INT, 67 tackles) DL Campbell Calais - ARZ (72 tackles, 8 sacks, 1 INT) Jermey Mincey - JAX (57 tackles, 8 sacks, 1 INT) Sione Pouha - NYJ (58 tackles, 1 sack, 1 safety) OLB Erin Henderson - MIN (70 tackles, 1.5 sacks) Jarret Johnson - BAL (56 tackles, 2.5 sacks) Manny Lawson - CIN (52 tackles, 1.5 sacks) Anthony Spencer - DAL (66 tackles, 6.0 sacks) Solid Backup QB Chad Henne Derek Anderson David Carr Brady Quinn JP Losman Kyle Orton I used the following tracker and sorted by most valuable by position: http://www.profootballfocus.com/blog/2012/...-agent-tracker/ Something like Dwayne Bowe, Joel Dreesen, Carl Nicks, and Lardarius Webb while drafting OL, WR, DB, LB, DL.

More so for their play style. I am sick of the 5,000 yard passing teams, it reminds me of the USFL. I would rather see SF win over the other remaining teams.

Both NO and GB were over-rated. Glad to see them both out. I would like to see SF vs NE so SF can clobber NE and Brady.

It says for the GM position, and this is that Jimmy Raye's son.

http://twitter.com/BradBiggs The KC one is questionable.