bradjock Posted September 5, 2008 Report Share Posted September 5, 2008 I love Bill Simmons, find him funny as hell, and agree with everything he says below about the Bears. This was from "12 NFL predictions" page at ESPN. http://sports.espn.go.com/espn/page2/story...=simmons/080904 "Prediction No. 3: Everyone will hail Chicago's yearly attempt to breathe life into a passing game that hasn't shown life since the Willie Gault era. "Wait a second," you're saying, "didn't they let Bernard Berrian and Muhsin Muhammad leave? And didn't they just have a Kyle Orton/Rex Grossman battle for the starting QB spot? And didn't they just make a kick returner their No. 1 receiver? How are these good things?" OK, let's say you just bought a new house, only you got soaked on your mortgage and had to go with a 75-25 instead of an 80-20. You're short on funds, so you decide, "We're going to spend most of our time in the kitchen, TV room and bedroom" and spend all your remaining funds to make those rooms nice: Maybe a 52-inch plasma, comfy sofa, kitchen table, king-sized bed, a few framed pictures, some homey knick-knacks and so on. By the time you're done, every room in the house looks great except for the dining room. Instead of half-assing it and putting a cheap-looking table and chairs in there, or even worse, splurging on a nice table and crappy chairs, you decided to sacrifice that room for 12 months, leave it empty and use that extra money on the rest of the house. It's the right move. And when friends visit and see an empty dining room, you just explain, "Yeah, we haven't gotten around to that room yet." They will understand, especially when they see the rest of your kick-ass house. Well, that's exactly what the Bears did. Last year's passing game sucked because their quarterbacks sucked. Instead of spending money to patch together another inevitably disappointing passing game, they basically said, "Screw it, we'll leave the dining room empty and spend money everywhere else!" What's the point of spending 10 to 15 percent of your cap to upgrade your passing game from an "F" to a "D?" If Chicago's defense, running game and special teams can carry them like in 2006, maybe the Bears could play four straight months of ugly, low-scoring games and eke out a 10-6 record or something. (Would I bet on this? Of course not! Not in a million years! But splurging on the likes of Chad Pennington, Berrian and Donte' Stallworth wouldn't have changed anything other than hurting their cap in 2010. You have to admit.) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest TerraTor Posted September 5, 2008 Report Share Posted September 5, 2008 Funny how in 2002 the Carolina Panthers did the same thing... worked out pretty well for them huh? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Connorbear Posted September 5, 2008 Report Share Posted September 5, 2008 (Would I bet on this? Of course not! Not in a million years! But splurging on the likes of Chad Pennington, Berrian and Donte' Stallworth wouldn't have changed anything other than hurting their cap in 2010. You have to admit.) Or Daunte, etc... Time for Kyle to have his chance. I am hoping for him him to be as least as good as Jim Miller while staying healthy. Peace Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
nfoligno Posted September 5, 2008 Report Share Posted September 5, 2008 I saw this article too, and agree w/ a large part of it, but where I disagree is regarding the OL. If there was a great QB out there, and we passed, fine. But as I recall, Rex was actually considered one of the better/best FA QBs, which says a lot about the FA class this year. Berrian got #1 WR money, which again, says a lot about the FA class. At the same time, if you are going to pass on the passing game and simply try to build defense, teams and the run game this year, then OL should be a part of that. Further, while I can understand not grabbing the short term reaches for the passing game that would not have great immediate, nor long term benefits, I disagree that building up the OL would have fallen into that same category. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Connorbear Posted September 5, 2008 Report Share Posted September 5, 2008 I saw this article too, and agree w/ a large part of it, but where I disagree is regarding the OL. If there was a great QB out there, and we passed, fine. But as I recall, Rex was actually considered one of the better/best FA QBs, which says a lot about the FA class this year. Berrian got #1 WR money, which again, says a lot about the FA class. At the same time, if you are going to pass on the passing game and simply try to build defense, teams and the run game this year, then OL should be a part of that. Further, while I can understand not grabbing the short term reaches for the passing game that would not have great immediate, nor long term benefits, I disagree that building up the OL would have fallen into that same category. Agreed. Not addressing the o-line could really come back to hurt us. Peace Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest TerraTor Posted September 5, 2008 Report Share Posted September 5, 2008 Agreed. Not addressing the o-line could really come back to hurt us. Peace it already has hurt us. Taking baby huey backfired, so we again have the same Oline we had last season, with no real LT. I hope for Kyle and Forte's sake freeney is as hurt as we hear he is Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
GrizzlyBear Posted September 5, 2008 Report Share Posted September 5, 2008 I beg to differ on the same line as last year. Last Year we had Brown who was injured for most the season, Miller who looked like a open dam and Tait who was injured most of the season. Not to include Kruetz who bar had his worst year as a center for us..Brown and Miller (maybe) are gone, Stclair is stop gap at best and Tait is back at niormal spot. Beekman is playing well and will only get better. if they are as a group 20 percnet better then last year we will ok. Plus if Williams comes back we be even better after that. Depth is what iam concerend with. Hope nobody gets hurt. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jason Posted September 7, 2008 Report Share Posted September 7, 2008 I love Bill Simmons, find him funny as hell, and agree with everything he says below about the Bears. This was from "12 NFL predictions" page at ESPN. http://sports.espn.go.com/espn/page2/story...=simmons/080904 "Prediction No. 3: Everyone will hail Chicago's yearly attempt to breathe life into a passing game that hasn't shown life since the Willie Gault era. "Wait a second," you're saying, "didn't they let Bernard Berrian and Muhsin Muhammad leave? And didn't they just have a Kyle Orton/Rex Grossman battle for the starting QB spot? And didn't they just make a kick returner their No. 1 receiver? How are these good things?" OK, let's say you just bought a new house, only you got soaked on your mortgage and had to go with a 75-25 instead of an 80-20. You're short on funds, so you decide, "We're going to spend most of our time in the kitchen, TV room and bedroom" and spend all your remaining funds to make those rooms nice: Maybe a 52-inch plasma, comfy sofa, kitchen table, king-sized bed, a few framed pictures, some homey knick-knacks and so on. By the time you're done, every room in the house looks great except for the dining room. Instead of half-assing it and putting a cheap-looking table and chairs in there, or even worse, splurging on a nice table and crappy chairs, you decided to sacrifice that room for 12 months, leave it empty and use that extra money on the rest of the house. It's the right move. And when friends visit and see an empty dining room, you just explain, "Yeah, we haven't gotten around to that room yet." They will understand, especially when they see the rest of your kick-ass house. Well, that's exactly what the Bears did. Last year's passing game sucked because their quarterbacks sucked. Instead of spending money to patch together another inevitably disappointing passing game, they basically said, "Screw it, we'll leave the dining room empty and spend money everywhere else!" What's the point of spending 10 to 15 percent of your cap to upgrade your passing game from an "F" to a "D?" If Chicago's defense, running game and special teams can carry them like in 2006, maybe the Bears could play four straight months of ugly, low-scoring games and eke out a 10-6 record or something. (Would I bet on this? Of course not! Not in a million years! But splurging on the likes of Chad Pennington, Berrian and Donte' Stallworth wouldn't have changed anything other than hurting their cap in 2010. You have to admit.) Completely agree...it's what I've been saying and why I think that the Bears could be good this year. They won't be pretty, but they can win with the running game controlling the clock, the defense playing tough, and the ST controlling the field position battle. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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