Final Thoughts on Chicago Sports

Bears read last rites by Minnesota

The Bears were depantsed by Brett Favre and the Vikings today, and the season is "officially" over.  Just a brutal, brutal game.  Almost 600 yards of offense for the Vikings while the Bears were held well less than 200 (and only two - two yards! - in the second half).  Favre had wonderful protection all day and his kick-ass receivers made the Bears pay.  I swear, I don't know how he completed some of those passes.  It was the old Brett, attempting throws he had no business making but this time the Receivers just made plays.  Harvin, Rice, Berrian...kicked the Bears asses in.  I just don't get it.  Cutler, on those rare occasions that he has more than 1.5 seconds, throws a pass like that and it gets picked or batted down. 

It's been awfully quiet around this blog lately, but for what its worth I gave up on this regime after the San Fran game.  There was still a slim chance at the playoffs this year, of course, but after the Philly game even that was gone (no way they finish 6-0).  Today was merely confirmation.  This team is done.  Over.  Finit.

Never thought I'd see this day in November 2009.  Now, I didn't think the Bears were going to cruise to the Super Bowl this year; in fact I had them pegged at 10-6 as a Wild Card candidate.  They had some flaws, but I just thought that with the acquisition of Cutler and a revamped offensive line, they had to be AT LEAST as good on offense as last year.  And I thought the defense would be slightly improved as well with a healthy and motivated Urlacher.  Of course they lost Urlacher at halftime of game one (and they lost a few fringe guys like Tinoisamoa and a few games here and there from other people), but still.  This team isn't THAT injured.  They just suck.

They suck at tackling, they suck at running, they suck at throwing, they suck at catching, they suck at blocking, they suck at rushing the passer.  On the other hand, their kicking game is top notch.  So there's that. 

My solution is to clean house.  Angelo, Smith, Turner...gone, gone, gone.  Other than Special Teams coach Dave Toub, every other coach isn't getting the job done.  So fire them all. 

I blame Turner least of all for these problems - other than Cutler he's got jack shit to work with - but knowing the Bears he'll probably be the one guy to fall.  Because of Lovie's contract (he's owed $11 million after this season), most people are speculating that Turner will go and Lovie will get another chance.  I'll debunk that in a moment but let's just say for giggles that's what they do.  They see what Cincinnati has done this year, 9-2 so far, after sticking with Marv Lewis.  Talk to any Bengals fan - they're out of the woodwork now that they're good again - they'll tell you Marv had to go the last two years.  Terrible football.  But this year, with a healthy Carson Palmer and rejuvinated Cedric Benson, they're on top of the world.  The Bears will probably play their cards like this.  They'll hire a Mike Martz, they'll sign a couple of free agent linemen, and whaddya know they'll go maybe 7-9.  Yippee.  All of 2010 they have to listen to the "fire Lovie" and "fire Angelo" talk.  They have to deal with irate fans with expensive PSLs and no draft picks.  So after all that they'll end up firing him anyways. 

One year down the drain.  $11 million gone whether they fire him or not.  So fire him.  And really, he needs to fire himself.  The defense is worse than the offense.  600 yards?  Scores on seven straight possessions.  Come on.

Further - we have no draft picks!  I still agree with the Cutler trade.  He's been awfully subpar lately, but I still think he has the skills that you can't teach.  He's got the pocket presence, he's got the gun.  He's just got nothing to work with.  The line is AWFUL.  Orlando Pace is horrid.  Chris Williams is a dud.  Cutler almost never has more than a second-and-a-half to throw.  (And yes, when he does throw, he sometimes makes poor decisions.  At least 20 of them, by my count.  He's far from blameless in this whole ordeal.)  Then the receivers.  The Bears have three "number 3s" and a bunch of practice squad fodder.  I think Hester, Knox and Bennett could all look decent on the other side of a number one, or maybe in the slot.  The Bears just don't have anyone remotely like a number one.  Just look at these guys.  Short, fast, ok hands (at best).  Weak route-runners, hardly any play-making ability.  Nary a "go up and get it" among them.

There was a little experiment going on around here this year and the Bears are losing.  Some people think the experiment was "Cutler vs. Orton."  Not true.  They were merely the control samples in the experiment.  Orton is obviously outplaying Cutler this year.  But the experiment was "can the Bears ever develop a franchise QB."  I think the answer is no, at least not with this group in charge.  When Cutler came here, he was probably 80% of a franchise QB.  25 years old, a pro bowl season under his belt.  Some flaws, but as close to a sure thing as you could pick up in any offseason.  So how's he doing with crappy coaching, a crap O-line, and a group of barely professional receivers?  Terrible.  How's Orton doing with a studly O-line, top notch receivers and an offensive guru coaching him?  Not too shabby.  He still floats some passes and can rarely hit the long ball, but I've watched Denver at least six times and believe me, he's the same old Kyle.   He just has a juggernaut around him.  He's got ALL DAY to throw.  They'd be at least 7-4 with Cutler if not better.  Remember, last year the Bronco's offense was setting records (and their D was among the worst ever assembled). 

So anyways - Bears are cancer to QBs. And as we say in the business - FACT.  It has been confirmed.

So back to the "fire Lovie" bit.  $11 million.  Really?  You're going to let that stand in the way of a new head coach?  Same old, same old for one more year so you can "save" $11 million?  The money's gone, dude.  Gone.  Look at it this way, you don't have that (high) number one draft pick next year to pay $20+ million to.   Dump Lovie and you're still up 9 mil.  I just don't see how they can look at this season and see any hope for the future.

And Angelo...I haven't even gotten to Angelo yet!  He's probably the A-number-one reason for this disaster.  Three years in a row of bad drafts have done him in.  His first several years, I thought he did a decent job.  Yeah, he kind of whiffed on the top picks, but the middle rounds yielded some fine players.  Alex Brown, Lance Briggs, Peanut Tillman, Nathan Vasher, Tommie Harris, Bernard Berrian, Devin Hester.  A whole host of Pro-Bowlers on Defense.  Plus he built a solid o-line out of free agency (Tait, Brown, Garza, Miller) and hell, he built a team that won two playoff games and went to the Super Bowl.  But the last few years have been HORRIBLE.  I look at these last 3 drafts and I see a few OK guys (Knox,  Forte, Payne, Olsen) and then a whole lot of nothing.  Guys that were cut or guys that are still here but don't even dress.  I look at his last few big free agents (Pace, Omiyale, Archuleta) and I see disasters.  I look at next year's draft and I see no number one (fine) and no number two.  Ugh, Gaines Adams - horrible!  Do we even have scouts?  Fire them, too.  Seriously.  

This team needs an overhaul.  Start at the top.  Cut off the head.

I'm out. 

Bears Whipped by Arizona. Time to Clean House?

Today, the Bears were embarassed for the second time in three weeks, as they lost to Arizona 41-21.  Quick recap:

• Can't tackle.  Can't cover.  Can't rush the passer.  Top to bottom, horrible performance by the D. 
• Offense was OK, but still kept making stupid drive-killing penalties.  Offensive line is still horrible as Cutler was again under pressure all day. 
• Tommie Harris has officially fallen off the deep end.  Straight up crazy.  It's a shame.  He was awesome his first few years, and was seriously looking to be on a hall of fame career path.  But then this deeply religious man had a kid out of wedlock and he's gone crazier than Cedric Benson on Draft Day.  Hell, he's Alonzo Spellman crazy.  He should talk to Lance Briggs and Brian Urlacher about how to effectively deal with baby mamas. 
• Jay Cutler is fine.  The Receivers are fine, too.
• Is the missing Brian Urlacher the impetus for this whole fiasco?  Seems everybody's whipping boy, the most overrated player in football, was the glue that kept this unit respectable last year.  Not sure if he's the only reason but he's clearly a big reason for this debacle.
• I'm not convinced that Lovie's defensive playcalling is the reason for this mess.  Throughout the whole first half, players were in position to make plays - they just didn't.  Tim Hightower and Beanie Wells were making Bears tacklers look like kindergarteners.  Then Larry Fitzgerald was Larry Fitzgerald, though you can blame Lovie that he wasn't doubled.  And Warner delivered a big FU.
• That said, Lovie's not off the hook for this mess.  It starts with the head coach, and they were completely unprepared for the second time in three weeks.  In fact, they've been horrible in pretty much every first half this season, save the Cleveland game where even a high school team would have looked good.  I don't get it.  Lovie's supposed to be bad at halftime adjustments.  He's supposed to own first halfs. 
• I don't think Ron Turner's doing a very good job this year.  Yes, the line sucks.  But there's nothing creative about his playbook, and they're underutilizing Cutler's talent.  Every time Ron tries a trick play it backfires immediately and kills drives.  Stop it.

I've always liked and defended Lovie Smith.  No, he wasn't the best coach in the league.  But he kept them in games, and he rarely had complete brain farts that cost his team the game (like Jauron and Wannstedt).  He kept them in games, too.  Before this year, he had only been blown out and embarassed 2 or 3 times total in his tenure.  You can live with one crap game per year.  His only real in-game faults were clock management and poor timing with the replay flag.  His choice of assistants weren't always the best either.  (Bob Babich?  Terry Shea?)  All in all, I'd say he was a top 12-15 coach.  Again, not great, but probably good enough to win a championship given the right players.  Could the Bears do better than Lovie?  Yes, but they could do a whole lot worse. 

This year, however, this team is in shambles.  Complete meltdowns every week.  The team not ready at the opening gun for really any game this season.  Terrible. 

And I didn't even talk about Angelo.  This year's draft is, thus far, a disaster.  Yes, Johnny Knox is great and Alfalava looks like he might be a keeper.  But the rest of the draft class has contributed precisely dick.  They don't even dress on Sundays.  Yes, we got Cutler.  He was our number one.  Great.  But what about their 2nd-7th round picks?  Iglesias, Melton, Gilbert, Moore - all worthless thus far.  I'm not going to write them off, because they're still here.  But I thought Red Shirts were only in college.  The 2008 draft got us Forte and a number of other decent contributors, but zero potential stars.  The '07 draft was a complete disaster.  Solid if droppy Olsen and a whole bunch of nothing.  (Nice breakout game today notwithstanding). 

So do I want them gone?  No.  Not yet.  It depends on how the rest of this season goes.  I was saying last week, the last two NFC representatives in the Super Bowl had horrible regular seasons.  The Cards won a crappy division at 9-7 (with multiple blowouts among those seven losses), and the Giants snuck in with a fugly 10-6 after every fan had completely given up hope (and they ended up winning the SB).  Now, don't get me wrong. I'm not saying the Bears are on their way to the Super Bowl.  The toilet bowl is more like it.  I'm just saying at 4-4, they've done nothing to preclude them from making the postseason just yet.  They just suck really bad, and at present I wouldn't rank them in the league's top 20.  Horrible.  Putrid.  Hot garbage.  But if they can turn the ship around, get hot, and somehow win 9 or 10 games, I'll be much more willing to give this regime one more shot at glory. 

And really, I only want to clean house if the Bears are 100% willing to throw massive amounts of cash at one of the Super Bowl winning coaches currently on the sidelines.  If they get some crappy retread or unknown assistant, I think I'd rather keep rolling the dice with Lovie.