NFC NORTH - 2014 Discussion Thread

The Game Room
81

So …

The Bears …
They’re a hot mess right now, and I’m not so sure they have the talent and headspace to get any better this year. They’ll limp along, beating bad teams and being embarrassed by good ones, and they’ll be a few sacrificial lambs (Say goodnight, Mel Tucker), but the big question is wither Mark Trestman. He’s shown an inability to make adjustments to his gameplan once the defenses have figured it out, but the lack of talent on the defense isn’t his fault. Plus, Bears ownership is pretty loyal to their hires. And I don’t think anyone wants to give Phil Emery another chance to hire a coach. So I think they’ll stagger along, finish this year, get their hopes up for next year, and then … well, we’ll see what happens.

There is a part of me, a small, petty part, that wants to dance around and say “I told you so”. The current situation was entirely predictable. After giving away the farm for Jay Cutler, they traded even more draft picks, used draft picks, and spent in free agency to build the offense, much to the neglect of an aging defense.

They chased a window for a championship. They had a solid defense, and then spent like a drunken sailor to build an offense. And they had a shot. For one glimpse of a second, the defense was amazingly valuable, they had incredible stroke of luck with health, and the offense was better than they had for awhile. And then Jay Cutler was Cutler, Lovie was Lovie, and it all came to a crashing end.

And it’s still crashing. The defense got old and talentless. The money, draft picks, and coaching decisions (Mark Trestman got the job to help figure Jay out, which shouldn’t have been that hard … Jay is a unwilling-to-change douche), that went to the offense was fine, for a year. Then teams adjust, as they always do, and now … now you have this. This is what happens when you mortgage the farm for an over-hyped QB, then take out a second mortgage to get him the players he wants and the O line he needs, and you all but ignore the defensive side of the ball. Congratulations Angleo and Emery. You got what you paid for.

Things will get better. There are plenty of bad teams in the NFL that the Bears can beat up on, and the talent on the offensive side of the ball is still there. And maybe another run of good health and turnovers will once again mask the lack of depth on the team. But, for now, it could be a long rest of the season.

82

Ugh, the Bears are starting to look like the Jets or something. Not only are they losing, their coaching and office staffs are now looking like big(ger) idiots.

Apparently Monday morning in a team meeting, the O coordinator Kromer had a tearful apology for the team for criticizing Cutler in a conversation with an NFL reporter. I don’t know why Kromer is still in the building but the season has been a dumpster fire anyway, so why not keep him around for a few more games?

83

I like Mark Trestman and I want him to do well, but his coaching style of trusting his players to do the professional thing and thinking they’ll be fine if left to their own devices simply doesn’t work on some of the players at Halas Hall. Marshall has all but worn out his welcome (as his track record has shown), Lance Briggs seemed to have checked out even before his injury, and the young players haven’t seemed to develop at all. And Cutler just doesn’t give a crap about what a coach says. Which, again, is on par with his track record.

How dare Kromer speak the truth. Poor little Jay might pout if anyone speaks bad about him in public? Please. Jay Cutler couldn’t care less about what anyone says. Now the coaches have given him more reasons to ignore them and their play calling.

It’s turning into a soap opera in Chicago. Too bad Marshall is injured, because that might temper his drama queen/diva-ness.

Time to roll out Ka’Deem Carey, Ego Ferguson, Christian Jones, Will Sutton, Demontre Hurst, Brock Vereen, and the rest of the youngsters and see what you have in them. And what you have in Phil Emery, because I think much of this is directly his fault.

84

Well, at least there was a change. Sure the Bears continued to suck, the Vikings continued to look good in losses, Detroit ekes out wins with mediocre offensive play, so all that’s the same. But the Packers’ offense grinds to a halt, Aaron Rodgers looked human, the WR crew dropped a metric shit-ton of passes, and the Packers lose. It’s looking like the Week 17, Detroit v. Green Bay game will be huge, which is exactly what the NFL wanted when it moved division games to the end of the season.

The only other things worth mentioning are that Teddy Bridgewater has 2 straight games of 300+ yards, but still looks like a rookie with a couple picks, Jay Cutler will shortly add another coach/OC scalp on his wall to go with Turner, Martz, and Tice, and week 17 should be fun.

85

Indeed, next week Detroit and Green Bay should both get the wins (knock wood), then the big showdown! Personally, I thing Detroit will have an uphill battle. GB will be at home, weather might factor in, etc.

If GB wins the showdown, they will be tied at the Div and Conf level. Any ideas what happens in the playoffs?

86

They’re tied right now, so if they both win (or lose) next week, it will be winner take all. If they both go 1-1, Detroit will win the division based on tiebreakers.

87

Looks like the Trestman era is likely coming to an end in Chicago after this season. While I won’t miss him, I shudder to think of who they might bring in next.

88

I’m surprised that they would let Emery hire a new coach rather than shipping him off too. He’s not had great drafts, he’s already screwed up one coach hiring (to think they could have had Bruce Arians. Heh), and he’s overpaying a lot of players for mediocrity. If they don’t get rid of him now, they’ll have to try and find a new GM (assuming Emery doesn’t improve on his bad track record) who may not be able to hire his own coach, which can be a deal breaker.

89

I’m arguing with my son online this morning. He is as rabid a Bears fan as I am, but sees the future differently. He wants da Bears to hire Rex Ryan after they drop kick Trestman back into the Canadian wilderness from whence he came and to use their first round draft pick this year to get a QB.

Mom has been busily schooling son. First, although Ryan has the family name that would give him some cred in Chicago, he has not been what you’d call wildly successful in bringing on budding young QBs during his time with the Jets. And any QB you’d draft in 2015 would be a project. I agree with sonny that Mariota is the obvious choice, but he’s got considerable downside and unless da Bears are willing to buy, borrow, beg or steal a killer offensive line, he’d never survive long enough to grown into the job (RG III, anyone?). Winston has size, but we do not want his off-field issues. His own teammates at FSU don’t respect him. His new NFL teammates probably wouldn’t either.

Who else is out there? Hundley is a maybe, Cook from MSU is a probably not, and unless there’s a sleeper in the rest of the pack, I don’t see anyone else to pick amongst.

What if they brought Harbaugh back to coach? Again, he’s not made Kaepernick into the QB he looked like he was going to be in his first year in the NFL, and the locker room issues in SF are almost as bad as those in Chicago now.

Mom says go back and rethink some of the candidates you didn’t or couldn’t get the last go-around. IF da Bears were willing to spend any money, I’d say woo Darrell Bevell from Seatlle and see if he could do anything with Cutler. If he came to da Bears and still couldn’t wrangle Cutler, ship him off to whomever would have him for whatever you can get. He’s got undeniable talent, but is next to useless if catered to in the way da Bears have catered to him. Make him work for his job (bring him in as the backup guy) and you might see some magic happen. Might. Then go gitcha a QB in a subsequent year’s draft when the pickings aren’t so slim.

90

Yeah, thanks for the reminder about Arians. :mad:

Everything is pretty much speculation at this point but some of the reports make the same point you did about canning Emery at the same time. Maybe they’ll do that, completely clean house. If they don’t and Emery gets to hire the next guy, I’m going to have to hope that they don’t try to get so creative this time. Of course, that might mean another crappy retread off the coaching carousel… In my worst nightmares it’s somebody like Rex Ryan (although I wouldn’t mind seeing him as a DC).

Whoever it is gets stuck with Cutler for at least a season or two. That’s not going to help…

91

This just in -

Bears bench Cutler in favor of Jimmy Clausen against Lions.

92

Hmm I want to be happy for the Lions chances now, but introducing an unknown into the equation just makes me more nervous.

93

Yep, we’ve seen it before where the backup QB comes in and everyone somehow wakes up and plays better.

94

Trestman’s days with the Bears appear to be numbered, which is too bad because I liked him last year. He seemed honest and upfront when he was talking and he was technical about the game but he didn’t ever seem to have the attitude that he knew what was going on but the fans and media didn’t, which Lovie Smith often came off with.

Trestman seems to have no control over the team now. I don’t get it. The players should probably realize that their days in the NFL are numbered and they’d better make the most of their time there (cough Lance Briggs cough)

So if you’re out the door in two weeks, wouldn’t you want to have an opportunity to show that maybe it’s not your system that’s flawed?

95

He always seemed to be a player’s coach, who wasn’t a harsh disciplinarian, who gave them the benefit of the doubt, who didn’t put his foot down when Marshall threw his tantrum, and who figured if he treated the players as professionals, they would act like it.

Unfortunately, his players were a headcase diva, a petulant child who won’t take coaching, a worn out veteran who wanted to open a restaurant more than play football, and a bunch of overpaid, underperforming players. The Bears gambled with head cases like Cutler and Marshall, and it’s Trestman who now has to pay for it.

I think that’s part of the reason Kromer said what he said. A good chunk of the problem with the offense is Cutler, his penchant for mistakes, and his checking out of plays at the line. I think Kromer had enough of taking the heat for Cutler and, in a fit of pique, went public, in effect saying: “this mess isn’t my fault”.

96

What ever happened to Omniscent? I miss his Bear-centric analysis.

97

I think, like Martz, Turner, Tice, Lovie, and Trestman, Omniscent was taken down by Jay Cutler.

98

Cutler has destroyed many of us…

And now there’s some speculation that the Bears could try to dump him by packaging him with a high draft pick in exchange for a lower pick, just to get the cap relief. I can’t recall a player that cost a team high draft picks to acquire and then later cost them more draft picks to dump. What’s really sad is, I’m not even sure who would make that trade for him right now.

I think I’ll go throw up now…

99

Well, Lions make the playoffs. That is good.
There is room to improve from there.

100

Clausen looked pretty good. But what the hell with all the dropped balls? And terrible tackling?

Oh well, football sucks.