Everyone has their ideas on how to fix a passing game that began at the tip of Pike's Peak and has fallen faster than Alan Rickman out that window at the end of DIE HARD. I'm going to weigh in and brace yourself - my solutions are so fucking radical than in the 50s I would have been blacklisted.
RUN THE BALL MORE
On the worst drive of the game for the Bears this past Sunday, they ran four straight times for 29 yards and then threw on 2nd and 4. Why? Don't leave the run until the defense makes you leave the run, especially early in the ballgame. The Bears have been effective on the ground early. Then they throw it - show the opposition they CAN'T throw it - and face 8 and 9 man fronts the rest of the game.
KILL THE LORD OF THE FLY
On that 2nd and 4, Ronny T had Bernard Berrian run a fly down the right sideline. Moron point of the day: If Berrian doesn't run that fly, Rex can't throw that fly. If you lay out a spread of chicken, salad and human torso - which do you think Jeffrey Dahmer is going to eat? Sometimes you have to eliminate the options.
TRUST YOUR RECEIVERS
Rex's first completion of the day Sunday was a quick out to Bernard Berrian for 10 yards. They never went to it again. Why not? The baseball idiom for a struggling pitcher is throw strikes and let your defense do the work. The football equivalent: get your quarterback easy completions and let the playmakers make plays. Mark Bradley set the Meadowlands ablaze. Since...he has 1 catch for 15 yards.
THE DES DISPENSER
There has to be a correlation between Rex's early season success and Des Clark's early season push for the Pro Bowl. Struggling quarterbacks use the tight end as a security blanket and Rex Grossman is the definition of a struggling quarterback.
#2 Max said . . .Yes, Rex Grossman is the definition of a "struggling quarterback". Sometimes I feel as if Rex can be compared to a functional drunk. Yeah, he comes to work and sorta does his job- but its obvious he is not at peak. Yeah, he goes home at the end of the day and plays with the kids- but there is a lack of passion. And at the end of the day your torn: is he good or just getting by. About the time you figure things will work out, you see him take another nip from the hidden bottle.
That said, we need to adjust and figure out how to sober up our man. Rex: this week its time to sober up man... shake it off... your in there. Perform our we need send you to rehab.
--Midway--
December 7, 2006
#3 Rex Grossman said . . .Run . . . Run . . . Run . . . Run . . . Run . . . Run. . . and pass to Rashied
December 7, 2006
#4 Midway Monster said . . .I've tried sobering up, Midway, but I always get these damn shakes...and it's sooo cold in here.
December 7, 2006
#5 Hester 4 President said . . .LOL! Rex, like most functional drunks we always sorta-kinda of deal with the problem indirectly. So here is an "e-slap" in the face. Wake up dude!
This game is like grad school. You get A, B, or F. There are no C's or D's.
The rehab bus ideling and is ready to take you away if need be. Rex, Time to Man Up!
--Midway--
December 7, 2006
#6 Max said . . .ESPN reports that Harris could miss the rest of the season and playoffs with a servere hamstring injury.
December 7, 2006
#7 jeff said . . .He is to be reevaluated by a specialist in Dallas in the next couple days. . . . Balls
December 8, 2006
#8 Midway Monster said . . .he's fine. it's a decoy to distract the news away from rex.
December 8, 2006
#9 Kayla Crosslakes said . . .Why Rex needs to lead us to a W:
Bears win (coupled with losses by the Cowboys and Seahawks) secures a 1st-round bye; and builds on the current 2-game lead for "best record" in the NFC and home-field advantage throughout the playoffs.
The mo' is building...
--Midway Monster--
December 8, 2006
#10 Still said . . .Damn -- its cold in Chicago. I was watching the game vs. Minnesota at my house thinking, "Why the hell is anybody at that game?". Then I remembered - Chicago has the craziest (and most insane) fans in the league. They're passionate, they want to win at any cost, and they want to get excited about everything (even if its too excited). Case in point: In the beginning of the season, Chicago's finest were praising Rex Grossman, the savior. Forget that they've (literally) had over 25 starting quarterbacks in the past 12 seasons. No, this time they got it right with Rex. And here comes the Super Bowl. Right? RIGHT?????!!!!!
But -- as we saw on Sunday, Rex Grossman is more representative of idolatry than anything God like. 6 for 19, 34 yards and 3 INTs is nothing to bow down to, and I'm sure any true supernatural presence isn't happy about anybody in Chicago bowing down to the man.
On the other hand, I'm sure God is totally unthreatened by Devin Hester becoming akin to idol worship. This man is on fire, returning another punt for a touchdown, and hitting the record books on Sunday. I mean, what God wouldn't want to watch Devin Hester? Is there a potential prophet on the horizon here? Just to let our imagination run -- if this were biblical times, what role do you think Devin Hester would play? My bet is he would get those commandments down that hill faster than Moses. And get this, he'd be so good at running those commandments to the Israelites, God would probably make him do it a total of 4 different times in the same year (a record). This would give us 40 commandments. Can you imagine what a great world it would be if we had 40 COMMANDMENTS? Thus, feasibly, Devin Hester could have bred pure peace and harmony in Biblical Times. And if we're talking New Testament, I wonder which tune Devin would have sang in Jesus Christ Superstar. These are questions that will never be answered.
Back on track, it was cold in Chicago. Back in college, I refused to go to games with my boyfriend if it was cold. And get this, he wanted to tailgate before hand. He was crazy. I never understood why he wanted me to come, but I got a sense that he wanted to show me off to his friends. He was a borderline pervert in that sense... that's why I dumped him.
Anyway, there's a great piece on my favorite website (listed in my signature below) about two frigid California girls who haplessly found themselves seated in Soldier Field on the coldest weekend ever. It's hysterical, and you should all check it out.
Until next time --
Kayla Crosslakes
__________________
Girls, you gotta check out this site. It tells you all about how girls can enjoy football. I got a lot out of it.http://femalefan.ivillage.com/entertainment/
December 8, 2006
#11 my own delusion said . . .Jeff, this is brilliant stuff
"If you lay out a spread of chicken, salad and human torso - which do you think Jeffrey Dahmer is going to eat? Sometimes you have to eliminate the options."
You left just one out, I think.
Leave the pocket:
They rolled him out a couple times on the first possession and he looked comfortable. If your quarterback is 5'6" (he seems smaller every week, doesn't he?) and he can only throw in an open lane, roll him out once in a while.
December 8, 2006
#12 Megan said . . .Rex really is SuperBowl material; he has the arm and the ability. BUT, the coaching staff has asked him to play beneath his ability, throw a few INTs, get flustered under blitz, etc. Just bad enough to give other teams over confidence about beating the Bears, but good enough to get them into the playoffs and possibly get a 1st week bye.
THEN they tell Rex it is time to bring it home. He "magically" starts hitting his receivers with laser precision and putting together killer drives and great running play decisions; as he takes the Bears to win the SuperBowl."Bobby...Bobby, it was all just a dream."
Sigh.....
December 8, 2006
#13 nedvizhimost sdayu tomsk said . . .Thats....thats.....thats.... JUT TOO RADICAL!!
*sigh*
December 8, 2006
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December 16, 2007
Here at DaBearsBlog, you are free to kill us or the Bears as you so wish. You are not free, however, to be an asshole. So if you spew racism or ill-meaning foul language (cursing about football is just fine) or anything of that ilk, your comments ain't gonna last long, jerk.