A Closer Look at the 2011 Bears Schedule

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Super Bowl Saturday Show!

Jeff Hughes | February 4th, 2011

You must listen to the voicemail midway through the show. It is beyond funny.

____________________________________________________________________________

The Fantasy Playoffs Super Bowl Selections

BigT

Antwaan Randle El (as QB only), Rashard Mendenhall, Donald Driver

Shady

Ben Roethlisberger, James Starks, James Jones

IrishSweetness

Ben Roethlisberger, James Starks, Greg Jennings

MikeBrownhadaPosse

Ben Roethlisberger, James Starks, Greg Jennings

(I have sent tie-breaker questions to Irish and Posse.)

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Super Bowl XLV Game Preview

Jeff Hughes | February 3rd, 2011

Editor’s Note: T-shirt presentation will be next week. We’ll present a few options by midweek.

I’ll wake up Sunday morning with about as little enthusiasm for a Super Bowl as I’ve ever had. Losing on Championship Sunday relegates “the big game” to an excuse for drunken ribaldry – not than an excuse is required. Maybe I’m biased but this game has very little juice. The New York sports media has been overwhelmed with Madoff and the Mets. The Chicago media is rightfully Bulls crazy. ESPN has tried to create story lines over the last ten days but there has been far more coverage about the league and the upcoming CBA debate. Nevertheless, I pick the game.

Pittsburgh Steelers

over

Green Bay Packers

Why do I Like the Pittsburgh Steelers this week?

I never like the Green Bay Packers.
With the Packers offensive line, they’ll have no hope of establishing any ground game against the Steelers. This means they’ll need to invoke the Patriots-spread attack that has dominated Pitt for years. I don’t like teams straying from what they do best in the Super Bowl and the spread is not what the Packers do best.
You can run the ball on the Packers and the Steelers will certainly find that out. But when the Packers go all-out to pressure, I look for Rashard Mendenhall and Heath Miller to be major factors in the short passing game. The Bears left multiple first downs on the field two weeks ago. The Steelers take what’s there.
The Pack should get pressure on Ben Roethlisberger. Multiple sacks. (Matthews, Raji)
The Steelers should get pressure on Aaron Rodgers. Multiple sacks. (Harrison, Timmons)
If it comes down to which signal caller is the better big game player, I’m taking the Unwanted Sexual Advances in a Barroom Toilet. Rodgers has a putrid record in close games and Large Benjamin has proven it on the sport’s biggest stage.
This is a big moment for Rodgers, however. He’s struggled against Chicago and the Jets, the two best defenses he faces this season. Now he’s facing the best defense in the league. A poor effort might have some calling him a quarterback who stacks his numbers against inferior opponents. And by “some” I mean “me”.
If this game comes down to the kickers, I like Mason Crosby.
Coin flip: Packers
MVP: Rashard Mendenhall

Pittsburgh Steelers 20, Green Bay Packers 17

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What the Bears Can Learn From Sunday

Jeff Hughes | January 31st, 2011

Editor’s Note: The final four remaining in the Fantasy Playoffs (Shady, BigT, IrishSweetness and MikeBrownhadaPosse) need to have their Super Bowl selections to me by Friday at 12:00 pm CST.

Editor’s Note II: Keep piling on the t-shirt ideas on the post below. I’m going to look at the options on Thursday and will present the finalists with the Saturday Show this week.

I try not to overstate the lessons to be learned from the teams who reach the Super Bowl. The Packers did not plan to need a shoestring tackle of DaSean Jackson to advance from the Wild Card round. They didn’t game plan a B.J. Raji pick six against the Bears third-string quarterback when they gathered for training camp this summer. Football is not baseball. There are no best-of sevens. Unlike most other sports, the bounce of the ball on a single play can determine the fate of an entire season. But still these two clubs provide valuable examples of how to excel in the current NFL.

One Quarterback, One Scheme

Every play Aaron Rodgers has run in the league and Ben Roethlisberger has run since 2007 have been called by the same man – Mike McCarthy in Green Bay and Bruce Arians in Pittsburgh. Jay Cutler has had three coordinators, and three distinctly different offensive styles, in the last three seasons. You will not find a successful quarterback in NFL history who has endured without continuity of style from the play-calling department.

Draft Your Bread & Butter

The Pittsburgh Steelers first two picks of the past four drafts. 2010: center, defensive end. 2009: defensive tackle, guard. 2008: running back, wide receiver. 2007: linebacker, defensive end. Do you think they’re a team that prides themselves on running the ball and stopping the run? Outside of a misguided selection of Limas Sweed in 2008, the Steelers stick to their plan. They find the players best suited to fit their identity.

The Green Bay Packers first and second picks over the past four drafts. 2010: offensive tackle, defensive tackle. 2009: defensive tackle, edge-rushing linebacker. 2008: wide receiver, quarterback. 2007: defensive tackle, running back. Dom Capers becomes defensive coordinator in 2009, installs the 3-4, and they take two defensive tackles and an edge linebacker. The other three selections protect the perimeter, throw the ball and catch the ball. The core of the current Packers – passing game and pressure. They may not always get it right on draft day but they have a plan.

The Chicago Bears first and second picks over the past four drafts. 2010: (no picks first two rounds) safety, defensive end. 2009: defensive tackle, wide receiver. 2008: offensive tackle, running back. 2007: tight end, defensive end. (Side note, what Wal-Mart you think Dan Bazuin is managing these days?) The Bears seem to employ the “best player available” technique but I’ve found that approach to be a cop out. Jerry Angelo and the Bears need to start drafting exclusively for need and that means attacking the offensive line position with gusto this April. This draft will be an interesting test of organizational direction.

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2010 Chicago Bears: Final Evaluation

Jeff Hughes | January 26th, 2011

Evaluating the 2010 Chicago Bears was a difficult proposition. There seemed to be a success ultimatum as we believed we were looking at the end of tenures for both Lovie Smith and GM Jerry Angelo. Make the playoffs or else. Win a playoff game or else. The season brought two new coordinators and one of the game’s elite edge rushers in what was believed to be a last-ditch effort to save the jobs of the current Halas Hall establishment.

Then something changed. They stopped looking like a team at the end of the rope and started playing like a team at the start of successful run. Young defensive linemen making big plays. Young receivers making plays on the outside. New corners establishing themselves opposite Charles Tillman. The offensive linemen got better, a bit, as the year went on. The old dogs were still there – Urlacher, Briggs, Peanut, Chris Harris, Jay, Forte, Skunk – but this was clearly not an aged group trying to win before the window closed.

I don’t want to spend all offseason analyzing what transpired over the 2010 season. So today I end the evaluation period. Starting next week and after the Super Bowl, it’s all-systems-go on the 2011 campaign. A year I truly believe can be and should be special.

On the B-side we’ll look at every area of the Chicago Bears roster.

Quarterbacks

Forget the Jay Cutler “controversy”. It’ll be nothing more than Steve Rosenbloom’s catch phrase whenever Jay struggles in the future. Jay’s development in 2010 was terrific and should continue next year. The Bears also established in the NFC title game that they have a more than serviceable backup in Caleb Hanie.

Running Backs, Tight Ends

These are two positions where the Bears should literally spend none of their attention for the next nine months.

Wide Receivers

Johnny Knox and Devin Hester are terrific speed options on the outside and Earl Bennett has proven to be a reliable slot/possession man and a favorite target of Jay Cutler. But the Bears can not enter another season without a proven threat at the position. They need a player that can catch a slant route and take it to the house. They need a player who can beat a corner for a jump ball in the end zone (the Packers have three). They need a verifiable #1.

Offensive Line

Three parts. (1) Decide whether Olin Kreutz and Roberto Garza have more left in the tank. (2) Evaluate the potential and find true positions for Chris Williams and J’Marcus Webb. (3) Cut Frank Omiyale. Seriously, I don’t have the patience. Would anyone have any issue with the Bears taking seven offensive linemen in this year’s draft and hoping to strike gold with one or two?

Defensive Line

Not sure how to complain about these guys.

Linebackers

Urlacher and Briggs are two of the best in the league but the Bears need to start developing young talent at this position for two reasons: (1) Urlacher/Briggs won’t be able to stay this healthy for an entire season very often and (2) Urlacher and Briggs aren’t going to be here forever. Re-signing Pisa Tinoisamoa is not a must and I expect the Bears to look at this position relatively early in the draft.

Secondary

Assuming Chris Harris and Danieal Manning return, developing Major Wright becomes to the top priority at safety. Peanut had an excellent season and Tim Jennings was perhaps the defense’s biggest surprise. DJ Moore showed excellent ballhawk at the nickel corner spot. Depth at corner is a need for every team, every offseason, and the Bears won’t be the only fanbase clamoring for their club to sign Namdi Asomugha.

Special Teams

The Bears need to re-sign Rashied Davis, Corey Graham to avoid the mistake they made several years ago when they let Brendon Ayanbadejo go. They can’t afford to let Brad Maynard walk but they must bring competition to camp this summer.

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Coaching Continuity a Must This Offseason

Jeff Hughes | January 26th, 2011

Editor’s Note: If this were a non-fiction book, the full title would be Coaching Continuity a Must This Offseason, or The Stupidity of Steve Rosenbloom.

I wake up this morning and check out the Tribune sports website and see that Steve Rosenbloom has decided Mike Martz needs to be fired as offensive coordinator of the Chicago Bears. I just shook my head. As most of you know, I was born and raised in New Jersey and have lived in New York City for the past decade. The birthplace of sports radio. The home of Mike Lupica, my sports literary hero. I love Chicago, however. The Bears, of course, but also Wrigley Field and Ozzie Guillen and the Jordan Bulls and Steppenwolf Theatre and deep dish and Old Style and the broad’s voice at O’Hare that sounds like my friend Steph. It’s my second home. The fact that Chicago sports fans, my favorite in the universe, have to deal with such consistently third-rate sports journalists from major news outlets is one of the most depressing things going.

If Mike Martz is responsible for Todd Collins playing two series in the NFC Championship Game, he should be slapped across the mouth and chastised publicly in Millennium Park. (I contend, however, that decisions like these should always be on the head coach.) But placing Collins in the #2 role does not overshadow the remarkable improvements the quarterback and offense made in 2010. Martz discovered, after the bye week, the balance required to effectively run an offense in Chicago. By season’s end he had begun taking full advantage of Matt Forte’s skill set. He was a strong offensive line from something special.

Rosenbloom actually criticizes Martz for not running a typical Martz offense, as if he would have preferred to see the Bears struggle all season in the post-Coryell system as opposed to seeing an intelligent playcaller adapt to the abilities of his talent. He criticizes the Bears for not running the ball enough late in the game Sunday when the opposition expected a run on every single damn play and had begun bottling up Forte on every carry. The problem Sunday were not Martz’ play calls, with the exception of the scratch-your-head Earl Bennett end around. The problems were the inability of the starting quarterback to find a wide open Devin Hester and the third-stringer to avoid B.J. Raji and hit Matt Forte instead of throwing a game-ending pick. The calls were fine. The execution was garbage.

The best part of Rosenbloom’s piece? He advocated the promotion of Mike Tice to playcaller. Tice, you might know, oversaw the worst unit on the football team for the duration of the season. Tice, you might not know, has never called a play in a football game in his life.

The Bears must maintain every facet of this coaching staff for at least the duration of the 2011 season. They can not force Jay Cutler into his fourth offensive system in four years. They can not expect a young offensive line, young receiving corps to improve with playbook turnover every season. Look no further than the two teams playing in next week’s Super Bowl to realize the importance of system continuity and organizational faith.

The Bears were one game away from the Super Bowl with this coaching staff. These coaches proved this season they can adapt. They can change. They deserve another chance to win two more games.

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Design Your Own DaBearsBlog T-Shirt

Jeff Hughes | January 25th, 2011

Note: Super Bowl coverage, with a complete lack of enthusiasm, will begin mid-week.

We sold a lot of our various t-shirts, still available here, and would like to thank you fans for your support. We do listen to your feedback and many of you have expressed your own ideas as to what the next DaBearsBlog t-shirt design should be. So here’s what we’re thinking….

I want you each to present a t-shirt design idea and present it in the Comments section below. Feel free to debate details and re-design/improve on each other’s ideas. I’ll shuffle through make a list of three or four finalists and then you can all vote on what you’d like the shirt to be.

As an added bonus, the back of the shirt will not only include…

DABEARSBLOG.COM

2011

ChicagoNow logo

…but also include your particular handle, i.e. GPLDAN.

The only stipulation is keep it to two colors to keep printing costs down. This will be THE fan t-shirt. We’ll sell it for the same price, the symbolic $19.85.

So get to planning…

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2010 Bears Could Become 1984 Bears

Jeff Hughes | January 24th, 2011

Those of you yearning for the Bears to become a more consistent franchise, here’s a question: has any team in the NFC been consistently great over the last decade? Consistently good, even? The answer is simple. No, unless you consider Andy Reid’s inevitable postseason failings each year good. Peter King actually included an interesting tidbit in his MMQB column this week:

Winners of the championship in the 16-team NFC in the past 10 seasons:

2010 Green Bay

2009 New Orleans

2008 Arizona

2007 New York Giants

2006 Chicago

2005 Seattle

2004 Philadelphia

2003 Carolina

2002 Tampa Bay

2001 St. Louis

The NFC is wide open each year. There for the taking. And this season the Bears were a miraculous Caleb Hanie-as-Frank Reich drive away from having a shot to take their second conference title in five years. They came up short to a Green Bay Packers team that would not have made the postseason if the Eagles don’t complete an improbable comeback against the Giants and the Bucs don’t blow a lead at home to the Lions. That’s how tenuous success in the NFL can be. This loss, though, may not be the worst thing that’s ever happened to the Bears organization.

The 1984 Chicago Bears were a slightly above-mediocre 10-6 and lost in a dismal NFC Championship performance to the eventual Super Bowl champion Joe Montana and the San Francisco 49ers. They took a lashing in the media (shocker) but there was optimism in Chicago about developing defensive strength and continued excellence of Walter Payton at tailback. Chicago knew they were good. But could they become great?

The Bears are poised right now to be successful next season, especially with the CBA disputes on the horizon. 2011 will reward those teams with continuity both in the coaching staff and on the roster and the Bears will be bringing back every important performer currently on the roster. Brian Urlacher and Julius Peppers are not young but they are also nowhere near finished as top-tier performers. The remainder of the LoveRod defense showed against Aaron Rodgers once again that they are capable of being one of the top units in the sport.

They also have two other major things going for them. (1) The Jay Cutler Rallying Cry will be something we start discussing at the start of training camp. The way this organization has publicly defended him will be their first bit of motivation for the 2011 campaign. I will also be leading this brigade from the fan side. (2) Their schedule, available here, looks to be easy. I know it’s difficult to assess future opponents but the Bears got the two best teams in the AFC West (KC, SD) at home and have exceedingly winnable games against Carolina, Atlanta at home, Seattle at home, at Tampa…etc. You don’t look at this schedule and say, “Wow, that’s going to be impossible to win”. No Pittsburghs or Jets or Pats or Ravens. Eagles and Saints on road are the only “penciled” losses.

Add that the weaknesses of the Bears are easily identified – rare in this current NFL world. They need to fix the offensive line and add a big-target wide receiver. Everything else – youth at linebacker, cover corner, punter, safety depth – would be nice but are not essential moves. Offensive line and big-target receiver are the thing and the latter is not incredibly difficult with Santonio Holmes, Braylon Edwards, Vincent Jackson, Sidney Rice being available FA’s and Brandon Marshall reportedly available via trade. Spend the money. Get the weapon.

Offensive line is the issue moving forward. The only issue. If the Bears would like to commit to J’Marcus Webb at right tackle then they must find a way to put a capable player at left tackle. Chris Williams can not continue starting and performing at his current level. This unit is the team’s signature question mark and the Bears have nine months to get it fixed.

The 1984 Bears seized an opportunity. They seized upon the stains of defeat and the pains of disaster. They returned to football and became the greatest single-season football team that’s ever snapped a chinstrap. That’s a lot of pressure, I know, for this group of Chicago Bears but it must be the model by which they operate. Last season brought the elite edge rusher, new defensive mentality and offensive system. Now they need to make those adjustments that will elevate them from a good team to a great team. Offensive line. Wide receiver.

The 2011 stage is set. The play is written. They simply need to cast a few essential roles.

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Cutler & The Moronic Toughness Issue

Jeff Hughes | January 24th, 2011

Toughness, when it comes to football players, is non-negotiable. These are hundreds upon hundreds of men who earn their living, far less than the other “major” sports, running the chimney stacks they call bodies at full speed into the brick shit houses of others. Our quarterback is now being criticized by a bunch of couch-dwellers, second-guessers and newspaper men for his lack of toughness. For not coming back onto the field with what we now know was a torn MCL.

Jay Cutler was sacked more than any other player in the NFL this season. And it wasn’t close. He played valiantly behind the worst offensive line in the sport and led his team to the NFC Championship Game. My pressing concerns about Cutler are not his toughness. My concerns are his accuracy and his continually poor decision making. (Don’t watch video of Cutler’s first-half pick or Hanie’s final play pick. Both guy had Matt Forte wide open for guaranteed first downs.)

But I’m sure we’ll hear Dick Butkus on Chicago radio over the next few days, waxing poetic about the good old days when football players continued playing even when they had broken arms and dislocated pelvises. But for every Dick Butkus there’s an Earl Campbell, reduced to surgery-after-surgery to repair a back destroyed by the game. For every Butkus there’s a another name on Mike Ditka’s Gridiron Greats list. I’m not a believer in the pseudo-masculine ideology of football fans, clamoring for players to risk life and limb to win a game. These are human beings whose football lives will be over before they turn forty. What about the rest of their existence?

If you actually believe Jay Cutler could have gone onto the field yesterday and played effectively and CHOSE not to, then your criticism is warranted. But when the medical staff of a football team tells you that you’re not allowed to go on the field, you don’t go on the field. Cutler was injured. He knew he was injured. The doctors knew he was injured. NFL players can Tweet all they want about what Brett Favre would have done and they’re right. He would have played. And he would have thrown three interceptions in heavy traffic and blamed the injury in a press conference two years later.

But once again fans will do what fans do and radio hosts will do what radio hosts do. Waste their time and energy on intangible non-discussions like toughness and attitude and ignore the real issues on the football field. The “real” Cutler discussion should be about his on-field play not his sideline antics. His reluctance to put the football in Matt Forte’s hands whenever the opportunity is there. His reluctance to throw the ball away to avoid taking sacks. His insistence on throwing jump balls for Johnny Knox week-after-week even though almost every one of them gets intercepted. The conversation should about football. But it never is in Chicago.

Is Jay Cutler tough? I don’t care. Is Jay Cutler a winning quarterback? We don’t know yet. We do know that the improvement from year one to year two in Chicago was remarkable and a second year in the Mad Mike system should yield even greater rewards. All that happened yesterday was what always happens in the postseason: a team’s primary weakness was exposed and Cutler’s body finally had enough. He needs an offensive line. He needs a big ticket receiver. This is the most important offseason in a generation and everyone at Halas Hall should be working towards answering the truly important question.

Is Jay Cutler capable of winning a Super Bowl?

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Five Reasons The Bears Are Finished Playing

Jeff Hughes | January 24th, 2011

It is a game I’ll spend a few weeks thinking about, not sure quite how to wrap-up a performance so surreal and often downright bizarre. But there were several key factors leading up to the Bears loss yesterday.

Jay Cutler’s First-Half Inaccuracy. Cutler missed an open Devin Hester on two throws early and both could have resulted in touchdowns. Cutler’s decision not to throw an open screen to Matt Forte – the best offensive player in the entire game – and instead lob a soon-to-be intercepted ball to Johnny Knox was a killer.

Todd Collins Playing in the NFC title game. Maybe I haven’t been paying attention but I couldn’t believe that Collins re-jumped Caleb Hanie on the depth chart. Todd Collins stinks and this decision was inexcusably mindblowing. Hanie played with a lot of heart and showed a lot of talent but I wonder how much better he would have played if he’d gotten four quarters of action against the Pack in Week 17.

Penalties. The field position battle, specifically in the second half, was won by the Packers due to an alarming amount of penalties called against (1) Julius Peppers and (2) the entirety of the Bears secondary. It seems that every time the defense made a play to change things around, a yellow flag appeared on the field.

Brian Urlacher. Urlacher played a beautiful game for the most part but you can’t let Aaron Rodgers tackle you! You simply can’t! Not in a game like that! And you also can’t let a runner juke you on a screen pass in open field for a second-and-far-too-long conversion (and then look down like it’s the turf’s fault). Urlacher was everywhere on the field yesterday but he had an opportunity to deliver a legendary performance and he simply did not.

Tim Masthay vs. Brad Maynard. Masthay did everything right for the Packers, pinning Devin Hester to the sideline and now allowing a field-position flip at any time. Maynard was early-season Maynard, weak-legged and unreliable.

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A Wonderful Season, A Bizarre Ending

Jeff Hughes | January 23rd, 2011

If someone told you in August that Jay Cutler, Todd Collins and Caleb Hanie would each take snaps in the NFC Championship Game against the Green Bay Packers…what would you have said? I don’t know what my exact words would have been but they would have rhymed with “buck cough”.

We’ll have weeks to discuss the severity of Jay Cutler’s knee injury. Weeks to analyze Mike Martz calling an end around to Earl Bennett on a game-deciding third down. Weeks, nay months, to criticize Lovie and Mike for having Hanie behind Collins on the postseason depth chart. None of it matters now. The Bears are out of the 2010 season. That’s the truth.

I was proud today of the way the defense played. Proud of how Caleb Hanie played. Proud of this team. Maybe I’m a few yards further from understanding Cutler…maybe not. But for now…in this moment…I’ll stick with proud.

But if Jerry Angelo doens’t add a few offensive linemen this offseason, there’ll be hell to pay.

Fantasy Playoff standings on the B-side…

The Super Bowl Contestants

BigT

IrishSweetness

MikeBrownhadaPosse

Shady

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