2009 Chicago Bears offseason

[Prizefight]

Orton was boo'ed by a record training camp crowd in Denver.

 

http://www.chicitysports.com/2009/08/06/orton-booed-by-fans/

 

I know this is borderline NFL offseason and not Bears, but I figured he was traded.

 

 

Anyways, I feel terrible for the guy. He has so little chance to suceed there. They don't have a solid running game/special teams/defense to allow him to just be the 'game manger' Maybe after Denver gets rid of him we can bring him back to backup Cutler, Kyle would be a very solid #2

[David]

The Broncos DO have a run game (their rushing numbers, despite having to split the carries quite a bit among a few RBs, were good - and Moreno only improves that). Just needed to clear that misconception that keeps getting repeated. No, the Broncos didn't have one guy like Forte who carried the load, but they definitely had a very productive run game. You don't score that much without one.

 

 

As far as Orton goes, I never liked him so whatever. Don't know why he got treated so much better here than Grossman when he was just as bad, if not worse.

[cubweiser03]

TC buzz is starting to wear off for me a bit. Im ready for some game action. I want to see all this talk about the dline in action against another team, as well as all the other stuff that is getting the attention this camp.

 

Rivers and Culter, splitting hairs if i do say. Rivers is 2 years older and is wasnt until last year you could say he was prolific, the previous 2 he was good to very good. Manning, well his offense took a crap the last 5 games last year without Plax, im very curious to see how he performs without him, Plax was a lot of that passing offense. I dont really worry about how much Cutler will get paid in 3+ years anyway. It doesnt seem to slow down the best teams if football who pay their qb top dollar. The Bears will have plenty of room.

[David]

TC buzz is starting to wear off for me a bit. Im ready for some game action. I want to see all this talk about the dline in action against another team, as well as all the other stuff that is getting the attention this camp.

 

Me too. I'm still keeping up with the news but I'm not nearly as excited... I need a game to look forward to.... even then, I'm not THAT enthused about the preseason games (except for getting to take a look at a few players in particular). I want that SNF game @ Lambeau and then I want that home opener vs. the defending champs to happen already. What a way to start the season.

[Soul]

TC buzz is starting to wear off for me a bit. Im ready for some game action. I want to see all this talk about the dline in action against another team, as well as all the other stuff that is getting the attention this camp.

 

Me too. I'm still keeping up with the news but I'm not nearly as excited... I need a game to look forward to.... even then, I'm not THAT enthused about the preseason games (except for getting to take a look at a few players in particular). I want that SNF game @ Lambeau and then I want that home opener vs. the defending champs to happen already. What a way to start the season.

 

I'm a little worried about that game.

 

A couple more weeks of basking in the Cutler glow sounds good to me, much as I am excited for the season.

[Banedon]

TC buzz is starting to wear off for me a bit. Im ready for some game action. I want to see all this talk about the dline in action against another team, as well as all the other stuff that is getting the attention this camp.

 

Me too. I'm still keeping up with the news but I'm not nearly as excited... I need a game to look forward to.... even then, I'm not THAT enthused about the preseason games (except for getting to take a look at a few players in particular). I want that SNF game @ Lambeau and then I want that home opener vs. the defending champs to happen already. What a way to start the season.

 

I'm a little worried about that game.

 

A couple more weeks of basking in the Cutler glow sounds good to me, much as I am excited for the season.

 

I'm not worried about that game. They'll be playing a entirely new defense that will be getting it's first real game action. I think it's gonna be fun.

[Soul]

TC buzz is starting to wear off for me a bit. Im ready for some game action. I want to see all this talk about the dline in action against another team, as well as all the other stuff that is getting the attention this camp.

 

Me too. I'm still keeping up with the news but I'm not nearly as excited... I need a game to look forward to.... even then, I'm not THAT enthused about the preseason games (except for getting to take a look at a few players in particular). I want that SNF game @ Lambeau and then I want that home opener vs. the defending champs to happen already. What a way to start the season.

 

I'm a little worried about that game.

 

A couple more weeks of basking in the Cutler glow sounds good to me, much as I am excited for the season.

 

I'm not worried about that game. They'll be playing a entirely new defense that will be getting it's first real game action. I think it's gonna be fun.

 

That's true. I'm concerned about Bears CB's being out for that game, and GB's passing game. I didn't really think about the fact that GB will be running 3-4 for the first time, and they will have never seen the Bears' offense or Cutler.

 

Which brings up an interesting point. The Bears will be facing more 3-4 because of the Packers, but acquiring Cutler would seem to be a good answer to that, because he has seen that defensive alignment quite a bit in the AFC.

[Banedon]

Which brings up an interesting point. The Bears will be facing more 3-4 because of the Packers, but acquiring Cutler would seem to be a good answer to that, because he has seen that defensive alignment quite a bit in the AFC.

 

In his interview with Mulley and Hanley the other day, he guessed that he might have seen more 3-4 than 4-3.

[jersey cubs fan]

Which brings up an interesting point. The Bears will be facing more 3-4 because of the Packers, but acquiring Cutler would seem to be a good answer to that, because he has seen that defensive alignment quite a bit in the AFC.

 

In his interview with Mulley and Hanley the other day, he guessed that he might have seen more 3-4 than 4-3.

 

Did he guess if he received more marriage proposals from men or women?

[RedFlash]

The Broncos DO have a run game (their rushing numbers, despite having to split the carries quite a bit among a few RBs, were good - and Moreno only improves that). Just needed to clear that misconception that keeps getting repeated. No, the Broncos didn't have one guy like Forte who carried the load, but they definitely had a very productive run game. You don't score that much without one.

 

Well having Cutler at QB and Marshall, Royal, and Scheffler at WR and TE had prolly a lot to do with the running game being productive. Teams couldn't load up in the box, which means Denver's running game space to work, and event hen Denver's "leading rusher" was a full-back and he had 343 yards. My guess is defenses are going to try to make Orton beat them in 2009, and take Moreno out of the equation.

 

As far as Orton goes, I never liked him so whatever. Don't know why he got treated so much better here than Grossman when he was just as bad, if not worse.

 

I liked Orton, but I liked him better as a BACKUP QB.

[Soul]

As far as Orton goes, I never liked him so whatever. Don't know why he got treated so much better here than Grossman when he was just as bad, if not worse.

 

He didn't seem to string together 3, 4 INTs quickly. Which Grossman did. I think that will end a QB's relationship with Bear fans pretty quick.

 

Also, they called for Orton. They booed Rex to get Orton on the field. It would be nauseatingly hypocritical if they then called for Orton's head right away. They had to give him some rope.

 

Overall though, I do think Orton's '08 was better than what Rex was going to do post 1st half of '06. Once Rex went down, there was no way back. Not with our coaching staff being unable to break him out of it, and not with the fans throwing death threats his way. He was done once he had those bad games and the fans turned on him. We just didn't know it for a year or so.

[Hairyducked Idiot]

Orton didn't have Rex's arm strength.

 

If you have certain natural talents, everybody assumes it's some moral failing if you are bad. Sort of like how people assume that a pitcher who throws hard but has no control must be mentally weak, as if control wasn't a natural ability too.

[Soul]

I think this picture from the front page of chicagobears.com is great:

 

http://i198.photobucket.com/albums/aa250/soulschizm/Marinelli1.jpg

[Butterscup1679666578]

Hester won't be returning any kicks this year

 

http://sports.yahoo.com/nfl/news;_ylt=AoJ6gcFlOhC5Y8yRSUrvM11DubYF?slug=ap-bears-hester&prov=ap&type=lgns

[Soul]

Hester won't be returning any kicks this year

 

http://sports.yahoo.com/nfl/news;_ylt=AoJ6gcFlOhC5Y8yRSUrvM11DubYF?slug=ap-bears-hester&prov=ap&type=lgns

 

Manning had the highest avg return last year. I'm comfortable with him doing the KRs this year. Hester spent most of the season running backwards. They had to do something.

[David]

As far as Orton goes, I never liked him so whatever. Don't know why he got treated so much better here than Grossman when he was just as bad, if not worse.

 

He didn't seem to string together 3, 4 INTs quickly. Which Grossman did. I think that will end a QB's relationship with Bear fans pretty quick.

 

Also, they called for Orton. They booed Rex to get Orton on the field. It would be nauseatingly hypocritical if they then called for Orton's head right away. They had to give him some rope.

 

Overall though, I do think Orton's '08 was better than what Rex was going to do post 1st half of '06. Once Rex went down, there was no way back. Not with our coaching staff being unable to break him out of it, and not with the fans throwing death threats his way. He was done once he had those bad games and the fans turned on him. We just didn't know it for a year or so.

 

They booed Orton off the field after the first half vs. Atlanta and gave a standing O when Rex came in...

 

As for the picks, Orton threw plenty of bad INTs...the reason he didn't throw more was because they called a much more conservative game plan for him... and FWIW, I'll take Rex's 06 (and he still had 4 100 rated games and 2 80's out of 10 games after the AZ game) over Orton's 08, overall ratings be damned. It just so happened that Rex had 2 or 3 super horrendous (like ratings of 0 and 1) games that made his numbers look worse, including one in a completely meaningless game (plus he it was NYE and stuff ;) ).

Edited August 8, 2009 by David

[David]

but we have Jay Cutler now so screw both those crappy dudes.

[David]

Orton didn't have Rex's arm strength.

 

If you have certain natural talents, everybody assumes it's some moral failing if you are bad. Sort of like how people assume that a pitcher who throws hard but has no control must be mentally weak, as if control wasn't a natural ability too.

 

 

This makes sense although it's still unfair to Grossman given the fact that he had some pretty significant physical limitations that made it harder for him to be great. But I agree.

[Soul]

As far as Orton goes, I never liked him so whatever. Don't know why he got treated so much better here than Grossman when he was just as bad, if not worse.

 

He didn't seem to string together 3, 4 INTs quickly. Which Grossman did. I think that will end a QB's relationship with Bear fans pretty quick.

 

Also, they called for Orton. They booed Rex to get Orton on the field. It would be nauseatingly hypocritical if they then called for Orton's head right away. They had to give him some rope.

 

Overall though, I do think Orton's '08 was better than what Rex was going to do post 1st half of '06. Once Rex went down, there was no way back. Not with our coaching staff being unable to break him out of it, and not with the fans throwing death threats his way. He was done once he had those bad games and the fans turned on him. We just didn't know it for a year or so.

 

They booed Orton off the field after the first half vs. Atlanta and gave a standing O when Rex came in...

 

As for the picks, Orton threw plenty of bad INTs...the reason he didn't throw more was because they called a much more conservative game plan for him... and FWIW, I'll take Rex's 06 (and he still had 4 100 rated games and 2 80's out of 10 games) over Orton's 08, ratings be damned. It just so happened that Rex had 2 or 3 super horrendous (like ratings of 0 and 1) games that made his numbers look worse, including one in a completely meaningless game (plus he it was NYE and stuff ;) ).

 

That was in '05. Doesn't count.

[David]

As far as Orton goes, I never liked him so whatever. Don't know why he got treated so much better here than Grossman when he was just as bad, if not worse.

 

He didn't seem to string together 3, 4 INTs quickly. Which Grossman did. I think that will end a QB's relationship with Bear fans pretty quick.

 

Also, they called for Orton. They booed Rex to get Orton on the field. It would be nauseatingly hypocritical if they then called for Orton's head right away. They had to give him some rope.

 

Overall though, I do think Orton's '08 was better than what Rex was going to do post 1st half of '06. Once Rex went down, there was no way back. Not with our coaching staff being unable to break him out of it, and not with the fans throwing death threats his way. He was done once he had those bad games and the fans turned on him. We just didn't know it for a year or so.

 

They booed Orton off the field after the first half vs. Atlanta and gave a standing O when Rex came in...

 

As for the picks, Orton threw plenty of bad INTs...the reason he didn't throw more was because they called a much more conservative game plan for him... and FWIW, I'll take Rex's 06 (and he still had 4 100 rated games and 2 80's out of 10 games) over Orton's 08, ratings be damned. It just so happened that Rex had 2 or 3 super horrendous (like ratings of 0 and 1) games that made his numbers look worse, including one in a completely meaningless game (plus he it was NYE and stuff ;) ).

 

That was in '05. Doesn't count.

 

 

lol

 

 

and d'oh... that should've read 4 100 rated games and 2 80's after Arizona... obviously he had more 100 games than that.

[minnesotacubsfan]

'05 doesnt count?

[Soul]

Yeah. My argument starts in '06. :mrgreen:

[ELCABALLO45]

Bears 17

Packers 31

 

Cutler 19-33, 220 yds 1td 4int

 

:-"

[RedFlash]

Bears 17

Packers 31

 

Cutler 19-33, 220 yds 1td 4int

 

:-"

 

:rotfl:

 

Good one, El.

[UMFan83]

I liked Orton when he was here. I liked him coming out of college, I liked how he performed as a super conservative game manager in 05 (although lets face it he was severely limited in 05 and the defense was the only reason that the strategy worked a la Flacco in Baltimore last year), I liked how he turned into the bearded drunk while he was in 3rd QB exile while secretly working on his game, and I loved how he came out of the gates last season. You can blame it on the ankle injury, and obviously his numbers declined after that injury, but something caused him to greatly regress as the season went on. In the first part he was really playing smart, rarely made a bad decision and worked with his limitations. The season half he looked like Rex Grossman at times, just throwing the ball into the defense and later claiming he didn't see the LB right in front of his face. Was it the ankle injury or was it defenses scheming him properly or both? Who knows, but whatever it was he did well enough to get this team to 9-7 despite a mediocre defense and recieving corps.