Bears game 6: Sunday Oct. 17 vs SEA on FOX

[17 Seconds]

"bend but don't break" has always seemed like a completely [expletive] phrase/mentality to me. you're basically saying "you can suck, just try not to suck hard enough to let it cost you".

 

I think the idea is

 

1. Not to give up big plays

2. Make it take an offense a lot of plays to get into scoring position

3. More plays = more opportunities to force a turnover

4. More plays also = more opportunities to make a big play or for the offense to commit a penalty that puts them in 2nd and long or better.

 

The problem is that we can't stop them on 3rd down for the last 3 years. If we don't get any turnovers, and we can't stop them on 3rd down, bend but don't break doesn't work all that well.

 

5. leave your defense out there for a long time to get tired by having to go hard play after play as the other team slowly drives down the field

 

i know what the idea is, i just don't agree with it. then what happens when the turnovers don't come? it's amazing how many good drives are put together against us by terrible offenses. oh hey, another 12 yard gain right down the middle. it's okay though, we only bended on that one.

[Magnetic Curses]

we needed to stop blitzing because we got more pressure without it, hasselbeck isn't a dumb qb.

[Magnetic Curses]

and the amount of sacks on secondary blitzes was all on cutler.

[SpongeWorthy]

I would like an explanation on how so many DBs can come straight to the QB with no one in sight.

[UMFan83]

"bend but don't break" has always seemed like a completely [expletive] phrase/mentality to me. you're basically saying "you can suck, just try not to suck hard enough to let it cost you".

 

I think the idea is

 

1. Not to give up big plays

2. Make it take an offense a lot of plays to get into scoring position

3. More plays = more opportunities to force a turnover

4. More plays also = more opportunities to make a big play or for the offense to commit a penalty that puts them in 2nd and long or better.

 

The problem is that we can't stop them on 3rd down for the last 3 years. If we don't get any turnovers, and we can't stop them on 3rd down, bend but don't break doesn't work all that well.

 

i know what the idea is, i just don't agree with it. then what happens when the turnovers don't come? it's amazing how many good drives are put together against us by terrible offenses. oh hey, another 12 yard gain right down the middle. it's okay though, we only bended on that one.

 

That's the thing, we're supposed to have playmakers on defense to force turnovers. If the line is getting pressure, a QB like Hasselback should be throwing at least a couple of dangerous throws. If Briggs was in the game, Lynch wouldn't have been able to cut to the outside so easily and allow Seattle to establish the run. If we had a legit 3 technique DT, he would greatly help on the plays right over the middle, as well as provide pressure on the QB.

 

I don't mind the cover 2 at all. It worked awesome in 05 and 06 when we had the pieces in place (Harris the 3 technique DT, Urlacher the pro bowl MLB that can drop back with ease, Brown the above average safety who acts as a field general and can apply a big hit when someone attempts to catch the ball in the soft spot in the zone.)

 

I don't even hate the cover 2 right now when the defense has been somewhat average, and not absolutely removing us from games like last year. The problem is, it needs certain pieces to be playing up to par otherwise, a very good defensive scheme becomes a horrible looking disjointed defense that allows yards and points like they are going out of style.

Edited October 17, 2010 by UMFan83

[SpongeWorthy]

Briggs would've made a big difference.

[rawaction]

Still tied for the best record in the NFC! :blush:

[UMFan83]

Still tied for the best record in the NFC! :blush:

 

lol. It's not all negative, but considering we still have so many great teams still on our schedule, we can't give away home games against Seattle.

[Banedon]

There are a lot of issues with this team...but just to pick on one that we haven't been harping on as much...

 

Johnny Knox is a pretty terrible route runner. Dude is in the wrong place an awful lot.

[UMFan83]

There are a lot of issues with this team...but just to pick on one that we haven't been harping on as much...

 

Johnny Knox is a pretty terrible route runner. Dude is in the wrong place an awful lot.

 

I was gonna mention during the game that at least 3 times every game I see a cutler pass sail into the middle of the field 10 yards from anyone and Knox is always somewhere in the shot looking confused.

[Magnetic Curses]

There are a lot of issues with this team...but just to pick on one that we haven't been harping on as much...

 

Johnny Knox is a pretty terrible route runner. Dude is in the wrong place an awful lot.

 

I was gonna mention during the game that at least 3 times every game I see a cutler pass sail into the middle of the field 10 yards from anyone and Knox is always somewhere in the shot looking confused.

 

after one of them, they showed cutler, who clearly said "what happened? what happened?"

 

and it's not that he's a bad route-runner, he's actually a pretty good route-runner, it's just that he's a complete idiot and doesn't know which route to run.

[UMFan83]

I'm starting to think that unless the Vikings get their [expletive] together and take over the division, the North is going to be won with 9 wins. I think do to the fact that the North drew two really tough divisions this year with the afc and NFC easts, everyone has a tough schedule this year. The Vikings and packers both have slow starts this year and gb is dealing with significant injuries. The bears are probably 3rd best in the division and while I won't count them out of the race they desperately need to find a way to make that line work because it's destroying them and will be their downfall. Right now I see the Vikings and Packers finishing at 9-7 and one of them making the playoffs and the other 50/50. I think the saints and falcons should both win more than 10 games and it's probable that the loser of the NFC east between Philly, nyg and Washington will have 9+ wins.

Anywho I see the Bears at something like 8-8 or 7-9 at the end. I hope I'm wrong of course.

[Wilson A2000]

There are a lot of issues with this team...but just to pick on one that we haven't been harping on as much...

 

Johnny Knox is a pretty terrible route runner. Dude is in the wrong place an awful lot.

 

I was gonna mention during the game that at least 3 times every game I see a cutler pass sail into the middle of the field 10 yards from anyone and Knox is always somewhere in the shot looking confused.

 

after one of them, they showed cutler, who clearly said "what happened? what happened?"

 

and it's not that he's a bad route-runner, he's actually a pretty good route-runner, it's just that he's a complete idiot and doesn't know which route to run.

 

In a Martz offense, don't you have to have somewhat intelligent receivers because his plays are so complicated? Unfortunately with Hester and Knox you don't have that. I can see why Martz was only hired after everyone else said no. The Bears have the wrong line and the wrong receivers for this offense.

[UMFan83]

There are a lot of issues with this team...but just to pick on one that we haven't been harping on as much...

 

Johnny Knox is a pretty terrible route runner. Dude is in the wrong place an awful lot.

 

I was gonna mention during the game that at least 3 times every game I see a cutler pass sail into the middle of the field 10 yards from anyone and Knox is always somewhere in the shot looking confused.

 

after one of them, they showed cutler, who clearly said "what happened? what happened?"

 

and it's not that he's a bad route-runner, he's actually a pretty good route-runner, it's just that he's a complete idiot and doesn't know which route to run.

 

In a Martz offense, don't you have to have somewhat intelligent receivers because his plays are so complicated? Unfortunately with Hester and Knox you don't have that. I can see why Martz was only hired after everyone else said no. The Bears have the wrong line and the wrong receivers for this offense.

 

Yeah you do. And the whole offense is about throwing to a spot, not throwing to a receiver. So if the route is run improperly, the ball is just going to sail into no mans land most times. I'm shocked Cutler only has 3 INTs this year so far.

[Careless]

There are a lot of issues with this team...but just to pick on one that we haven't been harping on as much...

 

Johnny Knox is a pretty terrible route runner. Dude is in the wrong place an awful lot.

 

I was gonna mention during the game that at least 3 times every game I see a cutler pass sail into the middle of the field 10 yards from anyone and Knox is always somewhere in the shot looking confused.

 

after one of them, they showed cutler, who clearly said "what happened? what happened?"

 

and it's not that he's a bad route-runner, he's actually a pretty good route-runner, it's just that he's a complete idiot and doesn't know which route to run.

I was wondering today if we have the dumbest skill players in the league, on average, on offense. Cutler, Olsen, Knox, hester, and what'shisface who couldn't learn the system for however long all seem unusually prone to doing dumb things

 

No offense meant to the RBs, other TEs, and other QBs

[UMFan83]

I've honestly never followed a team quite like this, at least offensively. We look so disjointed and disfunctional, you wonder how we ever score any points at all. And then Cutler will get enough time to find someone like Forte and Knox and they will make a move in the open field and get a 40+ yard gain. And then the offense will go back to looking disjointed.

 

We came into the game dead last on 3rd down conversions and assured we would remain that way by going 0-12 today. A breakdown of those 12 third downs:

 

-10 were 3rd and 5 or worse

-12 were passing plays

-0 were running plays

-6 resulted in incompletions

-2 resulted in completions short of the stick

-4 resulted in a sack

 

That's beyond awful to go 0-12 on 3rd down, but its even worse when 33% of your 3rd downs your QB gets sacked. The majority of the time the team just looks so disjointed. I am used to seeing bad offense, but I'm used to seeing it because of poor QB play. Not that Cutler had a great game today, but the Cutler who played today could have been successful. I have never seen an offensive line as bad as this one. I never knew that offensive lines could be this bad. Have any of you witnessed a line, college or pros, that is as bad as this one? We have no running game, our QB gets sacked in like 1 out of every 4 passing attempts, our receivers don't know what routes they are running. The only good thing I can say about this offense is that they aren't turning the ball over very often.

 

So what can be done to fix this in season? Is there any way to? Is there any lineman we can find somewhere, either on another teams practice squad, or a veteran FA, or a trade target that we can do to improve the line even marginally? We have the bye week coming up after this next game, that would give the team 2 weeks to work in a new guy. Jerry has to be working the phones because he can not possibly be sitting there with his team leading the division but with an obvious season ruining deficiency and think that he doesnt need to try someone, anyone else on the line in an attempt to improve (I know, he's ignored the line for so many years, why would he start now). If he doesn't, management is going to see a team that started 3-1 last year and 4-1 this year that were ruined by glaring deficiently that was left unaddressed for so many years. That's not gonna look good on Angelo's resume.

[SpongeWorthy]

I think the expression that if you're stuck in a hole, the first thing to do is stop digging is apt here. The most we can do for the offensive line without pulling a miraculous trade out of our butt is for Martz to stop calling so many damn deep drops. We have two good pass catching backs that we're not using as safety valves. Almost every pass play takes a long time to develop with no dump offs available to Jay. I know Forte is a good receiver but it seems like he's downfield almost as often as Knox when he's not getting a hand off.

 

Plus after the first few games the screen game has been non existant. And because we can't/won't run there's no play action or bootleg element either. Why don't we get Cutler out on the perimeter to throw? Or at least get him in the shotgun so has a better look at those blindside rushing DBs. Martz is so stubborn it's unbelievable.

 

Also something needs to be done to get in 3rd and manageable instead of 3rd and 10+. I'd use wildcat on 1st and 2nd down more often. We probably won't get any big hitters out of it but we can at least fall forward for a yard or two. It makes a big difference. Plus it'd be another way for our dumb receivers to get their hands on the ball without running some complicated Martz route.

 

How many times can a DB blitz unblocked before you call a quick hitter into his vacated area? These are basic adjustments we're talking about. Martz just wants to keep attacking at all times. I respect it to a degree but it's just dumb sometimes.

[Magnetic Curses]

one of the problems is that martz doesn't employ the use of audibles and tice's protection schemes are so complicated that it's hard to change protections without altering the entire structure of the play and eliminating your safety valves entirely.

[UMFan83]

one of the problems is that martz doesn't employ the use of audibles and tice's protection schemes are so complicated that it's hard to change protections without altering the entire structure of the play and eliminating your safety valves entirely.

 

Who do you blame for that one? The one who put these mismatched coaches together. I'm sure Martz is a nice OC for someone who has the pieces, but we never should have hired Martz. We have no offensive line at all, and yet we employ an offense with deep dropbacks, no safety valves, no audibles and no adjustments. Those are the things you have to do if you have a bad offensive line to stay successful. To be honest, I'm not entirely sold that the line is that much worse than last years. The difference is last year we would at least attempt some screen passes, we could check down, we could change things at the line, etc. This year its just down the field 80% of the plays and its simply not working.

[SpongeWorthy]

Early in the game we'll come out with some exotic shift and formation change and then never do it the rest of the game. It really does seem like the play calls are pretty static once Cutler breaks the huddle. How often do you ever see him walk up to a lineman or a skill player to say something presnap? He's rarely pointing at LBs or DBs to alert the other guys on offense about certain things.

 

These days a QB needs freedom at the LOS.

[JonJayCutler]

I had to miss this game. I see the O-Line was horrible once again, but how did Cutler look in general?

 

At least the Packers lost again.

[Careless]

I had to miss this game. I see the O-Line was horrible once again, but how did Cutler look in general?

 

At least the Packers lost again.

He varied between passes that weren't close to anything, throwing to receivers that had gone in different directions, good passes, and a few badly overthrown long bombs.

[Banedon]

This is the kind of game that's hard not to overreact to. Actually, so was the Giants game, though for different reasons. I can't even decided what I want from this team. A total collapse now might not be a terrible thing, especially if a lockout is avoided. Get some high draft picks, and new front office/coaches...

 

See...told you it's hard not to overreact.

[soapy]

This is the kind of game that's hard not to overreact to. Actually, so was the Giants game, though for different reasons. I can't even decided what I want from this team. A total collapse now might not be a terrible thing, especially if a lockout is avoided. Get some high draft picks, and new front office/coaches...

 

See...told you it's hard not to overreact.

 

Sort of having the same thoughts. I went from: "Eh, they aren't terrible and as bad as the NFC has looked, they could do maybe something in the playoffs if the line just becomes mediocre." to: "Maybe this team should just nosedive so we can clean house in the front-office." in the span of about 3 hours yesterday.

[Soul]

I had to miss this game. I see the O-Line was horrible once again, but how did Cutler look in general?

 

At least the Packers lost again.

He varied between passes that weren't close to anything, throwing to receivers that had gone in different directions, good passes, and a few badly overthrown long bombs.

 

Yeah, it was a mixed bag. There was some uncharacteristic (I thought) missed throws, but he did do some good things while wading through unblocked defenders.

 

It looked like he didn't suffer another concussion - BONUS! :good:

 

That's what we've come to with this OLine. QB made it through without a hospital trip. Round of drinks on me.