2011 Bears Offseason thread

[Guest]

I could reasonably grade them with the C/C- if they were strapped for cash this offseason. That they had a ton of money to spend this offseason, and that is all they have to show for it makes it a D. Maybe even a D-.

 

I'm really worried that we will look back on this offseason with what could have been.

[UMFan83]

I could reasonably grade them with the C/C- if they were strapped for cash this offseason. That they had a ton of money to spend this offseason, and that is all they have to show for it makes it a D. Maybe even a D-.

 

I'm really worried that we will look back on this offseason with what could have been.

 

It's not like they spent their money on the players they got though. They still have a ton of it and there are still players out there.

[jersey cubs fan]

Eh, a D seems a little low. I'd say a C/C-. The thing is, the Bears took a lot of high risk/high reward gambles IMO. If one of Roy Williams, Gholston, or Okoye randomly live up to their potential, or even turn into average starters all the sudden the Bears had an good offseason.

 

The only reason it's not an F is because it hasn't ended yet. Those high risk high reward guys probably aren't nearly as high a reward as we hope they can be. The fact is they needed "known quantities" at a couple spots. The team doesn't suck, but this free agency period did. It reminds me of the post Super Bowl draft which was a disaster - a whole bunch of a cocky "yeah yeah yeah, we don't care what you think we know football players and how to coach them" that blew up in their faces. There's something to be said for finding steals, but those should be the icing on the cake, and the Bears didn't bother to bake a cake this summer.

[sneakypower]

Eh, a D seems a little low. I'd say a C/C-. The thing is, the Bears took a lot of high risk/high reward gambles IMO. If one of Roy Williams, Gholston, or Okoye randomly live up to their potential, or even turn into average starters all the sudden the Bears had an good offseason.

 

ESPN's grade:

 

Analysis: A lot of names, but there really isn't a lot to see here, folks. Adding Williams makes a lot of sense. Despite extreme inconsistency in Dallas -- including a ton of drops -- Williams and Mike Martz do have a successful history together. I actually expect Williams to lead this team in receiving this season. Despite continued needs on the offensive line, the Bears did little to help themselves in that area. Spencer isn't a significant upgrade from Kreutz, who I felt was declining. Spencer is extremely inconsistent and has never lived up to his physical abilities. Re-signing Adams should help in the defensive trenches, but I view him as a below-average starting defensive tackle. It would be very easy to overlook the additions of Okoye and Golston, two first-round busts. But there is a lot of talent with these two and Chicago's exceptional defensive line coach, Rod Marinelli, might just be able to get one of them to reach his vast potential. If not, the Bears didn't invest much. Chester Taylor has been a disaster in a Bears uniform, which is why Barber was brought in to challenge him as Matt Forte's backup. The Bears are having a lot of turnover at tight end, but Spaeth really isn't much of a blocker or weapon in the passing game. Iwuh and Graham have their niche with the team and bringing them back was wise.

Grade: C-

 

Key additions: Roy Williams, Anthony Adams (re-signed), Chris Spencer, Corey Graham (re-signed), Amobi Okoye, Marion Barber, Brian Iwuh (re-signed), Matt Spaeth, Vernon Gholston, Adam Podlesh

Key losses: Greg Olsen, Tommie Harris, Olin Kreutz, Devin Aromashodu

 

I'm amused that Aromashadu is a key loss, but Manning gets no mention.

i'm amused that he thinks Marinelli is exceptional at anything, besides sounding like a jackass when he speaks

[rawaction]

Eh, a D seems a little low. I'd say a C/C-. The thing is, the Bears took a lot of high risk/high reward gambles IMO. If one of Roy Williams, Gholston, or Okoye randomly live up to their potential, or even turn into average starters all the sudden the Bears had an good offseason.

 

The only reason it's not an F is because it hasn't ended yet. Those high risk high reward guys probably aren't nearly as high a reward as we hope they can be. The fact is they needed "known quantities" at a couple spots. The team doesn't suck, but this free agency period did. It reminds me of the post Super Bowl draft which was a disaster - a whole bunch of a cocky "yeah yeah yeah, we don't care what you think we know football players and how to coach them" that blew up in their faces. There's something to be said for finding steals, but those should be the icing on the cake, and the Bears didn't bother to bake a cake this summer.

 

Very good articulation and analogy.

 

This is exactly the same as 2007. The Bears think they can win again with "their guys". Whether that is the guys that have been here all along, the guys they drafted that many thought were reaches (Conte this year; Bazuin, Wolfe, etc. in 2007 draft), highly drafted guys they think were miscast that they think can fit in their genius scheme (Okoye, Gholston this year; Jimmy Kennedy 2007), or the guys that played well for members of the staff in the distant past (Roy Williams this year; Archuleta in 2007). Hope it works out better this time.

[Soul]

Eh, a D seems a little low. I'd say a C/C-. The thing is, the Bears took a lot of high risk/high reward gambles IMO. If one of Roy Williams, Gholston, or Okoye randomly live up to their potential, or even turn into average starters all the sudden the Bears had an good offseason.

 

The only reason it's not an F is because it hasn't ended yet. Those high risk high reward guys probably aren't nearly as high a reward as we hope they can be. The fact is they needed "known quantities" at a couple spots. The team doesn't suck, but this free agency period did. It reminds me of the post Super Bowl draft which was a disaster - a whole bunch of a cocky "yeah yeah yeah, we don't care what you think we know football players and how to coach them" that blew up in their faces. There's something to be said for finding steals, but those should be the icing on the cake, and the Bears didn't bother to bake a cake this summer.

 

Very good articulation and analogy.

 

This is exactly the same as 2007. The Bears think they can win again with "their guys". Whether that is the guys that have been here all along, the guys they drafted that many thought were reaches (Conte this year; Bazuin, Wolfe, etc. in 2007 draft), highly drafted guys they think were miscast that they think can fit in their genius scheme (Okoye, Gholston this year; Jimmy Kennedy 2007), or the guys that played well for members of the staff in the distant past (Roy Williams this year; Archuleta in 2007). Hope it works out better this time.

 

I do, too.

 

I'm not cutting them slack for it, but with the short period of FA, I'm thinking Angelo might be better off waiting until he can think things through. He's not the quickest mind in football.

 

Man the Eagles just raped.

[tfarks]

So the 49ers got Braylon Edwards for 1 yr 3.5 mil? Seems like a missed opportunity

[ConstableRabbit]

So the 49ers got Braylon Edwards for 1 yr 3.5 mil? Seems like a missed opportunity

Add it to the list.

[ConstableRabbit]

Just stumbled on this blog from Bears Camp 2008.

 

There are some pretty great gems in there. One that makes me shiver at what we used to have to deal with:

 

Orton struggled a lot today, over and under throwing his targets. As of Sunday, I would say Grossman is leading the QB race by a slight margin.

[JonJayCutler]

Honest question, if the Bears signed a better option at guard (if there are any left) before the start of the season, would people feel better about the FA period? Other than that and signing someone like Edwards or Floyd over Roy Williams, what else could they have done differently? I think we owe them the benefit of the doubt for now on the Olsen deal. Who else got away? Umenyiora?

 

I hate to sound like the coaches and front office, but this was already a top three team in the NFC going into the FA period. The Eagles got better, but I don't think anyone else leapfrogged the Bears.

[UMFan83]

I hate to sound like the coaches and front office, but this was already a top three team in the NFC going into the FA period. The Eagles got better, but I don't think anyone else leapfrogged the Bears.

 

Thats a bad excuse though. They had 30+ million to spend in FA. The way the NFL works, you need as much talent and depth as you can possibly get because things change in a hurry. And lets not pretend the Bears were not without glaring flaws despite going to the NFC title game.

[JonJayCutler]

I hate to sound like the coaches and front office, but this was already a top three team in the NFC going into the FA period. The Eagles got better, but I don't think anyone else leapfrogged the Bears.

 

Thats a bad excuse though. They had 30+ million to spend in FA. The way the NFL works, you need as much talent and depth as you can possibly get because things change in a hurry. And lets not pretend the Bears were not without glaring flaws despite going to the NFC title game.

 

Well this is what I'm getting at. People are unhappy that we're still so far under the cap, so who could we have spent that money on? Edwards in addition to Roy Williams? Zach Miller? Sounds like we made respectable efforts to land Willie Colon and Osi but they didn't work out. I don't think we did THAT bad. I'd probably give us a C+ or B- as it stands right now. I'm higher on Williams and lower on Olsen than most people, however.

 

If we end up signing a decent guard or someone better than Webb to play LT I'd probably give them a solid B.

[WrigleyField 22]

I'm not angry that they didn't spend all their cap space. You look at the most successful franchises and they build through the draft, spending to retain those players and then adding in free agents or trades as needed.

 

Other than not getting a top notch OL, I can't fault them for what they did. There were some good players, but no one like a Peppers. Osi Umenyiora via trade would be the best thing they could do, and who knows maybe that still happens.

 

My complaints on the Bears management is on many other things than this FA period.

[cubbyvirus00]

I've changed my stance in regards to this FA period. After hearing and reading about Edwards, I feel not only was he overrated but he's a headache waiting to happen. We're talking about a guy who has his share of drops and stupid plays.

 

If anything my complaint is that the Bears didn't completely shore up their O-line. But maybe with Tice working on this squad for two seasons and hoping that some of these guys have progressed, maybe he feels that some of these young players will take the next step?

[BigSlick]

I've changed my stance in regards to this FA period. After hearing and reading about Edwards, I feel not only was he overrated but he's a headache waiting to happen. We're talking about a guy who has his share of drops and stupid plays.

 

If anything my complaint is that the Bears didn't completely shore up their O-line. But maybe with Tice working on this squad for two seasons and hoping that some of these guys have progressed, maybe he feels that some of these young players will take the next step?

I've become single-minded. I almost don't care at all about getting a depth chart of linebackers, or how our safeties are going to look, or who's going to play wide receiver. There remains only one thing I care about. Fix the damn o-line. It screams out to me. How could it not? It was the main weakness of the team for the past 2 seasons. It cost game after game, and still its there. It is a specter hanging over this team, yet the people (the man? Martz has said publicly he'd like more bodies in camp) continues to ignore it. We have money. We have cap space.

 

It boggles the mind. Just sign someone that can play. Anyone that can play guard at a professional level. I have seen nothing that guarantees that Chris Williams can do that. Why not? You have the money, the worst thing that happens is the guy rides the bench and is good depth. Or is it pride? Is it admitting that your 1st round pick can't play Tackle, can't play Guard, and can't really do much of anything for you?

 

Why play with fire again, Angelo?

[Banedon]

Cutler on Roy Williams:

 

"Bringing a big receiver in here, a big-name guy, and asking him to start completely from zero was going to be hard, especially with the amount of time we have," Cutler said. "He's familiar with the offense, he's familiar with Mike (Martz), he knows what we're trying to get accomplished out here, so it's not going to take long to step up."

 

It makes me wonder if, rightly or wrongly, this was the Bears thinking with free agency. I wonder if they were worried that free agents wouldn't have time to learn the things they'd need to learn, and that they might be better of spending big on free agents next year?

[jersey cubs fan]

I think we owe them the benefit of the doubt for now on the Olsen deal. Who else got away?

 

This front office has been so hit or miss that I don't think they deserve any sort of benefit of the doubt. The Super Bowl season, built on the strength of a defense (two of the biggest stars came from the previous regime) was a tremendous opportunity to build longterm success. They were easily the most talented team in the NFC that year, and it went to crap in one offseason. 3 years of stagnant mediocrity ate away much of the goodwill. The Cutler and Peppers acquisitions were huge highlights (partially obscured by horribly overpaid Taylor and Manumaleuna), but they are only 18-14 the last two years. And their TE mess they've created in the past year adds to the doubt.

 

In my opinion this group is still in the show me stage. I gave them the benefit of the doubt 4 years ago and need to see more before doing it again.

[jersey cubs fan]

I hate to sound like the coaches and front office, but this was already a top three team in the NFC going into the FA period.

 

You will have a hard time finding support for that theory.

[jersey cubs fan]

Cutler on Roy Williams:

 

"Bringing a big receiver in here, a big-name guy, and asking him to start completely from zero was going to be hard, especially with the amount of time we have," Cutler said. "He's familiar with the offense, he's familiar with Mike (Martz), he knows what we're trying to get accomplished out here, so it's not going to take long to step up."

 

It makes me wonder if, rightly or wrongly, this was the Bears thinking with free agency. I wonder if they were worried that free agents wouldn't have time to learn the things they'd need to learn, and that they might be better of spending big on free agents next year?

 

That's all fine and dandy when it comes to bringing in a QB or new starting middle linebacker. But the defense isn't exactly scheme heavy requiring learning, and a pass rusher rushes the QB. Regardless of whether or not they wanted to coach them this month, an offensive lineman was needed.

 

I didn't expect them to go all Philly and acquire pro bowl starters everywhere, or Miami looking for names. But they needed something.

[Guest]

I think the defense is better going into this season. I think the special teams is better going into this season. I think Roy Williams adds enough to the receiver corps and Barber is an upgrade to Taylor, potentially making the running backs and the receivers as an upgrade. Cutler is back and has another year under his belt, which could be considered an upgrade.

 

There is the potential to say that the line is an upgrade with a full year of Webb, guys moved around to positions that suit them better and a young stud in Carimi being added to the line.

 

However, there was a tremendous weakness, and not even an argument that the worst offensive line in the entire game was lining up in front of Jay Cutler. There were two things that absolutely needed to happen this offseason. Improvements on the OLine and depth on the starting line was an absolute must. One of the biggest deterrents of a pass rush against a weak offensive line is a couple of receivers that can make you pay for focusing on the pass rush. The receiver corps was the other weakness. The Bears need guys who can get open and open now.

 

Jay Cutler, taking the pounding he received last year, deserved tons of focus on improving the offensive line this offseason. Maybe Roy Williams would have been enough at receiver if they strengthened the line more. And I really have no idea what to expect at TE this year. I don't really know what their plan is. As it stands, as weird as the Des Clark signing is, he might be the best of the group in camp. But, it does play into the concept of bringing in guys that know the system.

 

As far as best three in the league last year or going into this year, they are a step below the Packers in their own division and probably about even with the Vikings, making it rather laughable that they are considered a top 3 team in the league. So many things went right for us last year. #1 thing that went right is Cutler was tough enough to withstand the beating he took for most of the season and only missed about a game and a half with a concussion. Actually two games if you count the NFC championship game where he had to be replaced due to injury. How good is this team is Caleb Hanie is calling the snaps most of the season when the OLine again allows Jay Cutler to be abused on nearly every play?

[Banedon]

First Bears preseason game is a week from tomorrow.

[SouthSideRyan]

Whoop-de-[expletive]

[jersey cubs fan]

I think the defense is better going into this season. I think the special teams is better going into this season.

 

A large part of the reason why the Bears special teams has been an advantage is because of their return game. The value of that has been decreased due to rules changes on kick offs and they are without Manning, one of their best returners who helped take the load off of Hester. They may have a better punter, but that improvement is going to be incremental at best, and I doubt it overshadows the relative decline in advantage they've had from the return game.

[Guest]

I hope they don't go with Webb at LT.

 

Are there any decent guard options available still?

[Banedon]

I hope they don't go with Webb at LT.

 

Are there any decent guard options available still?

 

Brian Waters. Maybe Shawn Andrews.