SpongeWorthy

Well like I said, I'm skeptical that there are really more violent, dangerous, and unnecessary styles of tackles being done these days. People are seeing more portions of more games than ever before today. Every violent hit is diagnosed to death and put under the spotlight. So while that may encourage guys to go for the highlight tackle to end up on SportsCenter it's entirely possible that we just think there's more violent hits because we're able to see more of them because of the confluence of media and technology. YouTube Jack Tatum and tell me that guy wasn't clotheslining people or leading with the helmet in ways that would get him automatically suspended nowadays. Mark Carrier did some freaking brutal helmet to helmet shots when he was a Bear (I believe he earned a suspension or two in his day).

http://www.footballoutsiders.com/stats/wr Hester is the highest ranked Bears WR at 47th. That's a gigantic problem. Basically any passing attack who you would hope the Bears emulate has two or even three guys rated higher than any Bears receiver. If you drop back and pass enough, which the Bears did a lot, even crappy receivers are going to accumulate stats, especially with a talented QB. It's practically a mathematical certainty. Remember when McNabb was screwing around with garbage like Todd Pinkston, James Thrash, and Fredex? They put up some numbers too. But their passing attack got a lot better when they had good TO for a year and then picked up Jackson and Maclin. Same with Brady when he went from Deion Branch and Troy Brown to Moss and Welker.

Saying concussions are surely coming from a lack of proper tackling form is the sort of specious logic nutbags use to say vaccinations are causing autism in children. Our scientific understanding of the brain is in is infancy but it's worlds better than what it was just 10 years ago. I mean how often were concussions being quickly diagnosed on the sidelines in the 60s? Or the days of leather helmets? We're seeing more concussions because we can diagnose them better and it's considered more of a problem because we understand the linkages between brain injuries and dementia, Parkinsons, etc. Also the players are just bigger and faster: F = ma and all that.

Hester is worse than almost every other starting #1 WR in the NFL and worse than most #2s on good passing attacks. He's very substantially worse than Harvin as well.

I really don't think killshotting DBs are any more in style now than they've ever been. Guys like Tatum, Lott, Carrier, Atwater, etc. did things on the field that would routinely be called as penalties nowadays. The focus/fear of concussions comes from bigger/faster players, better diagnosis, and a better understanding of the long term impact of them.

I'm highly doubtful that you can significantly curb leading with your head without basically basically destroying the defenses ability to tackle. You're taught to lead with your shoulder and wrap up from pee wee football...it's inevitable that your head is going to contact the ball carrier a lot.

Not when compared to offensive guard, tackle, backup RB, defensive line, safety and corner. Not when faced with a weak FA class and a shortage of draft picks. At this point, there's no harm in letting what we have play for another year. It's not completely known if it was the WRs that led to the issues in the passing game. Maybe it was the offensive line not giving Cutler time. Maybe it was the lack of a run game that allowed teams to play more defenders in coverage. Maybe it was Ron Turner's offensive scheme. Maybe it was Aromashodu not getting a chance before the last 4 weeks, or Hester being played out of position as the #1 WR, or having a talented WR like Iglesias sit the bench. I just think that with your 2 biggest, and arguably most talented WRs, not getting much of a chance and the clear upgrade in offensive coordinators; you have to see if the young guys developed unless you get a true stud for next to nothing. The Bears can't trade for anyone. They aren't going to draft a stud WR with no picks in the top 70. Might as well see what you have in your group of WRs with less than 1 year field experience than use valuable resources on a WR. I'll grant you offensive line. I still think the WRs were [expletive] brutal last year (unquestionably worse than Cutler's pass protection) but yes, a huge area of concern. Backup RB is never more important than the WR corps. Defensive line I'm not as down on. I actually do think Marinelli improved things there. When Harris shows up, they're a decent unit and we still have some youth there. Secondary is the biggest concern on defense but I wouldn't put it over WRs. And I'm not disputing that there really isn't much alternative to hoping the young guys develop at WR but they MUST. We simply can't expect to be a good offense with terrible WR play. If there's a real talent to add there it needs to be done. Also, Earl Bennett isn't good. I wouldn't expect much him to turn into much.

I've never heard anyone characterize the ND sanctions as anything but very minor. 2 years probation, 2 total scholarships lost, no postseason ban, no vacated wins. And Kim Dunbar was a registered ND booster.

You really think there is a potential #1 on the roster? Based on what? I mean there's one by default but that's about it. The receiver play was horrible this year. WR needs to be a big priority. You can't just plug and play with any guy off the scrap heap...you need true difference makers not average WRs who only put numbers up because hell, someone has to catch the ball.

WR isn't a priority?

This is just vague hand waving and meaningless rhetoric. What do "sending a message", "token effort", and "coming down really light" even mean? It is a convenient way of giving yourself wiggle room to criticize whatever penalties come down as being too lenient though. and lets be honest, no college fb fan really wants the NCAA to really promote amateurism. The just want it enforced at schools who do better then the team they cheer for i'd like a level playing field. there are rules in place and if the school i root for chooses to abide by those rules, i don't want school to suffer competitively because other schools are looking the other way and letting their athletes get houses and cars and money. if that's going to happen and you're not going to enforce the rules, then just get rid of them altogether and let schools pay athletes whatever they want. If you were so concerned about a level playing field you'd just have every athlete who met some minimum academic requirement be in a pool of players and we'd have a draft. The entire recruiting process is sort of based on the idea that the playing field isn't level isn't it? That's true whether everyone is following the rules or not.

This is just vague hand waving and meaningless rhetoric. What do "sending a message", "token effort", and "coming down really light" even mean? It is a convenient way of giving yourself wiggle room to criticize whatever penalties come down as being too lenient though.

It's not really the perfect coaching job if the NCAA hammers them is it? And Carroll was never going to stick around forever. He's not Paterno. He openly talked about how he would only go to the NFL if he had total control. Now he has that on a West Coast city, he's making $2 million more per year, and he gets another shot at the NFL. I doubt whatever's coming down the pike from the NCAA had that much to do with it.

And yet Miles has as many national championships as coach as LSU as Carroll won at USC. Well I disagree but I don't really have the energy to rehash that pointless discussion. I will admit that Les Miles has more or as many national titles as many, many coaches that he is much worse than. He's a horrible in game coach that makes perposterously stupid decisions. The Ole Miss game was no isolated incident it's just that in past years he was bailed out with luck. And there are plenty of Tigers fans who wouldn't disagree with that.

Another major difference is that LSU actually benefits from anything that could conceivably get Les Miles fired more quickly.

Less important to whom? Aren't we talking about the football program here? The Tim Floyd stuff is more important to whatever punishment the NCAA hands down on the football program than the Reggie Bush stuff? That doesn't sound reasonable.

The Onion couldn't get away with running that headline. That HAS to be some kind of joke. It just can't possibly be a real rumor. Someone in the FO is leaking it as a gag. ...I can't get over how perposterous that sounds.

They? USC isn't under investigation for buying Reggie Bush a house and/or car. They're under investigation for not knowing an agent with no connection to the school put Bush's parents up in a fairly expensive house in San Diego and provided some other luxuries to his family. But since you're under that misapprehension I can see why you think they would deserve more than a few lost scholarships. This isn't a situation where a USC booster gave Bush's parents a bunch of crap to get him to go to USC. It was a potential agent plying his parents with stuff so Bush would sign with him. You could argue that they had a very vested interest in getting Bush to leave school early (and Bush would've left early regardless because his stock really couldn't have gone any higher). I don't see how the program gains a competitive advantage that way. All these years and I've never heard a single valid explanation as to why USC gained something from the Bush situation unless you really believe that knowing his parents lived in a relatively nice house in San Diego made him play better than he otherwise would have.

What do you define as a slap on the wrist? The way some of you guys talk, it's death penalty or the NCAA was in cahoots with USC.

I stomached a little of that Bears/Colts replay last night. The first drive of the 2nd half, Indy controls the ball for ~8 minutes and kicks a field goal to go up 19-14. They pooch kick to around the 33 on the kickoff. Bears get a first down and then a 9 yard gain to Moose to set themselves up with a 2nd and 1 inside Indy territory. Next play is an 11 yard sack where Garza literally is rooted in place while the DT makes a spin move around him and then Rex takes another 10+ yard sack after a bobbled snap with Kreutz. I turned it off after that.

That's part of it. Outside of the obvious good ones (Phil, Popovich, Brown, etc.) NBA coaches are recycled so often that I'm skeptical of how much they really matter. The roster just doesn't mesh around Rose's talents very well and that's on Pax. But if he can move Hinrich/Salmons for cap relief without totally putting the season in the tank (Ray Allen plz) it will hopefully be worth it.

Shareef AbLuke RaHarangody

On the bright side, Rose attempted 10 free throws for I think the 2nd or 3rd time in his career. More of that.

Another loss to a bottom feeder. [expletive] Vinny letting the team relax and take its foot off the pedal once the schedule eased up. Why didn't Tyrus play more tonight? He got 12 minutes according to the box score and Gibson was totally ineffective so wtf.

A glimmer of hope.