SpongeWorthy

Really awful first half for Oregon. For some reason they decided to turn Masoli into Chase Daniel instead of running their usual spread stuff featuring Johnson and Blount. They're really lucky they're within 10.

Oregon's defense is god awful so far.

He's also been the head coach of some historically inept defenses.

Holmgren too maybe? I'd love to see Shanahan given the moon and full control over the offense, but I doubt he'd take it or the Bears would offer it. What has Mike Shanahan done since John Elway retired that Lovie Smith hasn't? Smith is more accomplished since 2005 than Shanahan is since 1999. ONE playoff win in that span and numerous late season collapses. I like him as offensive mind and think he's overall one of the better coach's in the league but he in no way deserves "the moon" at the expense of Lovie Smith. Smith's been a flat out more accomplished coach recently.

Holmgren too maybe?

There are lots of exciting assistants out there. Too bad none of them will make a lateral move to the Bears.

Are we to assume that Turner is back in the picture for next year? I'm guessing Babich is a more likely firing.

He deserves it after the collapse at the end of the year....I know the D is bad, but come on The D was historically bad. Second least efficient defense in the tracked statistical era (last 20 years), behind this year's Detroit defense. Do you think he deserved to stay on? Change was necessary, and at some point, wholesale change was needed. Denver was below average for most of the past few years (they were fortunate to win 8 this year, actually), so they decided to pull the trigger. They can do better, but who knows if they will. I don't think that the new coach would necessarily help this horrid D, but I do think that yes Shanahan had been mediocre or worse the last few years Well after how much control/money Shanahan got over the years I have to imagine they'll go with a cheaper coach who has less responsibility over personnel decisions. If they go the route of a defensive guru then maybe Spagnoulo?

I think Orton's accuracy issues and bad decision making were more to blame than the pass protection. The protection wasn't great but it was there when it needed to be most of the time and he screwed it up a lot with errant throws. When he was cruising in the middle of the year he was just flat out throwing a better, more accurate ball (take as an example of what should've been the winning TD pass against Atlanta--that ball was thrown in about a one foot window). I don't know whether it was the ankle or what but he never regained that once he came back from injury. Obviously it doesn't help that the only receiver who could get consistent separation was Hester and he and others dropped the ball far too much.

Interesting. Smith is one hell of a player and I thought he deserved some darkhorse Heisman consideration. Best player on the Tide by far.

I thought the O line played at around a C/C- level all year. Coming into the year I expected them to be the weakest part of the team by far but I think that distinction belongs to the receiving corps.

The running backs aren't bad. The defensive line is probably straddling the line between the top half and the bottom half. A good defensive draft and this team wins 11+ games next year. Forte is very good. Peterson isn't what I really have in mind as his primary backup. The Bears should do better there. The defensive line cannot generate a pass rush to save its life. It showed it can defend the run well but was inconsistent at that as well. I think we should go pass rusher or wide receiver in the first round of the draft. No WR, please. This team needs to be good at what it can be good at: Defense and special teams. And in order to have a good defense, you must draft it every single year. A good WR doesn't change this into a good offense, but one good Dlineman might make it a good defense. There's no inherent reason the Bears can't have a good offensive team. I mean, I have my doubts they ever WILL become one with the brain trust that is currently in place but they should still try to build a good all around club. Hester made some nice strides this year but the receiving corps as a whole is still unbelievably bad. I'm not going to be too picky because the Bears have enough holes where any good player will do. But I think the receiver problem is glaring even on a team that has lots of flaws.

The running backs aren't bad. The defensive line is probably straddling the line between the top half and the bottom half. A good defensive draft and this team wins 11+ games next year. Forte is very good. Peterson isn't what I really have in mind as his primary backup. The Bears should do better there. The defensive line cannot generate a pass rush to save its life. It showed it can defend the run well but was inconsistent at that as well. I think we should go pass rusher or wide receiver in the first round of the draft.

When you look at how flawed this team is in nearly every phase of the game it's a wonder they won nine games. Besides our special teams and linebacking corps, is there a unit on the team that's even in the top half of the league? I guess the tight ends are good.

Seattle fans say hi. Chicago is one of the best sports cities in Chicago and each team except the Blackhawks have been successful this decade. It's just been a miserable year with the Cubs and Bears in 2008. Maybe successful in terms of making the playoffs I guess Bulls have made the playoffs in 3/8 seasons this decade and have won 1 playoff series Cubs have made the playoffs in 3/8 seasons this decade and have won 1 playoff series Bears have made the playoffs in 3/8 seasons this decade and have won 2 playoff series and advanced to one championship game Blackhawks have made the playoffs in 1/8 seasons this decade and won 0 playoff series So Chicago teams are 10/32 in making the playoffs and are 4/14 in winning playoff series this decade and have advanced to 1 title game and won 0 championships this decade. That's far from a successful decade by any measure. I think the White Sox won the super cup or something like that. I think it was 2005.

Fake comeback in progress.

I don't even like hockey :(

36:03 for Houston and 20:33 for the Bears.

Yeah, it was a horrible play it close to the vest decision. Indefensible. Lovie very rarely deviates from the conventional wisdom and it's really infuriating.

Never. We either win ugly or don't win at all.

7TH FLO CREW

Luckily this team has a lot of experience winning games when they're being out gained 2 to 1.

Just a horrible effort by the defense. Schaub is going to end up with a video game stat line if this keeps up.

16-10 Giants.

Worst clock management ever.