Banedon

Following 6 straight playoff appearances...come on...you understand how that's different right?

So what's the explanation? Don't say Lebeau...cuz he's only been there since '04.

The Pro Bowl thing confuses me. Are you really going to ask players from the Super Bowl team to play in a meaningless exhibition game the week before the Super Bowl? And if your not, then WTH? You don't want players from the two "best" teams in the league in the Pro Bowl? It seems very odd to me. If you want to do it during the season, then do it in the middle like the ASG. But this makes little sense to me.

That's like a Braves fan that doesn't like Bobby Cox...they don't have any perspective.

That's a good cheerleader. Lovie has matched that pace the last four seasons, and Cowher had a three-year stretch where he averaged 7-9 at one point. I don't think we need to be in such a hurry to change. Lovie has a .563 winning percentage, while Cowher's is .623. He had a 3 year down time, but that followed 6 consecutive Lebeau-less playoff appearances, and then 4 playoff appearances out of the next 5 seasons after that down time. The guy is a good coach.

Fine. Cohwer 1992-2004 115-76 8 postseason appearances, 4 times in the AFC Champ game, 1 Super Bowl appearance. Whatever way you slice it, he's more than a cheerleader.

That's a good cheerleader.

Isn't it more or less a foregone conclusion that Lovie Smith = Cover 2? The Bears don't always play cover 2. I'm still holding out hope that they replace the defensive staff, and that the scheme continues to evolve. Stagnation should not be an option. Another thing Haugh mentioned in his article was that Urlacher is slowing down, and that the Bears should either: a) Get away from the Cover 2, because Urlacher is getting beat in the middle of the field. He doesn't have the speed to fill his gap on run coverage and also play pass coverage in the middle of the field. b) Move Urlacher to strong side LB. c) go back in time and not give him that stupid extension (my one problem with this management team is extending contracts, almost never a good idea for defensive players) d) cut him Cutting him would be a massive cap hit, and he's not useless, he's just not the same guy he used to be. On a completely different note, ESPN is reporting that Cowher won't be taking the Jets job...but that he will probably be returning to coaching next year... If the Bears have another year of missing the playoffs, I wonder what the chances of Cowher coming here are? The article says he's not going to the Jets because he wanted to bring his own personnel director. Well if both Lovie and Angelo go bye-bye.....maybe....? Probably won't happen....but I like Cowher.

Isn't it more or less a foregone conclusion that Lovie Smith = Cover 2? The Bears don't always play cover 2. I'm still holding out hope that they replace the defensive staff, and that the scheme continues to evolve. Stagnation should not be an option. Another thing Haugh mentioned in his article was that Urlacher is slowing down, and that the Bears should either: a) Get away from the Cover 2, because Urlacher is getting beat in the middle of the field. He doesn't have the speed to fill his gap on run coverage and also play pass coverage in the middle of the field. b) Move Urlacher to strong side LB.

Interesting thought from David Haugh in the Trib: Tillman would be in the middle of a lot more plays as a safety to help create turnovers, which he has always done really well. What do you guys think?

Agreed. Kyle may have had some injury stuff going on, but he also made some bad plays. He's a young developing QB, and hopefully those mistakes become fewer. I'd like to see at least one more year of him before we start coming to any conclusions.

I don't think they were married, but still.... http://mlb.fanhouse.com/2008/12/17/brian-giles-allegedly-beat-his-pregnant-girlfriend-caused-misca/

You can't count the "almost" misses without counting the "almost" catches though. You can't say he nearly threw picks without counting all the drops by the receivers, or blown routes. The raw numbers are the only facts on the table here. And they show a difference in performance from before the injury, to after. And that's fine about Tommie, I'm not debating that he's got injury issues...that's a no-brainer. All I was pointing out is that you didn't want to be quick on the trigger giving Orton a break due to injury...and then mentioned Tommie's injury issues later. Maybe it was a false comparison on my part, but I was simply pointing out that injuries do affect performance, as Tommie has shown...and that while you're concerned about a quick trigger...it's also not to be dismissed.

Your first paragraph says we can't let Orton have the injury excuse, but your last paragraph builds Tommie Harris's injury case for him. Why is injury a valid excuse for one and not the other? Averaging game ratings, I've got his ratings for the 7 games before the injury at 91.1 (I threw out the game he got injured since he only played about a half a game of football.) For the 7 games after the injury...66.95 The back half included 3 games under 50, and one that was 65.1....he didn't have anything below 71 in the first half.

Orton started off not making mistakes this year, and had some really nice showings during that run. After the injury, I think he couldn't do some of the things he wanted to do, got frustrated, and went outside what he normally does. I think that's probably why he didn't take off running on that one play late on Sunday. Fix the line, and lets see what this O can do. The line is so unglamorous, but so important.

It's a lot of fun to watch the train wreck, isn't it?

Frankly, Tommie pisses me the hell off. He takes a lot of plays/games off. I don't know if he's a lazy person overall, but I think he's a lazy football player a lot of the time. He has his moments without a doubt. This is one of those "perception" things, and completely not proveable, and maybe way off base, but that's the impression I'm getting. Last year and this year, he just seems disinterested. obviously i haven't gotten to see him play much since his OU days, but that was the knock against him when he was here too. I never knew how much of it was just old white guys complaining about a young black guy at a position where effort can be hard to quantify. It seems like there was a lot of that early in his Bears career, but there was a couple year span there where he just got it, and was a monster. Then these last couple years, partly due to injury probably, it's just...meh. A couple of shining moments, but nothing that makes opponents fear lining up against him. Again...completely speculative.

It's hard to hit the deep pass with a bum ankle that you can get a full push off of. I'll grant you that it's one of Orton's weaknesses, but if you get some other threats out there, then Hester going deep can open up some other WR's for passes. We knew from the start that Orton wasn't a big yardage, bomb it deep guy. That's why Rex got so many chances. But you can still win with that...fix what's around him first. I think Miami is a good way to see how to "fix" things. Fix the line first, and build from there. Pennington is no great QB...but he's able to get the job done because he has solid parts around him.

Frankly, Tommie pisses me the hell off. He takes a lot of plays/games off. I don't know if he's a lazy person overall, but I think he's a lazy football player a lot of the time. He has his moments without a doubt. This is one of those "perception" things, and completely not proveable, and maybe way off base, but that's the impression I'm getting. Last year and this year, he just seems disinterested.

http://www.heroestvshow.com/wp-content/uploads/Image/MasiOka.jpg

This doesn't bother me. Some of the stuff Lovie has said indicating they were "close" this year does, but they have so many other areas that need fixing...draft a QB, let him sit behind Orton and learn. This team can be successful with Orton as QB. I really think they need some type of weapon on that offense other than Matt Forte and Greg Olsen. If they don't replace Orton with somebody better, they should find a receiver better than Hester. I wholeheartedly agree on WR. But if Orton really was playing on a gimpy ankle in the second half of the season, I think he deserves another shot at it while we upgrade both lines, and WR.

This doesn't bother me. Some of the stuff Lovie has said indicating they were "close" this year does, but they have so many other areas that need fixing...draft a QB, let him sit behind Orton and learn. This team can be successful with Orton as QB.

have you paid attention to the way the nfl works? nobody loses 5-10 years in a row unless they are completely dysfunctional in the front office (cardinals, raiders). hell even the raiders were in a super bowl not that long ago. people were saying the falcons were going to be a disaster for years after their star qb ended up in jail and their head coach ran out on them, and they're back in the playoffs a year later. Teams with at least 5 consecutive losing seasons since 2000: Lions 49ers Cardinals Raiders Texans Buffalo could be added to this list next year. Cincinnati had was in the middle fo a 5 season losing streak when 2000's started. This list gets much larger if I either: Cut the criteria down to 4 consecutive seasons, or Count 8-8 seasons So it's rare, but 5-6 losing seasons in a row is gonna be on the long side. I don't think above 6 is probably realistic.

The coaching staff helped produce the best team in the NFC that year. But they were probably 4th or 5th overall that year, and that was 3 years ago, not to mention not even the same staff. That ship has sailed. It was a fleating moment of glory that was unsustainable. How many seasons of mediocrity will it take for you to think the past continues to outweigh the present. More than two. You should be in the Bears front office then, because apparently they agree with you.

Axing coordinators does not equal a half-measure. But what are you for? You don't want Lovie fired, you don't want coordinators fired. Are you for anybody getting fired? Is your preference to keep Lovie and fire literally everybody else? The coordinators are very important position. Combined, they are probably equal to, if not greater than the head coach in terms of importance to the team. Firing the coordinators is going to result in other changes in staff, as new guys are going to insist on bringing in some of their own. A coordinator purge would be a hell of a lot more than a half-measure. And it is far better than sticking with the status quo. My preference is to keep the management team intact. I like it, I believe it is capable of winning championships, and I believe any replacements are likely to be worse. If you don't agree with the direction or philosophy of the team, then Smith should be fired. If you do, leave them be, because this wasn't a bad season. The defense has sucked for 2 years in a row now. Since Bob Babich took over the DC role. Is that a coincidence? Do you think that will magically change? I think if they can get a good pass-rusher DE and above average DT for the rotation, and are in some way able to get pressure with just the front 4, I do think the defense will improve drastically in passing situations. They're already a dominant run-stopping D when they don't have to focus so much on creatively applying pressure to stop the pass. But it's still possible for the DC to affect the pass rush. Be more creative and varied in your blitzing schemes. Run some stunts with the linemen. I won't pretend to be an expert on defensive schemes...I'm not. But I find it very difficult to believe that the entire defense stopped playing well at the same time, just because they all stopped performing well. Maybe there's some of that, but I really think a new DC could make a difference. I'll freely admit, if they change and there's no improvement, that I was wrong on that.