jersey cubs fan

You gotta love Favre coming out of retirement just to get a coach fired and further depress an already desperate fan base.

I don't think it's sad. It's not like they are on pace to just be pretty good, they are on pace for a 116 point season. And with the changes to they way the league awards points, you are going to see these "best team season ever" records being broken fairly regularly.

The mediocrity is settling in. This team is entering Wanny territory and barring a very impressive offseason, we're probably looking at a 10 loss team next year. The defensive dominance is gone, the best players on that squad are older and not nearly what they once were. The weak spots are glaringly weak. For a unit that is all about not giving up the long ball, this team has repeatedly been beaten by blown coverages. What I want most to happen is a shakeup of the coaching staff. Lovie is a coward on game day, continually punting on opponent's side of the field, playing a field position game with a team that can't prevent 90 yard drives. I'd like to see Lovie gone, as he's nothing more than a motivational speaker for the players now. But I don't think that will happen, so hopefully they clear out the staff on both sides of the ball. They need actual professional football coaches, and not these "teachers" coming out of the college ranks. They need a legit offensive guru, both to get the most out of this offensive unit and help find and develop a QB. Pretty much everybody on the offense is just good enough to play, but absolutely none of them are good enough to make their teammates better. The line might be okay if the QB and receivers were better, the receivers might be okay with a great QB, the QB might be okay if the receivers could impact the game more themselves. Angelo needs to have his best draft yet, making up for the many misses of the past few years. No more hidden project players. They will need as many as three new starters out of this draft to upgrade the talent to the level it needs to be in order to return to contender status.

I don't think it would be a hard sell at all. Teams fire coordinators of disappointing units all the time, and they hire former head coaches to fill those roles on a fairly regular basis.

the rest of the team isn't good enough to win now with the offensive line they have.

O-Line please I'd like some O-Line depth to eventually replace some of our older guys, but a line of: Williams, Beekman, Kreutz, Garza, and Tait should do for next year. Having an OLine that "should do" should not be good enough for us. The Bears offensive talent isn't good enough for an okay line. With their weak talent, and no chance of significant improvement in the offseason, the only realistic way they can be very good next year is with a really good line. Really good lines can turn mediocre teams into division winners. That is the only way this core Bears group will ever win during the Lovie/Angelo era. There is no magic receiver or QB on the market or in the draft to fix their problems.

O-Line please Please. Chris Williams is moving in next year. St. Clair to left guard. The offensive line was not the problem this year. The Bears need receivers and one Pro-Bowl lineman. I thought that man was Tommie Harris. When he commands double-teams, this is a different defense. Brown and Adewale don't make plays when they get double teams. Urlacher is also freed up. The corners aren't hung out to dry. Where was Urlacher all season after crying for an extension? Jerry shouldn't have budged. Chris williams is no sure thing and JSC to left guard isn't exactly a good thing. The offensive line was definitely part of the problem this year. No sustained drives and Orton had 3 or less seconds to throw every pass.

Nope, that ship has sailed. They are several players away from an elite defense. Back to back seasons of mediocrity (or worse) isn't a fluke.

Hey Lovie, why don't you punt again, you coward. He might get these guys to try, but this is the most poorly coached team in the NFL from an execution standpoint. Just a bunch of idiots.

The Pedro deal wasn't really bad at all when he was signed. He was still 33 and really good. He was ridiculously good in his first year with the Mets and then the injuries started. You couldn't really have predicted that his body would have broken down that much that quickly. you couldn't? he had physical problems (some minor, some major) pretty much every year since 2000 and he's weighs like 120 lbs but throws mid-90s. that doesn't really scream "long career" like a guy with a clemens/schilling body. he's the greatest pitcher of our generation but only got 4 years, $50M... that should tell you something about how much his durability concerned teams. Seriously, you could predict it, and many teams did. It was reported that the Mets more or less assumed he would miss much of the time to injury, but were so desperate for top notch pitching that they were willing to pay him for 2-3 years of no pitching for 2-3 years of his pitching.

Lighten up Francis. I was commenting on the Vikings not being anything special. They aren't a head and shoulders better team than the Bears.

http://chicagocubsonline.com/archives/2008/12/rumorsnews1224.php#more I didn't think of it as tipping your cap as much as I thought of it as the Padres trying to use the media to their advantage to squeeze as much out as possible. I still would not be surprised to see this happen down the road. Peavy holds all the cards, and we do know he really likes the Cubs. I don't think it's tipping your cap either because that phrase makes no sense in this situation. They tipped their hand.

A big part of the Packers pissing away their field goal chances was the best kick blocking unit in the league was on the other side. I'm not saying Gould sucks, I'm saying his accuracy is greatly helped by the fact that he never attempts long kicks. I'd rather see the Bears treat that as 4 down territory, without fullback dives, than eschew 50 yard field goals for an extra 25 yards of field position.

And that is primarily because he never tries the harder kicks, which would lower his percentage as they lower everybody else's. I have trouble believing that's "primarily" the reason he's got one of the best FG%s in history despite kicking in one of the worst fields for FG%. Fine, replace primarily with, "in large part". Never having to attend the tough ones really helps keep his percentage high.

Garza would disagree with you here. Kreutz is right around the corner. At some point, quite possibly next year, he's going to be significantly worse than his cap number demands.

And that is primarily because he never tries the harder kicks, which would lower his percentage as they lower everybody else's.

He doesn't miss because he doesn't try long ones. He's not all that impressive. He's 8/11 from 40-49 this year, but so what, others are just as good or better from that distance. I think it hurts the Bears that the 35 yard line is not scoring territory for them. Whether or not his misses are blocks is meaningless. He does miss from inside 49 and never attempts anything longer, so that props up his percentage.

And the Cowboys and the Panthers and the Vikings. Cowboys? They don't impress me. The Bears outplayed the Panthers in Carolina (albeit with no Smith) and they are very much equal with the Vikings. The Panthers are a better team now. The Bears are a worse team. The Vikings have more talent in every facet of the game except kick returning. I'll give you Carolina, not Minnesota. Their "superb talent" is vastly overrated. They've got a couple fat guys on the DLine and Peterson. Their QBs are nothing, their receivers are unimpressive, the rest of their D hasn't exactly shut down the league. They allowed 48 points to the freaking Bears. They've played the same teams as the Bears and have the same record. They do not outclass the Bears.

as opposed to the completely home-grown cubs and their $25 mil payroll. When the Yankees won in the late 90's, how many of their players were home-grown? Weren't a bunch of them like Williams, Jeter, Posada? I am still unconvinced that the Yankees can win by buying a WS. Yes some teams have done it (Florida in the mid 90's), but New York seems to get the raw end of the deal with injuries players with steroid histories. Burnett has a history of injuries. Sabbathia's arm might fall of. Tampa Bay isn't going anywhere. Nobody can buy a WS. You can buy a chance at the WS. The Yankees didn't get any sort of raw deal, they spent money and their record has reflected that sort of committment to winning.

That's because they are a poorly run team. The Pirates are in a division with no dominant team. There's no reason why they couldn't contend for 3-5 of every 10 years, other than their own incompetence.

And the Cowboys and the Panthers and the Vikings. Cowboys? They don't impress me. The Bears outplayed the Panthers in Carolina (albeit with no Smith) and they are very much equal with the Vikings.

It helps when the coach refuses to let him actually attempt difficult kicks.

I don't know about "getting" unfair. The Yankees have been the dominant franchise throughout history. You have teams like Florida who can win twice in a decade. Oakland was a great team for several years. Tampa is good and has more than 2-3 year window. Teams get to keep guys for dirt cheap for 3 years, then they get 3 more years at below market value. The problem with baseball is so many teams are run stupidly.

I hate the Red Sox just as much as the Yankees. It's approaching "more" territory for me.

If you got the money spend it. I have no problems with the yanks and they do put themselves in position for a run virtually every year. What fan wouldn't want that? I think that trend started with the Mike Mussina acquisition. Adding a Cy Young contending pitcher to the team that won 3 consecutive World Series. Then it was the Giambi signing, adding an MVP to a 4 time AL champ. And this really just shows you how hard it is to predict the playoffs. The Yankees just had a "bad" season where they won 89 games, which was the best the Cubs had done in the Hendry era prior to this season. I'd take their 2000s over the Cubs' 2000s in a heartbeat.