scarey

I've seen these complaints for games in Champaign though...

Because the big ten is ok with a physical style of play that doesn't fly outside of the conference. A one point last night with about 10 to go Tyler griffey drove, pump faked, got DJ Byrd to jump and land on him. No call was made so we reset the offense. In no way can that happen, thats not good aggressive defense. Thats a mugging. How can you not think there isn't a little something to this when you guys and Wisconsin, the two best defensive big ten teams every year, never do as well as you should once the tournament starts? I mean you guys had a great team for three straight years and never really sniffed a final four. Robbie Hummel blew out his knee two years in a row. The 'Baby Boiler's only played in two NCAA Tournaments together, as Freshmen (second round) and Sophomores (Sweet 16). Their third year they won the B1G and were ranked #3 in the nation when Hummel blew his knee out with three games left in the regular season. If we had Moore, Johnson, and Hummel all healthy as Juniors/Seniors in the tournament... Man, that's a really depressing thing to think about. You still had more than enough talent left to make a deep run, it sucks he got hurt but that's clearly not the only issue that purdue has had in the tournament. Hummel did so much for those teams though. Sure, Moore and Johnson had talent for miles, but it was a totally different team without Hummel. Do you realize that in 2010 in the Sweet 16 6'3 Chris Kramer was guarding 6'8 Kyle Singler? After Hummel went down that year, there was a huge size mismatch after Hummel went down, there was just no way of over coming that. 2011 had Byrd filling in for Hummel and we all know that Byrd is a fraction of the talent that Hummel was. I digress, you are telling me why Purdue gets beat in the tournament. I also wanted to know why Purdue doesn't get whistled for fouls, but Illinois gets called for touch fouls. Why is that?

I was listening this morning too. I got the feeling that if Myers was asked to choose between Holmgren and one of the up-and-comers like McCoy or Clements, he would have went with an up-and-comer. I agree with him that I would prefer Holmgren over John Gruden though. Personally, I worry that Holmgren cannot keep up with a head coaching gig any more. I would pass.

Every time Purdue and Illinois play, I find comments on this forum about how Purdue gets away with fouls, but Illinois gets blown for touch fouls constantly. Do you have a reasonable explanation for why the refs do that and why they don't continue to do that in the tournament as as been proposed?

I was hoping to see more talk on player personnel, but I guess the HC talk is understandable with the decision looming. I thought I was told over and over again that the Bears were going to be in a tough place in terms of cap space this upcoming off season. Then, I read this article: http://www.suntimes.com/sports/football/bears/17253566-606/bears-enjoy-the-luxury-of-salary-cap-space.html Is it actually a possibility that Clady could be a Bear next year? If they could grab Clady, draft a good center or guard in one of the first two rounds, I think I'd be pretty happy with where the Bears O-line stands. Lance Louis will have to be resigned, I wonder if he lost a bit on his price tag after the injury? After that, I would be fine with cutting Garza, Spencer, and Scott loose. Webb can stay on as a swing tackle and maybe Carimi is given one last chance at RT. Of course, Urlacher and Melton are UFAs as well. I think Urlacher will sign a cheap 1 or 2 year deal to stay with the Bears if Lovie stays. If not, he may well do it anyway. Melton? I like Melton, but I think they may have to let him go. Maybe draft a raw DT with upside and let Okoye, Collins, and Toeina fight for time (assuming they're all Bears next year). I was actually wondering if the Bears felt comfortable enough with McClellan next year to have him start, maybe move Peppers in as a permanent three technique (assuming Lovie and/or Marinelli are retained). I know the guy is dominant, but we all know what a good three technique can do in this defense. The 2005 season for Tommie Harris was one of the very special seasons by an interior lineman I've EVER seen from ANY team. It may be wasting the talent of Peppers by not playing him at end, but we do have a first round pick in McClellan as well as Wootton who showed me this year he can be a starter. Other than that, Emory just needs to plan ahead for Tillman and Cutler next year. Just make sure there's enough money to sign Cutler next year to an extension and if you need to start developing a replacement for Tillman, it may be time to do it this year. Urlacher too. Oh and TE... fix it.

Since Hester, Knox, Sanzenbacher, etc. aren't the ones blocking. There are other advantages to having a giant athletic freak at WR besides the highlight reel catches.

So he's an ok college player, the guy he's running his mouth on was a lottery pick. He was a better college player than Byrd too, IMO. Thus I think for byrd to be running his mouth about him is pathetic. Oh come on, you can't talk trash to more talented guys now? Those are the guys that draw the most talking. Especially if it affects their game which it clearly did with Leonard. I would say what affected Meyers game the most was our idiot coach having him 19 feet from the basket at all times. It just bugs me he thinks he can run his mouth to a guy that much better than him. It's not as if he implied that he he was a better player than Leonard. I'm seriously baffled that you still bring this up.

Plus, there's always the added bonus of landing a Schaub, Flynn, Cousins type QB that can turn into an assett for you. I have absolutely zero confidence in the Bear's ability to develop an NFL QB from the draft. Given the holes on this team, wasting a middle round pick on a QB would be horrible. Campbell was too expensive, but I'd much rather spend $1.5 million on a serviceable veteran. There's too many needs for such a luxury in this upcoming draft, but the Bears need to make this a organizational strategy going forward. Do you realize the Falcons got a second round pick as well as moving from 10 overall to 8 overall in the first round for Matt Schaub? Great move by the Texans long term, but that's the kind of return I would love to have from a 3rd round pick. Hell, if the Bears could grab a 3rd round pick in the 2014 draft... a project QB like Kaepernick, I would be pretty pleased to have an heir to Cutler. To be able to do that though, you need to get production from the first three picks this year.

Plus, there's always the added bonus of landing a Schaub, Flynn, Cousins type QB that can turn into an assett for you.

I just saw his presser a few minutes ago; you could SEE the desire to call Hester the dumbest football player he's ever played with, and that he ran the wrong route like he does for 95% of the routes he runs. I was impressed he could hold it in. Also, Brandon Marshall looked like he was going to lose his [expletive]. That was actually unsettling. Also, Matt Forte is hot [expletive] garbage, and I don't care if Michael Bush had to put on a kevlar vest; if he was active, he should have gotten the ball on 2nd and Goal. For Forte to not be able to gain 1 yard over 2 plays is a damned joke. Hester did the right thing as the play had broken down once Cutler did that pump fake, Hester was going to an open area as the DB was in front of Hester and the safeties were about 5 yards behind him. I don't like defending him as I think he needs to be cut since he can't play WR and isn't a returner anymore. This offense is a joke, They have no idea what the middle of the field looks like to any receiver. Davis, Speath, Hester, Bennett are garbage in the middle but at least try and keep them honest. Marshall, Forte, and Allen are the only ones that caught passes. I'm glad Brown was out there and looked good, hugely disappointing Carimi can't do a damn thing. Had a year to rehab and does nothing to improve his weaker upper body strength? Conte and especially Moore looked terrible. Forte isn't the same runner, doesn't want to hit the hole and can't break any tackles. Cutler can't take the next step. Brown looked good? All the sacks came when he flat out missed Matthews stunting right across his face. He got benched late in the game for Edwin Williams. Carimi got benched at RG, meaning the Bears played 4 different OGs today. Conte wasn't terrible. Rodgers is a master at looking off the safety before going where he wants with the ball. Forte has never been a "hit the hole, run over people" type of guy. He's a dancer, who waits for his spot, cuts and then goes. I agree somewhat that Cutler hasn't taken the next step, but can't really blame him. He threw for 3600 yards without Marshall at WR. He has a top 5 WR in the league and still nobody else can do anything. That's not on him unless he's blatantly ignoring them, which we know is not the case. Tice is terrible. He's making me long for Martz back. That stunt he ran completely killed Cutler but I thought overall he did a good job, especially on when he was pulling on the 1st couple of drives. Conte left too many WRs open in the middle not as many as Moore but pretty bad. Cutler will never take that next step if he can't throw to a spot. Marshall is the closest he can do that with but you see Rodgers, Brees, Brady, Manning throw to a spot before the WR makes a break and Cutler doesn't do that. Forte had the ability to get thru the 2nd line of defenders, he isn't doing that. Throwing to a spot is from an offensive scheme, not from a QBs ability.

That's the thing. You don't want to rock the boat on defense too much because the defense is good enough. And they have enough older guys on D that you might not be able to teach them "new tricks" so to speak. The problem with that is this is Lovie's defense. Maybe you can keep Marinelli and bring in an offensive coach/staff, but that's a longshot. I could see a complete franchise change of direction. Fire Lovie and staff, don't resign Urlacher, focus on offense. It would have to be a wholesale change though. I think there's too many guys that are Lovie's guys. It may have to be a rebuild situation like the Cubs (although an NFL franchise can make a much quicker transition obviously).

Let's just pack up and call it a game then. Or... you go into half, try to make some adjustments, show your new right tackle some looks at the defense, get your QB cooled down, and see if you can come back from a daunting 7 point deficit in more than 28 seconds. Yes I have total confidence in this coaching staff to make the necessary adjustments. I know that's not the point. Just so tired of the overall conservative mindset. You have to draw the line somewhere. I think trying to go for points with 28 seconds and at least 40 yards to even get into reasonable field goal position is well past that line.

Let's just pack up and call it a game then. Or... you go into half, try to make some adjustments, show your new right tackle some looks at the defense, get your QB cooled down, and see if you can come back from a daunting 7 point deficit in more than 28 seconds.

And with a new right tackle that was removed from the position earlier in the year.

I like Joe Anderson so far.

I made a drunken bet on Cutler/Clay Matthews fatheads with a Packer fan. I really dont' want Clay on my wall but I think it's going to happen. To be fair, it was the week we went 7-1... Was the bet on this game? If the Bears are able to pull it off, you need to do a custom fathead and make it this one. NSFW (it's the Jay flipping the bird pic) http://celebslam.celebuzz.com//bfm_gallery/2012/05/Jay%20Cutler%20Douche%20Finger/gallery_main/gallery_main-jay-cutler-douche-finger-04.jpg Sadly it was on the division, I believe we had a 2 game lead at the time. Can you actually do custom fatheads? That would be fantastic... The commercials state that you can.

I made a drunken bet on Cutler/Clay Matthews fatheads with a Packer fan. I really dont' want Clay on my wall but I think it's going to happen. To be fair, it was the week we went 7-1... Was the bet on this game? If the Bears are able to pull it off, you need to do a custom fathead and make it this one. NSFW (it's the Jay flipping the bird pic) http://celebslam.celebuzz.com//bfm_gallery/2012/05/Jay%20Cutler%20Douche%20Finger/gallery_main/gallery_main-jay-cutler-douche-finger-04.jpg

I thought it was good and constructive trolling. He basically told every Packer in their secondary that individually they can't stop him and even dared them to try. Since that Packer's game, he has been able to consistently beat double teams. If he has the confidence, I say go with it.

That doesn't really say anything. It says that they've been the best defensive players outside of three guys that have considerations for defensive player of the year. That's something.

Paea, Wootten, Conte, Jeffrey etc are 'impact talent'? They're young pieces that can possibly be good players, but lets not get ahead of ourselves. I can't check Football Outsiders at work because I'm forced to use a terrible version of IE that won't display the page properly. However, I'm pertty sure Paea grades out as one of the better DTs in the league. Melton too, although I think his 13 sacks going back to last year should be an indicator that he's an impact talent. Conte and Wright have been the best safety tandem the Bears have had since Mike Brown and Manning. Wootton and Jeffrey I may be over reaching on, but they have both shown they are very capable of being impact players.

Pish posh. Cutler, Peppers, Forte, Bush, Jeffery, Conte, Wright, Jennings, Melton, Paea, Wootton? You call that impact talent?

If I hear them mention the 4th down play and how it changed the momentum one more time, I am going to find a way to bomb Soldier Field just so I make sure Ryan and Rosen are dead.

Ok, well you and Jersey were arguing about individual Cutler games...that's what brought up the advanced stats. Sure there was some advanced stats discussion, but then you brought up Cutler specifically not being in that top 51 article. I'm not sure why you mentioned that if you weren't still on the MVP discussion. That was what I was going on about too. I'm confused by the whole sequence.

then how do you propose we evaluate QBs with any shred of objectivity? i've probably watched the majority of Bears games and had the same reactions, but that alone assuredly would get shrugged off as homerism PFF, which evaluates players on a purely individual level, didn't include him in their Top 51 Players of the season list a short while back (Briggs was #35, Marshall #12, Tillman #6) I doubt anyone here will argue that he's one of the top 51 players of the season. What anyone will say is that Jay Cutler is extremely important to this team's success. Why you continue to try to put words in people's mouths that state otherwise is beyond me.