WrigleyField 22

It's harder to tank this year than win the championship. There is some stiff competition. I'll take the playoff revenue.

Also, while maybe not quite the classic burner, the Bears have the youngest player in the NFL with 4.5 40 and 6.65 3 cone speed. He may very well be our slot guy for next year. A rookie would be just as if not more risky and untested. Plus the fact that we have done okay without that role being filled, like rawaction said. Its just not something I see having an eye towards that early next draft.

Thats stupid as [expletive] and I hope you don't join that league again next year.

While I understand wanting a speedy slot guy I think 2nd or 3rd round would be a pretty big waste in resources on that unless the guy is just a clear BPA. The Johnny Knoxes and Eddie Royals of the world go in the 4-5 round and while they will never be number ones can be really effective with a Brandon Marshall taking away attention (not to mention a second Brandon Marshall). FA scrap heap could probably find a guy to fill that role too. Hopefully like Royal and Knox a guy like that will be a kick returner too so that we can cut ties with Hester.

Picked up Andre Brown in the draft before he got injured. Couldn't justify keeping him so I dropped him and the top team in the league and my likely round 1 opponent has him now and he's playing awesome. Dammit I should have stuck with him.

While he has no defensive stud (and the Chiefs drafted a big bust in Tyson Jackson while he was there) it is worth noting his teams have done a pretty good job with mid round LBs as starters so even if you're uncertain about Bostic and Greene, that should put your mind at ease a bit. The DL shortcomings does look quite frightening though, especially with first round picks. On the flip side WR history is pretty damn good (with a direct quote from the man in charge that he was responsible for White). Just don't expect any short WR. With his draft history taken as a whole, perhaps you have to consider trying to fill an impact spot on D through FA, go BPA on either side for round 1 and continue to stockpile defensive depth in the mid rounds. Bears should be in pretty decent cap shape, right? Any impact defenders in FA this year?

While he has no defensive stud (and the Chiefs drafted a big bust in Tyson Jackson while he was there) it is worth noting his teams have done a pretty good job with mid round LBs as starters so even if you're uncertain about Bostic and Greene, that should put your mind at ease a bit. The DL shortcomings does look quite frightening though, especially with first round picks. On the flip side WR history is pretty damn good (with a direct quote from the man in charge that he was responsible for White). Just don't expect any short WR. With his draft history taken as a whole, perhaps you have to consider trying to fill an impact spot on D through FA, go BPA on either side for round 1 and continue to stockpile defensive depth in the mid rounds. Bears should be in pretty decent cap shape, right? Any impact defenders in FA this year?

Not as much as 17 seconds. Just gotta redirect, bro. I will be paying for those 17 seconds for the rest of my sports life. Yea, but you'll still have something to redirect to. At least you're not Cleveland?

Well that helps too, I suppose, but I think even those teams fall apart when the other half drops. And with the salary cap and just random variance you're bound to have dips, but they shouldn't last long and I think Angelo's downspell in that department was lasting too long. But he did bring us one half of the equation (or at least pretty damn close) so I am forever thankful for that.

Call it a 270 yard game and some Jeffrey wizardry?

Not as much as 17 seconds. Just gotta redirect, bro.

I hope Cutty is back. I know the meatballs will still cling to McCowns game management-ness, but in return I'll out-meatball them and point out Cutlers 4Q comebacked-ness. Briggs back couldn't hurt too. Peppers replicating tonight couldn't hurt either.

To add to that, I do think the Bears had one of the worse infrastructures around when he took over. Consistency is born in the ability to draft and develop players throughout the draft, and by the end, Angelo was one of the worst at that. I think at the end of Angelo's last season we had the lowest number of drafted players as a roster composite. And top teams often are at the top. Not really something you can turn around quickly. When you had traded away a lot of top picks too and invested quite a bit in FA, it was a recipe for disaster, not to mention failing on the top picks you had. And yet, the Emery reign in 16-12 so far, so it hasn't been a disaster yet. I will go as far to say though that the defense really doesn't matter. Even at its awful stage, our offense is conceivably good enough to overcome it most weeks and I can't imagine he can make our D worse.

You could have hired a 3-4 D guy, let 1/2 the defense go in the offseason and we wouldn't be any worse on that side if the ball. Yea, losing 15 d-linemen to injuries hurt, but holy Christ our safeties play out of position a lot Burn it down and start over I still have no idea how the Bears do not have one quality safety on the roster after spending 4 top 4 round picks on safeties and one in the 6th round over the last 6 drafts. (Hardin, Conte, Steltz, Wright, Afalava) That's the thing tho, Conte looked like he was on the rise last year Its actually remarkable. The one constant from our coaching staff was the DB coach and we brought in a D coordinator with a DB background. Several conclusions you could start to draw; - Our D Line was very important to the success of our D and Marenilli leaving has hurt everything - Tucker is overriding Hoke and whatever he did isn't making an impact now - General D injuries just putting more stress on the safeties - Wright and Conte really are lost causes despite whatever promise for league average effectiveness they once showed.

My first thought is I've given up on this year anyways, and Long has shown a lot so whatever. My second thought is Carimi looking like a good pick and then getting injured and never looking the same. pls be okay, and don't rush back or nothing Kyle.

You could have hired a 3-4 D guy, let 1/2 the defense go in the offseason and we wouldn't be any worse on that side if the ball. Yea, losing 15 d-linemen to injuries hurt, but holy Christ our safeties play out of position a lot Burn it down and start over I still have no idea how the Bears do not have one quality safety on the roster after spending 6 top 4 round picks on safeties over the last 6 drafts. One chalked up to injury. Another two looked a lot better about 7 months ago, even if they weren't top tier guys. Honestly struggling to remember who else we've picked going back that far.

I'm starting to question if Emery knows how to draft a defensive player. In his career I don't believe he's been responsible for drafting a quality defensive player Well he's had 2 drafts and drafted 7 defensive players, 4 in the top 5 rounds. Shea has been a spectacular bust relative to the position he was drafted. Wasting a 3rd round pick on a safety who couldn't play a snap for the Bears even though they have terrible safeties was a disaster as well. But Bostic looks like a solid pick, taunting penalties aside. Isaiah Frey has been decent as a 6th round pick thrust into significant action this year. I'm not sure about Khaseem Greene yet but he's starting due to injury and has been passible from what I've seen, don't remember how he's been graded this year. The other 2 are late round picks Cornellis Washington (6th) and Greg McCoy (7th). McCoy isn't on the roster anymore, and Washington has played sparingly. So in 2 drafts he's had 2 pretty big failures and has drafted 1 defensive player that looks to be a starter. Not good at all but again, its 2 drafts so I'm not ready to call him a failure at drafting defensive picks just yet. I have to say you are nailing it in this thread. Just going back on recollection and attempting to correlate his role as scouting director and such though, I do believe his best hits were on offense. Then again, I think the record just flat out favors picking more offensive players as well. Do think he has another 1st round DL bust from KC as well (assuming you allow a fair amount of the credit to go to him in his role as scouting director).

You could have hired a 3-4 D guy, let 1/2 the defense go in the offseason and we wouldn't be any worse on that side if the ball. Yea, losing 15 d-linemen to injuries hurt, but holy Christ our safeties play out of position a lot Burn it down and start over Is "wouldn't be any worse" really a glowing recommendation of making a switch to the 3-4? Either way you slice it, turnover is needed. 3-4, 4-3, 46, just get the right players in there. Okay maybe we don't want the 46 unless we're facing AP with Ponder at Q, but you get the idea. That being said, Emery has more experience scouting for a 3-4, so if he thinks he would do better finding a fit for that defense, lets go for it.

Wait, sucky teams survive journeyman 36 year old QBs? Actually they probably do suck more than their record. They've been incredibly lucky with offensive injuries to the point that if you gave us normal injury luck on both sides of the ball, our offense could easily sputter and our defense still wouldn't be that great. This team still needs big improvements throughout the roster; some depth on offense and basically everything on defense. Fire Mel Tucker, or don't, I'm not sure it matters. He hasn't done anything to me to question his ability as a league average D-Coordinator, but I think there's little downside of his replacement being worse too. But if our defense improves next year, it will be mostly because of better players, and any new hire will be there mainly as some type of symbolic turnover and transition.

Also this could be stupid because I have no idea how this would effect a kicker, but Robbie Gould's wife had a kid at 7:30 this morning. Gould was likely up all night at a hospital while his wife was in labor and then flew from Chicago to Minnesota this morning in time for the game. It's more than possible he was less than focused whether he wanted to be or not. But then again I could be completely off. Sports psychology is a pretty tricky field. You have guys like Phil Jackson with the reputation of being wizards at it, but at the end of the day I'm not sure anyone has a leg up in that realm. I don't think you let the baby thing into your mindset there. He had essentially 3 good kicks (even though one was short) and did a fine job on kickoffs too. I'm not sure you can point to it as a factor of him missing or let if affect decision making.

I definitely think its an overreaction to want Trestman fired. If you want Trestman fired you want Emery fired, which admittedly may align for some people. But a head coach doesn't get fired after year one without wholesale changes elsewhere too. Hell, throw Philips in there as well (again I may be preaching to the insane choir here anyways) Definitely perplexed by the decision to go for it there. It would seem to me to go against the analytical angle of weighing outcomes (which I think has been Trestman's claim). I do think the penalty/turnover risk wasn't sufficient enough as an excuse, so long as the right plays are called. To me it reads as too much confidence in Robbie Gould. Don't follow your confidence, just keep looking at the outcomes and trying to improve your chances of winning. Everyone thought Robbie would make that, but it isn't good enough reason. Good post by UMFan above outlining the fact that Forte and Peterson where the two backs in the game, and for an OT with 4 minutes left being played between the two 30's, it was in our favor to keep going.

it was stupid to pan it so early. question it? sure. but now its appropriate to seriously doubt his ability to be a head coach. it sucks because he made the offense good but these decisions are maddenly stupid. Serious doubt? Maybe. But you can't believe he has made the offense better and then want him fired definitely for the second part. Old Style wasn't right then and isn't right now.

I guess I tender Murphy, because why not. But he has to be one the first guys you look to drop if you need roster spots for FA additions.

Yea Buffalo is one of my three Ds haha. Although I'm probably going Car this week I'm looking forward to playoffs with them.

Geno at home or away? If he's away play whatever D he's going against. If home keep looking but maybe play anyways.