BEARS Drop SAINTS 33-25

by WCG on Dec 30, 2007 3:29 PM CST in News

Oh, how the Saints must hate the Bears. For the second consecutive year, the Saints season ended at Soldier Field in an almost laughably easy fashion. The Saints made this one a game at the end, but for the most part the Bears controlled this one.

The Bears offense played like they had an offensive coordinator who is trying to keep his job. Trick plays, deep balls they tried everything. Kyle Orton again won as a starter. He played a good game with 190 yards, 2 TDs and 1 INT. His numbers should have been better. He twice had long passes negated one due to a questionable no call of a pass interference and the other on a Mark Bradley drop.

Adrian Peterson had his best game averaging 4.3 yards a carry on 21 attempts for 91 yards. He also had a TD pass.

Olsen, Bradley, Wolfe and Hester all played decent amounts of time.

Hester had 2 TDs. One on a punt return and another on a 50+ pass from Orton.

The defense came out fired up. They made plays on the crucial points of the game. The gave up a lot of yards 320 in the air and 105 on the ground, but had the stops and take aways when needed.

With the right moves both of these teams could again be meeting up at the end of the season next year.

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eh

80 of those passing yards came on dumpoff passes in the last 2 minutes of the game.

by lopey986 on Dec 30, 2007 3:33 PM CST 0 recs

Turner ...

I've been rough on him all season, I think justifiably so, but he called a great game today. It should not allow him to keep his job, IMHO, but credit where credit is due.

I wouldn't ever go out to hurt anybody deliberately - unless it was, you know, important, like a league game or something. - Dick Butkus

by iowaBear on Dec 30, 2007 4:05 PM CST 0 recs

turner

has no line, no running game. i don't want to give anyone a mulligan but its not like he is rusting up the tools.

"Kyle Orton and Jack Daniel's could be the greatest songwriting duo since Rodgers and Hammerstein." - DJ Gallo

by mike b on Dec 30, 2007 4:25 PM CST up 0 recs

According to Lovey after the game

He has no plans on getting rid of Turner.

by beardown on Dec 30, 2007 6:31 PM CST up 0 recs

bears postgame just touched on this

and i agree: Kyle Orton looks really comfortable in the pocket. he felt pressure well, he stepped up in the pocket, and he scrambled very well. this kid deserves a shot, there is no reason for brian griese to be a factor as far as starting goes.

draft safety and oline, sign grossman cheap (and i mean real fucking cheap) see where you stand monetarily with briggs and berrian of course.

i hope that what brown did and what anderson didn't do this year is enough for lovie and co. to get their heads out of their asses as far as personel goes. there is no reason for brown to be on the bench next year.

i cannot wait to hear about archuleta getting cut.

"Kyle Orton and Jack Daniel's could be the greatest songwriting duo since Rodgers and Hammerstein." - DJ Gallo

by mike b on Dec 30, 2007 6:58 PM CST 0 recs

I agree

I would rather surround Orton with some weapons than draft a QB in the first or send multiple picks off for a QB in trade.

I hope they bring in another WR to replace Moose and complement Berrian (who I'd like to resign if he takes a fair deal). I worry they'll decide Hester is good enough and they don't need to augment the position. Hester is too dumb to be a 1 or 2 WR.

Too bad they won today, they could've picked the safety from Miami, Phillips, if they were around #10. Looks like we'll be at 15 and picking through OT leftovers or a WR that will take 3 years to develop.

by tomas21 on Dec 30, 2007 8:48 PM CST up 0 recs

or trading down

and getting two more bauzins.

"Kyle Orton and Jack Daniel's could be the greatest songwriting duo since Rodgers and Hammerstein." - DJ Gallo

by mike b on Dec 30, 2007 10:37 PM CST up 0 recs

Meh

Orton seems to miss a lot of open receivers. I wouldn't count on him for more than a backup role although I do hope Brian Griese is cut.

We certainly didn't have the defense this year to just count on a game manager.

Visit The Cub Reporter (mvn.com/mlb-cubs)

by thecubreporter on Dec 30, 2007 9:18 PM CST up 0 recs

i don't see

too many open receivers really, and i wouldn't say he is missing more guys than the other 2 qb's.

"Kyle Orton and Jack Daniel's could be the greatest songwriting duo since Rodgers and Hammerstein." - DJ Gallo

by mike b on Dec 30, 2007 10:31 PM CST up 0 recs

I guess I did...

44.4% completion percentage didn't do much to inspire me despite a few nice throws.

I'd take him as a backup over Griese because he seems to do less stupid things and is considerably cheaper.

And maybe if we had a top 3 defense you could even consider him for a starting gig but I sure wouldn't care to rely on him to win any games with his arm.

Visit The Cub Reporter (mvn.com/mlb-cubs)

by thecubreporter on Dec 31, 2007 12:38 AM CST up 0 recs

griese brings nothign to the table

i really don't see the point of any team calling itself competitive starting him.

I've bitched all year about receivers getting themselves open, i guess I have a hard time thinking it finally happened and i missed it, along with him not hitting them. he had some early overthrows, i thought he looked pretty decent later on.

there's not a qb on this team that doesn't consistently overthrow the receivers. not sure what else a qb coach does but apparently he doesn't help fix that.

"Kyle Orton and Jack Daniel's could be the greatest songwriting duo since Rodgers and Hammerstein." - DJ Gallo

by mike b on Dec 31, 2007 1:04 AM CST up 0 recs

Lovie has already said

that Orton has earned his chance to compete next year. Whether it is for a backup spot or starter, I imagine, depends on who they bring in.

by WCG on Dec 31, 2007 7:30 AM CST up 0 recs

You know who's awesome?

Devin Hester.

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by thecubreporter on Dec 30, 2007 7:02 PM CST 0 recs

Who is that?

True or false:

Without Devin Hester, the Bears win 4 games or less.

by Chad on Dec 30, 2007 7:14 PM CST up 0 recs

true

They would win 4 games. Denver, Kansas City, and New Orleans are the ones where he was a big part of the win. Against Denver and New Orleans he provided the points. Against KC he supplied a return TD and good field position (and had a return called back) which was a large reason the then anemic Bears offense was able to score. Take away those three and we have a 4-12 season.

Unleash your inner Grabowski.

by jrm78 on Dec 30, 2007 7:51 PM CST up 0 recs

The thing is ...

I'm not sure one can call the games we win because of Hester a 'fluke' anymore. It seemed last year any time Hester destroyed a team single-handedly, like in the Rams game, that people thought that the win didn't really count, at least that's my impression. But even though he's a specialist he is by far the most explosive player in the league. Maybe not always a dependable one, but he's arguably the best returner in the history of the NFL. And he's a legitimate bomb threat on offense as well. This guy transforms our team like a solid QB would, really.

I wouldn't ever go out to hurt anybody deliberately - unless it was, you know, important, like a league game or something. - Dick Butkus

by iowaBear on Dec 30, 2007 9:26 PM CST up 0 recs

he is a certifiable weapon

but if you have to count on punt and kickoff returns for wins, you will end up @ 7 and 9ish.

And yes he does transform the team but we need more consistency from our offense and defense.

by Chad on Dec 30, 2007 9:54 PM CST up 0 recs

Not only that...

...but teams will eventually stop kicking to him if the rest of the team is horrible.

The thing is, Devin Hester is on the verge of becoming the best return man EVER. Seriously, at the very least, he's in the Top 10 right now. But how many games has that transformed? Three this year? Four?

As great as he is, and the games he's won certainly aren't "flukes" in my book, he can really only determine two to three games a year and strongly influence a handful more. That, and it's pretty easy to take him out of the game. He's certainly damn impressive.

by tyger1147 on Dec 30, 2007 10:32 PM CST up 0 recs

lets take it a step further...

who would you rather have (in order)...

the best ___ in the NFL (the following is not my list but a listing for anyone to order themselves)

Return Guy
QB
RB
WR
LB
OL
DL
DB
TE
FB
P
K

by Chad on Dec 30, 2007 10:45 PM CST up 0 recs

Interesting question...

...but I don't think there is should be too much debate.

QB
OL
DL
RB
LB
WR
DB
TE

FB/P/K are irrelevant in my book. The difference between, say.. the 5th best and the 5th worst is tiny.

I'd put Special teams in the form of coverage/return (minus punter/kicker/returner) probably ahead of DB's and TE.

by tyger1147 on Dec 30, 2007 11:13 PM CST up 0 recs

i mostly agree

but i would put RB second. Sure a great offensive line makes a good back great, but i would take LT over, say, the Pat offensive line (or Colts or whomever is considered the best oline, I dunno, Pittsburgh? Minnesota? Whatever)

by Chad on Dec 30, 2007 11:23 PM CST up 0 recs

well i would say

id rather have the best qb(brady), rb(tomlinson), then hester. hester helps everyone because of the amazing field position.

by Jbasic89 on Dec 31, 2007 12:58 AM CST up 0 recs

Field position only

helps if you have the O to do something about it. Urlacher twice in the last 3-4 games had an INT that gave the ball to our O on or around the 20 and we only came away with 2 FGs.

If Hester doesn't take it to the house, it is still bad odds that we are going to get the TD.

by WCG on Dec 31, 2007 7:33 AM CST up 0 recs

I sort of agree with that sentiment ...

but what other single individual can we point to and say 'they won [or lost] this/that game [almost] single-handedly'? Chad's point about what our record would be without Hester is persuasive (even if he's not making the same case as I am here). But really, if we'd even had an AVERAGE running game (inst/of 31st in the league) then Hester would be even more of a weapon because he'd either get kicked to even more often or, if not, we'd be able to take advantage of that field position more frequently.

Not saying that a great QB and RB aren't more important than a returner overall, but THIS returner I think might be an exception. I mean, I heard two 'analysts' yesterday (one during the game and Bill Cowher on CBS) both mention that teams might start looking first and foremost in future drafts for the next Hester because that's how transformative a returner like him can be. Probably a bit of excitable hyperbole on their part, and I doubt you can just 'find' another Hester in your draft, but it's certainly changing the equation of the formula for success in the NFL a bit.

I wouldn't ever go out to hurt anybody deliberately - unless it was, you know, important, like a league game or something. - Dick Butkus

by iowaBear on Dec 31, 2007 8:30 AM CST up 0 recs

I;m not really arguing for

or against any one point, just that Hester is great for field position, but our offense can't do anything with it. If you don't have an offense that can consistently put together a few first downs, the field position just means tons of FGs. That isn't going to beat anybody we'd need to beat.

by WCG on Dec 31, 2007 12:09 PM CST up 0 recs

Case and point...

"both mention that teams might start looking first and foremost in future drafts for the next Hester because that's how transformative a returner like him can be."

Ted Ginn Jr.

by Chad on Dec 31, 2007 1:17 PM CST up 0 recs

I'm not sure which Bradley drop...

...you're talking about because I only the "middle half", but there was one that fell through his arms when he went deep. You can call it a drop if you want, but they're not considered that by statistical standards.

by tyger1147 on Dec 30, 2007 10:33 PM CST 0 recs

Draft & Sign Offensive Line

Draft offensive lineman. Sign young free agent offensive lineman. You can find heros (receivers, running backs and QBs) in the later rounds. For example; Tom Brady (6th round) - all the Denver Bronco running backs in the last 10 or so years.
The same goes for the defense. Draft tackles - our best ones seem to injured most of the time.

by phastphil on Dec 31, 2007 10:52 AM CST 0 recs

We need another NIU 'back.

I say the Bears give some serious thought in going after San Diego's Michael Turner. Explosive and powerful and he's got great speed.

Watching this season I don't understand Ron Turner's rationale for running Garrett Wolfe up the middle like he's a power back. It really pissed me off. Garrett is a "Sprint along the LoS, make cuts, accelerate through holes, and turn on the afterburner" kind of running back. Because he's so small its foolish to use him to run up the middle. WHY PUT WOLFE IN WHEN THE BEARS ARE PINNED ON THEIR OWN GOAL LINE?! We even saw that a couple games ago. They started to use screen passes and showed how good he can be when put in the right situation.

I'd also like the Bears to draft a QB first round. Plenty with potential are there (Booty, Ryan, Brohm, Henne, Brennan, etc). It might not be a bad idea to draft an offensive lineman int he first round either.

by xfalcon7x on Jan 1, 2008 10:18 PM CST 0 recs