Early Look At 2009

by WCG on Apr 29, 2008 1:13 PM CDT

Eager to show that he is the thoroughbred and it is time to put the old mare that is Mel Kiper out to pastor, Todd McShay has bypassed taking a little down time after the 2008 NFL Draft, by posting his first mock for 2009 .

The first reason this is notable is because he has the Bears drafting 7th, which means he expects us to be worse. That's asinine, so I am going to ignore it, but i know the pick will make many of you quite happy, so enjoy!

7. Chicago Bears -- Tim Tebow*, QB, Florida

It's almost certain that the Bears will need a quarterback come next offseason. Unfortunately, next year's crop of signal-callers does not look promising at this point. Bears fans won't be thrilled if the team uses a high pick on another Gators quarterback following the failed Rex Grossman experiment, but Tebow's unique blend of skills and rare intangibles might be too good to pass up. Should Tebow elect to leave school early, however, his uncommon skill set could make him the most difficult prospect at any position to grade.

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At first i was skeptical

but Tebow is #1 pick worthy.

by tempchad on Apr 29, 2008 1:35 PM CDT reply reply 0 recs

Te-no

I love watching Tebow play, but if drafted that early I predict he’ll be a historic bust. He just doesn’t look like an NFL QB to me. He looks like Michael Vick without quite as much in the quicks dept., and with a much weaker arm. Bobby Douglass, anyone?

by garsky on Apr 29, 2008 1:35 PM CDT reply reply 0 recs

God, I hope not.

So nobody has to see the scroll bar on my posts!!!!

by McRipper on Apr 29, 2008 1:41 PM CDT reply reply 1 recs

Five reasons NOT to like Tim Tebow

1. He plays in a spread offense that typically doesn’t translate well to the pros (and particularly badly to a Ron Turner offense).

2. His mechanics are lousy.

3. His ability to run over and around college defenders probably won’t translate to the pros.

4. He has the slowest delivery since Byron Leftwich.

5. He’s excelling in the same system that Alex Smith looked so good in… how’s that working out for the 49ers?

by garsky on Apr 29, 2008 1:54 PM CDT reply reply 0 recs

Tebow threw for over 3000 yards

which is something that neither Vick nor Smith ever did.

by tempchad on Apr 29, 2008 2:01 PM CDT up reply reply 0 recs

True, but

You know who also did? Rex Grossman. Twice.

by garsky on Apr 29, 2008 4:39 PM CDT up reply reply 0 recs

I was talking about comparisons to Vick and Smith

IIRC Grossman threw more ints and was less accurate.

by tempchad on Apr 29, 2008 7:06 PM CDT up reply reply 0 recs

But you forget that

Ron Turner is one of the best OCs in the league.

Do we add

6) He is QB at Florida?

Being Who You Thought We Were Since 2005!

by WCG on Apr 29, 2008 2:01 PM CDT up reply reply 0 recs

I'm not sure it's so ludicrous to think they'll be worse.

They still have Rex and Kyle. They lost Berrian. Tommie, Brown and Urlacher are all injury risks. Hester can’t POSSIBLY stay this good, can he? And all the guys they brought in are, after all, rookies. Will Williams really be better this year than Miller was last year? If Benson is D-O-N-E, is the backfield THAT much better? Is Mark Bradley anything special? How many WR’s have an impact as a rookie?

They should be better, but I don’t think it’s quite so ridiculous to think that they’ll be worse. As I said, they have Rex Grossman, Kyle Orton and two UFA’s as their QB’s. If you saw that on any other team, how much would be laughing your ass off?

"I've got a class (coming in) here, we've got a chance to do some things." --Tom Izzo on why he might not consider the Bulls coaching vacancy.

by tyger1147 on Apr 29, 2008 2:05 PM CDT reply reply 0 recs

no kidding

how many times did drives on the 35 end in punt? no point to kick to hester.

by mike b on Apr 29, 2008 2:10 PM CDT up reply reply 0 recs

I have no clue (as none of us do) as to how the season will play out.

And knee-jerkedly, I don’t think they can really be any worse than last year. So to predict it seems far-fetched. However, I honestly don’t believe this team has made any real improvements over last year’s team, based on talent alone. They got younger. With more potential. But definitely better this year than last? I’m having trouble seeing it.

OTOH, that’s all okay with me. I’ve been calling for a rebuilding since Week 8 or so. The only differences I would have made are signing Berrian instead of Briggs and taking a QB just to “hope” he becomes a starter. I would have liked to get a mid-20’s o-lineman signed to five or six years, but I don’t really know what the possibility of that was. Other than those few things, though, I’m pretty effin’ okay with how things have gone.

"I've got a class (coming in) here, we've got a chance to do some things." --Tom Izzo on why he might not consider the Bulls coaching vacancy.

by tyger1147 on Apr 29, 2008 2:20 PM CDT up reply reply 0 recs

yeah

i think the run game could be better, as well as the pass protection.

passing game is square one and special teams have to be alittle worse having lost the capatian and a guy who was there a long time.

even the modest improvement grossman showed towards the end of the season was very fumbly.

the defense will get hurt, maybe not as bad as last year but the offense won’t be good enough to keep them on the field.

hard to say, some point I’ll give ti some deeper thought but i don’t see much of a case for over .500.

by mike b on Apr 29, 2008 2:44 PM CDT up reply reply 0 recs

i will say

i am excited about this monk guy we picked up.

i am also looking forward to not giving a shit when the reports from bourbonais come in about how dynamic this offense is, since we’ve seen what that means now.

by mike b on Apr 29, 2008 2:50 PM CDT up reply reply 0 recs

heh... yeah

Minus the QB issue, it really was a very good draft. Some low-ceiling, high-floor (low-risk) guys in Forte, Bennet and Steltz. A few high-ceiling, low-floor (high-risk) guys in Davis, Bowman and Harrison. And a good mixture of both in Williams—perfect for a first-rounder.

"I've got a class (coming in) here, we've got a chance to do some things." --Tom Izzo on why he might not consider the Bulls coaching vacancy.

by tyger1147 on Apr 29, 2008 3:00 PM CDT up reply reply 0 recs

Tim Tebow? Really?

So Chicago gets the #7 pick in 2009 and the #1 pick in 2010?

Insert clever and witty remark slash pun here!

by ES46NE10 on Apr 29, 2008 2:22 PM CDT reply reply 0 recs

Might I Add

An ESPN employee predicting a Cowboys/Patriots Super Bowl? Why, I never would imagine that.

Insert clever and witty remark slash pun here!

by ES46NE10 on Apr 29, 2008 2:22 PM CDT up reply reply 0 recs

Douglass was a DT playing QB

”...as much in the quicks dept., and with a much weaker arm. Bobby Douglass, anyone?”

I’m not sure if you remember Douglass, but having a weak arm was not one of his problems. The thing was a cannon, but Douglass usually took off from the pocket and ran over most defenders, instead of trying a throw once in awhile. The problem was his arm was terribly inaccurate, and he failed to learn the position.

by Waylon on Apr 29, 2008 2:34 PM CDT reply reply 0 recs

Not weak

I was referring to Tebow as having a weaker arm than Michael Vick, not BD. That doesn’t mean either’s arm is weak, in fact both are quite strong. Just not Michael Vick strong, altho to be fair Vick’s isn’t all about strength, it’s that combined with an incredibly quick release.

Douglass, as a side note, had a career passer rating of 48.5. Ouch!

by garsky on Apr 29, 2008 4:36 PM CDT up reply reply 0 recs

We can't be much worse

We can’t be much better. Either way its WAY WAY WAAY too soon to be talking first round picks for ‘09. Who knows who is going to come out in their senior/junior year and play well enough. If he comes out the Bears should take a later round flyer on Nate Davis from Ball State University.

by GallopingGhost on Apr 29, 2008 5:59 PM CDT reply reply 0 recs

tebow not an nfl QB

tebow is good in college but i don’t see him working out in the NFL.

by columbusOHcubsfan on Apr 29, 2008 7:35 PM CDT reply reply 0 recs

Bitter?

by tempchad on Apr 30, 2008 12:38 PM CDT up reply reply 0 recs

everyone wants a qb with a strong arm

but everyone wants to throw rex grossman under the bus. lots of double standards around here methinks.

by lopey986 on Apr 29, 2008 11:54 PM CDT reply reply 0 recs

really?

you think everyone thinks he sucks because of his arm?

really?

by mike b on Apr 30, 2008 8:33 AM CDT up reply reply 0 recs

just sayin

everyone puts so much stock into combine numbers in this day and age and things like height and arm strength and such. ask kyle boller how those off the charts combine numbers are workin out for him.

and i am not going to judge grossman until we get a line, simple as that. i hate benson at this point but i will do the same for him because our line was goddamn horrible last year. the only back i would have felt comfortable with behind that line would’ve been barry sanders and walter payton.

by lopey986 on Apr 30, 2008 12:19 PM CDT up reply reply 0 recs

so the line in the super bowl year

wasn’t good enough to judge grossman?

by mike b on Apr 30, 2008 12:34 PM CDT up reply reply 0 recs

the only judgement you could make about grossman

in our superbowl year was that he was erratic, he was so up and down we couldnt tell.

"snuffalufagus fucks my shit up"

by leopoldjones on Apr 30, 2008 2:11 PM CDT up reply reply 0 recs

yes, he's erratic

thats the problem.

by mike b on Apr 30, 2008 3:05 PM CDT up reply reply 0 recs

He wasn't really that up and down.

He was great then bad. An average game throughout. He was up then down.

Anyway, to not be able to make a judgment about Grossman must really suck. Yes, having a crappy o-line makes a fraidey-cat QB horrible, but Grossman isn’t that good anyway.

Sources tell me: the word’s still out on David Carr.

"I've got a class (coming in) here, we've got a chance to do some things." --Tom Izzo on why he might not consider the Bulls coaching vacancy.

by tyger1147 on Apr 30, 2008 3:33 PM CDT up reply reply 0 recs