30+ Point Losses Have Happened to Better Teams Than These Bears
by snley on Oct 27, 2009 9:00 AM CDT
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The San Francisco 49ers entered the 1994 season as co-favorites to win the Super Bowl. They had made the NFC Championship Game each of the previous 2 seasons only to lose to the Dallas Cowboys both times. Despite the high expectations for the team, their head coach and quarterback entered the season with a great deal of doubt from the fan base.
Coach George Seifert was the surprise replacement for Bill Walsh after his retirement following the 1988 season. He had been the defensive coordinator under Walsh for 5 years and chosen over the slew of eventual head coaches on the offensive side of the staff. Entering his first season as coach in 1989, most pundits and followers of the NFL believed that the veteran 49ers would struggle without the genius Walsh. Instead, the veterans on the team rallied together to lead the team to a 14-2 record and another Super Bowl victory. They would go 14-2 again in 1990 only to come up short in the NFC Championship game. In case you're not paying attention, that means Seifert entered the 1994 season having gone 1-3 in NFC Championship games with 3 of those games being at home. 49er fans believed that 1989 had been won by the veterans on the team and Seifert was not much of a coach.
Quarterback Steve Young entered the season under even greater fire. Here was an eventual Hall of Fame quarterback who had won the MVP in 1992. Most every other team in the NFL would love to have him at the most important position in the game. Instead, the fans in San Francisco wanted to ride him out on a rail. In the second game of the 1994 season, the 49ers went to Kansas City to face Joe Montana and the Chiefs. There is footage of numerous 49er fans rooting against their team during that game because they liked Montana that much more than Young. While Seifert at least had the success of the 1989 season to fall back on, everyone was convinced Young never would win a big game. To be fair to Young, he had lost in consecutive years to one of the greatest collections of talent in NFL history.
The 49ers lost that previously mentioned game in Kansas City. They entered a Week 5 home date against the Philadelphia Eagles with a 3-1 record. This was a mediocre Eagles team that had gone 8-8 during the 1993 season and would finish 1994 at 7-9. Most of the key players from their Buddy Ryan led defenses of the late 80s were gone. This was a game that a team as good as the 49ers should walk away with a victory. Instead, disaster struck. The Eagles won by a final score of 40-8. Seifert pulled Young from the game, ostensibly to protect Young from possible injury in such a lopsided game. The big story from this game was Young having to be restrained while screaming at Seifert on the sidelines.
The 49ers would rally to win their next game. They would keep on winning up to the final week of the regular season. In their only loss after that humiliation at the hands of the Eagles, they lost by 7 despite resting their starters for a large portion of the game. They would roll through the playoffs and on through one of the most lopsided victories in Super Bowl history. Asked today, some players from that team have said that that loss was a rallying point for the team. A 32 point loss at home brought them together.
Why did I write about the 1994 49ers on a Chicago Bears blog? Obviously, it was because that 40-8 loss really sticks out on their season. This team rallied after that loss to dominate the rest of the NFL. No, I don't think the Bears are going to rally from their likewise embarrassing defeat at the hands of the Cincinnati Bengals to dominate or even win the Super Bowl. I still believe this team can at least make the playoffs. After a loss as lopsided as Sunday's, it can be easy to believe the Bears won't win a single game for the remainder of the season. There is still plenty of talent on this team and even in the coaching staff. Good teams can, have, and will lose games by 30 plus points. Sometimes, good things can come from a loss like that.
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Noone is saying there is absolutely no chance for the Bears to make the Playoffs
Just not in the current state that they are in. Some things are going to need shaking up, both lines for example to start. Personnel moves are just the beginning tho, this team needs to get motivated again. If they can get the Bear fire back, and Lovie can pull his head out of his arse, then maybe we still can have a shot at a wildcard but only…only if the players, coaches, heck everyone associated with the Bears just wake the hell up.
examples of some shape ups you ask?
1. O-Line starters. LT Chris Williams-LG Josh Beekman-C Kreutz-RG Garza – RT – Omiyale(if he proves he still is not worth a damn in his Natural position…then just cut his ass and move on)
Starting TE- I love Olsen, but until he proves he can ditch the pretty boy TE garbage and get in the trenches effectively, i would say start Clark. Olsen can get there i believe..not overnight, but with coaching and a willingness to take a hit in the middle and fight for the extra yards he can get there.
RB- Lets see how Forte does with an invigorated Offensive line with people at their natural positions.
WR- no change..keep it up Earl, Devin, and Johnny.
Def- Put Tommie back in the lineup and make him earn that money. As far as benching Hunter, lets just call it his first game back from injury and see how he does next game before i call for his head. DBs…aint too much i think can improve here instead of just having them stop playing scared and start playing mean. If you get a personal foul for hitting him late and a 20,000 fine…so be it. Least it will put the bug in his ear for the next play.
I am positive none of these changes are going to happen, i would just like to see at least an effort and some fire for the next game. I wanna see something..Bear Nation worldwide is watching.
p.s. sorry for the typos, i’m so used to playing warcraft i think i am stuck permanently typing like this :).
by Chitownproduct on Oct 27, 2009 10:08 AM CDT reply actions
Omiyale
Omiyale(if he proves he still is not worth a damn in his Natural position…then just cut his ass and move on)
His natural position is LT not RT. Carolina last season moved Jordan Gross to RT when their starter went down with injury, while Omiyale was slid in at LT. Not sure why, but he’s better suited on the left side.
"Repetition is only good when you've been winning." - Valet
that was suppose to be a reply Chitownproduct
"Repetition is only good when you've been winning." - Valet
hmm i thought it was RT
So basically we have 3 linesman who’s natural position is LT..hmm
lil chink in the armor i think.
by Chitownproduct on Oct 27, 2009 10:26 AM CDT up reply actions
Again
I’m not entirely sure about where his “natural” position is, but Carolina was reluctant to put him there and he has no experience at RT.
"Repetition is only good when you've been winning." - Valet
Wasn't the rationale
that he backed up a really good T, and filled in just fine, and Shaffer is on the decline, basically a 1 for 1 trade with St Clair?
Omiyale is young and Shaffer is dying basically
"I'm sorry Josh, I'm with Chicago now, you need to stop calling me" -JerBear50 as Jay Cutler
"No offense intended" does not jive with posting in the heat of the moment.
by BearNecessities on Oct 27, 2009 1:52 PM CDT up reply actions
Our line would be even worse with Shaffer in there
"Repetition is only good when you've been winning." - Valet
Clearly, they're starting him at LG to justify his hefty contract
First of all, this was sort of a strange free agent aquisition (and it’s directly on Jerry Angelo). Why would you give a guy an $11 million contract when he’s been a career back-up? Before Orlando Pace got cut by the Rams, Frank Omiyale was on track to be one of our starting tackles. When Angelo got the idea to sign Pace, suddenly there was talk about Omiyale’s “versatility” and the potential for him to play left guard and challenge Josh Beekman.
Anyway, he is playing out of position right now. He did make a comment about the challenging “adjustments” in moving from tackle to guard. Based on everyone’s observations, he is obviously a huge bust at the position so far this year.
absolutely
but Frank sucking at Guard isn’t his fault, he’s a natural Tackle. and from my talks with some panthers fans, not too shabby either, kind of like afalava, you never heard his name, and that was a good thing.
then bam, Pace becomes free agent, and JA is all worried about Cutler’s blind side, even though we have Williams and now Omiyale…it didn’t make sense then, and now stands to confuse even more. if Pace retires this year, it’d be a good thing, to get everyone back in position. Frank at RT and Williams back at LT
"I'm sorry Josh, I'm with Chicago now, you need to stop calling me" -JerBear50 as Jay Cutler
"No offense intended" does not jive with posting in the heat of the moment.
by BearNecessities on Oct 28, 2009 2:56 PM CDT up reply actions
Big difference
Seifert’s Niners were championship caliber teams. Lovie’s Bears are dysfunctional teams. When Philly beats San Fran 40-8, bad game. When Cincy beats Chicago 45-10, the sky is falling.
Camp ifuwanna, we hold you in our heart...
by ifuwannacrownem on Oct 27, 2009 11:41 AM CDT reply actions
49ers fans would have been saying the exact same things after that loss to the Eagles
We have every right to dream heroic dreams. Those who say that we're in a time when there are no heroes, they just don't know where to look.
Ronald Reagan
It seems to me that the reaction isn't so much about the one terrible game,
it’s more about the pattern we’re seeing in Lovie’s teams coming out flat each week, the unprepared nature of the team for the first game of the season with the Packers, the Atlana game after the bye, and this past week after a tough loss the week before. It’s this trend that the coaches don’t seem to be getting the players ready. They are pros and the players have to shoulder some of that burden, but when it goes on this long, that says there is a problem with the people they are supposedly answering to.
Here's a link to a list of embarrassing losses by eventual Super Bowl winners
We have every right to dream heroic dreams. Those who say that we're in a time when there are no heroes, they just don't know where to look.
Ronald Reagan
We have every right to dream heroic dreams. Those who say that we're in a time when there are no heroes, they just don't know where to look.
Ronald Reagan
sorry
don’t have ESPN insider. nor would I pay to read it.
Camp ifuwanna, we hold you in our heart...
by ifuwannacrownem on Oct 27, 2009 2:25 PM CDT up reply actions
i love the positivity but..
you kinda say it yourself..
No, I don’t think the Bears are going to rally from their likewise embarrassing defeat at the hands of the Cincinnati Bengals to dominate or even win the Super Bowl.
Don't remind us
Dude, your avatar gives me the willies.
"Repetition is only good when you've been winning." - Valet
Two things come to mind ...
1. The 94 Niners were a very good team who suffered a bit of a reversal against the Eagles. It happens. It’s an insult to that Niner team to compare them with the current roster of shit known as the Chicago Bears.
2. No one on this, or any other site, knows what the addition of Kevin Shaffer would do. We’re not going to fins out any time soon either. Puzzling why they would keep Chris Williams at RT though …
by Irish Bears Fan on Oct 28, 2009 3:47 AM CDT reply actions
about Chris Williams
Jay Hilgenberg and Tom Thayer said recently that Williams has played solid at RT. Can’t disagree there, as he and Garza are the most dependable Linemen right now.
That gives me great optimism for when he lines up at LT, which is his natural position.
Camp ifuwanna, we hold you in our heart...
by ifuwannacrownem on Oct 28, 2009 6:28 AM CDT up reply actions
Absolutely.
Williams has been solid, especially considering it’s his first year on the playing field.
Hopefully we’ll be able to plug him in at LT (next season) and forget about him for 10 years.
Be nice. Flag comments that you think are offensive. Use the "reply" button. Drink plenty of water. Compliment others. Rec (wreck) comments and posts you like. Don't call people names. If you don't like someone's comment, attack the comment and not the commentor. Learn the difference in your/you're, then/than, to/too. Exercise. Relax. Stretch often. Find good in the world.
Just because it can be done on Madden NFL does not automatically make it a viable option in real life.
I’m with you there. He was touted as more of a finesse pass-blocker (LT) than a run-mauler (RT), but he’s learning more of the black arts on the right side at the moment, which will stand him in good stead when he moves back to his natural left side.
"The trouble with the world is that the stupid are cocksure and the intelligent are full of doubt." - Bertrand Russell
"F*** everybody outside of Halas Hall. BEARDOWN" - WavyGravy
too bad nobody
knows that, since we keep running to the left
"I'm sorry Josh, I'm with Chicago now, you need to stop calling me" -JerBear50 as Jay Cutler
"No offense intended" does not jive with posting in the heat of the moment.
by BearNecessities on Oct 28, 2009 2:57 PM CDT up reply actions
Williams needs to play
He is a 1st round pick and they need to get him playing time to see what he can do. IMO, he is playing pretty well for a rookie surrounded by some aging and/or no talent OLs.
I always turn to the sports section first. The sports page records people's accomplishments; the front page has nothing but man's failures.
~Earl Warren
by lookingdeadred on Oct 28, 2009 10:18 AM CDT up reply actions
I have to say
that I enjoyed this post. Not just because it came frm someone with a Brock Samson avatar!!!
Venture Bros ftw…
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