NightLink: How to fix the Bears

Absolutely not.

If money were no object, I think he’d be gone yesterday.

But firing Lovie doesn’t solve everything wrong with the Bears. It changes the defensive scheme, possibly (depending on new HC), but there’s still personnel issues on the O-Line and, arguably, the D-Line.

Lovie should go… but Ron Turner and Jerry Angelo should be right in lockstep behind him. Then (as I think has been a complaint for a few years) the O-Line needs to get younger (and better). Otherwise, your offensive personnel are there. Defensive might need a little more work.

and no, i dont see them eating any salary to get a diff HC. Chicago will just have to grin and bear it. The football team we all enjoy will need a rebuilding period, and it may take a while before we see a competitve team that will be a true contender.

but if Lovie and Angelo get fired (Turner too), then the Bears would owe them the rest of their contracted salary. However, if a team (maybe Redskins) came in a scooped up Lovie, then wouldn’t the Bears be off the hook? If the Browns picked up Angelo, wouldn’t the Bears be off the hook for his salary?

Then they do give him the extension, essentially committing to him as the head coach, and now everybody’s blaming the Bears for being too cheap to fire him. The stupidity of Bears fans astounds me sometimes. You can’t have it both ways…

I don’t even think that if Urlacher and Pisa were healthy our defense would be any good. We would still be having the same problems as we are now.

Except for Pisa it’s essentially the same D as last year. Couldn’t stop anyone last year, can’t stop anyone this year.

You just brought in Jay Cutler and the window is only open for so many years. Get it right now and build around your franchise QB.

Your team is still better than my fave team (Packers) where everything has been horrible the last two weeks.

I said earlier on that lack of emotional and literal leadership on defense was glaring—we might still be 4-4, but I can guarnatee blow-outs like ARZ & CIN wouldn’t happen with Urlacher/Brown.
Lovie sure as heel isn’t inspiring/motivating/firing up this team anymore—it has to come from veteran leadership among the players.

Re Urlacher—We definitely miss that range/athleticism in the soft spot behind the line, and teams respect that area FAR less.
Other big issues:
—poor o-line
—no run game
—weak secondary, absence of play-makers…

But make no mistake, poor drafting and personnel blunders and lousy coaching (lack of preparation, inspiration, and creativity, as well as the failure /inability to adjust and adapt), have gotten us to where we are now—that is, BAD.

Now, maybe a shortterm answer quick fix for the Bears might be this—have an opposing player call out the entire D-line.

(If motivation won’t come from within, maybe we can get it without, right?)

1. Bring in a DC. We need an actual, full time Coordinator. Preferably someone with fire and discipline. While Lovie is HC he’ll never keep his nose completely out of the defense so we don’t even need someone who can implement a whole new system. We really just need a babysitter for the defense, someone who can watch over them full time which Lovie can’t while he’s HC, DC, and apparently working on offense too. Adjustments, reviews, ass-chewing. These things need to happen during the game and apparently Lovie’s too busy or glacial to do them.

2. Free agency. Still kind of up in the air depending on whether there is a new CBA. If there isn’t the available pool shrinks. Either way we need to grab 2 each of the best OL and DL we can get on the phone with. OL market is pretty thin so may have to grab a guard and look for another in the draft. DL has a good spread of people available. And some have injury problems so Angelo should be able to find a few he likes. IMO everything else is secondary as far as free agency. If we can find a good, youngish LB or DB for a reasonable price then huzzah but I don’t think those are as important as OL and DL atm.

3. Draft. Honestly way too early for me to think much about specific players in the draft. I’ll start paying attention in March or so. Generally we need a backup RB and at least one OL (or more depending on free agency) and the usual DL, DB prospects. And for the love of all that is orange and navy hire some outside consultants. At least someone to say “Hey Jerry that guy’s in a wheelchair.” And please draft people for the actual position they play. For some reason either Lovie or Angelo or both are obsessed with drafting “athletic” people at one position and then moving them somewhere else.

There’s a few other points but I feel like this would go a few more pages if I started on them.

Nothing really short term there except possibly the DC. No idea what the precedent is for adding a coordinator mid-season. Either way it’s mostly next season stuff that would require some bold leadership. It’s that last part that has me worried. Debate their competence all you like but bold definitely doesn’t apply.

First and foremost, Lovie and co. have to go. Even if he were a great coach, he’s lost this team and that cannot be fixerated. JA should follow him as I have witnessed a plethora of stupid draft moves and bad FA signings. Ted Phillips may have to fire his ego to get a HC that can run GM duties and that may be what the big hangup ends up being. IMO, it’s a post-Ditka thing; the owners do not want strong leaders, but competent subordinates.
My vote would be for Cowher, but Shanny is intriguing dark horse if he brings along a good DC.

The o-line needs retooling. To best know where to proceed, we need to see Omiyale at RT and Williams at LT. Plus, Beekman needs some C reps and Louis needs a look at LG. Still a FA o-lineman is a likely need no matter what, my guess is at LT. Other than that a short yardage back and a primary WR are needed. I think Knox, Hester and Bennett are good as the 2, 3, and 4 spots for some serious depth at WR and this offense could put up some obscene points.

On defense, first and foremost, a singularly destructive force at the DT is a must. The DEs that remain are good enough if they move Brown to the left (strong) side and get anything out of G Adams and Anderson and Melton. Gilbert need to see the field and we need to see what he can do. If the Bears can get the DT solidified, Gilbert might just be better at DE. The LBs are fine and deep, but some yong talent to develop late in the draft may not hurt. The second biggest defensive need is the FS spot. This needs to be addressed just after the DT. It’s gonna have to be a FA because, like WRs, a FS takes time to develop. Lastly, we need to see more of Graham, Moore and Manning (at the CB) to get a sense if they can play at this level, but another FA DB will likely be necessary.

To sum up, the Bears need 3-5 players on offense and 3-5 players on defense and a changing on the coaching staff. There is a core of talent on this team that could be the nucleus of a serious SB contender for the next 3+ years if Ted Phillips can check his ego at the door. The Bears cannot waste the talent they have in Cutler because this team may not see a QB this good for decades again.