Bears '09 - Oh My!
by Mark Saade on Dec 14, 2009 1:00 PM CST
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A once promising Chicago Bears 2009 season is already over in early December. This past Sunday’s loss to the rival Green Bay Packers has ended the tiny bit of playoff hopes that still remained. This season has had many more bad moments than good, but which is the worst? Was there one single play or moment that turned our season into the mess that was 2009?
Let’s look at the culprits. When thinking about this season, three main moments stick out to me; Middle linebacker Brian Urlacher’s season ending wrist injury in the first game of the year; the trade for Gaines Adams in which we sent our highest pick in next year’s draft (2nd round) to Tampa Bay for the disappointing defensive end; and the ending of the Thursday night game against the San Francisco 49ers when despite having thrown four interceptions earlier in the game, quarterback Jay Cutler had a chance to win in the final seconds only to throw his fifth pick in the end zone.
Brian Urlacher’s injury has been dissected every which way since it happened in September. We know how important a player he is to our defense and how necessary a leader he is to our team. I don’t think we get absolutely blown out three times this year if he is in the lineup. We might not have won the blow out games, but the outcome may have been closer. Urlacher’s injury not only cost us our most important player on the field, maybe it also changed our team’s spirit. After months of over hype leading up to this season, maybe a crushing opening day lose to our nemesis the Packers coupled with the loss of Urlacher turned our optimism down. Maybe guys had their heads hung a little bit low only one game into the season?
The Bears were 3-1 and enjoying their bye week. They were only a few plays away from being undefeated and seemed to have things figured out heading into a tough Sunday night affair against the Atlanta Falcons. Two days before the prime time match-up, the Bears pulled off a stunning trade. Not stunning in the same way as the Jay Cutler trade, stunning as in ‘Why? What for?’
The Bears sent their second round 2010 draft pick to the Tampa Bay Buccaneers for defensive end Gaines Adams. Adams was the number four overall pick in 2007 who has vastly underachieved in the NFL. With the Bears already without a first round draft pick and deep at the defensive line position, why would they make this trade? This also sends a signal to current Bears defensive ends and future free agents Adewale Ogunleye and Mark Anderson that at least one of them would not be around next year.
This is a slap in the face to two Bears veterans who started the ’09 season strong. Maybe they felt no matter how hard they played this year, they are already being replaced. This may have brought resentment to the two free agents to be. Maybe they stopped playing as hard or played without focus because they knew they were no longer wanted? Tension in the locker room can cause even the strongest of teams to fold.
Two prime time games; two loses. Two huge blow outs in three weeks. A promising start to the season has quickly turned ugly. Not to worry, the Bears are back in prime time to face their old captain and current San Francisco 49ers head coach Mike Singletary. A win on Thursday night on national television will get this team going again. Early on, the Bears seemed to give this game away. Their struggling defense actually played very well despite four interceptions by Cutler. We knew we were the better team, but kept hurting ourselves.
Then when all hoped seemed lost, there was Cutler with the ball in his hands and a chance to win the game. All of his previous interceptions would be a thing of the past if the Bears pulled out this victory. The season would be saved and morale would be boosted with a come from behind, on the road, in prime time victory. Alas, it did not happen. Cutler did not erase the interceptions from our memory; he actually made them more vivid. With everything to gain, Cutler threw his fifth pick of the game and threw away our hopes of a season turn around with it. Maybe with that come from behind win, our Bears turn the season around and learn how to win close games?
There is no telling what made the Bears 2009 season go downhill fast. There were many on the field issues with this team. From coaching to penalties to turnovers, but maybe if one of the aforementioned moments did not take place, we would be talking about a Bears playoff run right now. Morale and confidence is what sets players apart at this level of completion. Lose that, and you have losing. Do you think one moment alone ruined this promising season? Or were the Bears destined to fail all along?
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the house of cards theory
Lots of flaws made this season collapse but to take just one factor, the loss of a MLB like Urlacher when playing our version of the Cover 2 cannot be over estimated – say what you will, nobody plays it as well as he does even though he hates it. All of your other factors you mentioned are important too. Good analysis, Mark.
"I am not an animal!" - Merrick
One word
Offensive Line
------ TheRiot Squad ------
by RightFieldSucks on Dec 14, 2009 1:50 PM CST reply actions
4 more words, if i may...
lovie and ron suck!
"All they do is mock me, just like they did the fat fellow. All the time mocking, mocking, mocking, mocking all the time! Now, it is Babu's turn to mock "---Babu Bhatt in the Seinfeld Finale Part 2
P.S.
"The fact of the matter is the chicago bulls have never been a contender since I left..."----Johnny Kilroy
by chi_till_eye_die on Dec 14, 2009 2:23 PM CST up reply actions
Yeah, good point about the house of cards.
Everything had to go perfect for this team to be playoff-caliber. It didn’t. While there were numerous factors that killed this season, in particular I’d like to point out two of the ones I consider to be poignant.
1. The unsuccessful retooling of the offensive line. This directly contributed to the collapse of the offense. We took the wrong gamble on Omiyale, and Pace turned out to be a bit too far over the hill. Williams has looked bad in play at RT and LT. Kreutz is still a leader, but no longer dominant.
2. The injuries to Urlacher and Pisa. Our linebacking corps has always hid the deficiencies of the line and secondary. Urlacher’s speed, instincts, and smarts were crucial to playing the pass in the middle of the field, and equally so in stopping the run. But most crucial was his ability to be a field general, calling out adjustments to the D. Anyone else notice how lost Roach looks calling/diagnosing plays before the snap? Pisa’s play should have enhanced that.
When injuries happen or FA acquisitions don’t pan out, a team leans on its depth and draft picks to pick up the slack. Since our front office has been absolutely abysmal at finding talent, and our coaching staff has been equally abysmal at developing it, we had nothing to prop up the team, and the house of cards collapsed.
Good post, Mark.
Eh, I think you're wrong.
Williams wasn’t terrible at RT, and as looked at least average if not above average at times in his first two starts at LT.
Associate Writer - WindyCityGridiron.com
Definitely
like Williams better at LT than RT. Agree that he has looked good at times too. Seems like he has all the physical attributes to play the position well. Now he just needs some reps, decent coaching, and to get his head in the game.
Agree. He has looked better than RT. It just has me worried that I haven't
been watching a game and thought to myself “Wow, CDub wrecked the end on that play!” And with the coaching staff we have, and the switch to RT, then back to LT, I hope he doesn’t develop D Manning syndrome.
You guys have a different opinion. Have I been missing some decent Williams play while hanging my head in shame, perhaps? Gimme some examples and I can try to look for them in the next game.
He's looked
pretty solid I think at LT. I definitely like him better there against speed rushers than Pace. He needs to play smarter though, and I think he will. He’s basically a rook, so get him some reps for the rest of the season and let’s hope he has a break-out year in 2010.
That's the thing about the LT position...
If it’s being played well you don’t even really notice it. It’s when they get beat and the QB gets obliterated or something that you really notice the player, same with penalties.
The good thing that can be seen is that his penalty’s have fallen into one of two catagories, newbie mistakes and newbie mistakes that were going to get his QB’s head knocked of. It’s great sign that when he saw his QB was going to get decimated by his error he realized it and facemasked the hell out of the guy.
I’d rather he win every single match up, but it’s great that he knows what a penalty is preferable specially while he’s getting his reps in.
Associate Writer - WindyCityGridiron.com
Lossing Mike Brown in the offseason
I know he was hurt alot. But he always seemed to be the one on the sidelines talking to everyone trying to get them back in the games, weather he was playing or not. But Gaines Adams was the thing I hate the most we would have a high 2nd round pick we could trade for much more, than that sack of Lovie.
Couldn't agree with this more,
Losing Mike Brown in the off-season
Losing Mike Brown had a huge impact on the mentality of our defense. As much as I love Urlacher, Mike Brown was the emotional cornerstone of our defense and the greater leader. Not having either of them on the field in 09 has proven to be a disaster.
From a Rams Fan
Please Fire Lovie, as a Rams fan, we will take him and put him in charge of something (D-line, DBs, LBs, D-Cord) on the D and we have to improve. We really suck. So if firing Lovie is your answer. I’ll take it.
Thank you.
you would be better off with Bob B
for your LBs
I hate Lovie
Did you ever notice Lovie’s face when they show him after the Bears make yet another bone-head play? He looks like the guy trying to find where his friends sat down in the lunch room while holding a tray of food. He is totally clueless. Enough already.
LOL
This year, Lovie looks like the guy who’s lunch just got stolen by the bully.
"Yes, risk taking is inherently failure-prone. Otherwise, it would be called sure-thing-taking." - Jim McMahon
Ha nice
I honestly believe that Lovie is the real life form of Cleveland from Family Guy. I think the only way to get him mad is to have someone sleep with his wife like Quagmire slept with Loretta.
by frenchbears113 on Dec 14, 2009 3:24 PM CST up reply actions
That Niners game
was beyond atrocious. That fifth pick was the single worst moment of the season.
Is Jerry Angelo fired yet?
too easy to hang it all on Urlacher
You look at all of the top teams in the league right now, most have had to deal with not only one critical starter going down, but in many cases several, all at once. The Chargers basically lost half of their starters on defense at one point, yet Rivera somehow kept their replacements playing at a more than adequate level. It’s not just a function of coaching, but having decent players at the back – up positions. We have neither, and the reality is that when Urlacher went down he apparenty took our only decent defensive coach off the team at the same time. Pathetic – this is a collective failure, both on the field and off.
I think the worst part
has been the “fans.” They think they know everything about everything that goes wrong and jump to hasty decisions. Relax. We’re not having a great year – obviously. It’s the fans that make it more unbearable… if they were looking at some of the positives we’ve had this year, maybe everyone wouldn’t be AS upset. Why not a “This has been a rough season, what do you think the Bears have done right?” post?
"A lot of fans were drawn to me because they knew that whatever the score was, I was going to run as hard as I could on every play. You don't have that now, you have guys waiting for next week or even next year." - Walter Payton
by Ashley Czuba on Dec 14, 2009 3:49 PM CST reply actions 2 recs
What would you point to?
The QB play? Awful.
The RB play? Terrible.
The OL play? Bottom five in the league at best.
The WR play? Johnny Knox has been welcome, but Hester isn’t any good, Iglesias can’t see the field, Bennett hasn’t produced as expected, and it took 14 weeks to play Aroma.
The coaching? Abysmal.
The management? Worse than the coaching.
The DB play? It’s a rotating door. They can’t stop anyone when it counts.
The DL play? Flashes of good, flashes of bad. Mostly flashes of bad.
The special teams play? Not awful?
Seriously, what are your positives to take from this year, and how can you convince the fans that this will be a playoff contender next year without lying through your teeth?
Is Jerry Angelo fired yet?
I'll bite...
so what are some of the positives?
And we won't be swept by the Lions
Fortunately, we played them early enough on the season. If both games had been post-collapse, I wouldn’t be so certain.
"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
Seriously mate
The fans have grown tired of the same excuses from this organization. Yes there have been a bare minimum of positives but given all the time Lovie and his merry band of idiots have gotten to return us to the promised land, i’d say paying fans have every right to complain and tear this team a new one.
by frenchbears113 on Dec 15, 2009 12:28 AM CST up reply actions
Good point HoneyBear,
I’m sure you must have learned in your rugby playing, It is easy to get caught up in the moment of a disappointing loss. Surely though, as you suggest, we must not forget to identify what has gone well over the course of the season. How else would we competently move forward.
Just a couple to start with:
1) We have quite the line-up of young promising WR’s.
2) Johnny Knox is a great kick returner and probably the steal of the draft…
I have some more, but maybe I’ll save them for that post. Thanks for staying positive:)
Thanks for
not ripping me apart (not that everyone did) after my post. While I do agree that some things need to change, I’m not sure just firing anyone is really going to fix everything.
I like your positives. I would also add:
-Next year we’ll have a wrist-healthy Urlacher (who, while some people think he’s getting too old, is still a major part of the team, if for no other reason than his presence and attitude).
-We’re not the Lions, nor do we have a 0 win record… it could always be worse.
-While some of our coaches are considered crazy (for lack of a better term) we still have a few good ones… Dave Toub for example.
-As you said, we have promising WRs, they’ll just get better over the post-season and have a good shot at being REALLY good next year.
-We have Jay, and while some people aren’t sure if it’s a good thing or not, we at least have somewhere to start. If he can start gelling with those promising WRs and with the team, we have a chance to do well.
-We know our mistakes. For one example, we know Jay needs more time to throw, so we know to work with our O-line on that. Our mistakes aren’t impossible to fix…
Thanks for being somewhat positive as well, I was beginning to think I was the only one. I know there need to be changes, but for those changes to work, we need to see that bad and good of the season.
"A lot of fans were drawn to me because they knew that whatever the score was, I was going to run as hard as I could on every play. You don't have that now, you have guys waiting for next week or even next year." - Walter Payton
by Ashley Czuba on Dec 15, 2009 8:12 AM CST up reply actions
Right after the loss,
Err maybe I should say, right after the lost time-out. I was pretty PO’’d myself. Definitely there are a lot of bright spots on this team though.
Love this:
We’re not the Lions, nor do we have a 0 win record
In a way, maybe us and every other team out there should thank the Lions for last year. There is now a new bench mark of low that should make all bad teams feel just a little better.
Hahaha.
I know it makes me feel better! :]
"A lot of fans were drawn to me because they knew that whatever the score was, I was going to run as hard as I could on every play. You don't have that now, you have guys waiting for next week or even next year." - Walter Payton
by Ashley Czuba on Dec 15, 2009 10:46 AM CST up reply actions
The 49ers game is the worst.
Even though Cutler had 5 picks, there was still a chance to win it…
Lifelong Arizona Cardinals/Chicago Bears fan.
No band-wagoner fans allowed, pick a team and stick with em, throughout the good and the bad.
Good point about tall receivers
Rivers had what looked like 5 giant receivers out there yesterday against the Cowboys, and they couldn’t cover ‘em all. Of course, they’re all talented receivers as well.
The Chargers
receivers are huge. Of the seven, including TE, 3 are 6-5, 1 is 6-4, 2 are 6-2, and 1 is 6-1. That’s gotta be helping Philip Rivers look a little better.
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