NFC North Now
by Mark Saade on Dec 9, 2009 4:00 PM CST
in Notes
16 comments
Try to remember a better time; a time when the Chicago Bears ruled over all in the NFC North division. A time when winning was the norm and the future looked bright for the oldest franchise in the NFL. Ah, the good ol' days....way back when in 2006.
Since the Chicago Bears made a trip to Super Bowl XLI, the fortunes of teams in the NFC North have taken a turn, for the worst if you ask me. Just three years removed from the Super Bowl and the Bears are looking up at their rivals the Green Bay Packers and Minnesota Vikings in the division standings. How could a team that looked so strong such a short time ago fall and let others pass them by?
Though the NFC North does consist of a fourth team, the Detroit Lions, we will only look at the three teams that actually compete in the NFL year after year.
Heading in to the Bears super season of '06, personnel changes were made by our bitter rivals. Both the Packers and Vikings had brought in new head coaches to help their struggling franchises. Mike McCarthy would now lead the Pack and Brad Childress the Vikings, both men bringing along with them an offensive prowess. Though respectable, neither new coach would lead his team to a winning record and the Bears ran away with the NFC North title.
Though finishing just 12 points short of a Super Bowl victory, the Bears felt the need to make some drastic changes to their team in 2007. Locker room favorite and starting running back Thomas Jones was traded to the New York Jets, safety Chris Harris gone to the Carolina Panthers and heralded defensive coordinator Ron Rivera was let go in favor of Bob Babich. It seemed the men making personnel decisions in Chicago got a little too cocky. They let the previous year's Super Bowl run and award winning stroke their egos. *Both Bears head coach Lovie Smith and General Manager Jerry Angelo would win men of the year honors in their respected professions following the '06 season.
Our two rivals would make some changes too, for the better however. Both teams would make great draft decisions and bring in valuable free agents. The Bears? Well, they drafted the likes of Michael Okwo and Dan Bazuin.
After coasting through the division easily in '06, the Bears would drop to fourth in '07. Finishing with the same record as that fourth team in the North, Detroit something or other. The Packers would go on to win the division and finish one game short of the Super Bowl. The Vikings would steadily improve to 8-8. Some would contribute the Bears disappointing 2007 season to the hang over that is felt by many Super Bowl losers, I wish it was that simple.
Entering 2008, the Bears again made changes to their running back position by cutting Cedric Benson after his run in's with the law. The quarterback job would now go to Kyle Orton and after letting leading wide receiver Bernard Berrian shimmy to the hated Vikes; return man ace Devin Hester would now take over as Orton's number one guy. Though the Bears made some smart moves entering '08, they would fall one game short of the division winning Vikings (10-6) and the playoffs. The 6-10 Packers would take a step back in '08 after a tumultuous off season in which they traded soon to be Hall of Famer and Mr. Packer himself Brett Favre to the Jets; handing over the team to first year starting quarterback Aaron Rodgers.
Which brings us to this season....The Bears made a huge splash this off season by acquiring Pro Bowl quarterback Jay Cutler; they also brought in new offensive linemen Frank Omiyale & Orlando Pace, and they made another move at defensive coordinator. Head coach Lovie Smith would now be the man calling the plays for a defense that has not looked the same since the Bears hoisted up Papa Bear's trophy in '06. The Packers would also change up their defense, bringing in new defensive coordinator Dom Capers who brought with him a new style of defense, the 3-4 scheme. The Packers would also draft very well, bringing in players that would help support their new actions. Like the Packers would mirror the Bears with a new defensive coordinator, the Vikings would follow in the Bears footsteps and bring in a new quarterback. The same guy that made the Packers '08 off season a nightmare would make the Vikings '09 regular season a dream. Brett Favre left his one year gig with the Jets to return to the NFC North as a horn head.
Well, as the saying goes; the rest is history. We all know how this season has turned out thus far.
When looking back over the last few years, it seems like player/coaching personnel have really hurt the Bears. Both the Packers and Vikings have found immediate impact players coming out of college, the Bears are still waiting for some of theirs to come around. Big name free agents have also contributed to our two northern neighbors surpassing us in the rankings. This issue can be attributed to Bears brass, but remember they were also the ones that brought us Jay Cutler.
There‘s no telling what the future may bring for any of these ball clubs. I just hope the Bears turn it around before 2006 really does become a distant memory.
-Players obtained by either Draft (D), Free Agency (FA) or Trade (T) that have made contributions to his team:
Packers '06 Vikings '06 Bears ‘06
~AJ Hawk (D) ~Cedric Griffin (D) ~Danieal Manning (D)
~Greg Jennings (D) ~Ray Edwards (D) ~Devin Hester (D)
~Ryan Pickett (FA) ~Chad Greenway (D) ~Jamar Williams (D)
~Charles Woodson (FA) ~Ben Leber (FA)
~Ryan Longwell (FA)
~Chester Taylor (FA)
~Steve Hutchinson (FA)
Packers '07 Vikings '07 Bears ‘07
~Justin Harrell (D) ~Adrian Peterson (D) ~Greg Olsen (D)
~Brandon Jackson (D) ~Sidney Rice (D) ~Kevin Payne (D)
~James Jones (D) ~Visanthe Shiancoe (FA) ~Garrett Wolfe (D)
~Aaron Rouse (D) ~Josh Beekman (D)
~Jason Crosby (D)
~Ryan Grant (T)
Packers '08 Vikings '08 Bears ‘08
~Jordy Nelson (D) ~Madieu Williams (FA) ~Chris Williams (D)
~Patrick Lee (D) ~Bernard Berrian (FA) ~Matt Forte (D)
~Jermichael Finley (D) ~Jared Allen (T) ~Earl Bennett (D)
~Marcus Harrison (D)
~Zack Bowman (D)
~Kellen Davis (D)
Packers '09 Vikings ‘09 Bears ‘09
~BJ Raji (D) ~Percy Harvin (D) ~Johnny Knox (D)
~Clay Matthews (D) ~Phil Loadholt (D) ~Al Afalava (D)
~Brett Favre (FA) ~Orlando Pace (FA)
~Frank Omiyale (FA)
~Pisa Tinoisamoa (FA)
~Jay Cutler (T)
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one thing
I’m fairly certain the Vikes got Jared Allen in a trade with KC. I could be wrong. Good stuff either way…
Never die easy. Why run out of bounds and die easy? Make that Linebacker pay. It carries into all facets of your life. It's okay to lose, to die, but don't die without trying, without giving it your best.- Walter Payton
Oops
You are correct, must have mis-typed…..
Space Mountain on Three; One, Two, Three, Space Mountain!
maybe
just maybe, 2006 was a lot of luck combined with the right elements of skill. The whole 2006 season I couldn’t escape this feeling that the Bears were getting a lucky a whole lot more than they were playing well. From Berrian’s catch against the Saints to Hester’s runback against the Cards, there were a lot of close calls. A friend of mine and I sat down to watch that super bowl and I remember telling him “It’s only down from here. If they lose this, they won’t return this same team again”. Maybe, that 2006 Bears team wasn’t all that good. What were the pieces that helped us there?
Hester: Great that year, carried us to the SB in fact, but now…
.
Rex Grossman: Threw a lot of INTs but a lot of TDs too. He was never going to have that kind of year again.
Thomas Jones: Underated, and left the following season.
Bernard Berrian: Not worth the money he wanted but made a number of catches, like the one against NO in the NFC final, that saved the Bear’s butts.
Ron Rivera: In my opinion a great DC. Gone next season.
Mike Brown: Acutally played, and played well.
It was a combination
A combo of luck, great D and great Special Teams is what got us to the Super Bowl. Sadly the luck ran out, Lovie fired the key component of that D… Ron Rivera and turned the best return man in history into a receiver and they let go Brendan Ayanbadejo. So to sum it up, the Bears brass is what ruined the potential for improvement or at least stagnation. i’d rather have that than deterioration The NFC title is what gave Lovie Smith the excuse to get power-hungry and start playing God with the coaches and because he’s too stupid and proud to acknowledge it, the Bears D declined when he fired Ron Rivera so he took the reins. Poetic Justice would be if Lovie was fired and Ron Rivera became HC. I’m not saying he should be because I think we need a way better and more experienced coach to fix this mess but it’d be really funny to see what Lovie would have to say about that
by frenchbears113 on Dec 9, 2009 4:50 PM CST up reply actions
Lest we forget how they played in 2006...
…a link that someone posted a couple of days ago in another thread.
"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
it was nice
when the Bears would have at least 2 defenders per ball carrier/target receiver.
We only ruled over all other NFC North opponents for 2 seasons...
And when you think about it, all of the other NFC North teams did not decline since 2006, they all strengthened while we declined. Think about all of our wins this year, none of those opponents have winning records. We should have been getting progressively better instead of dropping more and more people and personnel. We need to clean house and get some different philosophies running this team. You can tell the players don’t believe in the system and that should be enough to make the decision to change.
by PolishSausage.Ditka.Bears. on Dec 9, 2009 5:14 PM CST reply actions
As a Colts fan
You guys need a Bill Polian type GM and you’ll be straight. As others on this site have said, I think you can blame the slide on Jerry Angelo and his arrogance, kind of like Jerry Krause. Find a GM without an ego and this Bears team will be alright.
I remember 2006
When the average age of our defense was something like 26. That was very nice, what happened to that youth? Some got older (Urlacher, Mike Brown) some got traded/cut/let go (Harris, Tank, Ian Scott) some lost talent (Vasher) and our o-line went from solid veteran to old and weak in one offseason. The more it’s pulled apart, the more I am thinking that JA is to blame for the Bears’ downfall than Lovie…
by GallopingGhost on Dec 10, 2009 12:07 AM CST reply actions
i agree
…but have to wonder how much input Lovie has in personnel decisions that JA made. I suspect he has a lot of input.
"I am not an animal!" - Merrick
yeah
like the harris/archuleta crap. here’s to hoping both of them move on a lot sooner rather than later
by reefermadness3 on Dec 10, 2009 8:19 AM CST up reply actions
I've wondered that as well,
and also, how much of Lovie’s coaching decisions have been influenced by JA.
You are all gentlemen (and ladies) and good judges of cheap whiskey.
yeah
but Lovie is the one coaching these guys up. He and his staff have been beyond awful at that
by frenchbears113 on Dec 10, 2009 10:06 AM CST up reply actions
propping
sorry to say this the way we are going,we could be propping up the division and looking up at the lions
What i notice here
is the fact that you look at our “contributers” and it’s sad that we can plug Jamar Williams in there, yet look at the Pack/Vikes… the majority of them are starters now…and would start on most NFL teams.
"Hey, the offensive linemen are the biggest guys on the field, they're bigger than everybody else, and that's what make them the biggest guys on the field." -Madden
by BearNecessities on Dec 10, 2009 6:51 AM CST reply actions
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