The Bears Den: November 4, 2010

was about the fact that Drake can say they ran the proper route, but it doesn’t describe the whole truth of the matter. It’s like an electrician who says he wired the circuit properly, but didn’t flip on the breaker. The end result is no different than if he’d not wired it at all; no power. The WRs ran the correct route, but they didn’t finish the play. Drake isn’t lying, but being right doesn’t help solve the problem, it just passes the blame along. In a sense we agree on this.

and you do make a valid point. Honestly, for a change, I am trying to look at the solutions to the failures on offense and it’s a bit of new territory for me. What I am getting at is that, from what I have seen of the throws, I believe Cutler is putting the ball in the correct window; roughly where it should be based upon what I can perceive is the place he expects the throw should go-using the assumption that Drake is correct that the WRs are running the proper routes. Starting there, I think 2 things need to improve for the Bears to have continued success:
1. Cutler must adjust his throws a bit to accommodate the slower timing of the WRs getting to their spots during game action as opposed to practice.
2. The WRs have to fight through the defender to get to that ball more consistently and meet Jay halfway.

One example of Jay being mostly at fault was the Hall INT that became the TD. Jay simply put too much air under the ball on that throw (or not enough velocity) and it gave Hall the chance to drive on the throw and out flank Knox and grab that pass. However, Knox consistently gets beat to the spot of the throw on too many slant patterns, like in the WASH game. Cutler, IMO, put the ball where it should be anticipating that Knox was going to complete his route at roughly the same speed as in practice. Knox held up and it got picked.

In the end, I think Jay and the WRs can get this right. Take the Hall pick on the throw to Hester. To me, Jay threw that ball a bit short and Hester faded a bit too deep on his cut. Hall jumped the route and picked it off. Cutler was under pressure but had time to throw and Hester was basically running the correct route, but didn’t do it crisply. If either guy just tightens up their mechanics on that throw/catch, either the ball gets up and Hester makes the grab or Hester is positioned in front of Hall to stop the INT/make the catch. It’s easy to say Hester ran the correct route on that and Jay underthrew it, but BOTH guys can help to make that a successful play. And it probably only takes one of them to do it.

As for Drake, I take everything he says with a grain of salt. He hasn’t show much ability to develop young talent. Knox and Hester still have some fundamental flaws to their basic WR skills. He’s not likely to say he’s done a bad job even when it’s obvious to me that he has.

If you bust in the 6th round it wont hurt you very much because most guys in that round aren’t going to be difference makers (sometimes you do get lucky and that’s just gravy). But if you bust in the first 2 rounds it can be killer, especially if you do it multiple years as the bears have. There is so much talent in the first 2 rounds, a lot of pro bowl caliber guys as well as solid solid starters up there that if you pick the busts it can really hurt your ability to stock your team with young talent.

The Williams pick was dumb anyway, blow a top 15 pick on a lineman with a screwed up back and has to miss 3/4 of his rookie year. You could get that in the 2nd or 3rd round as an injury risk upside pick. Angelo blows.

CW is still a kid. He’s only in his first year with a quality OL Coach and Mentor. I had hoped last year even if Orlando Pace was a bust a LT at the very least he could mentor CW – that didn’t happen in spite of the fact Pace spent no time on his technique apparently.

The biggest thing our team has been lacking is good coaching. Good Coaches get the most of players no matter what their ability is. A good great coach will always raise the level of play for a player who is dedicated to improving. It seems most of our young guys are. Lovie Dovie’s lack of “demonstrated” fire and unwillingness to demand accountability really hurts players and position coaches ability to improve.

CW is not a bust yet, he’s got a couple more years before a fair evaluation can be made.

is that he simply sucks ass. Yes, he has physical talent, but he’s gutless and unmotivated. He’s too slow and casual to play LT, he’s too much of a pansy to play RT and he’s too lackadaisical to play guard. Physically he should be a LT, i.e. why he was drafted. But his non-physical game is utterly absent. It takes a special guy to make one long for the days John StClair filled that position.

and playing a winless team at a neutral site… Bears win big.

A younger defense, 3 Big Macs and an Extra Large Fry.

I still think the talent is all there. OK, the O-line as currently manned is probably only capable of being serviceable at best, but you can get by with that. I think the Super Bowl contender status comes from our D and special teams. In my humble opinion the offense just needs to… groan… manage the game better and not turn the damn ball over so often!

Good/great D and special teams, gunslinger QB, good RBs, good WRs, good TE… we just need Tice to get the O-line a bit more functional. I’m feeling strangely optimistic about the rest of this year.

and a Sex Cannon

A single 1st rounder?? Turn in your sweater vest!!

… may elicit interest from any new management/coaching team – the Redskins don’t have a 3rd (Saints for Barron) or a 4th (Eagles for McNabb) and would probably want to target a NT in R2

I asked David Haugh about this and he DM’d me on Twitter and told me no way we get back what we gave “Trades are like cars. Value goes down minute you make deal.” He said a good return would be a 1st and a 3rd. I don’t support trading Cutler but if that deal came a long and it was a relatively high pick (top 15, top 12 preferably) then pull the trigger. Especially if it was before 2012 draft, when the QB class is DEEP.

Rich Eisen’s podcast and he was saying how Martz never yells at the starting QB (he said several coaches do this, including Norv Turner). He yells at the back-ups for the mistakes Cutler is actually doing and then would tell Cutler later, hey fix what I was saying to the other guys. This way the team won’t lose confidence in the starter.

But that’s total BS. Cutler needs to be hammered for his lazy mechanics and such. COACH him. He can take it, don’t coddle him.

his head is huge.

No, I’ve never seen a training camp. That explains a bit. I have read (on here many times) that the real work of the linemen doens’t begin until pads are on, and even then activity is curtailed to prevent injury. I guess I’m just a bit surprised that with a knowledgable coach like Tice we don’t have it ironed out yet as to who is best where. I suppose I should be greateful they’re trying to make adjustments instead of taking a “Rex is our quarterback” attitude. I just hope the musical positions finds a good tune soon.

But I still think Walter Payton should have been ranked higher. (above Taylor) Here’s the list:

http://top100.nfl.com/?module=HP_cp2

Sweetness is 5th. Butkis is 10th. Only the 49ers and the Bears have 2 players in the top 10.

So any credibility the panel may have had is gone for me. Walter at least top 3, he’ll even JimB Brown knows he was the best football player not just RB. Jerry Rice may be the greatest WR but not the best football player.