Notes, Scribbles, and Things Jotted Down: Week 3, Packers Edition

So three games in and our second round pick hasn’t seen the field. It didn’t matter yesterday, but is anyone else concerned?

I’m a little nervous about him. In the pre-season he looked VERY small for an NFL dlinemen..Hell, he looked small for a linebacker.

I am going to repeat this until someone from the Bears FO is going to listen, FIRE MARTZ!!!

Cutler is a mobile QB, and Martz doesn’t do that, THEY DO NOT FIT TOGETHER.

are because they have drafted so badly that most of the roster are guys who need to develop skills they currently lack. This might be fine if they were back-ups or if it were one or two guys, but the Bears have about 6 guys on offense that are not true starters in anything other than name. On defense, there are probably 3-4 guys who would not start on many other teams. That’s just too many to allow any one of them to develop. The Bears went all in to get Peppers and Cutler, but then failed to get quality FAs (e.g. WR and G) to give them time to develop their young talent. Thus, the Bears are starting guys who simply haven’t gained the fundamental skills necessary to be effective in any consistent manner.
Knox is not a bad WR, though he plays that way sometimes, he’s just not consistent and has bad ball skills. Others, like Steltz, are just not very good at their position and no amount of coaching will fix that. This, IMO, falls squarely on the position coaches like Hoke and Drake and Tice. It’s one thing to say they don’t have much to work with, but their guys are breaking down fundamentally, and that is on the coaches.
Lastly, the Bears are just a disorganized mess in need of the direction of a solid leader. I do not believe Lovie can be that guy to take hold of this team and will them to play better. I expect an up and down season ending in 9-7 or 8-8 and missing the playoffs. On offense the Bears seem to be lucky when a play works, not deliberate and successful. On defense, they always seem like they are playing with 10 players and overcoming huge disadvantages to just make a tackle. This Bears team could be playoff caliber simply because of the defense, but it’s up to Lovie to pull this trainwreck of a team together and play with intent and focus. Otherwise, the Lovie era needs to come to a close.

Bears played like crap but still hung in there all game.

My wife watched this game with me and upon hearing his name when scoring a TD she asked, “Jermichael? Were his parents fans of the Jackson Five and couldn’t decide between Jermaine or Michael so made one name?”

First of, if it wasn’t clear before these past two games it should be very clear now that we need a legitamite #1 receiver. I don’t care what BS Jerry or Martz try to sell us, every offense needs a go to receiver that can be counted on to make a play at critical times in the game if that offense is to be any better than average. Johnny Knox is NOT a #1 and IMO will never be a #1 (sorry SMD). Roy Williams has shown the ability to get open, but doesn’t seem to have the connection with Cutty just yet.

While we’re on the suject of Roy Williams I think that more credit should be given to the defensive back for the hit the criticism to Roy on the dropped TD.

Thirdly, is anybody else? begining to look to Daryl Drake as part of the problem with the receiving corps?

The receiver’s weren’t getting open past or near the first down marker when we were long. It was either take the underneath route and hope something broke or chuck it away. I’ll take the extra 8 yards of field position.

Jay wasn’t on target a good part of the day and with our receivers that means no catch. Rodgers has misses too but his receivers are good enough to help him out.

Running plays through the middle are currently the bane of the team. Offense can’t get anything with them and defense can’t stop them. Offensive problems are expected, our O-line’s not good. Our D-line is supposed to be good and our D as a whole has usually played the run really well. No idea what’s going on there, not when Ryan Grant can run on you.

I’m not sure if he’s a capable backup. Where’s DMS when you need him? Another oversight by management which always comes back to haunt them.

Why shouldn’t Cutler get the benefit of the doubt even though he received great protection much of the day? Bad, bad mistake that only young, inexperienced QBs should make.

Knox complaining of PI on final play? It was great coverage, you should’ve caught the ball, but you’re not strong enough.

Forte didn’t receive one screen pass. Well, maybe one but that’s ridiculous.

Angelo and Ruskell need to be fired. Same mistakes over and over again.

And then doesn’t give the guy ANYONE to throw the ball to… or ANYONE to create a pocket for him. It’s a passing league, and the Bears have no clue how to build an offense.

Receivers can’t catch or don’t want to fight for the ball…

Cutlers throws are off target…

O-line not protecting (BUT they did do a better job this week)…

Play calling??? Did we lose the bus we used to “get off running?”

Inability to adjust in-game…

Relying on defense to win the ballgame…

Seems like they had forgotten all about Martz and Roy Williams, but after watching the game, they were like “Oh, yeah, that’s why we got rid of those guys.”

It’s not a good day to be a Bears fan when Detroit fans are feeling bad for you.

I seem to remember another guy that fans cried bust over when he didn’t appear in a single game his rookie year. He eventually developed into the teams best WR

Also, if you remember before he was drafted Paea was considered a project because of his lack of football experience and his small arsenal of pass rushing moves. It was the hype generated by his bench press record, and his tremendous upside that overshadowed this.

The offense led by Mike Martz failed. Completely.

They had a handfull of opportunities to come back and win the game. But poor discipline by the WRs and a failure/reluctance to adjust costed us what would have been a much needed and important win over a division foe. Jay Cutler once again did all he could, just received very little help from his WRs. People wonder why Cutler didn’t roll out? Because when Mike Martz calls a play, he expects his personel to execute it like they do in practice. Cutler is not allowed to call audibles, not allowed to make pre-snap adjustments, or really even roll out unless the O-line fails. He is bound to staying in the pocket and waiting for his WRs to get where they are supposed to be. And through two games against playoff caliber teams, this offense just does not work as it.

Meanwhile, Craig Steltz has proved once again he does not deserve to start at Safety. Brandon Meriweather did good once again, making some rather nice plays preventing long completions every time he was within range of the ball. Steltz…just no. Can we please have Hitman back healthy sometime soon!?

Ultimately, I feel this was another team loss where Mike Martz deserves most of the blame, but I also want to appologize in being the total meatball when speaking about Martz. I am just done with him having piss poor games against the Green Bay Packers. I as a Bears fan am done seeing Green Bay prove to the media just how good they are on paper, and how much we “suck” on paper. When the Packers come to our house and embaress us like that, well it does not sit well with me at all.

Just get rid of Martz please, pretty please.

Chicken little can go on back home.

We lost 2 games to superior opponents. They just played better, period. They have superior talent, were better prepared and executed. We got beat – plain and simple.

This does not mean our squad is the worst in the division, or the league. We got lots of young and under developed talent. They lack experience, confidence, and the skills needed to excel.

We have some bright spots, and I for one look forward to what we can do as the season progresses and our guys get more comfortable.

I just hope it doesn’t take until week 9 until they get things going.

If Briggs isn’t off sides we get a Int returned 61 yards, and set up in the redzone, and get at least 3. Instead packers get 7.
If Roy catches the ball we have a TD….
If Graham doesn’t get a penalty, Knox’s return counts as a TD
That’s 17 possible points…..
Lame.

Not panicking at all, we came out of a hard 3 game stretch 1 – 2, so not panicking. Just wish we could clean this stuff up.

and wondering if, some way, some how, Blackmon or Michael Floyd could fall to us.

The questions about this team’s identity were starting to pop up around this time too. I’m too tired to make a long rant, but I will say that Jerry Angelo sucks. He sucks, and if he is still here next year, my brain will implode. Watching this guy run this team is an excercise in futility. Someone prove me wrong for god’s sake.