Last week, we brought you the week in review of what's happened here at WCG. This week, we've been able to put together some more stuff, so in case you missed anything Bears-related this week, let's catch you up.
From Sunday:
I did some number crunching into Chris Conte, Major Wright, and the defensive line and linebackers between 2012 and 2013. Some took the point to be that I was making the point Chris Conte needed to be kept. That wasn't the point at all; Conte on his best days is probably an average to ever-so-slightly-above average safety, and an upgrade is certainly doable.
But safety play is pretty heavily influenced by those in front, especially where the run game is concerned. The point was that the play of the front seven contributed largely to turning Conte and Major Wright having their worst professional seasons, and possibly the worst seasons in the NFL - and that many safeties would struggle in the same position.
From Monday:
Spongie brought up some quotes from Charles Tillman that indicated he (and some of the other Lovie Smith defensive holdovers) may not have bought into the Trestman/Tucker regime. For my money's worth, if Tillman wasn't buying in, his play sure didn't indicate so.
Dane also dropped in an Open Thread, asking all the members here where we're from.
From Tuesday:
Lester's Ten Thoughts came up a day later, including thoughts on banning of tight-hole facemasks, the PED suspension of Lane Johnson, Johnny Manziel partying with Justin Bieber (A.K.A. a bad idea), QB/WR duos, and Will Sutton.
From Wednesday:
The offseason is also "Senseless List Time" where people make lists for whatever reason they want to. This time, it was Jay Cutler's place in quarterback tiers, with the same old tired things, including Joe Flacco having "Jay Cutler Face."
Quick dirty math - if 8-8 is average, and Cutler is ranked as a below-average (17 is ranked below 16.5) quarterback, then what were we watching on the other side of the ball last year?
Also, CBS sports did their own lists, two in fact, of the top 100 players in the NFL.
From Thursday:
Alshon Jeffery did some work last year, especially on go-routes. For a team without much of a deep threat in the true "speed" sense, Jeffery was plenty fast enough (and hand-y enough) to be the top-rated go-route runner in the NFL last year.
From Friday:
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Sam also brought us Donovan McNabb's comments and criticisms of Jay Cutler. The jokes about "Getting it done" coming from Donovan McNabb already write themselves, and I'm sure that McNabb's still just salty he couldn't keep playing over Christian Ponder in Minnesota, but really, you can't come up with anything better than has already been said repeatedly about Cutler?
Again, not to say the offense was perfect last year, but have any analysts or ex-football players watched any Bears' game tape from 2013 on both sides of the ball?