Moving the chains

[jhill]

one large difference between sproles and wolfe is that sproles breaks tackles and can run between the tackles despite his size. wolfe has shown no abiltiy to do either. i think that the bears would be better served with a larger running back. i thought in the pre-season that the bears might have opted for p.j. pope as a final roster selection, rather than wolfe.
while maybe not as fast as wolfe, pope ran harder and more effectively during the pre-season.

[Al Weis]

It is pathetic, and shows the cluelessness of Bear writers when you read them agonizing over whether Rod Martinelli can be hired. If David Hough thinks that a coach can make silk purses out of sows ears, all is hopeless. Al Weis

[ldc]

I'm sick of hearing about Garrrett Wolfe, and I'm beyond sick of hearing about Ron Rivera.

Fact is, the Bears defense has been in decline since the SECOND HALF of the Super Bowl season, and you can point to three issues that really have nothing to do with Rivera, Babich or Lovie.

1) Tommie Harris has not been the same player causing havoc in the middle. When he was out the second half, the team declined mightily.

2) Related to one, the team has failed to generate any type of pass rush from the front four. Do you really think Mark Anderson and Ogunleye's inability to rush the passer is the result of something Babich is doing now, or something Rivera was doing in 2006?

3) The team's safety play has been horrible.

When JA let Chris Harris go, he gave away the most consistent safety.

Mike Brown and McGowan are always hurt, Archeleta was a bust, D. Manning is dumb as a doorknob, Payne is still developing and Stelz lacks the speed and skill to stay with receivers.

A fourth issue has been teh health of the corners.

Fact is, until the team finds a consistent pass rusher, and until they find a ball hawk safety, the team will struggle, not only in Cover 2, but in any defensive set.

That's why I too would love to see Mays, and love to see the team add a pass rusher from Free Agency.

But I'm sick to death of hearing how great Rivera is. We're running the same defense we did two years ago, with the same players.

[chi-man]

Wolfe could be another sproles, wanna know why he's not? Coaches knowing how to use a player, Coaches being able to recognize talent and where that talent should be employed. To Lovie and all his butt-kissers, please, go away.

[Mike]

Re your comment: "Why is everybody so worried about Devin Hester being overwhelmed by too many responsibilities when there are players in the NFL ... fully capable of handling an offensive load and return duties?"

I have nothing at all to base this on other than watching Hester in action and on the sidelines, but it appears to me that he's about a sandwich and a half short of a picnic. I think he really has problems in understanding what it is he needs to do. Kick returner or wide receiver, makes no difference -- he just doesn't seem to get it. Somebody qualified needs to sit him down and examine the man's mental processes and overall intelligence, it seems to me.

[Kevin]

No chance Taylor Mays falls to 18th pick, zero.

[JerryD]

phil Kilkus wrote:

I don't understand all the talk about Ron Rivera and how the Bears lost out when he left. The Chargers were 25 in league defense this year. Even the Bears at 21 had a better D.

Rivera did not become the defensive coordinator until around mid-season.

[Rich]

ldc wrote:

I'm sick of hearing about Garrrett Wolfe, and I'm beyond sick of hearing about Ron Rivera.
Fact is, the Bears defense has been in decline since the SECOND HALF of the Super Bowl season, and you can point to three issues that really have nothing to do with Rivera, Babich or Lovie.
1) Tommie Harris has not been the same player causing havoc in the middle. When he was out the second half, the team declined mightily.
2) Related to one, the team has failed to generate any type of pass rush from the front four. Do you really think Mark Anderson and Ogunleye's inability to rush the passer is the result of something Babich is doing now, or something Rivera was doing in 2006?
3) The team's safety play has been horrible.
When JA let Chris Harris go, he gave away the most consistent safety.
Mike Brown and McGowan are always hurt, Archeleta was a bust, D. Manning is dumb as a doorknob, Payne is still developing and Stelz lacks the speed and skill to stay with receivers.
A fourth issue has been teh health of the corners.
Fact is, until the team finds a consistent pass rusher, and until they find a ball hawk safety, the team will struggle, not only in Cover 2, but in any defensive set.
That's why I too would love to see Mays, and love to see the team add a pass rusher from Free Agency.
But I'm sick to death of hearing how great Rivera is. We're running the same defense we did two years ago, with the same players.

I think you've pretty much hit the nail on the head with this post, I definitely feel the same way. Also, as long as the Bears don't have a pass rush from the front four, the team needs to be more aggressive with blitzing on third down. They blitz a lot on first and second down, but on third down, they drop into coverage and allow conversion after conversion because the front four can't get to the QB. If you can't get to the QB with the front four, then bring more!

[Randy M]

With Taylor Mays size, speed and the ability to stop the run and pass! The bears would be foolish not to give him serious consideration especially after this past season performance.

[Walter]

Wolfe never got a chance to play offense this season. how do you know what the man can do if you don't give him a chance.

[jerseyboy]

haugh, stfu please stop it. i guess your mel kiper now. you media a holes kill me with this who the bears should get and then you blast the same player they draft. why don't you just stfu and report what actually happens instead of trying to influence halas hall, fans with your non-football knowing @#$

[Sammy the bull]

Bears need to use every single draft pick and free agent picks on a quarterback period. Do you %^$#@ get it? No do you really &%% get it? Enough is enough! Enough is enough damit! Damit listen to me DAMIT!

[Vic In NoCal]

Look, people, any hope that Lovie Smith and his crew of buffoons could ever lead this team to a championship should've gone out the window after the playoffs in the 2005-06 season.

That was the game when the Panthers came in and Steve Smith destroyed them, even though they had already gotten a glimpse of him early in the year and got dominated by him also. But they won that first game, so "We kept him out of the end zone, that's all that matters" -Urlacher and some of these other prima donna meatheads said at the time.

Well, in the playoffs they once again failed to stop him, they had some scrub I never heard of covering him one-on-one (he promptly got beat for a long touchdown), and thus they lost the game even though Grossman and the offense actually put together 3 very long TD drives that game.
The next week, Seattle, with a less talented defense than the Bears, completely shut Smith down and the Panthers with him. That's the effect of coaching right there for ya.

Ever since that Carolina loss I've been numb to this team because I know Lovie doesn't have what it takes (and that includes the Super Bowl season). And for those of you who need more proof, witness how these idiots blew that Atlanta game in the final 11 seconds earlier this year.

[Vic In NoCal]

By the way, during the aforementioned Super Bowl, the Bears really shouldn't have even made it out of the first round. That's when they played an injury-depleted Seahawks team that gave them all they could handle and were one 4th and 1 conversion away from getting in field goal range at the end of regulation. Of course, the game went into overtime and Robbie Gould saved Lovie Smith's hide with a 49-yd. field goal in overtime.

And we all got to see Lovie's stupid face as he jumped up and down with glee at his team having bailed him out. If the Bears had gone one-and-out at home in the playoffs again that year Lovie probably would've gotten fired. As it is, he should give Robbie Gould and Matt Hasselbeck/Shaun Alexander (after all, they botched the QB-HB exchange on that play) a nice cut of that new lucrative contract he got after the Super Bowl season.

[Vic In NoCal]

And finally, when they did make the Super Bowl, they had a pathetic gameplan against Peyton Manning. Peyton dinked and dunked them ALL DAY on 3rd and 5, 3rd and 6, 3rd and 4. And then the vaunted Dominic Rhodes ran all over them.

Fast forward to the season opener this year, where the Bears actually had a gameplan for the Colts. They were up on the line, disguising things, blitzing Peyton and pressuring him into quick throws. And hence they neutralized the Colts and won the game.
Finally Lovie and his idiots had a gameplan for the Colts, too bad it came about 20 months late.

Which leads to my next point - there's no sense of URGENCY with Lovie. Witness how it takes them like 3 years to even implement any Shotgun plays in the offense, or even RB screen passes. Witness how after that Carolina playoff debacle in 2006 Lovie was all like "Hey, it was a good year and we'll build on this for next season" - unaware of the fact that an inferior opponent had just eliminated them and they lost out on winning a very winnable NFC that year.