Sunday, April 27, 2008

blogging Bears post-draft

How great is Lovie!? He hates talking to the media plain and simple. He showed up in a striped polo raving about Williams and Forte but it took every fiber in his personality to say anything about the Bears situation. Williams is absolutely who they were after, no doubt. Forte is Benson in '08. The Bears were after a starter and Forte is a starter on their board. They could've looked at a speed back, but they don't trust Benson and Wolfe and Hester are on the roster. Forte is a character back and he is a power, three-down back and Benson will get a chance to earn a spot but this pick is a replacement, absolutely.
I love that the Bears were after intelligence no. 1 in this draft. After last year I felt that intelligence wasn't really a premium on the roster and now it's firmly in the mix. Also, I love that the Bears got who they targeted top three. Bennett is Booker as a rookie, great routes, great hands, smart and productive.
Greg Gabriel is a stud! Why have I never seen this guy before, Lovie should just give him notes and turn him loose every week. Awesome press conference, awesome!
Harrison is a great 3b. He slides right into the Bears rotation if anything goes wrong with 91 or DD and if not he's not gonna tie the Bears down. If he's healthy he's a steal, prolly better than Tank if not he's a prime IR or cut candidate, no loss a lot of cieling!
Steltz is a Bear. He's not gonna start but he can learn the spot, he has ball skills and he's gonna be a special teams stud! Toube has to love this pick and it absolutely displaces AA. Perfect choice for round 4.
Bowman is a very worthy risk. The Bears love to IR rookies so injury history isn't really a big deal. Bowman makes RMJr. expendable if he's healthy and he gives great depth as a four or five corner not to mention blazing return ability on both sides. Again Toube has to be McLovin(sorry) day 2!
Davis is a specimen. 6'7" and he can block. Gilmore is gone and certainly forgotten. Daivs is our new three and great value at bottom 5!
Baldwin has numbers. I still don't know much about Bazuin but he's feeling the pressure with this pick. I have no idea if the Bears will consider carrying a fourth DE but this guy has the ability to push anyone below Wale and Brown and is a solid 7th.
It's straight numbers at this point. Adams, LaRoque, and Barton are special teams flyers and camp bodies. Look for IR or chip-on-the-shoulder production for these guys to make it past week 4 of the pre-season.
Finally, Monk is a freak. I know he's the last pick but I'm seriously fuckin pumped about this pick. Over 6'4" 4.45 forty and good hands. He may not turn out obviously but this is my darkhorse for Bears 2/3WR(I still think Devin's most effective in a versatile Reggie Bush type role) this year. With him in camp it's gonna be easy to forget 80!

Friday, April 18, 2008

Shit.

Shit.

Yeah, the Vikings have had an a pretty good defense for the past two seasons, but it was entirely a one-dimensional defense. I know for whatever reason the Bears always have trouble with the Vikes, but the team has never actually scared me as much as they would if they acquired Jared Allen. They've still got crap secondary, but adding Allen to their extant defensive line would go a long way toward making their secondary seem a lot better... I seriously hope this does not end up happening.

Forgetting BB

I believe it was the Chicago media who did the most squawking when BB bolted to Minny for a substantially overinflated contract. DH said it was the biggest gaffe of the off-season. Let Briggs go but don't let an unproven deep threat earn more than you can afford to pay him. Ruin your pay structure and break up the best LB tandem in Chicago's history but don't let BB catch 900 yards of deep-balls in Minnesota next season!
And now Chad Johnson is the worst idea ever. How is not over-paying for 80 a crime and not looking into a hall of famer a stroke of genius? Johnson would immediately improve an offense that everyone says is going to keep the Bears in the cellar. Sure he could talk a lot but even TO, who is obviously unstable, was fine for one year and he's been fine in Dallas. 85 will be happy if he's winning, no one has ever questioned that.
The Bears shouldn't give up anything essential, but they have a lot of tradeable value on D and any draft pick below 1 available to send to Cinci if they're listening. It's not a done deal but Angelo is I hope looking into it.
I'm convinced that Haugh doesn't want the Bears to be good, which just makes it even more infuriating that he's in Chicago. Mariotti and Rosenbloom already have the pessimism market cornered; isn't there anyone outside Halas Hall who likes winning?

Wednesday, April 16, 2008

in response to DH

Mostly because I'm bored I figured I'll follow up my question of why the Bears will be better this year and won't do worse than 9-7.

I guess I should start where everybody starts at the QB position. Last year the Bears entered the season with one year starter Rex Grossman aged interception machine Brian Griese and third string Kyle Orton. This year Rex is a year older and is coming off his most consistent three game stretch since September 2006. He's also coming off an injury and is fighting for his spot. Griese and his 2 Ints. a game are gone. And Kyle Orton is actually being allowed to compete for the job after proving he is miles ahead of Rex and Griese in the turnover department.
Advantage 2008. If Rex doesn't shine in the preseason Kyle Orton will be the starter and will keep turnovers to a minimum while gaining confidence and experience. Either way its better than last year and anyone will be as good or better than Griese in the three spot.

At RB the Bears entered last year with an unproven and unchallenged Cedric Benson followed my utility man AP and rookie Garrett Wolfe. If you don't think the Bears will have someone on their roster whose better than that you're probably working for a Chicago paper.
Advantage 2008. The starter will likely be a rookie but that hasn't been a problem for the Colts, Patriots, Bills, Vikings etc. Also Benson has shown that he at least doesn't totally suck usually as a motivated backup. Also Wolfe is a year older and stronger.

The Bears had the oldest OL in the league last year and they played like it. Did Kruetz even make the Pro-Bowl? There are at least two new starters on the line for this season. One of the Tackles will be a first round rookie with a high grade coming in. The Guard spots are totally open.
Advantage 2008. Miller was the worst Tackle in the league last year so decline is impossible in that spot. At the least the Bears will have a strong rookie in that spot. It's also very possible that Tait will switch back to his All-Pro side and a Rookie who has proven himself in camp will be the new LT. The Guards could be anyone but they would have trouble being worse than one-armed Ruben Brown and Garza could very easily remain an average starter. It's also hard to believe Kruetz won't enter the season determined to do everything he can to erase the memory of last year.

The Bears have the same TE's as last year and Olsen looks like a stud.
Advantage 2008. A one year older and stronger Olsen pairs an effective Desmond Clark in an area of real strength.

The WR position was in shambles last year. The Bears kicked Moose out but they also lost their over-hyped number 2 in Berrian.
Advantage wash. Booker is at least a dependable veteran which is better than anything last year. But it's a stretch to expect Hester or Bradley to be at Berrian's level. However Hester should be better than last year, he showed promise at the end of the season, and Berrian had too many drops to be missed as much as the media is writing about him.

The DL looked strong going into the season last year, but things quickly began to deteriorate. DD was lost for the season, Harris was obviously not 100 percent, Walker was a walking injury niggle and 97 clearly wasn't the starter 96 had been.
Advantage 2008. Izzy gained some valuable experience Toeaina was a nice find late in the season and Harris and DD get another shot at staying healthy. Anthony Adams fills out the DT's and with 96 back in the starters role and 97 functioning as a rush specialist the future again looks rosy.

At LB Briggs came in looking to not get hurt. Hillenmeyer really stepped up last year and 54 spent the year hiding a back injury and learning how to play with it. The last 5 weeks 54 was back to his old self and that can't be a bad sign.
Advantage 2008. 54 is motivated to prove everyone wrong, that can only be good. Briggs is around for the long haul and is ready to take his prominent role right next to Superman not behind him. Williams looked great and could challenge an improved Hillenmeyer for playing time. This is the heart of the team and it's the Bears biggest strength.

The secondary looked good early last year as well, but again injuries exposed a lack of depth. Two starters were lost for the season in week 1 and week 3 saw four different starters than week 1. Again there's nowhere to go but up.
Advantage 2008. Mike Brown is back in the lineup! We don't know how long he'll last but anytime he's playing the D looks amazing. Peanut and Vash are back on the corners with an experienced and promising McBride looking for playing time. D Manning looked great for the second half and Kevin Payne is back to ensure AA won't see the field on defense.

Finally the Bears had the best Special Teams in the league for the third year in a row last year. Surely no team could do that four years in a row!
Advantage wash. Devin Hester is just getting better. Robbie Gould is steady. The Bears are the only team that uses important players on Special Teams so I don't suspect much if any decline. The Ravens have a ST coach as a head coach now so they could make a run at the Special Teams title, but Hester is just too good.

more great stuff from DH

First David Haugh points out that the home media over-emphasizes any negativity coming out of the Chicago crowd, then he points out that this is largely the same old 7-9 team from last year. Coincidentally it's also pretty much the same team that went to the Super Bowl the year before they lost 7 defensive starters in the first 6 weeks. Asking how this team is better than last year's team is pointless. There are too many right answers. Instead the question is why won't this team be better than last year's? I don't have an answer, I don't think Haugh does either but he thinks his job is to heap negativity on the city so he doesn't have to try.
Also he inexplicably picks the Bears to start 0-3 and then beat Philly? Then he picks a Vikings sweep and home losses to the Jags and Saints before losing at Houston! WTF!!? Even the most pessimistic analyst wouldn't pick a 4-4 home record and another Vikings sweep. I'm not sure what his job is supposed to be, but if it's anything other than unreasonable pessimism he's surely not doing it. What reason possibly exists for him to have a job in Chicago?

Thursday, April 03, 2008

An Open Note to David Haugh

From today's column: "Fans want to love Lovie, but it would help if they knew more about him."

Please stop speaking for me, Mr. Haugh. You're always doing this, where you try to bolster your own opinion by attributing it to fans. It's cheap.

And anyway, what is it with you and your bizarre belief that media relations should be anywhere on the list of priorities of the Bears coaching staff. Sure, they're bad at it, but not a single game was lost or won this season because of how well or poorly the coaches spoke to the media. Not even a single fucking yard was gained or lost because of it. I understand it probably doesn't make your job any easier, but please stop analyzing it like it actually matters.

Thanks,

Bears Geek