quote:

Originally posted by ammo:
I think he meant A.J. Of course any Bear fan can't understand what bad coaching does to great players.

Why not? The Bores are a living example of this!

quote:

I expect every team (outside of the Patriots) would take 11-5 in a heartbeat going into the season.

That couldn't have happened to a nicer team.

11-5 and no playoffs for you!

To address the article--It's 100% spot-on. TOG, at this point in his career, is no threat. Hell, at least Sage Rosenfels offers the element of surprise. The Vikings need an intelligent game manager-type--is it any wonder they want Favre?

As for the Bears, I'm excited about our additions and we should be an improved team in 2009. Of course, I also thought we'd be improved in 2007 after adding Darwin Walker and Adam Archuletta to our Super Bowl team.

Oops .

B-N-D

B-N-D

Thank you for being an informed football fan, a reasonable person, and a non-tool.

There are a couple of moronic trolls in your colors that could learn quite a bit from you.

Coach,

Reasoning skills would help too.

But Guys dont forget that the bores have a new DL coach that should be worth 5 games right there , Pace will give them 2-3 even tho he will be lucky to play 2-3 games.Cutlers night life and health conditions should put them over the top and they could go 16-0 .

CUTLER WILL CHOCK

LIONHEART

As much as it pains me to say it -

The vikes are the division champs and will be until someone else knocks them off.

I don't think anybody can say their team has (or has not) improved compared to last season...yet. It's just all 'on paper' right now.
says that we did a better job addressing our problems and therefore have the better chance to improve. But we have a bigger obstacle to overcome; we have to improve by 4 games to achieve 10-6, the Bears only have to improve 2 games to get to the same record.
I think what we tend to lose sight of at times when looking at the 'big picture' is teams generally draft/trade/sign FA's to build their teams to compete within their division. The only thing the Bears have done is upgrade at QB. Everything else seems to be break-even, at best.
The Packers, meanwhile, are revamping their entire defense to stop the rush, first and foremost, while building depth in the secondary. We addressed our biggest deficiency on offense with OL picks. I think we will stack up much stronger against our divisional opponents than they will against us.
Of course, the above is only my opinion. Others may vary.

quote:

Originally posted by radman:
But Guys dont forget that the bores have a new DL coach that should be worth 5 games right there...

If the Bears DL coach gives them 5 games, then Capers gives our boys at least 7. Add in the new strength coach and Kevin Greene and I say that adds 3 more. Not sure how the Bears and Pack can both finish at 16-0 however...

quote:

Originally posted by ammo:
At the conclusion of the 2009 NFL season Lovie Dovie will be the ex-head coach of the TBSS!!

- Seriously, I could see this happen.

1) The 3-4 is getting back in vogue = Anti-Lovie. Another bad defensive showing from this defense could invoke a different direction.

2) If Cutler is not happy with "We'll get off the bus running the ball" style of offense.

quote:

Originally posted by chickenboy:

quote:

Originally posted by radman:
But Guys dont forget that the bores have a new DL coach that should be worth 5 games right there...

If the Bears DL coach gives them 5 games, then Capers gives our boys at least 7. Add in the new strength coach and Kevin Greene and I say that adds 3 more. Not sure how the Bears and Pack can both finish at 16-0 however...

- "then Capers gives our boys at least 7."

Whats this "our boys" there Tonto?
Its pretty obvious you wear purple undies to bed and you're the fool on TV with the stupid yellow dreadlocks and the dumbarse horn.

quote:

I expect every team (outside of the Patriots) would take 11-5 in a heartbeat going into the season. I know I sure as hell would.

What you would take and what you actually get are most likely to be 2 very different things.

Come back in December.

quote:

Originally posted by oldnavy:

quote:

I expect every team (outside of the Patriots) would take 11-5 in a heartbeat going into the season. I know I sure as hell would.

What you would take and what you actually get are most likely to be 2 very different things.

You don't say? Why am I always the last to know these things?

Regardless, I'll be here in December. Especially as we go for win number 13 against the Pack .

B-N-D

Percy Harvin just called....he was wondering if he could borrow your bong?

quote:

Especially as we go for win number 13 against the Pack

You're counting preseason wins too then?

Aw, c'mon fellas. It's four months until the season starts (and about 3.5 months before Cutler sustains a crippling injury), let me have my fun .

B-N-D

quote:

Originally posted by Geaux-Packers:
As much as it pains me to say it -

The vikes are the division champs and will be until someone else knocks them off.

Works for me. Let everyone give the off season title to the Vikings. I enjoy it more when the Pack is the under dog.

quote:

Originally posted by trump:
1) The 3-4 is getting back in vogue = Anti-Lovie. Another bad defensive showing from this defense could invoke a different direction.

2) If Cutler is not happy with "We'll get off the bus running the ball" style of offense.

I think this is an interesting observation. I don't think that the 3-4 is a threat to Lovie because it's different than the Tampa 2- I think what you are seeing is that the division rivals are threats to expose the cover 2. The key to beating the tampa 2 is strong running game and QB who makes smart decisions. In Favre's heyday, he truly was the anti-Tampa 2 QB (when his head was on straight). The Packers had the running game to make them pay for being undersized up front, and the QB had the cannon to find the sideline seams that lead to big plays. The NFC North contenders have solid running games, and at least the Packers have the QB. The Vikings are deficient in the QB category, but make up for it with a top level running game.

All this adds up to the tampa 2 struggling in this division, especially when you analyze the Bears' personnel.

It doesn't matter who is calling the plays on D, the Bears do not have the proper personnel to run the scheme. Lovie and crew continue to try and shove a round peg into a square hole. Isn't the definition of insanity someone trying the same failing process over and over again and expecting a different result? Same goes for anointing another QB in Chicago.

quote:

Originally posted by 46Plank:
Lovie and crew continue to try and shove a round peg into a square hole. Isn't the definition of insanity someone trying the same failing process over and over again and expecting a different result?

What result? Having one of the best defenses in the league for several years running? Riding it all the way to the Super Bowl in 2007? Man, I hate that.

Music and Trump bring up some interesting points regarding other teams' methods of countering the Cover 2, but I'm not going to fault Lovie for sticking with a scheme he's dominated with every place he's coached. Hell, maybe they should be using it MORE. I read somewhere that the Bears only used it about 30% of the time in 2008.

I'm not necessarily expecting a return to 2005/2006 form, but I think its reasonable to expect improvement over last year's mediocre unit. Contrary to popular pundit opinion, our D isn't old (only 2 starters over 30), and we drafted a couple guys that should become part of the defensive line's rotation right away. With Babich taking a backseat to Marinelli and Lovie, I'd be very disappointed if we're not a top 10 D in 2009.

B-N-D

quote:

Originally posted by Music City:
The key to beating the tampa 2 is strong running game and QB who makes smart decisions. In Favre's heyday, he truly was the anti-Tampa 2 QB (when his head was on straight).

Really? I'm not saying you're wrong, as you've certainly followed Favre's career more closely than I have, but I always seem to remember him struggling against the Tampa 2.

Obviously, he was pretty horrid against the Bears after Lovie's arrival in 2004, but even before that I remember him having some pretty abysmal performances against Tampa, and who could forget his playoff meltdown against the Rams 7 or 8 years ago?

TOG is one of the greatest QBs of all-time, so he's had success against just about every defense at one time or another, but I always thought the Tampa 2 was his Achilles heel.

B-N-D

B-N-D,

Wish you guys the best...well, almost. I hope you kick the crap out of the Vikings, especially if TOOL...I mean, TOG's playing. He pretty much sucks these days, except for ticket sales, Rosenfels is actually the better choice for them, but for us I hope they do get Fart. I think 11-5 is realistic for you guys, but unfortunatley for you, we'll sweep the division and end up at 12-4. And we'll just be even better next year with another year of the 3-4 under our belt. Playoffs this year, Superbowl contenders the next. Da Bearss have some rebuilding to do, so I kinda think they are on the way down, even with a frustrated Cutler at the helm.

The Lions will throw their rookie QB to the wolves and start him right away. Thing that sucks for the Lions faithful as that after a year of the most dismal play and personnel decisions in many years, the whole front office sans Millen got promoted. Ouch. Their rookie QB's skills for the NFL are questionable as it is. If not for a weak QB class this year, he probably would have been picked a lot further back. But, we'll see if he's a sinker or a swimmer. The coaching staff and front office certainly won't be a help.

And then there's the Vikings. They're more concerned with ticket sales than winning games and I'm all for it. They will continue to throw the ball when they have one of the best o-lines and running backs in the NFL, their QB's gonna suck...again. And unfortunately for the rest of the NFC North, Coach Kick Ass is going to lose the job he so incompetently holds at the moment. If they actually end up getting a real coach, they are a QB and two receivers away from a Superbowl (Percy Harvin will not count as a receiver, just watch). But for the Vikings, that distance might as well be from here to the center of the universe.

End result, Pack wins the division. I do look forward to the Packers-Bears games as always though.

quote:

Really? I'm not saying you're wrong, as you've certainly followed Favre's career more closely than I have, but I always seem to remember him struggling against the Tampa 2.

What I'm saying is that there were games that he made the smart decisions, like in '97 when the Packers beat Tampa 3 times in the same season. Under Holmgren, Favre's success ratio was much higher. When the gunslinger emerged in the subsequent years, yeah- he had more trouble with them. Of course, the Bucs had gotten even better by then as well, so that might have had something to do with it.

quote:

Originally posted by BearNDesert:

quote:

Originally posted by 46Plank:
Lovie and crew continue to try and shove a round peg into a square hole. Isn't the definition of insanity someone trying the same failing process over and over again and expecting a different result?

What result? Having one of the best defenses in the league for several years running? Riding it all the way to the Super Bowl in 2007? Man, I hate that.

Music and Trump bring up some interesting points regarding other teams' methods of countering the Cover 2, but I'm not going to fault Lovie for sticking with a scheme he's dominated with every place he's coached. Hell, maybe they should be using it MORE. I read somewhere that the Bears only used it about 30% of the time in 2008.

I'm not necessarily expecting a return to 2005/2006 form, but I think its reasonable to expect improvement over last year's mediocre unit. Contrary to popular pundit opinion, our D isn't old (only 2 starters over 30), and we drafted a couple guys that should become part of the defensive line's rotation right away. With Babich taking a backseat to Marinelli and Lovie, I'd be very disappointed if we're not a top 10 D in 2009.

B-N-D

How long does Lovie hang around based on past successes and not recent failures? The D has been ranked 28th and 21st over the last two seasons. His D slowly went south in St. Louis just as it is now in Chicago.

It's not their age, it's their diminishing speed and coverage skills. I don't see any solutions at the giant holes at safety. Tillman and Vasher have been shadows of themselves. Urlacher has lost a step. Harris seems to not give a chit and has bum knees/hamstrings. Ogum is practically invisible.

I hope I am completely wrong.