Bears 2015 Draft Discussion

[SKO]

More than Cutler, I enjoyed the defense. When I heard Briggs was out I had flashbacks to last year after they also lost Briggs and Tillman. Couldn't stop anyone for anything. But yesterday they made Matt Ryan their chew toy. Great d-line play.

Considering the constant injuries to linebackers and secondary maybe it's time to give Mel Tucker a little credit? If he had half the talent the Bears had 5 years ago on defense he'd be getting similar results, I bet.

I'm not exactly bullish on the defense considering all the inexplicable drops the Falcons had. But they contained the run and did cause Ryan to throw it in some spots that made the Atlanta receivers get alligator arms. That's probably sustainable against teams with horrible offensive lines and immobile quarterbacks. And it's an improvement, which is all we can ask for right now. Arrow pointing up. I'll take it.

True - that Toyota guy probably had the worst game I've ever seen from a pass catcher.

Is Willie Young on pace to break a single season sack record?

I believe he would set the team record at his current pace (19), but the NFL record is 22.5 by Strahan. Two guys are tied for second with 22.0, one of them is Jared Allen.

Ah fuck, yeah I meant Bears season record. Cool.

Dent had 17.5 in 1984.

Favruh dove so Strahan could get the record.

Yeah well J'Marcus Webb dove repeatedly so Allen could make a run at it in the 2011 finale. At least I hope that's his excuse.

[CubFaninHydePark]

If only the Bears had a clutch QB like that Kyle Orton...

[SKO]

If only the Bears had a clutch QB like that Kyle Orton...

He'd have thrown a bunch of fucking shitty ass wide receiver screens today, too?

If you want to be mad at Jay, cool, that's really fine. He hardly covered himself in glory. But this offense's problems don't start or end with Jay. If it were just Jay I'd be fine, because Bad Jay either shows up or he doesn't. No, this is a poorly run, poorly prepared, poorly disciplined offense at every position, and it's time to blame the common thread between them. The "Genius" who clearly isn't. He's scared to run the ball. He's scared to throw it downfield until it's 3rd Down And Fucked. No good offense run by such a brilliant mind is de-railed by a fucking second quarter interception that didn't even lead to points for the other team. The woeful inability to move the ball, period, is the problem, and that ain't just the fucking quarterback. It's the play-caller.

[Eli]

If only the Bears had a clutch QB like that Kyle Orton...

He'd have thrown a bunch of fucking shitty ass wide receiver screens today, too?

Pretty sure CFIHP was making a joke.

[CubFaninHydePark]

If only the Bears had a clutch QB like that Kyle Orton...

He'd have thrown a bunch of fucking shitty ass wide receiver screens today, too?

Pretty sure CFIHP was making a joke.

Pretty sure I was too.

But I agree that they need to run more (especially out of the shotgun) and that the passing game needs to get a lot more vertical.  With that said, Cutler's numbers throwing beyond 15 yards this season have been so awful, that I sort of understand why they've moved away from that (hint: Bad Jay is grossly disproportionately littered downfield).  That pick in the second quarter though was really awful, both in terms of it being inexcusable and because it killed their one good drive in the first half.

The best thing that could happen to this team would be to stay stuck on three wins and have Jacksonville and Oakland pass them.

[SKO]

If only the Bears had a clutch QB like that Kyle Orton...

He'd have thrown a bunch of fucking shitty ass wide receiver screens today, too?

Pretty sure CFIHP was making a joke.

Pretty sure I was too.

But I agree that they need to run more (especially out of the shotgun) and that the passing game needs to get a lot more vertical.  With that said, Cutler's numbers throwing beyond 15 yards this season have been so awful, that I sort of understand why they've moved away from that (hint: Bad Jay is grossly disproportionately littered downfield).  That pick in the second quarter though was really awful, both in terms of it being inexcusable and because it killed their one good drive in the first half.

The best thing that could happen to this team would be to stay stuck on three wins and have Jacksonville and Oakland pass them.

Jay is 12th in the NFL in accuracy among QBs with at least 20 attempts 15 or more yards downfield. He's thrown 1 interception in those situations. His deep ball efficiency is not the problem. The problem is an unwillingness to challenge vertically on early downs, early in the game, and also a lack of efficiency on the shorter passes they do run. I was willing to ignore the lack of production downfield when Marshall and Jeffery were running around hobbled, but they've both been more or less 100% since the Green Bay game and Trestman's mostly been unwilling to try it.

The lack of efficiency on short passes is most irritating. They lack any kind of originality. He runs a lot of bunch formations and then throws a screen to the guy at the back of the formation. It usually fails. Outside of the 25 yard Alshon TD vs. Carolina it's produced a long gain this year of 9 yards. It's not working. Otherwise he uses his receivers to carry defenders up the field to clear out room for Forte, but the defense isn't buying it and they're not challenging defenses downfield (and I suppose you can blame Jay for that, but something tells me Jay Cutler suddenly being unwilling to chuck it deep is a coaching thing since I doubt he's suddenly gone gunshy), so Forte gets stopped after 3-5 yards. They've run slants as a lower % of their passing plays than any team in the league, and it makes no damn sense to me with the big bodies they have at the wide receiver position. Green Bay gets almost 1/3rd of it's passing yardage from slants. With the QB/WR combos they have that's easy money, and it's an easy chunk play to set up favorable 2nd and 3rd down plays.

Again, all of this adds up to a baffling disparity between the Trestman we saw last year and the one we have this year, who seems to be playing scared. He's lost his aggressiveness and I've yet to see anything outside of one really nifty red zone play call vs. Green Bay that struck me as being innovative or original. It's a disheartening fucking situation, is what it is.

[SKO]

On a humorous note no one should be surprised to find out that the BC who knew Charles Tillman was reslly awful when everyone else thought he was good hasn't been That impressed with Kyle Fuller.

[Quality Start Machine]

If only the Bears had a clutch QB like that Kyle Orton...

He'd have thrown a bunch of fucking shitty ass wide receiver screens today, too?

If you want to be mad at Jay, cool, that's really fine. He hardly covered himself in glory. But this offense's problems don't start or end with Jay. If it were just Jay I'd be fine, because Bad Jay either shows up or he doesn't. No, this is a poorly run, poorly prepared, poorly disciplined offense at every position, and it's time to blame the common thread between them. The "Genius" who clearly isn't. He's scared to run the ball. He's scared to throw it downfield until it's 3rd Down And Fucked. No good offense run by such a brilliant mind is de-railed by a fucking second quarter interception that didn't even lead to points for the other team. The woeful inability to move the ball, period, is the problem, and that ain't just the fucking quarterback. It's the play-caller.

So you're saying they never set up play action?

[World's #1 Astros Fan]

I'm still butthurt that they threw the ball 40 yards in the air when it was 3rd and 1 on their first possession after getting Miami off the field on a 3-and-out.  What the fuck was that shit?

[InternetApex]

I'm still butthurt that they threw the ball 40 yards in the air when it was 3rd and 1 on their first possession after getting Miami off the field on a 3-and-out.  What the fuck was that shit?

Gunslingin'.

I think Trestman is an offensive coordinator like most. Sometimes his system works and sometimes it doesn't. Whether it's scheme, or execution, or talent, injuries, luck - whatever the hell. Some days he gets beaten. And when he does, this team has absolutely NOTHING to fall back on. Not defense, not special teams, which didn't defecate on itself yesterday for the first time all year, there is nothing. The bottom of the roster is in constant flux. The old men on the defense are past their expiration dates.

Emstink has about one more year to get this right or he'll have to sacrifice Trestman just to save himself. I think he's a smart enough guy and some of his defensive draft picks might eventually pan out. He's made some great moves and fallen ass backwards into a Ratliff or two. But I fucking hate this team. All of it. Except for Cutler, who I continue to like out of spite for our horseshit fanbase.

[InternetApex]

Also, I know the Dolphins are good up front, but I expected to see cleaner pockets for Cutler considering he had all five of his OL back for the first time. That wasn't the case. You can't go vertical like they may have wanted to if you can't block it. SKO said Trestman gave up the line of scrimmage early by not at least trying to run, and that's very true. So fuck Aaron Kromer too, I guess. No reason to let him off the hook when I'm busy launching the entire franchise and its history into the sun.

Rod Marinelli was mad and yelly on the the sidelines for a 6-1 Dallas team yesterday. I'm going to embrace my meme and start rooting for them unless they're playing the Bears this year. Mostly out of hatred for every other NFC team, but also out of desire to see Romo shut every pie hole that Cutler can't manage to fill. It's the same pie holes. So fuck it.

[Saul Goodman]

Has a team ever won a Super Bowl after going winless at home? No reason.

[R-V]

Assuming we're not going to see a miraculous turnaround, and setting playoff flameouts aside, is this the most disappointing Chicago team in the last 20 years or so(preseason expectations vs. regular season output)? 2004 Cubs - who else?

[PenFoe]

Assuming we're not going to see a miraculous turnaround, and setting playoff flameouts aside, is this the most disappointing Chicago team in the last 20 years or so(preseason expectations vs. regular season output)? 2004 Cubs - who else?

Great, now CT is gonna talk about the 2004 Cubs again forever.

[CT III]

Assuming we're not going to see a miraculous turnaround, and setting playoff flameouts aside, is this the most disappointing Chicago team in the last 20 years or so(preseason expectations vs. regular season output)? 2004 Cubs - who else?

Great, now CT is gonna talk about the 2004 Cubs again forever.

Best Cubs team of my lifetime.