Month: October 2015

Brad Biggs at the Chicago Tribune thinks that history should provide a lesson for Bears general manager Ryan Pace:

“It’s easy to point to busted draft picks and say that is why [former Bears general manager Jerry] Angelo was dumped after 11 seasons, but trace his problems closely and they were rooted in not maintaining the offensive line.

“In a span of five drafts from 2003-2007, the Bears had 42 total picks with 23 coming in the top four rounds. Only one of those 23 was an offensive lineman and only three linemen were selected overall — one in the sixth round and two in the seventh. The fourth-rounder, Josh Beekman, made 20 starts and didn’t pan out.”

As Biggs points out, Angelo ended up relying too heavily on free agency to stock the line. But in fairness, this isn’t entirely his fault. Offensive line coaches simply have to be able to develop players that are drafted in later rounds or that are found as street free agents. It was former Bears offensive line coach Aaron Kromer‘s specialty and it was what made him so attractive as an offensive coordinator under Marc Trestman.

You can’t rely entirely on late draft picks and rookie free agents. That’s been proven, particularly at left tackle. But putting together a good offensive line is a combination of good drafting and development. If either breaks down, you’re going to fail.

In the case of the current Bears line, I’m encouraged that Charles Leno in particular was able to step in and play so well last week. It’s a very small sample size to be sure but it’s a hopeful sign that offensive line coach Dave Magazu knows what he’s doing and that he can develop talent at the position. Let’s hope it continues. They’re going to need Leno and a whole lot more this Sunday.

Rich Campbell at the Chicago Tribune obliterates some of my pre-conceptions about game planning:

“As is common throughout the league, game-planning duties are spread among the Bears’ offensive assistants as a starting point for meetings on Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday nights.”

“Elements of the running game were divided between running backs coach Stan Drayton, offensive line coach Dave Magazu and tight ends coach Frank Smith. Receivers coach Mike Groh handled third down and Dowell Loggains focused on the red zone. Coaches studied video, then collaborated.

“‘It makes it a really nice conversation,’ [offensive coordinator Adam] Gase said.

“‘We’ll say, ‘Who does that really well? If we don’t have anybody who does that really well, we’ll throw it out. You don’t want to try to force a guy to do something he’s not really good at.'”

I always had this notion in my head that offensive game planning consisted of the coordinator sitting alone in his office until 2AM watching film putting it all together. It never occurred to me that all of the coaches might share in the duty.

A couple thoughts on this. First, this means that the offensive coaches better get along pretty well because they’re going to spend a lot of time together. I remember stories of offensive coordinator John Shoop, then under head coach Dick Jauron, throwing wide receivers coach Todd Haley out of meetings because things got so heated. No wonder the offense was such an unmitigated disaster.

I also think its interesting that all of these coaches are basically coordinators in training. It’s one additional explanation for why promoting from within is so common in the NFL, particularly with successful units. You can’t say that anyone on the staff has never put a game plan together before because they all have. And since they’ve all been working even more closely together than I previously thought, breaking up the relationships seems even more foolish than it would have been anyway.

Connor Orr at nfl.com writes about how NFC teams off to a bad start can be fixed. He comments on the Bears:

“Trade for Geno Smith, Ryan Nassib, EJ Manuel or AJ McCarron: Most of these quarterbacks are from the forgotten class of 2013, but McCarron, a fifth-round pick the year after, is also jammed between a rock and a hard place in Cincinnati. The Bears, not knowing what will happen in next year’s draft, should ensure themselves by dealing for one of these unknown quarterbacks — with Manuel and Smith, give them a chance in a different offense — and letting them rip. They can spend the weeks leading up to, and including the bye week learning the system and for the final eight games, the Bears’ offense is theirs to mold. What’s the worst-case scenario here? The Bears deal a late-round pick on a flier and it doesn’t work out? Are they worried about protecting their relationship with Jay Cutler?”

I don’t have a problem with trading for a young back up who shows promise. But Nassib has thrown just 5 passes with the New York Giants.  McCarron might fit the bill but he would almost certainly cost more than “a late round pick”.

But at least the Bears could entertain the possibility with those two.  The very thought of trading for Smith or Manuel is absolutely revolting. If these players couldn’t do it for the Jets and Bills, two teams which are at worst middle of the pack this year, I have no use for them. These aren’t even mediocre quarterbacks that are hanging around while waiting for the light to come on. Neither has ever shown me even a smidgen of what it takes to be a good quarterback in the NFL. Kordell Stuart was a better acquisition. And Bears fans know how that one turned out.

Orr might think that taking a chance with a late round draft pick isn’t a big deal but the Bears aren’t the Denver Broncos. They’re rebuilding and they need every pick. If they’re going to trade one, I would hope that it wouldn’t be for a quarterback that has already shown that he doesn’t have it.

Brad Biggs at the Chicago Tribune on the performance of Marquess Wilson:

“[W]ilson stepped up with his biggest game in three seasons with six catches for 80 yards. He caught two balls on the game-winning drive, a 6-yarder on third-and-3 and a 9-yarder that put Robbie Gould in field goal range. They came after a drop with a minute remaining.

“‘I thought Marquess did a heck of a job,’ [quarterback Jay] Cutler said. ‘Coming up big. Some big-time catches. He had the drop, came back, had a couple of catches in a row.'”

No one benefited from the return of Cutler more than Wilson did. He had dramatically under-performed in the previous three games, particularly when you consider that he was on the field for the vast majority of the Bears snaps. Perhaps his time on the sideline in Seattle provided him with some perspective but Cutler seemed determined to get Wilson more involved in the absence of Alshon Jeffery. Cutler showed great confidence in Wilson even after he had a terrible drop in an important spot on the game winning drive. Wilson justified Cutler’s confidence and came through.

Wilson has done almost nothing for the team for 2 seasons and a quarter despite the confidence that two coaching staffs have shown him now. Hopefully Sunday will finally provide the jumping off point he needed to progress to better things.

Brad Biggs at the Chicago Tribune on left guard Matt Slauson taking over at center after Will Montgomery was injured Sunday:

“Former general manager Phil Emery said Slauson was a potential candidate to replace Garza in the future but his experience at center was limited to just a few occasions with his former team the New York Jets.

“‘A couple of quarters here and there with the Jets but that was a dire emergency type of deal where if I was ever called upon to come in it was a deal where, ‘All right, Slauson is in. We’re not going ’gun the rest of the game,’’ Slauson said. ‘Just because it is hard to get those reps when you are starting at one position and backing up at another. You don’t have the time to work on the other. I just have to do mental reps at center throughout the week.'”

Indeed, Slauson said after the game that he only got three or four reps in training camp at the position. This was poor planning on the part of the coaching staff. It could be that the initial plan was to keep Hroniss Grasu active on game day as the first guard or center off the bench. But if that’s true, once it became clear that he’s not big enough to play either position (yet) they should have given Slauson and quarterback Jay Cutler more snaps in the event that they would need a center and Grasu wasn’t active.

It will be interesting to see what the Bears do at the position this Sunday. Grasu says that he’s gained about 10 pounds since he joined the Bears, putting him just over 300. That will undoubtedly help. But he still may not have the knowledge to make the proper line calls, in which case Slauson will remain at center and, presumably, Patrick Omameh at left guard. Assuming that’s the case, will they decide to make Grasu active as the first interior lineman off the bench or will they sign someone else to come in? Which it is will tell us a lot about what the staff currently thinks of Gasu.