Month: September 2015

Bears Veterans Trying to Instill Attitude, Confidence in the Rookies

Dan Wiederer at the Chicago Tribune points out that the play of the Bears rookies will be a key to how they do on Sunday, particularly on defense. But its this quote from 11 year veteran safety Antrel Rolle that I found to be most interesting:

“‘[Rookie safety Adrian Amos is] going to fly around and make plays,’ Rolle said. ‘He doesn’t shy away from anything. More importantly, he’s excited about this challenge. I tell him, man, for a rookie to come in and play Aaron Rodgers in Week 1 starting with the Bears, that’s huge. And I couldn’t be more happy for him.'”

Maintaining confidence is going to be important when Amos and the others take the field on Sunday. Rolle and the other Bears obviously know that and they’re obviously talking big in an effort to instill the right attitude and build the rookies up.

Rolle is right. This is a huge opportunity. But there is also a huge risk that players like Amos will be permanently damaged by a poor performance against perhaps the best offense in the league. There are already some signs that may have happened to second year cornerback Kyle Fuller following last year’s series of debacles as he faded late in the year. Here’s hoping all of the rookies are tough enough mentally to hang in through the inevitable ups and downs of the coming season, especially starting on Sunday.

A.J. Green Gets His, Will Alshon Jeffery Be Far Behind?

The Cincinnati Enquirer is reporting that the Bengals and wide receiver A.J. Green have joined the wide receiver contract extension party by agreeing to a four-year extension.

Fellow receivers Dez Bryant, Julio Jones and Demayrius Thomas, all recently signed five year contracts in the neighborhood of $70 million over five years. However Green will get more money per year and more up front than all of them. Green signed a four-year extension worth $60 million.

The extension-mania that has hit the league makes me wonder when Bears wide receiver Alshon Jeffery, whose contract is up after this season, will get his. The Bears front office is understandably being cautious with Jeffery, who has a bad habit of getting hurt and who hasn’t shown the new regime anything on the field, yet. But Green’s contract might serve as a model for the team and Jeffery’s representatives to follow.

According to profootballtalk.com a key negotiating point was the Bengals not guaranteeing money past the first year, making the duration of the deal key to Green’s representatives, settling on a four-year deal, not five. A similar structure might decrease the team’s risk in extending Jeffery to the point that it might become feasible to do a deal sooner rather than later, something I’d recommend they do rather than letting Jeffery hit the open market. The franchise tag will also remain a very viable possibility for Jeffery unless someone else emerges this season who will be a candidate for it.

Preseason Guessing Game Continues as Bears Injury report is Released

The Bears Friday pregame injury report is out and and its interesting. Despite practicing all week, Alshon Jeffery (calf), Eddie Royal (hip) and Marquess Wilson (hamstring) were all classified as “questionable” (i.e. 50-50) for the game. Quarterback Jimmy Clausen (head) and defensive tackle Eddie Goldman (head) were both probable.

Most of the media think that Fox’s attitude towards giving anything away to the opposition is paranoid. I’m not so sure but whether it is or not, he’s certainly sticking with it, trying (probably in vain) to keep the Packers guessing as to who will play. I’m wondering if classifying Goldman and Clausen as “probable” is due to the fact that he’s purposely waiting to have them cleared via the concussion protocol. Doing it sooner might have forced him to take them off of the report.

Offensive tackle Jermon Bushrod (back) is also probable. Both outside linebacker Sam Acho (illness) and cornerback Tracy Porter (hamstring) are out.

Steelers Look Like Season-Long Disappointment Waiting to Happen

Gene Collier at the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette regales his readers with a description of how the Steelers covered (or more accurately failed to cover) Patriots tight end Rob Gronkowski last night.

“There were any number of reasons to expect a burst of [Patriots quarterback Tom] Brady virtuosity Thursday night, not the least of which was the presence on the Steelers sideline of Shamarko Thomas and Cortez Allen, the two defenders most urgently charged with solidifying a suspected secondary this season.

“That neither could earn a starting assignment in the opener sent a bad moon rising over [Steelers head coach Mike] Tomlin’s team, a dark karma it only exacerbated by the curious way in which it attempted to cover monster tight end Gronkowski, perhaps best described as running after him helplessly as he cruised toward the end zone.

“Gronkowski scored three touchdowns and fellow Patriots tight end Scott Chandler a fourth. Not even by putting Thomas and Robert Golden on the field at the same time in dime coverage could new defensive coordinator Keith Butler spin any combination of coverage that could be deemed, uh, coverage.”

I know a lot of media experts are high on the Steelers this year and they’re considered to be a Super Bowl contender based upon their offensive potential. But that offense shot itself in the foot far too often last night with a turnover and a team total of 8 penalties for 77 yards against a mediocre Patriots defense.  Two missed field goals didn’t help.  I saw nothing from the Steelers offense to convince me that they’re going to be able to make up for what looks to me like a well-below average defense of their own.

There have been rumblings about dissatisfaction with Tomlin in Pittsburgh. They’re a franchise that’s known for its stability when it comes to head coaches but I’m already starting to wonder if he won’t be in trouble by December.

Discipline the Key to Hanging with the Packers

Dan Wiederer at the Chicago Tribune reviews the state of the Packers:

“The Packers had their struggles stopping the run last season. A midseason shift to move Clay Matthews to inside linebacker helped. But in the playoffs, Cowboys running back DeMarco Murray ran for 123 yards and a touchdown. The next week Seahawks back Marshawn Lynch posted 157 rushing yards on 25 carries.”

“The Packers remain ordinary up front. And while Matthews is a dynamic player, he’s not a classic inside linebacker who will be an enforcer against the run.”

I would totally agree. Look for the Bears to try to control the game and keep Aaron Rogers off the field by running the ball. However, if they’re going to do that successfully, they’d better play with discipline, something they have not shown themsleves capable of doing in years, including the preseason this year. Penalties will kill any ball control game plan quickly.  Turnovers will kill any game plan of any type even quicker.

Still, we can hope that the Bears will remain competitive. Head coach John Fox had a message of hope that rings true this offseason:

“It’s back to people. I tell guys, ‘I’m not spending eight hours a day with [jerks]. And I don’t expect you to, either.’ When those come up, I’m runnin’ them out. Because it’s people. If you have all oars in the water and don’t have ‘anchors,’ you’ve got a chance – I don’t care what your talent level is.”

Bears fans are hoping he’s right.

Should Being a Big Ten Running Back be a Red Flag in the Draft?

Tom Krasovic at the San Diego Union-Tribune is concerned about Melvin Gordon in light of fellow Wisconsin alumnus Montee Ball‘s profesional struggles.

“Do Wisconsin running backs peak in college? Should frontline Big Ten running backs come with a warning label? Is it wise to invest premium draft picks in a running back?”

I think Krasovic’s concerns are much ado about nothing. But I will say that I’m surprised that Gordon struggled so much in the preseason. I honestly thought he was the top runningback in the 2015 draft (ahead of Todd Gurley). Gordon still has time for the light to come on but my evaluation isn’t looking good right now.

Evaluating the Evaluations

Hub Arkush at chicagofootball.com asks some good questions:

“[H]ow is it possible the team got to the final cut date a week before its opener and had no one qualified to play the right tackle spot? How is possibly no one able to give them solid minutes at right guard if they answer the tackle problem by moving their best guard?”

Like Hub, I’m also troubled by the way that the wide receiver position was handled.

I like this coaching staff a lot. I’ve even suggested that they’re the best Bears staff I’ve seen in my lifetime.  But I’m not nearly as sold on the Bears front office.  There’s something wrong when, even assuming that the Bears hadn’t lost first round pick Kevin White, you can’t find a better fifth (now fourth) receiver than Marquess Wilson.  And how bad must Vlad Ducasse be at guard if the Bears felt compelled to practically beg either Charles Leno or Jordan Mills to win the job at right tackle for the entirety of training camp first?

There were definitely some problems with player evaluation in this first year of general manager Ryan Pace’s reign.  Something tells me we’re going to be asking questions like those above for some time to come.

Why Didn’t Mason Foster Stick on the Bears Roster?

Brad Biggs at the Chicago Tribune answers your questions:

Biggs: “I don’t know that I’ve seen as much outcry over the release of a player in many seasons as I have with [Mason] Foster. Good guy. Decent player for the Bucs who seemed to tail off the last year or so in Tampa. A little undersized. Doesn’t run great. Foster didn’t have much going on in free agency so I’m puzzled as to the public consternation over his release.”

I’m not saying that the Bears should have kept Foster but I believe I can clear this up for Brad. Pick any preseason game and I think anyone will tell you that Foster did more in that one game than Shea McClellin and Christian Jones showed combined in all of the games they played in total.  Against back ups, its true. But still, he looked more like a playmaker than anyone else playing on the inside on a team that desperately needs them.

The guess here is that Foster didn’t stick because the coaching staff saw more upside in McClellin and Jones and were projecting each to be better than Foster by year’s end.

Just What Makes a “Casual” Bears Fan?

I was somewhat affronted by this remark from Dan Wiederer at the Chicago Tribune as he reviews the state of the Bears offense:

“Over three seasons as a Bear, [Brandon] Marshall‘s production — 279 catches, 3,524 yards, 31 touchdowns — made him an obvious favorite for casual fans who tuned in to games and witnessed a physical, athletic playmaker whose on-field determination made him a clear go-to target. Those numbers will be hard to replace.”

“Despite the composed, enthusiastic and introspective cloak Marshall wears on TV, his behind-the-scenes moodiness and high-maintenance nature often proved exhausting for teammates and coaches. All that is for New York to sort out now.”

I consider myself a bit more than a “casual fan”. But I loved what Marshall did for the Bears. I would rather suggest that Wiederer and reporters like him not wait until guys like Marshall leave town before making statements like the one above. The only thing I heard before that was that Marshall let loose with a locker room tirade at the team that I felt at the time was well-deserved.

In the mean time, I think defining anyone who actually isn’t in the locker room to witness Marshall’s unreported “high maintenance nature” as a casual fan might be a bit unfair.

John Fox Drives the Bears Bandwagon By Looking Forward. And Other Points of View.

Bears

  • Bears head coach John Fox doesn’t like to go into specifics. So its significant that even he concedes in this interview with John Mullin at csnchicago.com that things may be a little rough early in the season:

    “Truth be told, everybody breaks the season down into four quarters. Our first four games, and a little preseason, there’ll be a learning curve. Whenever you have a new staff, it’s just not as well-oiled early. Going back to both places I’ve been [Carolina, Denver], it didn’t start great. By the time you finish that first year, then it consistently gets better because you have some core players that know your system.

    “It doesn’t happen overnight, even from just the learning curve. Forget about the ability level; it’s knowing and understanding the system.”

  • Patrick Finley at the Chicago Sun-Times interviews Bears president/CEO Ted Phillips:

    “Phillips said [general manager candidate Chris] Ballard didn’t want the Bears to restructure their front office. Phillips characterized the power structure as the same as last season. Pace, who controls the roster, brought in at least 30 football-operations staffers during the offseason.”

    Its a funny statement because rumors at the time said exactly the opposite – that Ballard, as a previous employee, saw all of the flaws in the structure and wanted to change it. I would guess that the truth is probably somewhere in between. Ballard probably wanted to fire the “wrong people”.

  • Most reporters, Hub Arkush at chicagofootball.com amongst them, think that there’s no way new offensive guard Patrick Omameh will learn the offense quick enough to start against the Packers. I’m not so sure but either way I think he’ll be starting soon.

    Omameh started at guard for the Bucs and even though he was part of a line that gave up 52 sacks, the Buccaneers obviously didn’t think that he was the biggest part of the problem. They already had Logan Mankins starting on the left and drafted Ali Marpet in the second round this year so they tried to move Omameh to tackle.

    If the Bears were happy starting Vlad Ducasse at guard, they’d have moved Kyle Long to tackle a long time ago. Don’t rule out Charles Leno starting a game at right tackle instead.

Elsewhere

One Final Thought

Back to Mullin’s interview with Fox, who wasn’t all doom and gloom as he gives you a glimpse into the kind of thinking that he’s using to instill confidence into a team that gave up 55 points to the Packers last year:

“It’s back to people. I tell guys, ‘I’m not spending eight hours a day with [jerks]. And I don’t expect you to, either.’ When those come up, I’m runnin’ them out. Because it’s people. If you have all oars in the water and don’t have ‘anchors,’ you’ve got a chance – I don’t care what your talent level is.”

“People ask me about last year. Hell, I don’t know about last year. I say: You’ve got a rearview mirror. You glance at it to see what’s behind you and learn from it. But you spend all your time looking in the rearview mirror and not out the windshield, you’re going to wreck. We need to be looking ahead, not behind, except glancing to learn from it. “

The over-under on wins for the Bears in Vegas is 6.5 wins. I think that’s certainly in the ballpark as I’ve been predicting about 6 wins. Media gambling experts are taking the over.

I think one thing is certain. The Bears are going to be live underdogs, especially late in the year. If your fandom can survive the start of the season, there may be a payoff waiting for you at the end.