How Bout Dem Bears?

Realt Dearg Sec

Check out @peanuttillman's Tweet: https://twitter.com/peanuttillman/status/558670334723780608?s=09

Not clear if this means he's signed an extension or is coming back in a coaching role (which he's said before he has zero interest in) but either way looks like Peanut will be with us next year, which I like.

padraig_f

SameOleJay wrote: »

So phase one of the Pace off-season is complete.

Fox- Satisfied with his appointment. Must bear in mind that it’s very unlikely one of the young buck HCs would have drawn Fangio and Gase so Fox needs his due there.
Fangio- Ecstatic here. Tucker was so bad anyone could have improved things but this looks a home run. The infusion of some 3-4 looks is exciting too…. Mostly I’m just looking forward to a well drilled D.
Gase- Unknown really but Kyle Shanahan was the only one who I’d have been happier with. And he clearly tied himself to Quinn so no complaints. We’ll be keeping Jay so a run-heavy offense is essential.


Special teams still a huge concern but a positive start from Pace. Free Agency and Draft obviously critical now.

I'm reasonably happy now the main positions have been filled. Wasn't pro Fox at all, but the addition of Fangio made up for it. And yeah, fair point about Fox possibly being a factor in getting Fangio.

Have no strong feeliings on Gase, impossible to distinguish what he did from Manning. Will be a wait-and-see there, but I suppose one good thing is Fox thought highly enough of the job he did in Denver to re-employ him.

Special-teams aren't a huge concern for me. Also happy to wait and see here. Denver did rank poorly on special teams, but that can be affected by personnel. It's also not as much of a factor as offense/defense. I'd be happy enough with competence on special teams.

Realt Dearg Sec wrote: »

Check out @peanuttillman's Tweet: https://twitter.com/peanuttillman/status/558670334723780608?s=09

Not clear if this means he's signed an extension or is coming back in a coaching role (which he's said before he has zero interest in) but either way looks like Peanut will be with us next year, which I like.

Good call from the front office, even if he can't contribute like old on the field, seems like a great guy to have around. I think it does mean he's playing, thought he said after the season he wasn't intending to retire.

Realt Dearg Sec

padraig_f wrote: »

I'm reasonably happy now the main positions have been filled. Wasn't pro Fox at all, but the addition of Fangio made up for it. And yeah, fair point about Fox possibly being a factor in getting Fangio.

Have no strong feeliings on Gase, impossible to distinguish what he did from Manning. Will be a wait-and-see there, but I suppose one good thing is Fox thought highly enough of the job he did in Denver to re-employ him.

Special-teams aren't a huge concern for me. Also happy to wait and see here. Denver did rank poorly on special teams, but that can be affected by personnel. It's also not as much of a factor as offense/defense. I'd be happy enough with competence on special teams.



Good call from the front office, even if he can't contribute like old on the field, seems like a great guy to have around. I think it does mean he's playing, thought he said after the season he wasn't intending to retire.

Ugh, his tweet was just a forerunner to another tweet promoting some ****ty hotel.

padraig_f

Realt Dearg Sec wrote: »

Ugh, his tweet was just a forerunner to another tweet promoting some ****ty hotel.

lol, players aren't the best of follows on twitter. I follow a few, but a lot of them aren't great.

Realt Dearg Sec

padraig_f wrote: »

lol, players aren't the best of follows on twitter. I follow a few, but a lot of them aren't great.

Yeah especially in the off season. Good trolling though. Arian Foster is pretty good but he seems to get off on parading the fact that he's vaguely interested in all sorts of stuff like astronomy. Chris Kluwe would be good if he wasn't so into endless squabbling with computer nerds about Gamergate. Most of the rest either just quote the Bible or retweet motivational bull****. But then every now and again they might post something inadvertently funny, especially just after they've lost a game, like when Lamarr Houston lost his **** about fans booing them.

padraig_f

Couple of interesting articles on the 3-4 issue today:

Durkin: Signs Point To Bears Shifting To A 3-4

Switching to a 3-4: Is it the right move?


Not totally well-versed on the advantages/disadvantages of 4-3 vs. 3-4, but after watching the vanilla/incompetent 4-3 under Tucker for the last couple of years, would be interested to see the 3-4.

SameOleJay

Well it'll be a 3-4 base anyway- they've signed an OLB coach.

Pace is really gonna earn his corn in FA and the draft.

adrian522

Most defenses in the NFL spend a lot of time in Nikel and Dime packages making the 3-4/4-3 debate a little less important anyway.

3-4 is probably a bit better for disguising blitzes, OLB's will probably be asked to drop into coverage more.

Fangio (in SF anyway) liked to create pressure with (only) a 4 man rush, blitzing rarely, allowing the corners to have safety help and if the pass rush is good, they don't have to cover their receivers for too long.

A lot of this is dependent on a good pass rush, and a front 7 that can stop the run (without bringing down a safety) and MLB's who can cover running backs and TE's,

Not sure what the strengths of the bears defense is at the moment, he may need to adjust to suit his new roster.

Oat23

Nice to hear from this guy.
http://www.chicagobears.com/multimedia/videos/ITB-Knox-back-at-Halas-Hall/0e8b9ee2-2419-4727-9165-871228f9769e

Innish_Rebel

Oat23 wrote: »

Nice to hear from this guy.
http://www.chicagobears.com/multimedia/videos/ITB-Knox-back-at-Halas-Hall/0e8b9ee2-2419-4727-9165-871228f9769e

I still wince when they show the tackle/collision... I know there was no fault on Hargrove but I am surprised he didn't make contact at a later stage to just see how the guy was... Show's the hidden character of Marshawn though!!!

Realt Dearg Sec

Innish_Rebel wrote: »

I still wince when they show the tackle/collision... I know there was no fault on Hargrove but I am surprised he didn't make contact at a later stage to just see how the guy was... Show's the hidden character of Marshawn though!!!

Yeah, for a lot of reasons I'm starting to revise my low opinion of lynch, the media not liking him means they can paint him one way when, as Marlo Stanfield would say, it's the other way.

Realt Dearg Sec

Stan Drayton just hired as running backs coach, certainly seems like a great hire, he had that role for the last four years with the buckeyes. Anyone who watched their no1 rb, Ezekiel Elliott, this year, will probably regard that as a very promising hire for the bears.

Oat23

John Fox dodging questions about Cutler/Marshall's future, having breakfast with McCown and talking him up over his own QB scares the crap out of me.

Also, transition to a 3-4 confirmed.

https://twitter.com/ZachZaidman/status/568079134661804033
https://twitter.com/ZachZaidman/status/568077294536781824
https://twitter.com/ESPNChiBears/status/568078093216133121
https://twitter.com/CSNMoonMullin/status/568077721030533120

Realt Dearg Sec

Oat23 wrote: »

John Fox dodging questions about Cutler/Marshall's future, having breakfast with McCown and talking him up over his own QB scares the crap out of me.

Also, transition to a 3-4 confirmed.

https://twitter.com/ZachZaidman/status/568079134661804033
https://twitter.com/ZachZaidman/status/568077294536781824
https://twitter.com/ESPNChiBears/status/568078093216133121
https://twitter.com/CSNMoonMullin/status/568077721030533120

Ah, I don't see them somehow dropping Cutler for McCown. We know McCown is a damn good backup, a good team mate, and someone who demonstrably can work well with Cutler. But backup is his ceiling. Would be good to have him around.

But I don't have any problem with them being noncommittal on Cutler if there is a viable alternative plan. There's been too much dancing to Cutler's tune over the last few years, he should have to prove himself to the new management, and he should feel pressured to perform.

padraig_f

Oat23 wrote: »

John Fox dodging questions about Cutler/Marshall's future, having breakfast with McCown and talking him up over his own QB scares the crap out of me.

Zach Zaidman had an excellent take on this yesterday on 670 The Score:
http://chicago.cbslocal.com/audio/670-the-score-interviews/zach-zaidman-with-boers-and-bernstein-21815/

Mel Kiper had Mariota going 6th in his latest mock draft. If he falls to 7th, the Bears trade value in the pick goes up if they feign some interest in him.

It's speculation, but makes a lot of sense to me. You can see the Bears wanting to trade down from that pick too, with all the needs they have.

Watched a bit of both press conferences, Pace and Fox were non-committal about everything (except the 3-4). It makes the press conferences less interesting than Emery's, but I think it's smart to play things close to their chest.

SameOleJay

I find the non-commitment on Jay very interesting. How often do we get the coach’s pre-season platitude on having their guy (See Jay Gruden on RGIII last week) months before a ball is thrown. It’s clear to me that if any viable alternative was available through draft our FA they’d explore it. But, alas, there isn’t.

Does anyone honestly expect Marshall to leave? The franchise’s best ever receiver in the first year of a new deal. Reasonable cap-hit and no obvious decline shown injuries aside. I’d be amazed if he left.

kennyb3

SameOleJay wrote: »

Does anyone honestly expect Marshall to leave? The franchise’s best ever receiver in the first year of a new deal. Reasonable cap-hit and no obvious decline shown injuries aside. I’d be amazed if he left.

I don't think he will but wouldn't be madly surprised either;

- contract given by last staff
- woeful last season, even allowing for injuries
- weird relationship with Jay
- Not getting any younger
- off the field issues

The 3rd one being the biggest issue imho - they want him focussed on football not doing shows and blurting out about what's going on inside the Bears.

I think you'll see a much greater cloud of secrecy around the Bears this year.

Realt Dearg Sec

kennyb3 wrote: »

I think you'll see a much greater cloud of secrecy around the Bears this year.

I hope so, last year was farcical at times, the number of players (especially Marshall, but also Lamarr Houston, Kyle Long, Martellus Bennett, probably others as well) who were on Twitter doing stupid **** like bitching about fans, looking for fights, or whatever else, was completely farcical. We had "loser" written all over us, and all over the internet.

padraig_f

Oat23 wrote: »

John Fox dodging questions about Cutler/Marshall's future, having breakfast with McCown and talking him up over his own QB scares the crap out of me.

You can breathe a sigh of relief:

@AdamSchefter: Josh McCown has agreed to terms with Cleveland, per his agent @MikeMcCartney7.

Oat23

padraig_f wrote: »

You can breathe a sigh of relief:

@AdamSchefter: Josh McCown has agreed to terms with Cleveland, per his agent @MikeMcCartney7.

And he got a pay raise. Unbelievable.

$4.75m from the Bucs last season. $5.25m guaranteed with the Browns in 2015.

Realt Dearg Sec

Oat23 wrote: »

And he got a pay raise. Unbelievable.

$4.75m from the Bucs last season. $5.25m guaranteed with the Browns in 2015.

That team is a joke.

recylingbin

Realisticly, what are the chances of the Bears going all out for a decent qb?

Realt Dearg Sec

recylingbin wrote: »

Realisticly, what are the chances of the Bears going all out for a decent qb?

In the draft? Hopefully zero. We have way too many needs, especially transitioning to a 3-4 D, to go all out racing for someone who'll probably be a bust. We are paying Cutler anyway, might as well use him. Getting a qb in FA doesn't look like much of an option either, and certainly I wouldn't like us paying big on a journey man.

recylingbin

Realt Dearg Sec wrote: »

In the draft? Hopefully zero. We have way too many needs, especially transitioning to a 3-4 D, to go all out racing for someone who'll probably be a bust. We are paying Cutler anyway, might as well use him. Getting a qb in FA doesn't look like much of an option either, and certainly I wouldn't like us paying big on a journey man.

Yeah, I meant in the draft. Don't see too many attractive options coming up in free agency.
Maybe I'm being naive, but I don't see the type of players the Bears are looking to add going early in the draft. So was thinking if a decent qb was available, maybe they should go for him.
They'll never win anything with Cutler imo.

helimachoptor

Will Mariani survive cuts?

Realt Dearg Sec

helimachoptor wrote: »

Will Mariani survive cuts?

I hope so, he was a massive step up on kick returns, which was a complete shambles all year until he arrived. In fact he was one of very few bright lights on ST. Dunno off hand what his cap hit is like though. But unless we pick up someone new in the offseason he won't be displaced, all our wide receivers are more about height than speed.

helimachoptor

A lot of people annoyed he was released from the Titans , he'd still be better that what we have.

Would imagine his cap number is pretty small tbh

Realt Dearg Sec

helimachoptor wrote: »

A lot of people annoyed he was released from the Titans , he'd still be better that what we have.

Would imagine his cap number is pretty small tbh

Yeah that's what I would assume. He was a major upgrade for us anyway. Given our defensive needs we're unlikely to draft a replacement so I think he'll be kept.

poldebruin

Just saw it reported that 10 million of Cutler's salary for 2016 becones guaranteed on march 12 of this year. Time to make a decision is looming.

SameOleJay

Be amazed if Jay goes.