How Bout Dem Bears?

Realt Dearg Sec wrote: »

Did you edit this? I think you had said you had drank the kool aid on trest? But to be honest I'm pretty sure you never did.

See post at 21.40 last night - I have to admit I was sucked in for a bit, not as much as others. After lovie I really wanted an offensive coach - I'd have accepted anyone not a defensive co ordinator.

(Which is strange in way as reason I started supporting the Bears was I liked them defensively and loved urlacher)

I thought trestman might be able to fix cutler, not fully (I've said it before, 7th or 8th times a charm eh?), but I did think he d fix him a bit. - well a good bit more than we've seen.

Like everyone I'd no clue who or what trestman really was as I'd never seen a cfl match in my life. I tried to ignore others who laughed and basically said he couldn't get an OC job in the nfl.

Anyway the more and more time goes on I ve just realised he is only interested in the offence, he is blinder than lovie was to the offence to special teams and defence. At least under lovie we had two phases. Now we ve one and even that is failing.

He is in over his head imo. I don't think he's a clue where to go or what to do.

As An offensive coach he should be able to look at our defence from an opposing qb's perspective - and just lol. Yet he continues to not only employ but stand by tucker? He surely sees the mismtaches? The lack of coverage?

Question then is he ignorant to it and leaving it to tucker to sort out or just plain stupid with blind faith in people?

I can only assume it's him and not emery, as any head coach should walk if a gm is picking players - so how are McClellin and Williams still on the field? They are an embarrassment.

I don't think he turns it round - not a hope. Sooner he is gone the better.

He showed signs of being a brilliant qb coach with mccown lat year but that's it. Defences have started playing cover 3 or even 4 and asking them to play underneath and his playbook and coaching of cutler hasn't kept up. He abandons the run way too early and game management is poor. That's just offensively. Defensively he shows nothing - absolutely nothing. Never seen him get involved. Not sure he has a clue, so probably can't.

He's no head coach, never was and never will be.

Apparently we were the laughing stock of the combine 2 years ago for hiring him. I'm not surprised now.

Apparently he was impressed with tickers play calling yesterday - ah ha ha ha!

If ever our trainwreck could be captured in one moment it was Houston’s injury. This is the man who said last week he didn’t come here to lose, and took it to his teammates. A man who’s taken 9 mill this year only to produce at the level you’d expect of a street FA. And then he does that. Can anyone remember a more embarrassing moment for the franchise?

The presser yesterday defied belief. Everything is a ok. Tucker, Joe D, Allen, Jay. A OK.

Tough, tough times lads. But we’re all in it together. That number 1 pick in the Chicago draft should help things.

I'm just drawing a blank on what to say.
I really wanted the offensive head coach after Lovie as well - But what I didn't really take into account was the age of Lovie's D, also partially as when you played Madden having the best D seldom won... However I must admit I'm very disappointed with how this season is turning out. I thought that with some step ups in defence it might take a bit off Cutler and allow better performance from him. But Tucker and co are looking like they will be worse than last year... Last year we couldn't stop the run, this year - can't stop anything!!!

There are some really interesting posts I've been reading over on CSS which got me thinking about our whole situation and just how bad the Bears are not just now but as an organisation as a whole.

(some of this I've put together, some I'm robbing directly from others)

Lets start at the top;

The McCaskey's - Michael & George have been chairman between them since 1999. They've hired Jerry Angelo and Phil emery as the last 2 GM's.

Jerry Angelo - need I say anything really? 4 of all of his draft picks still on the roster (Forte, Paea, Conte & Tillman - with the last 2 likely gone after this year. Here's the full list with some real beauties - Bauzin & Carimi for example.

Phil Emery - Emery is an NFL scout, not a general manager. He has no GM experience. He actually served as a scout under Lovie from 1998 to 2004, something many forget. Now he runs the damn organisation. His first draft pick as GM was Shea McClellin, but it appears he can draft. However he has no experience hiring or firing coaches, running an organisation, yet we are expecting him to turn around a failing organisation.

Emery fired Lovie Smith for a 10-6 season. Not only did he botch hiring Arians by telling him he had to keep Marinelli and other coaches - Marinelli left anyway, but he hired Marc Trestman instead. So....

Marc Trestman - A CFL head coach. No previous experience as a head coach in the NFL. Out of the league since 2004. Yet hired by the Bears as head coach over Arians, McCoy & Kelly.

Now Arian's has outperformed all expectation but's lest look at this

'How bad has it gotten? So bad that only the Jaguars' Gus Bradley has produced a worse winning percentage .208 (5-19) than Trestman among the seven NFL coaches in the class of 2013. Bradley, remember, took over a 2-14 team devoid of much talent.

Trestman was hired after Lovie Smith failed to make the playoffs despite a 10-6 record. No other team fired their coach with a winning record that year. Doug Marrone took over the Bills after a 6-10 season and is tied with Trestman through 24 games with a .458 winning percentage (11-13)

The Cardinals' Bruce Arians, who finished second to Trestman for the Bears job, has the best winning percentage of the coaches in the Class of '13 with a .696 mark (16-7), despite coaching a team playing in the NFC West with the Seahawks and 49ers. Arians took over a 5-11 team and failed to make the playoffs despite a 10-6 record in his debut season.'



That tells you everything you need to know about the Trestman by Emery and about Trestman as a head coach. They've invested heavily in FA and drafted pretty well the last 2 years (ignore year one bar Jeffrey) - yet that's the record. None of the comparisons stack up well.

This is a post from BearsFan51 from CSS on Trestman, and while he is arrogant and annoying at times I tend to agree with a lot of his general point's if not the exact language;

Well we could get closer on offense and improve our chances of making this field goal and winning this game or we could kick it on first down. **** it lets kick it on first down and hope for the best.

Well it's third down and one. I know let's run Matt Forte two plays in a row behind Roberto Garza straight up the middle. They won't ever see it coming.

What? They hired me? How did I pull that off? I've been out of the NFL for so long who am I going to hire on defense? I know let's hire the guy that made Mike Tice look like an offensive master mind for one game and bring my college football reject staff from Canada to help out.

What the defense sucks and it's best player quit on the team? I know let's ask the idiot special teams coach who he'd hire if he was the head coach.

It's a good thing Phil Emery put together the best set of offensive skill players in the NFL for me otherwise they might realize I don't know **** about offense too. Just ask Dave McGinnis and Jake Plummer.



Marc Trestman hires Mel Tucker as his DC. Yes that's right Mel Tucker - of the Jacksonville Jaguars. Result; franchise worst records defensively in multiple areas last season.

It's getting better though right?

Well - No. The Bears in their last 10 games are 3-7 with a shocking -90 point differential.

Bears/Eagles 54-11 (-43)

Bears/Packers 33-28 (-5) total -48

Bears/Bills 23-20 (-3) -51

Bears/49'ers 28-20 (+8) -43

Bears- Jets 27-19 (+8) -35

Bears-Packers 38-17 (-21) -56

Bears-Panthers 31-24 (-7) -63

Bears-Falcons 27-13 (+14) -49

Bears-Dolphins 27-14 (-13) -62

Bears Pats 51-23 (-28) -90

The Bears have now surrendered 45 points or more in three of their past 18 games. To put that into perspective, consider the fact the Bears allowed 45 points or more in just three of 222 games prior to Sunday, dating all the way to Week 9 of the 1999 season, according to ESPN Stats & Information.

Hardly surprising when your game plans involve the likes of giving free release of the line of scrimmage and then 1 on 1 with either Mundy or Shea McClellin.

So not only is Trestman failing but so are his hires.


Then we have Cutler - 12 turnovers in 8 games. Emery & Trestman decided to reward him with $18m per year after being injured for a good portion of last season, keeping up his erratic play when fit and being outplayed by Josh McCown when not. 1-9 via the Packers, who we might need to beat some time if we want to win our division. I've been here done that all before so I'll leave it.


So should we expect better - well no;

From here

'Taking a look at the Bears playoff record over the last 20 years I was able to get a good understanding of just how unsuccessful they have been.

People believe that Bears fans are upset over a bad season, to the point of over reacting. The truth is that a simmering boil of incompetence, has now raged into a roaring boil as Bears fans will again not be watching the playoffs.

The Bears are the charter franchise, in the 2nd largest media market and have a proud nearly century long history. There playoff record indicates that they are closer to being an expansion team than they are to being the proud face of the NFL.

This is not a one season reaction. It is a lifetime reaction.

Since the Superbowl

1 of 7

The Bears have been to the playoffs once in the last 7 years. This led to Lovie being fired at 10-6 and the optimism of change. The optimism of change has led to an 11-13 record and no playoff appearances. The Vikings, who are largely seen by Bears fans as the worst team in the division, have been to the playoffs 3 times in the last 8 years. The "worst team" in the division goes to the playoffs 3 times more often than the Bears in the last 8 years. My argument is that the Bears are in fact the worst team in the division.

NFC North Since 2006

Packers 6/7 86%
Vikings 3/7 43%
Lions 1/7 14%
Bears 1/7 14%

The Last Decade

3 of 10

In the last decade the Bears have been to the playoffs 3 times, granted with a Superbowl appearance. The Bears followed a Superbowl appearance by not making the playoffs for 3 consecutive seasons. Over the last 10 years that is an incredible feet of incompetence accomplished by only the Bears.

The Bears post Superbowl incompetence is actually fairly impressive.

Since 2004 Superbowl Participants

New England [9 Playoff Appearances, 1 Superbowl Wins, 2 More Superbowl Appearances]
Pittsburgh [6 Playoff Appearances, 2 Superbowl Wins, 1 More Superbowl Appearance]
Indianapolis [9 Playoff Appearance, 1 Superbowl Win, 1 More Superbowl Appearance]
New York Giants [5 Playoff Appearances, 2 Superbowl Wins]
Baltimore [6 Playoff Appearances, 1 Superbowl Win]
New Orleans [5 Playoff Appearances, 1 Superbowl Win]
Green Bay [7 Playoff Appearances, 1 Superbowl Win]
Seattle [7 Playoff Appearances, 1 Superbowl Win, 1 More Superbowl Appearance]
Philadelphia [6 Playoff Appearances]
Denver [5 Playoff Appearances]
San Francisco [3 Playoff Appearances]
Chicago [3 Playoff Appearances]
Arizona Cardinals [2 Playoff Appearances]

*None of these teams, other than the Bears, failed to qualify for the playoffs in 3 consecutive seasons after their Superbowl appearance.

*All but San Francisco, Arizona, and Chicago made the playoffs 50% of season in the last 10 years.

*5 teams made multiple Superbowl Appearances in that time.

The Last Twenty Years

5 of 20

In the last 20 years, the majority of my lifetime, the Bears have been in the playoffs 5 times. 25% of seasons the Bears have made a playoff appearance. To add context in the 18 year history of the Jacksonville Jaguars they have been to the playoffs 6 times, making the playoffs 33% of the time. The Bears have a worse record making the playoffs than the Jaguars who are a perennial laughing stock.

The Bears have made the playoffs at a worse rate than the expansion teams that have formed in that time.

Jacksonville Jaguars 6/18 [33%]
Houston Texans 2/12 [16%]
Carolina Panthers 5/19 [26%]

The Bears, the oldest franchise in the NFL, gets to the post season about as often as an expansion team, which started from scratch, over the last 20 years.


The anger of Bears fans this season is not just about the Bears not living up to their potential in 2014, but instead, it is about 20 years of not having success.'


So a quick Summary

1. We've a GM with no prior league experience. No experience of hiring head coaches which cleared showed with the Trestman hire over other available. No experience of cleaning situations like this up which is hardly ideal and the status quo situation at present isn't surprising in this context. He's not going to easily admit his first hire was totally wrong. (see Shea McClellin still being on the roster)

2. We've a head coach who had been out of the league for a long time - likely for good reason. In this job he is failing - losing record and deteriorating from where he took over, unable to fix Cutler and not delivering offensively, his DC hire has been a disaster. He is soft and provides no leadership which is evident from the way the team plays (or doesn't play for him to be more precise) and the dressing room issues.

3. We continue to miss playoffs. We should expect this. Our history suggests this to be the case.

4. None of this is changing fast. I'm hoping for a total implosion for real change. Sorry if that isn't what others want but I'd like to see us in the playoffs and hopefully win a superbowl at some stage in next 10-15 years.

Tweet from Chicago Bears official account: LB Lance Briggs: “I understand this is probably my last year as a Chicago Bear, and this could be the last time I play the Packers.

Not terribly surprised, he's lost a lot of his former production, and by all accounts he hasn't bought into the Trestman regime. Never really took over the role of defensive leader after Urlacher left as most people were expecting him to do.

Realt Dearg Sec wrote: »

Tweet from Chicago Bears official account: LB Lance Briggs: “I understand this is probably my last year as a Chicago Bear, and this could be the last time I play the Packers.

Not terribly surprised, he's lost a lot of his former production, and by all accounts he hasn't bought into the Trestman regime. Never really took over the role of defensive leader after Urlacher left as most people were expecting him to do.

Great Bear, great career, played a season too long - should have hung up the Spikes last year imo.

Still think they let the wrong LBer go when they let Roach walk and kept Briggs.

edit:

Watching this really makes me miss having a defence. We are heartless compared to back then or as someone said we're now the don't care bears.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ixZG65aTVtc&noredirect=1#t=336

Briggs has been a huge let down since Urlacher left. His fall off has been incredible. I guess people just assume an ageing great will be a good leader… he’s been anything but. And he’s properly awful now. It’s genuine hard work watching him rumbling around the place.

I’m just hoping the young talent gives me something to hope for the rest of the season…… Sutton, Ego, Fuller, Jones, Wilson etc… That’s all that’s left. I couldn’t have imagined it being this miserable.

kennyb3 wrote: »

Sorry for being so depressing guys. I guess my point is we all know it's been a crap season - but lets see the wood from the trees here and not try a band aid job again with a few mid tier free agency signings who are pushing 30. We've been down this road far too often lately.

I'll take a season like it next season again so long as it's with youth and building blocks. With hungry guys, hungry coaches and the whole team playing hard for each other and the coaches.

This team has failed in that regard in every respect.

All will be forgiven if we beat the Packers though, won't it? (well nearly all, Tucker's doomed either way)

Unlikely, but the Packers have enough flaws that it's possible.

I see the second half of the season as an evaluation of whether the team goes ahead with Trestman. I'm not completely out on him, there was enough promise in the first season, and he's had one bad half-season. He's also made one really bad decision with Tucker (you could say two, one hiring him, the other retaining him for a second year). But if they recover the 2nd half, and get a new DC, I'd be content enough with giving him one more year.

Da Bears Blog has a few good blogs this week:

- This Packer Week the Most Important Week of Marc Trestman’s Professional Coaching Life

- A Letter to the Chicago Bears: Bears at Packers Game Preview

I think he's right in giving extra importance to the Packers game. The Bears have had two weeks off, a chance to look at things, to start again to an extent. And it's the Packers. If Trestman can get anything out of the team, it'll be this week. If it's another embarrassing performance, it'll be a really bad sign.

No words

I have 3.

F*ck this team.

Vikings fan here.

Wouldn't have thought we would finish above the bears, but am starting to believe it.

Eventually that may be the one thing that hurts the most this season when it doesn't happen, but...

Press conference was supposed to start 30 minutes ago but nobody has shown up yet.

Trestman has arrived after 34 minutes. No coaching changes he has said.

Just f*ck off.

Oat23 wrote: »

Press conference was supposed to start 30 minutes ago but nobody has shown up yet.

Trestman has arrived after 34 minutes. No coaching changes he has said.

Just f*ck off.

Thinking about it, I don't see any benefit in coaching changes right now. Get rid of Tucker, he gets replaced by...I dunno...but certainly just a stop gap, so what difference does it make? Replace Kromer? Dunno why you'd bother, he isn't the play caller on O anyway. Replace Trestman? If he goes, then you either have Kromer or, god help us, Tucker as your HC for a while. That isn't going to be the case next year so why bother? I think you play it out, see if any players or staff redeem themselves during the remainder of the year, and THEN blow it up, save for anyone who has shown some promise.

The problem for me is, I like Trestman, he seems like a good guy, he clearly has considerable ability as a quarterback coach and last year seemed to show promise as a play caller, and his book shows him to be a great person for understanding what makes people tic and what motivates them as people as well as players. But he also hasn't changed things up on offense this year, hoping the same ideas will work the same away in a different year, and we've gotten predictable. He's clearly a soft spoken kind of calm guy, which is grand (I'm not a huge fan of histrionics in managers, or at least I don't think it equates to any kind of passion that people often say is absent in quieter men), except when a bollocking is needed, that's not there. He is a big fan of the idea that people need to be respected and encouraged and blah de blah, but this is a tough sport, and sometimes people need to be tough. The worst of it is, I wonder has he the toughness to be willing to tell someone like Mel Tucker (who is all passion and anger on the sideline by the way, for all the fcuking good it's done us) that he's not good enough and he needs to go. Regarding the playcalling, my suspicion is that he's a little too clever for his own good, and when there is a clear need for, say, a long passing play, he'll second guess himself, start to get cute, and go for a screen or something. He shares that second-guessing, look how clever I am tendency with the man who hired him. In fact, hiring Trestman was itself an example of that very thing, shouldn't be a shock that he has the same habit himself.

So yeah I like him and I would hope that this whole debacle wont end his career because he would be a great QB coach for anyone, but it's harder and harder to see how anyone can look at him for a third year. A regression would be bad enough after the moves they've made in trades and FA, but a meltdown of such monumental proportions? Who'd be shocked if we had a top five draft pick next year?