2014-15 NFC North/NFL Thread

[jesmu84]

The problem with Emery is that he hasn't drafted well, and he's FA signings have been pretty much bad.  If the Halas family wants to launch Philips too, that's fine.  But would you really want Emery picking your next coach if you are a Bears fan?  

Eh. Too early to talk about this draft class. 2012 - Shea was a miss. Jeffrey is very good. Rest of that draft is crap. 2013 - Long is good. Bostic, Greene, Mills have had ups and downs. 

Clearly he hasn't killed it in the draft. But I wouldn't say he's been much worse than average drafting either. FA's have only been necessary to fill gaps from the previous regime's abysmal drafting.

[ZiggysFryBoy]

The Bears are flocked until the elderly mccaskey's go the way of old man wirtz.

[ZiggysFryBoy]

How full of amphetamines is Clay Mathews tonight?

[jesmu84]

The Bears are flocked until the elderly mccaskey's go the way of old man wirtz.

What influence does Virginia really have these days?

[mikekinsellaMVP]

How full of amphetamines is Clay Mathews tonight?

Rogers is the one using performance enhancers -- the Bears' secondary.

[wadesworld]

How full of amphetamines is Clay Mathews tonight?

There it is! 48-7 and the first PED statement comes out. He's the only player ever to play football and use PEDs though...

[jesmu84]

Moving Clay inside was a really good move, I thought. Wonder if it was just for tonight, or that's going to be the situation going forward.

[jesmu84]

Serious question... although playing badly, it looks like the offense is still trying. The defense, however... Is there any chance that players would blow plays/quit to get a coach fired?

[MUFC9295]

How would you (could you?) know if the Bears' secondary was tanking a play?

[ChitownSpaceForRent]

Well if they haven't been tanking already they need to now. Need trestman gone an a high draft pick.

[MerrittsMustache]

Trestman is gone after the season. Emery should go too. Tomorrow morning Mel Tucker should get his pink slip. Even without a whole lot of talent on D, the last 2 games have been unacceptable defensively. The players don't believe in this coaching staff and Trestman's offense is predictable to the point where I can recognize plays from my couch.

Serious question... although playing badly, it looks like the offense is still trying. The defense, however... Is there any chance that players would blow plays/quit to get a coach fired?

No. Absolutely ZERO chance. Players are playing for their next contracts. Looking bad on film and being part of a historically bad defense helps no one.

[NavinRJohnson]

Wayne larvae just said that bears' management/exec team hung around and met for over an hour after the game last night, so they're likely to do something today. Safe to assume Mel Tucker will probably not survive the day. Obviously more of a symbolic move at this point, but real changed clearly needed in the off season.

[MU82]

I am not a knee-jerk "Fire the coach!" guy. But I have the same feeling about Trestman that I did about Jauron.

A decent guy with knowledge that can help a team as an assistant but in WAAAAAY over his head as a head coach.

[martyconlonontherun]

Not sure how you can support Emery at this point if you are a Bears fan. D is horrible and the offense is stuck with Jay for the next 3 years. Add in bad coaching hires and you start questioning what he did well for the Bears. It's good to be a Packers fan in this division.

[MU B2002]

Where do you even start to fix this team?  It's not like they are 1 or 2 guys away.  Do you try to patch it together for one more run? (Since that has worked well this year.) Do you blow it up and start over? If so, is it too late to trade off pieces for draft picks?
The good news is that I don't think they can screw it up and win a bunch of games down the stretch.



vs MIN
vs TB               
@ DET         
vs DAL
VS NO
vs DET
@ MIN

That's 2-5, at best 3-4.

[MU82]

Not sure how you can support Emery at this point if you are a Bears fan. D is horrible and the offense is stuck with Jay for the next 3 years. Add in bad coaching hires and you start questioning what he did well for the Bears. It's good to be a Packers fan in this division.

Great point, marty (and others who have made similar points).

Emery is a disaster, and because he probably won't get fired my Bear-fan friends (and kids) are in for many non-playoff years.

[MerrittsMustache]

Not sure how you can support Emery at this point if you are a Bears fan. D is horrible and the offense is stuck with Jay for the next 3 years. Add in bad coaching hires and you start questioning what he did well for the Bears. It's good to be a Packers fan in this division.

Emery has been bad. He needs to go. For his 2 best draft picks, he traded up to get Jeffery which likely wasn't necessary and he could have gotten Long in Round 2 and gotten a pass-rusher, DT or LB in Round 1. Maybe that's nit-picking, but even when he gets something right, he gets something else wrong.

I still don't know if McClellin can play because they Bears have used him out of position from the start. It's desperation time now so I say they put him at the Matthews/Polamalu position and let him make an educated guess on the play and go 1000 mph to where he thinks the ball is going. If he's wrong, he's wrong, but odds are that he's going to at least make a few plays each game doing that. I mean, it's not like the D is making any plays now.

Cutler is pretty far down the list on things that are wrong with the Bears. On a majority of plays, the opposing D knows what's coming. Even with all those weapons, he has no chance. Don't get me wrong, Cutler has not been good this season but if you want to rank the Bears' areas for improvement, QB would be no where near the top...which says a lot about the rest of the team and coaching staff.
 

[Loose Cannon]

 Is Ron Wolf available?

[reinko]

Where do you even start to fix this team?  It's not like they are 1 or 2 guys away.  Do you try to patch it together for one more run? (Since that has worked well this year.) Do you blow it up and start over? If so, is it too late to trade off pieces for draft picks?
The good news is that I don't think they can screw it up and win a bunch of games down the stretch.



vs MIN
vs TB               
@ DET         
vs DAL
VS NO
vs DET
@ MIN

That's 2-5, at best 3-4.

What are you talking about?!!?  7-9 is soooo much better than 4-12.

[MU B2002]

What are you talking about?!!?  7-9 is soooo much better than 4-12.

At this point my money is on 4-12.  Maybe 4-11-1 if they get lucky.  I wonder if I can go back in time and pound the under for season wins.

[jesmu84]

http://chicago.cbslocal.com/2014/11/10/bears-notes-there-was-confusion-all-night-jennings-says-2/

How can there be so much confusion after 2 weeks of prep?

Starting to appreciate the jauron comparison

[reinko]

definitely rather be 7-9. At least that team would have some fight and character and not pack it in just to collect a paycheck

Hey B, was just trolling this awesome insight from a guy arguing that he would rather finish 7-9 than 4-12.

[ChitownSpaceForRent]

Not sure how you can support Emery at this point if you are a Bears fan. D is horrible and the offense is stuck with Jay for the next 3 years. Add in bad coaching hires and you start questioning what he did well for the Bears. It's good to be a Packers fan in this division.

Again, I ask you, name a better available QB. In the day and age in the NFL you have to give that kind of contract.

[MU B2002]

Hey B, was just trolling

Yea, I figured as much. Obviously, at this point I don't care about them fighting to the finish.  I am so exhausted, I am just ready for the 14-15 season to be over.  My fear is that Emery already has some 3rd round sleeper pegged for his top ten draft pick.



And please note...  I still am all in with Cutler. You can't pin this year's failings on him, as they are too widespread.

[MU82]

Again, I ask you, name a better available QB. In the day and age in the NFL you have to give that kind of contract.

They absolutely were screwed on the Cutler contract because I agree that they had no choice. They weren't going to get anyone else, and to keep Cutler, they had to pay him as if he were great.

It's not all that different from when the Twins had to pay to keep Mauer. He had all the leverage -- with the additional leverage of coming off an outstanding season and being a hometown kid -- and now the Twins are stuck giving a huge chunk of their payroll to an injury-prone, singles-hitting first baseman who doesn't drive in runs.