MurcieOne

Bulls are playing down to their competition tonight. This game against the Cavs has been super ugly.

QUOTE (DBAHO @ Dec 8, 2010 -> 04:35 PM) Mayo needs to be traded to a team that's willin to make him a PG. Don't think he'd be a good fit with the Bulls as a SG, especially alongside someone who dominates the ball as much as Rose does for instance. e.g Atlanta would be an interesting option Good call, I think Mayo on the Hawks would be pretty dynamic. Unfortunately, I think they recently re-signed Mike Bibby to a fairly lucrative deal. I don't know if they have the budget/cap room left to add him.

QUOTE (Athomeboy_2000 @ Dec 8, 2010 -> 03:25 PM) Weather.com- High of 23, low of 4 with 30+ MPH winds [begin meatball-ism] THAT SOUNDS LIKE BEAR WEATHER TO ME! [/end meatball-ism]

QUOTE (nitetrain8601 @ Dec 7, 2010 -> 06:41 PM) Maybe you're right, but I think of Shannahan who is a heck of a coach and Washington hasn't been able to cover up a lot of their flaws on the defensive end. I am a big Shanahan fan, but he is an offensive coach. Shanahan's biggest strength is to develop OL and implement his block schemes to churn out 1,000 yard rushers year after year. (I'm looking at you Olandis Gary, Mike Anderson, Rueben Droughns and Tatum Bell).

QUOTE (iamshack @ Dec 7, 2010 -> 06:23 PM) Just curious, Murcie, how old are you? Do you remember Ditka's tenure here, honestly? 24 and No. I grew up with Wanne and Dick.

QUOTE (Balta1701 @ Dec 7, 2010 -> 05:53 PM) What you probably missed last year though was that the Bears did try to work around this. In fact, the Bears for the last couple years have had one of the highest rates in the NFL of sending extra guys; LB's and DB's, on the blitz to try to get to the QB. That was the only way that they could get pressure on the QB, because their front 4 wasn't doing it. But, because they were blitzing so often, to the point the defense knew it was coming, the secondary was regularly getting exposed. Because their D-Line horses stopped doing the job, they couldn't get pressure without the blitz, but if they blitzed their secondary gave up the first-down pass. They didn't play the base cover 2 when they didn't have those guys...you just didn't notice, because all you saw was the Bears' defense getting picked apart. That's a convincing stat that helps disprove Lovie's rigidity. I did notice that increase in blitzing last year, and I read this article in the offseason (I really like the work Seifert does on his blog btw). I overlooked it for the purposes of my argument (law school training). Still I don't think this proves that Lovie is a good head coach. In fact you could argue that this indicts Lovie for being an ineffective designer/play caller. Given the amount of blitzing the Bears did last season they still didn't rank in the top 10 in sacks. I am willing to attribute a good portion of that to poor execution by the players. But I think that a better coach would have been able to hide/scheme the blitzes better and achieve better results. FWIW, I am enjoying this debate and I think its perfectly reasonable to support Lovie.

QUOTE (lostfan @ Dec 7, 2010 -> 05:30 PM) BTW, Murcie, what scheme can you run if you don't have the players for it? That's a weak argument IMO. Would the Bears not need to get a NT and new OLBs if they switched to a 3-4? I didn't mean to imply that he Bears should change from a 4-3 to a 3-4. What I was trying to say is that the Bears should not have played so much of their base cover-2 when they didn't have a pass rush, didn't have Urlacher to swallow up tackles and cover the deep middle, Briggs missed time, and had shoddy secondary play. There are teams that experience injuries and do a better job of adapting to them. Lovie was the play caller last year and the defense was a stanch 17th in total defense (an imperfect stat).

QUOTE (iamshack @ Dec 7, 2010 -> 05:35 PM) Brooks in Tampa? Derrick Brooks was an OLB. Not a MLB.

QUOTE (nitetrain8601 @ Dec 7, 2010 -> 05:27 PM) If you have a system that you believe in, you stick to it. You want Lovie out of nowhere to start calling for a 3-4 defense midseason when he knew he had a personnel problem and he didn't know how to coach a 3-4 defense? You stick with what gets you to where you are. Would you tell that to Mike Martz this season? If Mike Martz didn't tailor his offense to his personnel this season, the Bears season and Jay Cutler's short term memory would have destroyed by now.

QUOTE (iamshack @ Dec 7, 2010 -> 05:12 PM) I can counter with plenty of games if I actually look, but I don't feel that is necessary. His win-loss record seenms to me as a pretty good indicator. The level of defenses he has built in his tenure here seem to contradict your point as well. If you're going to argue that he's not a great coach, fine, but don't use Mike Ditka as your counterpoint. Give me a break. Where did I argue that Mike Ditka was a good coach? I never did. Not once. I specifically agreed with you that he is probably overrated. I was simply contradicting the point you made that Ditka was CERTAINLY worse than Lovie (which you stated but didn't explain in any detail). In terms of win-loss records, you cited Wade Phillips as a failure earlier. Wade Phillips' career win percentage (.581) is higher than Lovie's (.563). Is Wade a good head coach? I guess his win-loss record indicates that he is CERTAINLY a better head coach than Lovie.

QUOTE (iamshack @ Dec 7, 2010 -> 04:28 PM) You know what, I'll just pull out my game film that I have been breaking down all week long and diagram all of our blitz schemes for you. Are you kidding me? You seriously want me to describe to you our defensive game plan in detail? I tried to make a point about Lovie's game planning ability and you countered it by pointing out a single game against the eagles. I was just hoping you could substantiate your position with something other than "look at the result." The Bears defense played great against Vick and I am thrilled that we won. I have no ill will against him, I just think the Bears can find a better head coach. Lovie Smith will be the head coach of the Chicago Bears next year, unless they somehow lose their last 4 games. Even if they do I can see Angelo and Phillips rationalizing the circumstances and keeping him around. I don't really trust either of them to find a competent replacement anyway. So nevermind.

QUOTE (iamshack @ Dec 7, 2010 -> 03:51 PM) Wow. I could not disagree with you more. How about 9 days ago? What was the gameplan? Get pressure on Vick with 4 pass rushers, make him throw underneath and tackle well? That is the same game plan every week and it is working this season because Peppers is a beast, Izzy is competent and the DT's are getting a modicum of penetration up the middle. I am willing to admit that I am wrong if you can specifically remember anything to the contrary. But it certainly looked like the Bears playing the Bears Defense against the Eagles. Nothing special. No special blitzes. No special looks. Dick Lebeau, Jim Johnson, Gregg Williams Lovie Smith is not.

QUOTE (Athomeboy_2000 @ Dec 7, 2010 -> 03:22 PM) Albert Haynesworth suspended for the last 4 games by the Redskins How's that $41 million dollars of guaranteed money looking right now? Oof. What an absolute circus of a situation between Haynesworth and Shanahan. Both sides look like total idiots.

QUOTE (iamshack @ Dec 7, 2010 -> 08:01 AM) His "stamp" is clearly takeaways and scoring on the defensive side of the ball. The Bears lead the league in takeaways since Lovie arrived. I think that's pretty clearly the key of his defensive philosophy. As for his strengths, I think he prepares the team well. I believe he creates good schemes, good game plans, whatever you want to call them. The Bears are also fairly consistent in regards to their motivation to play a game. They do not seem to be as subject to letdowns or overlooking opponents as much as some other teams do. As for his weaknesses, he clearly has some in-game issues. He seems to be poor at clock management and challenges, as you said. Overall though, I believe he has been the best Bears coach of my lifetime. Certainly better than Mike Ditka. More consistent than Dick Jauron. Obviously better than Wanne. Maybe it's not saying much, and maybe he's not Bill Bellichick or Mike Tomlin, but there's not a lot of head football coaches I would rather have than Lovie Smith. Love Smith is certainly a better coach than Mike Ditka? I agree that Ditka's career has been inflated by his personality and Chicago's love for the meatball. But how is Lovie Smith CERTAINLY a better head coach than Mike Ditka? In reality, I think they two coaches are somewhat similar outside of their personalities. Both are stubborn and are at their best when surrounded by good assistant coaches (see Buddy Ryan). I'd say he's CERTAINLY better than Jauron but I don't know if I'd go so far with Ditka. This highlights the disturbing trend of sub-standard Bears head coaches hires. Wannestedt, Jauron, Lovie. All first time head coaches, all poor developers of talent. I agree that Lovie's stamp on this team is takeaways. That's acceptable. Under Lovie the Bears have been an opportunistic team. I just don't know how much weight that carries. Also, when you say he creates good schemes or game plans . . . I disagree with that. The Cover-2 is a fine scheme when you have appropriate personnel, but they didn't last year and he continued to run the same base C-2. Lovie was the signal caller last year and in back-to-back games the Bears were humiliated by teams who consistently torched them on quick slants over the middle. Additionally, when was the last time you watched a Bears game and said "Wow, the Bears really out game planned the other team?" The Bears probably have the worst blitz schemes in the league.

QUOTE (nitetrain8601 @ Dec 6, 2010 -> 08:38 PM) Agreed. I've loved Lovie Smith as a football coach. Ever since his days with the Rams actually. The Bears' fanbase will never embrace him for being a players' coach. They have one image in their head when it comes to a football coach and that's Ditka. For some stupid reason, Lovie will never live up to that. I remember wanting Lovie to get hired as the Cowboys coach for a long time. I think he's probably the most underrated coach in the league behind Raheem and Reid. I like Lovie Smith the man. I don't like Lovie Smith the football coach. I don't care that his personality is as interesting as wallpaper. The issues that I have Lovie Smith come from odd personnel decisions, poor clock management, poor replay challenge decisions, stubbornness and the lack of development of our draft picks. I guess my question is. . . what makes Lovie a good coach? What does he do (doesn't call plays)? What is his stamp on this team (takeaways?)? The only players that I feel have really developed under his tenure are Lance Briggs, Charles Tillman and maybe Daniel Manning. I know that Angelo is ultimately responsible for acquiring talent, but some blame for draft failures belongs on the coaching staff too (which Lovie is responsible for). Anyone remember Zachary Bowman? Lovie was on his jock all summer long and even named him the #1 CB during training camp. Bowman hasn't substantively played since being benched in favor of Tim Jennings week 3 against the Packers. Again, what makes him a good coach? Does he influence the offense? I suppose its possible he told Martz to rein things in. Has he helped Dave Toub make the Bears a consistent force on special teams? I don't really know, nut it doesn't really seem like it. Does he help Rod Marinelli call the defense? Maybe, but it doesn't really appear that he does. I guess that leads me to: If he isn't calling plays, and he has trouble developing talent . . . then what is his stamp on this team? If I had to argue on his behalf, I'd say that he is a good leader of men. The players seem to genuinely love him. They play hard for him. That is an admirable quality but a good coach should get his team to play hard regardless of their feelings for him. I'd rather have a head coach who was truly an expert at something. Like Rex Ryan on Defense (ignoring tonight), BB on Defense, or Andy Reid on the Offensive side. It follows that I do not believe that Lovie Smith is an expert on defense. Still, if the Bears make the playoffs I believe he deserves to fulfill the final year of his contract regardless of the result. A playoff berth this year would be no small feat and earns Smith a chance to develop this offense under Martz (hoping that he stays) and add to this rag-tag defensive secondary. The Bears should not, however, rush into extending his contract. I still don't believe that this is an elite football team and this team needs to show that it can compete in all phases of the game. /end diatribe.

QUOTE (Brian @ Dec 6, 2010 -> 08:47 PM) Neither rose or westbrook lighting it up but boozer is killing Rose is really impressing me with his playmaking tonight. Derrick's court vision in this game has been superb and he seems like he is doing everything at top speed. Oh, and he hit a 30 footer for kicks.

QUOTE (iamshack @ Dec 6, 2010 -> 08:31 PM) I LOVE this stat....because Cutler played at one of the traditional college powerhouses like Ohio State or Florida or USC, right? The guy played in the toughest conference in football for Vanderbilt! Not incredibly shocking that he didn't have a winning season there. Gale Sayers and Dick Butkus never played in a single postseason game. They must be losers too. Trent Dilfer won more Super Bowls than Dan Marino, Jim Kelly and Warren Moon. Thus, he must be the better than all three. Jay still needs to prove himself. He hasn't been nearly consistent enough to earn the benefit of the doubt. All things aside, Jay has the ability to play the position at an elite level and has taken a steps in his development this season. Trent Dilfer and those who quickly dismiss Jay for his past performances haven't been paying attention. Jay decision making has been markedly better since the Washington debacle and he has been playing some really good football lately. I just hope Vince Wilfork doesn't injure him next sunday.

Bulls controlling the offensive boards tonight. Korver lighting it up from downtown. Bulls have an early lead against a quality opponent. All good things.

I'd settle for an NBA team that could hit some f***ing FT. The Bulls are solidly in the bottom 4 in the league in FT%. I am still optimistic about this team, but we need to start beating good opponents. Tonight against the Thunder would be a good start.

QUOTE (DBAHO @ Dec 6, 2010 -> 05:59 PM) Bet they'll go after Jon Gruden. But that 6-0 start from last season has got to be one of the biggest flukes of all time now. It is hard to really understand how that team fell apart so badly after the 6-0 start. I hesitate to call that a fluke because they beat some really quality teams. . . 4 of the 6 wins were against 2009 playoff teams (CIN, DAL, SD, and NE). Only the goofy play against the Bengals in the season opener really stands out as lucky. The 2009 team had a really good defense too (hampered by injuries later on in the season). Whatever the case, McDaniels' team just stopped winning. Not only that, from the games that I have watched this year --> they find ways to lose games. I think losing Dumervil for the season really hurt them this year. But I can't say that I am sorry that McDaniels lost his job. He seems like a grade A douche bag. I still don't understand why he drafted Tim Tebow (when Orton had thrown the ball well and proved he could run the offense). Whatever, happy trails Josh.

QUOTE (MexSoxFan#1 @ Dec 5, 2010 -> 06:01 PM) Go Tampa Bay...ex Bear Gilmore with a TD. Damn, KR for TD for ATL Do the Bears want TB or ATL to win this game? If ATL wins it could essentially eliminate TB from the playoffs (which is good for the Bears). If TB wins then the Bears are tied atop the NFC at 9-3. Based on the difficulty of the Bears remaining games, I think I want ATL to pull this one out.

QUOTE (MexSoxFan#1 @ Dec 5, 2010 -> 05:23 PM) f*** you ESPN, trying to make it seem like the Bears won because of that one call. Kevin Seifert restores some sanity. http://espn.go.com/blog/nfcnorth/post/_/id...-forearm-shiver

Peyton Manning: 10 INT in last 3 games, 4 RET for TDs.

QUOTE (bmags @ Dec 5, 2010 -> 04:41 PM) I really don't think that call was questionable. A blow that hard to the head is clearly done to injure someone. The league is trying to have less of that. It was a judgment call and at full speed it sure looked like Suh gave Cutler a forearm to the back of the head. What really annoys me is that people are arguing that this call determined the game. Cutler ran for 8 yards on 1st down and the team was given 7 yards on the penalty. It would have been 2nd at 2 from the 14 and instead it was 1st and goal from the 7. The Bears were controlling the game at this point and probably would taken the lead anyway. Annoying.

QUOTE (Chisoxfn @ Dec 5, 2010 -> 03:53 PM) He has played really really well for the past few weeks and is making much better decisions. Bears are converting 3rd downs and scoring and putting together long drives. Oline still burries them but this offense is getting better every week. Defense was horrendous today, but I"ll give the Lions credit. THey did a nice job getting Stanton into manageable situations and Stanton played well. I don't remember Cutler making one bad decision today. The fumble was a product of Jay trying to make a play and the pocket completely imploding around him. Don't look now but Jay's current QB rating is the highest of his career. Imagine what he can do with even an average offensive line and more competent receivers. I actually want to give Lovie and the coaching staff some credit for at least one decision --> Devin Hester has seen a lot less time at WR and a lot more time at KR/PR. This is essentially an admission that the Hester at WR experiment was a failure, but at least he is back where he is most effective and Earl Bennett is getting more playing time. This coaching staff has shown a greater willingness to hold people accountable and be flexible this year. I appreciate that.