Chisoxfn

He'd have got over 20M per year in FA, imo. There would have been quite a few teams bidding for his services. I am very excited that the Bears made the moves they did today. All 3 key players to have back and Emery/Trestman will be very busy laying out their plans for retooling the defense internally (I'm sure they already have quite a few plans and Bennett's brother is probably one of them). They clearly blasted Shea, but also highlighted he has potential and they need to do a better job coaching. It also sounded like Emery wants Bostic on the outside vs. inside, so put MLB as a major need. I presume we'll try to bring DJ Williams back (although you have to question his durability at this point) and draft a MLB.

Hiring Ted Ford is a great m9ve. Frazier would be solid too. I figure marinelli will rejoin him.

Wait. So outside of sacks the bears oline was significantly worse this year vs. Last year. I call bs.

QUOTE (scs787 @ Dec 30, 2013 -> 02:44 PM) What'd he have to say about Marquess? I remember hearing the announcers yesterday say that some in the organization compare him to Jeffery....Went back and watched some college highlights and my goodness, I don't think thats a bad comp if he's able to put it together in the NFL...Could you imagine if those claims come to fruition? How would you cover a package with Marshall-Jeffery-Bennett-Wilson?? He's not near as big but they hinted that maybe Marshall would be inviting Marquess to train with them as well. I can't comapre him to Jeffrey but he's got some talent. A headcase though from what i recall.

QUOTE (southsider2k5 @ Dec 30, 2013 -> 02:43 PM) The Bears weren't counting on Bostic to start. He was to be the back up behind Williams, even after having the big start in the preseason. Bostic also wasn't helped by the rest of the linebacking core either landing on IR, or missing almost all of the season. He regressed because instead of being one rookie in a group of vets, he was in a group all with no experience, playing behind a D-line that consisted of Peppers and a practice squad. Its the NFL people. Guys in the 2nd round are drafted to start early. This isn't some league where you can sit and develop in the minors. James Anderson was a vet and he played in a few games with Briggs and struggled mightily. Did you even notice him on Sunday. I'm not saying he's done and won't be good but through year one, he is a big fat F. The guy got a ton of minutes in the preason and training camp too due to DJ's injuries so it isn't like he had limited activity and then got forced into the gig. He was acting as the training camp / preseason starter for pete sakes.

You got to love Marshall. I hope Marques joins Jeffrey and Bennett (and I also hope Martellus and Cutler are there too).

QUOTE (bmags @ Dec 30, 2013 -> 02:27 PM) I'm a big bostic hater, but you can't write off him and Greene yet. They need to get smarter and stronger. As of now...Bostic is a miss. I didn't say he's a bust yet but he was freaking awful. To be frank, given what he has shown, I'd have a hard time thinking it would be a great idea to hand him a starting job next year (we should at least try to bring DJ Williams or another veteran to push him in training camp). This is the NFL, not MLB where you sit around and wait years for guys to develop. Bostic did nothing but get worse and linebacker is typically a position where rookies can excel. Thankfully he has some real nice physical tools.

QUOTE (farmteam @ Dec 30, 2013 -> 02:26 PM) Pretty silly to call Bostic a miss after one season. I'm not saying he's a bust yet, but he was horrific all season. Easily one of the worst starting LB's in the NFL last year. There is no f***ing way I'm giving Tucker another year to show that he can't develop players. But unlike others, I'm not about to talk like Emery is some god. I think he's done some pretty good things and also some pretty bad things in the draft. I hope Bostic / Greene learn a lot from this season and grow into good players but Bostic regressed during the course of the season. Reading between the lines, a lot of people think Cutler is going to sign an extension with the Bears pretty quickly. I am hoping that is the case and the Bears have already had some solid talks and the QB situation can get addressed quickly. Emery has a lot to work on as this will be an extremely busy off-season given how many guys are free agents. Bears are reportedly in talks to sign Slauson to an extension, which would be great.

QUOTE (Balta1701 @ Dec 30, 2013 -> 01:11 PM) Based on Emery's history I think it's a good guess he'll plug players into most of the gaping open holes, whether it's resigning Melton and Ratliff or otherwise finding FA's. The big worry is going to be Peppers until they deal with it. $7 million+ is an awful lot of dead cap room to leave while creating a hole at a position where the team already isn't deep. His draft history with the Bears leaves a lot to be desired. You have some big hits (Jeffrey / Long / Mills) and also some big misses (Shea / Hardin / Greene / Bostic / Evan Rodriguez).

QUOTE (KyYlE23 @ Dec 30, 2013 -> 01:55 PM) Meh, their defense wasnt bad this year. Undisciplined, sure(which he would clean up of course), but their problem is Stafford and Co totally imploding down the stretch, even with Calvin Johnson getting 10 catch 300 yard games(ON ONE LEG). I dont see Lovie going in there and fixing their offense Lovie wants to bring Jeff Tedford with him. Lovie is a tremendous fit in Detroit. They'd play disciplined football and that would be a top 3 defensive unit when you take the stupidity out of it. And there offense isn't exactly bad.

QUOTE (witesoxfan @ Dec 30, 2013 -> 08:08 AM) The unnecessary roughness call on Shea was a total crock of s*** too. I couldn't believe that. The Packers played better and ultimately deserved the win, but the refs called that game in favor of the Packers. I really don't think the Packers played better. They won but I don't think they were the better team that day. Going forward, they are the better team in the postseason (once Rodgers rust wears off).

QUOTE (lasttriptotulsa @ Dec 30, 2013 -> 06:39 AM) No big surprise on either, but it did seem like Frazier had a lot of support from his players. I would have given him another year. Bears should throw him some coin to run our D.

QUOTE (Stan Bahnsen @ Dec 30, 2013 -> 06:18 AM) The drop by Marshall at the 25 or 30 with ~10 seconds was huge. If he makes the easy catch there, they use the timeout and Cutler has time to likely throw two darts in the endzone, instead of one desperation heave. And shut up already, Brandon, with the Ray Lewis/LeBron analogies - those guys lost on the brink of championships, you didn't even make the playoffs, again. I will also point out that the Bears dropped 2 makeable 3rd down conversions early in the game. Alshon had one, the other was a pass behind Marshall that was still catchable more often then not. Then you have Jeffrey's fumble plus the drop on a great ball late in the game (tough catch but one Alshon would say he should make more often then not). Jay put the team in position and really played well in poor conditions (outplayed Rodgers). Unfortunately it wasn't enough. I tip my cap to Cutler though cause the offense looked completely in rhythm and I buy that I want to see what Jay can do in year 2 in this offense. It will be great to finally give Jay some continuity. I want Emery focused on the D, I don't want him trying to solve QB plus fix the D. Emery needs to prove he can draft too cause so far I've seen a lot of s*** picks the past two years. We have 3 pretty high picks that will likely be off the team in 2 years of Emery drafts.

QUOTE (Dick Allen @ Dec 30, 2013 -> 05:58 AM) On the play GB scored the TD on the fumble, even they had no idea the play was still live, although there may be some merit in the Bears perhaps scoring there if Lovie was still coaching. Anderson was the guy who could have picked it up and ran. He wasn't coached by Lovie and his group. I have bashed Cutler plenty, but I thought he played a really good game yesterday. There were a couple of throws a bit off, but conditions weren't ideal. He also had a couple of drops, and the final throw for an INT was nothing you could hold against him. I don't know if Mel Tucker is an answer, but if you have to play guys like Conte and Steltz, and don't have much of a pass rush, I think there are a lot of coaches considered defensive geniuses who would look like fools. Bostic and Greene were bad. I put that on Emery and our defensive coaches. Conte and Wright both regressed drastically this season vs. a season ago under Lovie. Why, I think a chunk of that has to do with coaching. We couldn't tackle properly and more often then not were contiuosly out of position/gaaps. Yes, that falls on the players, but that is very undisciplined football and has to do with poor coaching, imo. PS: I will puke if Lovie ends up with Detroit. He'd be a phenomenal fit for them. I love Lovie and want him to win but not with the Lions.

Personally I don't care.

QUOTE (Jenksismyb**** @ Dec 29, 2013 -> 05:15 PM) Jesus people. Learn to read. Here are the points i'm making: (1) Cutler might have outplayed Rogers in today's game based on stats alone, but at the end of the day one guy led his team down the field and won the game. That's who I think had the better game. It's not like Rogers sucked. (2) in thinking about the future, I don't believe Cutler is a franchise QB or the answer for the Bears, for a variety of reasons which I've spelled out. I'm not opposed to bringing him back, but it has to be at the right price because there are enough weapons for average QB's to win with IF they can also upgrade the defense. (3) the defense blows and clearly made critical errors in the game. They are much more to blame than Cutler. (4) people blaming Tucker for a stupid mistake by the defense on a fumble-TD and thinking Lovie would have stopped that from happening are stupid. To point 4. Are you insane. Did you watch the bears with lovie. They always were coached to pick up every lose ball. Every one...dead play or not. It was part of lovies philosophy of making sure people were always going for turnovers and going to the ball at all times.

QUOTE (southsider2k5 @ Dec 29, 2013 -> 08:05 PM) The Bears led the NFL is games missed by players who started on defense in week one. That also did NOT include the games missed by guys like Henry Melton who missed the entire season on IR. Henry Melton did not miss the entire season on IR. He played the first two games (might have even been part of the 3rd game...I don't remember).

Cutler played pretty good today. A few dropped 3rd down balls and some great balls that guys didn't catch. This one is on the defense and the Bears for not making the plays when it counts. Unfortunate but it is what it is. Tucker/De Camilis have to be ousted. Possibly whomever our LB coach too. Cutler played pretty good and in the 2nd half this offense had great flow to it and he had a career high QB Rating. Jay played good enough this year for the Bears to see why it might make sense to invest long term in him and bet on the Trestman/Cutler/Co. relationship offensively.

Merry Christmas everyone!!!

It could work to the Cowboys favor. They should be able to run the ball. I heard the Eagles D has held opponents to under 21 points in 10 of the past 11 games. No idea if that is true (too lazy to look up) but that is what they were saying on ESPN. Vikings were only team to really do much to their D since early in the season when the D was really porous.

QUOTE (Rowand44 @ Dec 23, 2013 -> 11:53 AM) It'd be interesting to see how the defense would have done if Lovie was still around. Given how these guys aren't in positions to make plays, take poor angles, etc. All things that rarely happened with the Bears, I would presume much better. I'm not talking top 10 defense but I think a top 15-20 defense despite all of these injuries. Tucker is awful.

QUOTE (Dick Allen @ Dec 22, 2013 -> 08:22 PM) IMO, I can't see Cutler leaving. Cutlers bears career will be decided next week. Play well and get in the playoffs and you stick around. Play poorly against green bay and I let him walk. I won't overreact based upon today. This game was lost for a lot of reasons and cutler wasn't one of them.

QUOTE (Rowand44 @ Dec 22, 2013 -> 07:46 PM) Haha indeed. Big time party foul, Gage. He's probably better then podlesh at whatever age he is. I have been botching about our special teams all year. How about d pulls a miracle and gets a few three and outs plus a defensive Td or two lol. Who am I kidding. I knew when eagles got crushed last week it would mean bad things for us this week but never predicted this. Just not prepared to play. I think they expected the eagles to not play the game. Let's hope we have a similar rebound against green bay next week.

QUOTE (fathom @ Dec 22, 2013 -> 07:45 PM) By no means does Cutler deserve the blame in this game. I just believe McCown has a better rhythm going with the offense right now. Goal of this half is to get momentum and stay healthy.

QUOTE (Jake @ Dec 22, 2013 -> 07:42 PM) I think most fans knew ahead of time it could very well require over 40 points to win this thing. It is also fair to say that a competent offensive performance is also a fairly effective point prevention method as well They were down 21 0 and forte, d and Devin and Maynard put us in a bind. No one could have saved that.