Ron Rivera: (1 Viewer)

[faulkfan]

I can't see Ron Rivera ever being an NFL head coach.

The guy just can't seem to figure out how to make adjustments when his defense is getting beat down. Last year Steve Smith was running roughshod over Tillman and Rivera couldn't convince himself to double Smith and make someone else beat them. This year he focused so much on the "big play" that he completely ignored that fact that the Colts were happy to chew up the clock and dink and dunk passes into that gaping hole in the middle of the zone. At what point do you say "wow, they just used up the entire first half 5 yards at a time. Maybe we should change our scheme." I truly believe that this is what lost him a shot at some head coaching spots last year and it won't help him in the future. The play they did get beat on long (Waynes 53 yd TD) looked like a major miscommunication rather than a defensive set gone bad.

Did I miss something or does it seem like Rivera is a little slow on the draw?

 

[Brock Middlebrook]

I concur

The fact that the Bears D couldn't get off the field killed them, and it really made it hard for the O to find any kind of rhythm, or to get themselves acclamated to the conditions.

 

[Godsbrother]

I don't watch enough Bears football to tell you but last night I agree with you. Manning hadn't really gone deep much throughout the playoffs.

Considering that, and the nasty weather conditions, it would seem that the better way to approach the game would be to clamp down on the run and short passing game.

On the other hand the defense didn't play all that poorly. They were on the field an incredibly long time due to an ineffective offense.

 

[mbuehner]

Colts rushed for 64 yards in the first half and 127 in the second. The problem wasnt the Bears defense getting run all over, it was the Bears defense being stuck on the field for 38 minutes. Had the offense shown a pulse it would have been an entirely different game. If you hold the Colts offense to 23 points and your special teams spot you 7, you should win the game.

 

[Brock Middlebrook]

Colts rushed for 64 yards in the first half and 127 in the second. The problem wasnt the Bears defense getting run all over, it was the Bears defense being stuck on the field for 38 minutes. Had the offense shown a pulse it would have been an entirely different game. If you hold the Colts offense to 23 points and your special teams spot you 7, you should win the game.

23 points is a LOT of points in those conditions, especially with the Colts' gameplan.

 

[ICON211]

Really wasn't a fan of that Bears game plan yesterday on either side of the ball. Had no identity on offense and the defense didn't attack like they did all year. Can't believe defensive coordinators still can't see that the way to beat Manning is with pressure. I would blitz every down and if he beats you down the field then so be it. Better than allowing those easy underneath throws that result in 14 play drives. Urlacher looked very frustrated with the defensive game plan several times out there yesterday and I can't blame him. Not saying the Colts didn't deserve to win just a look from the Bears perspective.

 

[Leeroy Jenkins]

Rivera was more to blame than Grossman IMO. How many time did they rush more than 4 players at Manning? Maybe 5 times?

 

[Leeroy Jenkins]

Really wasn't a fan of that Bears game plan yesterday on either side of the ball. Had no identity on offense and the defense didn't attack like they did all year. Can't believe defensive coordinators still can't see that the way to beat Manning is with pressure. I would blitz every down and if he beats you down the field then so be it. Better than allowing those easy underneath throws that result in 14 play drives. Urlacher looked very frustrated with the defensive game plan several times out there yesterday and I can't blame him. Not saying the Colts didn't deserve to win just a look from the Bears perspective.

:X

 

[PMENFAN]

I concurThe fact that the Bears D couldn't get off the field killed them, and it really made it hard for the O to find any kind of rhythm, or to get themselves acclamated to the conditions.

BLITZ. The Colts were having little success against the Blitz, and the Bears were getting no rush without it and getting picked apart. Hmmm, I think I'll keep rushing 4 and let them keep dumping off? The downfield coverage mush have been good, because they weren't going there. Force the quick decisions; make something happen, even if it's bad for you. Manning was picking them apart. The other side was that the O wasn't doing them any favors with the 2 and TO and 3 and outs either. Overall, the D played well, but I felt they definitely could have tried some different things, like going more with what was working?

 

[mbuehner]

23 points is a LOT of points in those conditions, especially with the Colts' gameplan.

The Bears offense ultimately needed to score 17 points to win the game. If you cant put up 17 points against the Colts defense you don't deserve to win, plain and simple. I don't know of many defenses in history that you could put on the field for almost 40 minutes against that offense with that QB and would come away looking good- regardless of conditions. The Bears are supposed to be a ball control team, when you dont control the ball this is what happens.

 

[Pipes]

Colts rushed for 64 yards in the first half and 127 in the second. The problem wasnt the Bears defense getting run all over, it was the Bears defense being stuck on the field for 38 minutes. Had the offense shown a pulse it would have been an entirely different game. If you hold the Colts offense to 23 points and your special teams spot you 7, you should win the game.

Still the strength of the Bears team was supposed to be their defense yet they couldn't stop the Colts on 3rd down and the Bears tackling was horrible. Yes the Bears defense was on the field alot but at some point the responsibility falls on them to make a stop. Also your rushing stats are a little skewed too since those little dink and dunk passes were essentially like runs. Just a horrible gameplan by the Bears defense especially considering the weather conditions.

 

[mbuehner]

BLITZ. The Colts were having little success against the Blitz, and the Bears were getting no rush without it and getting picked apart.

They blizted quite a bit but the Colts picked it up every time. Remember this is the least sacked team in the NFL, the core of their offensive philosophy is to keep Manning on his feet. The problem is if you blitz and don't get to Manning, he's going to burn you bad. The Bears Defense is predicated on not giving up the big play and patiently waiting to force turnovers. Like it or not, that is how they have played all season, thats their philosophy. If there is a knock on this game, its that they missed a lot of tackles underneath that would have killed drives. Had the Bears done a better job of popping Colts recievers and getting them to the turf when they caught their dink and dunks, the Colts would have been forced to look further down the field which is when the Bears defense make their sacks and interceptions. Bad tackling was a bigger problem than gameplanning.

 

[Ditkaless Wonders]

The Colt defenders, perhaps most notably Sanders, made affirmative moves on the ball carriers and cut them down. The Bears were tenative, allowing ballcarriers to make moves. The loss of Tommie Harris rendered them a pedestrian defense and was plain to see. The addition of Sanders back into the Colts lineup made them a much improved defense the last several weeks. Neither team was the team we saw in the first half of the season.

 

[Black Box]

BLITZ. The Colts were having little success against the Blitz, and the Bears were getting no rush without it and getting picked apart.

They blizted quite a bit but the Colts picked it up every time. Remember this is the least sacked team in the NFL, the core of their offensive philosophy is to keep Manning on his feet. The problem is if you blitz and don't get to Manning, he's going to burn you bad. The Bears Defense is predicated on not giving up the big play and patiently waiting to force turnovers. Like it or not, that is how they have played all season, thats their philosophy.If there is a knock on this game, its that they missed a lot of tackles underneath that would have killed drives. Had the Bears done a better job of popping Colts recievers and getting them to the turf when they caught their dink and dunks, the Colts would have been forced to look further down the field which is when the Bears defense make their sacks and interceptions. Bad tackling was a bigger problem than gameplanning.

The problem with this gameplan is that Manning and the Colts can patiently take the short stuff and march down the field with it. They are disciplined and won't force it (much), unlike other teams.

 

[CalBear]

BLITZ. The Colts were having little success against the Blitz,

Oh, yeah, except for that 60-yard TD.

 

[Jason Wood]

Being a successful NFL head coach involves a massively different set of skills than does being a defensive coordinator. Whether or not Rivera is the best in game strategist is hardly an indication one way or another about whether he will be a good HC.

$0.02

 

[Leeroy Jenkins]

BLITZ. The Colts were having little success against the Blitz,

Oh, yeah, except for that 60-yard TD.

That was a mistake by the CB. The CB wasnt burnt or confused by the offense. He seemed to think he has Safety help when he did not.Is there anywhere we can see numbers on how many times the Bears Blitzed/sent more than 4 pass rushers? I really feel like it was in the single digits.

 

[CalBear]

BLITZ. The Colts were having little success against the Blitz,

Oh, yeah, except for that 60-yard TD.

That was a mistake by the CB. The CB wasnt burnt or confused by the offense. He seemed to think he has Safety help when he did not.

Maybe Rivera knows more about his personnel than you do.

 

[Leeroy Jenkins]

BLITZ. The Colts were having little success against the Blitz, and the Bears were getting no rush without it and getting picked apart.

They blizted quite a bit but the Colts picked it up every time. Remember this is the least sacked team in the NFL, the core of their offensive philosophy is to keep Manning on his feet. The problem is if you blitz and don't get to Manning, he's going to burn you bad. The Bears Defense is predicated on not giving up the big play and patiently waiting to force turnovers. Like it or not, that is how they have played all season, thats their philosophy.If there is a knock on this game, its that they missed a lot of tackles underneath that would have killed drives. Had the Bears done a better job of popping Colts recievers and getting them to the turf when they caught their dink and dunks, the Colts would have been forced to look further down the field which is when the Bears defense make their sacks and interceptions. Bad tackling was a bigger problem than gameplanning.

The problem with this gameplan is that Manning and the Colts can patiently take the short stuff and march down the field with it. They are disciplined and won't force it (much), unlike other teams.

I'd like to see real numbers on the blitz because, to me at least, it seemed the Bears rushed the 4 linemen only the vast majority of the time. While I am sure they blitzed more than this, I can only recall 3 distinct plays where they rushed more than 4 players.

 

[Leeroy Jenkins]

BLITZ. The Colts were having little success against the Blitz,

Oh, yeah, except for that 60-yard TD.

That was a mistake by the CB. The CB wasnt burnt or confused by the offense. He seemed to think he has Safety help when he did not.

Maybe Rivera knows more about his personnel than you do.

It really worked out well for him, didnt it? Urlacher seemed very pleased as well.

 

[mbuehner]

That was a mistake by the CB. The CB wasnt burnt or confused by the offense. He seemed to think he has Safety help when he did not.

Isnt that a product of being confused by the offense? Btw, the guilty party was the safety Chris Harris who bit on a short route- a play he would have had to make because the Bears had blitzed a linebacker. As far as the number of times seeing the Bears blitz- remember that Manning is extremely adept at reading the blitz and audibling into either a run away or hitting his hot receiver. If the ball is out of Mannings hands inside of 2 steps its tough to judge whether he's being blitzed without having a great view of the field and concentrating on the backfield. I suspect a number of blitzing situations were nuetralized by draws to Addai and Rhodes.

 

[Jene Bramel]

That was a mistake by the CB. The CB wasnt burnt or confused by the offense. He seemed to think he has Safety help when he did not.

Isnt that a product of being confused by the offense? Btw, the guilty party was the safety Chris Harris who bit on a short route- a play he would have had to make because the Bears had blitzed a linebacker. As far as the number of times seeing the Bears blitz- remember that Manning is extremely adept at reading the blitz and audibling into either a run away or hitting his hot receiver. If the ball is out of Mannings hands inside of 2 steps its tough to judge whether he's being blitzed without having a great view of the field and concentrating on the backfield. I suspect a number of blitzing situations were nuetralized by draws to Addai and Rhodes.

Just for clarity's sake and not that it matters tremendously, but that play was on Danieal Manning not Chris Harris. Manning dropped down to cover an intermediate crossing route that was already covered. Not that Harris is anything special, but he was responsible for the other deep half on that play. The spotters/announcers yesterday were really poor at identifying players and football plays. One of these years we'll get a crew that can consistently spot and call a football game and entertain at the same time.

 

[Hamstring]

They switched to Cover 2 and rookie Manning stayed in Man. Bad breakdown.

 

[GRIDIRON ASSASSIN]

I still wonder if Ron Rivera is the one making the calls, or Lovie Smith.

Ya... Ron Rivera was to blame for this btw:

Hester kickoff return followed by:

3 and out

4 plays and a TD

2 and a fumble

3 and out

3 and out

3 and out

1 and a fumble

19 offensive plays in the first half, and they're STILL only losing by 2.

And the defense only gives up two TDs, and holds the Colts scoreless in the fourth quarter.

 

[mbuehner]

The defense didnt have their best day, but considering who they were playing and how much time they spent on the field its hard to blame them for the debacle. The D was in a no-win situation. If they had stacked the line to stop the run or thrown the kitchen sink at Manning and left their DBs on islands, all the critics would be here today going off on how stupid the Bears were for letting the Great Peyton Manning throw 3 TDs and 350 yards because they were afraid of Joseph Addai. The gameplan wasnt the issue- they prevented Manning and Harrison from winning the game and forced guys like Rhodes, Addai, and Clark make big plays and hold on to the ball, which to their credit they did. Thats a really good offense without any glaring weaknesses, its real easy to second guess the gameplanning but lets remember it wasnt the great Peyton Manning marching up and down the field that beat this team, and that is saying something in itself.

 

[Ministry of Pain]

Maybe if Urlacher had walked up to Lovie Smith and borrowed the line form Randy Quaid in Days of Thunder..."We look like a bunch of monkeys ####### a football out there"...maybe that would have got the coach's attention.

 

[Ministry of Pain]

The defense didnt have their best day, but considering who they were playing and how much time they spent on the field its hard to blame them for the debacle. The D was in a no-win situation. If they had stacked the line to stop the run or thrown the kitchen sink at Manning and left their DBs on islands, all the critics would be here today going off on how stupid the Bears were for letting the Great Peyton Manning throw 3 TDs and 350 yards because they were afraid of Joseph Addai. The gameplan wasnt the issue- they prevented Manning and Harrison from winning the game and forced guys like Rhodes, Addai, and Clark make big plays and hold on to the ball, which to their credit they did. Thats a really good offense without any glaring weaknesses, its real easy to second guess the gameplanning but lets remember it wasnt the great Peyton Manning marching up and down the field that beat this team, and that is saying something in itself.

So what you are saying is that pretty much Indy had better players and no matter what Chicago was going to attack with, the Colts were simply better and would have adjusted as they did during the game yesterday.

 

[shakeybarn]

Being a successful NFL head coach involves a massively different set of skills than does being a defensive coordinator. Whether or not Rivera is the best in game strategist is hardly an indication one way or another about whether he will be a good HC.$0.02

That's just sensible intelligent crazy talk, get it off of this thread.one more $.01

 

[massraider]

Did I miss something or does it seem like Rivera is a little slow on the draw?

Miss something? Far from it. Sounds like you actually gleaned more from one game than anyone else in the country. Congrats!

 

[mbuehner]

So what you are saying is that pretty much Indy had better players and no matter what Chicago was going to attack with, the Colts were simply better and would have adjusted as they did during the game yesterday.

What i'm saying is that particularly without Tommy Harris and Mike Brown, it was inevitable that this Colts offense was going to score some points yesterday. The Bears were going to have to find a way to score some points, and their special teams did- thats about it. The Bears offense scored 1 TD, gave up 1 TD, and kicked 1 FG. They netted 3 points. In other words the Bears would have needed to shut the Colts out for the offense to win the game for them. That is unacceptable and pretty clearly displays where the ultimate problem lays. In other words even if the Bear defense did make a few more tackles and maybe sack Manning a few times, would it really have mattered that much? Complaining about the defense is kind of rearranging deckchairs- they played well enough for the Bears to win the game, thats what you ask of them. The Offense came no-where close to that. I wouldnt be much happier if the Bears D played out of their minds and the still lost 18 to 17. Only a Defense the caliber of the 85 Bears/2000 Ravens was keeping Manning's offense under 20 points, and this defense aint that. The Bears can't win that game without scoring 20+ points, and they didnt.

 

[mbuehner]

Let me put it this way (this is the perfect stat): The Chicago Bear offense crossed the 50 yard line ONCE in the entire game, and that was on a 52 yard run by Thomas Jones.

Yet if instead of throwing an int for a TD, Grossman had marched down and scored for the Bears, they would have led the game 24-22 with 11 minutes. I think when a team can be right in a game down to the wire with an offense called upon to make only 2 long drives in a game, their defense and STs are doing something right.

Sadly the Bears had only 1 long drive, and that was on one play by Thomas Jones. You simply cant expect to win when your offense cant cross midfield.

 

[flapgreen]

BLITZ. The Colts were having little success against the Blitz, and the Bears were getting no rush without it and getting picked apart.

They blizted quite a bit but the Colts picked it up every time. Remember this is the least sacked team in the NFL, the core of their offensive philosophy is to keep Manning on his feet. The problem is if you blitz and don't get to Manning, he's going to burn you bad. The Bears Defense is predicated on not giving up the big play and patiently waiting to force turnovers. Like it or not, that is how they have played all season, thats their philosophy. If there is a knock on this game, its that they missed a lot of tackles underneath that would have killed drives. Had the Bears done a better job of popping Colts recievers and getting them to the turf when they caught their dink and dunks, the Colts would have been forced to look further down the field which is when the Bears defense make their sacks and interceptions. Bad tackling was a bigger problem than gameplanning.

This is exactly how I saw it.

 

[mlball77]

mbuehner is putting on a clinic in this thread, imo. Simply great posting.

BTW- Ron TURNER is the Ron that had major issues last night. His playcalling and Rex's execution are an atrocious combo. Rivera is decent. Turner is bad.

 

[Ministry of Pain]

So what you are saying is that pretty much Indy had better players and no matter what Chicago was going to attack with, the Colts were simply better and would have adjusted as they did during the game yesterday.

What i'm saying is that particularly without Tommy Harris and Mike Brown, it was inevitable that this Colts offense was going to score some points yesterday. The Bears were going to have to find a way to score some points, and their special teams did- thats about it. The Bears offense scored 1 TD, gave up 1 TD, and kicked 1 FG. They netted 3 points. In other words the Bears would have needed to shut the Colts out for the offense to win the game for them. That is unacceptable and pretty clearly displays where the ultimate problem lays. In other words even if the Bear defense did make a few more tackles and maybe sack Manning a few times, would it really have mattered that much? Complaining about the defense is kind of rearranging deckchairs- they played well enough for the Bears to win the game, thats what you ask of them. The Offense came no-where close to that. I wouldnt be much happier if the Bears D played out of their minds and the still lost 18 to 17. Only a Defense the caliber of the 85 Bears/2000 Ravens was keeping Manning's offense under 20 points, and this defense aint that. The Bears can't win that game without scoring 20+ points, and they didnt.

I can toss these softballs up all week, just let me know. Good stuff MB