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***Official 2013 Chicago Bears Thread***

If healthy it will be Peppers and Bust at DE with Wootton and Paea at DT. If Paea can't go Cohen probably takes his place. I have no idea where Bass, Minter, & Washington fit in after that. They also signed DT Christian Tupou to the practice squad.

Edited to add: Right now Paea is a game time decision.

 
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Statcruncher said:
Strange season so far for the Bears. Offense seems capable, defense looks like a liability, special teams seems meh. They look like a coinflip wildcard team to me. Lack of pass rush is crippling the D right now, and it wasn't any better with Collins and Melton healthy. I don't see it getting fixed this year, so if Chicago is going to win games they're going to have to put 20 - 35 points up per game on offense. Odd that now the O has to pick up the D, and as long as Cutler can minimize turnovers they should be OK. Peculiar that when watching the Bears O I have an almost optimistic feeling that good things might actually happen.

Yes, Shea is a bust at DE. And Peppers had to play lights out this year to even have a shot at keeping his current contract in 2014. IMO he's not playing as bad as his production looks, but at this rate I'm guessing he's going to be gone and the Bears will have to eat about 8.5 in dead money. I can't see Melton coming back either unless he's willing to take one for the team. Paea may be the only DL opening day starter from 2013 who's back starting in the same spot in 2014. Emery has some defensive magic to work.

Edited to add: It's Jeffery folks.
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This post is dead on - especially the bolded. The biggest thing hurting the Bears pass rush (aside from injury) is Peppers' mediocre presence - and sometimes he isn't even on the field.

 
DoubleG said:
Statcruncher said:
Strange season so far for the Bears. Offense seems capable, defense looks like a liability, special teams seems meh. They look like a coinflip wildcard team to me. Lack of pass rush is crippling the D right now, and it wasn't any better with Collins and Melton healthy. I don't see it getting fixed this year, so if Chicago is going to win games they're going to have to put 20 - 35 points up per game on offense. Odd that now the O has to pick up the D, and as long as Cutler can minimize turnovers they should be OK. Peculiar that when watching the Bears O I have an almost optimistic feeling that good things might actually happen.

Yes, Shea is a bust at DE. And Peppers had to play lights out this year to even have a shot at keeping his current contract in 2014. IMO he's not playing as bad as his production looks, but at this rate I'm guessing he's going to be gone and the Bears will have to eat about 8.5 in dead money. I can't see Melton coming back either unless he's willing to take one for the team. Paea may be the only DL opening day starter from 2013 who's back starting in the same spot in 2014. Emery has some defensive magic to work.

Edited to add: It's Jeffery folks.
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This post is dead on - especially the bolded. The biggest thing hurting the Bears pass rush (aside from injury) is Peppers' mediocre presence - and sometimes he isn't even on the field.
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I swear i saw peppers wasn't on the filed for some of the 3rd and 4th's and 1 with Shae in the game. I don't get that at all.

 
Entire Dline is a mess. Needs to be priority #1 in the offseason.

Williams and Anderson have been solid, but I'd really like to see Bostic and Greene a bit.

 
Cutler, Marshall and Bennett were all very good

Defense hasn't been this putrid in a long time

3 2nd half points against an awful D

Team is a long way away from being a top team.

 
RBM said:
Cutler, Marshall and Bennett were all very good

Defense hasn't been this putrid in a long time

3 2nd half points against an awful D

Team is a long way away from being a top team.
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It's still fun to watch. I was always pissed off during most Bears games in the past. They're headed inthe right direction. We all knew it would take some time. It's exciting!
 
I was pissed off that they didn't put away an 0-5 team until 1:54 left. Complete garbage.

 
Emery has to call Richard Seymour. At least work him out...just no way he can't be better than what we have. We can't go on with this crap at DT and Wooten has to stay at DE.

 
RBM said:
Emery has to call Richard Seymour. At least work him out...just no way he can't be better than what we have. We can't go on with this crap at DT and Wooten has to stay at DE.
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Yeah, thats a very good idea (for more teams then just Bears, as well). Seymour gave top effort on a totally crap Raider team.

 
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BigSteelThrill said:
flapgreen said:
To reiterate, Shea is a bum.
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:(

Really? I like Shea and thought he always gave a good effort.
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No offense, but those two qualities have nothing to do with his effectiveness (or lack thereof) as a DE. Several of the Giants running plays tonight, he got lit up like a Christmas tree by a TE. He is easily picked up by the RB if the OL wants to block down - it's sad really. Unless they stunt, he is pretty much a non-factor.

People just looking at the stats might see the 3 turnovers and think the Bears D was good tonight. They really weren't. One of the picks, the DB looked like the WR,as he was coming to the ball, while the Giants WR just kept running. The first one was just a bad throw (behind the WR) and the last one was a high throw that was tipped by Myers.

The Bears D-line got no pressure - except when the sent extra guys. Jacobs looked like Jim Freakin Brown tonight. An 0-5 team came into Chicago and almost snatched a win, save for the fact that Eli fired several shots into the Giants proverbial foot.

The offense is coming around a little, but the complete lack of aggressiveness in the final few minutes of the game was terrible. Tresty looks real good calling plays...until they get in the redzone.

Time management is a big concern. The Bears wasted HUGE amounts of clock right before half. Then their inability to move the chains and get points/eat clock in the 4th quarter was very ungood.

Sadly, if a win can be frustrating, this one was. I think the Bears end up 9-7 at best - maybe squeak into the playoffs as a wildcard team. The defense isn't stopping much of anything - and other than Briggs, I don't see much consistent play on that side of the ball. They didn't force turnovers tonight - they were handed them on a silver platter.

If someone would have said Eli was going to throw 3 picks and the Bears wouldn't turn the ball over at all, I would have had the final at 38-10. I realize you don't get style points in the NFL, but this game showed to a large extent how far the Bears still have to go - not how far they've come.

 
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-X- said:
I was pissed off that they didn't put away an 0-5 team until 1:54 left. Complete garbage.
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I have the same feelings. And if Eli throws a little better pass at the end (Myers still should have caught it) there is no doubt in my mind that they were going to score. I'll take it though.

 
Have a funny feeling our beloved will be doing the unthinkable and transition to a 3-4 next year. Breaking it down:

DE - Melton, Paea, Collins could all probably handle this

NT - Biggest hinderance. Need two big bodys

OLB - Shea, Wooten and Corny Washington would get first crack I'd assume. Would prob see an addition here

ILB - Plenty of options here with Briggs, Bostic, Anderson and Greene

Might not be disastrous.

 
RBM said:
Emery has to call Richard Seymour. At least work him out...just no way he can't be better than what we have. We can't go on with this crap at DT and Wooten has to stay at DE.
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Seymour is an end, isn't he? I think Seymour may have something left in the tank, no one has shown much interest in him, and the Bears need interior help more than another end. They already have Wooten playing out of position at D tackle. Seymour doesn't help that.

 
If Emery think this is a window of opportunity for the Bears he should be looking for a trade - not a retread. If he thinks this team is good enough to win the division and make some noise in the playoffs with a better D-line, then he should get on the phone. The problem is that the loss of DJ Williams may hurt there run defense as much as Dline losses. Bostic was out of position in his run d quite a bit.

 
DoubleG said:
BigSteelThrill said:
flapgreen said:
To reiterate, Shea is a bum.
Click to expand...
:(

Really? I like Shea and thought he always gave a good effort.
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No offense, but those two qualities have nothing to do with his effectiveness (or lack thereof) as a DE. Several of the Giants running plays tonight, he got lit up like a Christmas tree by a TE. He is easily picked up by the RB if the OL wants to block down - it's sad really. Unless they stunt, he is pretty much a non-factor.

People just looking at the stats might see the 3 turnovers and think the Bears D was good tonight. They really weren't. One of the picks, the DB looked like the WR,as he was coming to the ball, while the Giants WR just kept running. The first one was just a bad throw (behind the WR) and the last one was a high throw that was tipped by Myers.

The Bears D-line got no pressure - except when the sent extra guys. Jacobs looked like Jim Freakin Brown tonight. An 0-5 team came into Chicago and almost snatched a win, save for the fact that Eli fired several shots into the Giants proverbial foot.

The offense is coming around a little, but the complete lack of aggressiveness in the final few minutes of the game was terrible. Tresty looks real good calling plays...until they get in the redzone.

Time management is a big concern. The Bears wasted HUGE amounts of clock right before half. Then their inability to move the chains and get points/eat clock in the 4th quarter was very ungood.

Sadly, if a win can be frustrating, this one was. I think the Bears end up 9-7 at best - maybe squeak into the playoffs as a wildcard team. The defense isn't stopping much of anything - and other than Briggs, I don't see much consistent play on that side of the ball. They didn't force turnovers tonight - they were handed them on a silver platter.

If someone would have said Eli was going to throw 3 picks and the Bears wouldn't turn the ball over at all, I would have had the final at 38-10. I realize you don't get style points in the NFL, but this game showed to a large extent how far the Bears still have to go - not how far they've come.
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I think you are right on. However, I would say that the Bears D didn't get pressure even when they blitzed. They sacked Eli once. The Giants line has been playing very poorly. They had given up 14 sacks already this season. The Bears only managed one. And the Giants were only averaging 60 yards a game rushing and the Bears allowed over 100, and they allowed it to Jacobs.

I agree that the Bears might end up 9-7, even 10-6, but they are an 8-8 team with a soft schedule. If they manage to squeak in to the playoffs they will be pounded by these other teams. The Bears are not going to be able to play with those playoff teams, unless the offense can start putting up 35 every week.

 
Sounds like DJ Williams may be out for the year now with a torn pectoral. Not confirmed yet, but a lot of reports out about it. I guess we'll get the chance to see what Bostic can really do in a game.



Offense is looking better than last year, and at least gives me hope for the future, still lots of work to go.

Defense is just on the way down. We need to try a trade or something to some competent bodies on the DL, we just can't beat a good team like this. Secondary needs to learn how to tackle.



Between the lack of tackling, pathetic d line play, and some soft o line play in the power run game, this team just feels kinda weak. Those are the big physical parts of the game and we just don't have it right now.

 
twistd said:
RBM said:
Emery has to call Richard Seymour. At least work him out...just no way he can't be better than what we have. We can't go on with this crap at DT and Wooten has to stay at DE.
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Seymour is an end, isn't he? I think Seymour may have something left in the tank, no one has shown much interest in him, and the Bears need interior help more than another end. They already have Wooten playing out of position at D tackle. Seymour doesn't help that.
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Seymour is a DT in a 4-3. He played DE for the Pats when they played a 3-4.

 
RBM said:
twistd said:
RBM said:
Emery has to call Richard Seymour. At least work him out...just no way he can't be better than what we have. We can't go on with this crap at DT and Wooten has to stay at DE.
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Seymour is an end, isn't he? I think Seymour may have something left in the tank, no one has shown much interest in him, and the Bears need interior help more than another end. They already have Wooten playing out of position at D tackle. Seymour doesn't help that.
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Seymour is a DT in a 4-3. He played DE for the Pats when they played a 3-4.
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I'm just not sure we have the cash to afford Seymour, i thought we were pretty tight to the cap and he is going to play for vet min or anything like that.

 
I'd say that this is indeed the worst Bears D in my memory. They are awful. When you allow the Redskins to score 45 points someone should be fired. They can't stop the run. They can't cover anyone. And they can't rush the passer. Other than that they are awesome. They have injuries, but a lot of teams have injuries. Other teams don't completely come apart.

The Bears are a better offensive team than they have been in the past. I'm optimistic about Alshon Jeffery. Bennett is a good addition. I like the sort of offensive scheme that Trestman is developing. Forte is a perfect fit for this offense. However, the Bears offense isn't good enough to compensate for just how bad the defense has become. In the past the Packers and the Saints have been able to just outscore teams, despite a weak defense. Right now the Bears offense just isn't explosive enough to overcome their pitiful defense. And that is with Culter. Without Cutler they are a below average team.

Bottom line is that the Bears might be able to end up as a 9-7 team, maybe squeeze in to the playoffs. But the Bears have a really soft schedule. If they played the Niners, the Broncos, the Seahawks or any of the top teams in the NFL the Bears would get destroyed. If the Redskins managed to put up 45 on the Bears what do you suppose the Packers could do now? Can you imagine what the Broncos would do to the sieve that the Bears call a defense? The Broncos would score 40 by the half. The chances of the Bears making the playoffs is slowly fading. They are just an average team that is getting worse by the week.

 
Bad doesn't even begin to describe that defense. Pitiful. For years we've been wanting an offense; now that we have one that is coming together, the defense is falling apart at roughly the same pace.

Disgusting.

 
-X- said:
Bad doesn't even begin to describe that defense. Pitiful. For years we've been wanting an offense; now that we have one that is coming together, the defense is falling apart at roughly the same pace.

Disgusting.
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One of the interesting things is that the Bears safeties still suck. The Bears have been drafting safeties for years and years. Major Wright is below average. Conte is terrible and has no business on an NFL field. They just can't find safeties for anything. You could sign a safety off of the street who was every bit as good as Conte or Wright. They should just go ahead and cut them both so they aren't even tempted to play either of them.

Another thing I can't figure out is after you lose Melton and Collins, and Paea was out, so you have Wooten moving inside. You mean to tell me that you came in to the season with three D tackles and that is it? Wooten is 270. He has no business playing on the interior unless you are using him as a pass rusher on 3rd and long. I think the Bears need to renegotiate with Peppers or show him the door. He has been largely invisible this season.

I think the Bears might want to make a statement and fire Mel Tucker now. He is currently the coordinator for the worst Bears defense in the last twenty years. You can't cut all the players so you might as well start somewhere. This is a total rebuilding project. Pro Football Focus had the Bears rated 31st on defense going in to this week. Ironically the only team worse than the Bears was the Jaguars, Tucker's old team.

Here are where the defensive players are rated by PFF. These are players who have played 25% of the snaps:

DE 4/3 scheme

Wooten-29

Peppers-36

McClellin-46 out of 47

DT/NT

Wooten-27

Nate Collins-39

Paea-41

Melton-62 out of 67

OLB 4/3 scheme

Briggs-7

James Anderson-12 out of 29

ILB

DJ Williams-31 out of 52

CB

Tim Jennings-41

Zackary Bowman-50

Isaih Frey-55

Tillman-98 out of 104

S

Conte-75

Major Wright-83 out of 84

This is interesting. So according to PFF the Bears have the worst pair of safeties in the league and it isn't close. I knew they were bad, but not this bad. For this season Tillman is one of the worst corners in the league, and the Bears group as a whole is really weak. The only position group that is good is their OLB group, Briggs and Anderson. I've kind of been putting the blame for this overall failure on the line, and while they really stink, the secondary is one of the worst, if not the worst, in the league.

So, looking at this analysis, you just have to replace both safeties, both corners, get younger at OLB, replace your MLB, both DTs and both your DEs. If Emery thought he had a tough job rebuilding the offensive line last year, good luck with this.

 
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Cut both safeties and fire Tucker immediately? You can't be serious there. Even thought that won't ever happen, who would replace them? I feel your pain but doing that won't solve anything. There's no cutting Peppers either. The cap hit is huge and it wouldn't save much. They have been restructuring his contract for years. Now it's time to pay.

 
flapgreen said:
Cut both safeties and fire Tucker immediately? You can't be serious there. Even thought that won't ever happen, who would replace them? I feel your pain but doing that won't solve anything. There's no cutting Peppers either. The cap hit is huge and it wouldn't save much. They have been restructuring his contract for years. Now it's time to pay.
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You are probably right, but the fact is that Conte and Wright are the worst starting tandem of safeties in the league, by a lot. You could probably replace them with two guys you sign next week and there wouldn't be miuch of a drop off. They are both terrible and it is highly unlikely that they will get any better.

This is the worst defense the Bears have put on the field in the last twenty years. They have had some injuries, but they are putrid. Don't you think the Defensive Coordinator might take some responsibility for that?

Fact is that probably nothing the Bears can do now will change things. We will have to watch this defense stink it up for the rest of this season. They will have to start working on fixing things in the offseason. They shouldn't cut Peppers, but if he won't renegotiate after this season, you might consider it. He is a shell of what he has been in the past. I haven't heard anything about Peppers being injured, so it would appear that age has just caught up with him. Briggs is really the only playmaker on this defensive team at this point. It is a long road before we see a respectable defense in Chicago again.

 
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I'm with you gb. Tucker has been a turd so far. I'm sure Peppers will be gone after this season but I don't think they can do much more renegotiating. Most of that money is guaranteed.

The whole defensive side of the ball has been disappointing but I have faith they can fix it at some point. They turned the entire offense around in one off-season. There had to be a transition on December at some point. Missed on safeties for years. D had grown old without any real replacements in place. Lost their D coordinator and D captain and future hof. Was bound to happen.

 
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flapgreen said:
I'm with you gb. Tucker has been a turd so far. I'm sure Peppers will be gone after this season but I don't think they can do much more renegotiating. Most of that money is guaranteed.
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I don't think it is all Tuckers fault, but he isn't helping. It is a void of talent. Peppers may or may not be gone after this season. It probably does depend on the structure of the contract. He isn't what he once was, but he is still better than Shea.

 
Statcruncher said:
twistd said:
Here are where the defensive players are rated by PFF. These are players who have played 25% of the snaps:

McClellin-46 out of 47
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I normally agree with PFF ratings, but they have Shea way too high here.
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Here is the guy that they say Shea is better than, Daniel Te'o-Nesheim. We all know what a powerhouse he is. I would take him over Shea just to hear announcers try to say his name.

 
flapgreen said:
I'm with you gb. Tucker has been a turd so far. I'm sure Peppers will be gone after this season but I don't think they can do much more renegotiating. Most of that money is guaranteed.

The whole defensive side of the ball has been disappointing but I have faith they can fix it at some point. They turned the entire offense around in one off-season. There had to be a transition on December at some point. Missed on safeties for years. D had grown old without any real replacements in place. Lost their D coordinator and D captain and future hof. Was bound to happen.
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I think that the defense is going to be a much tougher fix than the offense was. On offense they had some players to bulid around. They had Marshall and Forte who were Pro Bowl players. They had Cutler, and a developing Jeffrey, along with Bennett who was an adequate slot receiver. They were able ot focus on the o-line, and sign the black unicorn and this offense is significantly better.

Right now, on defense the only impact player they have is Briggs, and Briggs is 32. Peppers and Melton have been Pro Bowlers in the past, but this year it appears that Peppers has lost a step, and Melton is going to be coming off an ACL. Melton was franchised this year so franchising him again would cost too much. The only way you can keep him is by signing him to a long term contract. Will he be the same player coming off this injury? What will Melton want as far as a long term contract is concerned?

Tillman has been to the Pro Bowl, but he hasn't played very well this year either, IMO. Maybe his problems are because of injury, but he is 32. He may be starting that inevitable downhill slide. Bostic might develop, maybe Paea will get better. But other than that I don't know of any other young players that they are grooming and expect to have a signicant role in the future.

If they had more players to build around I would be more optimistic, but I don't think they do. They have to start by drafting some playmakers, some studs to build around. I'm sure that Emery thought that Shea was going to be one of those. Now I'd say that is probably not going to be the case. It looked like Melton would be one of those, but now that is up in the air. They could get some help in free agency, but the core of this rebuilding project will probably have to come from the draft.

 
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I was wondering how Gabe Carimi was doing in TB. PFF has him rated as the 48th guard out of 72. Slauson is rated 16 and Kyle Long is rated 33. At least Carimi is starting. I didn't know if he could even win a starting job. Another of those brilliant Angelo picks.

 
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If Jay is lost for the season, the season is already over. For once, I was optimistic about the Bears. There was a time when we could beat weaker teams but had no shot at hanging with the big boys. When Jay is healthy, we have shown we can hang with anyone up until this point. That's a good feeling to have when you don't go into a game expecting to fall apart. Realistically, there was going to be a step back this season with Urlacher gone and a new coaching staff. I hope Jay is alright.

 
Yeah I think it's going to be tough to fix this D. Said it last week, I wouldn't be surprised at all to see a switch to a 3-4 next year. The line will need a big body for NT and then a pass rushing OLB to play opposite Shea. Paea, Melton and Wooten could all play DE. Briggs, Bostic, Greene and Anderson are enough for the ILB spots.

Top 3 needs:

Pass rusher

Big body DT/NT

The usual, annual need for safeties.

 
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