Duh Bears

I've been a Bears fan for a long time, but I'm also pragmatic. I did pick Cutler, Olsen, and Knox on my fantasy team, but I'm also pretty close to burning my brand new Bears hat.

Man, yesterday was hard to take. I am so sick of hearing "we need to get better" and "they're a really good team". I want an offense that can adjust to the really good teams and beat them one on one. We don't have any superstars on the offense outside of Jay Cutler.

Our strengths on Defense have been the Lovie Smith game schemes, plus Urlacher and Briggs. Urlacher is out, and Lovie's schemes are pretty easily picked apart. (Run or pass for two downs, then send a receiver behind the linebackers for a free conversion. You can do this all day, apparently.

I was hoping that Cutler would push the offense and maybe expose a few holes. What we've learned is that the o-line still sucks, the receivers mean well, but are not an elite group by any means, and Forte is either hurt, or worse yet, average. On top of it all, where Lovie has been dealing with lots of injuries on defense, Ron Turner has no injuries to speak of, and still can't put together a winning, aggressive offense.

If it's purely a personnel thing, then Jerry Angelo needs to come under the microscope, too. The Cutler deal was basically Jay's agent coming to Angelo (by all accounts) and offering him a deal. All Chicago had to do was agree to take a top-5, proven QB. Who are the other successful hires for Jerry Angelo? Which talent did he discover?

I don't remember thinking about how money was spent on the Bears in 1985, but I do remember a number of years where the Bears were notably stingy. Then, Angelo comes along and hands out contracts to anyone who asks. Even Urlacher, while still signed to his original contract.

The only guy who has continued to play after getting paid (to my surprise) is Lance Briggs. He's kind of on an island now, since the D-line is challenged (great job, Marinelli!), the secondary is terrible (even Peanut), and who are our safeties?

Anyhow, we play the Browns at home next week. The following week, the struggling Cardinals at home. We need to win both of those games to even stay competitive in the division.