Bear Down Baffa

2009 was painful.  It was pitiful.  It was pathetic.  But the best thing about it – it’s past.

The greatest sports franchise in the history of the galaxy made some solid off-season moves, namely with the coaching staff, and most notably firing the worst OC in NFL history, Ron “Fuckhead” Turner, and hiring offensive mastermind Mike Martz in his place.  But before we get into 2010, let’s review 2009’s “Monstrosity of the Midway.”  

Top 10 Factors in 2009’s Debacle

1. Urlacher was out.
2. OC Turner, his scheme and his play-calling were gay.
3. O-Line sucked the big one.
4. Cutler threw an NFL-high 26 INT’s, was sacked 35 times (3 fewer than his previous two years combined), and was 21st in QBR (76.8) – exactly 10 points behind Kyle Orton, who finished with 21 TD’s and only 12 INT’s.
5. Forte ran for 311 (1238-929) fewer yards and had 8 fewer TD’s (12-4) than 2009.
6. Minimal pressure from D-Line.
7. Our secondary stunk.
8. Hester only returned 7 kickoffs and 24 punts after averaging 31 kickoff and 40 punt returns the previous three years.
9. We ranked 23rd with a -6 turnover ratio (28 takeaways, 34 giveaways).  We were +5 in ’08, -1 in ’07 and +8 in ’06.
10. We were out-rushed by 36% (2022-1492), gave up 20% more first downs than we got (312-262), and were out-scored by 20% (43-36 TD’s).

In summary, we should consider 2009 a transitional year.  Or if you prefer, a charity year for keeping the offensive coaching staff around as long as we did.  But what’s done is done.  We can’t unthrow those 26 picks, undislocate Urlacher’s wrist or unrape our collective butts for what Turner and his staff did.  And what doesn’t kill you makes you stronger.  So if you’re reading this, you’re not only still alive, but you can probably throw some iron.  Besides, I don’t think we can get any worse than we were last year.

2010 – Win or Die Trying

Management has made it clear for Lovie and Jerry Angelo – win or get fired.  That may bode well for the public persona of an organization that has now gone 25 years since the Super Bowl Shuffle rocked the music world, but that doesn’t do a lot for us fans.  It also puts a lot of pressure on our staff – and our players.  And if it back-fires, not only are we going to suck this year, but we’ll then have a 3-year rebuilding period to look forward to with a new coaching staff.  So we better be good or we might all have to start shopping for a new team.  But we do have a lot to look forward to.

Top 10 Things to be Excited About for the 2010 Season

1. The Bears head into the season on a 2-0 run, during which Cutler threw 8 TD’s and only 1 INT.
2. Urlacher is back.
3. We signed arguably the best DE in the NFL, 6’7” 285 lb. Julius Peppers.  This freak of nature will make everyone on D better.
4. Kreutz and Forte are healthy again.
5. We cleaned the offensive house.  We fired Ron Turner (OC), Pep Hamilton (QB’s), Rob Boras (TE’s) and Harry Hiestand (O-Line), and hired former Ram head coach Mike Martz as OC.  We also hired former Viking head coach Mike Tice as O-Line coach and former college head coach (and Seahawk position coach) Mike DeBord as TE coach, bringing the total number of coaching hires named Mike to 3.  Additionally, Isaac Bruce (who played under Martz’s offense in St. Louis) has been brought in to consult with our receivers.
6. We replaced DC Bob Babich (now back to being LB coach) with former Lion head coach (and last year’s D-Line coach) Rod Marinelli.
7. With 4 NFL (and 1 collegiate) head coaches on board (Lovie, Martz, Tice, Marinelli and DeBord), we arguably have the best coaching staff in the NFL (and can call ourselves “Head Coach U”).
8. We signed a new TE (Brandon Manumaleuna) who is wider than he is tall (6’2” 300 lbs).  Though he only caught 5 passes last year (and only 110 in 142 career games), he is the complete opposite of Greg Olsen, and will be a compliment to him as well as a great addition to our O-Line.
9. We signed a new RB (Chester Taylor) with a ton of experience that will take some of the burden off of Forte, who set a Bears record with 694 combined touches in his first two seasons.  Taylor’s averaged 4.3 yards per carry and 7.8 per reception over eight seasons – and 9.1 per reception the past three.
10. We brought back Safety Chris Harris, who last played with us in ’06 – when our solid D led us to the Supa Bow.

Season Prediction

While I’m optimistic that we’ve made some solid changes this off-season, I’m well aware of our track record the past 3 seasons since losing the Supa Bow.  Taking everything into account, and with my being a realist, I predict that the Chicago Bears will once again go 16-0 and go on to win their 26th Supa Bow in a row.  Remember, you heard it here first, folks!

Let’s go BEARS!

© 2010

This entry was posted on Wed, Aug 11, 2010 at 2:01 pm and is filed under k) 2010 Posts. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.