Bear Down Baffa

I don’t know why the media has caused such a hubbub, and why Bears fans don’t seem happy with last season’s performance.  We won our division and hosted the NFC title game, losing to the eventual Super Bowl winner.  Last time I checked, that’s a bronze medal in a 32-team tournament.  And we did it without an offensive line or top tier receiver, and with a new offensive scheme without the personnel for which it was designed.  I have to say I was quite pleased with the end result.  So I’m confused (and a little pissed off) by the seemingly general consensus that the Bears sucked.  So, as Rick Perry enjoys his 15 minutes, I’ll quote him and call the negative talk a “Ponzi” scheme.

Holdout Schmoldout
It’s hard not to address this, but my view throughout the holdout has kind of been like eating at a restaurant – you don’t really want to know what’s going on back there in the kitchen, you just want your meal on time and without any illicit substances in it.  All teams faced the same challenges.  So unlike the “lamestream” media who covered each maneuver, gripe and unsubstantiated and/or irrelevant occurrence relentlessly, I consider it a non-issue.

It’s a Good Time to be a BEARS Fan
I was shocked when my substantially older cousin David took to Facebook recently to lament my dedication to the Bears as a worthless cause.  I wasn’t shocked by his comment – I was shocked that he read my blog!  But I was confounded that someone of his intelligence could remain unaware of what has been a spectacular Bear run as of late.  So I thought I’d drop some knowledge on him – and on you, the Bear Down Baffa blog Nation.

Since finishing 5-11 during Lovie Smith’s write-off, inaugural season (’04), the Bears have gone 61-41 (including the post season) over the last 6 years.  And in that time, we’ve won 3 division titles, been to the NFC Championship game twice (tied with the Saints and Pack for most in the NFC), and been to as many super bowls as any NFC team – and as many as the esteemed Patriots.

Additionally, we’ve won 14 of our last 20 (including the post season) dating back to X-Mas ’09 (after a 5-9 start as Cutler learned Turner’s offense).  That’s a .700 winning percentage people, during which we’ve out-scored our opponents by more than 20%.  And in that time, the Butler’s completed 60% of his passes, thrown 33 TD’s to 18 INT’s, and averaged over a 90 QBR – going over 100 in half of the 18 games he finished.  And all that – again – without a solid line, without a great receiving corps and in a new system.

And I think it’s only going to get better this season.  Our defense has always been big and bold, so I’d say we’ve got that on lock down.  But it’s our offense that I think is going to surprise people.  With our recent offensive surge, the new moves we’ve made (see below), and our familiarity with Martz’s scheme, Cutler is poised for a break-out year.  I just hope he is eligible for Comeback Player of the Year after the injury in January ended his season prematurely.  Speaking of which…

“And That’s All I Have to Say About That”
Let’s get this out of the way so we don’t have to talk about it once the season starts.  Urlacher isn’t the smartest tool in the shed, but here is what our unequivocal leader said about Cutler, and our staff concurs:

“I don’t give a [expletive] what people think, the fans, the media, whoever.  Jay is our QB.  He’s tough, he doesn’t shy away from hits and he plays hurt.  We’ve all seen it.  No one on this team gives a [expletive] about (what the fans think).  [Expletive] it, it’s over, we’re done, we don’t care.  The coaches and players – Jay’s teammates – know what he’s about.  Two years ago, when I got hurt, I just stood on the sideline and nobody said anything about it.  I wasn’t standing there cheering or coaching the guys.  I didn’t talk to anybody.  I just stood there with my arms crossed because I was pissed that I was hurt and couldn’t play.  I’m sure that’s how Jay felt, too.”

I’m not saying the guy’s not a whiny bitch, but I consider the Cutler knee case closed.

Draft Picks To Click
For the first time in 3 years, the Bears had a first and second round pick in the draft.  And it appears as though Angelo may have finally gotten it right.

OT – Gabe Carimi.  First round #29.  Born in Lake Forest (where Halas Hall is located), he’s 6’7”/315 and has admitted to never having been to a pro football game in his life.  After starting 49 of 52 games at Wisconsin, he won the Outland Trophy, was a unanimous Consensus All-American and Big Ten O-Lineman of the Year.  He also  won the Marty Glickman Award as the male Jewish Athlete of the Year.  This explains why he was nicknamed “The Bear Jew” after the draft – a reference to a character in “Inglorious Basterds.”  Oh, and he’s also a black belt in karate.

DT – Stephen Paea.  Second round #53.  Analysts predicted the Oregon State product would go in the middle of the first round, so the Bears were pleasantly surprised to see him still on the board in the second.  They traded up to get Tommie Harris’s replacement after he won the Pac-10 Morris Trophy (twice), was an All-American and Pac-10 Defensive Player of the Year.  And he threw up 225 lbs 49 times (the most in over a decade) at the NFL Combine.

Lovie the Recruiter’s Key Free Agent Acquisitions
Apparently trying to make up for the lack of recent first round picks, the Bears acquired 4 former first rounders in the post holdout frenzy.

RB – Marion Barber.  With 1,042 carries, 53 total TD’s and 4.2 yards per carry over 6 seasons with DAL, Barber runs with unabashed violence.  He is the first Bear RB to be compared to Sweetness by 2 NFL experts (those experts being my friend Andy and me).

WR – Roy Williams.  A first round pick (#7 in ’04), he’s played 100 NFL games, and has 5,206 yards and 42 TD’s.  And he’s the big target (6’3”/215) we’ve been lacking who’s done well in Martz’s system before.

C – Chris Spencer.  Another first rounder (#26 in ’05) brought in to replace the inept Olin Kreutz, he’s started 70 of the 80 games he’s played (including the last 30) over 6 seasons with SEA.

TE – Matt Spaeth.  Not much on the stats front, but at 6’7”/260 he is the prototypical TE for Martz’s scheme.  And in 4 years with PIT, he’s been to the playoffs 3 times, been to 2 Super Bowls and won a ring.

S – Brandon Meriweather.  Also a first rounder (#24 in ’07), he’s a 2-time Pro Bowler with 12 INT’s over the last 3 years.  And in ’06, he fired a gun 3 times at an assailant who shot a teammate in the buttocks outside his apartment – so you know he’s got his boys’ backs.

DT – Amobi Okoye.  Yet another first rounder (#10 in ’07), he’s had 138 tackles and 11 sacks in 4 years with the Texas Houstons, where he started all but 4 of his 62 games.  Off-field friends with Tommie Harris, he wears Harris’s #91 and averages more tackles per game than Harris.

P – Adam Podlesh.  This will be our first season in a decade without Brad Maynard, who played his first Bears game 2 days before 9/11.  But Podlesh averages 0.7 more yards per punt, and he hasn’t had a punt blocked in 4 years.

Season Prediction
You’re not reading this blog for unrealistic, Super Fan predictions – you want our objective, actual and factual take on the 2011-2012 season.  So, I’m gonna go ahead and predict that the Chicago Bears will once again go 16-0 and win their 27th Supa Bow in a row.  Remember, you heard it here first, folks!

LET’S GO BEARS!

© 2011

This entry was posted on Thu, Sep 8, 2011 at 2:52 pm and is filed under j) 2011 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.