Bears name Emery as GM

The Chicago Bears have tabbed Phil Emery as their new GM.  What everyone wants to know is what we can expect from him, particularly in the draft.  In the coming days, I’m sure we’ll have plenty of interviews with him during which we’ll get a better idea of the direction in which he wants to take the team.  For now though, let’s start with a list of some of the players that have been drafted by the teams he’s worked with.

Before I go into the list of players, it’s important to note that dozens of people have input into a team’s draft picks.  As a result, it’s impossible for us to know how much credit Emery himself should get for any pick, good or bad.  That fact notwithstanding, here’s a list of the positions Emery has held and some notable draft picks by his teams during that period:

Area Scout for Bears 1998-2004

Olin Kreutz

Marty Booker

Jerry Azumah

Brian Urlacher

Mike Brown

Charles Tillman

Lance Briggs

Tommie Harris

Nathan Vasher

Director of College Scouting and Regional Scout for Falcons 2004-2009

Roddy White

Jonathan Babineaux

Justin Blalock

Matt Ryan

Director of College Scouting for Chiefs 2009-2011

Eric Berry

Dexter McCluster

Jonathan Baldwin

Justin Houston

Certainly a pretty good list.  As I mentioned earlier, though, we can’t be sure how many of these (or the less successful) picks Emery is greatly responsible for.  We must mention, though, that Falcons president Rich McKay has said that Emery had strong convictions about Roddy White and he convinced the Falcons to draft him.  This, in and of itself, should be enough to get Bears fans excited.  

Bears set to win now

Two things stood out from the playoff games this weekend.  First was the amazing impact of the tight ends in the passing game (for more detail, see previous post).  The second thing that I took away from the games was that the Bears are built to win now.  Not only are they built for success, they’re moving in a direction that should bring this success.

Let’s review the games.  The Giants beat the Packers.  The 49ers beat the Saints.  The Ravens beat the Texans.  The Patriots beat the Broncos.  The common thread among these games is that the better defensive team won (except for the Pats thrashing of the Teblow Experiment, but a Denver loss is relevant to nothing).  It’s also worth noting that the team who won the turnover battle also won each game.  This is the type of team we have in Chicago.  We have a team who plays good defense and prides itself on taking the ball away.  We’re actually very similar to this Giants team that just knocked off the Packers.  We play a lot of Cover 2, get pressure from the front 4, run the ball well and have a very good if not elite QB.  They don’t have a Devin Hester to return kicks and we don’t have a Hakeem Nicks to catch passes, but the similarities far outweigh the differences. 

The point of all this is that, in a year where passing records are being shattered, defense still wins championships.  Even Mike Martz’ Super Bowl ring was acquired because of defense (when Wikipedia is back up and functioning, see “The Tackle”).  The Bears have a defense that is still among the best in the league and our turnover differential should only improve under the playcalling of Mike Tice.  It’s true that points come out of the passing game, but we have a quarterback who can get us those points as well.  So for those who have called for Lovie’s dismissal and want us to start over, I’m telling you to not hit the panic button.  As bad as this year ended, we’re a lot closer to the promised land than you think and we’re headed in the right direction toward it.

Tight Ends dominate playoff games

Without sounding too much like I’m dancing on a man’s grave, I’d like to reiterate “good riddance, Mike Martz”.  As we watch tight ends dominating these playoff games, I realize I may have missed a point in my “good things/bad things” column.  I did mention that we will utilize our TE’s more in the passing game but I didn’t note, for those who are unaware, that Mike Tice himself was a TE in the NFL for 14 years (after playing quarterback in college at Maryland).  While he was mainly utilized in blocking situations, he certainly understands how the position can be utilized in the passing game.  If nothing else, I’m sure we can all agree that it will be nice to see Jay Cutler throw the ball to someone over 6 feet tall (who isn’t named Roy Williams).

Let me expand on this point with an explanation on how these tight ends provide such mismatches and where Martz’ logic was wrong.  First, let me recall an interview with Martz when he first got hired by the Bears.  He was asked why he doesn’t take advantage of the mismatch a tight end has over a linebacker or safety in coverage.  He said, “might as well just put a wide receiver out there.”  Sounds good, doesn’t it?  I mean, if Greg Olsen would be a mismatch on a defender, imagine the mismatch Devin Hester’s speed would cause.  Problem is, NFL teams track what type of personnel is on the field.  For example, you know there will be 1 QB and 5 linemen.  That leaves 5 other players.  RB’s, TE’s and WR’s will comprise those 5 spots.  The problem with Martz’ plan is that someone on the opposing sideline knows what combination of positions you have on the field and they’re adjusting their personnel to that. 

To illustrate my point, imagine the Bears have 1 RB and 2 TE’s in the game (this is called 12 personnel – the first digit in 12 is one, which stands for the number of RB’s and the second digit is a 2 which stands for the number of TE’s).  Since RB’s, TE’s and WR’s account for 5 players, we know that there will be 2 WR’s in this personnel grouping.  So let’s say we run a play and then Martz decides to try out his theory.  He substitutes out his 2 TE’s and puts in WR’s instead.  The opposition tracks the TE’s leaving the field and sees the WR’s coming on and will then sub in an additional defensive back or two, moving to a nickel or dime defensive look.  So now the mismatch that you had, with a tight end on a linebacker, has turned into a normal matchup with a WR on a corner.  That’s the real value of a tight end.  The defense has no idea if you’re going to run the ball or throw it.  You could do either.  Remaining unpredictable is one of the most important objectives as a playcaller.  It’s too bad Mike Martz doesn’t realize this.  If he did, we just might’ve been watching Greg Olsen dominating games this weekend like these other tight ends.

Tice named OC

Mike Tice has officially been promoted to Offensive Coordinator of the Chicago Bears.  We here at Bears Playbook are excited about this news and would like to take this opportunity to discuss some good things and bad things related to this move.

Good Thing:  Audibles are back.  As I've mentioned before on this site, it's ridiculous that Mike Martz' offense didn't allow for Jay Cutler to audible.  They didn't have in place a check-with-me system.  Nothing.  If Martz called a play and the defense was set up well to defend that play then Jay was likely going to force a throw or take a sack.  How ridiculous.

Bad Thing:  The offense will want to utilize the TE in the passing game much more.  This by itself isn't a bad thing.  The badness of it is that our best TE is now catching passes from Cam Newton.  Kellen Davis may be able to serve this role of a pass-catching TE or he may not.  Under Martz, we were never afforded an opportunity to find out.  I guess time will tell.

Good Thing:  This may be more of a "not bad" thing rather than a good thing, but promoting Tice as opposed to hiring somebody else will allow the Bears to use most of the same terminology on offense that they used under Martz.  Some of the verbiage will be simplified a bit, but we'll avoid much of the learning curve that comes with learning a new offense

Good/Bad Thing?:  The Bears will run the ball more and will attempt to employ a power running game in a league where passing is premium.  We can all agree that the Bears have had success recently when running the ball more, but is Matt Forte really the type of running back who you want running between the tackles more?  Are we going to utilize the unique skills of our quarterback?  Basically it's good that we're going to run it more, but it's a fine line between running it just enough (and well enough) and becoming overly simplistic and predictable on offense (see Turner, Ron)

Good Thing:  Tice has said he will make use of Cutler's athleticism.  This means more rollouts, plays on which Cutler has been highly successful throughout his career.  It's good to hear a coach saying that he'll take advantage of his player's strengths rather than forcing his plan on players who don't fit the scheme.

Basically, there seem to be more good things coming from this promotion than bad things.  Now let's hope that we can make a smart hire at GM (Ted Sundquist = Good Thing, Les Snead = Bad Thing).  I think we as Bears fans are due for a few more good things than bad.

Season Officially Over... Random Thoughts

Now that our season is officially over (with just a meaningless game against Minnesota remaining), I'd like to say good riddance to 2011.  What a miserable year.  This was a year that saw us lose FOUR TIMES to Green Bay, lose Jay Cutler, lose Matt Forte, etc, etc, etc.  Instead of droning on about what could have been, I'd rather go with some random thoughts about the current and future state of the Bears.

• Kahlil Bell ran well yesterday.  With 23 carries for 121 yards, he showed patience, burst and vision.  However, hearing people praise him the way they are after a game with 2 fumbles feels like the way people praised Caleb Hanie after an NFC Championship appearance with 2 INT's.  Just saying.
• The 7-3 Chicago Bears proved that this was a team with a lot of talent.  The 7-8 Chicago Bears proved that this is a team without a lot of depth.  We need better depth at QB, WR, S, CB, DE, LB.  Well, pretty much everywhere except RB, DT and, surprisingly, offensive line.  We need more talent at offensive line, but our depth is not bad with Lance Louis, Edwin Williams, etc.  Actually, scratch that, we need one more lineman, just enough to finally push the miserable Frank Omiyale off the roster.
• Josh McCown didn't play that badly last night.  He was far from the hero that some are making him out to be, but he was a definite upgrade over the play we've been getting from Caleb Hanie.  With that being said, however, how wonderful would it be to sign Kyle Orton to a backup role in the offseason?
• Please draft a wide receiver in the first round this year.
• I'm hearing more and more that Mike Martz may remain in Chicago next season.  I'm very much hoping that that's not the case.  I'd like to see a more physical ground game, a TE who provides a mismatch in the passing game (I thought Kellen Davis could fill that role and it still has to be determined if it's his skill level or Martz' scheme that has prevented that) and a big, physical wide receiver who can force defenses to roll coverage and give Jay a big target with a large catch radius when he's running for his life or just has to get rid of the ball quickly.  A promotion of Mike Tice might bring all those things while keeping the same terminology in place and not setting the offense back.  
• I wish the Carolina Panthers would've sucked a little more.  Remember, we have their 3rd round pick from the Olsen trade.  With the issues of depth I mentioned earlier, that could be a valuable pick.
• This might've been the best job Lovie Smith has done since he's been in Chicago.  He's seemingly had more fire and been tougher on players than I've ever seen.  The way he handled Henry Melton is a perfect example.  He made adjustments and played more man than in recent years instead of sticking to zone schemes to a fault (think the Patriots game last year).  The corners have pressed more and that has also been beneficial.  It's a shame that the job he's done won't be recognized as a result of injuries but, for the first time since the '06 season, I'm happy and completely satisfied that he'll be our coach next season.
• Another note on Martz.  While watching the MNF game, I just saw a 3rd and 1 where the Saints were set up to run the ball.  Brees saw a corner playing off of Jimmy Graham and threw him a quick slant for an easy conversion.  For those who don't know, Martz does not allow any audibles to be called.  Ever.  If he calls a run and they put 11 men in the box and don't cover the wideouts, you'd still better run the play he called and hand the ball off.  That kind of egotistic approach is completely unacceptable and needs to be removed.

Well, that's it for now.  I hope you all had a very Merry Christmas and let's hope for a better 2012!

Potential Unrealized

That will be the title of the 2011 Chicago Bears autobiography.  The Bears played a brutal schedule through the first 10 weeks of the season and came out of it with a 7-3 record.  After the San Diego game, we found out that Jay Cutler had injured his thumb.  We then found out that he'd be out approximately six weeks.  "He'll be back in time for the playoffs", we said.  "No problem."  Four weeks later:  problem.  We won't be in the playoffs.  It still hurts to say it, but it is getting easier with every Caleb Hanie INT.  Sure we still could mathematically get in if:
1) We win out AND
2) Either Detroit or Atlanta loses out AND
3) Seattle loses at least one of their last two games AND
4) Arizona loses at least one of their last two games AND
5) Dallas loses to Philly in week 16 or the Giants lose one of their last two games.
That's all.  Last week I said that unlikely as it was, the Bears could still defy the odds and make a run.  No more.  I'm done.  It's like they say; fool me once, shame on you, fool me four weeks in a row....

Last Chance Saloon

This is it.  Lose tomorrow and we're buried.  We may be buried anyway after last week's debacle, but a win vs Seattle will at least keep that slight glimmer of hope alive.  After all, we COULD beat Seattle.  We COULD then get Cutler back.  With #6 back under center, we COULD go into Green Bay and ruin the fudge Packers perfect season.  We COULD then get a win in week 17 in Minnesota propelling us into the playoffs.  We COULD then get Forte back.  Can you imagine the feeling in the locker room IF we got into the playoffs and had a healthy Cutler and Forte?  Shoot, we COULD win the Super Bowl!

Sure it's unlikely, but how likely was it that we'd:
1) Hold Oakland to FG's on SIX different drives, allowing just one TD and lose?
2) Give up a TD on a Hail Mary vs KC, allowing just 10 points total and still lose?
3) Shut out Teblow and company for 57 minutes and 54 seconds allowing a TD on a blown coverage with 2:06 remaining in the game*?
4) Recover an onside kick and then run out of bounds while trying to run out the clock?
5) Have a 59 yard field goal kicked against us to force overtime?
6) Win the toss in OT, go 3 and out, punt, actually stop the other team and get the ball back, march into field goal range and then fumble the ball?
7) Have a 51 yard field goal kicked against us in OT to lose?

Sorry for that painful trip down memory lane, but the point is that all of that happened against us in just 3 weeks.  Read them side by side and my earlier thoughts of what COULD happen don't seem so crazy.  But it can only start with a win tomorrow.  Lose tomorrow and we may as well start our draft preparations.

*I haven't heard anybody talk about it due to all the other madness that occured, but do you realize the significance of the Broncos scoring on that exact play?  Let's say that we don't allow a TD on that play.  Let's say they get to the 1 yard line and Teblow runs it in on the next play.  The time taken up would've taken the clock down to the 2-minute warning.  After that, when we recover the onside kick, we can take a knee 3 times and the game is over.  No need to run a play.  No chance for Barber to run out of bounds.  No chance for the Broncos to get the ball back.  None.  The game would be over.  Of all the plays to blow a coverage, we had to pick that one.  Seems fitting given how the rest of the game played out.  Anyway, let's hope for some semblance of an offense this week and a situation where mere inches and seconds can't burn us.