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WR is a huge weakness for the Bears
How big a weakness is Wide Receiver?
I believe that an extreme weakness at WR is being masked only by how bad the Bears OL is playing. I think that our WRs are costing us more than we all think, they just do so in a less obvious way. The weaknesses are not just poor execution, but the poor assembly and coaching of the unit.
Constant mental mistakes are costing this team on offense and many are being committed by the receiving core. In the Seattle game we saw a number of times, specifically in the 2nd half, where time outs had to be used because the WRs could not line up properly. Against the Giants we saw that very few WRs adjusted their routes to account for blitzes. Time and time again we have seen WRs run the wrong routes to the detriment of the offense.
Poor route running has led to interceptions and an awful 3rd down conversion percentage. When you see a highlight of Devin Hester running a route it is almost hard to watch, as the perfect route is called for on 3rd down and he falls. Johnny Knox has not been much better as he seems to be covered 90% of the time and only seems to get yardage on plays where he can YAC. The Martz offense is based on trust and timing and a huge part of that is running the correct route and running it well.
Deep speed was suppose to be what this WR core was based around, but I have yet to see anyone beat someone deep with the exception of 4 games ago by Johnny Knox. The Bears did not have a big target and were going to kill people with speed, but that has not happened.
No size or physicality is killing this group as they have to be very open to get a pass to them. In Denver, when Jay was having most of his success, he has a big target in Brandon Marshall who would catch any of the passes that are incomplete or intercepted in Chicago. Can anyone imagine Brandon Marshall being muscled off a slant route by DeAngelo Hall? When we are 1st and goal at the 1 yard line and Lovie challenges because he knows there is no chance we can run it in, do you not think it would be different if we could throw 3 fades to a 6’4” WR?
To me this group is costing us almost as much as the OL and is not helping Jay out. Jay was suppose to make these guys better, but any QB needs some help. How many ridiculous catches a game does Reggie Wayne make? All of those catches are completions and yardage for Peyton Manning. Jay is trying to orchestrate offense by himself and he is going to continue to fail.
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Im glad someone shares the same sentiment with me. I think Bennet is our best WR and a good career number two. Hester should not be out there. And Knox is no better then a slot guy cause his route running and effort is crap. We have no go to number one guy the qb can trust.
but we will stick to the philosophy we can survive with mediocre weapons. Great JA vision there.
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What, Hester should not be out there? Where have I heard that before? lol
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Even with this pass happy offense I see nothing as far as "Mad Genius". One would think even with the abject failure to move the ball you would see experiments, gimmicks, weird formations etc. Nothing is going to make the wr's bigger except putting K.Davis and Olsen as wr's. Not that it would work but at least your being creative lol.
Arguing on the internet is like winning the special olympics, even if you win your still messed up.
Restore the roar!
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Poor route running has led to interceptions and an awful 3rd down conversion percentage. When you see a highlight of Devin Hester running a route it is almost hard to watch, as the perfect route is called for on 3rd down and he falls. Johnny Knox has not been much better as he seems to be covered 90% of the time and only seems to get yardage on plays where he can YAC. The Martz offense is based on trust and timing and a huge part of that is running the correct route and running it well. Deep speed was suppose to be what this WR core was based around, but I have yet to see anyone beat someone deep with the exception of 4 games ago by Johnny Knox. The Bears did not have a big target and were going to kill people with speed, but that has not happened. I think those two go hand in hand. Unless the WR is running a 9...straight fly up the sideline, they have to run a good route to beat someone deep. Cuts, breaks, friggin juke or whatever, but these guys do nothing to fool the DB's and are usually pretty well covered deep
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With all the different threads about who's fault it is, if you step back and think about it, it's not just one area on the offense. It's all the pieces. Windycity made excellent points about our WR's and how their play is adding to the problem. The OL problems are obvious and have been clearly stated for months. The QB situation has been debated to death and while the RB's haven't been a big problem this year because they haven't been used, Forte has committed some costly fumbles for the team.
Wolfman said it very well in another thread: it's about execution!
So by adding lack of execution into the mix, you can add all the offensive coaches: OC on down.
One other thing I still can't figure out is why QB's don't use the pump fake more. P. Manning uses it to perfection. The guy I love to hate, Favre has effectively used it for 20 years! Plus, those guys are two of the best at play fakes. I don't think it's a coincidence that two of the better ball fakers at QB are also two of the best at the position. As good as the athletes are on defense these days, you'd think a QB would use everything he could to get them off balance.
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The Wr's are like everyone else...
they have moments of Awesome and moments of Awefull....
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Originally Posted by
chisportsfan
With all the different threads about who's fault it is, if you step back and think about it, it's not just one area on the offense. It's all the pieces. Windycity made excellent points about our WR's and how their play is adding to the problem. The OL problems are obvious and have been clearly stated for months. The QB situation has been debated to death and while the RB's haven't been a big problem this year because they haven't been used, Forte has committed some costly fumbles for the team.
Wolfman said it very well in another thread: it's about execution!
So by adding lack of execution into the mix, you can add all the offensive coaches: OC on down.
One other thing I still can't figure out is why QB's don't use the pump fake more. P. Manning uses it to perfection. The guy I love to hate, Favre has effectively used it for 20 years! Plus, those guys are two of the best at play fakes. I don't think it's a coincidence that two of the better ball fakers at QB are also two of the best at the position. As good as the athletes are on defense these days, you'd think a QB would use everything he could to get them off balance.
Rex pump faked more than Cutler

Winston Churchill:
"Since light travels faster than sound, some people appear bright until you hear them speak."
"If you're not a liberal at twenty you have no heart, if you're not a conservative at forty you have no brain."
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Originally Posted by
BearStuff
Rex pump faked more than Cutler
"Ouch!" That's gonna leave a mark!
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Nick High-fived for this post.