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Bears eager to start molding team
Bears eager to start molding team
With lockout, they believe stable system will help when play resumes
By Brad Biggs, Tribune Reporter 1:22 p.m. CDT, May 28, 2011
Go ahead and write off the mandatory minicamp the Bears scheduled to begin June 3.
That's the same date the 8th Circuit Court of Appeals in St. Louis will have a hearing in the litigation brewing between players and owners. It's the next key date in the NFL's ongoing labor impasse, and there's virtually no chance anything will happen before then, with a ruling taking perhaps a couple of weeks.
So, on the 75th day of the lockout, it appears likely there will be no offseason programs this spring, a harsh reality that affects some clubs and players more than others. NFL teams have been permitted to have voluntary workout programs that last up to 14 weeks. The Bears typically use 10 of the allotted weeks. Around the league the sessions wrap up in the third week of June to give players and coaches a nice break before training camp. The lockout, obviously, has slammed the door shut on those.
Bears President Ted Phillips has maintained his club's continuity will give it an edge when the NFL gets back to business. Eight organizations changed coaches this year and four are on the Bears' schedule: the Panthers, Vikings, Raiders and Broncos. That creates an obvious advantage over the Panthers and Vikings, who the Bears play in the first six weeks. But it's not like NFC foes in Green Bay and Detroit have changed much. Neither have the NFC South champion Falcons, who the Bears open the season with Sept. 11 at Soldier Field.
With no offseason program, how are the Bears most affected?
Cutler crucial
The improvement of quarterback Jay Cutler is the No. 1 issue.
Some will argue reworking the offensive line tops the list, but quarterbacks win championships. The rhythm of the passing game is critical in Mike Martz's scheme. You have to be in time on time and that requires work. You also have to bet Martz wants to get back to throwing the ball more instead of the run-first approach he was forced to use when Cutler averaged only 26.6 passes over the final seven games.
Cutler needs to play at an elite level and while that involves all elements of the offense working in synch around him, it necessitates he raise his game.
Retooling offensive line
The offensive line that allowed an NFL-high 56 sacks got its first new starter when Gabe Carimi was drafted. How and where the first-round pick will play remains unknown, but pencil him in as a starter. Four years in the pro-style system at Wisconsin prepared him.
The other starters might be players line coach Mike Tice already is familiar with, depending on what shakes out in free agency.
There was a learning curve for Tice when he arrived last season and now he knows what he has on the roster, so he should be a step ahead from that standpoint. If the Bears elect to leave Chris Williams at left guard, he needs to get work there, but it's not like he's switching spots on the fly as he did in October.
Yes, Tice has missed valuable teaching time but you never know with linemen until all the pads are on and that doesn't happen until training camp.
Special teams mystery
Coordinator Dave Toub is in a quandary because he doesn't know what players will be at his disposal for special teams.
For instance, long snapper Patrick Mannelly and safety Major Wright are the only players from the punt team under contract.
Special teams is always a big puzzle this time of year when coaches figure out who might be able to play and who might be available. Answers don't come until training camp and exhibitions, but the Bears don't know who they will have at this point, raising the level of difficulty for them to have a highly ranked unit again.
Development stunted
Young players lose out the most. D.J. Moore's emergence as nickel back in 2010 began in the spring. Starting jobs aren't won in shells and shorts, but coaches always are forming opinions.
There are high hopes for defensive lineman Henry Melton entering his third season. Can cornerback Zack Bowman bounce back or is Joshua Moore ready to compete there after what amounted to a "redshirt" season?
Opportunities will be there for defensive end Corey Wootton, and Wright has a shot to start at safety. They need time on the field to grow.
It's all projection until the NFL gets back to business, and at this point few imagine a collective bargaining agreement coming before July.
bmbiggs@tribune.co
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"It's all projection until the NFL gets back to business, and at this point few imagine a collective bargaining agreement coming before July."
Well there we have it in a nutshell dont we people?
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Some will argue reworking the offensive line tops the list, but quarterbacks win championships. The rhythm of the passing game is critical in
Mike Martz's scheme. You have to be in time on time and that requires work. You also have to bet Martz wants to get back to throwing the ball more instead of the run-first approach he was forced to use when Cutler averaged only 26.6 passes over the final seven games.
i don't get this.. we go 7-2 down the stretch, and alot was because we were more balanced and the run kept the "D" hinest, why would you want to get away from that?
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Originally Posted by
dabears54 
i don't get this.. we go 7-2 down the stretch, and alot was because we were more balanced and the run kept the "D" hinest, why would you want to get away from that?
That is Martz's philosophy. He is a heavy pass oriented OC and a run to him is a screen pass. This is what you get with him at the helm if he truly has his way. It was ONLY after Lovie and possibly Tice laid it on the line that they can not protect Cutler with the personnel they have on the OL during the bye week that you saw the change and the "balanced" approach, but if you saw the look on Martz's face everytime the camera showed him on the sideline he didn't look happy and you can tell he was chomping at the bit to call pass plays. He still calls a lot of runs or Faulk would not have gotten over a 1000 yards a season for I believe four straight years before the injury bug caught up to him but Martz from what I have seen from his play calling is a pass first go for the big play type of OC rather then the run first take your shot when it's there type Chicago is used to.
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With regard to the article, I don't know that the Bears are in all that great of shape with this lockout. They gave up on TH and replaced him with a unproven rookie who we all hope will be a great player in Paea. They do not have Adams, Roach, Graham and or Tinoisamaoa signed so they are thin at both the DL and LB, CB positions. I suppose they don't care about D. Manning as they went out and got another safety in the draft so if they get him back great if not no biggie I would guess is their feeling. The entire offense needs much work together to get the timing down. I don't know about all this court stuff either I feel the longer both sides keep this in the courts hands the more it looks like there will not be a 2011 season.....
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Originally Posted by
thekmann That is Martz's philosophy. He is a heavy pass oriented OC and a run to him is a screen pass. This is what you get with him at the helm if he truly has his way. It was ONLY after Lovie and possibly Tice laid it on the line that they can not protect Cutler with the personnel they have on the OL during the bye week that you saw the change and the "balanced" approach, but if you saw the look on Martz's face everytime the camera showed him on the sideline he didn't look happy and you can tell he was chomping at the bit to call pass plays. He still calls a lot of runs or Faulk would not have gotten over a 1000 yards a season for I believe four straight years before the injury bug caught up to him but Martz from what I have seen from his play calling is a pass first go for the big play type of OC rather then the run first take your shot when it's there type Chicago is used to.
And had hoped unlike the old saying" you can't teach an old dog, new tricks".. Martz seeing the betetr sucess, seeing the points go up 36% in the 2nd 1/2, team move the ball better and go 7-2, he would LEARN, to be more run oriented, becuase it was working..and can change his philisophy, but you may be right, maybe can't.. but hoping for the former
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Originally Posted by
thekmann That is Martz's philosophy. He is a heavy pass oriented OC and a run to him is a screen pass. This is what you get with him at the helm if he truly has his way. It was ONLY after Lovie and possibly Tice laid it on the line that they can not protect Cutler with the personnel they have on the OL during the bye week that you saw the change and the "balanced" approach, but if you saw the look on Martz's face everytime the camera showed him on the sideline he didn't look happy and you can tell he was chomping at the bit to call pass plays. He still calls a lot of runs or Faulk would not have gotten over a 1000 yards a season for I believe four straight years before the injury bug caught up to him but Martz from what I have seen from his play calling is a pass first go for the big play type of OC rather then the run first take your shot when it's there type Chicago is used to.
Martz has to realize that he's the OC of the Chicago Bears and we are not a pass first team nor should we ever be. A strong running game coupled with a great defense is a Bears tradition and even in what appears to be a pass first league he still needs to pay attention to what tools he has an make the best use of them possible. What he can do best is to use that running game to set up play fakes off of which Culter can use that arm of his to go downfield to Knox and Hester. That's the weapon he has with Forte at RB and that's the weapon he should be using. Those 7 step drops are antiquated and once he stopped using them the offense improved.
Needless to say I was never a big fan or Martz as the Bears OC and it didn't surprise me at all that Lovie and Tice needed to rein him in last year. We don't have to tools to play Al Davis, "Raider style" football and our passing game shouldn't be what's featured IMHO.
I'm getting to that age where a lifetime warranty just doesn't mean as much to me anymore as an afternoon nap. 
Honey Badger Don't Care. Honey Badger Don't Give a Shit.
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It's getting to the point where this lockout is benefitting absolutely no one including the owners who are using it primarily as a bargaining tool in negotiations. So at what point is a bargaining tool no longer a bargain. I'd say the day before yesterday and back a ways. Drop the lockout under the conditions that both parties get back to some serious court mediated negotiation and get this thing out of the courts where it doesn't belong and get some football back on the field where is does.
I'm getting to that age where a lifetime warranty just doesn't mean as much to me anymore as an afternoon nap. Honey Badger Don't Care. Honey Badger Don't Give a Shit.
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Originally Posted by
soulman It's getting to the point where this lockout is benefitting absolutely no one including the owners who are using it primarily as a bargaining tool in negotiations. So at what point is a bargaining tool no longer a bargain. I'd say the day before yesterday and back a ways. Drop the lockout under the conditions that both parties get back to some serious court mediated negotiation and get this thing out of the courts where it doesn't belong and get some football back on the field where is does.
had that in march and the union walked away from that and went the court route..
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I'm getting to that age where a lifetime warranty just doesn't mean as much to me anymore as an afternoon nap. Honey Badger Don't Care. Honey Badger Don't Give a Shit.
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