Mike Brown Empathizes With Bears Safeties.............

**soulman** · 10-16-2011, 02:01 PM

Brown empathizes with Bears safeties

He's down on former teammates' long touchdowns, but thinks Harris and others have much to offer

Mike Brown celebrates as Colts QB Peyton Manning walks off the field during the Bears' 29-13 victory. (Jim Prisching, Chicago Tribune / September 7, 2008)

By Vaughn McClure, Chicago Tribune reporter 8:58 p.m. CDT, October 15, 2011

If Mike Brown had the ability to jump through the television screen and make a tackle, he would have blasted Lions receiver Calvin Johnson well before the end zone.

Brown's heart obviously still bleeds for the Bears, even three years removed from the team that discarded him because of injury concerns. As he sat inside his southern California home Monday night, the former All-Pro safety barely could watch as the Lions torched his ex-teammates with two long scores.

"You don't want to give up touchdowns,'' he said. "When you start giving up big plays in Cover-2, then you have a problem.

"I saw it in the Detroit game. We gave up two huge plays … ridiculous.''

One of those big plays — Johnson's 73-yard touchdown reception from Matthew Stafford — contributed to Chris Harris losing his starting strong safety spot to Major Wright on Sunday. Harris took full responsibility and refused to use a nagging hamstring injury as an excuse.

Brown was one of the first people to call Harris after his the demotion. The details of the conversation remain private, but Harris said Brown essentially told him to keep his head up.

"His instincts are unbelievable, and Chris is super-smart,'' Brown said. "Plus he's a great leader. He's a pro's pro.

"People get caught up in, 'Can this dude run fast. Can he do this.' Everybody wants to have the big guy, the fast guy. But the intangibles and how you work with teammates, that's the most important thing.''

When not injured, Brown worked well for the Bears, and symbolized the type of consistency coach Lovie Smith wants from safeties.

He was the hard-hitter, the vocal-leader, the game-changer.

And Brown became a cult hero well before Smith's arrival. Folks won't soon forget Brown's back-to-back, game-winning touchdowns in overtime during the Bears' 13-3 season in 2001. Brown snatched a bobbled pass by Terrell Owens and returned the interception 33 yards for a score to cap a 37-31 victory over the 49ers. The next week, he returned a pick 16 yards for a 27-21 triumph over the Browns.

"People always are going to bring up those two plays but actually the second one, the Browns game, that was probably one of the worst games I ever played in my career,'' Brown said. "In terms of what I was supposed to do and the plays I was supposed to make, I didn't play very well.

As modest as Brown tries to be, he had seven defensive touchdowns, 17 interceptions and seven forced fumbles in 100 games as a Bear. When he played in 12 games during the 2006 Super Bowl run, Brown played strong safety as then-rookie Danieal Manning lined up at free.

"I've said this many times: in terms of skill set, with running and breaking, and tackling and covering, Danieal's the best DB I've ever played with,'' Brown said. "I know if I was a defensive back, I would love for Danieal Manning to be on my team.''

Old face, new place

Brown wasn't the only former Bears safety to speak with Harris last week.

Manning, now with the 3-2 Texans, hosted his weekly radio show inside a suburban Houston sports bar last Monday night and watched his former team play live for the first time.

The next morning, Manning spoke to Harris.

"His spirits were cool,'' Manning said. "But Chris always has been that way. He's a true trooper. He understands the business.''

Manning sees the business a lot clearer now. The former second-round pick figured he had a future in Chicago, particularly after starting all 16 games next to Harris last season and contributing as a standout kick returner. But the Bears weren't willing to invest more after offering Manning a three-year, $6 million contract.

"Initially, yes, I was disappointed,'' Manning said. "But then again, God had better plans for me. That's the way I looked at it.''

Manning, who grew up in Texas, couldn't pass up an opportunity to return to his home state. The Texans made the homecoming that much sweeter with a four-year, $20 million deal, $9 million guaranteed.

"I knew if it wasn't meant to be for me to be in Chicago, I wanted to come back home,'' Manning said. "And God definitely answered my prayers.''

Now it's the Bears who need divine intervention at safety. After watching Harris and Manning make it through an entire season practically unscathed, the Bears enter Sunday night's game against the Vikings set to use their fifth different combination in six games: Wright and rookie Chris Conte.

Fans have wondered if the Bears would have been better off keeping Manning.

"I don't think they regret it,'' Manning said. "The Bears are going to move on with or without you. They have been through the same with Mike Brown. They have been through the same thing before with Chris Harris when he went to Carolina. Who am I for them not to go through it with? That's just the way it is.''

Manning enters Sunday's game against the Ravens fifth on the team in tackles with 20 and ninth in the NFL with an average of 27.5 yards per kick return. He intercepted Drew Brees in a key loss to the Saints and lost money in the same game. Manning was fined $15,000 for a hit on Saints tight end Jimmy Graham.

"I don't think any football player is going to stop playing hard and making big hits,'' Manning said.

Brown would disagree.

Heavy hitters

Nothing irks Brown more than the league's crackdown on violent hits. He made his mark in the league with such tactics.

"Now with the rule changes and everything, safety play is pretty much being taken out of the game,'' Brown said. "A safety is supposed to be an intimidator. A safety hits. A safety gets the ball out.

"When defensive player says the word 'think' … then the game has changed completely. The guy catches the ball, and they're saying he's defenseless when he catches the ball. So you can't hit him. To me, that's ridiculous. I can say that now because I'm not in the game.''

The stricter rules have taken a toll on one Bears safety. Newcomer Brandon Meriweather received back-to-back weekly fines of $20,000 and $25,000 for hits on Panthers receiver Steve Smith and Lions receiver Nate Burleson. Meriweather's hit on Smith was deemed to be helmet to helmet, while the one on Burleson was late.

Meriweather erratic play cost him his starting job to Conte for Sunday night. His tendency to level hard hits reportedly might lead to a private meeting with the league and possible suspension. Last year with the Patriots, Meriweather was fined $50,000 for two separate hits on Ravens tight end Todd Heap.

While many have been critical of Meriweather's style, Brown commended him.

"I don't see anything wrong with him,'' Brown said. "I understand they don't want you to lead with your helmet, but the play I saw him get fined for (on Smith), to me that's a legal hit. It has been legal forever until what, recently.

"Now you're going to tell me someone's going to see the ball and see the player then stop and say, `Man how am I going to hit this guy?' So right there, it's already over. You just lost a half a second. A half a second in football is eternity.''

Brown, now a referee for Pop Warner games, plans to start a coaching career in the near future. His strategy no doubt will involve an aggressive approach.

"I have a passion for the game,'' Brown said. "I would love to teach guys what I think football is all about.''

As a coach, Brown could be a big hit.

vxmcclure@tribune.com

Twitter @vxmcclure23

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Copyright © 2011, Chicago Tribune
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**soulman** · 10-16-2011, 02:56 PM

Although Mike Brown has no problems with Brandon Meriweather's play he's been fined again and the league has expressed concerns about his violent play. I'd say that expression of concern comes in the form of a subtle warning to him that a suspension may be next. Hitting is acceptable, headhunting isn't.

Looking back on it I'd like to know why we wouldn't have been better off to keep Manning than to have been forced to sign Meriweather in order to get vet experience at Safety. For the $3.5 mil were paying Meriweather we aren't getting our monies worth on the field and one more fine and he may end up with a suspension and contributes nothing.

I think I've uncovered the reason why the Bears go through Safeties the way Lady Gaga goes through character changes. According to this the Bears were only willing to offer Danieal Manning a $6 mil deal with none of it guaranteed whereas the Texans were willing to give him 50% more then that just in guarantees. It's pretty obvious the Bears do not value the Saftey position very highly yet great play by the Safeties is extremely important to the ability of this defense to prevent the big play. We were willing to pay Meriweather $3.5 mil but we weren't willing to even offer that much to Manning.

Chris Harris is right. The handwriting is on the wall for him too. He's playing for a little over a mil this year and in the last year of his contract. If Manning got a deal worth $5 mil a year then Harris, who was a 2nd team All-Pro last year, may attract something close to that as well but it seems the Bears are destined to let him go to FA too.

This is what disturbs me. After 3 or 4 years of problems at Safety we finally get a duo in the prime of their career who play extremely well together and on top of that we have a young player with great upside playing very efficiently in a rotation with them and surrounded by their experience he plays with confidence. With this years addition of Conte we would have had the perfect setup for a transition from the Manning/Harris duo to a Wright/Conte duo in two more years when the young guys had gotten the experience they needed to play without a hitch. It also would have given us reasonable depth without having to have picked up and overpaid for Meriweather.

Now they're faced with having to play the new duo earlier than anticipated and the defense will suffer once again as a results. Man, this is a really stupid way to run a football team if you ask me but it does explain why we keep drafting Safties year after year after year after year. Unless these two newbies fall flat on their faces Chris Harris won't be returning next year either so it's a cinch we'll have to draft another Safety and on and on it goes. Just another example of how poorly Jerry Angelo manages personnell.

**gammabears** · 10-16-2011, 03:13 PM

Very well written post Soulman. I'm expecting the first two picks of the draft for the Bears to be a safety and a defensive tackle if JA is still in charge. Bears will always have safety problems if they can't properly scout and draft.

Also hurts when they can't pick up someone in free agency that will help mentor and give the young rookies some time to adjust to the NFL level. We have that in Chris Harris but if he's doing all the work back there it's going to wear him down. They need MB to come in and do some drills to teach these rookies how to play in this defense.

**soulman** · 10-16-2011, 03:44 PM

Originally Posted by gammabears

Very well written post Soulman. I'm expecting the first two picks of the draft for the Bears to be a safety and a defensive tackle if JA is still in charge. Bears will always have safety problems if they can't properly scout and draft.

Also hurts when they can't pick up someone in free agency that will help mentor and give the young rookies some time to adjust to the NFL level. We have that in Chris Harris but if he's doing all the work back there it's going to wear him down. They need MB to come in and do some drills to teach these rookies how to play in this defense.

Thanks gamma! I've always thought Mike Brown would make a helluva coach some day but if he ever does begin a coaching career I doubt it will be here. The present coaching staff seems to want nothing to do with former Bears players as coaches even if they've coached them. Mike has never indicated that we wanted to coach but you're suggestion of hiring him as a defensive secondary assistant of some sort certainly makes sense, but because it does make sense I'm equally certain the Bears won't do it.

This Bears organization has become very closed off and protective of itself and the jobs involved. No one gets in the door unless they're part of the current "good old boy" network and go along to get along. You'll never see them hire a guy to coach that has the type of candor we've seen lately of of our offensive (Cutler) and defensive (Urlacher) leaders. It's always gonna be "it's alright", it's not that bad", we like our WR's", we need to get better with the people we have", "we'll correct these mistakes and go from there" and one of a hundred other excuses that always leave us and the press nonplussed as a result.

I really don't see things changing until the present organization is changed starting with the front office and ending with the coaching staff. It's getting harder to evaluate the players when everything else is so fvcked up.

**gammabears** · 10-16-2011, 04:08 PM

Completely agree. The whole damned front office needs to be let go at this point for letting it get this bad. They really need to get advice from people who aren't in their buddy network system. They'll just keep on agreeing with the crap the front office is spewing.

I'm sure if they brought in former players they might get a different view because they were the ones actually having to withstand all the crap from the front office.

Every time Jay has the ball I am genuinely concerned for his health and safety. I don't think they really care about Jay. They basically signed him and said go out there and throw the ball with no protection. I know you can do it. I'll just sit here and count all my money I didn't spend on protecting you.

**Blue Horse-shoe** · 10-16-2011, 05:15 PM

Who the hell is coaching safeties these days ? They've got all these guys so worried about coming up quick to help with run support, that they're forgetting Rule # 1: you don't let anybody get behind you. Long passes are more likely to result in a TD than runs , and stopping the run is primarily the job of the Dlinemen and the linebackers anyways, yet the 'coaches' have these guys blowing-off their primary responsibility. That's just shitty coaching. Period.

**soulman** · 10-16-2011, 05:32 PM

Originally Posted by Blue Horse-shoe

Who the hell is coaching safeties these days ? They've got all these guys so worried about coming up quick to help with run support, that they're forgetting Rule # 1: you don't let anybody get behind you. Long passes are more likely to result in a TD than runs , and stopping the run is primarily the job of the Dlinemen and the linebackers anyways, yet the 'coaches' have these guys blowing-off their primary responsibility. That's just shitty coaching. Period.

Jon Hoke and Gill Byrd are the secondary coaches. Hoke the main coach and Byrd the asst. and safeties coach.

**Blue Horse-shoe** · 10-16-2011, 05:45 PM

Originally Posted by soulman

Jon Hoke and Gill Byrd are the secondary coaches. Hoke the main coach and Byrd the asst. and safeties coach.

And that's why we have such a Hokey secondary.

**soulman** · 10-16-2011, 05:51 PM

Originally Posted by Blue Horse-shoe

And that's why we have such a Hokey secondary.

LOL, yeah and our Safeties are for the Byrd's.

**Blue Horse-shoe** · 10-16-2011, 05:56 PM

Originally Posted by soulman

LOL, yeah and our Safeties are for the Byrd's.

Time for a new best sign at games . The reigning champ is " Another Shoopid Play ". New one's should say " Another Hokey Play" or " That Ones For The Byrds ".

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