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What The Bears Should Have Learned From The NFCC Game....
What the Bears should've learned from Sunday (but probably didn't)
Steve Rosenbloom The RosenBlog 11:45 a.m. CST, January 23, 2012
What I learned about the Bearsfrom the Giants-Niners NFC Championship Game:
The Niners reminded me of the Bears who went to Super Bowl 41 and lost to Indianapolis.
The 2006 Bears had a quarterback who could kill you as quickly as he could win a game for you.
They had the defense that was monstrously good, thriving on turnovers, not just getting them, but scoring, too.
They had a running game that ate yards and ate clock, which gave the defense a rest and gave all of us a break from the sketchy quarterback.
Alex Smith, meet Rex Grossman. Frank Gore, shake hands with Thomas Jones. Patrick Willis’ defense, pull up a chair with Brian Urlacher’s defense. You get the idea.
This season’s 49ers team seems modeled on Lovie Smith’s old Bears, which is part of the reason the Niners lost the NFC Championship Game to the Giants, who represent what Smith’s new Bears want to become.
At least, what Smith’s new Bears ought to want to become.
Problem is, the Bears almost never show the desire or talent evaluation to become that kind of team.
No, wait, check that: Smith has stressed some of the salient traits the Giants rode to the Super Bowl.
For example, Smith said a pass rush is important, like the one that threw down the elusive Smith three times and made him throw horribly numerous other times Sunday. Yes, Smith has stressed that.
He just hasn’t figured out how to get an actual pass rush on a consistent basis.
Smith, in fact, has been wrong for years on his choices at defensive tackle, specifically and most obviously the undertackle position that remains the heart of his Tampa-2 defense. That failure leads to the realization that Smith doesn’t know safeties any better than he knows defensive linemen.
But the greater lessons the Bears can learn from the Giants are on offense. Are they ever.
From what you saw of Giants receivers Hakeem Nicks, Victor Cruz and Mario Manningham, which Bears wideout would you take instead?
Anyone? Anyone? Bueller? Bueller?
Would you take Earl Bennett over any of those Giants? Only if you hate speed.
Would you take Johnny Knox over Manningham? Well, good luck, sucker. I’ll take the Giant with more catches, yards and touchdowns the last three seasons.
Nicks was a first-round pick, Manningham a third-rounder, and the remarkable Cruz went undrafted, so, whichever way you look at it, the Bears got pantsed.
The tailback discussion, however, is something the Bears have figured out. Matt Forte ran for 997 yards before getting hurt. Not only did Forte finish with more yards and a better average than any Giant, but he finished with a better average by more than a yard per carry.
When it mattered, however, Forte rushed for only six touchdowns, while Marion Barber had three for a combined nine, or the same number as Bradshaw by himself, while Jacobs had another seven.
Most importantly on offense, the Bears have the quarterback. Jay Cutler is every bit as tough as Eli Manning was Sunday. Cutler, however, has nothing close to Manning’s accomplishments. Part of the reason is the Halas Hall brainiacs haven’t given him the kind of game-breaking weapons Manning has.
Offensive weapons and a deadly pass rush are the two greatest failures by the Bears, the two biggest areas that leave them behind the Giants.
If their new fake general manager can’t fix those areas, the Bears have no chance next season. Heck, no chance in any season.
I don’t know if Bears people who matter were watching, but they need to become the Giants even more than they need to become the Packers. In fact, if they indeed were more like the Giants, then they probably wouldn’t lose to the Packers four times in one calendar year.
Think about that: Smith lost to his greatest rival four times in 2011 and gets job protection because, I guess, Virginia McCaskey said so.
If only Virginia had told her management bozos it’s OK to get good receivers.
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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Another cutting critique for Senor Rosenberg. Don't ya' just hate when he's right? Which he isn't all of the time, just most of the time.
Although it would have been nice to see Harbaugh's 49er's reach the Super Bowl in his first year as HC in reality they would have stood about as much chance of beating New England as the Bears would have. A team that goes about 0 for 13 was it, on third down conversions isn't gonna win many games. If it wasn't for Vernon Davis they would have even played this game and in playing it wouldn't have even been in it without him. I wonder if Mike Martz caught any of the game?
The rest of what he says is spot on. What do the Bears lack that the Giants have? Just three more good pass rushers and a three WR's who are all better than the best the Bears can field. Other than that they are nearly equals, LOL.
If the new GM, whoever he may be, and Lovie can't see the obvious from watching that then we're probably destined for another 8-8, 7-9, or 9-7 season without the hope of a playoff appearance in 2012 too. Of course then Lovie will be out of a job and it will be up to the next guy to see the obvious.
So what we need very badly Mr. New GM is another pass rusher or two who can do more than narrowly miss sacks, at least two new WR's one of which should be at least 6'3" tall and weigh 220lbs, and a TE who can get open to catch passes and an OC who isn't shy about throwing to him. Other than those things and consistent play from someone, anyone, at LT we should be set.
This should not be a hard road map to follow. It's actually quite similar to the route we should have taken a year ago had Angelo been willing to take the toll road to a championship instead of the detour he took on some North Texas side roads. So since we have the money to pay the tolls can we do it different this year?
Given the available cap cash to sign some top tier free agents and 4 draft picks in the top 100 GM "Whoever" and Lovie ought to be able to make some headway wouldn't you think?
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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Manningham should be high on our list ;)
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There's a pretty good FA list of WR and some Safeties too. These are two spots we can't get the immediate help we need on draft day. I'm hoping they realize that and make some moves on guys to fill those spots.
We have some WR talent but no one to control that middle of the field and be Cutler's go to guy besides Bennett and he'll always have his limitations. Conte looks to me to be a guy who may grow into that FS spot nicely but Wright is injury prone and inconsistent so we need some help.
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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I was going to say that D and ST still matter. I would hope that they learned that they need someone like Ross if they are going to have a dominant D line along with WR's.
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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Originally Posted by
short faced bear 
I was going to say that D and ST still matter. I would hope that they learned that they need someone like Ross if they are going to have a dominant D line along with WR's.
Well Lovie and JA were always criticized for always looking to solve defensive problems but if we look at NY we can see just how important having enough good pass rusher are and if that's true for them it's even more important in Lovie's scheme.
It's not that we haven't spent some high picks on some it's just that they were the wrong ones. The Giants get guys like Osi, Pierre-Paul and Kiwanuka and we get Gilbert, Wootton and Bazuin. That's why if either Coples or Ingram are still on the board at #19 and they look like guys who can step right in and play it may be better to go that route than any other except LT.
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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I agree with Rosenbloom's article,The Bears are more like the Niners at present time but need to move in the direction of the Giants, the similarities between the Niners and the Bears are eerily similar right down to the schemes and you would think Lovie would see this and lean more towards what the Giants has done. I would say Cutler is closer to Manning than Smith. We see now why Fewell picked the Giants over the Bears coupled with how Rivera was ousted by Lovie, lets all hope the new GM's scouts can identify talent better and Lovie can see that balance is needed equally between offense and defense side of the ball.
The Giants doesn't have the best offense nor defense but the right balance of talent on both sides of the ball, Lovie and Bears since Lovie has been here has usually had a good defense but the offense was ignored as Lovie believes in defense, running the ball and special teams, I'm scared the Martz experiment may have only reinforced Lovies beliefs. I pray Lovie will let Tice have some input on the offensive side of the ball as he did with picking Carimi and does what he said and better protects Cutler in the pocket. Which IMO means a legit go to W.R. and L.T. Webb was okay but going against Jared Allen exposed the weakness, I thought Williams actually handled Allen better the previous season than Webb did last year.
It sure brings to light the importance of this Passing Coordinator/Q.B. Coach hire and lets hope they get it right this time as it's been as much of a revolving door for coordinators under Lovie as it's been at the safety position.
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Sure we need better pass rush and better receivers...tell me something I don't know...
The rest is tripe, bullshit and all too easy cheap shots to fill up a page with words...only a professional writer would use a 3 point loss in OT to make such sweeping and broad indictments and conclusions...the 49ers could have easily won that game as they lost it; if they had won, would he have written we need to be more like the 49ers? ....it amazes me that people actually get paid money to write this crap...
Reductio ad absurdum...it's how we roll...
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Originally Posted by
Wolfman Sure we need better pass rush and better receivers...tell me something I don't know...
The rest is tripe, bullshit and all too easy cheap shots to fill up a page with words...only a professional writer would use a 3 point loss in OT to make such sweeping and broad indictments and conclusions...the 49ers could have easily won that game as they lost it; if they had won, would he have written we need to be more like the 49ers? ....it amazes me that people actually get paid money to write this crap...
Well Rosenbloom has a tendency toward sarcasm, dry wit, and he's also not above exaggeration to make his point. Let's just call him the antithesis of "I'm Here to Blow Sunshine Up Your Ass" Larry Mayer. The main reason why I post his stuff is that he does cut through the bullshit most of the time but I do agree he decorates it with much rhetoric more often than not.
Yes SF could have won that game but let's face it two TD's came on big pass plays to Davis and without that their offense was kind of impotent. I can't buy into thinking that a team who went 0-13 in 3rd down conversions had any business even staying in the game let alone winning it. SF's defense was every bit as good as NY's on that day and that kept them in the game.
He could have simplified his whole article a lot by just pointing out what you said in one sentence. "We need a better pass rush and better receivers". The only problem with that is it would have been a very short article and I think sometimes these guys must get paid by the word. Anytime they can take 3 paragraphs to say what they could have in one sentence they do. That's what sports columnists do otherwise they'd be called sports sentencenists, LOL.
Sorry Wolf, not trying to be a jerk. I do agree with you but I still like to post this guys stuff. Sometimes he can be pretty funny if you enjoy his particular brand of humor.
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
Wolfman Sure we need better pass rush and better receivers...tell me something I don't know...
The rest is tripe, bullshit and all too easy cheap shots to fill up a page with words...only a professional writer would use a 3 point loss in OT to make such sweeping and broad indictments and conclusions...the 49ers could have easily won that game as they lost it; if they had won, would he have written we need to be more like the 49ers? ....it amazes me that people actually get paid money to write this crap...
....and in the end it was 2 mistakes by one player on punt returns that did them in. Obviously it was design and execution of an outdated offensive and defensive scheme. Oh, and who are those people the 49er's have on their DL? Anyone? Anyone? Buehler?
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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