Tim Ruskell FIRED [Emery 1-0]

I'm in agreement with all three of you. Maybe Angelo tried too hard to please with his picks and 4Da you're right about his early work on the Oline but he failed to draft well when it came to replacing those guys. Maybe he gave in too much on the defensive side of the ball and we'll never know unless he writes a biography that tells the story. But if that was the case then that was his downfall because all too often the offense took a back seat.

I don't have a particular problem with Lovie having a lot of input on draft day as long as Emery has the final say. I think he has the strength of will to stand up for the guys he feels are best for the team and to explain his reasoning well enough to swing the consensus to his point of view. I think he's been doing that everywhere he's been. Atlanta's drafting of Roddy White over others based on strength of Emery's opinions about him is one good example.

The fact that Darryl Drake is still coaching for the Bears is puzzling to me too. How do you keep a guy who has yet to develop one top WR and couldn't even motivate RWill who he coached in college. If Dave Toub is the strong point on the coaching staff surely Drake is the weak point. Lovies replaced coaches far better than him.

What it comes down to as far as I'm concerned is Emery, his Personnel Directors, and his Scouts upgrading the overall selection so that virtually any choice is a good one. That to the best of their ability every guy has the potential to play in the NFL. Emery spoke about just that in his press conference. The emphasis one a players NFL potential as opposed to his measurable's. Back when Jim Finks and after him Jerry Vainisi were drafting the talent we drafte good football players. Grabowski's as Ditka called them. We stopped doing that after Vainisi was fired and it's continued right up to today.

Emery is right. You have to get your ass up out of that chair and watch them play. Attend as many games as you can and he promises to do that. THAT is something Jerry Angelo was very weak at. He and the coaches would attend the Combine, watch tape, and make decisions from that. Far too many draftees fit the description of athlete as opposed to football player. That's the first thing I believe Emery will change. He's got to be the strength in that "War Room" on draft day because Lovie isn't.

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Originally Posted by Slipscreen

first thing the bears need to do get him some speaking skills

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Maybe the first thing you should do is develop some listening skills. It seems most of us understood what he was saying quite well Mr. Toastmaster. If you're such a wonderful orator why don't you offer?

As I said in a post earlier, Lovie's lack of adequate talent evaluation ability has reflect even onto his area of expertise: the defense. Most of the strong defensive players we've had under Jerry Angelo cam from 2000 through 2005, or until VERY early in Lovie Smith's career as Bears' head coach. Then, you have the jokes that have been offensive picks. That offensive line that the Bears had in the mid-2000's was built with free agents, and when we've gone through the draft to pick up offensive linemen, the ones whom we've drafted in the first round have either spent most of their young careers missing games due to injury (Chris Williams, Gabe Carimi), or we've picked up ineffective OL in the seventh round, thrown them into the fire, and expected them to play like champions (Webb). The WRs have all been a joke during the Lovie Smith era, as one early round draft picks in Mark Bradley turned into a bust, while Johnny Knox, a fifth rounder, has been wildly inconsistent.

The only two drafts since the Super Bowl that have produced any number of solid players are the 2008 and 2011 drafts, but I think that the 2011 draft will hinge greatly on the health of Gabe Carimi because we don't know how his left knee is going to hold up under the rigors of a full NFL season once he's cleared to play again. Again, we had two good defensive picks in the '11 Draft (Paea and Conte, but Paea didn't play much) that I believe were more on Marinelli picking them (especially Paea) than on Lovie, but the Carimi pick is still up in the air as to whether he's going to be a great RT for us for the next 10-12 years or if he's going to be a bust for health reasons. Sorry soul, that's just my feeling on Carimi right now.

That being said, let's get the Super Bowl over with so we can go out and sign some free agents and set ourselves up nicely for the draft.

Everything you pointed out is the main reason Jerry Angelo is no longer the Bears GM. As for Carimi, who ever knows how injuries will turn out but he's a tough kid and what happened got fixed and he's rehabbing now. Hell, Dan Hampton had knee after almost every season he played and he's in the HOF. I'm not buying any trouble until it goes on sale.

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Originally Posted by soulman

Everything you pointed out is the main reason Jerry Angelo is no longer the Bears GM. As for Carimi, who ever knows how injuries will turn out but he's a tough kid and what happened got fixed and he's rehabbing now. Hell, Dan Hampton had knee after almost every season he played and he's in the HOF. I'm not buying any trouble until it goes on sale.

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I wouldn't be surprised to learn they opened up Hampton in the training room. Can it be called SURGERY by todays standards?

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Originally Posted by soulman

Everything you pointed out is the main reason Jerry Angelo is no longer the Bears GM. As for Carimi, who ever knows how injuries will turn out but he's a tough kid and what happened got fixed and he's rehabbing now. Hell, Dan Hampton had knee after almost every season he played and he's in the HOF. I'm not buying any trouble until it goes on sale.

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Well duh, of course those are the reasons that Jerry Angelo got fired. Anyone who didn't know that has to dumb and stupid at the same time. I was saying that Lovie was/is at fault there as well, if you'll recall.

I know your hang up on Carimi and all, but so far, he's not shown me one thing that I'm impressed with except that he has played one injury-plagued season in the pros that ended with him on IR. I'm hoping that he doesn't turn into another Chris Williams because we need him in the worst way. As much as I commend Lance Louis for coming in during the season and picking up where Carimi left off, he's just not as talented as Carimi. If Carimi gets himself together enough to play a good, solid season, then I will gladly drink the Kool-Aid like the Jim Jones-led freaks down in Guyana in 1983. Until then, I won't hold my breath. He could very well turn into another Jerry Angelo mistake.