Thread: Brian Urlacher: If healthy, Bears best in NFC North

Originally Posted by BigBadPapaBear

But it's hard to ignore coach Lovie Smith's painful loyalty to a subpar offensive line.

That's all you need to know, right here.

One of the places GB did improve on? The DL.

I like how the people on this message board have pretty high football I.Q.'s. Seriously. I think we all understand that if the offensive line is bad this year, it won't matter if we have 5 Brandon Marshalls or 5 Forte's. We won't be very good if there is no time to pass, no holes for Forte to run through & Cutler gets the snot beaten out of him and eventually carted away injured.

We'd better be hoping and praying that oline is as good as Lovie & Tice seem to believe. I keep telling myself they are not stupid people. If they thought our season would tank due to a crappy oline, then Emery would have fixed it this off-season, even if he had to pay big bucks for a "real" olineman - a solid FA.

As Jessie Jackson says "Keep Hope Alive" Chicago. Click those ruby slippers together and keep repeating:

"The oline will be OK..."

"The oline will be OK..."

"The oline will be OK..."

Which gave me an idea. Maybe we need to go to the Great and Powerful Wizard of Oz and ask for a LT

Originally Posted by JustAnotherBearsFan99

I like how the people on this message board have pretty high football I.Q.'s. Seriously. I think we all understand that if the offensive line is bad this year, it won't matter if we have 5 Brandon Marshalls or 5 Forte's. We won't be very good if there is no time to pass, no holes for Forte to run through & Cutler gets the snot beaten out of him and eventually carted away injured.

We'd better be hoping and praying that oline is as good as Lovie & Tice seem to believe. I keep telling myself they are not stupid people. If they thought our season would tank due to a crappy oline, then Emery would have fixed it this off-season, even if he had to pay big bucks for a "real" olineman - a solid FA.

As Jessie Jackson says "Keep Hope Alive" Chicago. Click those ruby slippers together and keep repeating:

"The oline will be OK..."

"The oline will be OK..."

"The oline will be OK..."

Which gave me an idea. Maybe we need to go to the Great and Powerful Wizard of Oz and ask for a LT

My friend why would there be any concerns about this O-line opening holes for Forte when an injury riddled line opened them with no problem last year? I can understand the concern with pass protection but run blocking is this line's strength. There were only 9 teams last season who blocked for over 2000 rushing yards. And the Bears were #9.

Originally Posted by BigBadPapaBear

My friend why would there be any concerns about this O-line opening holes for Forte when an injury riddled line opened them with no problem last year? I can understand the concern with pass protection but run blocking is this line's strength. There were only 9 times last season who blocked for over 2000 rushing yards. And the Bears were #9.

I'm hoping for the best BBPB.

I stand by my opinion in this. The best way to help your o-line against the pass rush is to keep the team out of the position of having to pass protect for long periods of time. If the QB holds the ball in the backfield for 5-9 seconds, someone is going to get to him. On the other hand, if the QB unloads the ball quickly and accurately, the offense will rarely be in those 3rd and long+ situations. If the QB doesn't need to keep the ball long enough for a deep play to develop, then the opposing defense won't be able to just go after the QB. Instead the defense will have to cover all their bases (keeping them honest, as it were).

While the o-line may not actually "be" better, it will "look" better due to less pressure being applied.

I personally think that the line will also actually be better this year due to OTA's and players returning form injuries as well.

Originally Posted by XaosGorilla

I stand by my opinion in this. The best way to help your o-line against the pass rush is to keep the team out of the position of having to pass protect for long periods of time. If the QB holds the ball in the backfield for 5-9 seconds, someone is going to get to him. On the other hand, if the QB unloads the ball quickly and accurately, the offense will rarely be in those 3rd and long+ situations. If the QB doesn't need to keep the ball long enough for a deep play to develop, then the opposing defense won't be able to just go after the QB. Instead the defense will have to cover all their bases (keeping them honest, as it were).

While the o-line may not actually "be" better, it will "look" better due to less pressure being applied.

I personally think that the line will also actually be better this year due to OTA's and players returning form injuries as well.

I agree. There are also two additional things that will help.

#1 Cut down the stupid penalties (especially the false start penalties)
#2 They need a better understanding of blocking assignments in blitz situations. They often looked confused last season, not understanding who to pick up.