Thread: Thayer: 2012 Bears Could Be One Of The Best In Franchise History

It could also be the biggest disappointment in franchise history. Stay thirsty my friends.

Originally Posted by A-11

It could also be the biggest disapointment in franchise history. Stay thirsty my friends.

Love the sarcasm with you drinking the kool-aid too !

Jim Jones was my idol. He was such a sage in the way of the Lord.

Originally Posted by Papa Bear

http://chicago.cbslocal.com/2012/08/...chise-history/

Thayer: 2012 Bears Could Be One Of The Best In Franchise History

August 9, 2012 10:53 AM


Jay Cutler. (Photo by Jonathan Daniel/Getty Images)


From The Mully and Hanley Show



(WSCR) Let’s just say former Bears Super Bowl champion Tom Thayer has some strong opinions on this year’s Bears team.
In fact, he thinks this group has the chance to do something pretty special once they take the field.
“I think they’ve got a chance to be one of the better teams in Chicago Bear history,” Thayer told The Mully and Hanley Show on Friday. “I really do believe that.
LISTEN: Tom Thayer on The Mully and Hanley Show
For the rest of this interview and other 670 The Score interviews click here.
The Bears kick off their preseason tonight at Soldier Field against the Broncos. Though Thayer admits it won’t be easy, this Bears teams has a shot at history.
“There are a lot of things that come into play,” Thayer said. “You gotta have development of certain players and certain positions. You have to have good health throughout the whole season and you gotta get the breaks to go your way. There is so much uncertainty when you open up on a Sunday, then play your biggest rival in their stadium on a Thursday night. So, there’s a lot of things to think about before the end of the regular season, but if everything goes according to plan, it can be a very good season.”

Also check out the Doug Buffone with McNeil and Finfer interview on this link - blunt.

There is no reason why the Bears shouldn't at least get into the playoffs with a Wild Card berth this year. Do I think we'll beat the Packers? That remains to be seen. Green Bay upgraded their defense big time in the draft, and there's no telling whether or not that defense is going to have gelled enough by the time of their first game to see if their going to be dominant on that side of the football as well. We know that they're going to have a dominant offense, one that will no doubt be further bolstered if Cedric Benson is signed to be their RB. To win against the Packers, the Bears are most likely going to have to engage them in a good old fashioned shootout and hope that they have the football last because with the tendencies in the past that our defense cannot apply enough pressure on opposing quarterbacks, that's going to give Aaron Rodgers all the time in the world when he scrambles out of the pocket and carves up our secondary.

To me an assessment like this smacks of of fans / observers starting to believe this teams press clippings a little too fast , and I'm just as guilty. You look at who we've acquired / drafted and you start to think that the talent level has increased significantly. Maybe it has .... but until it's a proven commodity ( showing up on Sunday's ) they haven't proven anything yet .

Originally Posted by bearsinhouston

Yeah, it just keeps coming back to too many issues to address in one season, with several being high ticket positions. WR, DE and OT are always expensive talent. I'm thrilled Emery did as much as he did. The WR got addressed in spades. I really was concerned about DE, and this year McClellin still might not be the answer despite my being so high on him after the first pre-season game. But my aprehension of him long term has gone away. I think he will be fine. I still think we need to beef up DE both becasue I don't know how dominant Shea will be and because Peppers will not be around forever.

So Emery addressed the WR and DE, but wasn't able to do anything about the OL. I am still not convinced we are totally screwed there. Worst case we are where we were last year and we seemed to do decent.

Problem is GB has gotten better and we need either to get past them or wild card (which is definitely possible). One pre-season game doesn't indicate how they will play in mid season, so I'm still taking a wait and see attitude. One thing I am now ready to say though is that if they play with no improvement from last year with a change in scheme from a 7 step drop, I am going to place it squarely on Tice.

If you can't make the team any better with being able to hold protection less time, then there is something wrong. Be it the musical chairs, mismatch of coaching methodology, lack of ability to see a players ability even though he had been with them for several years, thinking he could coach up anyone - it doesn't matter. If they are not noticeably better than last year especially with Carimi healthy (if that should be the case) then it's on him as far as I'm concerned.

Yeah, I agree with the fact that Jerry Angelo left Emery with a lot of holes to fill. More than COULD be fixed in one off-season.

I'm not at either extreme on the oline - they won't be as bad as some fear. They won't be as good as we'd hope to have. They'll be somewhere in the middle. The oline will get better over the course of the pre-season, and hopefully we'll see some improvement throughout the first 4 or 5 games of the season. I don't think that's kool aid thinking. I think it's reasonable to expect this due to all of the changes and flip-flopping of players positions.

Regarding Webb, I don't think he played that badly Thursday night. He had 1 false start, and 1 sack in the first pre-season game. Call me crazy, but I thought he played about like you would expect in the 1st pre-season game. Some good. Some bad. Nothing to panic over.

Also, I don't see the C.Will starting in practice today, as anything more than a motivational ploy by Tice to get every ounce of effort out of Webb to improve between now and that first game of the season. I've watched that Thursday game over and over and over again, trying to see how the oline players performed. I didn't see anything worth panicking over at this early point. Just an oline with a lot of rough edges to smooth over. The run blocking was pathetic, but often it is this early in the pre-season. They will do better.