Thread: Bears roundtable: 'They're going to run the ball like crazy'

Preseason is illusion. Trying to figure out what's important from the practice fields in Bourbonnais takes up a ton of mental space and then poof, the regular season comes along and Shangri-La disappears. Under Lovie Smith, the Bears keep their plans clandestine and their looks vanilla. The team you see now won't look anything like the finished product.

This.

Every year fans get their shorts in a knot thinking we're actually seeing something indicative of the "real" season, in these pre-season games.

Not under Lovie Smith. It just isn't so. It's all a glorified practice session, but against "real" competition from opposing teams.

“I think they’re going to run the ball like crazy,” Matt Bowen of the Chicago Tribune said. “That’s coach (Mike) Tice. ’’

Here's the deal. Tice isn't going to ignore the passing game talent we have. The game has evolved considerably in recent years. That old "three yards running and a cloud of dust" is dead. The NFL has evolved into a passing game, whether we like it or not.

Tice isn't stupid.

He will have a balanced offense. Plenty of running. Plenty of passing. But that bull crap of thinking we're going to "run like crazy" is just that. Crazy.

Originally Posted by Riczaj01

JABF, I didn't say he was going to ignore the run, or not have a balanced attack; that's actually what I've been saying..but compared to what many fans think they are going to see...that's going to be running the ball like crazy.

Many fans think we are going to be putting up NO's/GB passing #'s, and we're not.

I understand and agree 100% with you. I was just commenting on the quote from the reporter. They're trying to spin some excitement with all these pre season things (and I "get it" that it's their job to do so). No problem with them either..

But there's no way we're going to magically become a "run like crazy" team. (if so, then somebody better get a copy of that memo to the oline who didn't exactly look like the Monsters of the Midway run blocking last Thursday )

I think the bootleg was the only thing worth noting on offense from that game. If memory serves me well, it was perfectly executed from a blocking standpoint, but the pass wasn't intended to show what they're doing from there...

Originally Posted by Riczaj01

That ol was atroushious on both sides...I watched the first qtr, and then stopped paying attention it was awful. I cannot imagine trying to watch that 2-3 times.

I think that ever since my son was a LT, I got "hooked" on watching the oline. I learned from him, just how complex a great oline is, and how dependent each player is on the others. He teases me all the time because now I watch the oline MUCH more than I focus on the skill players. One of my wife's best friends has three sons who played for years as offensive linemen in the NFL after great college careers. Anyway, I'm all about the oline.

Even when the Bears oline stinks, I still like to watch and try to understand the facts of what's going on. The "talking heads" really don't always report accurately. And a lot of fans are clueless parrots repeating the erroneous information (player "A" sucks, is read in an article, and automatically, in THEIR mind player "A" always sucks). It's sad because fans can "brand" a player as a loser, and not recognize that players DO improve. Especially oline guys in their first 3 years.

I don't claim to know anything more or less than the next fan. So I don't take offense if folks disagree with me on this oline thing. That's fine. Maybe they're right and I'm wrong. BTW, I'm usually a "glass half full" guy on stuff.