Thread: Where do we go from here with this pitiful oline?

Originally Posted by JustAnotherBearsFan99

4th, that's kind of what they did last night. Cutler was chucking that ball out early. That's what we'll see a big dose of all season long. I do think Forte can make some of his own holes and do better than that 1 yard per carry first half against the Giants starters. Forte did this last year. The line was bad, but Forte was gifted enough to make something out of nothing.

One thing about the Giants is they just seem to have our number it is almost as if they have a copy of the Football for dummies play book on their side also. It is still a preseason game and I have seen way too many games where one team completely sucks in a first half and then opens up the second half tearing up a ton of yards. I know our OL sucks still but our GM can't fix all positions on this team in one year, Jerry had 10 years to neglect. What I do like if that we actually have WRs. Since we have brought Jay to Chicago we have not had anything that was a legit threat at WR and now we do. We have a very solid back up runningback and a solid back up qb. I think the OL will have bad games but we should have a few good games.

Originally Posted by JustAnotherBearsFan99

Just to clarify.

I'm not saying our season is over or anything remotely like that. I'm just presenting the facts, that a poor oline makes our season's outlook a bit dimmer. Common sense tells us that an oline is important to the success of a team's offense. The "Football IQ" of the posters here is HIGH. So, I'm not telling folks what they don't already know.

I'm trying to not be at either extreme. Some seem to poo-poo the importance of an oline. Some seem to believe we have a good enough oline. I'm not saying we're at the other extreme either - this alone won't tank our season.

What then, DOES this mean for our season?

We should still be a decent team. We won't reach our FULL potential on offense if we have a poor oline. That doesn't mean we won't have some good games. We will still knock off bottom-feeders. We may not beat the best NFL teams (like the Packers).

We won't be as good as we COULD be with a rock solid offensive line.

Surely nobody here looks at our oline and sees anything good.

I agree the OL is not rock solid but we did improve on offense which is something Jerry failed at bigtime. This is why I think this team is 9-7 because we had too many issues from last year our current GM can't fix. We have what looks like a good WR core now and we are solid at qb and RB. Maybe next year we use the entire draft on an OL. I would also like to say I think we are going in the right direction with this team but we need more time to develope players and draft more key players than wasting picks like Angelo was good at.

That's right. Weaken them from within. The Jerry Angelo strategy

Originally Posted by soulman

Now why didn't I think of that?

Isn't there something in Sun Tzu "The Art of War" about how to weaken an opponent we could use for reference?

Justanotherbearsfan... You just posted this last week.



Anyone else here believe the oline woes are being blown out of proportion?

You can put me officially on record (if there is such an animal ) as believing the offensive line will be "decent" and plenty "good enough" for us to have a solid year. Yes, Cutler will be hurried at times and have some hits & sacks, like any other QB in the NFL this season. But it won't be like last year. Not even close.

Think about it.

How could it NOT be better than last year? We have a lot of young people who will be 1 year better. This includes Webb. We have a better OC, will have plays called that better match our personnel. Carimi is back.

We have THREE 1st round draft picks on that line!

And I'll be honest here. I've closely watched Webb work at camp, and I've watched that 1st pre-season game repeatedly. I don't see what others are claiming. He blew some plays, but he looked pretty darned good to me on almost all of his pass protection. He had 1 false start (not exactly a criminal offense in your first pre-season game). He allowed 1 sack in 4 quarters of play. Again, I'm not going to say the season is over - with 1 sack allowed in the first pre-season game.

So, I am going to believe my own eyes and not blindly accept what some other people are saying.

I almost think it's in vogue this pre-season, to jump on the "Sky is Falling" bandwagon and claim the oline is going to wreck our season. I just don't see it. I just don't believe it.

Feel free to call me a delusional lunatic, and maybe I am
but the more I think this through, and watch the players, I can't honestly come to any other conclusion.

Originally Posted by BearsFan2

Justanotherbearsfan... You just posted this last week.



Anyone else here believe the oline woes are being blown out of proportion?

You can put me officially on record (if there is such an animal ) as believing the offensive line will be "decent" and plenty "good enough" for us to have a solid year. Yes, Cutler will be hurried at times and have some hits & sacks, like any other QB in the NFL this season. But it won't be like last year. Not even close.

Think about it.

How could it NOT be better than last year? We have a lot of young people who will be 1 year better. This includes Webb. We have a better OC, will have plays called that better match our personnel. Carimi is back.

We have THREE 1st round draft picks on that line!

And I'll be honest here. I've closely watched Webb work at camp, and I've watched that 1st pre-season game repeatedly. I don't see what others are claiming. He blew some plays, but he looked pretty darned good to me on almost all of his pass protection. He had 1 false start (not exactly a criminal offense in your first pre-season game). He allowed 1 sack in 4 quarters of play. Again, I'm not going to say the season is over - with 1 sack allowed in the first pre-season game.

So, I am going to believe my own eyes and not blindly accept what some other people are saying.

I almost think it's in vogue this pre-season, to jump on the "Sky is Falling" bandwagon and claim the oline is going to wreck our season. I just don't see it. I just don't believe it.

Feel free to call me a delusional lunatic, and maybe I am
but the more I think this through, and watch the players, I can't honestly come to any other conclusion.

LOL, BF2! JABF had a out-on-the-ledge meltdown after watching part of the 1st half last Friday. Some things were justified (the run blocking was truly bad) and some weren't (pass pro was fine, no OL penalties, Cutler was clearly off). Love the guy's passion though. I'm not as optimistic as he sounded above nor as pessimistic as he sounded lately. I do think the OL is a legitimate concern but will end up being adequate. Just want to see Tice stop dicking around with Rachal and CW out of position and get the best 5 set and working together once and for all. Some continuity is needed asap.